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Why 5K Per Day Makes Me A Better Mother…

1
During my early teens, the boarding school I attended offered an option of punishments. You could choose between detention, or a cross-country run. I always opted for the latter.

I was a perpetrator of all sorts of ‘crimes’ back then, ergo I found myself running a lot. Distances got easier. Soon, a half marathon wasn’t something I’d lose a lung over.

In my twenties, I’d run in the mornings, before work, with my beloved Schnauzer (RIP Coco) – although often with a stonking hangover.

Whilst 7 months pregnant with my first son, I

SelfishMother.com
2
slipped over, running on some ice. I stopped.

When my third child was a year old I dug out my trainers again. I needed some ‘me time’ and mentally committed myself to a 15K run every Sunday morning. I’ll confess, it felt brilliant as I shut the front door behind me and literally ran away from my kids, plugging my headphones in to the sort of soundtrack that I really shouldn’t be listening to as the mother of three kids.

(Of course, I’d come home an hour or so later and the kitchen was covered with pancake batter, the kids and Daddy would

SelfishMother.com
3
be on the sofa watching Star Wars – but I was on a running high and I didn’t care.)

The problem was that on some Sundays Rich, my other half (who is a photographer), would have a shoot. Or it would be chucking down hailstones. Or I would have been up all night with youngest cutting a new tooth. For whatever reason I couldn’t do my Sunday run made me feel like a failure. Or worse; turned me into Mummy Snarky Pants; yelling at the kids for no reason, blaming Rich for everything…  

I had succumbed to the age-old parenting problem of setting

SelfishMother.com
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one’s goals too high and linking them to self-worth.  But our recent move from scuzzy East London to the beautiful Norfolk countryside forced us to re-prioritise as a family, and address our needs.

I realised that my running needed to exist within smaller chunks of family life. That way, missing a run wouldn’t be devastating. My solution has been – since the new year – to run 5K whilst Rich does the school run. It is a short distance, but it is enough. And I can do it on most days. (And if I can’t, I don’t beat myself up about it.)

Even

SelfishMother.com
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more motivating, The Hoxby Collective, the flexible working community of 500 freelancers in 30 countries, which I am proud to be a part of, laid down a challenge beginning on January 1st, 2019. The community aims to run/walk/cycle/row/ski/ride around the globe over the course of the year. The challenge is called #HoxbyWorld365.

We log our distances through Strava and motivate each other via a dedicated channel in Slack. It has become a fitness support network for us all (rare to have this when you are self-employed) – last week we collectively,

SelfishMother.com
6
virtually, made it to Russia! Pozdravlyayu!

Personally, my little 5K runs are so rewarding. For starters, since I’m not running through East London on a Sunday morning, so my routes don’t involve jumping over kebab detritus along the salacious kerbs of Romford Road. I can inhale huge gulps of country air and explore pine forests, lakes or ruins – yet all this barely takes 20 minutes out of my day.

I’ve found that a daily 5K not only stops me snarking at my family but also really boosts my ideas. A study by Bristol University discovered that

SelfishMother.com
7
workplace productivity increases by 21% and motivation by 41% after exercise. I reach for my notebook the second I get back from a run – before I hit the shower, even.

I’m convinced as a community, The Hoxby Collective will make it ‘round the world by 31st December 2019. They can conquer anything. But my own journey (even just 5K per day – although I’m treating myself to 10K when youngest is in nursery) is taking me mentally to places so far outside of space/time continuum – then back to reality with a grin on my face – that I know I’ll keep

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this newfound habit up forever.
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- 16 Mar 19

During my early teens, the boarding school I attended offered an option of punishments. You could choose between detention, or a cross-country run. I always opted for the latter.

I was a perpetrator of all sorts of ‘crimes’ back then, ergo I found myself running a lot. Distances got easier. Soon, a half marathon wasn’t something I’d lose a lung over.

In my twenties, I’d run in the mornings, before work, with my beloved Schnauzer (RIP Coco) – although often with a stonking hangover.

Whilst 7 months pregnant with my first son, I slipped over, running on some ice. I stopped.

When my third child was a year old I dug out my trainers again. I needed some ‘me time’ and mentally committed myself to a 15K run every Sunday morning. I’ll confess, it felt brilliant as I shut the front door behind me and literally ran away from my kids, plugging my headphones in to the sort of soundtrack that I really shouldn’t be listening to as the mother of three kids.

(Of course, I’d come home an hour or so later and the kitchen was covered with pancake batter, the kids and Daddy would be on the sofa watching Star Wars – but I was on a running high and I didn’t care.)

The problem was that on some Sundays Rich, my other half (who is a photographer), would have a shoot. Or it would be chucking down hailstones. Or I would have been up all night with youngest cutting a new tooth. For whatever reason I couldn’t do my Sunday run made me feel like a failure. Or worse; turned me into Mummy Snarky Pants; yelling at the kids for no reason, blaming Rich for everything…  

I had succumbed to the age-old parenting problem of setting one’s goals too high and linking them to self-worth.  But our recent move from scuzzy East London to the beautiful Norfolk countryside forced us to re-prioritise as a family, and address our needs.

I realised that my running needed to exist within smaller chunks of family life. That way, missing a run wouldn’t be devastating. My solution has been – since the new year – to run 5K whilst Rich does the school run. It is a short distance, but it is enough. And I can do it on most days. (And if I can’t, I don’t beat myself up about it.)

Even more motivating, The Hoxby Collective, the flexible working community of 500 freelancers in 30 countries, which I am proud to be a part of, laid down a challenge beginning on January 1st, 2019. The community aims to run/walk/cycle/row/ski/ride around the globe over the course of the year. The challenge is called #HoxbyWorld365.

We log our distances through Strava and motivate each other via a dedicated channel in Slack. It has become a fitness support network for us all (rare to have this when you are self-employed) – last week we collectively, virtually, made it to Russia! Pozdravlyayu!

Personally, my little 5K runs are so rewarding. For starters, since I’m not running through East London on a Sunday morning, so my routes don’t involve jumping over kebab detritus along the salacious kerbs of Romford Road. I can inhale huge gulps of country air and explore pine forests, lakes or ruins – yet all this barely takes 20 minutes out of my day.

I’ve found that a daily 5K not only stops me snarking at my family but also really boosts my ideas. A study by Bristol University discovered that workplace productivity increases by 21% and motivation by 41% after exercise. I reach for my notebook the second I get back from a run – before I hit the shower, even.

I’m convinced as a community, The Hoxby Collective will make it ‘round the world by 31st December 2019. They can conquer anything. But my own journey (even just 5K per day – although I’m treating myself to 10K when youngest is in nursery) is taking me mentally to places so far outside of space/time continuum – then back to reality with a grin on my face – that I know I’ll keep this newfound habit up forever.

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I am a publicist working as part The Hoxby Collective. I have three sons, three dogs and I prefer my Martinis stirred, not shaken.

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