TAT CN Header

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

All the Little Runs

August's mileage has been a bit disappointing.  For the first two weeks of the month, my weekly mileage was in the teens, and excepting yesterday's 5 miler, I haven't run anything longer than 4 miles. 

That means I'm going to barely coast through the month by meeting my 100 mile minimum.

I could blame the heat, Norah's birthday, the start back to school...but last August, I managed to run 150 miles, and I had all the same factors then as now.  Dammit, guess I can't blame anything or anyone but myself for logging so many short runs.

Oh well, it's nothing really to complain about: I keep on streakin and doing my best to log the miles I need, and that's what counts for me right now.

However, I do already have my sights on September's potential mileage because I'm nearing in on 2013's 1000th mile.  If I meet my mileage expectation for this week, and round out August, and te year so far, with 880 miles, that means I -- obviously -- have 120 miles to run in September to hit 1000 by the end of that month.

120 miles, 30 days, an average of 4 miles a day.

It'll be my new challenge.

*Disclaimer: If you notice typos and misspellings in my recent posts: Blame Blogger.  Something screwy is going on and it won't allow me to edit anything.  Any techy advice?*

Thursday, August 22, 2013

White Rabbit

Day #233 in my running streak proved eventful.

First of all, I've been running the same 4 mile route everyday this week, and each evening, I've been spying an albino rabbit  near the path.  Tonight, I got his pic.

 
Actually, if I'd wanted to, I think I could've scooped him up, and he'd have been happy to go home with me.  Clearly, he's a pet.  Or was someone's pet.  I told Jerry that despite the fact that I don't want to bring a white rabbit home, I confess that I've been fretting a bit about his well-being.  It's probably a bad sign I've come to think of him as Harold.

Naming found animals.  Not the path to just letting them be.

After my Harold sighting, I ran on to discover that a stretch of my regular sidewalk was torn up.  Gone.
 
So, for half a mile, I ran on the road.  Kinda scary in South FL.

Some drivers will slow down and move over, but many, frankly, will not.

I think I'll have to run an alternate path until this construction is finished.  I don't need running to turn into a suicide mission.

Then who would look out for Harold?

Monday, August 19, 2013

Back to School


So, today is the 1st day back to school -- for both me and the kids (my classes don't actually start until next Monday, but this week is still back to work for me).

This morning, Norah alternated between excited and nasueous, as she proclaimed several times during our car ride that she was "gonna puke!" but she never barfed and once we got to school, she was fine.  More than fine, actually.  She scooted off to play with friends the second we stepped in her classroom, and I had to remind her to give me a hug and kiss goodbye.

Caleb had no real inclination of what going back to school meant, but he was a good sport.  When I dropped him off in his class, he was fine, and little dazed but didn't cry or anything.  Then, as I was leaving the building after takign Norah to her class, I circled back to his room just to peek in, and I saw him crying and his teacher comforting him.  Dammit!  That tore me up, especially because I knew that going back in would be a mistake, so I didn't.  And, I hate having left knowing that the last image of him was in tears.

Rationally, I know his crying was probably brief and he's fine, but...still.  Breaks my heart.

As for me, getting back to work has been surreal so far.  It's like I have to re-learn everything, and my brain is like, "You want me to do wha?"  Seriously, I had to print something and for a brief moment, I had to think about how to do that.  It was weird.

I know in a week or two, we'll be back into this school groove, but for today, I feel like I'm living in an alternate dimension.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Gearing up for Back to School

Admittedly, the whole "back to school" season has snuck up on me this year, and I'm kinda scrambling in this last week of summer vacay to both prepare everyone for the change next week and to make the most of our last week of our vacation.

Norah is excited for school, especially since she'll be in VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten), and that makes her feel like a big kid.

Caleb has no clue what's going on, but will definitely have a tough transition back, but will be fine and will probably stop crying at drop off sometime in April...

As for me, I fall somewhere in between the excitement and the crying.

It'll be fun to be back in the classroom.  I enjoy my work, and after the time off, I feel refreshed and eager to be back to teaching.  Plus, it'll be nice to have more daily adult interaction and to have more stimulating conversations.  And, as I always say with kids: "It's good to miss them a little."

On the other hand, I've grown accustomed to our lassiez faire routine this summer, so transitioning back to a solid routine with a specific schedule will be a jolt.  I'm not gonna get to sit in my PJs and leisurely drink my coffee while we watch "Phinneas and Ferb" first thing in the morning, and that's especially gonna smart.  That, and having to adjust to again packing lunches. 

Plus, I enjoy spending the day with the kiddos.  We've had a lot of fun this summer, and as they continue to grow and get older, they get easier, so it's not as stressful as staying home was, say, 2 years ago when Caleb was an infant.

Anyhoo...we still have some shopping left to get done and some fun times to wrap up the week.  Then, Monday, the 19th is D-Day. 

Yikes.

Friday, August 09, 2013

Snotpacalypse 2013

One of the benefits of staying home with the kids, as opposed to having them in school, is far fewer illnesses.  It probably has helped that it's summer too and fewer viruses are floating around.  Either way, up until last week, neither the kids nor I had been sick since April.  For us, that's a record amount of time.

Of course, having such a long, healthy stretch means that when we did all come down with a cold, it felt pretty awful.  Thankfully, it was a minor bug and within 48 hours, we were all feeling better. But...

...The boogers lingered.

For me, it was like a boomerang: I was feeling completely better; then, the congestion set in and I felt yucky again.  The congestion was so bad on Wed and Thursday this week, and my right ear was SO plugged up, I thought for sure I had another ear infection.

Yet, I held off going to the doctor because...I'm lazy, I guess...but, I adopted the wait and see policy, and while I'm still congested and my ear is still plugged, I can tell it's better.  Not dramatically better, but subtly better.

I've been taking decongestants (but only taking the minimum dosage because they make me super tired and with the kids, I really can't afford to be feeling sleepy all day), but as always, I've found that the best decongestant is running.

I don't know the science of why, but I've always found that running clears out the mucus better than anything else.  On Wednesday's run, I actually got to experience one of those satisfying POP!s in my ear and for a brief moment (before fluid rushed in to the emptied space), I could hear again.  It's always kinda tough to drudge up the motivation to keep running when sick, but for me, I always feel better afterward.

Hopefully, I begin to feel better soon because tomorrow is Norah's 4th birthday (I KNOW!  can you believe it?) and her birthday party, and my dad is flying in today to spend the weekend with us.  So, I'll be too busy for boogers.

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Dog Days

I was gonna try not to whine about the heat this summer, because, you know: It's kinda boring.

But, can I just say, "Sheeeet, it's effin HOT out there!"

 
If you don't live in FL, you might see those thunderstorm symbols and think, "Yeah, but rain means it'll cool off, right?"  HA!  No, that just means higher humidity.  All. The. Time.  There's really no escaping it in this season; that's why you can see that the highs and lows don't vary by more than 10 degrees: It is a constant level of sweltering here this time of year.
 
Ok, I said my piece about heat for the summer: Ahhhhh, I feel better!