Family, work then running and other stuff. That’s the order of life right now. My family comes first whatever, which is the way I want it. I put everything else aside to make sure that my time with my daughter, partner and her 2 children is not compromised. I’d like to have more family time but we make the most of what time we do have. Lots of weekend adventures doing stuff. Second is work. I’m lucky to be where I am, being a nurse is a great job, I mean it’s a job as such that everyone needs a job, to earn money, but being a nurse is so much more. Now where to fit running into this. I work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights mostly and then Friday to Monday I have my daughter. So that doesn’t leave much time for running. So I run to and from work. At about 4.5-5miles each way it’s a nice easy distance, especially as I’ve got a 12hr night shift in a not too quiet Emergency Department. This allows me to get a few miles in, even though it’s not a lot, when combined with my job it defiantly feels like more. I try and run around my Monday and Wednesday night shifts, so this way I am running once a day Monday to Thursday. If m not too tired then I’ll usually go for a longer run on the Thursday or Friday morning. Although the distances are not huge it does ware me out a bit. If you check out my training log on fetcheveryone you’ll see I miss some days but this is usually because I’m tired. Injury has played a part as well, so I’m always conscious not to do too much. I think work does contribute to my training for ultras though. I defiantly spend a lot of time on my feet during my shifts so 3 twelve hour shifts add on a few miles as well. So all considering, when I actually think about it I do get a lot of time on my feet, walking and running in during the week. Race wise I only have 6 planned for this year, again a sacrifice I am more than willing to make so as not to lose any family time on the weekend. I don’t feel I’m losing out or suffering as it were by restricting my running time. My last two races have been very successful so I think I must being doing ok.
NurseRoberts 