I don't think I'll be taking running quite this far -- but it's a start
Making a life altering decision like leaving full time work to be a primary caregiver at home becomes an interesting time to take audit of nearly every aspect of your life. Suddenly I find myself much more aware of how I spend my time and value the hours that I can stash away for myself more than I ever have. Instead of letting those hours slip away I want to find ways to draw more out of them.
Now that Ryan is in camp each morning and Julia is starting to pick up a longer morning nap, I have some time in the morning to drink my coffee, catch up on the Internets, and do the odds and ends around the house that often get ignored until they are laborious chores. I find this is also a great time to start researching and/or writing a post or preparing thoughts for my weekly podcast covering the Boston Red Sox — an important creative outlet for me and great way to connect each week with my best friend who lives in Florida. Having found some extra time in the day for these activities, it has allowed me the ability to utilize the other pockets of the day that would have been spent doing these things in new ways.
At the same time, over the past few months I’ve made a concerted effort to take better care of myself physically. The combination of dietary changes for the family when we learned of Julia’s allergies to soy and dairy along with the push for more organic foods in our diet and regular chiropractic care to not only correct issues in my spine but awaken nerve pathways and change the way my body feels have had a positive impact on my overall energy level. For the first time in a while, I feel like I have the energy and can find the time to commit to getting and keeping my body in better shape.
While I don’t have the time — nor the temperament — for going to a gym to work out, taking up running provides an outlet for a good workout that can (a) be done around the house without having to account for time spent in the car going somewhere to work out and (b) can be done with Julia and the baby jogger while Ryan is at camp or at a friends house.
I’ve tried running before and my knees and shins haven’t allowed me to really get into it. The pounding can often be too much impact and lead to enough pain that I have to back off running long enough that it falls out of priority again. I am hoping that the recent chiropractic care I’ve received will have some positive change in posture and balance that will ease some of the stress that I have felt in the past.
My Nike+ Coach Plan to navigate from not running to 5k in twelve weeks.
As a big gadget lover and someone who gravitates to things that can be tracked, measured and graphed, Nike+ and the iPhone integration are a perfect fit for helping me stay motivated and seeing progress in what I am doing. After a few test runs, I used the Nike+ Coach program to set a 12 week plan to go from shorter one to two mile runs that I can do now that are both challenging but not jumping into things too quickly for my body to handle to the end goal of a 5k which I have measured around the development we live in as my ultimate goal.
My track record in seeing these types of endeavors through isn’t all that good. I am a notorious starter and stopper of these types of exercises. I am hoping a shift in environment and attitude on my part will help me stick with this plan better. My overriding thought, one that my chiropractor Dr. Tony often says, is that by taking better care of my body, I’ll not only have better energy to exert with the kids today, but will still have that ability twenty years down the road because of the choices I make today.
In this case, finding the time to do something for myself will have a direct, positive and lasting impact on my ability to be a better and more active parent to my children. I can’t think of a better mindset or motivation to keep me on track this time around.
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