Time.

I've run five miles every day since Saturday, bettering my time with each run.

When I first started running five miles occasionally a few weeks ago, it seemed like it took so much time. Now, it seems normal.

Time is a BIG thing in my life. When you're trying to corral two kids, get to work on time, get the kids to all their stuff on time, and get food on the table at a reasonable time, you tend to pay attention to it. A lot.

I think back, WAY back, to before I had kids, and wonder what I did with all my free time. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment, we both worked, and Russ was in school finishing up his second degree. But still, we had tons of time.

I'm pretty sure I wasted a lot of it.

When I run, time seems to stand still. It's not that I'm taking time away from things I want/need to do; it's more like I am making time FOR something. Semantics, I know, but you know how I have to trick myself into doing things.

I used to spend my five miles thinking, "I should be inside folding clothes. Those clothes have been in that basket for two days. I need to do that." Then, I realized: THOSE CLOTHES HAD BEEN IN THAT BASKET FOR TWO DAYS; what's another hour?

I try to time my runs for when my children are settling down for bed, or doing something else. I usually go out after supper, while they're doing the showering thing, and then they watch a little TV. They're both older now, and Russ is here to deal with anything that crops up. On the weekends, I go out in mid- to late-afternoon, when they're outside playing.

(It's good, in a way, because the kids are used to coming to me for every single thing. Honestly, if they are sitting on the couch beside their dad, they will get up and find me -- wherever I am in the house -- and ask me if they can have or do whatever. If I'm out running, they have two options: ask Dad or wait until I get back in.)

I am now taking an hour out of my day to do something that I didn't previously do, but everything is still getting done. I am still cooking supper my usual four out of seven nights. I am still getting laundry done and folded. My house is probably cleaner than it's been in a while. I'm up to date on the TV shows I watch, and I've finished two books that I've had lingering for a few months.

Running keeps me centered. It helps me focus. I can get overwhelmed fairly easily. I get over it and get things done, but there is this period of time where I'm internally (and sometimes externally) freaking out. For whatever reason -- endorphins, oxygenation, blood flow, whatever -- running keeps me from feeling overwhelmed.

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Beginning tomorrow, I'm off until Jan. 3 (the benefits of working in higher education). Since Russ is off until Monday, I think I'm going to go to the Hike and Bike Trail in Beaumont to run a few times before then. I need a change of scenery. I want to up my mileage a bit, and the prospect of running around my neighborhood SIXTEEN TIMES (to get a total of 8 miles in) just bores me.

The trail is 3.5 miles around, so I can make two laps, get 7 miles and call it good.

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I jumped on the scale this morning on a whim.

131.4.

I'm almost there.