I Used to Run Marathons...

Gone are the days of hillside living when John and I equally split our weekend days (one for his beach trip to go surfing, the other for my long training runs). Here to stay are the unavoidable beach days, where he checks the surf religiously from all facets of our property, including the driveway, the roof, the Internet, texting resources, and phone conversations with his surfing cohorts therein saturating both weekend days with the looming possibility of an All Time Surf Session at any point in the day! AUUGHGHHH! What have I gotten myself into?
Funny enough, I never anticipated this problem when we moved nearer the beach. Probably because when we moved, I happened to be recently incapacitated with child and soon to be second child growing ominously in belly. My long run days had run out a few years back. Go surf, daddy, just get home in time to rub my feet and give baby a bath. And hurry it up because we've got a kitchen to remodel! I had traded in my running shoes for a Cat's Claw and a hammer and I had pushed my marathon days into memories.
And now, Mommy FINALLY got her groove back and I stand, jogging in place at a crossroads: Negotiating independent play time for both well deserving parents on the weekends. He needs a few hours for his surf session, I need a few hours for my training run.
Where to go from here? To be a good wife, one must understand the soul surfer. He, like a bird riding the warm breeze of a summer night, follows the ocean's waves wherever they may roll, whenever their crashing song calls his name. Which means, I gotta let him get good surf so we can all be happy, otherwise he's a real bear to be with. And waves don't have a publicist to memo their upcoming weekend agenda. So, for 2 years we've worked our weekend schedule around the swell, our family days are an abysmal orbit around daddy's surf schedule.
Which means, if I intend to make time to do extended runs, I either need to arm myself with some mace and a DayGlo running suit so I may jog in the dark hours of morning before sunrise, or I need to lay down some ground rules.
Momma's got a new plan and Elmo's got my back, apparently "Learning To Share" is a universal dilemma, not limited to toddlers. Soul Surfer, you've finally met your match and her name is MOMMA.

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