Day 3

Can’t believe it’s Day 3.
Feels like a week already and it’s only Day 3, with arguably many more weeks to come.

First day in stores trying to find basic essentials since the weekend. A little less chaotic and fewer people in the stores. While many main staples are sold out, like toilet paper, meats, water-some stores are doing better then others to restock.

Forced myself at the end of the day, to finally get outside for a run. It’s wasn’t much, but a run is a run. No matter how long the distance. Now I just have to plan my schedule better, to do my work, help the kids and to get it in earlier. In the meantime, I have to get into a routine for getting outside to run, so that it doesn’t become the same as “walking 20 minutes in the yard”.

Day 2: St Patrick’s Day

Here it is DAY 2 of quarantine and self-isolation and not much has changed in the world or at home.  We’re all still restricted here (New Jersey, US) and required to work from home and kids are getting started with remote learning for their schools. Curfews are starting to come into play, closing businesses still operating for takeout orders earlier and get people off the street by 8pm (vs closing at 9 or 10p).

However, today is also St Patrick’s Day! ☘️
And while my days of dancing a reel or closing the bar after a few pints 😎 are long gone, I feel for  the small business owners and family owned taverns who are losing a tremendous business opportunity today. Makes you wonder if they’ll plan to reschedule all of the parades and events. I guess only time will tell.

Restarting Running in a Panedemic

With the current pandemic of COVID-19 or Coronavirus, restarting anything in our lives or even continuing with some level of normalcy is difficult. The new norm forces us into more independent activity almost isolation. Far less gatherings and events or social occasions, making it even more challenging to self-motivate or inspire others. 

Based on all these changes that we are undergoing, it’s a reminder for all of us to focus on what is important  - so not only will we get through this together, but we become stronger and more unified as a result. 

DAY 1

First day for work at home and remote learning. 

A good trial run, but really no time to get out and run. Have to try to better juggle my scheduling to start to make this part of my day, since I no longer have a commute or need to drop kids at school or pick up. 

Too much to “set up” today and expecting this to be the new norm, at least for a while. The goal is to set up my new training plan this week, so I can start to take advantage of no commute and the (hopefully) warming temperatures. 

Another year

As another year draws to an end, we all can't help ourselves to look back on the past year to set our aspirations and goals for the next year. No matter what we accomplished in the previous year, we all strive to 'do more' with our families, in our professional careers and in our personal goals. We will turn to new diets, cleaning out unwanted clutter in our houses, getting rid of old clothes, starting that more regimented exercise routine or training schedule. Out with the old and in with the new...as the saying goes.

While I was preparing myself for this same routine, I started to clean through unwanted running gear. Old running shirts, that don't exactly get that clean smell any longer - extra wires for fitness trackers, watches and other techno gear. One watch. Two Watches. Fitbits. Then I started to line them up and realized how many I had amassed.

Watches and exercise trackers from Nike, TomTom, Garmin, Fitbit and my most current watch I use, my Apple iWatch.

Finding my Work-Life-Run balance

If the frequency of updates to this blog is any indication, I think it's fair to say that Work-Life-Run balance has not existed for me -- and perhaps the same for others reading this blog. As we all try to keep up with the daily grind of work and home, getting kids to sports/activities, school events, getting through holidays, etc - it is often that we all sacrifice things to help ourselves for the benefit of others.

I was fortunate enough to attend a great leadership session with the team @CCLdotOrg in Colorado Springs a few weeks back and it helped put a great new perspective on this balance. For starters, “self” has to be a priority. In order to achieve this I’ve tried to eliminate any other potential pitfalls to finding the time to run, including:

• bought a new pair of running shoes-so now I can’t wait to run!
• I also bought a new pair for my son as well, so we can run together 
• ‘dusted off’ the treadmill and removed any hanging laundry ;)
• allocated time on my schedule weekly, to carve out time to run

Now, all I need to do is to pick a race to target, so I have a running goal and to keep up writing and posting, to keep myself moving forward.

Happy running!