Getting my groove back

I can’t believe it’s really been 2wks since my last post.  How does it go by so fast?  Life is so busy.  I like it that way but sometimes, it’s nice to have a moment to breathe.  I feel like we tend to pack our lives full of obligations that we have to do and forget to take time to do the things we want to do.  We forget to play games with our kids, take a walk or spend time talking to our husband.  Exercise and taking care of ourselves takes a backseat until we stop to ask ourselves where the time has gone and how we ended up here?

I’ve fallen off the wagon.  I feel like I haven’t run in forever.  If I tried to run, I think it might hurt and I’ll be starting at zero again.  Such a loss considering what I had accomplished 7months ago and where my training had brought me back to a couple months ago.  But life will happen whether you plan for it or not and my failure to plan working out has left me feeling like a slug.

Luckily,

Vous ja de

Almost 12 years ago, I had to attend

Cat… I’m a kitty Cash

The most resent dilemma in our lives has been our cat, Cash.  From the time that we got him 13yrs ago as a tiny kitten to now, he’s been more temperamental than Quigley.  He  standard of cat box cleanliness is much higher than hers and his tolerance for change is minimal to put it mildly.   When he was angered punishment often came in the form of something getting peed on.

When we adopted Bailey, Cash

Run On

About a month ago, I registered for my next long distance run, The 5/3 Riverbank Run.  This one would be a 25k (15 miles) and would take place in May.  It’s a huge race here and I had heard great things about the energy and participation.  I was excited to train for a race and execute it without injuries this time.  How well could I do if I was able to train without an injury every month and a tiny bit of experience behind me?

I started training about 2 weeks ago.  An actual training schedule for a 25k  is harder to locate than you’d think so I just decided to go with the half marathon schedule but add in a couple weeks.  I figured out what days and times I’d be able to get my run in before the extra kids come or after and wrapped my brain around training for this thing almost entirely on a treadmill!  Big difference to me.

Then last Wednesday, I took Emma to register for her spring session of cheerleading.  I asked the coach if she knew their regional competition date and she gave me the sheet with all the dates.  Awesome…

Med centers, ER’s & Dr’s offices

Dan- It started about a month ago… our string of random oddities that has left us seeking the council of a physician.  Dan had been working on a dealership and had a terrible reaction to the epoxy grout.  When I say terrible, imagine sores all over his arms, legs and his face.  They itched, were very painful and looked horrible.  Dan used every over the counter product available but nothing worked.  Finally, 2 days before Christmas, he noticed that his knee was swollen, looked red and felt hot.  I had just started us with a local doctor for situations like this, trying to avoid the high cost of med centers/ER’s since we basically have no insurance to pay for it.  I figured we would rather pay a Dr’s office than a hospital bill.  I call the new

The first cut is the deepest

The day that I knew would come finally arrived the night before last.  Gerrit was upset because I wouldn’t let him get dressed at bedtime.  I had tried to get him dressed earlier in the day but he said he wanted to stay in his pj’s all day.  I didn’t particularly care since we weren’t going anywhere and I said fine.  Well, 7:30 pm rolls around he decides now he would like to put the clothes on that I had picked out before.  Um, no.  We’re not going down this road.  I refuse to fight him everyday about wearing pj’s all day and clothes to bed.  So no.  He cried and cried and was SO mad about it.   He kept pleading with me and telling me ‘but I want to get dressed now’ ‘really really please??’.  Not gonna happen dude.

I was in his room, putting clothes in his drawers and as he sat down, he pulled his legs up to his chest and covered his face with his hands, sobbing he said

I won’t give up that ghost

Another end to a tired week.  This crazy new life I have wears me out.  Not only have I added all this new responsibility of watching babies but I’ve started volunteering at least once a week if not twice at Emma’s school.  I feel like I have a full time job.  My new found stress reliever, running, has been sidelined by my body turning against me and so I start to feel overwhelmed.  Add in a dash of PMS and I’ve just given you the recipe to become Lord of the Ultra B’s.  Poor Dan has been great and trying to help.  I feel bad for how much he gets it taken out on him.

The week before last was a real challenge.  I was able to run the Monday after the Bridge run but when Wednesday came for me to run again, my right knee and ankle were wonky.  I still don’t know what I did to them but they were punishing me greatly for whatever it was.  I wish I did know so I don’t do it again!  But I don’t so the odds are great, I will.  10 days went by with me not able to run and everyday that ticked by, I could almost feel my muscles atrophying.  All the progress I had made in the last 6 weeks of training, flushed down the toilet.  It’s frustrating to say the least.  I’ve been trying to do core work with the exercise ball since I couldn’t do anything aerobic.  But since it’s a no impact regimen, it’s not really good training for a half marathon.

Thursday, I felt good enough to give it a go.  While my desire to run further was high, I knew if I didn’t want to become a gimp again, I needed to take it easy.  I ran a lazy 1.5 miles nice and slow.  I can’t believe how much it hurt though!  Geez, it was like starting all over again.  All the fun was gone.

Today is Saturday and as always, our big runs.  We are starting to taper in our training for the big race in 2 weeks so it only called for 9 miles.  Megan, Cheri & I made plans to meet at Megan’s and run the trail out by her.  It’s flat and would probably be best for my jumping back into the game.  I was happy I was able to go but apprehensive about re-injuringmyself.  Would I be able to run that far?  Would I put myself out of commission again if I did run that far?

Here’s the dilemma…

The end of days

Amber

A little bit of sadness always envelops me the middle of August.  Summer is my favorite season for obvious reasons.  There’s so much to do and the warmth and sunshine just make me feel happy.  Even a nice rain or thunderstorm in the summer doesn’t seem so bad.

My nemesis is winter.  I hate the cold.  I hate the snow.  I live in a state where you just never know.  For six months, you have the possibility of wintry crap and I hate it.  I think I could learn to not mind the winter months if it promised to stay in it’s designated months but it refuses to play by those rules.  Every year, it likes to crash the fall party and then it lingers into spring like a hungover, stranger sleeping on your couch New Year’s Day.

I’m excited for our family trip to Ludington to come on Saturday but I’m also a little sad.  It will be an awesome time and a great vacation.  But I also know that it means the end of my glorious summer.  Emma starts school September 2 and Gerrit will start preschool on the 8th.  The weather will cool and soon the sky will be puking snow at me. ~sigh~

Until then, I’ll be living up the end of my summer days.  Hopefully, you are too