A Whole New Respect for Runners with Kids
My brother and his wife went on a weekend getaway and I agreed to watch the nephews for the weekend. They are… wait for it… 18 months and almost 4 years old. Jesse and I always have fun with the little guys and were happy to give them a break and hang out. I had my usual workouts over those 3 days (2x Runs, a bike ride, and a recovery swim), but surely I’d be able to sneak these in before they got up or at nap time. After all – how hard could it be?
I should at this point mention that we hadn’t had them overnight but had taken them to our fair share of Chucky Cheese adventures. I should now mention that I was not nearly prepared for the carnage of the next few days 
The first night, the 4 year old started complaining about an ear ache well past his bed time (and mine). We managed to get him calmed down but he repeated this every 20 minutes or so for half the night. We called his parents half way through and were preparing for ye old emergency room if need be. We were both happy that he finally slept for a solid 5 hours before being wide awake prior to my morning run. Needless to say, I happily traded my morning run for confirmation from him that he was feeling much better! Besides, I still had nap time right?
By noon we realized he needed to see the doctor because we were pretty sure he had pink eye. We were able to get him in Friday afternoon (luckily the pediatrician is a family friend) where we confirmed pink eye and an ear infection. After a long wait at two different pharmacies (the first didn’t have the prescribed eye drops), I was ready to call my own mother and let her know that I understand what a day in her life was like.
Don’t get me wrong, we actually had a blast playing with toys, making them laugh, getting tattoos and teaching them to ride a motorcycle. It was clearly a full time job with every spare second keeping them moving – and we often had to do so on limited sleep. I didn’t make it out to a single workout (including my weekend long run), didn’t write any blogs, and only a limited tweet or two. To be honest, I was just happy to find the few minutes to get a shower.
So now that I’m comfortably back in my own house, I already miss them and can’t wait to hang out with them again – but I came away with a new appreciation for parents and time management For all you runners out there with kids – I take my hat off to you! Wow, I now have some inkling how much exhausting work it is and am totally impressed.
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I'm The Running Mike, a triathlon coach, running coach, and endurance athlete that likes to run, bike, and swim. 
Nice job watching the kids for the weekend, but know that you had it tough. Kids aren’t always sick and when healthy, they are much easier and fun to be around. But we will take the credit.
THANK YOU!! FANTASTIC POST!
It is hard and fun being a parent, and trying to fit in a little bit of time for myself. But if I didn’t work out I’d have run away from home by now!!! I’ve gotten very creative about this – I commute to work by bike, or run/train. I run at lunch and I have on occasion got the babysitter over for just an hour to do a workout. So its complicated but possible. The up side is when I do have 30 minutes free, or an hour, then I use every minute.
Such a great post. I’m glad you have a respect for parents. Lately all I hear from non-parents are that stay at home moms (or dads) don’t do anything. I only have one child but she is as hyper as can be and a tomboy…so yeah she’s the one at my house trying to jump from the couch to the coffee table or climb everywhere. I also just went running for the first time in awhile with the jogger and I could tell instantly my daughter was a couple lbs heavier than the last time. She definitely makes me work hard to be healthy. A good thing I assume
It’s amazing how much hanging with little ones is a workout in itself!