From all of us at Fit is a Feminist Issue, Happy Mother’s Day! For lots of us, today is a day for celebrating, honoring, remembering and being with our mothers. My mother is far away, and I plan on celebrating and having fun with her for her birthday in June, so we’ll be making do with a social phone call later. I’m having lunch with a friend and her mother. And I’m taking a walk to enjoy and photograph the explosion of color in the flowers and trees, sending those photos to my mom, who loves spring color as much as I do. Here are a few glimpses from around my neighborhood earlier this week.
One of my favorite Mother’s Days involved some mothers, but not my own. In May of 2008, I won a mountain bike race! Full disclosure: I was in the beginner women’s category, and there were three entrants:
- me
- my teammate Julie Lockhart, who was then at least 25 years older than me and not an experienced mountain biker
- some woman whose husband– a MTB racer–gave her a mountain bike and entered her in the race that morning (I think the tag was still on the bike at the start line)
This race was at the Brialee RV and Tent Park in Connecticut. The route was a typical New England one, with roots and rocks, twists and turns on narrow single track, with steep but short ups and downs.
I was advised to get the hole shot– first in the group– if possible. I did, and pedaled as hard as I could to put some distance between me and the other two competitors. It was tough, but fun.
I finished in first place. Hey, a win is a win, okay?
Talking with the other women as we posed on our podium (yes, there was room for all three of us), I found out that the new-bike-for-Mother’s-Day-woman gave up on riding quite quickly and just ran with her bike the whole way. She was a trail runner, and finished only eight minutes after me.
This woman’s story reminds me of what I love about mothers. They join their loved ones in activities for which they might or might not be prepared, they accept whatever gifts are offered in the spirit in which they are given, and then they just flat-out make it work.
Happy Mother’s day to all of you out there who join in with us, lovingly accept our well-intentioned gifts and make it work.
