No Guilt Allowed! Why Parents Need to Run their Race

Martin and I like to run together.

When we were younger, we would go for our run, at any time, for however long we want, any place we want.

And because we have two children (who don’t run) and no housekeeper, the only time we get to run is at night, after the children have been put to bed. Sometimes we plan to run, sometimes it just happens spontaneously, but we try to run as often as we can. I mean it’s good for fitness, gets the adrenaline pumping and releases endorphins brings us closer together and increase our intimacy as a couple.

To spice things up, once in a while, we try to run in the afternoon while the babies are napping. Kendi will usually nap from 1:00 to 2:30 and Keyo from 1:30 to 2:15. That basically gives us a 45-minute window to run.

Last weekend, we tried to do just that. Kendi went down for her nap pretty easily. I fed Keyo and put him down to nap as well. We began to get ready to go on our run. We heard Keyo making a sound. I went in to check on him and he was standing in his cot dancing. I explained to him that he needed to nap as Baba and I had things to do. I put him down again and went back to getting ready for the run.

The following is the series of events that took place in a span of 30 minutes (so frustrating):

Keyo kept getting up and either sitting in his cot or standing and dancing to non-existent music. We kept trying to leave for our run with no avail. Suffice it to say, we cannot leave the children awake unsupervised. We picked Keyo up maybe 6 or 7 times to find out what was going on with him and why he wasn’t napping.

Is he wet? Is he hot?

We fed him (again, with solid food this time), as we figured, maybe he was still hungry.

We gave up on our run.

Keyo started to get sleepy. Our hope in actually going through with our run was renewed. We put him down again and nearly made it out the door. He got up again. The non-existent beat is still popping.

‘I don’t think we’ll end up going today’, Martin says. ‘One more time babe, just put him down again’ I pleaded. I really want to work out today.

Keyo finally fell asleep. It was 2:00!

We jump on that race track like it’s running away from us. We need to get back before Kendi wakes up.

Just as we’re going over the last hill, Kendi wakes up and calls out, ‘Baba! Baba!’

I want to kill myself. Who wants to stop their race midway?!

Also, I’m not talking about running!

Read more Interesting stories on Crystal Kitt’s Blog