Hello, Mama.

Back before I became a mom, I would show up at races and see all of these moms there, all fit and happy, their kids hanging around with their dad or older sibling. Many of the moms were older than me, but some were younger. Many of them were faster than me, but a few were slower.

I used to wonder about them. Wonder about the moms who not only ran, but ran races, and ran them well. "Who does that?" I would think, imagining that if what everyone said was true about having kids -- that, you know, you never sleep again after they are born* -- then it didn't make sense for these women to run in their spare time. Why wouldn't they just nap?

The joke's on me, right?

I guess so. Because here I am now: A running mom. A mother runner. Or, muthah runnah, if you prefer.

Now I get it. I understand why those women ran and ran races and ran well. Because now I am one of them. I want to run more than ever now that I have a child. And not because I want to get away from my son or because I need time alone or any of that (although some days . . . ). No, running is my thing and I think that once you have a kid, your thing (whatever it is -- and it might be many things) sorta crystallizes and tends to become more important to you. It becomes something that you have to be either completely into or it becomes not worth doing. For me, running is very worth doing. Some other things? Not so much. They've been dropped but running remains.

The point of this post, though, was to be a salute to running moms. It's Take it and Run Thursday at Runners' Lounge and that's their theme this week: Salute to running moms. I do that. I salute you, running moms. We rock.

But we're not much different than other non-running moms. Sure, we run. But the non-running moms have their own things and that's cool. So, I salute them, too. And -- since I'm on a saluting roll -- I salute all the non-mom runners, too! C'mon, Internet, how 'bout a big group hug?

Gosh, I'm corny.

Luckily, I hear my toddler calling, which means nap time and today's blog time is over. No more corniness from me! Enjoy the rest of the day!

~ Felice

*Which isn't, by the way, true.