Brutal

After running in the tropical storm on Monday, I figured today should be easy. Wrong! It was brutal. I ran for 28 minutes (2 more minutes than Monday) but I felt like I was going to die. It was so hot, humid, and sunny that I was wishing for a little sprinkle of rain to keep me from combusting.

On top of that, my right knee is bothering me. I do some basic stretching before I run, warmup with a 5 minute walk, run, and then usually walk another 3-5 minutes to get back home. Then I stretch again and have some water. I try to stretch throughout the day on the days I run. The pain is above my knee cap and slightly to the outside of it.

Any tips on what it might be and what I should to do make it feel better? I have come too far to be sidelined by a stupid ache. I just don't want to aggravate it and do more damage. Darn old body of mine.

Tropical Storm Isaac

So much for breaks between feeder bands. I thought I had a window of opportunity this morning. Less than 5 minutes into it, the heavens opened. It wasn't too bad, actually kind of nice and cooling. Then the wind picked up and it was coming down sideways. Oh well, I was already wet so I kept going. Finally around the 23 or 24 minute mark I said this is crazy. My contacts were bugging me and it was starting to thunder. I hustled home and finished at the 26 minute mark. Today I was supposed to go for 28 minutes but I figure the rainy and windy conditions made up for the 2 minute deduction.

Party Planning

Today Miller and I ran a ton of errands for Mason's first birthday party prep. Present purchased, cake ordered, and balloons on order too. Of course the one balloon I wanted was out and they won't get it in until 2 days after his birthday party. Most people would probably look at another location...me, I just picked another one. Hopefully the kids like it since it's really for them. Mason could care less as long as it floats.

I bought party favors today for the known attendees (kids). There are a couple maybe's and since they didn't RSVP, looks like they are out. I am sick of buying extra stuff just incase someone decides to show up. I am sure if I find out in advance I will do a quick run to find something but it just drives me nuts. I work with enough morons that don't accept meeting invites; I don't need that annoyance in my private life too.

Next up is planning the food items. Of course, I am again in the quandary of how much and who's coming. See, it not only applies to the kid goody bags but also food quantities. I am pretty sure I will have enough cake to feed an army but since no one has declined, I bought the bigger size.

Unfortunately, most of the people who read my blog are the ones that actually RSVP. I can't seem to shame those that should know better and clearly leading by example doesn't rub off. Oh well, it is what it is.

On another note; I would like to accomplish the deep cleaning my house needs but this stormy weather makes me want to take a nap instead. Guess I should meet it in the middle and just do something around here. I am pretty sure no one coming to the party cares about my dirty and disorganized cupboards but it's eating away at my anal retentive side. Maybe I will start with one and see how far I get.
 

Week 7 Complete

I am pretty proud of myself for sticking with this running thing. It's pretty cool to think I have gone from barely being able to run 3 minutes without wishing death upon myself to now running 25 minutes before I wish death upon myself. I think the next two weeks are going to be mental battles more so than physical. I believe next week I step it up to 28 minutes of running. You wouldn't think a couple extra minutes is a big deal but man, it's a killer.

I am actually contemplating trying it Monday and if I can't make it, repeating week 7 until I get a little stronger. I have a fear if I do that, I won't keep going. So, it's going to be 28 minutes Monday no matter what.

As a side note, I have run 4 solid weeks with my watch. It tracks my average mileage against others in my age category and surprise surprise, I am actually running a mile over the average! Who would have thought that would ever happen? I logged 23.3 miles in the past month whereas the average is 22.3.

Hurricane Prep

I honestly quit watching the news shortly after Miller was born. The topics consisted of traffic fatalities, murders, and hurricanes. You can toss in sports for good measure too but I never listen to that part anyways. To add to the list, the South Florida news stations love a good tropical storm/hurricane to sensationalize.

With that in mind, I just waited for my fellow storm trackers to keep me updated. Now that Kevin has removed himself from that role; I depend on FB to keep me updated. This week I started to see the all too familiar "hurricane model" pictures start to appear. I figured I should probably check it out to see what the scoop is.

For the last couple days, it was clearly a tropical storm headed our way with the possibility of being a category 1 hurricane. That's really just a bad storm with more wind than usual in my opinion. We have had far worse thunderstorms roll through. The models constantly change but I know we will get hit with something.

It's been weighing on my mind that we depleted our hurricane stash many years ago and have never replenished it. All we really kept was some water, batteries, and a lantern or some extra candles but gosh darn it, once that power goes out, no one wants to be scrambling in the attic (and by no one I mean Ryan) to find something.

With Mason and Miller around to ride out this storm; I figured I should get a few things today. Mainly water since we had none. I don't do the full 1 gallon per person per day for at least 3 days calculation. I can always boil water for washing up and I know I certainly don't drink a gallon a day (hello beer, wine, and Dt. Coke). Plus, we will have pool water for flushing toilets if needed.

What we really needed was diapers and toilet paper. My thought was if we ran low or out and the storm did hit, I certainly wasn't going to go looking for a store that carries those things. I headed to Sam's Club to get the needed items and was shocked at how many people were already stockpiling water! They had pallets down most aisles and were pulling more out of the back as I grabbed a couple cases. Good thing I got gas on Tuesday or that's the next chaotic thing people hoard.

We are more than ready for the storm on the food/water/supplies front. The thing that always makes me nervous is whether or not to pull the outdoor stuff inside. It's a pain to move and you don't realize how much stuff you have until it's time to move it. I am hoping we don't go into a hurricane warning and need to shuffle all the outdoor stuff to the garage.

I have a list a mile long of things to get done this weekend before Mason's birthday party next week. I really don't want to shift my energy into storm preparation mode.

Arm Issue

Today my arm was bugging me by the end of my run. I have a case of the flabby arm rubbing against my bouncing boobs. Not much more I can do about the boobs-they are strapped in as much as I can control without resorting to duct tape. Looks like some arm toning is in store.

In the meantime, any tips for inner arms rubbing against clothes? I have a regular bra, sports bra, and a tight tank on so it's not a loose clothing issue.

A Day of Firsts

Today was the first day at the new school for the boys. Both were super excited and there were zero fits or tears at drop off (from the boys). I welled up on the way to the car but quickly recovered. I just wanted them to have a good first day and not be too upset or naughty.

I had a running first. Today was the first day I had to run 25 minutes straight. For most runners, that's probably a warm-up but for a girl who could barely make it 3-5 minutes running 7 weeks ago, this was a major milestone. Granted, my first mile was around a 12 minute pace but my last mile....well, when I stopped to walk the rest of the way home/cool down, I think my walking was faster than my pretend jog. I logged in with an average of a 13 minute pace but that also included .6+miles of walking (warmup at the beginning and a cool down at the end).

On the work front, I think I went for another milestone-three 1.5 hour training sessions, a 1 hour review session, and a couple other meetings. My butt has fused with my chair!

The boys came home while I was in one of those training sessions. I couldn't break away but once it ended, I bounced out of the room to see how their day went. I think I was way more excited to hear the details then they were to tell me.

According to Ryan; Mason had a good day. He ate well (surprised?-LOL!) and was in a good mood most of the day. Miller also had a good day. No misbehaving and since there are no naps, he was about as restless/sensitive as the other kids. He told me he made friends with two kids. He loved the toys. He ate his lunch, etc. Then tonight when I was resting with him before bed, he told me he and his buddy Katherine (from the old school) met in the bathroom and were making fun of the other kids. Then he clarified that he wasn't in the bathroom with her because the girls have their own bathroom and the boys have theirs. Knowing him...there is some truth in this story but not sure how much. My guess is the two did collaborate on some gossip for the hour they overlapped classrooms about the other kids. I highly doubt it was in the bathroom since he told me after that he only went potty alone (and took a poop at school without needing the teacher to wipe his butt). Gotta love my boy!

Ryan's feeling sick and was in bed at 6:30 tonight when Mason went to bed. I got Miller down at 7:30 and just put in another 2 hours of work. Time to call it a night myself.

Couch to 5K Status

I just wrapped up week 6 of the Couch to 5K training plan. I am surprised with myself for sticking with this. Today's run consisted of the 5 minute walk warmup and 22 minutes of straight running. I think I might have mentioned that the plan gives you the choice of time increments or distance. It was easier to measure in time when I started so that's what I have been doing. 22 minutes is supposed to be 2 1/4 miles but my pace is a little slower. It was around 2 miles.

My watch tracks my distance, speed, averages, etc. My stats right now always include the initial 5 minute warmup walk so I think if I actually timed my miles after that I would see my speed increase a little. Oh well, I have 3 more weeks of training before I supposedly am running a 5K within half an hour. My goal hasn't been to do it with that pace but just to be able to say I can run a 5K without walking or falling over dead.

Has anyone done any training plans beyond this? I am not looking to necessarily run a 10K but I do like these doable workouts. It's nice that it mixes it up a little and right now, I only have to run 3 days a week. Anything more is going to be tough to squeeze in. I don't love it enough to do it on the weekends.

Work Sucks

Yes, I am do for a good work complaint and this one is just plain and simple. Work sucks! I am in the middle of our fall term start which is the most insane time for curriculum and other term start related tasks (meaning lots of faculty training and meetings). At the same time, I am launching a project that's been 3 years in the making to 5 different schools and of course, none of them are exactly the same in messaging or approach. Top this off by having a new boss (I like this piece of the puzzle with the exception of he needs questions answered in the middle of the day and has asked for some other items I hadn't anticipated getting done). Oh did I mention it's also budget season? I don't have any help so this is just a bit overwhelming for me right now.

I keep telling myself I have to survive a couple more weeks and things will die down a little (not much but a little). So there you have it. It's 10pm and I just wrapped up for the day. I have so much more to do but my eyes are literally burning from staring at the computer. Tomorrow will be another late night and Thursday I don't even want to think about. I have a session scheduled from 8:15-10:45pm. I would love to start late or take some comp time but right now, the schedule just doesn't allow it. These are the days I long for shift work / hours at the grocery store or the liquor store.

Anniversary Weekend

Thursday, Ryan and I went to a concert to celebrate our anniversary. It was Lita Ford, Poison, and Def Leppard. It was fun but we definitely have been to better and more wild concerts. We were able to see plenty of crazy people to stay entertained. There was over usage of cowboy hats and bandanas.

Saturday, our actual anniversary, consisted of some chores. The boys both had their hair cut (Mason's first "real" haircut by a professional). They both look cute with their new do's. In the evening, we headed to Burger Fi for dinner. We had some great food and minimal squawking from the kids. A trip to the bookstore resulted in Miller removal and us going straight home.

Both kids went to bed early and we proceeded to celebrate like any old couple. We grabbed magazines and books and then headed the porch to read and have a few drinks.

Sunday was Norah's birthday party. I don't know who was more excited, Miller or I? It was at a local water park and I couldn't wait. The kids had a blast and it was a really cool water area. Mason spent most of his time in the zero entry pool where he could sit, crawl, and stand in shallow water. He did some quality walking with Ryan and some standing up on his own (well, balancing). Miller was like a little fish sliding, floating, swimming, and having fun running around. We may have to head back on another weekend just for fun.

Miller's supposed to be napping but I hear him up in his room. Time to go throw down the parental guilt trip. Hopefully he will settle down before Mason wakes up so I can get something done around the house. I should be working but just don't have it in me. It is Sunday, the day of rest, right?

Crazy People

I have worked with some crazy people in the past and right now, I would like to expand my definition of crazy to include another employee. The types of crazy I have worked with:

• Crazy like a clown, silly, always cheerful
• Crazy like manic, always on the go, never stops
• Crazy like clueless to how the world works
• Crazy like unfiltered 
• Crazy like over the top on everything
• Crazy like OCD
• Crazy like depressed 
• Crazy like split / multiple personalities 
• Crazy like disturbed

I added the disturbed definition after someone emailed me a picture of a dead corpse that had to be identified. Yes, you read that correctly. So while I am busting my butt to get things done and wearing several job description hats, she is out walking her dogs and identifying a dead body in her neighbor's house.

Most people might think this is an usual circumstance but *hit like this happens ever day to these people. I don't think I go a day without some crazy story that I swear, you can't make this stuff up if you tried. You would run out of material halfway through the year.

Prepping for Back to School

Miller has his first lunch box and real backpack for VPK! I can't believe how old he's getting. First day of school pics will follow with his uniform on August 20th.

Organization and Chores

We have been on a kick for a couple months trying to keep the clutter at bay. The garage is 90% gutted and reshuffled, we had a yard sale, and we have tossed and donated a bunch. The kids' rooms have been eating away at my inner organizational bone for a few weeks now. I decided to bite the bullet and tackle them rather than do my normal weekend cleaning.

Mason's room wasn't too bad. I pulled out a few "baby" toys and put them in the bin for yard sale/donation. Then I went through and pulled out the too small clothes from his drawers. Next, I shuffled and grabbed all of Miller's old 2T stuff and put them in Mason's drawers. I topped it off with organizing this existing toy bins and pulling some stuff from Miller's room into his closet.

Next up was Miller's room. He has too much stuff. I did a ton of work on his closet and pulling some of the younger toys over to Mason's room helped alleviate the problem. Luckily he had a few bins that were easy to sort through. After lunch he and I tackled the pile causing me angst; the weapons and small parts. I think we ended up with Transformers weapons, GI Joe weapons, fireman supplies, army stuff, missiles, and random weapons. Target will hopefully have a container that will work for what I am looking for but for now, ziplock is doing the trick. After nap time we need to tackle his bookshelf and move a few over to Mason's room.

It's amazing how much the kids forget they have. It's like Christmas all over again as old toys are rediscovered.

Ryan put a ceiling fan outside in the garage. He also added a pipe to our AC drain (it could use some paint but I think that will probably happen once the house is repainted). We also initiated the process for having our front door measured and a new one put in (side window too). Hopefully that happens rather quickly and painlessly. I have wanted a new door since we moved in. Rephrase, we have needed a new door since we moved in.

We have a few yard chores but I am not sure how much will get done this weekend versus another weekend. We have 2 trees to rip out and bring to the dump. We are going to hold off on the replacement ones (which is also going to drive me nuts for a month or so). We want to replace some edging around the front circle and add some new mulch. If it weren't 100 degrees out with 90% humidity, it would probably already be done.

I wondered this morning what it is like to not have chores or repairs to do. I bet life would be pretty exciting if I could reallocate the money we spend at Home Depot to entertainment or new shoes. Speaking of...since I cleaned out the closet 2 weeks ago, I now can see my shoe situation. Momma needs some new shoes to replace all of the old crusty out of style ones. I bet you know what my next posts will be about.

Thoughts on Running

I am one run shy of being at the half way point of this training plan. Here are my current thoughts on things.

Training Plan: it's not too bad but I prefer to not look ahead to future weeks. Otherwise I begin to think I can't do it.

Others: I pass and see a lot of the same people each morning. They must know I am not just some casual passerby because they now all say hello whereas the first week, I think they thought I was a lost person in the neighborhood.

Real Runners: Being passed by real runners gives me mixed emotions. First, I think they are looking pitifully at me and my slow pace. Then they give me that nod that says "good for you, keep going." Then as I watch them pull away in their speedy (and good looking form) I sigh. I doubt I will ever be "that" runner but it gives me something to strive for.

Route: Next week I am going to need to expand my route. I prefer to stay away from major roads because honestly, I always judge the runners I pass when driving. I think they are either crazy or the fat ones have a ways to go. Yep. I am a jerk. I did map out a few other options which will work for a week or two. Then I am going to have to bite the bullet and run on real roads instead of residential.

Gear: I am going to charge up the new watch and take it for a spin on Friday. Next up is probably some tunes. I am bored and need some music. Or, it might be sunglasses. Heck, it may be both.

Either way, I have stuck with this more than I thought I would. So far I enjoy knowing I am trying to get in shape and sticking to the plan. I still am not a fan that "loves" running. I don't know if I will ever like it that much. Who knows...time will tell.