Best Laid Plans

I am list maker, a planner, and scheduler. Those are my things. I do them well. The implementation of the list, plan or schedule is often my downfall. For instance, my marathon training plan is a three-page color-coded Excel spreadsheet. It is beautiful: long weeks are orange, short weeks are blue, and marathon week is yellow. It has been posted on my refrigerator, along with the marathon course map, since August. It was, of course, edited, retyped, and edited again.

However, this wonderful spreadsheet fails to take life into account. There was no plan for the phone call I received in October offering me an interview, or for my decision to put my house on the market, quit a job, move, and start a new job in the span of four weeks. These things appear nowhere on my beautiful spreadsheet. Like almost all the other runners I know, my training plan accounts for only perfect days. Those days when the wind is not blowing 30 mph, when I have had 8 great hours of sleep, and when I get to leave work at 5:30. In other words, unusual days in my life.

For instance, when I typed up that schedule in July, I had the weekend of November 8th and 9th open. I assumed that I would be at home, run a 5-miler on Saturday and a 20-miler on Sunday. Instead, I was in Fort Worth with my husband, running around town for two straight days looking a what seems like 100 different apartments. On Sunday, we made a decision and leased an apartment.

I am sure you know where this is going, but my 20-miler did not happen on Sunday. I got in 5 miles on the treadmill on Saturday morning at the hotel, and David and I ran 8 miles on a trail Sunday morning before rushing back to the hotel to get ready, lease the apartment, and hop on a plane back to Amarillo. Even with all of those excuses, I feel guilty. Even knowing that I can do my 20-miler this coming weekend, and knowing that I have all next week off to pack up my things and run, I still feel guilty.

In the end, the beautiful spreadsheet is meaningless unless I actually put in the miles. This is the first time I have really missed a long run, and I definitely have time to make up my 20-miler and at least get in another 18 or 20 mile run before the marathon, but I really hate the fact that my spreadsheet is messed up. I hate it so much that I going to stop posting right now so I can get it updated...