5 months later....
Well, it's been over 5 mths since I last posted here and I can see by looking at my last posts that I have a couple loose ends to tie up.
First of all, my toe healed just fine with nothing more than time needed.
As for my continued running.... didn't happen. Somewhere around the end of June I began to realize that it wasn't just my involvement with TNT that had taken over my life. Running distance in and of itself is very time consuming when I have Ethan to consider.
To demonstrate:
Before each run I would feed myself, feed him, change him, get dressed in my running gear complete with watch, apply sunscreen to both of us, pack his food, pack his water, pack my water, pack my running snacks, pack his wipees, his cream, his diapers, his jacket, and find his toy that attached to the stroller. I would also need to be sure my cell phone was charged and of course, take my house keys. If I ran anywhere away from the house, that would mean I'd also need to pack myself a meal (I'm always hungry after running) and I'd need to bring my purse. All of this would take anywhere from 45min to an hour and a half. And that's BEFORE I even leave the house. If I'm going somewhere other than around the neighborhood, I get to load the jogging stroller into the car, and take the regular stroller back up to the apartment before I leave (we keep it in the car because there is only room to store one stroller in the apartment at a time). When I get to wherever I'm running, I get to unload the stroller from the car and then load all the aforementioned stuff into the baskets at the back and bottom. Then my actual running would take .... let's estimate 15 min per mile based on my marathon pace..... if I run 2 miles that's 1/2 hr. Then I get to feed Ethan in the parking lot of wherever I am, change his diaper (usually), and feed myself while Ethan makes a general pest of himself trying to play with all the things in the car that are off limits instead of with the toys that I give him (strap him into the seat and I get constant fussing). Then I unload all the stuff from the baskets back into the car so that I can fold down the stroller and put it back into the car. Then I go home. I load all the stuff back into the jogger so that I can get it up to the apartment. Once in the apartment I unload all the stuff from the jogger baskets and then I exchange the two strollers again so that the jogger is in the apartment and the regular stroller is in the car. Back up in the apartment I give Ethan a bath to remove the sunscreen because he get baby acne if it is left on too long. Then I strap him into the 5 point harness on his high chair to watch BOZ while I take a shower. Then when I get out.... it's time to try and cram house work into the few remaining hours left before Luke gets home.
This whole tedious process takes up the ENTIRETY of my morning! We're talking up to 3hrs for just 30min of actual exercise! Not exactly the model of efficiency.
In evaluating my life and my priorities, I came to realize that, as much as I love running, I'm just not willing to continue commiting such a LARGE chunk of my time to it. If all I had to do was get myself ready, pack my snacks & water, and jump in the car, it would be a different story.
That said, I have also come to realize something else: I am a social exerciser. I dislike exercising by myself and do MUCH better when I make it a social event. So on top of the time consumption of having Ethan to take along, now that I am ALWAYS running alone, some of the enjoyment is gone for me.
So.... these are the reasons that I have not gone on to continue my running as I had originally expected that I would do.
First of all, my toe healed just fine with nothing more than time needed.
As for my continued running.... didn't happen. Somewhere around the end of June I began to realize that it wasn't just my involvement with TNT that had taken over my life. Running distance in and of itself is very time consuming when I have Ethan to consider.
To demonstrate:
Before each run I would feed myself, feed him, change him, get dressed in my running gear complete with watch, apply sunscreen to both of us, pack his food, pack his water, pack my water, pack my running snacks, pack his wipees, his cream, his diapers, his jacket, and find his toy that attached to the stroller. I would also need to be sure my cell phone was charged and of course, take my house keys. If I ran anywhere away from the house, that would mean I'd also need to pack myself a meal (I'm always hungry after running) and I'd need to bring my purse. All of this would take anywhere from 45min to an hour and a half. And that's BEFORE I even leave the house. If I'm going somewhere other than around the neighborhood, I get to load the jogging stroller into the car, and take the regular stroller back up to the apartment before I leave (we keep it in the car because there is only room to store one stroller in the apartment at a time). When I get to wherever I'm running, I get to unload the stroller from the car and then load all the aforementioned stuff into the baskets at the back and bottom. Then my actual running would take .... let's estimate 15 min per mile based on my marathon pace..... if I run 2 miles that's 1/2 hr. Then I get to feed Ethan in the parking lot of wherever I am, change his diaper (usually), and feed myself while Ethan makes a general pest of himself trying to play with all the things in the car that are off limits instead of with the toys that I give him (strap him into the seat and I get constant fussing). Then I unload all the stuff from the baskets back into the car so that I can fold down the stroller and put it back into the car. Then I go home. I load all the stuff back into the jogger so that I can get it up to the apartment. Once in the apartment I unload all the stuff from the jogger baskets and then I exchange the two strollers again so that the jogger is in the apartment and the regular stroller is in the car. Back up in the apartment I give Ethan a bath to remove the sunscreen because he get baby acne if it is left on too long. Then I strap him into the 5 point harness on his high chair to watch BOZ while I take a shower. Then when I get out.... it's time to try and cram house work into the few remaining hours left before Luke gets home.
This whole tedious process takes up the ENTIRETY of my morning! We're talking up to 3hrs for just 30min of actual exercise! Not exactly the model of efficiency.
In evaluating my life and my priorities, I came to realize that, as much as I love running, I'm just not willing to continue commiting such a LARGE chunk of my time to it. If all I had to do was get myself ready, pack my snacks & water, and jump in the car, it would be a different story.
That said, I have also come to realize something else: I am a social exerciser. I dislike exercising by myself and do MUCH better when I make it a social event. So on top of the time consumption of having Ethan to take along, now that I am ALWAYS running alone, some of the enjoyment is gone for me.
So.... these are the reasons that I have not gone on to continue my running as I had originally expected that I would do.
posted by KMD at 11:06 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home