Trivial Pursuits

Lately I haven’t felt like contributing to my blog. The last couple of entries were forced, as if I had a writing assignment that needed to be done. I guess that is a form of writers block.

I haven’t done anything since the ING NYC Marathon Tune-up. Monday was a recovery day and I spent it with my family hiking around the Cattus Island Nature Preserve. It is this area of bay, beach, swamp and woods down around Tom’s River, NJ. It was a pleasant way to spend the day and kept me active enough to serve as recovery for my legs.

Tuesday I saw my podiatrist to get his prognosis on my Plantar Fasciitis. He told me it was a very mild case, taped it up and gave me guidelines on how to proceed with my training based on how my foot feels. Right now I am not experiencing any pain and I have the green light to run to my hearts content. This is what I am going to try to do tonight in the rain.

Yesterday, I was supposed to ride, but I decided to bail out of it. I think god was trying to tell me to forget about doing a ride. I had several signs telling me this was so.

The stressed look in my wife’s eyes when I told her I was going out – I knew she wanted me to be home to help with the kids because she had homework for school to do.

The fact that I put down my drivers license, insurance card and credit card (things I like to have with me when I am training alone) and then couldn’t for the life of me figure out what I did with them. I eventually went out without them.

My children’s exuberance at having me home and my son’s excitement to tell me about his first Kung Fu lesson.

I did head out for the ride though, but first I had to stop at Jackrabbit to get a new pair of running shoes since my current new pair had something wrong with the stitching and seriously cut into the side of my foot. After I left the store I intended to ride around Prospect Park for a while. By now it was completely dark and I got an iffy feeling about riding alone. I debated internally for about 10 minutes about whether or not I should ride and even entered and exited the park a couple of time while I struggled with my indecision. After entering the park for the second time, I just said to hell with it and went home.

I think I was rewarded then for making this decision. The first sign of this was the garbage truck coming unexpectedly down my block for pickup at a time that it had never appeared before (it was doing the previous days pickup). I was able to get to my house and take out the trash before the truck arrived.

The second sign of making the right decision was being able to watch my son practice all of his new Kung Fu moves with an unbridled enthusiasm that only a kid could muster. He had me smiling ear to ear within seconds of walking back into the house. If I had done the ride it would have been his bedtime by the time I returned and I would have missed this spur of the moment opportunity. Watching him was much more satisfying than riding in Prospect Park alone at night could ever have been. There was a time that had such enthusiasm to be the odd one and be out alone at night, but my current responsibilities and love for my children dictate that I can longer engage in such trivial pursuits.

But I must get in a workout tonight. My body is ready to do something even though the devil inside me is telling me to just kick back and relax and play with the kids. As much as I’ve enjoyed evening workouts lately, it is time I transitioned back to the morning. It is a much more efficient use of my time if I want to spend more quality time with my kids.