Today’s theme at the Runners Lounge is Time and Balance. As in, how do you make time for running and balance it with the rest of the things in your life?
Like many moms, I don’t have enough time in my day to accomplish everything I want to do. No big surprise there. I used to think I was busy before I had kids. Now I look back and laugh. BK (before kids), I went to bed at a reasonable hour every night, the house was mostly neat and clean, and I had time to do projects around the house. BK, I worked out at the gym at my office (conveniently on the same floor as my office) and saved the weekends for gardening, hiking, and other fun stuff with Beer Geek. I was awesome about cross training – I rode the stationary bike, did the elliptical, lifted weights… After Jones was born, I continued to work part time and still managed to keep most of my workouts during the work day. Running was just a means to an end – weight loss and less severe PMS.
I’m a stay at home mom now, so as you might guess, my life is a lot different. My running is different too. It’s no longer just a quick 30 minute workout to stay healthy. Now, it’s my me time, one of the few things I do JUST FOR ME. It’s much more of a priority to me now.
So, how do I find time and how do I balance everything? Well, the time thing is actually fairly easy. I’m a lucky, lucky girl in that I have a very supportive husband who has a work schedule that gets him home by 4:15 most afternoons. (Yes, you can hate me now). Several days a week, I head out the door as he walks in and can manage to get in about 4 miles before I need to get home. I also have one kid in grade school and the other in one day a week preschool (3 days next fall Woot!), so I do my long runs during the week. Add in a friend who likes to trade off three year olds and enough time between church and lunch for a 5 miler and really I have plenty of time for shortish runs.
Therein lies the balance issue. When I was training for the marathon, I did a very low mileage program and still felt like I was throwing our life out of whack. It got me to the finish line, but if I run a marathon again, I want to run more miles in training. Even though I had the desire to run another marathon as soon as I finished my first, I had to take a step back and put other priorities ahead of it. It’s been 6 months and I still haven’t finished catching up on all the stuff that got set aside “just until after the marathon”. In order to find balance, I’ve focused on speed and shorter “long” races. This seems to be working well for us as a family. I get to achieve my goals without missing out on soccer games, family time, and just plain down time.
I will probably try to run one more marathon next spring. Shoo will be in enough preschool that I can run more miles, but not enough to really allow me to find a job. It’s the perfect time to do some hardcore training, while still managing to be room mom, soccer mom, PTA mom, listserv moderator, newsletter writer… Hmm, guess it’s a good thing I don’t need a lot of sleep.
You are a stay-at-home mom and your hubby is home early every day..that’s my dream! Don’t think we’ll ever get there though:(
You’ve managed to make it work well – good for you!
Ha! It seems to me you’ve got it more together than I do, even AK, mama!
That is so nice that your hubby gets home around 4:15. Mine gets home around 5:15 so that that’s not too bad, either.I hear you on the “BK, the house stayed clean”. That is SO dang true! It’s impossible to keep it clean AK!I’m glad you have a supportive husband, friends, and preschool! I’m hoping preschool will be in my future in the fall. 😉
It always amazes me how many things a woman can fit into a day, and you’re no exception!
I like to get jussssst drunk enough on beer to convince myself that I’m running 10 miles. Then, when I wake from my beer coma the next day, I totally count those 10 miles.Drinking truly is the best way to travel.
Sounds likeyou have a pretty good system to have everything fit inyour busy life. I’m tired just reading your activity list!
Balance, what is that? ha!I think you do a great job fitting everything in.
I think of how my house looked (and how much time I spent doing whatever I wanted) BK and wonder how I wasn’t bored with so much free time. 🙂 Good job fitting in all the runs.
It’s tough – that niggling feeling during marathon training that family time is being compromised. But it all somehow fits in :)If I’m going to ever make it in the PTA, I’d need my ME time on the roads first 😉
Sounds like it’s working out for you. That’s great your hubby is home so early, that’s my biggest problem because I never know when mine will be home. He usually works until 6 but some nights it’s 9 or 10. I am fortunate to have family close by that love watching my kids while I run though.
sounds like it’s all working out well! 🙂 can’t get much better than that!
I really don’t know how all you moms train and keep it all together. I tip my hat!
Maybe I need you to figure out my schedule for me. sounds like you got it goin’ on!