the task before me I had set up nearly 20 weeks prior. So, I ran. Chris met me at Comiskey (about mile 17 or 18) and finished the race with me in a run/walk fashion. I finished in 5:08 - about 40 minutes behind my marathon time the year before - and made my best attempt to lie to my family who was there watching me. I told them how "my knee hurt" - which slowed my pace :).
Five days after the race, we found out it was twins. When I had my baby shower early the next year, my running partner got the twins onesies which were embroidered "I ran the Chicago Marathon" and matching infant running shoes. When they were born - and then big enough to finally fit in them - I dressed them up in their Marathon onesies and took them out running in their double stroller, proud as can be! That summer I tried to regain my body and ran with them in the neighborhood and the forest preserve in the double stroller. That fall I ran 3 races. The following summer of 2007, I pushed them thru TEN races - various 5k and 10ks, and even a 10 miler, in Chicago and back home in Raymond. The subsequent three summers after that, I averaged pushing them in another 7-10 races each year. We went thru stages of me having to stop to change diapers, give them a drink from their bottle, nurse them, find a binky that had been tossed on the road. The original intent was just for me to get out of the house and get in some miles - and obviously take the twins with me about 90% of the time, since Chris worked so much. Timing and pace weren't important - just the journey and destination.
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| Summer of 2008 |
From day one of them being only 8 weeks old and the doctor giving me the 'thumbs up' to run again, they have joined me in most shorter training runs and small races. Any 5k or 10k that didn't ban strollers, I made a point to bring them. We did one race on the new I-355 with Chris before it opened to the general public after construction on Veterans Day in the fall of 2008. I remember a race in Palos Hills in 2007 - May - during the Cicada Invasion. I remember running down a tree lined street and as I ran, I was crunching dozens of cicadas left and right with my feet and swatting them with one hand as I pushed the stroller with another. It was like a bad horror movie. THEN I looked down at my babies. Madyson had two HUGE ones on her head. I screamed - swatted them off her and then kept going. Sometimes they were lathered in sunscreen - other times, bundled in snowsuits. Most races they were the ones overly eager for the post-race snacks/pizza/medals. I can recollect at least 5 races where I had to pull the stroller over to the side of the road, pull one or more out and without beating them in public and have DCFS called on me, threaten them within an inch of their lives to STOP FIGHTING/PUNCHING/SCRATCHING/HITTING each other. As the babies grew from 4 pounds on their first outing, to nearly 50 pounds today, the stroller hasn't changed. The same stroller, with modified seat belts today, has carried them on hundreds of miles. Some races they gave us 3 medals when we crossed the finish line and most times both of them demanded water at water stops too. In the summer, and warmer times of the year, this became a past time, a ritual, a normalcy in our house. They would see me lacing up Mizunos in the house and even when they barely knew how to talk, would run to the garage and babble 'run time'! As they got bigger and their language became fully developed, they started to talk to me during the race. Sometimes it was discussing the passing houses, trees, parks they wish they could stop and play at. Some of the entertaining comments over the past few years (which were always yelled loud enough for anyone in a 50 yard radius to hear) included:
- That Grandma is passing us - hurry up mommy!
- His butt is bigger than yours!or even,
-Mommy, you need to pass that lady. You are faster and your shoes are prettier!Reflecting back on what will be our last 6 summers of running in the same stroller with our ever growing babies - the thing that makes me the most proud, is the healthy lifestyle and importance of exercise that has been instilled in their hearts from day one. They ran their first race individually on Labor Day 2009. They each received their own medal and were very very proud! At the Go! St. Louis Marathon last weekend, they ran the 100 yard dash. Madyson even leaned over to the kid who was neck and neck with her at the finish line, threw and elbow out at the last second, to guarantee her victory (wow...didn't see that coming but I have to admit I was pretty proud to see it unfold. When we asked her about it, she whole heartily said 'I really just wanted to beat that kid'. Gotta admit, I know what she means).
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| After finishing the 100 yard dash at the Go! St. Louis Marathon Weekend, April 9, 2011 |
Well, they fit in the stroller and actually didn't fight. What was actually very comforting and rewarding to me - was the encouragement and enthusiasm they shared. Maybe it was because it was the first race of the year and they haven't remembered how much they hate laying all over each other in the jogging stroller - but it was great. We talked about the parade later in the day, how old they can be when they start doing races, and how 'fast' their new Nike's make them run at preschool. I definitely didn't miss my iPod and the conversation was great. As we approached the last hill on Cicero, the finish line was at the top of it. Kaiden said he wanted to run and help me push Madyson. I asked Madyson if she wanted to run too...she said 'Na...I'm comfy here :)'. So, 75 yards from the end, I took Kaiden out quickly (which I was glad too....pushing 100+ pounds up the hill is not an ideal way to end any race....and his help would be greatly appreciated!), and he ran on the right of me and helped me push his sister to the end. He was SO PROUD of himself. Laughing, waving to spectators, yelling to Madyson 'Watch me run Dee Dee!'. Well, this was not really the plan - I hadn't prepared for this, nothing he had on was really for running....and he wasn't even wearing tennis shoes - just winter crocks. But hey - what could happen?
Well, if anyone knows how a 4 year old is just in normal walking fashion - you can imagine it is the same for running. They really don't pay attention to where they are going... often aimless staring at something and then tumbling because they weren't watching where they were going. Well - guess what happened? He was so proud of himself, running, and not paying attention - that BOOM - he ate pavement. He was crying and scuffed up his hands...dirt on his pants. I immediately stopped and scooped him up. A nice lady offered to push Mady the last 50 yards...I declined as I knew Madyson would of had NO part of that. Kaiden was too hurt for me to just sit him back in the stroller and finish...but both him and her were then yelling at me 'Run Mama'....and then Mady yelled one of her infamous lines 'Don't let the Grandmas Beat Us'. So....in that moment, I began to run up the last 50 yard hill....one hand on the stroller, one holding a 50 pound bear. Of the ~350 runners that day, there was only one other stroller in the race (with only one baby in it) and then there was me - the crazy runner carrying a preschooler and pushing another UP a hill to the finish.
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| Oak Forest Fleadh Winter 2011 |
Something as simple as bringing my kids with me to run - which originally was my selfish goal to get back in shape - has resulted in a fabulous end result - they want to run and they desire to be active and live healthy. I can't imagine how the next five years will go - but I know that the foundation we have instilled up till today should be good enough to hopefully point them in the right direction as they continue to make their own choices.
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