Priorities...

Reunited after four days!

Hard to believe another week has come and gone.  It was a busy week for me and I cannot say I did a very good job running--only making it out for two runs.  But...I can say that I made very good decisions about my use of time--maybe something I would not have done a few years back.

We only have 24 hours in a day and if you are like me then you need every second of your 24.  For me, I'm juggling spending time with Sarah, spending time with Myles, work, fun, running, sleep, and relaxing.  Over the past few years, I've pushed hard with running and probably run when I was too tired or run at the expense of spending time with Sarah or making time for friends.  However, as much as I love to run at the end of the day life is about the people you give your time to more than the number of miles you run.  Sarah has helped teach me this lesson over the past few years and Myles has driven the point home.  For instance, on Monday and Tuesday of last week when I got home from work I had every intention of running.  However, Myles had been couped up in his crate all day and I knew I could not just leave my buddy.  So...he and I took a walk on both days to the park and ran around and just spent time together.  Myles is such a good dog and I feel so responsbile for him and I just cannot bear to ignore him.  Having a dog is a huge responsibility and dogs are meant to get out there and really enjoy being with their owners.  And...Sarah had long days of work and tests and I was not just going to up and leave for a run after walking Myles when I knew I was going to be gone Wednesday through Saturday.

This week I went to Philadelphia to The Placement Exchange to recruit talented new professionals for a couple Residence Director positions we just created for IUPUI.  While I missed Sarah and Myles, I had a great time meeting some talented future professionals, seeing old friends, and just hanging out in Philly.  Again, I could have stayed off in the corner and just been focused on getting some miles in, but I instead interviewed from 9a to 7p, ate dinner with friends, and slept in instead of running because I was tired.  I wanted to run and felt a bit guilty about not running, but I knew my body needed rest--as did my mind.  And...after thinking about it, I'm fine with it.  I'll pick up the running this week.  All in all, TPE was great and I genuinely feel like we found some individuals who could be great on our team.

I knew that the day would come when I would not be able to run 40-50 miles a week and run marathons or races all the time.  I told our undergraduate staff in August that we all have time to do 4-5 things really well and after we pick up 6-7, then we look average at them all.  For me, it's Sarah, Res Life, watching IU sports, and Myles.  Running is in there, but when it comes down to it it's really between running races and Myles.  And...it's not a choice for me.  Myles wins.  I will still be able to run (so long as I get up early) and I'll still race (during the late summer and fall), but at the end of the day when I decided to become Myles's Dad I committed to being the best Dad he could have. 

NCAA tournament selection is tonight.  Keep in mind I'm typing this before seeing the brackets.  I predict the four number one seeds go to Duke, Ohio State, Kansas, and Notre Dame.  I think that the teams to watch besides those four to be good in the NCAAs are: San Diego State, Kentucky, Louisville, Pitt, and Purdue.  Teams I would stay away from picking to go very far:  Wisconsin (too slow), Butler (everyone will be hyped to play them after last year), Michigan State (usually a good pick but Izzo does not have this team), UCONN (Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde type team), Florida (seem soft), and North Carolina (not tough enough and they have no player who just takes over).

Have a great day.  Happy running to you...