8/31/2012 Slowing Down

This is what I was afraid of. I was doing so well, and had so much motivation, and here we are. School started last week and my energy has gone out the window. I am an end of the day runner. During the summer, with my kids and I rolling out of bed around 9 am(yes, I know, I'm lucky), by the end of the day I had so much more energy. Not to mention it was light until almost 9 pm so when the kids went down around 8, it was easy to get a run in while it was still light out. Now it's all working against me. To get the two older kids ready for school, I'm rolling out of bed at 7 am. Working from home, I don't get to go to bed any earlier, so 2 hours of sleep, gone. I can definitely feel it. I drag throughout the day, and by the time the kids go to bed at 7:30, it's very, very easy to pass up a run. 3-4 runs a week a month ago have dwindled to 2 runs a week the past two weeks or so. And this week I haven't been on a run since Sunday night. It doesn't help that it's getting dark earlier either. Unfortunately morning running isn't an option for me. My husband leaves for work before 7 am. And I'm going to be completely up front. Getting up at 5 am to go for a 30-60 min just isn't going to happen for this girl. Ever. Yes, I know plenty of other people manage it. But I won't. So I'm going to have to get creative when it comes to running during the day, since evenings are much harder for me. And pretty soon, I won't even have daylight on my side in the evenings. On the plus side, although my runs have gotten less frequent, they have gotten longer. During my last run this past Sunday, I ran(most of the time) for 5.22 miles. My longest run yet, and I felt really good after. And for the first time, I feel like I got all technical in my run. Instead of just throwing on my shorts and workout shirt, I actually donned a pair of compressions pants(and let me tell you, compression pants+living in the south+August=not my finest idea), and strapped on a borrowed Spi Belt, complete with Clif energy shot get tucked in the pocket. And I really think it helped. For the first time, my run didn't feel recreational, but like I was an actual runner. It took me about 65 minutes, which was between 12 and 13 minutes a mile, but that's not horrible. I'm not going for speed, I'm just going to finish, and as long as I can be in shape enough to keep under 16 minutes a mile for the PHM, that's all that matters.