Sunday, December 06, 2009
beat
I'm beat. The day after my fun Turkey Trot, I started feeling not so hot. I figured it was just a little cold. I was wrong. I ended up with some strep-like infection with a side of mastitis that resulted in a fever topping out at 105 and that bought me 10 days worth of strong penicillin. My tummy is not handling it very well, and even though I'm pretty well over whatever infection I had, my electrolytes are still out of whack, and where last week I was pushing the buggy through some of the most extreme hills and feeling happy about it, this week even a walk around the block requires forethought and contingency plans. I'm continuing to improve, and am planning on at least hitting the bike at the gym on Tuesday, with the goal of doing a "long" run of at least four miles this weekend.
So yeah, another setback. But, the 10 miler is four months away so I have at least a little while to get my shit together. The Supportive Husband is on notice that I need some Saturday mornings free and clear for long runs. And my body is on notice as well! The girls have been very cooperative and have settled right down since weaning - I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I can throw away the industrial strength running bras and go back to my comfy Target cheapies. And so far my weight is holding steady, so I'm hopeful the 10 pounds extra I lost will stay lost. It feels good to be at my fighting weight and I *know* it helps my running.
So yeah, another setback. But, the 10 miler is four months away so I have at least a little while to get my shit together. The Supportive Husband is on notice that I need some Saturday mornings free and clear for long runs. And my body is on notice as well! The girls have been very cooperative and have settled right down since weaning - I'm FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I can throw away the industrial strength running bras and go back to my comfy Target cheapies. And so far my weight is holding steady, so I'm hopeful the 10 pounds extra I lost will stay lost. It feels good to be at my fighting weight and I *know* it helps my running.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Turkey Trot Day!
I've been laying low, running-wise, knowing that weaning Sami would signal the start of training for spring races. This morning I ran the Turkey Trot. I had zero expectations - I was pushing Sami in the buggy, and have been doing precious little running. A couple of miles on the treadmill at lunch every now and again. No training to speak of, and no pushing kids in the buggy! And most importantly - I didn't have my pre-race nightmare. I did have a real-life nightmare, when I realized I had missed packet pickup, but it turns out that packet pickup continued through Wednesday, even though it was only schedule for Monday and Tuesday.
For whatever reason, my body loves this crazy, insanely hilly course. And I set a PR!! Not a "real" PR - I am truly light years away from that right now. But I set my buggy-pushing 5K PR - I beat my time from two years ago by 10 seconds!! Really, I was hardly exerting myself at all. I spent the first .75 mi caught up in the throng of non-runners, unable to maneuver through with the buggy. I stopped a few times to chat with friends. I took lots of walk breaks. My first mile was just shy of 16 min. I hit mile 2 at 29:30, and crossed the finish at 42:29. Hello, negative splits!! Am I really running faster by going slower? It appears to be so!
It was very encouraging to unexpectedly post this time. I know, 13 min miles are nothing to crow about. But I felt great, and I know now I've still got some legs on me.
I desperately need new shoes, and a new watch. I lost my cheap, plastic, 10 year old watch a few months ago, and not knowing what my pace is at any given time is a little frustrating, even at a fun run. And my shoes are nearly a year old (sinful!!), and really don't fit right. I got sweet talked in to buying narrows, and they're too narrow. I'm sorely tempted to try the new Nikes that are for overpronaters, but don't have the traditional bulkiness of stability/motion control shoes.
No black Friday shopping for me - it's Buy Nothing day, after all, but I'll be down at the shop sooner or later. I have a pocket full of coupons and I'm not afraid to use them.
For whatever reason, my body loves this crazy, insanely hilly course. And I set a PR!! Not a "real" PR - I am truly light years away from that right now. But I set my buggy-pushing 5K PR - I beat my time from two years ago by 10 seconds!! Really, I was hardly exerting myself at all. I spent the first .75 mi caught up in the throng of non-runners, unable to maneuver through with the buggy. I stopped a few times to chat with friends. I took lots of walk breaks. My first mile was just shy of 16 min. I hit mile 2 at 29:30, and crossed the finish at 42:29. Hello, negative splits!! Am I really running faster by going slower? It appears to be so!
It was very encouraging to unexpectedly post this time. I know, 13 min miles are nothing to crow about. But I felt great, and I know now I've still got some legs on me.
I desperately need new shoes, and a new watch. I lost my cheap, plastic, 10 year old watch a few months ago, and not knowing what my pace is at any given time is a little frustrating, even at a fun run. And my shoes are nearly a year old (sinful!!), and really don't fit right. I got sweet talked in to buying narrows, and they're too narrow. I'm sorely tempted to try the new Nikes that are for overpronaters, but don't have the traditional bulkiness of stability/motion control shoes.
No black Friday shopping for me - it's Buy Nothing day, after all, but I'll be down at the shop sooner or later. I have a pocket full of coupons and I'm not afraid to use them.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
catch as catch can
Is it any wonder that all my blog posts for the past year have been about how I don't have time to blog or exercise?
The baby is almost a year old - I can hardly believe it. The first year of her life has seemed to go by in an instant, except when she was crying in the middle of the night and then it seemed to drag on forever. Knock on wood, Ferber got her sleep all straightened out, though she's finally cutting teeth and that has thrown a wrench in the works. But enough sleep means that I finally crave exercise more than I crave sleep. In a little more than a week, the baby will be weaned - goodbye nursing boobs, and good riddance. Once the girls have settled down, then I'll come up with a training plan for spring races. But until then, I'm just being diligent about increasing my overall fitness level.
I gave up cookies after dinner, and lo and behold I lost five pounds immediately. I'm not only at my prepregnancy weight, but at my fightin' weight. Hallelujah! Downside: all my pants look like Hammer pants on me now. I'm doing my best to squeeze in workouts here and there. It's better to do a little than to do nothing. More days than not, I'm able to get to the gym, or go for a run or walk. And it's a great feeling. I even found the time to go to a group exercise class at the gym! Which kicked my sorry ass, by the way. I had charley horses in both calves for four days afterward. I've started doing real swim workouts, even if it's only 800 or 1000 on my lunch break. No more lazy laps - if my triceps aren't ON FIRE by the time I'm done, then I didn't do it hard enough. I did treat myself to a very lazy session on the exercise bike today - the new InStyle came, and I wanted to read it while I rode. But then I did a killer ab workout to make up for it.
Slowly but surely, I'm reclaiming my inner athlete.
The baby is almost a year old - I can hardly believe it. The first year of her life has seemed to go by in an instant, except when she was crying in the middle of the night and then it seemed to drag on forever. Knock on wood, Ferber got her sleep all straightened out, though she's finally cutting teeth and that has thrown a wrench in the works. But enough sleep means that I finally crave exercise more than I crave sleep. In a little more than a week, the baby will be weaned - goodbye nursing boobs, and good riddance. Once the girls have settled down, then I'll come up with a training plan for spring races. But until then, I'm just being diligent about increasing my overall fitness level.
I gave up cookies after dinner, and lo and behold I lost five pounds immediately. I'm not only at my prepregnancy weight, but at my fightin' weight. Hallelujah! Downside: all my pants look like Hammer pants on me now. I'm doing my best to squeeze in workouts here and there. It's better to do a little than to do nothing. More days than not, I'm able to get to the gym, or go for a run or walk. And it's a great feeling. I even found the time to go to a group exercise class at the gym! Which kicked my sorry ass, by the way. I had charley horses in both calves for four days afterward. I've started doing real swim workouts, even if it's only 800 or 1000 on my lunch break. No more lazy laps - if my triceps aren't ON FIRE by the time I'm done, then I didn't do it hard enough. I did treat myself to a very lazy session on the exercise bike today - the new InStyle came, and I wanted to read it while I rode. But then I did a killer ab workout to make up for it.
Slowly but surely, I'm reclaiming my inner athlete.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Race Report - Real Girls 6K
Hoooo boy, it's been a long time since I had one of these.
6K is a new distance for me, so I knew going in that I'd set a PR. I really had no goals for the race, other than to actually make it to the start, and hopefully also make it to the finish, preferably not last. Getting to the start, as always, is the hardest part of any race. Sami's streak of wonderful sleep came to a screeching halt last night, and The Supportive Husband and I were trading baby-soothing duties until goodness knows when. I think I got about 4 hours sleep, total. To add insult to injury, I had to pump pre-race. Oh, THAT'S why I've been holding off training till she weans. What a freakin' PITA.
I arrived pretty early, and sat in my car rockin' out to my iPod. It was quite peaceful, actually. I so rarely just sit and listen to music these days. When I finally got going, I spent some time stretching, especially my hips, which are still a little tight-feeling, even if I'm pain-free. I saw a few familiar faces, rolled my eyes at the "rah-rah" group photo (but participated anyway), and I was off.
The first good bit was all downhill to the river. Even though there weren't very many racers, maybe 150-200, the course was narrow, which penned me in a bit. This was actually a good thing, as it kept a lid on my speed for the first half-mile or so. The air by the river was cool and damp, but after the turnaround about 1.5 miles in, I headed back up the hill, with a balmy breeze in my face. My car thermometer read 74 when I arrived, which was a lot warmer than you'd expect around here for this time of year. Rain had been predicted, but it held off till after the race. I was secretly disappointed. I like running in the rain. It takes me out of my head a little bit.
At the water stop, I took a few sips of gatorade and a few sips of water to get the gatorade taste out of my mouth. This started a long portion of running on grass. Bumpy, uneven grass. The uphills actually felt really good. All that pushing 2 kids around in the buggy is really paying off. The downhills were just scary. I slowed to a walk on some of them to keep my footing.
And then, the chute! I didn't push to a full-on sprint, but I did pick it up a bit in the chute, and ended up crossing the finish at (I think) almost exactly 43 minutes. I had forgotten my watch, so until official results are posted, that's as close as I can get. At a pace of 11:32, that sounds about right. I was at a pretty comfortable pace the whole time, with a few walk breaks.
I honestly don't remember the last time I ran more than a mile or two without pushing the buggy, so it was a nice change of pace. I felt great afterward, and it reminded me why I put up with the 5:30am wakeups to do this thing. I'm really committed to training for the 10 miler, and then for the half a couple of weeks later. It's really daunting to think about right now, but I'm giving myself permission not to think about it until Sami is weaned.
6K is a new distance for me, so I knew going in that I'd set a PR. I really had no goals for the race, other than to actually make it to the start, and hopefully also make it to the finish, preferably not last. Getting to the start, as always, is the hardest part of any race. Sami's streak of wonderful sleep came to a screeching halt last night, and The Supportive Husband and I were trading baby-soothing duties until goodness knows when. I think I got about 4 hours sleep, total. To add insult to injury, I had to pump pre-race. Oh, THAT'S why I've been holding off training till she weans. What a freakin' PITA.
I arrived pretty early, and sat in my car rockin' out to my iPod. It was quite peaceful, actually. I so rarely just sit and listen to music these days. When I finally got going, I spent some time stretching, especially my hips, which are still a little tight-feeling, even if I'm pain-free. I saw a few familiar faces, rolled my eyes at the "rah-rah" group photo (but participated anyway), and I was off.
The first good bit was all downhill to the river. Even though there weren't very many racers, maybe 150-200, the course was narrow, which penned me in a bit. This was actually a good thing, as it kept a lid on my speed for the first half-mile or so. The air by the river was cool and damp, but after the turnaround about 1.5 miles in, I headed back up the hill, with a balmy breeze in my face. My car thermometer read 74 when I arrived, which was a lot warmer than you'd expect around here for this time of year. Rain had been predicted, but it held off till after the race. I was secretly disappointed. I like running in the rain. It takes me out of my head a little bit.
At the water stop, I took a few sips of gatorade and a few sips of water to get the gatorade taste out of my mouth. This started a long portion of running on grass. Bumpy, uneven grass. The uphills actually felt really good. All that pushing 2 kids around in the buggy is really paying off. The downhills were just scary. I slowed to a walk on some of them to keep my footing.
And then, the chute! I didn't push to a full-on sprint, but I did pick it up a bit in the chute, and ended up crossing the finish at (I think) almost exactly 43 minutes. I had forgotten my watch, so until official results are posted, that's as close as I can get. At a pace of 11:32, that sounds about right. I was at a pretty comfortable pace the whole time, with a few walk breaks.
I honestly don't remember the last time I ran more than a mile or two without pushing the buggy, so it was a nice change of pace. I felt great afterward, and it reminded me why I put up with the 5:30am wakeups to do this thing. I'm really committed to training for the 10 miler, and then for the half a couple of weeks later. It's really daunting to think about right now, but I'm giving myself permission not to think about it until Sami is weaned.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
I placed!!!
My standard spiel about running is that I intend to keep doing it until I place in my age group. Well, I placed yesterday! Sadly, not in running. In pie-baking, of all things. I won the "nut/other" category in the Cville Pie Fest with my "Cheap Drunk Nut Pie." I can't believe it! Unfortunately, I was too sick to attend the event - my third illness in as many weeks. So there's been a lot more baking than running going on at my house.
Well, next weekend I am racing again. I think. I signed up a couple months ago, but realized that I've never gotten any kind of confirmation whatsoever that I am, in fact, registered for the Real Girls Run 6K next Saturday. Maybe I'll look in to that. With all the non-training I've been doing lately, even starting the race, let alone finishing it, is going to be a bigger challenge than I bargained for. I'm feeling much better, and would love to go for a run this afternoon, but I'm stuck at home with napping kids while The Husband is at work. Sigh.
So, in the meantime, here's my recipe for AWARD WINNINGTM Cheap Drunk Nut Pie.
Crust (This recipe is pretty much cribbed from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook - nothing fancy here. Though I do add a little salt where they don't, since I'm making a super-sweet pie.):
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
4 Tbsp ice water
Directions:
Pulse flour, salt, and shortening in food processor until it looks like coarse crumbs. Scrape sides occasionally if necessary. Add ice water all at once and process until dough forms into a ball. Again, scrape sides if necessary. Pat dough ball into a disk, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 450.
Roll out crust and place into pie plate. Flute the edge, or do whatever decorative treatment you'd like. Prick liberally with a fork, especially where the sides of the plate meet the bottom. Line with parchment paper and fill with weights - dried beans or rice work well for this. Press into corners to prevent crust from lifting up during baking. Bake at 450 for about 8 minutes.
Optional: Just before adding filling to crust, use a pastry brush to brush an egg wash (1 beaten yolk with a splash of milk) on the edges and sides of crust. This will give the crust a nice golden color once baked.
Filling (this recipe is the result of lots of research and testing, and passed the ultimate taste test - my 3 year old like it!):
Ingredients:
4-5 eggs (I get mine from the farmer's market, and am not always there at the crack of dawn, so I sometimes end up with medium eggs instead of large)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp cheap vodka* OR bourbon OR lemon juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup raw, unsalted pecan halves
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Spread pecan halves on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake for approx 5 minutes, stir, and bake for 5 more minutes. Watch nuts carefully and be sure they don't scorch.
Once the nuts cool, grind half of them in a food processor to form a meal**, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375.
In a large bowl, beat eggs with the brown sugar till combined. Add corn syrup, melted butter, vodka, and vinegar and mix well. Add ground pecans and stir till combined. Pour mixture into baked crust, reserving about 1-2 Tbsp in the bowl.
Put the remaining pecan halves into the bowl with the reserved filling and toss to coat. Arrange pecan halves on top of pie.
Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes, or until filling is set. To prevent overbrowning of the crust, tent the edges with aluminum foil for all but the last 10 minutes of baking. Cool on a wire rack. Serve plain, or with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream.
*A note about the cheap vodka: I heard that you can also use a little vanilla extract for part of this ingredient. Long story short, I happened to end up with a large quantity of vanilla beans, and have been making my own vanilla extract by soaking the beans in cheap vodka. This process takes months, and my extract is still mostly vodka. Really, really cheap vodka. So, having neither bourbon, nor vanilla extract, and discovering that the only lemon in my fridge was a dessiccated fossil, I used my not-quite-extracted vanilla vodka. You might even find that commercially available vanilla vodka works for you, but I've never tried it, as it is not the cheapest vodka at the liquor store.
**A note about the pecan meal - I find it makes the filling really nice and firm, and not as slimy/gooey as pecan pies usually are. It also cuts the sweetness a bit. But with a cup of corn syrup and a cup of brown sugar, who am I kidding. You can go with chopped pecans, rather than ground, but the chopped ones tend to float to the surface while baking, so they don't end up binding with the filling like the ground ones do.
Edit: Ummm, eeek! I accidentally double the amount of nuts, because I had made *two* pies for the pie fest. I'm sure it wouldn't suck w/2 cups of nuts, but it really only requires 1. I fixed it in the recipe above.
Well, next weekend I am racing again. I think. I signed up a couple months ago, but realized that I've never gotten any kind of confirmation whatsoever that I am, in fact, registered for the Real Girls Run 6K next Saturday. Maybe I'll look in to that. With all the non-training I've been doing lately, even starting the race, let alone finishing it, is going to be a bigger challenge than I bargained for. I'm feeling much better, and would love to go for a run this afternoon, but I'm stuck at home with napping kids while The Husband is at work. Sigh.
So, in the meantime, here's my recipe for AWARD WINNINGTM Cheap Drunk Nut Pie.
Crust (This recipe is pretty much cribbed from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook - nothing fancy here. Though I do add a little salt where they don't, since I'm making a super-sweet pie.):
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
4 Tbsp ice water
Directions:
Pulse flour, salt, and shortening in food processor until it looks like coarse crumbs. Scrape sides occasionally if necessary. Add ice water all at once and process until dough forms into a ball. Again, scrape sides if necessary. Pat dough ball into a disk, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 450.
Roll out crust and place into pie plate. Flute the edge, or do whatever decorative treatment you'd like. Prick liberally with a fork, especially where the sides of the plate meet the bottom. Line with parchment paper and fill with weights - dried beans or rice work well for this. Press into corners to prevent crust from lifting up during baking. Bake at 450 for about 8 minutes.
Optional: Just before adding filling to crust, use a pastry brush to brush an egg wash (1 beaten yolk with a splash of milk) on the edges and sides of crust. This will give the crust a nice golden color once baked.
Filling (this recipe is the result of lots of research and testing, and passed the ultimate taste test - my 3 year old like it!):
Ingredients:
4-5 eggs (I get mine from the farmer's market, and am not always there at the crack of dawn, so I sometimes end up with medium eggs instead of large)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp cheap vodka* OR bourbon OR lemon juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup raw, unsalted pecan halves
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Spread pecan halves on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake for approx 5 minutes, stir, and bake for 5 more minutes. Watch nuts carefully and be sure they don't scorch.
Once the nuts cool, grind half of them in a food processor to form a meal**, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375.
In a large bowl, beat eggs with the brown sugar till combined. Add corn syrup, melted butter, vodka, and vinegar and mix well. Add ground pecans and stir till combined. Pour mixture into baked crust, reserving about 1-2 Tbsp in the bowl.
Put the remaining pecan halves into the bowl with the reserved filling and toss to coat. Arrange pecan halves on top of pie.
Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes, or until filling is set. To prevent overbrowning of the crust, tent the edges with aluminum foil for all but the last 10 minutes of baking. Cool on a wire rack. Serve plain, or with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream.
*A note about the cheap vodka: I heard that you can also use a little vanilla extract for part of this ingredient. Long story short, I happened to end up with a large quantity of vanilla beans, and have been making my own vanilla extract by soaking the beans in cheap vodka. This process takes months, and my extract is still mostly vodka. Really, really cheap vodka. So, having neither bourbon, nor vanilla extract, and discovering that the only lemon in my fridge was a dessiccated fossil, I used my not-quite-extracted vanilla vodka. You might even find that commercially available vanilla vodka works for you, but I've never tried it, as it is not the cheapest vodka at the liquor store.
**A note about the pecan meal - I find it makes the filling really nice and firm, and not as slimy/gooey as pecan pies usually are. It also cuts the sweetness a bit. But with a cup of corn syrup and a cup of brown sugar, who am I kidding. You can go with chopped pecans, rather than ground, but the chopped ones tend to float to the surface while baking, so they don't end up binding with the filling like the ground ones do.
Edit: Ummm, eeek! I accidentally double the amount of nuts, because I had made *two* pies for the pie fest. I'm sure it wouldn't suck w/2 cups of nuts, but it really only requires 1. I fixed it in the recipe above.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
feed the blog, or, why isn't mama running?
So, another looooong blogging hiatus.
What have I been up to?
Sick kids, sick mama, the busiest work season of The Supportive Husband's year. Nursing, pumping, working. Knitting!
Not a lot of running.
Max went on a bit of a buggy strike for a while. Gaaah, $400 bucks for the double BOB down the drain! Happily, a coffee shop has opened on my regular running route, and now Max will gladly ride in the stroller knowing that there is a smoothie waiting for him halfway through the buggy ride. I'm back to running Saturday mornings as well - Max has started soccer, and it is the Supportive Husband's job to take him, so Sami and I have an hour to ourselves. So, I get a chance to go for a run pushing the single buggy. Pushing an 18 lb baby plus a 25 lb stroller is like pushing a feather after pushing 90 lbs of kids and stroller. And running with no kids - well, it happens so seldom these days that it feels a bit awkward. I'm not sure what to do with my hands, and I don't have anyone to talk to.
I've also been hitting the gym a bit more these days - I have finally gotten back in the pool, and it feels amazing. And yes, I'm amazed at how my swimming muscles have atrophied over the past 10 months.
I'm doing a 6K in a couple of weeks, and I'm excited to get out there, but at this point, doing a spring half, or even the ten miler, seems really daunting. Max was the age Sami is now when I ran the marathon, and frankly I can't even wrap my brain around that kind of distance right now. Having two children now means that those tiny holes in my day - 10 minutes here, 30 minutes there - have disappeared entirely. Just now, Max has called me into his bedroom multiple times - to turn his music on, take him to the potty, get him a drink of water - and now it's 9:30 and I'm not sure he's asleep, and I haven't had a minute to myself. Let alone found the time to go for a long run.
But in a few weeks, the Supportive Husband's work season will be winding down, and with any luck, the shorter days means the kids will get to bed earlier. And maybe, just maybe I can steal a few moments here and there, and stitch them together until I've got a regular running schedule back.
What have I been up to?
Sick kids, sick mama, the busiest work season of The Supportive Husband's year. Nursing, pumping, working. Knitting!
Not a lot of running.
Max went on a bit of a buggy strike for a while. Gaaah, $400 bucks for the double BOB down the drain! Happily, a coffee shop has opened on my regular running route, and now Max will gladly ride in the stroller knowing that there is a smoothie waiting for him halfway through the buggy ride. I'm back to running Saturday mornings as well - Max has started soccer, and it is the Supportive Husband's job to take him, so Sami and I have an hour to ourselves. So, I get a chance to go for a run pushing the single buggy. Pushing an 18 lb baby plus a 25 lb stroller is like pushing a feather after pushing 90 lbs of kids and stroller. And running with no kids - well, it happens so seldom these days that it feels a bit awkward. I'm not sure what to do with my hands, and I don't have anyone to talk to.
I've also been hitting the gym a bit more these days - I have finally gotten back in the pool, and it feels amazing. And yes, I'm amazed at how my swimming muscles have atrophied over the past 10 months.
I'm doing a 6K in a couple of weeks, and I'm excited to get out there, but at this point, doing a spring half, or even the ten miler, seems really daunting. Max was the age Sami is now when I ran the marathon, and frankly I can't even wrap my brain around that kind of distance right now. Having two children now means that those tiny holes in my day - 10 minutes here, 30 minutes there - have disappeared entirely. Just now, Max has called me into his bedroom multiple times - to turn his music on, take him to the potty, get him a drink of water - and now it's 9:30 and I'm not sure he's asleep, and I haven't had a minute to myself. Let alone found the time to go for a long run.
But in a few weeks, the Supportive Husband's work season will be winding down, and with any luck, the shorter days means the kids will get to bed earlier. And maybe, just maybe I can steal a few moments here and there, and stitch them together until I've got a regular running schedule back.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
4 miles and 60 pounds of kids
I pushed almost 60 pounds of kids and 30 pounds of stroller up and down the Monticello Trail this morning. I was feeling pretty badass about it until a guy pushing THREE kids in a triple stroller smoked past me.
But, both kids were angels during the ride. Max happily rode all the way up, keeping watch for any bears that might be on our path. Ever since I told him the story about the time I saw a bear while running, he's been pretty keen to see a bear. Especially since I've informed him that the bears around here are nice bears and mostly just want to eat blackberries and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had neither, so the bears stayed a safe distance away.
We did stop at the snack bar at the top of the hill. Monticello has entirely redone their visitor center, and there's now a proper cafe at the top of the trail, instead of just the hot dog stand. It was a nice break, having a snack and some chocolate milk in the courtyard by the fountain. When we started back down, Max decided to walk for a while. And then he decided to run. And I ran after him, and he ran past me, and we had a blast running and laughing and leapfrogging. Fartlek/speed play, indeed! He got back in the buggy after a quarter mile or so, and I ran the rest of the way down to the car.
For my cool down, I changed Sami's diaper in the back of the wagon, wrestled the double buggy back into the car, and helped Max climb a tree.
I'm finally getting in to the groove of including the kids in whatever fitness undertaking I'm pursuing. I simply can't do it any other way. The time available to me to run or do anything without at least one kid in tow is practically nil. But between last week's awesome family hike and this week's run up the hill, that's not a bad thing.
But, both kids were angels during the ride. Max happily rode all the way up, keeping watch for any bears that might be on our path. Ever since I told him the story about the time I saw a bear while running, he's been pretty keen to see a bear. Especially since I've informed him that the bears around here are nice bears and mostly just want to eat blackberries and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had neither, so the bears stayed a safe distance away.
We did stop at the snack bar at the top of the hill. Monticello has entirely redone their visitor center, and there's now a proper cafe at the top of the trail, instead of just the hot dog stand. It was a nice break, having a snack and some chocolate milk in the courtyard by the fountain. When we started back down, Max decided to walk for a while. And then he decided to run. And I ran after him, and he ran past me, and we had a blast running and laughing and leapfrogging. Fartlek/speed play, indeed! He got back in the buggy after a quarter mile or so, and I ran the rest of the way down to the car.
For my cool down, I changed Sami's diaper in the back of the wagon, wrestled the double buggy back into the car, and helped Max climb a tree.
I'm finally getting in to the groove of including the kids in whatever fitness undertaking I'm pursuing. I simply can't do it any other way. The time available to me to run or do anything without at least one kid in tow is practically nil. But between last week's awesome family hike and this week's run up the hill, that's not a bad thing.
