Running. And Such.

I was talking on the phone to the College Boy this afternoon. A good friend of his ran in the Boston Marathon today.

Boston Marathon, 2012, photo from Washington Post

While I, a 52-year old mother of three pretty good athletes, thrill at the thought of running 26.2 miles in under three hours, this young man was disappointed in his race. The College Boy, very early on in his running years, told me once not to come up to him immediately after a race and say "Good job!" Rather, wait a bit, and then simply ask, "How do you feel like you ran?" Oh, I say, Potato, Potahto. If I am thrilled with a competitor's performance, I don't care HOW he/she feels like it went - I want to share MY exuberance with them. The only wisdom in waiting, as the College Boy had irritatingly suggested after one maybe not-so-great race, was that I miss out on some of the snotting, hacking, spitting, or puking that might occur just at the finish line. But I still want to be right there to tell my baby(ies) "Good job! Bravo!" Because that's what mothers are good at. We are the world's best cheerleaders.

The College Boy, early on in his running years:

While the College Boy and I were talking marathon chit chat (because that's what mothers & sons do), across the pasture I spotted movement. What it my wayward peacock? A turkey? The movement popped up out of the grass, and then back down. But wait! First there was one, and then two! Brown things! Brown hopping things! I described to the College Boy what I was seeing as we marathon chit-chatted. Squirrels? No, we don't have them. Then I thought: Baby foxes? I told him I though that was what I was watching. And then, there were three! They were chasing each other through the tall grass, hopping up & down. Then I stopped: Maybe they were...bunnies! College Boy exclaimed, "You can't tell a rabbit from a fox?!" He's so funny. He & I ended our marathon recap, and he went back to studying (presumably), and I went back to pasture gazing. That Spouse o' Mine came home just as I saw a definitive feature in the hopping players: cottontails. It was a group of cottontail rabbits! It was so fun to watch them frolic (and this is exactly what they did: frolic with each other: hopping and chasing, like they were playing bunny tag.)

(stock photo)

Maybe they were completing their own Easter marathon:

Peter Cottontail

And back to our Boston marathoner? I told the College Boy to let him know I was thinking of him today. That's all. No "Good job! Bravo!" Just positive thoughts from the sideline...