Changes, in life, and in plans

So as my handle implies, I'm a professor. So is my husband. So this time of year is really really crazy for us. Summers are time for recharging for us, and that time is over. Our 'free' time is pretty much non-existent as of now. (Free is in quotation marks because we don't have summers off, as many people seem to think. We just don't teach in the summers. But because of that, things are a little less insane during the summers.) This fall's even crazier. My little guy started kindergarten this past week. He's enjoying it (although he thinks he's in the wrong class - it's too easy and he's not learning anything new), which is great. But managing around his schedule is not easy. (For instance, we can't travel for work, something we need to do, without help. We've worked out our schedules so that one of us can take him to school and the other can pick him up after after-school care ends. But neither of us can do both.)

Training is going to be harder, but necessary. But I will likely not post much for the next few months.

My fall is made more complicated by the fact that, as mentioned a few posts ago, my mother has a brain tumor. She is getting surgery mid month, and I am going to be with her for a few days after her surgery. But that is complicated. I don't have the kind of job where someone can just step in and cover my classes easily. But I have managed to sort things out so I am not gone for long, and everything is covered, and importantly, by people who are very able to instruct on the particular topics on the schedule (they know as much or more than I do about it). So I feel OK about going.

It also complicates my race plans for the fall. I was supposed to be doing the Cultus Lake Triathlon again this year. But that would mean leaving DH alone with our son for the weekend, or having them both come with me. Either way, he wouldn't get any work done next weekend. And since I'll be gone the following weekend, that would mean 2 weekends of extra responsibilities for him. That's not really fair. And I was getting stressed about when I was going to get lectures prepped, admin work done, etc. (we work pretty much every weekend during the term), with two weekends being interrupted. So I made the decision not to go. Training and racing is supposed to help alleviate my stress, not cause it. And although I'm bummed that my season came to an end before I expected this year, it was the right decision and I feel good about it. I am having a hard enough time fitting in ramped up longer runs that I need to do before my half marathon in October!

Speaking of which, this week I did a 6 km tempo run on the track on Tuesday and yesterday (Sat) got in 15.7 km in the morning. That was the longest I'd run by about 3 km in about 10 months. But I finished. Next week I'll likely do the same again, and then try and go for about 17 the following weekend. Hopefully that'll be enough to get me across the finish line of the half. I was pretty knackered yesterday after the run, but feel great today, so I think I'll be OK.

Then I'd like to try some trail running I think. And DH is supposed to be trying out cyclo-cross this fall, so I look forward to being on the side-lines cheering.