How I Resurrected my Running

I think the biggest boon to my running happened exactly one year ago today. It wasn't a great workout, or a breakthrough performance. It wasn't a re-dedication to training or even an increase in motivation. It was the simple act of quitting my old job.

I graduated from College in the winter of '95 and a few month later went to work at a technology company as a peon grunt. I stuck with it, and after 10 years of hard work and numerous promotions within the company, I finally worked myself up to a peon, first-class. Unfortunately, in this role of peon, first-class, my duties included the glamorous role of production support. I can honestly say that I enjoyed my time that I spent as a production support person, but it was really taxing. A typical week would have the on-call contact logging somewhere between 30-60 calls off-hours. As I'm sure you can imagine, this would reek havoc with a persons sleeping patterns and general life enjoyment. I would spend many-a-night tapping away at the computer while the rest of the house slept peacefully.

So naturally, running while on-call usually took a backseat. It would be real tough to drag myself out of bed at 5:30 in the morning to go for a run when I spent half the night on the computer working on issues. Normally, I could count on a 4AM call to come through, so sometimes I would just stay awake and go running, but none of this was ideal. There was more than one occasion where I would take a call while on the run (yes, I had to take the on-call phone with me while I was out for a run) and the person on the other line would ask if everything was OK. Apparently, these people aren't used to heavy breathing from their support person.

Running at lunch was always an option, but due to the absolute chaos that was my typical workday, you could never really count on being able to break away for an hour during the day. There were fires breaking out all over the place on a regular basis. This is what happens when you are supporting "technology" that was written in the late 80's-early 90's and is advertised as cutting edge stuff. A lot of behind the scenes duct tape to keep everything moving. Unfortunately, the role of the duct tape usually fell to the support people.

So on-call weeks were typically just survival. It wasn't too bad usually, but then beginning in about January of last year, people started to leave the company. First one from our team of five took the plunge. Then another one did. Suddenly, instead of being on-call once every 5 weeks, it was once every 4 weeks. Then once every 3 weeks. And then there was just two of us..and he was threatening to leave too. One day after a particularly bad morning, I was able to steal out for an afternoon run. When I came back my light was blinking on the answering machine. I checked the message, and low and behold, the one interview that I actually went on had called me back. They offered me the job. More money, less headaches, a free gym membership, a pop machine that only cost a quarter. Where do I sign?

Actually, it was a tough decision for me to make at the time. I had to leave the only real job I ever had for the complete unknown. Thankfully, I did leave. It was probably one of the better decisions I've ever made. While my current job certainly isn't glamorous or really very exciting, it's predictable and when I leave the office, I leave the office. In general, no take-home work, no overtime, and most importantly, no production support. So now, I can plan out a week ahead of time and not have to worry about work getting in the way. It just wasn't possible before. I often wonder if I would be able to do what I am currently doing running-wise, if I was still at the old place. The answer is a definitive no. While I didn't realize it at the time, my decision to leave that company affected almost every area of my life…in a positive way. Most importantly I'm a better husband and a better father because of the switch. I can actually come home at 5 now and enjoy my family without worrying about work. I'm also a better runner because of it. An added bonus, but one that I'm liking.

People often ask me how I fit in all the running that I do with work and family life. The key to it is to figure out a routine and stick with it. If it means getting up early, do it. If it means running at lunch, do it. If it means, waiting until the kids are in bed, do it. It may not be pleasant at first, but the body is a pretty amazing thing. It can adapt to pretty much anything if you give it enough time. The key is to be consistent. I would guess that the one thing that spells doom for a lot of people fitness plans is that they just kind of go into thinking, I'll just fit in the (insert sport here), whenever I can. With that line of thinking, usually the first thing to get chopped when time gets tight, is the excercise.

Today I did 2 runs of 9 miles each. The morning run was done at a relaxed pace. I was thinking of doing some tempo work during this run, but the legs just weren't really responding, so I decided to save whatever I had in them and try it again at lunch. At lunch I did 7 of the 9 miles at marathon pace (6 min/mile). It was pretty painful. The legs still didn't want to go, but I kind of forced them into it. There was probably about 3 miles of cruising, and 4 miles of "how much longer do I have to do this?" I finished, which I guess is the key.