A Day in the Life

I love reading other people's day in the life posts...for some reason it's so fascinating to see what a normal day is like for someone else.  So I decided to write one myself!

Date:  Tuesday, September 12, 2017

4:55 a.m. - Alarm and out of bed

4:55-5:20 a.m. - Drink a glass of water, use the bathroom, brush and floss, change into running clothes, put on my Garmin and shoes, put away a few pieces of laundry that were hanging to dry, grab my headlamp and a water bottle containing a nuun tab, and leave my house to drive to a group run.

5:25 a.m. - Arrive at our run meeting spot (it is 3 miles from my house, and ironically we often run routes that pass within 0.3 of my house) and do leg swings, glute activation, and plyos while Missy arrives and gets her dogs leashed up.

5:30 a.m.-6:35 a.m. - Run 9 miles relaxed.  I was 2 days off the Plaza 10K, which was also a 16 mile day, on September 10.  I ran with my good friend Missy and her two awesome pups.  Her dog Macy has run 20 miles at 6:50 pace!  This run was more like 7:15 pace.

6:35-6:55 a.m. - Stretch a bit while talking to Missy in the parking lot and syncing my Garmin to my phone, drive home while drinking nuun, do a quick full-body foam roll, and greet my family as they awaken.

6:55-7:00 a.m. - Start the coffee maker and make a smoothie (almond milk, frozen fruit, protein powder).

7:00-7:30 a.m. - Shower and get ready for work while drinking the smoothie and talking to my husband and daughter.  Albani brings her school clothes into my bathroom and we get ready together every morning, including me fixing her hair.  We are both pretty no non-sense with our morning routines.

This was on a higher maintenance hair day (school picture day)

7:30-7:35 a.m. - Gather my purse, running bag, and packed lunch, then leave for work.  Albani always waves to me from the front window as I back out of the garage, and sometimes Jon and/or our cat Bandit join her.  Jon works from home so generally he gets Albani on and off the bus at 8:15 a.m. and 4:15 p.m.  On the way to work I drink a cup of coffee with almond milk and cinnamon, and eat two hard boiled eggs.

It's always hard to leave this!

7:55 a.m. - Arrive at work.  I am the director of an ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) department at a large developmental disabilities service agency.  I'm a BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst) and a licensed behavior analyst in the state of Missouri.  ABA uses the scientific principles of behavior to produce observable, measurable, socially significant behavior change.  This may include interventions to improve communication while reducing self-injury, or changing someone's environment to stop physical aggression.

Every day at work is different for me, but is typically some combination of assessing patients, modeling treatments for caregivers, meetings with treatment team members and with the professionals I supervise, graphing and analyzing data, documentation, and administrative tasks.  I love what I do and the wide variety of people I work with, although at times it's stressful because it can be very demanding.  I'm salaried and I work on flex time, but my general work day is 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

11:00 a.m.ish - Eat a snack of frozen grapes and Greek yogurt with chia seeds, while working on data entry.

1:00 p.m. - Take a late lunch in order to run my second run, which is 4 miles.  I only take a lunch break on days I run a second run mid-day (on other days I just eat at my desk), but it's pretty easy for me to get in 3-5 miles with a quick stretch and foam roll afterward, before using baby wipes to help make myself re-presentable.  When it's hot out I try to avoid "runch" since I don't have access to a shower, but this semester I've been aiming to get all of my Tuesday second runs in at lunch no matter what (sorry, co-workers!).

1:50 p.m. - Eat my packed lunch, which is a chickpea curry that I made in the slow cooker for my lunches for the week, while doing documentation on my laptop.  I also have some pistachios.

3:10 p.m. - Leave my office and drive to the satellite location of Missouri State University where I am teaching this semester due to our usual building being under construction.  The perk of the location change is that parking is much easier and faster!

3:30-6:20 p.m. - Teach Observational Methods and Functional Assessment, a course in MSU's ABA Master's program.  I use the principles of ABA in everything I do in class.  I always tell my students that if they don't understand why I've included something in the course assignments or syllabus, they should ask and I'll explain it behavior analytically.  This means that I don't lecture, except to answer questions, because listening to someone talk for 3 hours is not the best way to learn anything.

6:20-6:40 p.m. - Grade quizzes from class before I leave MSU to knock out that task.

6:40-7:05 p.m. - Drive home while snacking on cantaloupe and string cheese.

7:05-7:45 p.m. - Arrive home, greet my family, put my lunch bag and dirty running gear away, put on a t-shirt and shorts, help Albani with her homework a bit, and read a devotion with Albani.  I'm also always picking up the house in little bits as I go.  I am pretty picky about things being where they belong!

7:45-8:30 p.m. - Microwave a quick dinner of a large baked sweet potato topped with cinnamon and cottage cheese, with sides of steam-in-the-bag asparagus and a peach (Jon and Albani have already eaten), and answer texts about Wednesday morning's run (13 miles total via 2 warm-up, 2 x 4 mile tempo at 6:00-6:10 with 1 easy between, 2 cool-down).  Also munch on some homemade trail mix (almonds, peanuts, raisins, crainsins).  Proof here that it is easy to prepare a very healthy meal in a matter of minutes!

8:30-9:00 p.m. - Tell Albani good night (she tucks herself in now), put away laundry, set out running and work clothes for the next day, wash my face.

9:00 p.m. - Make a bedtime smoothie (almond milk, protein powder, beets, frozen fruit), and drink it while looking through social media (Strava, Facebook, Instagram - usually in that order).

Bedtime smoothie

9:15 p.m. - Lay down in bed and read until I get sleepy, and then it's good night!  Jon usually goes to bed about the same time as me, and lays in bed watching television with wireless headphones on (headphones for the bedroom television are definitely a secret to a happy marriage!).

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This was a typical Tuesday for me.  Tuesdays are different than other weekdays because I teach; on a "normal" week day I get home between 5:30-6:00 p.m., but anytime you work with people the exact time you leave work is not 100% predictable.  Other weekdays when I'm home earlier, the time is typically spent doing things with my family (even if it's sitting on the couch watching funny YouTube videos), working on this blog, and general household duties like paying bills and doing the dishes.  My life is not glamorous in the least!  There just isn't much time between work/school and bed.  If I go anywhere after work it's typically an activity for Albani (school event, and she goes to Awana on Wednesday evenings), or related to my position on the OMRR (my local running club) board.  I really have no social life outside of running, but I'm 100% okay with that -- I'm thankful for my 5:00 a.m. "happy hour" and I run with others more often than not (and all of them are amazing people).

Pretty much everything except getting home a little late was "business as usual".  I typically get up between 4:45-5:00 a.m. to run, get in the shower around 7:00 a.m., and start work at 8:00 a.m.  My eating was pretty representative of what I usually eat and the timing of it.  I always eat something right before bed and never eat in the early morning before week day runs (unless I've switched a really long run to a week day, which is rare but has happened, twice).  I aim to go to bed as close to 9:00 p.m. as I can.  I run doubles only twice a week, consistently on Tuesdays/Thursdays.

Like everyone else, I wish there were more hours in the day, but I prioritize and make the most of what I have.  Preparing for each week ahead on Sundays, planning, organizing, multi-tasking, and just staying on top of things goes a long way (it's easier for me to pick up the house a little each day vs.several hours of picking up all at once).  Being a full-time working mom and running 60-70 miles a week isn't always easy, but it is absolutely manageable if it's something you want!  If I can do it anyone can.

Note:  I actually started this post on Tuesday, August 29, and did not get very far, but was able to use the rough outline for another Tuesday.  Multi-tasking for the win!  It then took me awhile to find time to proofread this post, and on the actual day I did not take any photos to include (as is probably evident from the photos that are now included, hah).  That's a true day in the life!