Time Waits for No Woman

Having time to run is as much of a challenge as running itself. Time will not make itself available to you; you must take the time back for yourself.

I work full time outside the home. I have two wonderful and adorable young boys, 6 and 2. I am very fortunate that I have a husband who is not only understanding of my need for time to run, but he is also a full time stay at home dad. The guilt factor for working is much less for me because he's at home with the boys. He's doing a fantastic job. It's his passion for running that allows me the time to pursue running myself; he understands why I do it and what it entails.

I was thinking about this at 5:00 am when my watch alarm woke me up. I had to run 5 miles this morning and when you are running at a 12:00 minute per mile pace or greater, 5 miles takes at least an hour. That's just for the running itself. I have a 10 minute warm up and 10 minute cool down and stretches. I have to ice each of my calves for 10 minutes afterwards. That's two hours before I even eat breakfast and shower.

So I pack my lunch the night before. I have a low maintenance hairstyle, I don't iron, and I wear suits that I take to the dry cleaner. I don't have to think about what to wear; I just grab a blouse and suit and my one pair of black shoes and I'm ready to go.

All my time in the evening is for the kids while my husband walks the dog and then runs. I also try to spend as much time as possible with them all on the weekends. Needless to say, the house isn't spotless and we still don't have furniture for the living room (after 2 years in our house) but we are all pretty much happy and pretty lucky to have what we have.

I have to say it again - I am very lucky to have the husband that I do. Especially when our evenings are mostly spent icing while we veg watching some DVD (Alias right now) and then practically fall asleep on the couch. It's not a pretty picture - he's got a bag of frozen peas sticking out of his pants, a bag on his ankle and a paper cup of ice for an ice massage. I,too, have the paper cup with ice for my legs and the ice keeps popping out of the cup across the floor. Everyone thinks this is hilarious, by the way.

It's getting late - I had better go ice.

Daily Running Log: Did 5 miles. Usual spots did not hurt too much; I have new painful areas on my legs - the rest of my lower legs must have felt neglected and want ice massage too. Bought cool new shoes tonight. See the doctor in the am!