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On the Run!

A New Mom Shares Her
Joy of Running

By Jenn Director Knudsen

After nine months of very little physical activity, my body protested that first run. My muscles had turned to relative mush, and my stamina had all but disappeared. Ten minutes into it, I had to call it quits. But I vowed to build back up to my former recreational jogger self.

And I did.

I never knew what running really meant to me before I became a mom. Now, running in the morning is so much more than a chance to collect my thoughts on the day ahead.

These days, it's my salvation, whether jogging through our neighborhood's streets under cover of darkness, in the driving rain, in pea-soup fog, among blossoming flowers or past skittish, fang-bearing dogs.

It's my time to be alone, in silence broken only by chirping birds or water flowing into the underground sewage system. It's my time to pray for Alyssa and my husband's good health. It's my time to move freely through space, instead of from crib to changing table to high chair and back. It's my time to think, uninterrupted.

Want to see more?

• Walking for Life
• Fitting Exercise Into Your Busy Schedule
• Belly, Back and Bottom: Your Postpartum Restoration Plan
• Off the Wall Fitness: Your Home is All the Support You Need!
• "No Time" Fitness: Once Baby Arrives, a Little Fitness Goes a Long Way
• Don't Have Time to Exercise? Of Course You Do!
• Talk about it!