The week that was

This week didn't start out great.  We had the whole whooping cough scare and the 2 days of quarantine that went with it. We also had the rough zoo trip.  But as I sit here, Sunday afternoon, it doesn't seem so bad.

A quick mommy thing, then I will get to how the running went.  Pnut had a rough few days at the beginning of the week.  She pulled herself together towards the end.  So much so, Brian and I agreed she had earned a reward.  We decided seeing a movie would be great.  We picked The Secret Life of Arriety.  It looks right up Pnut's alley.  We came up with this plan Thursday or Friday.  I immediately asked Brian if he wanted to take her.  I am usually the one who does this stuff.    I thought it would be nice for them to spend some quality time together.  I also knew the movie would be during Little Dude's nap time.  I would have a couple hours all to myself.  What could be better?  This morning I started to have second thoughts.  I had a little twinge of guilt.  I felt guilty for not wanting to take Pnut in the first place.  As they were getting ready to go, I wanted to be the one taking her.   I'm sure they are having a wonderful time and I will hear all about it when they get back.  Side note: LD's nap time interrupted with a bath because he found a tube of A and D ointment and he covered his face and hair with it. So much for mommy's quiet time.

On to the running.  Monday I was worried I would never get my miles in this week.  Turns out, I got all 25!!!  I'm so happy.  I had one rough run, the rest felt great.  I'm amazed how much I'm enjoying running.  This is the first season I actually like it.  I did it before because it's part of a triathlon.  I haven't been on my bike or in a pool in months and my race calendar only has one tri on it.  Maybe this is the season of running.   Because I'm enjoying the running so much, I'm thinking about signing up for my first marathon.  There is one, in Bellingham, in September.  Actually September 25th.  My anniversary is September 28th.  Not sure that's how Brian would like to celebrate 10 years of marriage.  The Seattle Marathon is November 25th.  Could be really cold and rainy, but closer to home.  We will see.

Next week I have 27 miles to run, with a long run of 10 miles.  I'm hoping to meet up with the running group in my neighborhood.  I tried this weekend, but it didn't work out.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Expectations

It all comes from having unrealistic expectations.  I took Little Dude and Pnut to the zoo today.  I woke up this morning with an image, in my head, of how the trip would go.  What actually took place was much different.
Expectation-Comfortable, sunny day
Reality-FREEZING-The sun is out and there is not a cloud in the sky, but it is cold.
Expectation-The kids would run around, have fun and get tired out.
Reality-I carried LD around most of the time.  I'm exhausted.
Expectation-We would walk around and look at animals then stop for a snack.

Reality-They started crying for a snack before we got out of the parking lot.  I'm not sure we saw   more than one animal the whole time we were there.

Expectation-I would have a nice day with my 2 wonderful children.
Reality-I was upset things weren't going as planned and I had a temper tantrum.  Not a real one.  I was just bitchy.  Why do I care if they want to stop and have a snack as soon as we get to the zoo?  Not only am I upset that the zoo didn't go as planned, I'm upset at how I acted and how I'm beating myself up over it.

Reality-Things don't go as planned.  I'm not a perfect mom (or wife, or daughter). I'm going to say and do things I regret.  I will make plenty of mistakes.

I need to be ok with reality and keep my expectations in check.

Here are a couple pictures from our trip.  Brian gave me a hard time for taking the one of Little Dude crying.  Looking back, I feel bad about it.  But this was the 15th meltdown in the 2 hours we were there.  Am I horrible for taking it?

My poor little dude

Roaring like the lion

Happy Pnut

I promised them a ride on the carousel.

LD about to fall asleep

After a drive home, filled with tears, because I declined the request to have chocolate chips rolled up in a tortilla for lunch, they are in their rooms.  LD is asleep.  Pnut is coloring asking if rest time is over.  I am having lunch trying to figure out how to get out of my funk.

I need to put the morning behind me.  I have a 40 minute tempo run on my schedule today.  It is the LAST thing I want to do.  I'm thinking maybe snuggling with the kids on the sofa, watching Finding Nemo, and eating chocolate chip filled tortillas sounds like a better plan.

One step forward, two steps back

I was feeling pretty proud of myself this morning.  Since we can't leave the house, I decided I would do my best to clean it.  I made some play dough for Pnut and Little Dude.  I gave them each some cookie cutters and a rolling pin.  I went upstairs to put way laundry and try to organize my room.  30ish minutes later I went down stairs and found this..

Every dish and utensil they could reach.  That is my Cuisinart mixer and a hard boiled egg cutter.  What you can't see is all the play dough on the floor.  I should have expected this.  I should have prepared for it.  But in my head, they were downstairs playing nicely (and cleanly).

My laundry is put away and I organized their closets (a little).  But at what cost?  Of course I had them help me clean, which led to broken glass on the floor (more to clean up).  So, I think I came out behind on this one.

This gets me to another mess...the playroom.  The playroom is right off the kitchen.  I thought this would be a great place for it.  I'm always in the kitchen.  Pnut and LD could be playing while I am cooking.  Here is what it looked like when I finished it.

This is what it looks like today

For the first week it was great. I was able to be in there with them, reminding them to put stuff away. Pnut is pretty good about it.  LD is a disaster.  It is unrealistic, at this point, for me to expect him to keep it clean without some help.  I need to spend more time with him in there, showing him what I expect.  I know if I put the time in now, it will work out in the long run.  But I have SOOO much I want to do.  In my head (where things are often better) they would play in there and I would do what I need to do.  It's not working out for me.

So, I'm off to "help" them clean.  Then maybe I'll plop them down in front of the tv so I can get something done.

Set backs

Pnut is sick.  It could be a cold, it could be whooping cough.  Someone in her class was diagnosed with whooping cough.  Otherwise I would just assume it's a cold.  She was tested this morning and we should know tomorrow or Wednesday.  For now, she can't be around people.  Except her family, all of whom I'm sure will come down with whatever she has.

Last week was my first solid week of training and eating right in a long time.   I missed a run this weekend and my diet could have been better, but over all, not bad.  This week is not starting off great. I can't take Pnut to the gym until we hear from the doctor.  If we get results tomorrow, and it's negative, we can go tomorrow.  If she does have whooping cough, she can't go all week.  When am I going to get 25 miles of running in if I can't go to the gym during the day?  And I would really like to get at least 1 spin class.  My options are limited and none are ideal.  

It is important.  I'll find a way.  I'm guessing it will involve 5am or 9pm work outs, but I will find a way.  I'll check in Sunday to let you know how I did. 25 miles of running is a must.  The spin class would be the cherry on top.

Slow and Steady

I'm not saying slow and steady wins the race.  I think fast wins. I'm hoping slow and steady will keep me from getting hurt.  So today I set out on a slow and steady 8 mile run.  I mapped out my route last night.  As soon as I left my driveway I decided to forget about my planned route.  I was just going to run.  I was going to run 8 miles in my new neighborhood.

I spent the 8 miles reflecting about how lucky I am and how far I've come.  Not just me.  I was thinking about Brian and me (I? myself?) .  We met 21 years ago.  That in itself is insane.  I'm not going to recap the last 21 years.  All I will say is we were together for awhile, apart for awhile, and thankfully, are spending the rest of our lives together.  It sounds silly but I always knew we would be together; even when we were apart.  But never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined how amazing things would be.

I promise this will not turn into a mushy love story post.  It will be about running, kind of.  As I was running, I thought about the first time Brian and I moved to Seattle.  We had been married a week.  We packed up a U-Haul and drove across the country.  We had no jobs and knew nobody.  We were happy and broke.  I remember one afternoon, before we found jobs, we decided to splurge.  We went out and rented Vanilla Sky (waste of $5), bought a pizza and a 6 pack of cheap beer.  I remember talking about how one day we would look back and think what an amazing time it was.  And it was.

Nine years, and 2 kids later, and we're back.  Things couldn't be more different.  We are no longer in the city.  We moved to, what might be, the perfect place for us.  As I ran around our new home it dawned on me; this is where I have always wanted to be.  Not specifically this place, but a small town, on the water, near a city.  It is perfect.

Now...back to the run.  It was awesome.  Slow, but awesome.  I enjoyed every mile.  I stopped and took pictures.  I talked to a couple walking their dog.  Said "Hi" to the dozens of other people running.

This is less than a mile from our house.

Not sure what the goofy look is about.  Think I was feeling silly about stopping and taking a picture of myself.  But I wanted to document my first run here and remember how wonderful it was.

Not only is it beautiful here, it's hilly.  I don't think this picture does it justice.

It felt like it was a mile long.  Wish I could say I stopped just to take this picture. To be honest, it was an excuse, because I couldn't breathe.

Here is one last picture of the beautiful place I am lucky enough to call home.

As for the actually running part, I really did feel great.  I tried to keep my pace slow.  I'm working on keeping long runs easy.  It's difficult because I usually just want to finish, so I run faster than I should.

I ran 23 miles this week.  I think my goal was 25 but I also took 2 spin classes.  I'm feeling good, and I should be ready to run a good race at the Mercer Island Half.  I really need to register for it.  My secret goal is under 2 hours.  This is a pretty unrealistic goal but something to shoot for.  

Damn Food!

I sometimes have a hard time figuring out my priorities.  I do know that my top priority is my family.  I have a lot going on in that department right now.  I don't mind being busy with family things.  What is hard is when I have so much going on and I don't know what I'm doing.  I end up wasting a whole lot of time and energy with nothing to show for it.

That's how this week has felt. Little Dude's stomach problems are back, I think.  I'm still trying to figure out how pooping 5 times a day can be a sign of constipation, but I'll take the doctor's word.  I decided to cut out dairy in his diet because it seems like a big culprit of stomach issues.  I'm also still trying to keep all of us away from processed food.  This really limits LD's menu.  I'm thinking he's consumed 200 calories in the last 2 days.  All of those coming from pear juice and all the medicine he's taking.  I'm starting to wonder how this new diet could possibly be helpful.  He's not pooping as much, but really, what's in his body to come out?  Everyone says he will eat when he's hungry but I'm not sure.  He's a stubborn little boy.  I spend most of my day trying to make healthy foods for him to eat and he eats none of it.  I'm spending a ton of time and energy and I don't know if it's making a difference.

I spend almost as much time at the grocery store as I do cooking food that no one eats. Walking around looking for healthy food, that my family will eat, is painful.  Especially if I do this with the kids.  Pnut says "On tv they said this (insert crappy sugar cereal) is good for you."  I spend a few minutes explaining why it is not good for you, and listening to the whining, and then try to get out as fast as possible. I end up with a cart of stuff, all of which requires me to make it, in order for us to eat it.  I don't have enough time to make everything.  There are no quick snacks.

Which leads me to my most difficult part of the day; The few minutes before I have to leave to get Pnut from school.  I created a monster by giving her a snack when I pick her up.  If I don't have a snack it's an ugly ride home.  Unprocessed snacks that are easy to eat in the car?  If you know of any PLEASE tell me.   Popcorn has been my go to.  They are sick of it already.  I made granola "bars" yesterday. They never turned into bars so it's just granola.  That would be a giant mess in the car. So, I spent time and energy making granola bars for an after school snack and it didn't work.  I still had no snack. A waste of time and energy.

On the bright side, I've been eating like I'd want the rest of the family to eat.  It's not as hard for me.  I'm actually enjoying it.  I started Monday and I feel great. other I'm also fairly certain I've lost weight around my waist. Or maybe I'm just not bloated.  Either way, I like it.  I have always been good about getting exercise but I've slacked off on the nutrition side.  I'm hoping this is a new start.

I'm going to keep it up and hope the family doesn't mutiny.  I hope that it will get easier for me, and the kids will get used to it.  I told Brian I wouldn't talk about him in my blog, but I feel like I should mention he is on board and that is a huge help.

Exerciser or Athlete

I FINALLY made it back to the gym.  The move made work outs difficult this week.  Thankfully the house is close to being finished.  Even if it wasn't, I needed to get out.  The kids were driving me nutty.

I showed up at the gym and found my treadmill.  I would have run outside but today is Brian's birthday and I thought he might like some alone time.  So I took the kids to the gym with me.  I got on a treadmill next to a lady with a Kona 2011 shirt on.  For those who don't know, Kona is where they have the Ironman Championship.  This lady was an athlete.  I'm guessing she was 10 years older than me and she looked amazing.  Not to mention her treadmill was much faster and at more of an incline than mine was.

I should take you back a couple hours.   I had an Italian cold cut and chocolate cake for lunch.  Like I said, it is Brian's birthday.  I don't normally have lunch cake. So, I got on the treadmill for a 5 mile run, with cake and salami in my tummy.  At one point puke came up my nose. It was gross, and painful.  I should add, for dinner last night, I had pizza and beer.  I'm not 100% sure, but I'm guessing Mrs. Kona didn't have pizza, beer, salami and cake before her run.  She is an athlete.  I, unfortunately, am an exerciser.  I'm not saying there is anything wrong with being an exerciser.  I ran 5 miles.  I'm not complaining.  But I want to be an athlete.

How do I do that?  Well, I came up with a couple things.  First, I need to eat like an athlete.  I need to think of my food as fuel, not just something to fill me up.  I'm not saying there won't be nights of pizza and beer, but I'm going to try to limit them.  Second, I need to sleep like an athlete.  I don't need to stay up to watch Cobert, then wake up at 6am.  My body needs more sleep than that.  My last thought was I need to work out like an athlete.  Work outs need to be as important as the other things on my to do list.  If this means I have to wake up before everyone gets up in order to train, that's what I need to do.  If I have to put the kids in the "jogging stroller" (that has quotes because it's really a bike trailer and it's a pain to run with) to run, that's what I need to do.

I'll check back in at the end of the month and let you know if I made the transition.  Right now, I'm going to have one last piece of cake.

Oxygen Mask

You know when you are on an airplane and the flight attendant tells you in the event you need an oxygen mask, put yours on, then put one on your child?  I feel like my morning coffee is my oxygen mask.  I need to have at least a sip of coffee before I can handle the deluge of morning requests.  Vitamins, breakfast, milk, tv, more breakfast.....it is a lot to deal with pre-coffee.  This morning I felt guilty getting my coffee ready because Pnut was up and STARVING.  I started her breakfast.  Before I finished that, Little Dude woke up.  So there was more breakfast, diaper changing, warm milk (because he won't drink it cold)....By the time they were taken care of, I was super grumpy.  I realize this says something about my coffee addiction, but it is also another example of needed to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. If I would have taken the 2 minutes to get my coffee ready, I might not have snapped at Pnut to get dressed and I might not have been so bitchy to Brian about walking the dog.  Sorry, Love.

We are moving tomorrow. Have I mentioned that?  I'm on top of the world.  There is a lot that needs to be done to get out of our temporary apartment and into our new house.  We don't have a ton of stuff here, but it is more than I think it is.  I should have spent the morning putting things in boxes and packing the car.  Instead, I went to the gym and ran 4 miles.  I needed to do that for me.  It always amazes me how a good sweat can make me feel like a new person.  Now I am ready to take on the rest of the day.

Race mess

This week's Team Tough Chik blog is 'your best/worst race'.  Most of my races have been amazing.  I think my only bad experience was 2010 Baltimore Half Marathon.

I should start out by saying my training for this race was questionable.  It consisted of me doing nothing during the week then going for a long run on the weekends.  I increased my long run mileage each weekend without running during the week.  Clearly this is a recipe for disaster.

Of course I was hurt as I walked up to the starting line.  The whole right side of my body was tight and messed up.  I should back up. Before I get to the starting line.  Pnut really wanted to be a part of the race, so Brian agreed to take her to do the Kids Fun Run.  I'm not sure anything about it was fun.  I had to go to the start before she ran.  She was crying when I left.  Turns out she walked most of it, in tears, holding on to Brian.  In her defense, there were SOOOO many people there and when you are 3 feet tall, that has to be scary.

So, Brian took care of the Fun Run and was left to entertain Pnut while I ran.  Not an easy task.  He was pretty happy when I hobbled up to him (almost 2 and a half hours later) after the race.

I started faster than I should have.   I am so pumped up on adrenaline at the start of races, it's hard to hold back.  This didn't last too long.  About 3 miles in  I was in a lot of pain.  Later, Brian asked why I didn't stop.  I honestly thought about it but I didn't know how I would get back to the car.  I walked a lot.  I almost cried.  Not because of the pain, but because it was such a miserable experience.

I crossed the finish line and found Brian and Pnut.  Brian was grumpy.  I was hurt and grumpy.  Pnut had made a friend and she was crazy hyper and didn't want to leave.  A perfect end to a horrible race.

There were a couple of good things about this race.  First, I ended up with my sisters bib (and timing chip) and she had mine.  She ran about 25 minutes faster :)  Second, my friends Karen and Enrique had an awesome party that night.  We sat outside eating awesome food and drinking fabulous wine.

That experience taught me several things:

• Do not start a race if you are so unprepared you will end up getting hurt.
• Do not take kids to large races 
• If possible, take a faster person's timing chip
• Always celebrate your accomplishments (A half marathon is a half marathon. Even if it is slow and painful)