This originally appeared as a guest post for my friend, Stephanie, over at Food and Fitness 4 Real but I liked it so much I decided to post it here, too;).
 
Although I didn’t start training for and running races until four years ago, I’ve actually been exercising almost daily since our oldest was five and our twins were only two. And keep in mind, my husband travels for a living so he was not an option many days. Thank God for gyms with good childcare!

This is a VERY old picture (circa 2007) But my oldest forbids me to post any pics of him on the internet so this one will have to do;).

Now that they are 16 and 14 it’s much easier to find the time to run then it once was, but it’s still a challenge to fit in 45 minutes a day or so when you’re trying to manage the demands of work, family and kid’s schedules and activities. And for those of you with preschool children and babies, I remember those days VERY WELL and I would say for you, finding the time to work out might literally save your physical and mental life! I believe with every fiber of my compression shorts that you will be a better parent, a better employee, a better wife, a better friend and a better person if you take care of your self. Oh, and bonus – you’ll have more energy, be more patient, and sleep better at night.

The good news is, for many of us, our spouses are much more our partners then they were years ago. I flipped through Jim Fixx’s The Book Of Running and in the chapter “Fitting It Into Your Life” this is what he writes:

“If you’re responsible for the daily care of young children, time for running is likely to be especially difficult, but it it’s seldom impossible. Perhaps you can run when it’s convenient for your husband to look after the children. Or search out another woman runner and take turns looking after the children. There’s no question that it’s tough but you’ll feel much better for it.”

Now I agree whole-heartedly with all of that, but I like how far we’ve come since 1973 when this book was published – we no longer need to assume that the mom is the primary care giver or that we have to wait for it to be “convenient” for our husbands to watch the kids. Managing child-care has become, in my house at least, an absolute 50/50 proposition so Scott has to deal with the time management for workouts as much as I do! As the kids have grown older it’s more about missing quality time with them then needing childcare, but either way there’s always going to be something or someone that will derail you from your routine and without a plan, you’re not likely to be successful (and yes, that was the most obvious sentence in the world but you just can’t hear that too much, right? Maybe you can.)

So what do you do? OK, here are my top five ways to fit your running into your life:

1. Do it before everybody gets up. Yes, you’ll miss some sleep (or you’ll have to go to bed earlier) but your family (and certainly your employer) will not be missing you if they’re sound asleep;).
2. Do it late in the evening once every one is settled down for the night. Sometimes you’ll find me on the treadmill as late as 9 pm and although I used to be afraid it would mess with my sleep, some recent studies suggest that’s not the case, and because I am so easily persuaded by an internet article, now that I don’t think it bothers me, it doesn’t. (file under “it makes sense if you don’t think about it”)
3. Make it a priority and put it in you phone/on you calendar/in you outlook on your computer. And yes, the Amazing Sherri (the dynamo responsible for my work schedule) gets to see how much mileage I’m doing each week, but seeing it right there on my regular schedule reminds me that it’s a very big deal. My staff can tell if I’m not running based on my behavior in meeting and it’s not pretty. So they are all for it;).
4. Get creative! Sometimes weeks just fall apart on me. A sick kid, or a work deadline, or two many early breakfast or late work evenings that make getting up at 5am painful (notice I didn’t say impossible – just maybe not advisable!). When those times hit, I may have 6 miles on the schedule for the day and do 3 at the gym at the treadmill in the morning and 3 outside after the kids are settled in for the night. It’s not my preference, but I still get the miles in and I’m always glad I figured out a way to do it.
5. “Keep Moving Forward!” (Walt Disney said that!). It’s not a question of if your life is going to screw up your running schedule, it’s WHEN. So when the inevitable happens, don’t waste one ounce of precious emotional energy beating yourself up for it. Just look at the next scheduled run and commit to it and move on. I can only point to a handful of week’s in any given training cycle where I hit every single run on the day, time and at the pace scheduled. I shoot for about 80% because if I demand 100%, when it doesn’t happen I tend to beat myself up and think about giving up all together. DON’T! Even 60% of what you planned is way better than 0% and your body is very forgiving if you MOSTLY stick to the schedule.

And don’t let anybody or anything (not even this article) make you think that is has to look a certain way. My running coach, Natalie, just told me that running is very individual so take all advice, all blogs, all articles in Runner’s World and see if they work FOR YOU. Because the greatest plan in the world that doesn’t fit with your life is the worst plan for you. And if you have to say no to some things, to disappoint a few people, or maybe let go of an obligation that you don’t really love anyway in order to make space? All the better. Those things were most likely wearing out anyway.

On that note, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite John Bingham books (every since he retweeted me I feel like we’re BFF’s) “Through running, we rediscover what we knew as children: that being safe all the time doesn’t make for a very interesting hour or day. And it makes for a very uninteresting life. The fun is at the edge of the unknown.”

Happy Running!!

Jen