For My Mom.....

I'm not quite sure how to thank my mom for all that she has done for me over the past 3 months 35 years. However, my blog posts are long enough so I can't really get into all 35 years right now. For this, I am simply focusing on the last 3 months.

Awww..even back then you were good to me!

When marathon training was in full swing, it was determined that 26.2 miles is simply too difficult a distance to try to run with anyone else (for the race). Frankly, 13.1 is hard enough. I tried once to run a race with someone (my first 13.1) and it ended badly, so I wasn't surprised when this happened. (but let's be honest...it made me go a little psychotic because I again had to deal with my lack of speed and my wish to be faster...but that's for another day..or not). So, I had to figure out what the HECK I was going to do for those 15+ mile training runs....those runs when I would inevitably be pounding the pavement for 4+ hours. My SIL had suggested that we start our runs together and then just meet up at the end, but I knew this wouldn't work for me. I soon decided that I had to ask for help from someone else.

Enter the BEST MOM IN THE WORLD!!! I explained to my mom that since my pace was so different from SIL and Ade's, that I would be doing these long training runs solo and that I would really need someone to support me. At first she didn't think she could. She commented that she would love to help me, but wasn't sure how she could. The genius in me informed her that she could always ride her bike next to me, which should be pretty easy since it's not like I run super fast and she'd be on a bike! However, it's still 4+HOURS sitting on a bike, listening to me bitch about how I can't go any farther, and pushing me to make sure I do. My mother got up at the butt crack of dawn, drove 30+ minutes to where we meet to run/ride and  got on her bike to try to entertain me and support me through 15, 18, 21, and 24 16.4 miles. She rode next to me through a torrential downpour for over 4 hours when we did 18. She dealt with my mental blocks and pushed me through to 21 miles when I didn't think I'd make it past 15. And, she listened to me and agreed that pushing myself to 24 on a bad day wasn't worth it. She talked to me for hours on end when all I could do was listen because I couldn't breathe enough to talk. We joked about even we ran out of things to talk about by our last long run. She dealt with a sore bottom from sitting on a bike that long - even if you're not riding fast, you're still sitting on that damn seat and you get sore!

After 18 very wet miles....

And as a result of all this; and because we have enjoyed this time together so much; she has now started joining me on my shorter runs of "only" 8 miles. It's amazing how quickly the time goes by (especially in comparison to 21)! And, it's nice to not even have to do those shorter runs by myself. It reminds me of the days we used to live close enough to each other that we would take mid-week walks for 2 hours at a time in the evenings.

She may know....but I don't possibly think she could truly know what that means to me. I know that she and my Dad worry about how much stress I'm putting on my body running these crazy miles with all this extra weight still on me. I know that she thinks I'm totally insane for "jumping" to 26.2 after only having done 4 half marathons and still needing to lose a significant amount of weight. I used to take that as she didn't support me. When she questioned why I would do an Olympic Triathlon this year instead of getting better at the Sprint distance first, I felt as though she wasn't supporting me. I felt like she was doubting I could do it. But, over the last 3 months, I feel like she 100% supports me. She believes that I can do this and supports all my efforts. I started to feel this way back in March when my birthday present was a gift certificate for our local bike store so I could buy the clip-in shoes I needed to complete my new road bike purchase. I thought prior to that she thought it was all dumb. I didn't need to spend the money on the new bike, etc. And, she may have thought that. She may still think that. But, she showed her support to me when she helped me to reach that goal. She has no idea that that spoke volumes to me. And now, she's helping me to reach another goal that perhaps she doesn't agree with. But, it doesn't matter. She's showing her support 110%.

A much needed hug from my mom at the end of a very emotional Olympic Tri!

My mom likes to tell me that when she's getting ready at 6AM on a Friday or Saturday or Sunday to come meet me for a long run, that my Dad looks at her and says...."You're a good mom". And he's right. And he's a good Dad too. He supports me by not making a fuss when my mom leaves him for 5 hours to go ride her bike next to me. He even joined us when we did the 15 miles. He's the one who really likes to tell me to be careful. To work on losing this weight so that it isn't so hard on my body.

I'm sure anyone who reads my blogs notices that my mom will comment on every single blog post that I make. She wants me to know that she's reading my blog and supporting my efforts.

So, MOM, I don't know what I could do or buy to truly show you my appreciation for all that you've done. I hope that professing my appreciation for you on the World Wide Web does it! :) I love you and appreciate everything you've ever done for me. And please know that you are the BEST MOM IN THE WORLD and I can only hope that I'm as good of a mom to my kids as you have been to me.