“It’s OK that they’re moving faster than us,” I told Sera on our latest lap around the mall. We’ve become quite the fans of mall walking the further we get along in this pregnancy. Our laps may be getting slower, but our spirits are getting higher, perhaps because Sera convinced me that we should get ice cream if we complete five laps. Despite the ice cream treat, it is a little disheartening when a flock of seniors passes you.

Being passed on our mall walks has now become commonplace, especially with Braxton Hicks contractions pulling us over to the side for a pit stop or two each lap. Some concerned onlookers glance at me as if this is somehow all my fault. Occasionally, Sera does the same. Despite their looks, I’m glad we’re getting some exercise during this time of frigid cold.

While I previously was oblivious to mall walkers, I’m now quite good at picking them out. Is the fast-moving person you see wearing a fanny pack and carrying a cassette player? He’s probably a mall walker. Is there a group of seniors rapidly cruising by you while barely lifting their feet? Mall walkers. Do you see a group of diverse people all wearing matching shirts? They’re not there shopping; they’re walking the mall in preparation for some 5K that’s probably months away. They’re all passing us, and so is everyone else. It’s hard to move fast when you’re in the last weeks of pregnancy, so Sera and I take our time.

I like to remind her what we were taught in one of our birth classes: This is a marathon, not a sprint. From the moment she’s pregnant to the moment she no longer is, Sera’s body has been preparing to give birth and much more. Sometimes I forget about that with all of the other preparations I’ve been focused on, like the crib, car seat and stroller. Sera has been doing a ton more preparation for this baby than I could ever imagine.

I’ve come to realize on our walks around the mall that the birth of our little girl is not the end of our marathon. In some ways (not to diminish the immense effort that Sera will be enduring to give birth), the marathon we’re currently training for is just a warm-up lap. The next 18 years will be running the marathon of parenthood. Teaching a human to eat, walk, talk, sleep (on schedule) and more will certainly be overwhelming.

We get a glimpse of the overwhelming that’s to come on our walks, too. It seems every time we reach an anchor store Sera attempts to cut the lap shorter — suggesting we don’t need to quite make it all the way there for it to count. But cutting corners doesn’t work on our mall walks, and it won’t work raising our little girl either. Marathons, I imagine, aren’t nearly as rewarding if you’re sneaking a shortcut into the route.

When all is said and done and our daughter is a bright, young adult working hard to make a difference in the world, I’m sure Sera and myself will be yearning for our next marathon. Perhaps we’ll take up world travel or volunteer work. Retirement seems so far away, but I’m sure we’ll find something to catch our interest while we watch her life take shape. Maybe we’ll find ourselves traversing the mall again with our gray-haired friends. I’d like to imagine us getting our revenge on a pregnant wife and husband duo waddling along in the mall while we zoom past, huffing about the need for a slow lane in the mall corridors for people like them.

For now, I think we’ll enjoy these last few days of pregnancy at a slow pace. I’ve been warned that a new baby may have a pace of her own.

 

Rochester resident Matt Knutson is the communications and events director for United Way of Olmsted County.