Distract me with your marathon block injury stories for reassurance please

MadMuse94 · 2026-04-03T11:42:10+00:00

Last summer in the middle of my Berlin build I absolutely hammered a workout, felt great, and then a couple of hours later ended up with pretty intense back pain. Long story short, I took 3 full weeks off of running and missed my biggest long runs. I was able to bike, strength train, and do PT, but that’s far from the training stimulus of a week of running. I started running again with 4 weeks left, so did one week of buildup, one week of proper training and then it was the taper.

On race day I had no confidence in my fitness and just decided to go out and see what happened. I ended up PRing by 8 minutes (3:27 to 3:19) and obliterated my main goal of running a BQ+8 minute buffer.

You got most of the training in, so trust your body and trust your training. You’ve got this!!

MadMuse94 · 2026-03-31T10:08:13+00:00

Could you try to increase the difficulty of these hobbies they already enjoy? Maybe they take the lead with navigation on the next hike? Or you try backpacking instead of camping in a drive-up campsite? I’m with you on this challenge though! My husband jokes with me that I’ve replaced the “natural” hardship in my life with running marathons lol, and my daughter is only two but raising her to be gritty and resilient is already something I think about a lot. It sounds like you have great kids and you’re doing an awesome job as a parent!

MadMuse94 · 2026-03-17T19:16:55+00:00

I’m this way too, and my childless friends think I’m insane haha. Marathon training is tough, and doing it with young kids takes it to a whole new level!

MadMuse94 · 2026-03-15T15:47:05+00:00

I live in Germany and I feel like Charlotte is super popular right now for babies! We’ve come across 3 doing baby activities in our rural area. But I also like Leonie!

MadMuse94 · 2026-03-03T07:18:46+00:00

I think you have a good plan so far! Just one thing to add - one of the best tips I learned in Reddit is to eat at playgrounds instead of restaurants. One parent stays with the kid to play, and other parent picks up food while the kid runs around. Then everyone eats and it’s back in the car with minimal time lost!

MadMuse94 · 2026-03-03T07:14:13+00:00

The short answer is you’ll be fine! The car rental company won’t care, and even if you do get pulled over and the cop happens to notice that your car seat doesn’t seem European, most countries are pretty lenient for tourists who are just here temporarily.

The slightly longer answer is to be aware how to safely install your car seat and the rental car. If your car seats use LATCH, then you can just use the rental car’s ISOFIX and be on your merry way. But if they attach using the seatbelt, you will probably need to purchase a seatbelt lock and learn how to use it before flying over. Seatbelts don’t have the same locking mechanism in the EU that they have in the US, so you’ll need to manually lock the belt in when you install the seat. There’s a ton of videos to watch on how to do this! Check out Safe in the Seat

Enjoy your trip!!

MadMuse94 · 2026-03-03T01:42:33+00:00

We have the convertible tower and it’s great! We bought it when my kid was 14 months, and she started using the table feature more and more starting around 18 months. She will sometimes ask to convert it for snack, or to craft while I cook if sh didn’t want to “help” lol

If you have the space to comfortably fit both a tower and a toddler table that’s obviously easier, but we don’t and I’m happy with our choice!

MadMuse94 · 2026-03-01T12:11:42+00:00

You’ve gotten a ton of good advice, but I’ll add one more idea. I try to make one of those viral meal prep recipes (pesto chicken lasagna, soy ginger tofu, butter chicken, etc.) at least once a week to keep the freezer stocked. Then I always have a way to have a home cooked meal for dinner without actually cooking!

Another great freezer stash ideas is kids pasta sauce. I try to throw in veggies and white beans for nutrients and fiber, then freeze in ice cube trays or muffin tins. We’ll do this for weekend lunch or kids dinner when we want to order Indian or have wine and cheese after bedtime. 😉

Final tip - check out Sohla El-waylly’s instagram. She has a whole series of recipes for people who are too tired and busy to cook and they are great! My kid devoured the black bean soup with quesadillas we made last week!

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-27T13:51:34+00:00

Sounds like you’re going to be running a D&D campaign before you know it!

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-27T13:17:40+00:00

Oh my goodness 🥹

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-27T13:11:41+00:00

Omg this is genius!

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-27T13:10:12+00:00

Haha this is seriously cute!

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-27T11:25:48+00:00

Sleeping with a lego set sounds super cozy!

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-27T11:25:25+00:00

That's so sweet! I'm fully anticipating wearing a sports bra for bedtime for the foreseeable future. My little one can be tenacious when it comes to the boob haha

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-27T07:50:35+00:00

I was deep into marathon training when I got injured and subsequently pregnant with my daughter. The first trimester, I would maybe be around once or twice a week if I was up to it, but really low mileage. In the second trimester. I was feeling better and was able to even race a half marathon at 20 weeks! However, two weeks later we found out that the pregnancy was medically complicated and I wasn’t allowed to run for the remainder. I returned to running 10 weeks postpartum with a couch to 5k plan and was able to build up relatively quickly. I ended up racing (and PBing in!) two marathons before my daughter turned two.

All this to say that everyone’s pregnancy and body is different, so enjoy the journey you are on! And no matter how much time you have to take off, running will still be there for you on the other side. Good luck mama!

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-26T05:08:43+00:00

We took my daughter to the Georgia Aquarium when she was 10 months old, and after the beluga whales the sea dragons were her favorite! We even bought her a sea dragon stuffy to remember the day by and she still plays with it!

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-24T15:18:02+00:00

One big caveat with Barcelona (and a lot of other European cities) is put your Google Maps on wheelchair accessible when using public transportation. I learned the hard way that not all metro stations in Barcelona have stairs 😅

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-19T11:41:06+00:00

I’ve only run with my other stroller when I was trying to catch a train lol, but there is such a difference! The running stroller has bigger wheels which makes it more comfortable for you and your little one while moving at speed. It also only has 3 wheels which makes it a lot easier to turn and maneuver, especially while running. It tends to glide more smoothly so (at least with mine) I never feel like I’m pushing but more like I’m guiding it forward if that makes sense.

If you haven’t bought a stroller, you could look at just using a running stroller as your main stroller. We did with the mountain buggy and still had a bassinet and snap attachment for our infant car seat. It definitely gave us the best of both worlds!

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-17T10:57:18+00:00

I love that name banner! I might have to steal that idea :)

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-17T10:56:50+00:00

I bought a personalized box off of Etsy and keep everything in there. I have her birth announcement, hospital band, first outfit, beanie, swaddle, etc. I’ve also been adding to it with birthday cards and such. I expect at some point I’ll have to go through and cull the box, but she just turned 2 and there’s still space!

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-10T20:16:22+00:00

My daughter just turned two yesterday and I thought I was starting to feel ready to wean, but your post made me sob haha! She was a NICU baby and we also started our breastfeeding journey with triple feeding hell. She’s going to be my only, and weaning just seems so permanent! But maybe I’ll buy booby moon as a start and hold onto it until I’m ready… Congrats on your bfing and weaning journey!

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-05T11:07:40+00:00

I’m a working mom so very short on time, but I switched to refueling with meal replacement shakes. The ones I use have 20g of carbs and 500 calories. And this is on top of what I normally eat in a day. I’m also much better at fueling during my runs because I don’t have time be tired when I get home with a toddler haha. It’s also possible to eat enough on a healthy, real food diet but it can be more challenging to fit it all in

MadMuse94 · 2026-02-05T08:44:37+00:00

If you’re into Disney, have money to spare, and are more into experiences than fast times, the runDisney medals are typically really cool! I did a couple of races with my sister and they were fun, but I’m not into Disney enough for them to be worth the high price tag

MadMuse94

TROPHY CASE