Life is busy.

Between work, day to day chores, and trying to have somewhat of a social life, there isn’t much time left for running. 

When I first signed up for the Shamrock Half Marathon, I thought it would be no big deal to get my butt to the gym three or four (or five!) times a week for my scheduled training runs.

Early on in training, runs were 2-3 miles with long runs being 4-5 miles.

Half an hour at the gym and I’d be done with the shorter during-the-week runs. I’d be home in time for long hot shower, dinner, vegging on the couch, and all of the above listed life obligations.

Once the long runs started getting longer and longer (for me they’re long!) I started getting confused.

I have to not drink 5 glasses of wine on Friday night so that I can squeeze in my long run on Saturday morning? But…..

Not only do you have to dedicate the time to actually run, you have sacrifice time prepping, traveling, and recovering.

Instead of going out late night on the weekend, you have to go to bed earlier.

Driving to and from a trail or the gym can take easily take an hour out of your day.

And you have to make sure you have enough time to stretch, foam roll, and ice afterwards.

Not to mention showering after a run and attempting to make yourself presentable as a functioning member of society.

The whole process of running takes a lot of time. A shit ton more time than I initially expected.

For those that have been running for years and have children, or extra challenges – I seriously applaud you.

It may seem like I’m complaining about how running can be inconvenient.  Ok, I am. But I’m also trying to remind myself that it’s worth it.  It’s worth driving to the gym on a dark night in the winter when I’d rather be at home, snuggling on my couch.

It’s worth it because of the way I feel after a run or a race is better than having that extra glass of wine and hour(s) to sleep in [most of the time]. I definitely think that with running, you get out of it what you put into it.

So I’m going to keep lacin’ up my sneakers for the time being – even if I don’t always feel like it.