A Runner, a mother, a wife and teacher all in One Day--Guest Post
Guest posting today is Jen from
Jen wears many hats and seems to juggle all her responsibilities with grace, while still chasing after some serious running goals (she's a 3:19 marathoner!). She's a mother runner I admire and today she's chatting about how she manages her daily life as a runner, wife and homeschooling mom.
Mother.Runner.Wife.Teacher
My name is Jen and I blog at Miles and Blessings. I am a runner, a mother, a wife and I home school. I have 2 daughters, Alyssa (13) and Courtney (11), that I have been homeschooling for 6 years. My husband works full time as the pastor of Calvary Bible Church in Maryland.
jen2
Homeschooling
our girls is one of the hardest, yet most rewarding things that I do. Just like anything in life, there are a lot of benefits and challenges.
Being a mom is a hard job, and when you add the responsibility of teaching your children it can seem overwhelming
. My advice is to take it one day at a time. It helps to have a support team. This can consist of your husband, family, other home school moms in your area or in your church, and even home school blogs.
[Tweet "Juggling motherhood, running and homeschooling @milesnblessings shares how she does it"]
When it comes to running
, I feel like I can relate to runners of almost all levels. I have been running for 18 years. When I started running, as a junior in high school, a mile was far. Through most of my 20's I ran a few miles a day never really paying any attention to how fast. Back then five miles was a long run for me then. I ran through and after both of my pregnancies. Four years ago I decided I wanted to train for and run a marathon even though I had not run a race since high school (and those races were 3 miles long). In 2011 I ran the Wisconsin Marathon in
3:51
. It is really hard to describe your feelings after your first marathon. It was so hard, but so amazing. I was hooked. For the last 4 years I have really enjoyed training and racing.
I have worked hard and watched my marathon time go from
3:51 to 3:19
. Right now I am running half marathons and looking forward to the Richmond Marathon in the fall. I usually run between 40-50 miles per week. I take it week by week and I coach myself. Once I am signed up for a race, I come up with a training plan. On this plan I will only plan my key workouts (my tempo, speed and long run). The other workouts I do based on what kind of time I have and how my body feels. It can get really interesting when my husband and I are both training for a marathon! What we have done in the past is one of us does their long run
on Friday
, the other
on Saturday
. Since our girls are older we have also been able to take them with us sometimes. They will ride their bikes and we run. Don't be afraid to enlist of the help of family and friends.
jen7
Running and teaching
actually have a lot of similarities! Some days feel like a breeze, while some days feel impossible. At times the work seems daunting. I set goals for what I want to accomplish during the school year and in my running, but I also will re-evaluate those goals several times a year.The feeling when you accomplish a goal is beyond words! The community is filled with some amazing people who can help you along the way when you are having a hard time remember why you are doing what you are doing.
jen4
I am sure there are plenty of people reading this who have these thoughts:
I want to be a good mom, a good wife, good at my job and still have time to train and reach my running goals. How can I find the time
?
I am super excited to share some tips with you on how I do it. It would probably be best if I start by telling you that I am no different than you. I have good days and bad days. I have days when I feel like I am getting a ton done and days where virtually nothing gets done. Honestly, I do the best that I can everyday and pray that God will fill in the gaps! There are three characteristics that I think you need to be successful:
Be Ambitious:
It is important to be ambitious. Set goals for yourself. Challenge yourself to be better. I not only set goals for running, but also for a lot of other things in my life. My girls use the ACE curriculum for school and they set goals every day for what they need to get finished. I think it is important for our kids to see us working towards something.
Be Flexible:
This is SO important! In order to get the things that I want to get done in a day done I need to be flexible. This might mean that I need to move around when I run, where I run, or how far I run. It might mean that we start school earlier or later. It can also mean being flexible with my goals. I have had to change race goals during training because things were not going as I expected. It happens.
Be Forgiving:
Forgive yourself! Sometimes we put our expectations up so high, which isn't necessarily wrong, but if we don't reach those expectations we give up or beat ourselves up. We are all going to have days when we feel like a flop, but that does not mean we give up!
jen
J
en Floyd is a mom to two great daughters and a wife to one amazing husband. She home schools her daughters and they live in a beautiful town in Maryland. She enjoys running and encouraging others in their running journey. She has run 6 marathons, 6 half marathons, and a handful of 5 and 10k's. She loves getting to know other runners, and sharing her life and running experiences through her blog @
.