I'm Running Away.

Hi Friends,

I've had it. I'm running away.

As a little girl, I attempted to run away a few times. I would pack up my little bag with a couple necessities (clean underwear, a few cookies and a bottle of water) and head off down the lane. Unfortunately, our lane was like a kilometre long and there was nothing but more gravel once you got to the end. So I would usually make it to the bush, plop myself down under a tree, eat my cookies and contemplate my next move. After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, whatever it was that had me running was usually deemed a better alternative to the vast wilderness of North Easthope Township. At that, I would pick myself up, walk back home, return my underwear to their rightful place in the dresser (unbeknownst to my mum) and carry on with life.

Now, as an adult, I could probably still manage with just a pair of underwear, cookies and a bottle of water. However, as a wife and mum, it would be rather difficult to run away in this manner, as my necessities now include both D and K (although, I'm sure they'd be cool with the cookie part). So there I sat, at my metaphorical tree on the side of the lane(read: computer on the couch), thinking through what had me feeling like needing to run.

We moved to Hamilton almost 3 months ago, and since then, we have been going, going, going, non-stop. However, in between all the "going" it has become painfully obvious that even though I'm not too far from friends and family, I'm a stay-at-home mum, alone in a new city. For the last three months, I have been attempting to ignore this fact, hoping that everything will magically work itself out. Maybe, the next time I walk to the park I will meet the perfect group of mum friends who will invite me into their secret mum-clubhouse where we will have the best of times and there will be endless activities for me to fill my days with!

Last week, as I repeated some version of this delusional thinking to myself, I realized, "this is not real life". Real life is me with K needing to get myself figured out. What do I want to accomplish as a stay-at home mum? What are my goals? How do my dreams factor in to my reality? I realized that just because I have chosen to stay at home with K doesn't mean I have to "stay at home". In fact, it means quite the opposite! I need to get out, get moving, and show K this wonderful world! My job is to introduce K to life, and I can't do that if I'm hiding, or stalling or remaining stagnant in my own (one can only watch so many episodes of BubbleGuppies).

So, I've decided to run.

Running has been something that I've always wanted to try, and not only is it a good way to get exercise but I think it will be a good way to get to know my new city (and a faster way to get through the sketchy areas to the nice places in town).

The first step was to add some external motivation to amp up my internal, so I ordered a (stupidly expensive) jogging stroller (knowing that D wouldn't let me let that baby sit in the corner collecting dust). Now that it has arrived (and rolls like a freakin' dream) it is time to get my butt in gear. I've joined my local Running Room, and signed up for my first 5K (with Baby Stroller). I know 5K is not huge, and may seem pretty insignificant to my running friends, but I wanted K to be a part of the whole process and it seemed like a good fit for us (considering this mummy butt has been sitting for almost 2 years)!

So there you have it. I'm running away.

Away from the couch, away from the four walls that seem to grow closer and closer everyday, away from the poor attitude that I have adopted since our move 3 months ago. Time to start fresh!

Until next time my friends!

-A