Even when the crap piles up...

Or maybe because the crap piles up? It was a crap week at work for me. People didn't show up. People didn't do their jobs when they did show up. Kids did what kids do and threw curve balls at us all, and it felt like we swung and missed more often than not. The kid thing is the nature of teaching at a middle school. Kids are supposed to try to outwit, outlast, and outplay us--even to their own detriment. The "People" deal should not be the nature of middle school, and it frankly sucked. If you are a teacher, you know what I mean when I say that sometimes all you want to do is freaking teach, for crying out loud. A friend gave me a mantra for the week, "Step over the crap, not in it." I should have said it more often.

But my goal for the week was to run my Tuesday/Thursday runs no matter what. I come up with excuses for why one run or the other doesn't happen every week. Lame. Every Tuesday, I have a meeting after school, so I get home late. Every Thursday, I sponsor the knitting club at school, so I get home late. Switch the runs to Monday/Wednesday, you say? Oh, every Wednesday I have a faculty meeting after school, so I get home late. And Monday is a recovery day from long run Sunday. These aren't even the excuses I come up with. This is just my actual schedule.

I won't go into the actual excuses. They really are lame. My point here (and I do have one) is sometimes when the crap piles up, the best thing to do is to run. No matter what. Raining? F it. Dark out? F it. Don't feel like it? F it. Put your effing shoes on and get out the door. (Somehow, pseudo swearing motivates me. I'd actually swear, but I'm trying to keep my two-year-old daughter from producing the words I actually say in my head all the time. I don't abbreviate in my head.)

To make what should have been a short story longer, I ran the Tuesday run just fine. Got to Thursday, and I was fired up because I didn't have child responsibilities, so I thought I was going to get to run down by school instead of having to do my usual route at home. Got into the bathroom at school to change after knit club and discovered I had not packed my sports bra. Disaster. Jumped into the car, drove home, snuck into the house so as not to alert our geriatric dogs to my presence so that they wouldn't go ape-scheisse over me being home and leaving them again, slipped on my sports bra and shorts and snuck back out the door undetected. Got back in the truck and drove to the local park with a 2 mile trail. Laced up. Hit the trail. Misery.

I was having one of those runs where you feel obligated to run because: a) you promised yourself you would get in your Thursday run no matter what. b) the weather is ridiculously nice (no global warming? what the hell is wrong with these people? but I'll take it.), so you have to run because it would be a sin not to. c) the husband is not going to get to run, so you have to run so that you don't feel guilty for preventing him from running.d)I'm sure there's a d. But there's a Bell's Porter in me at this point, and I fear I'm just rambling. Crap.

Long story short, no joy. Ran 2 to fill the obligation. Headed home. I know, though, that even when the crap piles up, I should be stepping over it. Not in it. Even on a crappy two-mile run. And sometimes running to fill the obligation is as important as running because you enjoy running. (And sometimes a Bell's Porter is a great thing to drink before posting on a blog and sometimes not.)

Running 12 tomorrow. Crap or not.