What do you do for yourself?

Today is my Saturday.  But for most of you, you're looking forward to tonight.  Once you're off of work, you get the entire weekend to yourself.  The question is, what will you do with the time?

Will you run around doing errands?  

Will you do your long workout days?  

Will you spend time with family at home?  

Will you check out and take some personal time?  

Will you run yourself ragged preparing for next week?

I'm sure we all do a mix of the above.  But what I want to ask today is one of those questions that gets at the heart of your personality.

When you have nothing else to do 

(no appointments, no restrictions, no responsibilities) 

and you want to take non-athletic time to yourself 

what do you do?

Do you make tea and read a book?  Do you cuddle up with someone and watch a movie?  Do you put on some music and clean?  Do you walk around the mall?  Do you work on a hobby project?  What is it that you do for yourself?

For myself, no matter what kind of day I've had - stressful, easy, long, short, perfect, unexpected, etc. - when I get home, I eat a snack, get ready for bed, and pull out a book.  It doesn't matter if I'm in bed early that night or I'm already an hour past my absolute bed time, I will always make time to read a chapter from the book I'm currently reading.

Reading is my escape.

I'm currently re-reading the book Brisingr, the third book in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini.  I got the fourth and final book for Xmas and I wanted to reread the previous three in order to fully appreciate how the story ends.  Taking 15-30 minutes every night before I go to sleep to read wipes the entire slate clean even if I'm fuming over things that happened during the day.  After a chapter or two of diving into someone else's life, a far off land, and intriguing adventures, I'm calm, relaxed, and ready to get a good night's sleep.  Then on my days off, I always spend the morning reading.  That's what I do for myself.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't forget to enter my raffle HERE!!

Check out the awesome prizes from Gu Energy Labs & Road ID!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Questions

1.  What do you do for yourself outside of athletics?
I read, write this blog, do puzzles and when I can (aka, when I make it home), carpentry. 

2.  What is your escape?  If you've had a stressful day, what do you do to calm/relax yourself?
I read every night.  Running also helps wipe my slate clean.

3.  What's on the agenda for the weekend?
I have to do some grocery shopping, my long ride AND my long run.  


Swim fast.  Bike smart.  Run hard.