Do the Hokey Pokey, and turn yourself around!

OK, so here it is...I am literally 2 hours from running my next 5K...let me paint the picture for you...I have my four children swirling all around me, Mollie whining incessantly since she woke from her nap, Owen running around trying to close windows (because it's raining, and he's trying to do a favor, but I REALLY want the windows open for fresh air, so it's really annoying me), Aidan upstairs doing God know what, he's quiet and that surely means t-r-o-u-b-l-e!, and then there's Maddie, running around the kitchen with her home made "whip" asking Mollie and Owen "who wants a whipper" as she's flailing it in their direction. I am trying to fold that last load of laundry and Maddie is now whining at me to fix the remote because she can't find her show, the oven timer is beeping at me because it's time to flip the chicken patties, because I am trying to have dinner ready for Jim because he was in a class all day and will be just as spent as I am (maybe!), and I'm blasting the music because I think it will calm my nerves and have me focus on something other than the fact that I want to blow this race out of the water (by my own standards!) and it hits me...

I CAN'T WAIT TO GET OUT AND RUN! I need this run in the worst way. This will be my escape from the rat race of a day. This will be the only time in this day when NO ONE will be calling "Mommy" and needing me at this very moment. This will MY time, all I will hear is my favorite music, my inner voice telling me to step it up, to be ERIN. Not the mother, not the servant, not the housekeeper, not the cook, not the referee of 5 yr. old fist fights, just ME! I will step up to that start line tonight and I will be that mother of 4 children who has had a long, busy day of endlessly serving others, but by the time I cross that finish line that mother will have disappeared and in her place will be Erin Keenan, fresh, young, in shape, invincible woman who just did her best, and accomplished an amazing feat! I will be just me, just for a few minutes (hopefully, about 21 or so!) and it will be refreshing. I will be totally exhausted, but I will be refreshed and renewed and be better for everyone. I will hug my kids and my husband and be so glad they're there to share my moment, and I will go home and gladly tuck them all in. I will feel lucky to be able to run, I will feel lucky to have my kids, and I will feel lucky to be home tonight to tuck them in, and that's what it 's all about!