Jake doesn’t quit, and neither does Kristen.

Here’s an oldie-but-goodie because you can always use a new (or new-to-you) mantra, right? 

Word on the street is that Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line – and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity is starting to ship…can you hear my excitement from the keyboard? As you strain your ears, check out the next installment of your awesome motherly feedback that will forever live on this lovely website.

Take It From a Mother: Do You Have a Mantra?

“The old Helen Reddy song, ‘I Am Woman!’ I sometimes sing the lyrics out loud if I need a little extra push”
Dawn (favorite workout: always the last workout she completed)

Little steps, little steps. An article in Runner’s World mentioned how a smaller stride makes you faster and stronger.”
—Deb (never puked, post race. “I’m not a big fan of barfing. Ever.”)

Earn the downhill!
—Suzanne (access to trails was on her new-house-must-have list for realtor)

Don’t quit.
Kristen (backstory: before the Dallas half-marathon, one of her boys drew a picture of the word ‘quit’ with a circle around it and a line through it. Even when she injured herself at mile ten, she kept seeing that card in her head. Turns out, she broke a bone in her foot.)

A mantra I can get behind.

Forever forward. My husband put it on my Road ID bracelet”
Maggie (Mentally tough? “I can hold a pace really well, have run a marathon and listen to my body si I can stop when necessary. I think that all takes mental toughness.”)

I’m in charge! Power!”
—Amanda (as a skin cancer survivor, she always wears a hat and sunscreen on runs)

I will never give up
—Kesha (rewards herself after a long run with a Starbucks skim mocha. “My version of post-run chocolate milk.”)

 “Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.”
—Misha (must-have gear: friends and good shoes.)

“In the midst of pushing during delivery, the nurse holding my left leg exclaimed, ‘Wow, your legs are strong!’ It filled me up with a little extra I didn’t know I still had in me after 40 hours of labor. When I feel lousy on a run, I remember that nurse’s voice and her words and I keep pushing through to the finish.”
—Tara (best trick for keeping kids entertained in the stroller: cranking her music. “No mother-of-the-year-award for me?”)

“One of my first grade students, Aaron, once told me, ‘Run like a cheetah’. I play that over in my mind again and again during races and think, ‘Aaron, I’m trying!’”
Laura (dry heaves at the finish line of almost every race. “If I’m not coughing and feeling ill, I’m irritated that I didn’t push myself hard enough.”)

“Try not to laugh. In the winter, it’s ‘I’m a snowflake,’ as in, I’m light and can float in the air to help my form. In the spring it’s ‘I’m a butterfly’.”
—Martha (guessing she’s a falling leaf in autumn; word is still out her summer imagery)

“’Work it, shake it ‘lil momma, let me see you do the Jane Fonda.’ It’s from a Mickey Avalon song with a great beat. Toward the end of a long training run, say mile 15, it kicks me into high gear.”
—Lauren (started running a decade ago, when a guy she was dating told her she was too fat and out-of-shape to run a marathon. “They were nicer words. I just don’t remember them.”)

I am a runner.”
—Erika (runs slow and steady during a race, “with a crazy burst at the end when I see the digital clock.”)

“No, but I need one.”
—Carmen (sex or alcohol the night before a race? “No, too nervous.”)

Now we’re taking it to you mothers: what’s your mantra?