Flexibility

This morning at 1am and then again at 3am we were greeted with my son enhancing his lung capacity.  By about 4:30 in the morning it was my turn to try and calm him down.  I was able to but not till about 5am.  Then it was only for about an hour then it was time to have him eat again.  So my long run that I had planned for today did not happen.  About a year ago this would have bothered me.  I was however able to get a couple of runs in but it does not match the benefits of the long run.

I have begun to learn that my training will come second to my son for this summer.  For me this is a difficult thing to overcome.  For many years I was training to be competitive as a runner and have brought my times down to were I really feel happy about my training.  Last year at this time, I was coming off a small injury that really affected my effectiveness as a runner.  I was planning on this summer to be the full of very focused training. That has obviously taken a detour, I am looking forward to being a Dad but I am not ready to become less competitive. 

I article in RunnersWorld six months to a year ago dealt with moms that are runners and how to deal with the changes to the availability of not really training runs but running in general.  This is fine, but I want to know what to do when the Dad wants to run. 

I keep being told that this time will pass and he will be sleeping more “normally” in a few weeks to months. I not sure if I can handle that, I know that I need to be flexible in my training.  Maybe this father thing and flexibility with my training will be good for me.  Maybe this will make me a better runner in the end but for now it is a challenge for me mentally to deal with.