My Thursday Dilemma: Social Justice Work or Work Out?

I have only alluded to it in some of my last few posts, but I have been doing really well the last few weeks with integrating regular exercise into my life again. I have been busy, but I have been making the time to run/walk 3 miles approximately every other day since the 15th of the month. I have officially challenged myself to complete the 3 Mile Project for the spring. (scroll to the bottom of the page if you want more details about the 3 mile project)

I feel like this is the crunch time- will I stick with it and make it a habit or will it simply teeter away as life's demands and my inner dilemmas try and take over?

I know now from past experiences that it takes a lot of commitment to really make regular exercise a part of your life, and some things will have to go by the wayside. At some point, a person has to say "No, exercise is more important than (fill in the blank)"

In order to make it work so far, I have had to change our whole family's routine a little bit. Dinner is either eaten a little later than normal, or perhaps the kids eat with their dad a little earlier. Dinner has changed for the better for us all though, because when I work out- I naturally crave a healthier dinner. That means I am cooking better food for us all in the end.

I also know from past experiences that one has to be flexible about scheduling. Have a meeting on your workout night? Don't stress it. If you can't reschedule it, relax and make it up the next night. Your body will thank you in the end anyway. A long term viable exercise plan demands flexibility.

But, what about when thing after thing comes up, as things tend to do?

Already once this week I had to miss my evening workout so that I could attend the Black History Program at my son's school. Not a problem- I pushed it back to Tuesday night, and ended up running my best time ever (3 miles in 39.5 minutes, not a record pace for many, but wonderful for me). I also managed to pump out 5 complete push ups in great form, plus my set of modified push ups. I have never done 5 push ups before. So, being flexible in scheduling worked well for me.

That makes today a running day, and guess what? Another meeting.

To make the dilemma a even more taxing, this is the kind of meeting that I have been wanting to attend, the kind that could lead to new connections and networking, the kind that could possibly introduce me to the people in town who are doing the work I want to be doing. It is a community organized town meeting in a poorer district, organized with the intention of starting a community conversation about some of the real, and intense, problems that are affecting the people who live here.

This meeting will, possibly,be attended by people who are actually working for social justice, as opposed to the other variety of meetings I often get invited to attend. By that I mean the meetings where people get together to discuss the other kinds of problems our kids today face: Should we have another spring carnival where our kids win cheap made in china prizes and eat cupcakes?

So, The dilemma:

Do I keep my commitment to my body and work out? Or do I go to the meeting, which who knows, may not amount to anything anyway . . . or may amount to something more?

I suppose I could try and squeeze in both, but that really isn't the most practical option. I like to see my kids and my husband for more than a few minutes a day, and it isn't as if my problem is a lack of things to take me away from the family.