Over the last couple of years my running has been… not great. In fact, I’d say it’s pretty much stopped altogether. Looking after two young kids has been really fun, really rewarding but also very challenging all at once. The biggest challenge for us has been how we manage our time and work commitments while adapting to parenthood. It’s had the positive effect of making us much more organised and I think we’re figuring it all out now.
Over the last few months it’s been easy to blame a lack of time for not running as much, but if I’m completely honest with myself I think I just wasn’t as interested in it with so much good stuff happening at home.
At the start of this year I made a real effort to pick the running up again. I found that run commuting was by far the best (or only) way to make time for running – It’s the most efficient way to travel through London, cutting the commuting time down with plenty of opportunities to add extra miles without keeping me away from home for hours on end.
Just as I thought I had it all figured out, Covid, lockdowns and working from home happened. I pretty much didn’t leave the house until the end of April, and without childcare it took a good few weeks for us to work out how to manage the home again. The ironic thing is I now save about 15 hours a week from not commuting but somehow have less time ‘reserved’ for running.
Since the summer I’ve found my weight balloon to about 15 stone, my covid belly is no joke and I’m struggling to run a 5k. I need to sort myself out! I’ve had enough of giving myself a hard time about all of this, and instead of my lazy excuses I know I just need to plan my time a bit better and stop trying the same things that might have worked for me a couple of years ago.
Things have started to look up though. My rather strenuous MK Marathon virtual run last month has kicked me into action and I’ve set myself an achievable (I think) goal of trying to get out for at least four 30-minute runs a week. I’ve also printed out a novice marathon training plan that gives me a tangible target to aim for, starting small and building up. I’m tracking my weight and trying to watch what I eat. All I need to do is be more aware of how I’m planning my time and get out there again!
I want to keep myself accountable for getting back into shape, so I’m going to start posting my progress here as a kind of running diary.
