missing out.

Yup. Missed two races this weekend, will miss one next weekend. I'm seriously missing sleeping in the warm cocoon with Ben and Molly, and lately my shoulders actually hurt from the contorted position I've adopted for trying to stay toasty sleeping alone. I miss the time between getting home and going to bed, relaxing... now I'm getting home at 9pm, totally beat, and hoisting myself into bed somehow.

Going into this line of work, the phrase "sacrifice" is thrown around a lot, but it meant nothing when I was 22 and was leaving nothing behind to go on three month field assignments but a studio apartment and a case of beer. These days there's something far more important to me and I'm having trouble focusing on the work because the things that matter to me interrupt my thoughts. I'm still not giving up much, especially compared to our members who leave family, children, jobs, and more behind to do this work, and this year I leveraged the wedding to get two weeks instead of three months in the field. I need to HTFU. The joke with my coworkers is that nothing curtails field assignments like having a baby. I guess that's one worth keeping in mind.

I love the field though. Working with our members all weekend, going out door knocking, training new volunteers... it's far more tangible and rewarding than a million-dollar ad buy. Getting to know Milwaukee's neighborhoods and neighbors has been fun and slightly depressing... this town isn't doing so well. Too many people working 2-3 jobs, too many people without jobs. Times are hard.

I have been keeping up with the running though, and I have a lovely 4.25 mi loop that takes me over the Biggest Hill In Pewaukee twice, or the 3.6 mi hill repeat route that takes me over said Hill five times. I own that hill now. And I'm still keeping up pace. Boo-yeah. Have I mentioned that from the top you can see all the great fall colors stretching to the Milwaukee skyline? It makes getting up in the morning worth it.