KATE: Always Running . . .

As I write this I am running.

Late, that is. I'm embarrassed to say that if you asked my friends to describe me, "Late" would often come near the top of the list. Frenzied, harried and scattered probably wouldn't be far behind. Once upon a time I was a punctual gal. When people asked me to do things, I did them. When someone told me to be somewhere, I was there. Finding my car keys was a ten second affair and I almost never, ever canceled on people at the last minute.

Now I am ten to fifteen minutes late for everything, even on a good day. I forget to do basic things so often that I've taken to leaving myself shaming reminder notes around the house (i.e., Turn Off Stove!!!) in order to complete basic chores. The last time I made a dinner date with one of my best friends, I canceled on her eight times before we finally got together. And it frequently takes me half a day to locate my purse. For someone who says they hate running, I spend an awful lot of time playing catch up.

My husband would be the first person to say that my new-found (HALF) marathon commitment has made my lateness even worse. And he's right. Between the running, the fund-raising, the letter writing, and the blogging, we've been known to go several weeks without clean underwear or dinner that didn't come from a styrofoam container. The hilarious mommy-writer, Vicky Iovine, wrote in her Girlfriend's Guide, that her husband once compared her to a pie. And every time she had another baby or made a commitment to a new cause, it cut her up into smaller pie pieces until eventually he ended up getting no pie at all. I'll admit, between my kids, my clients, my aging parents and my running, it's been pretty pie-free around our house. Not just for my husband, but for me too. Because as every mother knows, there's no "Me" in "Mommy".

But the funny thing is, I've found running is starting to give me back some "me" time. This is something that real runners know, but probably gets pushed aside for discussions of that (mythical) runners high. Running is like cleaning the garage in your head - it stacks up all your mismatched mental sporting equipment, throws away the crumbly old ego-ridden boxes and clears a space for you to actually think about something other than grocery shopping, swim lessons and what having the air-conditioner on day and night is doing to your electric bill. Running is now less of a dreaded commitment and more "me time" then I ever thought it would be. And I'm grateful. Because, if running can make me a better wife, mom & friend, then that's all the more reason for me to stick with it.

Now, if I can only find my car keys, I think I'm going to go pick my husband up a pie.