Me time, where have you gone?

With the onset of summer and all the craziness of our schedules, I have let my Sunday morning me time go by the wayside.  I was alright for a while, but I can see today that I need that time back. 

I'm feeling out of my routine, not as well rested, and not as productive as I was earlier this year.  Perhaps unsettled is the word I'm really looking for.

I'm not sure that going out for coffee every week is really what I need.  Every so often that would be great, but I would really like to do something different.  I need to start running again.

I ran quite a bit in college.  I was never a competitive runner, but I ran almost every day while I was away at school.  A friend and I would just up and go, visiting other friends, running to different areas of town, just wherever our feet would take us.  One of our favourite things to do was to run up and down the steps inside the basketball arena, all the way around (the arena was a round facility, perfect for this kind of activity).  Sometimes we'd go two or three times around, and it was probably the best workout I ever had.

Sometimes we'd just do the steps at the football stadium.  Other times we'd try going all the way around campus and up the hill (small mountain to this flat-lander).  It was such a great feeling to just get up and run.

After college, my schedule and life's twists and turns took me off track.  Running wasn't a priority, nor a necessity.  It wasn't until several years later that I started to run again, and when I did, it was a great feeling all over again.

A friend and coworker and I would head down to the city's lake front, near where she lived, and we'd just run for miles along the lake.  Having someone to run with helped keep us both going, kept us both from slowing down, from stopping, from giving up.  Our reward was always waiting for us back at her place, too.  Once we finished up our run, we headed back to grill salmon burgers, and go sailing with The Captain.  Ah, a Captain and Coke never tasted so good. 

Today, with a husband, a house, two kids, a full time job, and little flexibility in my weekly schedule, it's much harder to just get up and go.  I'm at my best in the morning.  No, I'm not necessarily a morning person, but, I prefer exercise and activity in the morning to any other time of day.  I don't mind mid-day, but evenings are definitely not for me.  This eliminates weekdays as an option, as Daddy leaves for work before I do, and I already wake up at the crack of dawn to make sure I'm ready for work before getting the kids up and ready for day care.

Evenings are equally as poor an option because of our schedules.  Daddy gets home shortly before bed time, so I come home with the kids and make and serve dinner, then we have a short window before we herd everyone upstairs for the bed time routine.  Once the kids are down, it's either dark or I'm just too exhausted to even consider any form of exercise.

This leaves weekends.  Saturday and Sunday mornings are just about the only time I have for a good run.

So, Sunday, how about a couple hours to go running?  How 'bout it?  Shall we try?  I say, sure, why not!