Early in the Morning
Have I finally done it? Have I achieved the perfect weekly schedule and work-life balance? Time will tell! It’s early in the fall semester, and currently I have everything placed in neat metaphorical stacks around me. My run commutes are going swimmingly, I found a way to carve out piano practice time for myself every day (I’ve found I need to actually schedule that time without winging it), I’m doing a good job of giving myself a hard cutoff time in the evening so there’s consistent personal time built in too. I love starting my days early in the morning, when I can organize my thoughts and center myself before the flurry of classes and rehearsals. The above photo is from my morning commute on one of my favorite streets in Cambridge, beautiful in all seasons. The photo below is my cat Juno in her favorite morning routine.
The downside in maximizing time is that it doesn’t really leave much wiggle room for anything extra or spontaneous without sacrificing something, like sleep or practice time. In a way it’s like being on a very tight budget where you can only hope for no catastrophes. So in that sense, maybe my system is far from being perfect at all. Maybe my neat little organized stacks are actually a house of cards, perched to be blown over at the slightest breeze.
But, instead of worrying about what could happen, I’ll try rolling with this and see if my little fall semester plan can actually work. I have a full school year under my belt so far, figuring out what works and what doesn’t work. I’ve gotten better about being pickier about what I say yes to, and more generous with the things I say no to, as much as I don’t like doing so. Sort of like a training cycle in running, it’s all about making little tweaks and improving over time.
Speaking of, I’m coming up on seven weeks of consistent running since Colorado, hovering around 50-55 miles a week, and I’m feeling pretty good! In the weeks post-Colorado I felt pretty glum about having gotten off-trail (though ultimately happy with how everything turned out) and very burnt out on trail stuff in general. A while ago I had signed up for Bubba’s Backyard Ultra, the premiere last-person-standing event in New England, starting the morning of Oct 7 (which just so happens to be my fall break with an extra long weekend). In August, my feelings were, “Yeah, there’s no way I’m doing that.” In early September I thought, “Maybe, eh I’m kind of on the fence, but I’ll think about it.” The deadline to revoke my registration in favor of a credit came and went on September 7th. By my own passivity, I guess deep down, I still want to run this race and see what could happen.
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