A Whole New Week

Why is it when life gets busy, the first thing that gets pushed aside is more than likely the most important thing to keep you on track? Running is the one activity that keeps me grounded, reduces my stress, helps me sleep, and just renews my confidence. So when life gets crazy, why is that the first thing that gets shifted or moved around or put on the back burner?

Last week Ted and I were craft gurus at our church's Vacation Bible School, which was held in the evenings after work. And my dad was coming over the weekend, and the house was no where near ready for company (family or otherwise). Ted's grandfather passed away last Sunday, and on top of that, the humid temperatures hindered any sort of excessive running before the Bible School commitment, and afterwards it was just a bit too late to get any sort of good run in. I did what cleaning I could between dinner and Bible School, and left lists of chores for Dave to do during the day.

Unfortunately, the running was what took the hit. We got out twice last week, and totally ignored the 10-mile run we were supposed to do on Saturday. With my father in from Pittsburgh, who is normally an early riser, I had wanted to be up and out the door by 6:15 for the run. When we still hadn't gotten up at ten till 7, I suggested to Ted we bypass it. I didn't want to leave my father for half the morning (I could already hear him stirring around in the front bedroom) and we had big gardening plans for the rest of the day. The past week had already been a lousy running week, so we finished it off likewise and promised for a nice successful running week starting now.

And so far, so good. We went out last night, and despite the rain, the cooler temperatures (almost chilly) felt good. We had one of the best times ever on our little loop--one of those runs where you think "Why can't I do that in a race?"

So it's nice to have a normal week again, where we can commit ourselves to good runs, quiet evenings, and catch up on movies or groceries or whatever everyday activities got brushed aside. And return to activities that should never have been ignored in the first place.