Tag Archives: work

Hit the Road Jack

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Sunday
7.5 Miles
Freezing Cold Strides

On Sunday I woke up and opted to sneak in a few miles early in the morning.  I was up in LA and only had a pair of running shorts packed, not pants.  You can imagine how happy I was to see this on the thermometer.

If there was ever a WTF moment, this was one of them….

I know, I know…my inner Chicagoan is ashamed that the 43 in November was considered cold, but I seriously contemplated going back to the heated house instead of busting out a few miles.

Irregardless of the cold, I pushed on through and even broke a little tiny bit of sweat at the end in my elbow pit proving it wasn’t THAT cold after all.  Bummer on the wasted theatrics.

Sunday evening I had to hit the road (actually the air) for work and headed up to Oakland for two days.  I super miss my babes but lucky for me there’s an app for that.

If you can’t be there for the real tuck in, the FaceTime tuck in is not a shabby second.  The best part is Chocolate lurking in the shadows so as to only be identified by his teeth.  Kudos to him for coming up with the ninja tuck in.  Vanilla stuck with coy snuggle and Strawberry channeled his inner hill billy sporting his gap toothed smile for bed.

As far as hitting the actual pavement this week, I’ve decided to take a few days off from running.  *gasp*  *thrash*  *shock*  My legs are still a little creaky & squeaky and I’m noticing some tweakiness and pulls in places I don’t like.  Since the name of the game is stay injury free until Boston, I opted to take 5 days off of running since I have two big, hilly challenging races this weekend.

Instead of lacing up the ol’ running shoes, I’ll just hit the bike, elliptical, etc. for a few days. I’m probably going to hit up Dr. Scott for an ART session at some point before the races to ensure things are nice and loose and keep the ol’ tendonitis from flaring up.   Not my favorite choice ever, but worth it to keep the legs fresh and uninjured.

What’s a hard decision you’ve made this week?
Do you have a favorite tuck in routine from being a kid or with your kids now (if you’ve got ‘em)? 

From Juggling to Struggling

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Miles: 3.81
Minutes: 29.27
Blah Recovery Strides (seriously still…)

Lay It Down Indeed!

About 6 months ago I saw this super awesome bracelet on a different blog.  I. had. to. have. it. (purchase/look here)

Lay It Down.

It’s so simple and it has double meaning for me.  I bought it knowing this.

Lay it  Down – A message appealing to my faith – when the stresses of the day and life in general can build I need to I lay ‘em down and let ‘em go.  It’s out of my hands.

Lay it Down – For the athlete in me, I remember to lay the heck of the smack down when I’m laced up out on the trails, streets, etc.  I don’t need to take anything back with me.

And let’s face it, it’s a good reminder because …my personal life has been a little rough as of late.

Let me paint you a pretty little word picture of a 15 minute snippit from yesterday.

4:40pm:  Picture StridingMom sitting on a piece of dirty cutout carpet salvage in the middle of the garage.  I’ve got my laptop on the ground, my ear buds in my ears and am participating in a conference call.  NBD right?

Except that overhead the carpet cleaners are finishing my house.  And oh yeah, they’re almost finished but hanging out waiting for a few fans to dry, so one of them is teaching Chocolate how to do tricks on the skateboard and I can do pretty much absolutely nothing since I am on a teleconference.    (On a total sidenote if you’re in the OC and need a carpet cleaner , check these guys out, they’re FABULOUS and worth every penny)

The other two bambinos are running around torturing the poor 80-year old HOA president by playing kick ball within 10 feet of his ladder.  Perfect.  I’m literally hoping and praying no one starts screaming, yelling or kicking a ball my direction.

About 10 minutes into this fiasco I now need to manage 10 different conversations at once as Strawberry’s guitar teacher shows up for lessons- which would have to be in the garage because the carpets had just been cleaned.  Classy, super classy.

I had this moment where I went from juggling to struggling.  And honestly it’s felt a lot like that lately.

My babies showin’ me the love!  Methinks they may have a future in floral design.

So today, while very much of the same juggling/struggling act, I am trying to have a much better approach.  My kids got in the “Mother’s Day” kick early and made me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and 30 (sorry beautiful trees, they killed you but warmed my heart) beautiful drawings.  I’m not sure which was the better gift the fact that they said, “it was a sign of love and respect” (what?!?) or that they cooperated and coordinated without fighting for over an hour (what what?!?!).  It’s a Mother’s Day Miracle.

Hair brushed – check. Noticeable lack of wicking fabric – check.

After yesterday’s tirade rendering me a dirty woman and loosening any small amount of respect you had about my ability to practice basic hygiene, I turned over a new leaf.  I actually showered, brushed my hair AND wore real clothes to attend a mother’s day teaat Vanilla’s school.  Super presh.

And that’s exactly what I had to do today – I let go of my worries and laid it down on the trail and am left feeling so much better.  I got my juggling game back and let the struggling go.

Lay it down, peeps.  Lay it down.