Who Am I?

Profound title, I know, but this has been something that has been going through my mind lately as more things are being added to my plate.

So who am I? Wife. Mom. Runner. Dancer. Teacher. Soccer Mom. Chef. Laundress. Maid. (to name a few)

How do we balance it all? How do we know when it is just too much? How do we find that perfect ratio of things that make us better wives/moms/athletes without overdoing?

I love my husband. We have been married almost 9 years, and he has been a huge help to me as I am finding my footing in this new schedule. My kids have been understanding on the outside, but we have been facing some escalating attitude issues we have not dealt with before. Is it too much?

My runner self feels a little bi-polar. I'll have a great running day where I feel like I can tackle anything! And then a day that feels like I shouldn't even bother to run at all if I can't finish that workout. Where's the balance?

Teaching ballet has been a good thing. It feels good to see improvement in my classes, and to know that they are working harder than they ever have. My legs are handling the extra workload well, and my feet are getting stronger. That will make me a better runner. I haven't seen the weight loss I was hoping for with the added exercise, but perhaps that will come.

Spring soccer has started for my son, which he is ecstatic about. He was up by 6am Saturday morning for an 11am game. It was a long morning. I love that my kids want to be active and busy. It's finding the balance with my activities as well.

Adjustments need to be made as schedules change. For me, that also means learning to say "No". Such an easy thing, but it is so much easier to say "yes". For example, I was asked to teach 3 Friday night dance classes, including Jazz. I have never taken Jazz. I told my boss this, and she was unconcerned, figuring I could work with their recital piece. Classes went fine, however by saying yes to that, I unwittingly said "no" to something else. My daughter had her preschool open house. No problem, it started at 6:30, classes were done at 6:30. I would just be a few minutes late. Oops-open house started at 6:00pm, and I missed most of the activities. She enjoyed doing the things with Daddy, but I felt bad.


Another adjustment that makes me sad, but is the right choice, is postponing my first full marathon. I will now be doing the Seattle RNR half, and waiting to do a full in the fall. Probably Portland. As much as this makes me sad, putting my dream on hold, I also realize that this will relieve stress for myself and my family. Trying to find training time that isn't there when I am already slow on prep time doesn't seem like a great idea. Plus, it does give me a chance to keep focusing on my half marathon time and to do some shorter races this spring also.

Mercer Island is this weekend, and I am nervous! I have been spread so thin that I have not given my training my all. Can I still get my sub 2:00 half? I want that so badly. I will give it the best I have on race day, and we'll just see. And I will make my workouts this week as quality as I can in preparation.

Today's workout was fabulous-6x400 @ sub 1:50 (1:47, 1:46, 1:47, 1:46, 1;45, 1:45). I felt great for all the repeats, even though I did my long run yesterday. I added 2x400, 2x200 that I ran with a friend at a slightly slower pace.