There used to be a show on HGTV called Weekend Warriors. It documented a couple, usually, and a great home improvement project in need of completion within one weekend. This project, with the help of 10 carpenters, 4 designers, 8 labor companies and gaggles of TV people, would usually get done on time. If this show is still on, I wouldn't know. We got rid of our cable a few months ago. *Sigh*
Struggling on the treadmill this morning, I couldn't help but remember this show and how annoyed I used to get by it. Help was obviously present and nobody every defined what an actual 'weekend' time frame was. Then, I started feeling sorry for myself.
The alarm went off at 5:45 am. I said my prayers and got out of bed as fast as one could after having been aroused from a deep sleep six times with the kiddos. One, cutting teeth. More stinking teeth. Can't they just all come in at the same time? Another with two bad dreams. One would have been enough, but two was what we had to deal with. Another with a pattern of needing to go potty at 2:45 AM. Better in the toilet than in bed, I guess. Sluggishly heading down the stairs to stretch and put my shoes on, I hear the babe (yepers, the same one that is cutting teeth) wide awake playing in her crib. Awesome. Might as well throw the original plan of waking up early and running before the kiddos wake up out the window. I don't use the 'h' word all that often, but I hate it when plans all of a sudden get changed. Just like last Saturday when I woke up at 6:00 am for our 16-miler and it was raining. This is something I am working at....in great detail.
So, by the time the baby got fed and I made it downstairs, it was 6:35 am. According to my handy-dandy training schedule, I was supposed to get in 8 miles this morning. No way that was going to happen, shower, get the kiddos ready and out the door for preschool at 8:45 am, I thought (feeling sorry for myself). The next hour seemed like three but I finally got in 7 miles with a warm-up and cool-down and called it good, ran upstairs (with the baby strapped in the bouncer seat, which now tilts backwards rather than forwards since she exceeds the chair's weight limit), grabbed a glass of chocolate milk, stretched, showered and got dressed, told the kids to get dressed (which took more than one prompting), did my hair and make-up, did the girls' hair, ran back downstairs for breakfast, scriptures and family prayer then took off for preschool.
All this got me thinking about my weekday warriors...the past 15 weeks of weekday runs. Some 8 milers, some 5 milers and some in between. But all extremely hard to fit in! I'm sure it would be much easier if I had only one weekend (rather than 18 weeks), 10 carpenters, 4 designers, 8 labor companies and gaggles of TV people cheering me on. But this morning, all I had was the alarm, me and the treadmill. So, me feeling sorry for myself quickly went by the wayside. I did it. I didn't do 8 miles, but I did 7. And this morning, that is all I could do.
I feel like I am in a training rut right now. Kinda bored and just ready for the big day. If I get through this week of training (this week has the most miles of any other training week), I know I will be able to refocus. 15 weeks of weekday warriors down...3 weeks of weekday warriors to go.
2 comments:
Thanks for posting this Jessica. I almost started crying reading this. Keep it up, know that another stay at home mom in utah is cheering you on, and thinks it is amazing what you are doing.
Thank you so much for writing that! I don't think I've ever been able to relate more to a blog post. My baby is teething right now as well and my 3 year old has night terrors, middle of the night potty breaks, and last night horrible growing pains that woke her up screaming several times. It's bad enough dealing with all that and the sleep deprivation that comes with it, but knowing that in just a few hours you're going to have to get up again and convince your tired body to run 8 miles really pushes you to the breaking point. The fact that you STILL ran after all that is a testament to your incredible will power and discipline. When race day comes and you run those 26.2 miles that won't be nearly as impressive as all these weekday warrior miles you've run and the obstacles you've overcome to run them. You're definitely an inspiration!
Also, running with some company this Saturday sounds very appealing. I wasn't looking forward to doing 20 miles by myself. What time and where are you running? I'm kind of slow on the long runs, about a 9:30 minute mile pace. Is that okay?
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