Running and writing and not mopping

My kitchen floor is a disaster. My house an ever-changing mess. So I went for a long walk today, because, unfortunately for my kitchen floor, tomorrow I am going to do a six-mile run. I'll just sweep it up real fast and pretend it's an old floor with character.

Running pants with high-tech fabric, cost more than my work pants. Sneakers..
plain looking but pricier than my go-out shoes - runner priorities.

I really need to get that six mile run in, though. 

I am not the fastest runner., though I am leaning closer to ten-minute miles than 11-minute miles. I do not run the farthest, though I have run 20+ miles and am inching back up to the ten-mile mark. I am not an overly-ambitious runner with several strategies to improve my PR, though I do some fartleks and hills to improve what skill and form I have.  

I am not a jogger, though I am still not sure what the difference is beyond joggers jog for fitness or fun, don't read running magazines, and have clean kitchen floors, while runners run because they "have to," read a lot of running magazines, and don't have clean kitchen floors. 

I am a consistent runner. It's the consistency of it that allows me to inch closer to ten minute miles, to longer distances, to managing my breathing, to maintain calm. I even plan to run the full winter season this year! I've got an uber pair of extra-warm, extra-pricey running pants in a shopping cart, waiting for the first cold spell. Probably another difference - runners spend more on high-tech running pants and jackets than they do on any other clothing they own.  I've got a jacket. I've got a hat. I can run in the cold. My family accepts my runs as something that I do, that five to six times a week, I'm out the door on a run, or a walk or bike ride on an off-day.

How I run, I find, is how I live my life. A few years ago, I defined my priorities, decided what mattered. If I only did three things, it would be to run, to write, and to raise my family healthily. You'll notice cleaning isn't on the list. Neither is 'maintain a neat and orderly home.' Just as I am a runner, I am a writer. Like running, I am not overly ambitious, but  I do work to improve my skills, to go further, explore more, test my own limits.  

I'm a consistent writer. I write for the same reason I run. I have to write. When I write, the house can, and often does, go to hell. It's okay. The alternative is to not write, and if I mop once every.... lets be honest.... three months or six.... well, at least my sons sweep.  

I run, and I write. Running feeds my body. Writing feeds my soul. Both allow me the energy to raise my family. Neither allow me the time to mop. Or clean much. At least I cook...ish.

Mom runs. Mom writes. Mom doesn't mop. Do we even own a mop?