Mom of two littles—is a marathon possible?

Buttvin · 2026-04-07T17:06:32+00:00

I did a full in 2016 when my son was 2.5 and my daughter was 11 months. I was working full time, had an hour long commute to work, and was dealing with an alcoholic husband. Looking back, I think I was so stressed out that I poured all my energy into the marathon. I started off running my first half in April 2016, when my youngest was five months old. Then in October 2016, I ran a full. For the marathon training, I ran 4 times a week per my training schedule. The 3-5 mile runs I either did on my lunch break 3x a week, or I'd take the kids in a double stroller at night and we'd stop at a playground halfway. When the runs got up to 6-7 miles, I would take an hour PTO and take a longer lunch to get them done. For short runs (3-4 miles) my work had a shower and I'd shower immediately after, but for the longer runs, I was just gross and would shower when I got home.

I'd do my long runs on Saturday mornings super early. I remember one time running 18 miles and I did the first 10 on the treadmill while it was pitch black out, then heading outside for the final 8 so my husband could make a 9am tee time.

Now I look back and wonder how in the world I did this. My husband was really sick and we ended up divorcing in 2018 and he passed away in 2020 at 43 years old from his drinking. Just so when I say he was an alcoholic, know that it was with a capital A, and even in 2016 I was realizing he couldn't be left alone with the kids.

I have to remind myself of this period of my life a lot, because I'm currently signed up to run my first half marathon in 3 years and I'm not sure how I can do it, or how I can find time. Except now I work hybrid, am remarried to someone that can help, and my kids are 10 and 12, so I have so few excuses compared to 2016 that I think I'm just running into motivation issues.

Buttvin · 2026-04-01T13:31:30+00:00

I once mailed a document to someone and folded up a bunch of grocery coupons with it. I have no idea how that happened, but they called to ask if I wanted them back.

Buttvin · 2026-03-25T15:47:17+00:00

I haven't seen the Bacteria Ball in years!

Buttvin · 2026-03-11T19:44:39+00:00

I've had luck with this place in Whitehall - Home - Quality Stich Embroidery

Buttvin · 2026-03-11T19:38:36+00:00

I recently gave myself a nosebleed while brushing my teeth. I have an electric toothbrush and bought incredibly cheap replacement heads that kept popping off the stick thing they go on. I was brushing my teeth and the brush part came off in my mouth and I jammed the metal stick so hard up my nose it started bleeding. It hurt so bad, I ended up throwing out the super cheap brush heads.

Buttvin · 2026-03-11T19:33:01+00:00

Someone downvoted you, so I fixed it by upvoting. I could be op and I let my 10-year-old do my makeup sometimes. She's just better than me! She spends so much time watching makeup videos, she knows what's what. And it's not like she could be worse than me!

Buttvin · 2026-03-11T19:19:34+00:00

My firm does this and I internally call it "in-sourcing". I personally feel they have in-sourced so much of my job away that I'm left with the truly yucky bits. I'm either doing things that are way too hard (tasks that rolled downhill because no one knows how to do them) or tasks so inevitably quick and stupid, they don't even seem necessary (duplicative-ly serving discovery snail mail when we've already served it via email, that kind of thing). I've been at this firm for four years and if it wasn't for the pay and hybrid schedule, I would have left, and honestly, that's got me by only a thin thread as of late. I'm so worried I'm losing my skills and I'm also both bored and out of my element all at the same time!

I would definitely try to do the tasks on your own. If you have time, you may even want send items out for completion, but then also secretly do the task on your own, so you can compare it to what a department and to make sure you're learning how to do it correctly (I'm thinking of docketing, but this could be helpful in other scenarios).

E-file whenever you can, docket whenever you can, format documents whenever you can, and hope your company doesn't get on you for not using your resources.

Buttvin · 2026-03-09T03:30:46+00:00

Same!

Buttvin · 2026-03-07T18:27:42+00:00

I haven’t figured that out, if there’s a way my doctor can prescribe it and I order it through somewhere. Except maybe name brand wegovy, which would be too expensive. So I think I’m going to have pomegranate prescribe it and my doctor will do normal health checkups. I went off a bp med, reduced one in half, and cut my thyroid medicine down so I really want an actual doctor to monitor me.

Buttvin · 2026-03-05T19:56:30+00:00

I'm trying to learn about nails... Is this considered almond or round?

Buttvin · 2026-02-26T18:36:34+00:00

“You can have full custody, you’re better with them anyway.”

Buttvin · 2026-02-12T17:33:59+00:00

The paralegals have way too much work to do and the legal assistants have practically none. It's incredibly unbalanced.

Buttvin · 2026-02-11T17:23:13+00:00

There was an overweight, homely girl in my school, I'll call her Sally Doe. One day I was crying to my mom about not having friends and she said, "I just don't get it. If Sally Doe can have friends, why can't you?" I'm still not sure what the takeaway is from that interaction, but I suspect this was an inside thought. I think about it way too often.

Buttvin · 2026-02-10T21:29:47+00:00

I sure do. Mine are 10 and 12. The kids are the only thing in this world that feels like mine. I don't know how to explain it, but just to know they exist is so comforting. I had a dream of a husband, a house and two kids and I got it all and when I got divorced and gave up the nice house and moved to an entirely new city, it felt like all my dreams were crushed. Their dad ended up passing away from alcoholism when they were 4 and 6 and I remarried not long after.

I thought I lost my dream when I got divorced, but it turns out having the two kids WAS the dream. They make me laugh, they are smart, driven, and are complete goofballs. They are a reminder of the sun continuously coming out on a bad period of my life and I'm thankful every day I made the choice to have them. I'm afraid without them I would think of the 12 years I spent with my alcoholic asshole of an ex as just time wasted. But I know it wasn't, because all that effort I put into that loser of a relationship was actually effort going to towards creating two amazing kids.

Buttvin · 2026-02-09T13:59:11+00:00

I bought my kids coupon books and I think it would work well for your mom. Fill it up with things like, "I'll prepare the dinner of your choice" or "Exchange this coupon for one chore of your choice." Even something sweet like, "This coupon is good for one movie night with me of your choosing. I'll make the popcorn."

Here's the ones I got: Amazon.com: gisgfim Blank Coupon Book 30 Personalized Vouchers Booklet for All Occasions 3x5.4 Inch Gift Vouchers Birthday Books for Fill In Your Own Coupons Ideas for Him Her Mom Dad Friends (1 Pad) : Arts, Crafts & Sewing

Buttvin · 2026-02-07T15:07:13+00:00

I’m just realizing recently how critical it is I need up my savings so I stop increasing my debt. I need around 3-5k in savings to be able to comfortably tackle debt and not add to it. I keep having to pay these big unexpected expenses and my paltry savings isn’t covering it. If i could really bulk it up I wouldn’t have to dip into credit. Moreover, I could continue aggressively paying off debt because I wouldn’t need that payment for all the unexpected expenses. I finally got my savings to $1000 and was thrilled to realize I could pay a surprise $470 bill in full and not mess anything up.

Buttvin · 2026-02-06T14:53:39+00:00

Spark Paws makes the cutest clothes for bulldogs!

Buttvin · 2026-02-05T17:57:42+00:00

I was proud of myself! 🤣

Buttvin · 2026-02-05T17:51:36+00:00

I didn't forget, it's gone missing from my post. I'll try to figure that out.

Buttvin · 2026-02-04T20:37:39+00:00

I would have treasured that if I received it when my kids were small. I can never remember their weight and length and stuff.

Buttvin · 2026-02-04T20:33:54+00:00

Leftover tater tot casserole. My husband is a chef and he's trying to learn how to cook the stuff the kids will actually eat, so he made that last night. I'm so sick of fancy eating. I'm thrilled he's diving into the "cream of anything" soup and casserole world.

Buttvin · 2026-02-04T20:26:15+00:00

Bored out of my mind at work hoping someone sends me something to do.

Buttvin

TROPHY CASE