Wake up call, "You're a Mom Now"

OK, now that I'm saying this out loud, it sounds terrible, but I've kind of thought of having one kid as being the trial period...and when I have two kids, that's when I'm a real mom, like a my life is over, I will do nothing but be a great mom until the kids graduate college and then I'll have a grand mini vacation until they have me some grandkids and call me up to raise them.

And having tasted what being a mom is like during the "trial period," I've been living and running like I better get it in while I still have the chance!

So this year I planned my first 50 mile ultra, 24 hour ultra, 24 hr relay, under 4:30 marathon and a bunch of mini races to qualify for the NYC marathon the following year. Oh and to top it off, a goofy challenge of half a marathon one day and a marathon the next day a year from now.

I figured then I'd be all run out for a while and ready to take a break and have some kids. Oh see there I go saying it again, forgot to say more kids!

Then in between the break of mom and grandma, I'd do that marathon maniac thing, maybe a 100 mile ultra or two and fulfill my life-long dream of becoming an Ironman. Oh and then there's the 7 continents, 50 states and running-mom/Forest-Gump thing I want to do.

Well, I had a wake up call from all that race planning when I started looking into preschool this week.

Wow is it expensive to pay for 30 hours of sanity / wk! I'm talking don't-do-another race-'till-the-GREAT-grand-kids-grow-up, eat-peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwiches-21-times-per-wk OR win-the-lottery-kind-of-expensive!

How does one do it...I do not know!

But one thing I have learned this week, is that I'm a mommy now...yup that one kid does make me a mom, even if he doesn't hear his siblings calling me mommy and so still calls me, "Hey!"...and it's time to find some balance between taking good care of my kid, and the many dollars it apparently costs to do that if you're not good at doing it all by yourself, and having some kind of life.

So I will still be running, and I will try to train for this ultra whenever I can find the time and hope that I come up with the money to travel to Key West, but meanwhile I will know that while running in and of itself is a priority, being a good mother definitely takes precedent over exotic races that win me bragging rights.

They'll be time for that...some day...