Friday, November 11, 2011

Fitness Friday-Your Turn...My Turn

I'm a runner....a distance runner...but I wear many more hats than that.  I'm a wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, teacher, mentor, professor, and a blogger.  Sometimes those other hats stay on longer than my runner hat. 

I have written many times asking advice to all of you about how you fit it all in and things as such.  As a matter of fact I'm sure you wouldn't have to look too far back to get a post asking just that.  Well this week as I have been looking toward goals for 2012, I have been needing to sacrifice races and dream-like opportunities in order to make room for the other hats in my life.  As I have said in earlier posts, my hubby is going to be competing in a body building competition in April so the first 4 months of the year are his turn....his turn to shine....his turn to train...his turn to get priority.  I have no problem doing this since he has always supported me and my running. 

The road block we have met is our differing opinions about running....remember Queen Cardio and King Weight Training!  My distance running is fairly new for me.  I have always run a lot of 5 and 10ks where training was minimal but in the past 4 years distance has been my love!  Enter the questions of the day......
How do you convince a non running spouse that running a lot of distance races is normal?  How do you juggle your wife and mom hat while also wanting to wear your runner hat?


Thankfulness day 11: I'm thankful for the men and women who have and still risk their lives so that I can run free!!  Today I ran 11 miles in honor of the day!

13 comments:

  1. Wow, you and I seem to be on the same page today. Don't have the "mom" responsibilities, but definitely feel like I drop a ball or two during my daily juggling act.

    I think the key is to know which ball can drop, and which can't. My leaves and pine needles can totally drop :) And I just have to be OK with not have it "all" perfect.

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  2. I want to see the answers to this too, it has been a hard transition for my husband since I started doing halfs last year. Not too good on the marriage. ugh

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  3. hmmmm....the juggling is really tough. I am lucky that all of my kids are in school this year so I can wear my running hat while I am not taking away from them. My husband is really supportive of me. I think that he worries if I don't' run races I will break;) He does travel a lot so sometimes I can't do some of the races I want to do so I pick 3 or 4 races that I HAVE to do and then work around the rest of them. Good luck!

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  4. I have a non running husband too, so I feel your pain. He is pretty good about watching the kids so I can do my long runs but i don't think he really gets it because he doesn't run. For me it is helpful when we can trade off kid free time so neither one of us feels guilty. But I am pretty bad about juggling things...so I am not being very helpful...but I can so empathize!

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  5. My husband is not a runner, but he is super supportive. I'm really lucky that he gets it.
    For my first half, I opened with "honey, I want to do something crazy." I may have used the same line when I wanted to register for my upcoming half!

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  6. I used to have to get "permission" to train for a marathon. I think now that I have been doing it for so long now, it is more of a given. It did take some time, and I have had to really juggle things as well as cut back on my races to incorporate the longer ones. My husband rolled his eyes the other day when I told him I did not need to run on Christmas Eve, that I would do the run on Friday. He was like DARN STRAIGHT! I can't believe you would even consider that! I already am tentatively planniing running on new years eve, being that it is a Saturday....Hopefully that won't get the same reaction!

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  7. Hmm..
    Balancing is not easy and it takes a toll on marriage at times. But, you seem to have a good perspective on balance and his/hers with taking turns.

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  8. Gosh I wish I could help you. I don't have kids or a husband so I pretty much do what I want. I don't know how I would cope. I think it would be very hard, as I can barely squeeze time in for running in between work and friends! Usually friends suffer, because work can't!

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  9. It's so not easy!! It sounds like you're managing your hats well. It's a lot of give and take when you're married.

    The fact that my husband is a runner helps in that he totally understands and we make it work. The fact that he is an ultra runner makes it even more difficult. I think one of the reasons he is so great about the training and time commitments is because running makes me a better person, wife and mom.

    I wish I had the answer for you [and me]. I have a friend that training and running a marathon this year caused marriage problems. She has pretty much stopped running :(

    You'll make it work Nancy!

    A side note, I hope you will blog a bit about your husband's training (or does he have a blog?). I'm curious about what it takes to train for a body building competition.

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  10. I think that it is great that you are both so active...it is hard to balance. For me it is hard because my husband isn't always supportive. He doesn't "get" the need to run or workout daily...makes it hard on me.
    Good luck to you and your husband!

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  11. oh man this is a tough one , my husband runs but he does very short distances in a short amount of time. he doesnt even understand its a point that is hard for me. he thinks i am gone all the time when he is home but I really am not. i wish he was super supportive, maybe I need just sit and talk with him and figure it out.

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  12. It's hard. And I have a husband that run and understands, but it's still hard. It's those darn kids and their activities and my job that keep getting in the way! I don't get to do as many races as I want. Lots of Saturdays are spent watching kid stuff. Or a list of a hundred other things that life calls for. I think the best we can do is plan, and when things don't work out, replan. It will fit eventually.

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  13. I tackle this in two ways - 1) I've made it pretty clear to my hubby that this is what makes me happy and he knows that a happy me leads to a happier household..., and 2) I get up at the crack of dawn to get long runs done and do whatever I can do to train without disrupting every day life.

    My husband recently started running longer distances (half marathons) so now I feel like it's a more equitable split and easier to make plans because we're both doing it, but it's always a struggle to balance it all...

    new follower!

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