LAST WORD
RunningMummyDiary
the
Words Elizabeth Wu l Photos Elizabeth Wu + Great Eastern
Who says superheroes
don’t exist in real life?
Elizabeth Wu, #RTLG
influencer, full-time
mother to three children,
and budding heroine,
shares how she prepares
for the Great Eastern
Women’s Run 2014 while
still ably managing the
other aspects of her life.
When I was presented with the opportunity to take part
in the Great Eastern Women’s Run 2014 and be one of
its Race Influencers, I felt my head nod before my mind
actually registered what I was agreeing to. The last time
my legs went faster than a walking pace (and when I am
not chasing after my three children) was when I was in
Junior College, which was more than a decade ago. I was
very apprehensive and worried that someone would call
out how unfit I was.
After much thinking and discussion with my husband,
who encouraged me to start getting fitter, I decided to
give it a shot. It was now or never, and when I was asked
to take part in the #RunToLiveGreat programme that was
launched for the first time this year, I knew that there
was no backing out. I roped in my good friend, Kimmy, a
fellow mother of three and good friend, who agreed to be
my run buddy.
She’s been asking me to join her for runs, so you can
imagine her excitement when I asked her to participate
in the #RunToLiveGreat programme with me. That was
sometime in early July, and between July and August,
I’ve clocked in a grand total of three kilometres. Yes,
a meagre three kilometres, as compared to Kimmy’s
I-don’t-know-how-many-kilometres – she takes part in
at least one run a month. It’s no excuse for me really,
considering that we’re both full-time mothers with three
young children under the age of 12 that require roundthe-clock care, feeding and nurturing.
But, I got off my butt, which is a start, even if it’s only
been for 15 minutes every week. Time is a luxury I cannot
afford regularly, as most full-time mothers can attest to.
I’m lucky enough to get time away from the children to
shower, pee and you know, up-keep personal hygiene, so
training for a run is not exactly my top priority.
A typical day sees me sending the two older kids to
kindergarten and enrichment classes, and while they are
in school, I head to the supermarket with my youngest
in tow. We then head home, where I will prepare lunch
and do some home learning with him, and then he’s off
for a nap while I am off to pick the older ones up and get
busy again with either enrichment runs or meal prep for
dinner, and then more home learning and reading.
of varying intensity levels, like walk lunges and shuttle
runs. Once I got into the groove of it though, I began
to enjoy the process a lot more. The balmy breeze and
city skyline along the Sports Hub didn’t hurt either. I
was aching when I got home that afternoon and after
whipping up a quick lunch for my children, I was so spent
that my husband had to massage my aching body.
The next day, I felt relatively more energetic and less
lethargic in spite of the body aches I had to deal with.
I’d experienced this in very small bouts after my own
personal training and it felt great knowing that my hard
work is slowly paying off. Losing the momentum would
mean I’d be back at square one and would have to start
all over again.
As parents, my husband and I are very hands-on. We
do not have help to outsource our parenting and we
make sure that we’re always there for our children.
It took me a while, at the age of 33 and three children
later, to understand the importance of trying to keep fit
because we have little ones to care for. They depend on
us for food, warmth, love and lodging, and stay-at-home
mothers like me simply cannot fall ill or suffer from
chronic problems.
We cannot take MC, send our children to a caregiver
or stay home and recuperate. It may sound miserable,
especially to non-parents, but the truth of the matter is
the children need us more than we realise. Controlling
our health is within our grasp, so there really should be
no excuse for us to squeeze in at least 15 minutes of our
time to get in a little exercise. These can be as simple
as taking the stairs instead of the lift, playing with your
children at the playground, stretching at the fitness
co