Random Musings of an Semi-Injured Running Mom

This could be titled "Four things before Friday," but it's not.

I'll be honest here... I am climbing the friggin' walls.

Following RNR Las Vegas, instead of jumping right into hardcore marathon training for my late April marathon, I was sick for most of the week. I ran once. I was excited to run up a storm the next week (last week) but only ended up heading out twice due to a migraine and assorted family obligations. After my great run at the memorable Jingle Bell Hell, I was really looking forward to jumping into marathon madness full-bore but did a quad stretch on Monday night that *pinged* something.

So here I am. Climbing walls ... in my mind... and not running.

I know it will all work out. I know things will be fine. I'm not so much worried about the training for the marathon part, it is the sanity factor that I am missing...especially since it's Winter Break and I have four kids underfoot :P

Things in my hip and back are feeling alright, and I was given 'clearance' by my PT to run this weekend, but I've decided to wait until next week. I am playing it safe. There are some advantages to being older and wiser ;-) In the meantime, I'll ride my bike a couple of times starting tomorrow, do my glute strengthening exercises, stretch (but NOT the same quad stretch!), roll on my roller, stick with my Stick and butterknife the heck out of the tight spots. I want to be ready for this.

Staying physically healthy throughout the training cycle will be the challenge. My hip is definitely my weak link. Putting in the mileage without hurting it will be tricky. Cross-training will be key, and for this I'll be pulling out my dusty rowing machine in addition to using my trusty rusty bike. I'll be incorporating some P90X for weight work, plyometrics and core. And I've asked for a pass to the local Bikram yoga studio for Christmas.

What am I missing?

Right! Christmas!

I have kids and we celebrate Christmas, so there's that.

We're going minimalist this year. Even though we went with the mondo tree that screams 'Commercialized Christmas' at the top of its lungs, we are not 'going big' with presents. On Christmas morning, I am certain that someone will cry about how unfair something is and someone will lament how she didn't get anything on her list and that's fine. Join the club, kids :P But then Grandma and Papa will show up in the afternoon laden with overflowing bags of gifts, and all will be right in the world.

Like these kids need any more stuff. And this is just one bedroom. The others are the same.

Not to mention the toy room, the garage and the living room.

What else?

Oh, yeah...

I'm sure many of you are on the edge of your seat regarding this issue... I've decided to keep and wear my fancy sweatshirt even after reading this article that pretty much creeped me out. I think this might make me a hypocrite. Or something bad.

And finally...

This video is a big part of why I don't shop at Whole Paycheck Foods...



Yep, that's our local store.

Not that the store I do go to is really any different. Grocery shopping is not one of my favorite activities. It always seems like either I get in trouble or my kids do.

I'm not even going to end this post gracefully. Except to say...

Happy Holidays :)

Random Happenings

We had wacky weather the other day... pouring rain that turned into pelting hail!  

And produced this:

This happened right as we arrived at school... without raincoats and only one umbrella for 5 of us! And

 the umbrella broke!  

It was hilarious!  The kids were super troopers about it all... nary a whine nor a complaint... lots of giggles and smiles :)  

LOVE it when that happens 

... not the broken umbrella part; the kids having fun part ;-)

Right now my kids are On Break.  It is a 10-day long Break.  Must be nice...

I have written before about this school's penchant for days off.  This particular doozy is that whole "Ski Week" thing that encompasses the President's Day (or is it Presidents' Day... it is about two presidents, right?).  Oh, and while I am on the topic of President's Day... what the heck!!!???  Remember how I mentioned that I was going grocery shopping with all 4 kids in tow?  So we get all in the car (not easy) and they are all fighting and screaming before the car doors are even closed... actually before I even get into the car myself... I debate whether or not this is such a good idea.  But Monday is Grocery Day and we are down to a "cocktail onions and mustard" sort of situation... hmmm... what can I make with ketchup, unsalted butter, cornstarch and bacon?  We had to go.

It was closed.  

Yes, you read that correctly.  A humongous, big-deal-not-mom-n-pop, Whole Foods-ish grocery store was CLOSED for President's Day!  I laughed so hard.  The kids were concerned.  Is mom off her rocker?  So we headed to Trader Joe's and picked up what we could.  

They were perfectly behaved.  

I think the insane-lady laughter may have had something to do with that ;-)

We had lovely weather and headed to the park today to meet some friends.  It was a group of wee ones who are around Miss C's age.  The olders were not thrilled to be going to Totland *snicker, snicker* but since Miss C is forever being carted around to all their goings-on, it is only fair that they need to suck it up on occasion.

Here's Q-Man, all bummed out on the swings:

Baby X climbed to the top of the highest thing, 

setting off a toddler climbing frenzy as they all tried to imitate her... much to their caretakers' collective dismay:

And Miss C was happy to just hang :)

Big G was not there... he was home SICK.  Of course, it is vacation... someone has to be sick.

What would you do with four kids who were on a 10-day Break? And leaving town is not an option.
– we were going to do fun stuff like go to the Children's Museum, the local Little Farm and see the baby pigs, the zoo... but rain and sickness just don't really work with outings.  Today we made pudding and went to the park.  Tomorrow we are going to make teeny tiny cupcakes and who knows what else.


Did you have lots of holidays when you were a kid?
– we had some that other kids didn't get... Malcolm X's birthday, International Women's Day, MLK's birthday before it was nationwide... but that's because it was Berkeley ;-)  And I remember having Lincoln's AND Washington's Birthdays creating consecutive 3-day weekends.  I liked that.  But I'm telling you, my kids' school has WAY more days off than I ever had.

My Longest Run... since having kids

Yesterday I finally got that 8-miler done.  She was a bit squirrelly... but nuttin' I couldn't handle ;-)

The pace was supposed to be "maintenance," which for me is supposed to be 10:00/mile.  As you can see from the numbers below, I was kind of all over the place... that's why I used the adjective squirrelly.  And I must say that I don't really know for certain if those times were taken at certifiable mile marks because I went off of googlemaps and sort of fudged where to gauge the miles would be.  It was an out and back, so I was noticeably quicker over the same distances on the trip out.

This is the farthest I have run since November of 2001.  My legs are feeling it.  At this point in my fitness and life, 8 miles now warrants an ice bath.  Wish I had realized that when I finished the run :P  

The best news is ... my hip did not hurt.  did. not.  Super YAY!  It is feeling stiff and sore now, but no pain at all while running.  I almost cried when I finished... partly because of the no pain, partly because it has been so long since I have run that far, and partly because I was super hungry.  I had to leave before breakfast in order to get the run in before my husband needed to go out for the day.

Yeah, when you are lolling about in bed thinking you have a cush life while your husband makes everyone breakfast, it is a sharp jolt of reality when he comes in to announce that he needs to leave soon so you'd better a get a move on if you're going to fit that run in.  Soon?  How soon?  Like "exactly as long as it takes to throw on the clothes and do the run" soon.  No brekkie... No potty...

As most of you know, running really gets things moving...  I think that is partly why my first half was faster.  I was racing to the portapotty at the turnaround.  I realized I was going to need that bad boy pretty early on in the run. It became my focus... my goal.  Even though it meant running an extra 0.1 mile ;-)  Thankfully, it was still where I had remembered it to be.  And even more thankfully, it was not too nasty.  And it had paper!

Unfortunately, my 'needs' were complicated by another factor.  Let's just say that I am really glad I didn't listen to that ShutUpandRun girl and wear my green bikini even though I was having my period.  If any guys have made it this far, I am sorry if you are grossed out or uncomfortable... but this is what we women deal with.  You have no idea how hard it is to not lose your tampon when you are trying to take a dump... especially in a portapotty.  And speaking of tampons... I am so annoyed... my favorite brand has been discontinued!  As I was lamenting this fact this morning, my husband suggested I look for an online forum that might help me deal with this loss.  He thinks he's so funny sometimes.

These are my rockin' splits from my X-Treeemly long run:

9:25
9:50
9:43
9:54
10:15  – post-poo... I think everything was readjusting...
10:02
9:56
10:08  – I hit my Wall at 7.8 miles... I almost stopped... I think it was lack of food more than anything
______
1:19:13 total time (this factors in the 2:40 potty break... I always subtract those)




Now I get to go grocery shopping with my kids... o, yay.  This is bound to be exciting, and I'll tell you all about it later ;-)  What makes it all extra exciting is that they are off for 10 days.  TEN days... in a row... right now.  You know better than to get me started on their school and days off.

Where was he when I needed him?

Monday is grocery shopping day.  I think I mentioned that last week.  Well, today I could have really used that grouchy mean old man.  My kids have this WHOLE week OFF.  Their school is weird.  I think I mentioned that before, too.  Anyway... took the whole crew on the shopping excursion.  I don't have very cooperative children... when they are all together.  Individually, they are fun and helpful.  All together, they are off the charts.

How many times do I need to say, "This is NOT appropriate grocery store behavior!"

After about the umpteenth time, I referenced the mean old man (they all heard the story).  Oddly, mentioning him seemed to get them in line.  So they'll toe it for a stranger....

The thought of a WHOLE week OFF was really bumming me out.  And there is rain in the forecast.  I don't think I can handle anymore water balloons in the bathroom.  So I decided we are going to Disneyland.

Yes, I decided this afternoon.  Tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. we are getting in the car and driving ALL day to Disneyland.  For one overnight... so 2 days of Mickey and the Happiest Place on Earth.  Then driving back.  It is a looooooooong car trip.

Wish me luck.

I am hoping this act of insane spontaneity doesn't result in spontaneous insanity!

Bad behavior in the grocery store...

Not the kids ...

me :-(


Monday is grocery shopping day.  I have been working to make it a once-a-week-ONLY event.  I have been very successful with this for the past 6 weeks or so, although by Sunday it's pretty slim pickin's in the pantry.  (what can you make with quinoa, cocktail onions and mustard?  mmmmmm).

Okay, so.... back to my purge confession...

I had dropped of the kids at school and ventured to the awesome grocery store across the street with Miss C in tow.  She is a super cutie...

She is 19 months old and talks crazy good and sings and is fun.  She was cutely singing "up and down" in a sweet and quiet voice while I was checking out the apples about 3 feet away.  All of a sudden I hear

 "SHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

I turn around immediately and see this old guy slinking quickly away.  I look around sort of bewildered at what I think just happened.  Another customer catches my eye and very sympathetically nods her head as I ask out loud, "Did that really happen?"  She says, "That was SO wrong..."

As I am standing there, somewhat shocked that someone would get all up in a BABY'S face and essentially scream "shhhhh" at her, the old guy turns and looks at me and sees the expression of disbelief and disgust on my face.  He makes a mocking face at me as he approaches.  I tell him to stay away from my baby.  He tells me to keep my baby from screaming in the store. "I'm trying to shop here," he growls.  I say something about her being a baby and that he probably was one, too, at one point.  He loudly tells me he doesn't need my crap.  So I called him an a**hole.

Not good.

There was a mini-escalation, in the middle of which I went looking for a manager.  I wish I had just done that from the beginning.  Or better yet, just realized the dude has serious issues and just walked away.

I feel better now.

Lesson learned.

Thanks for listening.