Here's my dilemma.
I'm 58, overweight (I made a rhyme!), and I want to run a half-marathon in November. I need to start training, um, yesterday. (I'm currently logging fewer than 10 base miles per week.)
But I also live in a huge field (three acres) that needs a weekly mowing, have a large, weedy vegetable garden, am redecorating and have four sadly neglected flower beds. Oh, and two dogs, a house and a husband. My husband is severely domestically challenged, so I'm the Chief Cook and Bottle-Washer around here. (And I don't have a regular job, thank goodness.)
When I run (jog, walk fast, whatever you want to call it), I'm done for the day. I like to get it done early in the day, when it's still cool. But four morning miles wipe me out. Did I mention I'm 58 and overweight?
When I decide to weed or mow or clean or paint, with the idea of running later in the day, I don't have the energy left to run.
I'm getting plenty of exercise, but quite different from huffing and puffing on a lonely country road. Pulling weeds and pushing wheelbarrows won't help me cross a finish line.
So do I just suck it up and force myself to do it all? I've tried, and it's absolutely exhausting. Sometimes, on a day I've run in the morning and worked outside in the afternoon, I've thought I would pass out.
It's out of my hands today, thank goodness. It's raining (again), I have a hair appointment this afternoon and my volunteer gig at the prison is tonight. A good day to do laundry and maybe clean out a kitchen cupboard or two.
Seriously, though, how do you folks who have nine-to-five jobs, houses, husbands, children, gardens, etc., get it all done?
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3 comments:
Get it ALL done?!?! Whatchewtalkinbout Willis?
I'm lucky if I get ANY of it done. My house is dirty most of the time, I rarely cook a "real" meal, I moved to my new place almost a year ago and still have unpacked boxes hanging around... you get the picture - and it's not a pretty one!
On top of working a job where I'm currently at the office 10-14 hours a day, I'm basically a lazy person. So I get very little done and almost nothing unless there's a looming deadline to get it done. And, even then I can rationalize leaving all kinds of things undone.
Don't kid yourself that everyone else is doing better at keeping up than you are. You're amazing with the amount you get done!
I have NO idea how anyone with children gets by with a full time job and taking care of everything.
I don't have children or a husband or a garden, and I usually feel behind. I don't know how that woman you described does it -- or you, either, my friend!
So let me ask you: why do you want to run the half-marathon? I think if it is a priority and you have a clear vision of where you're going and why, and what it takes to get there, it will make a difference.
In the meantime, you are getting tons of exercise that uses different sets of muscles, while running, um, doesn't.
It's a matter of priorities and only you can figure out which matters most. Keep us posted!
You know what they say - you can do anything you want.
You just can't do everything you want!
But yes, this is why I scoff at the "you have to/can make time for exercise" crowd. Or "it's a matter of priorities." Yes, sort of. But sometimes in life other things take a higher priority, and there comes a point where there really is not any more discretionary time to divvy up.
You know I dropped workouts for the month so that I have time to paint - that was an agonizing decision. It made me feel like a slacker, which is just so ridiculous! I'm trading one crazy, intense, dedicated, life-consuming activity for another and worry if that means I'm lazy.
Anyway, I guess you know the answer. You will have to make a choice. But when you start listing out all the things you "must" do and then the things things you "want" to do, you might be surprised what things you're willing to give up for a few months.
Guess I'd better write my own post about this instead of dribbling on and on...
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