Tuesday, May 12, 2026 – Mothering

Hi Gang!

Hope everyone had a great week and weekend! Many in this group took on the Sporting Life 10K in support of Camp Ooch (a camp for kids and their families who are battling cancer). It’s a great cause and fantastic event which brings over 20,000 runners down Yonge st. And as it falls on Mother’s Day every year, many people do it as a traditional run with their moms or kids. This year, running with kids were Lara, Meagan, and Madalyn. Then we had Cheryl (PB!), Michelle (PB – I think?), Steph (PB!), Chris (PB!), and Jen (sorry lady – pb days might be behind us – but very fast run!) Great showing all – we’re obviously doing something right!

Speaking of Mother’s Day, I was reflecting on the importance and value of what it means to “mother”. The verb “to mother” in the Merriam Webster dictionary means “to care for and protect”. It also means to nurture with kindness and affection, and I would add, to put someone else’s needs ahead of you own. Obviously you don’t have to have given birth in order to exude these qualities. In fact, I don’t think you even need to be female. The qualities of mothering are most universally and easily seen in mothers towards their children, but if that was the only place we saw them, the world would quickly devolve into a cold and heartless place. I see people in this group bringing mothering qualities to their work quite a lot. Caring and protecting with kindness and affection. That can be done in the medical and health care fields, the academic field, in education, through volunteer and community work, and even in retail or service industry jobs where you’re interacting with people. People can sense when you truly care about their needs and it goes a long way.

We can’t “mother” our kids forever. My teenagers (particularly one of them) refuses to be mothered. What can be done. But we can value the characteristics of mothering, and not make them seem soft or weak or try to dampen them in ourselves in order to appear strong. Support, nurture and safety are the centre that hold everything together. I was listening to a podcast talking about how some women (it’s mostly women) find themselves in the role of “office mom” without having asked for it. People go to them with their needs and problems and know they will be listened to and cared for. Unfortunately these roles are undervalued and when these women leave, the centre falls apart and the office culture often crumbles. And management looks around wondering why they have an attrition problem. But the ‘office moms’ are never given recognition or reward for their valuable work, and those traits are again characterized as ‘soft’.

What does this have to do with running? Just that I see a lot of the ‘mothering’ characteristics among those in our group, and I think we should appreciate and value them. Also, there is no greater strength than that of a mother in protection mode. The most dangerous animal in the world is any mother with her young. Have you seen videos of mother lions attacking males twice their size and sending them running in order to protect their babies? Mothering is not soft. It is fierce and it is the strongest force out there when it’s harnessed and turned in the right direction. It’s all warm and nurturing and feel-good until you get in between me and the people I care about. Then I will eat your face off.

So let’s keep leaning into our mothering instincts and talents. And let’s value and appreciate and thank others when we see them in action. We are all so much stronger and better for all of the mothering that goes on in this group. Thank-you all for that.

Tomorrow we’re back to fartlek on the spit! 6:05 Drills, 6:15 GO! (again, these tend to be longer, so if you’re coming from further away consider driving and treating yourself to a coffee on your way home)

Let’s keep these a little lower in volume for now and work on turnover while we’re between marathon seasons. This is still a good idea for people eyeing fall marathons. Yes, you should be adding volume now, but that volume should be EASY. It can look like longer warm ups and cool downs. Let’s keep the work pieces short and peppy for now.

Cut-downs:

4 min @ 10K pace

2 min easy

2 x 3 min @ 8K pace w 90 sec easy

2 min easy

3 x 2 min @ 5K pace w 1:15 easy

2 min easy

4-6 x 1 min Fast w 1 min Easy

So it’s basically 4, (3, 3), (2, 2, 2), (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1) if that’s easier to visualize.

That is all – see you in the a.m.!

Seanna