30 September 2011

No nap and how bedtimes worked for the Waltons...

I did not nap today.

I ran.

And I changed the bedsheets.

That nap yesterday really did a number on me. It was even worse than I first thought. My single-parent coping skills were nil. I was tottering around like one of the undead all afternoon. When I finally started to get a little energy back, the kids effective sucked that right outta me during the bedtime routine. Why is bedtime so sucky? It is never like that on The Waltons.


Mama:  You children go on up to bed now, y'he-ah? Yo' daddy n' I need to talk some things o-vuh.

All seven of the children, in unison:  Okay, Mama!

There is almost never any backtalk. No one says, "I don't want to!" and runs away like it is some awesome game. Jason never demands to know, "How come I have to go bed at the same time as Jim Bob? I'm 15...and he's SIX!" There is no door-slamming, no screaming, and no 'hmph, hmph, hmph'-ing. They simply go to bed.

And once they are in bed, no one is running around upstairs, opening and closing doors or sneaking playing with legos. They say the good night deal... "good night, mama," "good night, Mary Ellen." "good night, daddy," "good night John Boy." And they are done.

Who here has that? Anyone? C'mon... anyone?

I know why it worked for Mama and Daddy Walton. A woodshed and a belt. They never had to use them or even threaten to use them, but they were there... the looming and omnipresent enforcers. Or maybe kids back then were just more respectful by nature.

Anyway...

By the time my kids were all finally in bed, I was collapsed in a heap again... but this time on the living room floor. No way was I going out to do a tempo run. Instead I did important sedentary things like played on Twitter and Facebook and read some blogs and tried to drum up votes for yet another contest I had entered. After that disastrous nap, sleep was kind of scary to me.

All that led to my run this morning. Since I'm getting ready for this race, running was kind of important. I was set to do a 3-mile tempo run at a little faster than my half-marathon base pace... so looking at about 8:50 per mile. It was hot and sunny. I planned to do the run on a flat, straight road... next to the Bay with no shade and no protection. Water on one side, freeway on the other.

My 2-mile warm-up stunk. I considered just going home after it. But no, I needed to get this run in. Ugh, I was so cranky about it. So I set off... and just could not control my pace. And the heat was really hot so I took off my shirt... which added a whole new voyeuristic element to the run. The volume of vehicles because I was next to the freeway meant a vast number of hecklers/oglers. I am so not used to this! I run at night in my little development. No one sees me. No one says anything to me. I got a lot of "Go, baby! Go!" and truck honks. Okay... a little ego-feeding but I recognized that they were traveling at a high rate of speed and were some distance away, so it was mostly distracting. Whatever.

The tempo pace... not 8:50 at all... 3 miles @ 8:24/8:25/8:22.

At least I was consistent.

And I got it done.




9 comments:

  1. 'The Waltons' are a perfect foil to your bedtime drama. So funny! Also, good on you for the consistent run, and the oglers!

    Gillian from Baby Talk without the Babble

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  2. Awesome speedy run!

    I only have 2 kids at home, and only one is a pain going to bed, but I remember the days of trying to fight two little ones into bed.

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  3. You make me laugh :)
    the bed time routine around here is always crazy. I do actually love naps though and wish I could take one every day. Part of that is because the baby is still not sleeping thru the night so I could really use the extra snooze during the day, but no such luck.
    Your tempo run was great! I know you were aiming for slower tempo miles, but I think what you wound up with is a good thing. If you want to get faster, you have to run faster...right?

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  4. Ok mama my eye. At least around here. I live in a house dull of night owls so I'm ready to hit the sack long before anyone else.
    Nice work on that tempo run! Oglers and all.

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  5. You're getting so fast! Bedtime can be crazy with 5 to go down but thankfully my husband does bedtime for the two girls. (My youngest two.) I will be single parenting it for 6 days starting Sunday and I am already freaking out!!!

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  6. Bedtime, Bedtime, Bedtime....I am with you. My 4 find anyway to prolong it. (hey let's have a nerf fight while we are brushing our teeth.) Someone is always in trouble, mad, crying etc....By the time I get them in bed I am ready to collapse. I just don't get it, shouldn't they be tired?
    And helllloooo speedy, what an awesome run!! You are going to do great at your race.

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  7. that is fast pace my friend..
    bedtime....you dont want to know.
    i'll still tell you but dont hate me.
    At 7:20 pm I start showers.
    At 8:00 pm max all is done and the lights are out until 7:15 am the next day. and they dont get out of bed until I come get them even if they are awake. for that I am lucky and they are angels. FOR THAT not for everything.

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  8. well done on getting out running,it's so hard with a family sometimes :)

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