Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Twice Since Yesterday


Time is something that humans worry about. 

And dogs when they know that they're going for a walk soon. 

Days, weeks, months -  we made those up to help us keep track of things.

Not that there is anything wrong with that - it's just important to remember that dinosaurs did not rest on Sundays, count the weeks until Christmas or worry about being ten minutes late for dinner. 



No one really cares about time except humans and the animals that must abide by human schedules. 

I'm saying all of this because time, days of the week and schedules just seemed very weird to me this morning.  Here's why:

If you look at a calendar, Tuesday and Wednesday are two separate days.  I'm supposed to run 13k on Tuesdays and 30 minutes on Wednesdays.  With me so far?

There is no rule as to what time I should run.  Typically, I run in the morning or the evening - meaning that the runs are spaced roughly 24 hours apart.

This week was a little different.  I did not get up extra early to run before work on Tuesday because...well, just because.  So I ran at 5pm.  Home by 6:20pm.  Stretched and showered by 7pm.  In bed by nine.  End of Tuesday.

Wednesday morning, I got up at 5:30am and was out the door and running by 6am.

Two runs - two separate days according to the calendar.

As I was stretching and thinking about the day ahead - I realized that I had run twice since I left work the previous afternoon.  It had been exactly 15 hours since I walked out the door, hopped in my car and headed home.  I slept for eight of those hours.  I ran for two of them and, if you count stretching, then you'd better add another hour.  So we're up to 11 hours.  I showered twice, had dinner, did the dishes and sat on the couch for a few minutes.  There goes 15 hours.  Poof!  Just like that.  

So yes, I ran 13k on Tuesday and 30 minutes on Wednesday.  According to the calendar anyway.  But, according to my body, I came home from work, ran twice, slept and now it's time for work again. 

How the hell do people do it when they have kids? A dog?  Houseplants? A commute that takes more than three minutes.

Good lord!

2 comments:

  1. Yeah I find that weird too. I luv morning runs, but find it waay to close together if I just ran the night before. We have kids, dog, plants and an 80 min commute :) Lately I'm extending bedtime to get the evening run done. Last Thursday due to kid's soccer we ran intervals from home afterwards and finished at 9:45 pm. It was a tough call on either eating dinner or sleeping afterwards as I should be in bed by 10 pm to be up for work at 5:30 am. Sleep is usually what gets sacrificed. If I'm lucky, I get 6 hrs/night. A great man once said "if something is really important to you, you'll MAKE the time for it."

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  2. As a frequent two-a-day guy, it feels weird *not* to get up early for that swim or run. Life is choices... and the habits they form.

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