5am???

Yup. It sounds scary, overwhelming, and just plain too early, but that's the time I'm up and out the door eight minutes later to run 3-4 days every week. My non-running friends think I'm certifiably insane. But let's face it folks. There isn't any other time where I can have an uninterrupted hour to call my own. Trips to school, ballet lessons, the grocery store, and church meetings all seem to take precedence over a four mile run. And don't even get me started about dinner and laundry!

A few years ago when I started my running ventures, I tried to find time in the afternoons and evenings, you know, right after work. It was really hard. Something was always in the way, not to mention - I'm tired! I did manage to train for my first 5K ever that way, but please know I had only run the whole 3 miles at once just one time before the event and was trying to convince myself that I wouldn't be in last place. I'm just saying.

Then things changed. I was a parent volunteer at my son's Cub Scout day camp and another woman in the group mentioned that she got up at 5am to run. I don't remember much more about her other than she had several kids and had found no other solution. Light bulb moment! The thought had never occurred to me. So, when school started that August, I was setting my alarm for 5am. It was hard. Heck, it still IS hard! Warm covers are not exactly easy to give up on cold, dark winter mornings. And laziness is never easy to overcome!

But, I have yet to ever regret a 5am run. Need I say more?

Who am I? Why should you hang around this blog?

I am Amy. I am a wife, a mother, and a runner. I work at a school. I run kids around after work. I cook, I clean, I shop for things to cook and clean with. I am trying to help my kids grow up to be happy, productive members of society while also trying to be a loving wife to my husband of 16.5 years. How come no one ever told me that this was not as easy as it sounds on paper??

I went back to work in 2004. My kids were in 2nd and 4th grade. It didn't sound too bad. I was working at the school that they were attending. My job handed me a lot of stress that first year, mostly due to a coworker being out with breast cancer and me having to suddenly learn her job on top of mine. I was gaining weight. My husband had started running a few years before and I was a little bit envious. So, I figured what the heck - what do I have to lose - except hopefully the stress and the weight? So, I laced up my shoes and tried running around the block. It wasn't pleasant, but I did it again, and again, and even again. It was slow going. There was no rhyme or reason to when I got to run. It was always squeezed in between something else. Back then, a mile seemed like a huge accomplishment. Well, here I am, five years later, and I have lived to tell about it. I even lost some weight along the way!

So, why this blog? Back in those early days (and even now!) I would have loved to have found a blog such as this. One that was written by someone that wasn't famous, and never was going to be. Someone who was never going to be fast, but still wanted to do her very best. Someone who had responsiblities and had a normal life to lead. No nannies, no trainers, no sponsors. While I admire greatly women like Deena Kastor and Paula Radcliff - I am a big enough girl to realize that I will never be one of them. I can dream all I want, but I will never be Olympic material! Heck - I won't even make the A list in my own town - after all there are a couple of really great women around here that run - and of course, they are right about my age so are right there with me in my age group!

So, join me on this adventure! If you are just a regular mom, wanting a little motivation to run, know that you are not alone. I'm right here with you, probably running around on empty!