Between travel, holidays, and the fact that it’s either been really hot or really rainy lately, I haven’t been running as frequently as I’d like. So, last week, I put three runs on my priority list for the week. “Three times a week is a habit” is one of my favorite time management rules and so three was what I was aiming for.
But Sun-Wed was travel, Thursday was really busy, and by end of day Thursday, I still hadn’t run a single time.
So was this not going to happen? Well, it turns out that running Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is still three times a week. So that is what I did. I did a run on Friday morning before doing my half of the camp run, I ran Saturday morning during my daughter’s tennis lesson, and then I did a short run Sunday morning before our family activity. I was still able to cross this off.
I mention this because when weekdays are very full for whatever reason, it’s easy to get discouraged, because it feels like things “never” happen. Or sometimes we lament that they “only” happen on the weekend. But weekends are real days too. This time really counts. If you do something Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, that is in fact fairly frequent. It is a regular part of your life. It can be part of your identity.
Want to have family meals, but only manage to do Friday pizza, Saturday pancakes, and then lunch together Sunday? That’s three times a week — and that counts as having regular family meals.
Want to exercise, but can’t seem to squeeze it in during a “normal” day? Exercising Friday, Saturday, and Sunday might not be ideal if you’re trying to spread out really tough workouts, but for most of us doing normal things that would actually be a reasonable amount of exercise. It works just fine.
(Though I’m not going anywhere this week so I should be able to run a bit more frequently!)
In other news: I’m working my way through my summer fun list. Saturday was a “tri” day in the sense that I ran, went for a bike ride, and went swimming (not much swimming, just splashing around). My husband and I convinced two of our kids to go bike on the Schuylkill River Trail with us. We went north instead of south (the direction I often go) and I was happy to see that the trail has really been developed in the last few years. This was a much easier bike than the last time I tried it!
Photo: Running on a trail by wildflowers during my daughter’s tennis lesson Saturday morning.
You know this is my absolute favourite “rule” from your TBT. I think about it all the time and it gives me so much satisfaction to be able to label myself X, Y, or Z because I do it three times a week!
Blogging has brought me so much joy and I’ve made some of the most incredible friendships of my life and it’s all thanks to this rule of yours. I always feel like I owe you a debt of gratitude. So, once again, thank you Laura <3
@Elisabeth – I’m so glad you decided to start blogging! You’ve built such an amazing community – it’s been so fun to watch.