I am an avid exerciser. I have always made it a priority in my life, from dance lessons in high school to aerobics classes in college and beyond. It keeps me sane, tempers my depressive tendencies and burns off a portion of all the chocolate I eat. About 15 years ago, I started running and while it wasn’t exactly love at first sight, it’s been the steadiest fitness relationship in my life. When I started, I was working a few part time jobs, so I’d meet my friend at the Y around 11am, we’d run on the treadmill and go for lunch. A year later, I added grad school prerequisites to the mix and found that my only time to work out was before 7am. So before 7am it was, going through microbiology flashcards on the stairmaster and running with my friend on the weekends.
Flash forward to having a preschooler, running my own business and training for my 4th half marathon. After months of feeling like I was constantly hustling from one thing to the next without any time to breathe (or shower!) I realized that I badly needed to restructure my time. So twice a week, my alarm goes off at 5:50am and I go for a run before my family wakes up. Of course I curse the alarm when it first goes off, but once I’m out of bed, WOW am I happy. It’s still dark when I go out and since my route takes me along the East River, I get to see the sun rise over lower Manhattan. The trail has only a few other runners at that time, enough to feel safe but still feel like I’m having time all to myself. It’s one of the only times I feel like NYC is truly beautiful. And since I’m racing against Eliza’s wake up, my miles are almost always sub 9 minutes (that’s fast for me!)
Sacrificing those extra hours of sleep has been well worth it. It’s time in my life to be Aynsley, not somebody’s mom or wife or trainer. That’s so worth making the time