packing

I'm heading up to Massachusetts with the family for almost a week of vacation. Last night, as I was setting out my week of clothing - shorts, tanks, sweatshirt for the cold nights - I had this separate pile of clothes.

Sarah asked, "What's that for?" pointing at the black pile.

"Oh," I said, "that's all my running stuff." Yeah, the majority of my running clothes are black.

"You're going to run?" then after a pause, "will you run up the sand banks?"

Near my sister's home are these HUGE sand banks left over from decades of quarrying. Huh, I thought, now THAT would be a great hill work out!

"Maybe I will. We can all go for a walk and I'll run up and down those hills." Sarah just smiled, like I was a little crazy.

Which I am...only crazy people lay out their running clothes FIRST when they are packing for a trip. Only crazy people hone in on the words "jogging path" when they are reviewing the deck layouts of the cruise ship they will be on for their honeymoon. Only crazy people get excited when they know there'll be a fitness center at the hotel they are staying at because it will mean fitting in runs will be a bit easier in the family vacation.

Guess you just gotta love me!

multitasking

True story:

This morning I was brushing my teeth while drying my hair AND trying to get a good hamstring stretch by bending over, head to knees. I'd straighten up, then do a side-bend stretch, still making use of the toothbrush with my right hand and holding the dryer with the left.

About 20 minutes later, in between mouthfuls of Kashi cereal, I'm straightening my hair and standing on Claire's stool, left heel hanging over the edge, trying to get a good stretch on my tight Achilles. Spoon cereal in, get new section of hair, switch to right Achilles...

I think multitasking and being a mom are synonymous.

I make supper while I have laundry going. The TV is on and I'm reading a Runner's World magazine. I rarely do just one thing at a time. With one exception (okay, two exceptions...one on one time with Glenn is focused on doing just one thing, and doing it amazingly well).

When I run, I'm doing nothing else. Perhaps, that is one reason I need to run. When I'm out there, it's just me. I can't be making supper, too, or vacuuming or refereeing the sibling squabbles of three children. When I run, that is all I'm doing. Left foot, right foot, breathe in, breathe out, roll shoulders, pump arms, left foot. I run outside, so there's no distraction of a television show or magazine to slow me down as happened the few times I ran on a dreadmill. No kids interrupting. I don't have any fancy electronics I carry with me - no Garmin to beep at me, telling me my pace is too fast or too slow, no heart rate monitor, not even an iPod for music or books or podcasts.

Running is my unitasking.