It's a way of life.

This week has been a reminder of how difficult it is to continue exercising while working long shifts with weird hours.  My current shifts are from 9am until 7pm.  It's lovely to be able to sleep in, but getting off at 7 is terrible.  I have never been fond of morning workouts.  Half awake, stumbling, devoid of my morning coffee, I am never able to push myself the way I am later in the day.  But working out when I get home is its own struggle of motivation.  This past Tuesday was the perfect example.

I was at the hospital from 9am-7pm for my shift.  I got home around 7:30, ate a small snack and changed.  I arrived at the gym around 8pm after finally talking myself into going (mentally and physically tired after being on my feet all day), where I did my first day of real training for the race: 2 miles walking, 1 mile running, 2 miles speed walking.  This took me an hour and 12 minutes.  I didn't end up eating dinner until 9:30 or showering until 10.  I was in bed within an hour after that.

I love working out, especially after a long, rather frustrating day.  But I also love to relax, surf the internet and watch mindless TV.  They both produce the same sort of result at the end of a long day, but one is 10 times easier.  It's not surprising that just last year I would come home and immediately become an extension of my couch.

I'm not writing this to whine about my hours or how difficult my life is, but as a reminder to myself that you make time for those things that you really want in life.  It doesn't matter if it leaves you with less time in your evening for other things, if it is important to you, you just do it.  This of course applies to many things beyond fitness, but fitness is often so far down people's list of priorities that it is one of the first thing to fall off when life gets crazy.

One of my favorite quotes is "Fitness is not a destination; it is a way of life."

And what a journey it has been so far. :)