See Mom Run, by Kara Douglass Thom

See Mom Run, by Kara Douglass Thom

Kara wrote this fabulous book before she had children, strangely enough. One of her friends (a man) told her about how his daughter took his marathon medal to show and tell and bragged about him, even though he was in the back of the pack. One day during yoga (so much for focusing!) the idea for a children's book around this idea came together for Kara. When she asked her publisher about it (he and his wife run, too) he was very interested in the project. Timing was such that the book came out literally two weeks before Kara had her twins.

Even though she read a lot to her children, she didn't bring that book out much until she started training for a marathon in 2006, after her third daughter was eighteen months old and her twins were three years old. They had read it a few times that summer and she didn't think they would understand that "mommy wrote that book". As the marathon approached, Kara started to feel a little weepy about it -- This was her first big event since having children; managing the marathon training; and the mothering wasn' teasy and she was proud of herself for getting through it. She was as nervous as heck, not knowing if she'd be able to finish the 26.2 mile race.

That night, as the craziness of bedtime was just getting started (and all she could think of was, "I'm running in a marathin inthe morning, shouldn't I be in bed myself?"), her daughter, McKenna, picked up "See Mom Run" and asked her if they could read it. It was just what Kara needed to squash her fears and reaffirm that all the hard work was worth it. And, especially, that her little girls seemed to get what was going on. And yes, she cried!

Kara Douglass Thom Website: http://www.karathom.com/

Follow Kara on her blog: http://mamasweat.blogspot.com/