Back to normal?

I wouldn't consider our life isn't exactly "normal". Maybe nobody actually has a normal life, but ours is consistently crazy busy. I sometimes look ahead through my calendar and wonder how we'll do it all. But even with the insanity that is our life, the last six weeks or so have just been insane. Insane, unmanageable, and absolutely exhausting. It was extremely ambitious to go out of town four weekends in a row. It's a lame duck session year for the Michigan legislature, and that meant very long days and nights at work for both of us. We even had to board our dogs at one point because we didn't think we'd be able to get home and let them out.

At the end of last week, after two straight weeks of working constantly and feeling tons of stress, the legislature adjourned for the year. That means a month or so of legislature-less bliss. Except we didn't really think about timing when we scheduled our annual Christmas party the same weekend...so after the party THEN we could relax.

Through all of this not only has my sanity suffered, but so has my running. The one thing that really keeps me sane has been put on the back burner because I was just tired. My body was sore, I was stressed, and I did what I always hate - I made an excuse. Tonight I laced up my running shoes for the first time in a WEEK, and yes, I apologized to my shoes. And I apologized to myself for not being true to the one thing that keeps me sane.

I'm back at it, and I'm training again. I've got a half marathon in two months, and today I found out the fantastic news that I got into the Cherry Blossom 10-miler in D.C. in April. It's one of the nation's premiere 10-mile races, and I have finally gotten in. I'm so excited to run the race and visit our amazing friends in D.C. Look out world - I'm back! Back to running, back to traveling, back to being true to myself. You're welcome, running shoes.