Running to escape

So my husband & I closed on a new house yesterday afternoon, and by evening-time we were in full swing cleaning, along with my parents, sisters and grandparents.  I had completely forgotten exactly how much work it is to buy a house, pack the old one, clean the new one, and then move everything over.

And to make it even more fun, we get Tropical Depression Isaac to deal with this weekend.  Of course, I can't complain too much, as we aren't getting nearly the storm that the southern part of the States got, but it's still going to be 3-5" of rain over the course of about 48 hours along with some moderate winds (10-20mph).  At least we can concentrate on cleaning before we have to get deep into the moving aspect.

The past few mornings have been crazy busy.  Up early, run, clean, pack, clean, meet the realtor for an inspection of repairs and the final walk-through.  Today, it feels weird to not be heading out for an early run to start the day - it's a scheduled rest day before my long run this weekend.  I never thought I'd ever catch myself saying that I'm looking forward to a long run, particularly knowing that I will likely end up doing it alone, but I really think I am.  Part of me has the mindset of "but I could get this, that and the other done if I skipped it."  Most of me, however, is really looking forward to the escape that it will give me.  I have 18 miles on the schedule for this weekend, and I plan to enjoy every step and every minute of the ~2.5 hours it will take me to complete.

It won't be time completely wasted anyway.  It'll put me one step closer to my goal of a sub-4 hour marathon in October, and it'll also give me time to step back and do any problem solving.  I already have debates of what goes where going on in my head, and this might just give me the break I need to figure it all out.  Now, whether or not I'll remember it by the time I get back to a place where I can write it down is a whole different story. 

Now, do I run Saturday during the worst of the rain, or do I wait and hope it's calmer by Sunday?  Bonus to running Saturday is that I might get some company for a bit of it.  Sunday would definitely be on my own the whole way.  I guess we'll see exactly how the weather is looking in the morning.

Time to get back to packing boxes and cleaning!

Enjoy your long runs this weekend everyone!  Remember, that's your time to escape the world.  Nothing matters except putting one foot in front of the other and completing the distance!