In December 2017 my wife and I welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world. Becoming a mum has already taught me many things, but mostly perspective. That's something I take with me everywhere now. It's made me realise how fortunate we are to be able to provide for our daughter, keep her fed and safe whilst surrounding her with love and positivity. It's taught me that running and in particular racing are not the be all and end all! Races and PBs can be chased another time, fitness comes and goes and comes back again if you want it to... This time right now is all about baby girl! But what has running taught me about being a mum...?1. PATIENCE - we've listened to this song twenty times already, but hey sure let's play it again. After all I've spent 4 hours in an ultra repeating the same motto "left, right, left, right" or "just keep moving forward". What's another 5 minutes of the Kiwi Hokey Tokey (awesome version of the hokey pokey if you're a kiwi or married to one) 2. ENDURANCE - ok so you're only going to stop crying if I pace out this exact 2m long figure of 8 in the dining room for the rest of eternity. Bring it baby! Monotony is my bitch! 3. ILL TIMED POOS - of course you've just shat all up your back when we're about to leave the house! But hey who cares when you got to go, you got to go! I've shat in some interesting places too, you just got to clean yourself up the best you can and carry on. 4. FLEXIBILITY - even the best laid plans can fall apart with a single projectile vomit. Whether it's baby in the car or me in a race it always pays to be able to adjust your mindset / goals / plans and shake it off (literally). It would be nice to have a training plan atm but the reality is one night it's 8 hours sleep the next it's 4 so you got to be realistic about what you can achieve the following day... 5. SLEEP DEPRIVATION SUCKS!! But when training for an ultra there's rarely a day you're not pretty bloody tired. And let's face it this time you've got a really awesome reason to be up at 4am - who doesn't like changing shitty nappies in the dark whilst half asleep and trying to figure out what exactly has made that wet patch on your PJs.... Babies also have the benefit of being awesome training partners... Nobody else (openly) giggles at me when I do my single leg deadlifts and squats! Also crab walks have the most soothing rhythm for bedtime. I'm expecting glutes and legs of steel thanks to my baby girl 😂
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