Morning Runs- or a Lack Thereof

I have always been very selfish with my time, and being a mom has really made that a challenge. I once read that being an introvert and a mother can be difficult because you miss that alone time to recharge. It seems weird, but I feel like it rings somewhat true for me. If you ever have to take one of those personality quizzes like Myers-Briggs, it will tell you where you fall on the introvert-extrovert spectrum. And it is a spectrum, not a bucket. Unless you are me who usually scores 90% or higher as an introvert.

What this means for me is that when my son goes to bed at 8:30 and I need to get up around 5:20 to run, I have only a limited amount of time to play with, but one of my priorities always seems to be some alone time. I always feel like I need a break right when he falls asleep. On top of everything else I seem unable to function well on less than 7-8 hours of sleep. So do I take that 1-1.5 hours to do something I want to do alone like read? Do I spend quality time with my husband? Do I accomplish some of that cleaning that seems impossible when my son is awake?

Or do I take the 4th option and stay up past 11 and somehow miraculously expect to get up and run? I was wide awake when I woke up at 3:30, but with all the tossing and turning after that it just seemed impossible to actually do anything but hit snooze when the alarm went off.

And maybe if I was a faster runner, I could trot out and run my 3 miles in the morning in 25 minutes. Would that somehow make getting out of bed easier? An extra 30 minutes before the alarm went off? For those of you doing math, it doesn't actually take me 55 minutes to run 3 miles, I'm just generously rounding.

I can't blame this on my son, though. How often was I really getting out of bed at 5:30 am to run before he came around? What he has done, though, is forced me to prioritize much differently. Unfortunately, I am finding lately that I want to stay awake and read rather than go to bed so I can get up to run.

I've got to change my attitude an adjust my priorities. This running thing doesn't come naturally to me, and I'm not sure it does for anyone. I am rarely excited to roll out of my bed any earlier than I have to. And while there will be a brief time where it is 55 degrees outside and WONDERFUL to run in, that will quickly slip down to 30 and 40 degrees where it is even harder to get out from under the covers.

I've read it takes two weeks before doing something like getting up to workout becomes a habit. I've yet to run consistently for two weeks since we moved at the end of June. When I look out at my calendar for the next 3 weeks I have 2 out of town trips for work where I am uncertain if I will have the means or the time to run.

So here's hoping I can roll out of bed tomorrow and get those 2 weeks started, and that I can find the means to keep it up.