The Rationalizations of a Feeble Mind

The marathon. The marathon. A defining event in so many ways. One because I flapped my yapper about it to far too many people to count. And, two, because it was to be my salvation from post-baby slovenly-ness. Fat chance. (Pun intended. ☺) Here’s how it’s gone since I registered last year, in FAST FORWARD format:

FF: Pre-Bean, 4 Months To Go
Yay! I’m in! So what if I’ve already paid for two years and had to bail. There were valid reasons. Duh. First year, travel budget already allocated. Second year, uh, hello, baby? So now I’ll do it and it will be great. The baby will be here and I’ll have plenty of time and motivation to get back on the trail. And it’s the NEW YORK MARATHON! THE race – the one I’ve always wanted to do. Especially after finishing San Diego. Just this one more and I’m swearing distance running off…

FF: Post-Bean, Month 2
Yea. I’m running the marathon next year. I still have a whole year to train. Miss Six is in school and I’ve got my trusty BOB, so no prob. No sweat. What? No, no. I haven’t started training yet. I just had a c-section eight weeks ago so it will be at least another month or so before I can really get going. And the in-laws are here for Turkey Day. But I feel great!

FF: Bean’s Born, Month 3
Ah. The holidays! Bean’s first Christmas! I think I’ll ask for running shoes, a Shuffle and one of those cool Nike hats that has the built in headphones. That will be great. And I’m so happy I have the BOB. It’s great in the snow. Blizzard? Seriously. And another one after that one? And how many inches of snow? No way. Yes. Way. We are snowbound. Weeks. Upon weeks. The Christmas tree got tossed out front into the snow bank as a joke and now we can’t even see it. I can’t run! I can barely walk in this. They haven’t plowed for a month and I can barely get the car out. But that’s okay. I’ll just snowshoe from the front porch. And I’ll cross country ski. And walk. That’ll work. Walking. Just to get going. Walking in deep snow is almost like running….Oh. Wait. Serious pain. Some sort of attack? It was almost worse than labor. Luckily it passed. After S-I-X hours.

FF: Bean’s Born, Month 4
Marathon? Oh yes! I am running that. What? No. I haven’t really started training. The weather’s made it tough. But I have been walking and using our elliptical. I’m really into cross training this time. I don’t want to burn out on running like I did last time. And I did just have a baby four months ago…

FF: Bean’s Born, Month 5
Yes! The training’s going great! I’m so glad that weather is behind us! I LOVE my headphone hat and I made a great running mix that really keeps me going. What? How far? Oh, I dunno. Maybe four or five miles three or four times a week. Or maybe more like three, three times. Something like that. But it’s going GREAT! And I just had a baby, so I’m pretty happy with this progress! And I still have nine months anyway. But what’s that pain? Back again? No. Please no. But yes. And yes, it’s your gall bladder. It’s gonna have to come out. But I just had a baby! “Yes. That’s fairly common…”

FF: Bean’s Born, Month 6
Surgery. Seriously. Just six months after a c-section. Can that even be done? Oh yes. And the Bean can even come along for the ultrasound and pre-surgery appointments. It’s almost like a party! Except that is not a margarita going into my arm. And those bandages are not covering some fun new tattoo. And that pain is not a hangover. Well, you can train for a marathon in eight months! Definitely! I’ll just need a little time and I’ll be back at it! No problem!

FF: Bean’s Born, Month 7
The hubby’s turning 40 and we’re going away alone for the first time in forever. My birthday was before that. It’s been a fun month. Training? Yea. A little. I still have time. I’ll walk a lot in Santa Fe.

FF: Bean’s Born, Month 8
Project? Yes! We’d love to do it! It will be great! What an amazing opportunity! And we can outsource parts of it. It will be fine. I’m walking to school almost every day to pick up Miss 6. So, yea. Still at it! And we’ve been doing fitness club twice a week. That’s two miles. And we’re doing the Bolder Boulder as a family. Yea. Walking it. It’s our tradition.

FF: Bean’s Born, Month 9
What? Oh-my-gawd-I-have-NO-FREE-TIME! I barely have a life! I have no time to spare for exercise. Okay, maybe a run here or there. But I’ll be fine. I’ll get to it. I’m sure I can still do it. If I can just finish this project. And Miss 6 and I have been running some mornings. So that’s great.

FF: Bean’s Born, Month 10
Well, we’re taking the week of the 4th — or trying to. And then we go to SC for two weeks. And work is completely nuts. And Miss Six has no camps this month. And Bean is threatening to…wait…would you look at that? She’s crawling!

FF: Bean’s Born, Month 11
Well. Miss Six is starting 1st grade, the event for the big project is finally here. Good. Good. Mom’s coming to watch the girlies while we’re away for work. And Miss 6 has pneumonia and it’s only the second week of school. The marathon? Oh yea. I have absolutely no idea what I was thinking. I must have been crazy to think I could do that in the year after having a baby. And I didn’t even know I’d be buried alive under snow all winter and a mountain of work all summer. The official reality check for an over-achiever. One who thinks a lot will happen, and it does. But only in her mind. ☺

But. Next year. There’s always next year…