My legs almost gave out this morning as I walked down the stairs. That first footstep after you wake up when everything seems to ache, even your eyeballs. Is that everyone in their 50s or just me?
I reflected on these past 6 days of nutty workouts as I gripped the railing, my bones and muscles creaking alongside the wooden steps. “What the hell am I doing?” I thought. “A triathlon tomorrow?”
Who started all of this madness where swimming, biking and running alongside hundreds of women in the early hours of a chilly September morning has become the new normal? I flash back to my mom and her friends enjoying a cup of coffee together on the porch, laughing out loud, ignoring us, smoking so much that the room looked like a small house fire. Their conversations probably revolved around whether to work or not, what's for dinner, town news, gossip about the other women in their lives.
Our conversations? How to apply the Glide so our butt cheeks don't chafe.
Did I say they ignored us? Yes, that was a faraway time ago.
Today we work full-time, micro-manage our children’s lives AND embark on the path of physical overachievement.
I run with women who think it’s normal to get up at 4:45 AM and run 16 miles before work.
“How far are you going today?” I ask.
“16,” Crazy Friend #1 says.
“Oh, and you?”
“Probably 12,” Crazy Friend #2 says.
This time, a few are training for the NYC marathon. A few others, the Hartford Half.
You’d think these were once-in-a-lifetime, check-it-off-your-bucket list, events -- like my sprint Tri that is happening tomorrow (did I say that is happening tomorrow?). Nope. Another race is always there. Race To the Beach, Tough Mudder. 70.3 Half Ironman. Always something.
So I ask, “When did cigarettes, soap operas and ignoring our children stop being the norm?” My mom is 87 years old and hasn’t jogged a yard in her life. She smoked a pack a day (back in the day) and drinks Manhattans for dinner. I mean, with dinner (winky face). Today, if I talk to my mother about my life, she gazes back at me with a blank, bored stare as if I'm speaking a foreign language. Puzzled and confused, she usually changes the subject.
This seismic behavioral shift in one generation? How?!
Gotta wrap this blog up. I’ve got yoga this morning. Work to catch up on. A cross-country meet at 2:00 and field hockey game at 4:00.
Oh yeah, and carbo loading for this Tri tomorrow.
Did I say it was tomorrow?
