Dear Reader
I’m currently in the UK ahead of the London Marathon, getting in some quality time with the family and trying to acclimatize. In order to get to the UK, we (myself and the baby) had to take our first transcontinental flight. Granted it was under 6 hours, and overnight, but it felt like a marathon in and of itself. Especially since I was departing on my own with the baby, as B is only going to be returning with us.
I will say that people were, on the whole, very kind to me, as I tried to manoeuvre a pram with a baby inside it, a car seat, carry-on luggage, and all-important, must-be-easy-to-access travel documents through JFK to one of its furtherest gates. As I knocked on the door of the accessible bathroom and waited for whoever was inside to come out, a woman asked if I needed help. I told her I was okay, and thanked her. “I know I don’t know you, but you’re a saint!” she exclaimed, before wheeling her own luggage away.
Not a saint, I thought to myself, as I continued to wait for the door to open, just a woman trying to integrate the life she led before — frequent trips to see family in the UK, travelling for work and to run marathons, enthusiasm to take on new challenges — with the life and one-year-old she has now.
This past week, the marathon has continued. You spend a year getting your baby onto a sleep schedule that finally works only to lose it all the moment you go overseas. And if the little one doesn’t sleep, no one sleeps. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I will be showing up to the start of the London Marathon definitely not well-rested, as one ideally should be. But if I have just an ounce of the dogged determination my little one has had this week to not sleep through the night, then I’ll make it through those 26.2 miles no problem!
It’s not just the London Marathon we’re excited for. This coming Monday, it’s the Boston Marathon — that mecca of marathoning. Sharing a video I made after surviving the 2018 Boston Monsoon, and wishing good weather to those running this year!
Thanks for reading!
Next week, it’ll be almost go-time for the London Marathon — eeek!
Stay safe,
Your neighbour
Nadia