To Run or Not to Run

Once again it's been about 2 weeks since my last post. An update on Ben, he is doing great. He's started to do an army crawl. He's getting pretty quick. It's hilarious when he sees something across the room that he wants. He will climb over anything in his way (monster truck style) instead of moving it or going around it. He is eating veggies. He likes carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, apples, pears and a few others. On the unsure list: Cauliflower.

Anyway, between work, Ben and running I just don't have the time to post like I used to. That brings me to the point of this post. To run or not to run?

Many of you know I have been in a running group for the last 7 months. When I started I could barely run a mile, now I have run a 5K (3.1 miles) in 27:45 and I've finished a 12K (7.46 miles) in 1:21:17. I haven't gotten thinner by running all these miles, but it's kept me from becoming a fat ass.

I've also made a few good friends from the group. How do I know they are good friends? Well, we're friends on Facebook now. ;) I run with a good group of people. Seriously I think I've made 5-7 good friends from running. It's hard making new friends as an adult with a child. So it's a great thing.

Those are the pros. The cons:

• Running group starts at 6:00. I get there around 6:15/6:20. Training starts without me, so I am missing out on part of it. And it's about to get HOT out there. I'm not good in the heat.
  

• On normal nights I get to see Ben from about 5:30 - 8:00. 2.5 hours out of my day is not a lot of time to spend with my son.

• On running nights (2 nights during the week) I get home, give Ben a kiss, change, have a snack, give Ben another kiss and go running. I get home around 7:30 or so. Which is when Ben starts his nighttime routine. Bath, bottle, bed. So on running nights, I see him for about 30-45 minutes. That sucks.
  

• It's getting harder and harder to go to running every week. Especially now that Ben is crawling and being more interactive. I just want to stay home and play with him. Look at the fun I'd be missing out on:

So what do I do? Miss out on hanging out with Ben twice a week to go running? Maybe I miss his first steps or words or the first time he throws a ball, but I stay in shape. Or skip running to hang out with Ben? Maybe I get fat. Maybe I miss out on making new friends and hanging out with the friends I have there, but I spend more time with Ben.

What to do...what to do......