Let's start with Monday. Ran 5 miles and made it through a 2+ hour meeting that evening about the schedule for our co-op next year. I've started doing a little strength training each day based on suggestions in Run Like A Mother. (I love this book!! And I'm so glad I bought for myself with some of my birthday money. :) )
Tuesday was just 3 miles for me, but track practice for the kids was rained out.
Wednesday I was supposed to run 5 miles, but we have co-op in the morning and I was WIPED out by the time we got home. I'm such a slug!
Thursday I picked up those 5 miles and we made it to track practice where we almost froze. Well, I did. The kids were running around like monkeys and thought it was funny that I was standing with my hands in my armpits to stay warm.
You can read about my run on Friday here.
Ah Saturday. I waited all week for you. I started my day at 5:30 because I had to get my run in and be home before 8 am so Bill could go to work. I figured the best start to a long run was to back into Bill's car in the driveway. Whoops! Thankfully, the damage was minor and I'm not relegated to the couch.
Jake tagged along on his bike to protect me from any serial killers or wolves who may be lying in wait on the tow path. I'm happy to report we didn't encounter either. Though we did come across a mostly dead snake that looked like a copperhead.
10 miles was on the schedule and I did it in 1 hour 44 minutes or a 10:24 pace. The morning started out pretty cool and I was a little concerned since I had just short sleeves on. Good ol' Maryland did not disappoint; as the sun came up so did the temperature and the humidty.
Between miles 4 and 5 we passed an Applachian Trail hiker who said there was a snake up ahead on the path. I thanked him profusely for warning me. I hate to waste energy jumping and screaming if I can help it. I asked Jake to shoo it off the path when we saw that it was bleeding. So it was either injured or dead. I tossed a little stick onto it and it didn't move so we scooted around it and kept on going. During all this I ate my sport beans (multi-tasking is important to conserve energy). We noticed on our return that it was gone so something either ate very quickly or it slithered away.
I didn't stop again until mile 8 for a drink. I haven't mastered eating or drinking while running. I can't breathe and run while eating, and I spill all over myself if I try to drink.
Next we had a skating birthday party for one our friends. This was so much FUN and the kids had an absolute blast. I didn't skate because I'm a big chicken and didn't want to hurt myself only a month before my first big race. Shane wasn't completely sure about the whole skating thing but he really enjoyed the arcade area. It's a small town rink so it wasn't very crowded. Actually other than the party, there were only 5 or 6 other people there.
Here's Hank and Ella with 2 of their buddies
This isn't a very good picture, but here's the annoying woman in the too short skirt who wouldn't leave Shane alone. Honestly lady, he was fine. He was being silly and panting like a dog. She skated over to the grownups asking where his mother was because he looked very tired. Um, no he's a 4 y/o goofball. She told me I couldn't be out there w/o skates because it wasn't safe- I was standing still in the middle of the rink taking video of about 10 skaters. She pretty much stalked him the whole time, and then towards the end of the party she made him get off the floor saying it was 'grown up time.' A little 4 y/o hugging the wall is taking up too much space? Anyway, enough out of me. The kids were begging to go back.
Fake smiles...ok Mom will just let us skate and have fun?
We hurried to the outlets so I could spend some more birthday money at the Adidas store where they were having a buy 1 get one half off sale and then hustled home to get ready for our end of year cook out for our co-op.
This was such a challenging schoolyear for me on so many levels, and I couldn't be more ready for school to be finished. BUT I will miss seeing my friends each week and standing around Michelle's kitchen as we share lunch and talk about the things of life. The cookout was very fun. I ate too much chili and laughed a lot. We had to drag our sweaty, filthy dirty kids away from their friends so I think a good time was had by all.
Sunday brought no rest for my weary self. Ella and Hank had a track meet in Columbia so we had to leave church early to make it on time. Bill had to work again so I had all 4 kids with me.
I'm sipping a glass of wine while the kids are still awake if that gives you any idea of how challenging Shane was. However, Hank ROCKED the house. He began the season running the 100 and 200. Very competitive races. He's fast but some of these kids are greased lightening. So then I put him in the 200 and 400 where he began to find his feet so to speak. This meet had the 200 and 400 back to back so I put him in the 400 and 800. He got 6th overall out of 3 (maybe 4?) heats of the 400. His debut in the 800 brought him a 4th place finish and the fastest time on our team (including the older kids). Hello??? So he and I talked and decided that for our last meet (sniff, sniff) next Saturday he'll run the 800 and the 1500 and see what happens.
My sweet little Ella ran in the correct age group where she's the youngest and the smallest. She ran the 100 with everything she had and that's all we ask. She was really tired and opted out of the 200, but she likes to run and hop into the sand for the long jump so she did. She had fun and that's the idea.
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