In Medias Race

Weeks 4-6 reminded me of the importance of physical and mental balance. Like most working parents, I struggle with anything that resembles balance. When I am killing it in one area, another seems to hang by a thread or fall apart. I am reminded of the immortal words of Nigel in the cinema classic The Devil Wears Prada, “Let me know when your whole life goes up in smoke. That means it’s time for a promotion.”

I feel like I have been on my game at work and in my contract work. I have never felt more confident or focused. I would write more about that, but I am not sure anyone cares much about the details of my day jobs.

Week 7 of training went well. My four mile pace is getting progressively better. My heart rate is still a little more elevated than I would like, but it is coming down as my overall fitness improves. I had a strong run that Saturday morning, followed by a strength training workout and an impromptu brisk 4 mile walk with a friend later that afternoon. Sunday was supposed to be my long run, but my body was not having it. I ended up mostly walking about 3 miles. I made up the miles on Monday and had an 11’58”/MI pace for a 7 mile run. Putting off the run a day made an enormous difference. My goal for the half marathon is to finish the race in 2.5 hours. This will require an average pace of 11’45”/MI. If my fitness continues to improve over the next few weeks, this may be more achievable than I first thought. Finishing in under 3 hours seems more than doable at this point. Overall, I feel great about my race progress.

While I am becoming an Olympic runner, I am finding it difficult to also balance the demands of work and home. My health has to be the first priority. I am too advanced in years to ignore it any longer. I have the physical ability to work out more, and if I could, I know would see faster results. I am already committing at least 8 hours a week to cardio and strength training. I don’t really have much in the way of free time as it is and I battle feeling guilty about the time away from my kids and the current state of my home. I am not sure how to squeeze in more. Activities like walking the dog or going on family hikes certainly help, but I would love to work in more strength training. A friend recently told me that I would be, her words, “great” at body building competitions. I would lie if I said I was not both stunned and intrigued. This is not something I ever thought I would hear someone say to me. She did it once years ago, and it was amazing to see. It is not something I aspire to, but that someone thinks I have the discipline and ability to do it is pretty cool. For the foreseeable future, I will stick with my half marathon and marathon goals. I don’t know if I could handle any more and still keep my sanity or ever do laundry again.

This post seems to have strayed a little from its original intent. To conclude work and training are going really well. I worry that I have not been spending the time with my family and home that I should. It is spring, and the house needs a good deep cleaning, our flower beds needs to be cleaned out, taxes need to be done, etc. I know on my death bed, I won’t be sad that I didn’t work enough. I also don’t think I will be sad that I did not do enough yard work. I will be sad about the time I missed with my kids or if I die prematurely of heart disease or something else effected by lifestyle choice. Any ideas on how to devote enough time to everything is greatly appreciated. I don’t know that I have any guidance to give.

And Jim, if you are reading this, it is definitely time for that promotion. I would settle for a raise.