Moms in Motion

"Accidental Athlete" is a name that David bestowed on me a couple of years ago when I started to do different running, biking and triathlon events. We still laugh about this title, because it is accurate since I am not in any way super fast or skilled; I just like to do the events to raise money for a good cause and get some exercise in the process. Good exercising calls for good eating in my book!

I moved from accidental to intentional status this week when I officially joined a running/triathlon team in my area - Moms in Motion. Moms In Motion® is a Global Network connecting Moms through Fitness, Fun & Philanthropy. Moms meet other moms with similar interests and fitness goals. They develop friendships and get the support and guidance they need to reach their goals. The beauty in this group is there is not a lot of competition, just a lot of support and sharing of cool ideas.

I showed up for the first training run (it was actually the 2nd, but I had a community service gig the previous week that kept me away, plus I heard that it rained CRAZY hard during their session) at 7 am Saturday, uncharacteristically layered up in clothing because it was 32 degrees outside!

Our team (the Westlake MIMs...there is a group in New York with a funny but slightly controversial name of Sexy Mother Runners, but I digress...), has it's very own trainer, Gloria, who took us through a series of warm-ups and exercises to work our large and small twitch muscles. Imagine if you will 20+ women in a parking lot waving their arms as they skip or bounce or whatever step we were assigned to do across the pavement. It was surprisingly effective and helped to get the blood pumping!

Runs are done "Indian" style, which was new to me. The team is super focused on safety, so we run as a group (we were split out by time...you-know-who was relegated to the slow team, which we dubbed "team molasses"). The front person sets the pace for 2-minutes while everyone else runs behind, then the person at the rear of the line sprints to the front, where they then lead the charge for 2-minutes. It makes the time go by quickly and gives everyone an opportunity to speed it up a bit as they take the charge to the front.

Our first run was kind of short - 30 minutes or 2.75 miles at our 11 minute pace - but I can see the potential for lots of good workouts coming. I hear rumor that the triathlon team (which I also am a part of) has a tough ride planned for this week.

Bring it!