***
A little more than 8 years after leaving my career as a 3rd grade teacher to pursue the glamorous lifestyle of the stay-at-home-mom, I am embarking on a new career of sorts. Still rooted in teaching (that is a PART of me after all), I will be teaching group fitness classes to moms! It was an interesting journey to this point, and one that I didn’t really expect.
I’ve always ran. I had never considered myself a “runner.” I was on the track team in high school, ran the 2 mile, but never on the varsity team. It was more of a hobby, or an excuse to run laps around the tennis courts and flirt with my future hubby. I did not run in college, unless you count booking it across campus so I wouldn’t miss yet another statistic class (which I did not pass…maybe if I had been faster…). When teaching in Madison, WI, I participated in the yearly Race for the Cure 5K with my teacher friends. That was more of a social walk/jog than “run.”
Three years after becoming a mother, I was ready to have another baby. After an unexpected miscarriage, and many months of negative pregnancy tests, I needed an outlet for my frustration and unending sadness. My friend, Jill, asked if I wanted to do something crazy and sign up to train for and run a half marathon. Jill, I cannot thank you enough for asking me to do that. The date of the race just happened to be what would have been my due date, April 9th, 2010. That was a very specific SIGN to me. We recruited a few other friends to join us, and met every Sunday morning to run our long runs. The rainy mornings were the best. I felt like I had such purpose. I never got to run that race with my friends. I got pregnant. I was there at the finish line with cookies and hugs for my training pals. Part of me still really wanted to run that race…
And a runner was born.
After welcoming Lauren into our lives, I found a mommy/baby exercise group. It was the perfect way to get in a workout AND not have to pay for or put my baby in childcare. My sister was doing the same thing in St. Louis, and loved her group! I was hooked. I signed up to run that Half Marathon again, and then quickly realized that I didn’t know what I was thinking. I had a baby nursing all the time and up all night. I was in no condition to train for something like that. But I did have my mommy/baby exercise class, and I met other moms going through the same crazy stuff as me and still wanting to do something good for themselves. I liked this message, and I spread the word.
My participation in my stroller class has changed throughout the 4 years I have participated. Andrew comes along with me and rides his bike when he is off school. Lauren has friends that she looks forward to playing with after our workouts. I have friends that have common goals, and we push/support each other in our endeavors. They helped me finally meet my goal of running my Half Marathon, and we have run many races together since.
But as my kids got older, I started to wonder how long could I really stay involved in the group? There was really only ONE answer in my mind.
Teach.
I want to help other moms focus on themselves for an hour a day. The kids get the other 23 after all. I am excited to begin my new career chapter, and I continue to seek out new goals for myself each year. After checking off the Half Marathon, it’s fun to try and discover what you can push your body to do. I hope to encourage you to take some time for yourself each day. I will give you ideas for ways to stay active and healthy and model that lifestyle for your children. We mothers are STRONG. Sometimes we need to be reminded of what we are capable of.
