Girls are Powerful

Wednesday afternoon, I picked up Cesia and Adara from nursery school. Adara was busy crafting at the art table, she glanced at me and then immediately back at her work. Cesia was riding in circles on a big red tricycle, just as she is every other afternoon at pick-up. She spotted me, hopped off mid-pedal cycle and sprinted over shouting, "I learned something new today at school! I learned something new today!" I smothered her in my arms, excitedly asking her what it was that she had learned. She is two-and-a-half (NOT 2, she will tell you!) and so half of her day is spent learning new things. This must be something special, something unique and incredibly exciting to her that she recognized it as "something new" and could not wait to share it with her mama. She looked up at me, with her porcelain skin and wide blue-eyes, her sharp cheek bones trying to conceal her excitement while she blurt out the words. "I learned that girls are POWERFUL!" If my girl learns nothing else in preschool over the next two years, I will be satisfied. Girls are powerful.

Definite super powers, here. Cesia's BFF.

Two powerful girls here.

Yesterday morning I ran 14 miles with Isaac in the Bob. I love that stroller. I love that kid. Six months ago, I would have thought such a feat was insurmountable. I never could have imagined running 14 miles with a stroller. Then I found Dorothy Beal and her Mile Posts blog where she chronicles her running adventures and training for marathons with her kids alongside. In one especially inspiring post, she wrote about running 20 miles with her daughter. I read this post about 3 months ago and thought it was unbelievable. Crazy. On at least a subconscious level, I am sure that post and others by her have been inspiring me to run greater distances with my kids. Knowing that someone else out there has done it has proven to me that it is possible. Sure, it's hard, but it's also fun, just like everything else in running. And so when little 1-year old Isaac woke up before 5am crying out in pain from his incoming first year molars and was inconsolable even in my arms, I packed him into the Bob, wrapped him in two layers of PJ's, his sleep sack and a J.J. Cole Bundle Me that an awesome friend recently gifted us and headed up to the trail. Less than 1 mile in and he was peacefully asleep. Isaac was made for stroller running. He either babbled to himself softly, soothing himself with "mama, mama," chants or slept the entire near-2-hr journey.

Post 14-miler, awake and ready for a fun-filled day at the LA Zoo and Kid's Night Out!

I returned home before the clock hit 9:00am feeling powerful. Because girls are powerful. I felt proud, of my boy for sitting peacefully on the ride for 2 hours, of myself for achieving something new, for accomplishing something that I had previously thought impossible, of my body for carrying me 14 miles and feeling strong the entire time. And so I snapped a quick picture of Isaac out front of our house and posted it on Facebook to share our joy. That is all I was doing. In sharing that I ran 14 miles with my baby on an early Saturday morning I wished to convey my happiness. I also wished to possibly inspire others to achieve something incredible, something they previously thought impossible, to challenge themselves and surprise themselves, much in the same way that Dorothy Beal's 20-mile stroller run has inspired me.

In response to my post I received great news of accomplishments from friends. An old friend wrote that she raced her first 5K with her 4 and 2.5 year old that morning. A new friend wrote that she ran 2.25 miles that morning and felt proud. Others wrote similar comments. And I love your comments, so thank you!

Later, however, I realized that many of the comments included comparisons. I know that is natural, to compare ourselves to others. Facebook, twitter and other social media sites make that especially accessible these days. We are constantly reading and viewing updates on how our friends spent their days. That can be great. It can be inspiring. I just hope that those comparisons don't leave us feeling diminished. Yes, I ran 14 miles yesterday and you ran 2.25 miles. Awesome! Friend, you are amazing for running 2.25! You got out of the house, escaped the amazing yet hectic life as a fellow mother of three and ran. And you who raced a 5K through mud and cold, wet terrain pushing many lbs of kid-weight in your double Bob, you inspire me. You are incredible and strong! You ran and you felt accomplished afterwards and that is all that matters. It doesn't matter how many miles I ran. There will always be someone else out there doing more than you, more than me.

My view during the run.
I never feel lonely or bored when covering ground with this favorite training partner.

In my younger days, this fact was always on my mind. I lived by comparing myself to others. My college cross country team alone possessed at least a dozen runners who were faster than me. It tore me up. I compared and compared and no matter how hard I tried, I could not be as good as them. I could not hit those miles as fast, or run as many miles/week as many of them. My body and my mind broke down. I know that my teammates never meant to make me feel diminished. In fact, every member of that team was as supportive and loving as they could be. But it did not matter because I lacked something so foundational and so important. I lacked the belief that my 2.5 year old reminded me of last week. Girls are powerful. You are all powerful. Keep going out there and doing what you are doing and never feel diminished. Feeling inferior will just tear up your mind and body. Feel inspired and inspire others, because Girls are powerful!

And watch the Superbowl. Cheer loudly, eat some good food and high five your friends and your kids, because sports are meant to be fun and to inspire us! Go, Pete Carrol! : )