Ten Things I (Re)Learned on My Run Today

Today’s run should have gone smooth. It had all the elements in the making — gorgeous weather, C watching kids, wearing my new Punk Rock Racing shirt, and a seemingly slow incline course. Ten miles. A little under two hours to myself. Not at all what I expected.

NOTE: Please feel free to laugh at anything mentioned below because in reality I have no one to blame but myself and looking back I am laughing now.

What really happened. Upon arriving to bike path, I noticed the port-o-potty that is always there (because I usually run in the summer and fall) hasn’t been put out yet because technically it is still winter. Problem. After two kids, I have to pee walking from the kitchen to my basement.

No problem. I will use one of the side trails I always use (sometimes even park my BOB so that it blocks the view from the road). Problem. Because it is still winter, none of the trees are grown in so you can see everything from the trail.

No worries. Somehow, I won’t have to pee once I start running. Problem. Like I said earlier, I just think I have to pee at this point in the game and I have to pee.

C (who was trying to make this easy for me) told me to run on bike path because it would be safer than the rut filled mud boggin’ roads around us. Problem. It is still winter. The bike path follows the mountain road to the ski resort. Anything in the shade is still snow/slush/ice.

It is a gorgeous day. It is the weekend. Problem. Everyone is out in packs. There is really no room to run and you have to fight for the pavement that is showing.

Decide to stop after five miles and return to the paved (although hilly) roads by my house. Problem. Don’t eat enough. Don’t drink enough water.  However, I did eat a GU before starting second five miles. It just wasn’t enough.

Decide to leave water in car because I will only be running for about fifty minutes. Problem. Hunger and thirst have clearly caused me to forget all that I should know as a seasoned runner.

So with that being said, here are ten things I (re)learned in no particular order. Not all of them have to do with the run itself. Some are just things that I noticed.

1. As C always says, any run over 45 minutes bring water. Any run over 60 minutes bring food (GU).
2. As cool as my Punk Rock Racing shirt and capri running pants are, channeling my inner Johnny Cash and wearing all black in the middle of the day when it is 60 degrees in March is NOT a good idea. Note to self, time to break out the shorts and get the Body Glide out.
3. When doing the second five miles, don’t do the route that is all downhill on the way out and all uphill on the way back, especially when it ends with a huge hill.
4. When it is above 60 degrees in my neighborhood, all men out running do not wear shirts.
5. When out running, biking, walking, I think it is good form to acknowledge person coming towards you with either a hello, wave, nod, eye contact, a smile. Blatantly acting like the person is not there (in a small town) is just rude. Trust me, there are runs (like today) where I want to just lie down on the side of the road because it is NOT fun, but I still say hi (or at least smile meekly).
6. It is okay to stop running so that you don’t hurt yourself. Supposed to do ten today. Ended up with 8.5. It is what it is. A bad run is still a run.
7. It is great to have a Garmin because when you realize the course you made isn’t long enough, you can just add more and it tells you as you go. Of course, this doesn’t matter if you stop early, but still a great thing.
8. Chocolate milk is the best damn drink for recovering. Plus, it tastes SO good. Had a big glass from Strafford Creamery. SO GOOD!
9. It is important to drink lots of water BEFORE the day of the big run. Forgot to drink my usual amount Friday and Saturday and felt like it really was noticeable today.
10. Having your three-year-old run up to the car when you get home (even though you feel like crap) and say “Momma, I missed you” definitely makes any bad run just disappear.

Today was a good reminder (especially with warm weather upon us) of things that I need to remember on long runs, but also short ones as well (since in about three more weeks ten miles will count in the short run category.

Tomorrow is a rest day, but then back out there on Tuesday.

How did everyone’s runs go this weekend? Tell me about the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Spring Running

My running lately hasn’t really been all that great, but somehow last week I got back in the swing.

I did three of my four runs (One I couldn’t do because treadmill was taken at gym, but I substituted with 45 minutes on the elliptical.).

However, the cool thing was I actually ran my three miler at a consistent pace with under ten minute miles. Next, I went out today for my thirteen miler and ran consistent miles for the whole time with 11:30 as the average. It felt good and I realized that I think I am ready to sign up for the half marathon race at the end of April as a check-in for marathon at end of May.

Today, I am going to do something different with my running. C and I are taking the kiddos to the bike path. Duffer will “ride” with C, while Little “runs” with me.  Finally, she is old enough to go in the Bob and come along for the ride!

It is funny what a couple good runs, a race on the horizon, and a new piece of running will do for your motivation!

Can’t wait to get out there today!

3:37 a.m.

Once upon a time it was 1:29 a.m. and my little duffer had woke me up with his snarfuls and inability to sleep.  Fast forward two hours and you have now.  I worked hard to try and fall back to sleep, but I kept worrying that the duffer would wake back up again and I’d be dancing to my Grammy Award winning made up songs.  Now, I am just waiting for the idea of sleep to creep back into my brain.  But, while awake, I might a well write since I don’t tend to have a lot of time to do that usually.

The other day before presenting to the school board about communication I sat around the table with some educators having a meal and nervously waiting for our time to present.  The woman next to me with a young son like me was talking about her holiday plans.  Side note, I’ve now realized that from December 1st to December 24th the only conversation people want to have (especially when you have a small child) is what are you doing for holidays?  I am guessing from December 26th until mid-January the conversation focuses on what you actually did.  This woman did get into all the details, but implied from her tone and whatnot that she had a doozy of Thanksgiving with her in-laws in Massachusetts.

My immediate (and to all those who know me) obvious response was have you seen Home for the Holidays? No.  She had not.  So, of course, I recommended it.  I am thinking she will appreciate it.  I mean how can you not appreciate Holly Hunter, as the pathetic protagonist, who has lost her job and is heading home to thanksgiving sans her daughter (played by Claire Danes — pre-My So Called Life) who she finds out is planning to have sex with her boyfriend after she has lost her nice winter jacket and is forced to wear this horrendous jacket her mother just happens to have in the car.  Oh, and I forgot her trying to kiss her not at all attractive boss after he fires her.  Charles Durning as her dad.  Anne Bancroft as her mom.  Robert Downey Jr. as her gay brother who just lives to make life horrible for her perfect sister and husband (the woman I know from other stuff — she is a total character actor and Steve Guttenberg as the husband).  Throw in Dylan McDermott as Robert Downey Jr.’s friend and you’ve got a complete holiday filled with well, holiday goodness.  A must see at any holiday time (Easter, Valentine’s Day — who cares — it’s hilarious!).

In that same vein, what are other good non-syrupy holiday movies?  Forget Miracle on 34th Street or It’s a Wonderful Life – what are the real holiday movies that make you laugh, etc.?

Over Thanksgiving, we saw Four Christmases — Vince Vaughn & Reese Witherspoon — not bad — some good laughs and one-liners.

A Christmas Story — always a good one.  I believe my husband even showed it to a math class once for what reason I can’t tell you, but it is quoted regularly in our house.

I know there are more, but strangely at 3:54 a.m. I beginning to get tired.  So to throw it out to the void — What is your favorite holiday movie and more importantly WHY?

Karma

Yesterday, we decided to have a fun day.  We went to Julie/Julia at the Mom’s Matinee. Despite not finishing the book, the movie was cute.  I say cute because anything Nora Ephron does is just that (think Sleepless in Seattle).  During the movie, which is a place where moms can take their babies and not have to worry about crying, there was one kid who just screamed.  Not cried, but screamed for almost the entire movie.  For the first half of the movie, I felt empathy considering my baby isn’t really a screamer (more on that later), but by the second half the tension headache I had arrived at the movie with was full blown and I was on pins and needles.  Driving away from the theater, I did make a comment to my husband about the baby’s screaming, but tried to feel compassion for the mom who probably just wanted some air conditioning and a a little entertainment.  Little did I know, I would be experiencing something very similar only at midnight and beyond.

Little duffer has had a cold since Tuesday, but somehow last night was the worst.  He work himself up at 9:30 and didn’t settle down until almost 1 a.m.  Plus, on top of that, I managed to get his cold so I couldn’t breathe.  It was worse than all those nights without sleep at the beginning of my child’s birth.  At least, I could breathe, read books, and watch bad t.v  I needed to catch up on even if I was delirious from having no sleep.  This time around he just wouldn’t settle and it involved lots of walking (I couldn’t put him down — talk about mama strength — he weighs 26 pounds), a car ride, and eventually taking the car seat out of the car so he could sleep in it.  Finally, we had some reprieve at 2ish until 5ish.

In the a.m., he didn’t really get any better and had a fever so inevitably he earned himself a doctor’s appointment.  Secretly, I think he likes visiting with his doctor, but he was just plain miserable so we needed something to make him feel better.  However, I admit I went to my hair appointment while my husband (the saint that he is) took the little duffer to the doctor.  No worries because I spent the entire hair appointment so stuffed up that I thought my head might imploded.  In addition, my hair dresser accidently drank my latte and then had to run in the back room to gargle so he wouldn’t end up miserable during a fun weekend away.  Great, I instill salt-water gargling in folk (at least I don’t instill vomiting).

All in all, the verdict for the little duffer — double ear infection.  No wonder he was upset.  Now, he is on the pink stuff and Tylenol as needed.  He is slightly better, but not really himself yet, which is okay because I am thoroughly not myself either.  Today, I can breathe, but now my cold has moved to my chest so I sound like I have a smoker’s cough and feel like someone hit me with an eighteen wheeler.  Good thing, little duffer has decided to take a nap so I can have a couple cups of coffee to help jump start my day to be a powerhouse or maybe just able to carry the 26 pounder to the car for a little shopping (after all — it is tax free day in Vermont!).

Mythbusters: The Parent Version

Many of you I am sure are familiar with the show where they blow stuff up to prove/disprove common myths.  Personally, I think they should have a parent version — just maybe without the blowing stuff up part.  After months of hearing things from folks, I had to find out if what was being said was Myth or Fact.

For example…

Tofu.  Boys eating tofu will screw with their estrogen levels.  MYTH.  According to my doctor, little duffer would have to eat A LOT of tofu.  However, she also asked if my hubby and I eat tofu.  We don’t.  Her thoughts — then why feed it to you son?  Protein?  Yeah, he gets enough of that from nursing.  Yet, the texture mixes well with his cereal and sweet potatoes so we will keep it a little longer since I know tofu + boys = estrogen overload.

Well Water. You can’t drink well water while nursing; therefore, little duffer can’t drink it either.  MYTH.  I have aluminum water bottles that I fill everywhere EXCEPT at my house.  Tired of buying bottled water, I decided to ask if I can go back to drinking my tap water.  The pediatrician — Do you cook in it? Yes.  Do you bath in it? Yes.  Do you make his food in it? Yes.  However, to reassure my insane idea, we have a form to have it tested for fluoride for free and then we can pay to do the full work up to make sure it is okay for drinking.  Mind you, we live at the top of a hill with water that comes from a cold, moutain stream so odds are good that our water is fine.

Teeth. Because your baby is a.) grumpy, b.) has a fever, c.) drools a lot, d.) puts lots of things in his mouth, he is teething.  MYTH.  No research that says so.  Little duffer will get teeth when he gets them and probably will get more than one at once.  Both his dad and I were late bloomers in the teeth area so we are not all that concerned — mind you, it seems everyone else is.

I am sure there are many other myths out there in the parenting world, but I think that I learned from this experience check in with the expert and take many of the things that folks say with a grain of salt.

Of course, little duffer’s doctor did say there is a rumor that Crocs are combustible.  That is a myth that might in involve blowing something up, but could might prove interesting to prove/disprove, especially since my hubby thinks Crocs are the most horrible shoe in the entire world.

My Day

I am sure later I will come up with a better title, but this post is to tell you that I am pretty sure that none of you did what I did today.  See, two weeks ago my mother told me that while my husband was away at his conference I should do some things around the house because that would make him happy.  Today, I took my little duffer to daycare, turned around drove home, and decided that I would mow the lawn.  My husband is not a fan of mowing the lawn because since it rains every day he needs to do it at least once a week.  In addition, it takes at least two hours to do right.  I decided that I would indeed mow the lawn for my husband (front yard and back yard) so that when he came home tomorrow after his final day of class (and evening of BBQ, Bocce, and Bonding) he would not need to worry about it.  He could do more fun things like chainsaw or work on his car.  What I forgot about is my complete and total fear of falling off the tractor, well not so much falling off the tractor, but having the tractor tip and roll on top of me.  Of course, the likelihood of that happening — slim — but you can’t tell your irrational fears those things.  I start out doing fine.  I made it once around the yard and then started down the small incline by the road just like my husband showed me.  Only problem, I forgot that to the left of the rock it gets a little muddy because of all the rain and being at the bottom of an hill.  I managed to get the tractor stuck.  Of course, I am stubborn as all get out and not about to call in someone to help me get it moving so I tried once more and came inches away from saving the day only to have the tire get bogged down again.  At this point I claimed defeat then texted and called my husband to admit what I had done.  After laughing and telling me that tractors get stuck, he suggested what he might do if he was there.  The picture gives you an idea.  After driving the truck across the lawn in 4-wheel drive, I attached the chain that was in the back to the pull in the front of the truck and found a small area I could attach the chain on the tractor.  With music blaring (very important when attempting difficult things), I backed the truck up enough to pull the tractor a good ten feet from the mud.  Once safe from the watery and muddy abyss, I put the tractor back in the garage and decided that finishing up the laundry, dishes, and maybe vacuuming the rug will be enough.  Of course, once Carl is back I plan to get out there and finish the lawn once the yard dries out.  After all, I’m as stubborn as all get out.

I’d Trade My Wife for a Housekeeper…

I think that is what my hubby would say some days when it feels like the house is in controlled chaos since I am the one who is really the bad husband (stereotype) in our marriage.  I don’t mind clutter until it takes over the house.  I’d rather go out to dinner than worry about cooking.  I am working on this piece by trying to do little things when the baby sleeps or let him watch the baby while I do some house stuff.  His favorite line is “What have you done for the house today?”  Today, I have done dishes and laundry already while being up since 5:30 with baby and dogs.  Why am I telling all this?  Because of the guests on Rachel Ray today.  I am a little miffed about assumption that women are the ones doing all of it in the house after a baby. Two women have written a book called I’d Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper.  I feel like they interviewed certain women to get a limited view.  They admit to interview dads too, but I’m skeptical.  I also wonder if these women had good marriages before they had kids.  They complain about not going out to dinner whenever they want or texting while home because they don’t have time to talk (?!?).  I guess I am lucky because we still go out to dinner (we have just let go of the nice restaurant dinners, but we still go).  We even went out to breakfast the other day and didn’t talk about the baby until the very end (Full Disclosure: little duffer was at daycare for the day).  I think all of that is very healthy.  I guess overall I just want to say that I am lucky to have a husband who does all that he does.  Maybe I don’t say it enough, but there is NO WAY I want to trade my husband for a housekeeper.  He is the man.  I guess this means that he does deserve the week away (minus tonight) at his conference enjoying an open bar and bocce tournaments.  Of course, maybe that means when I go to my conference at the beginning of August in Stowe (the town over) I can stay late one afternoon and get a spa treatment.  A girl can dream.

Thoughts

In all this quiet, I have time for things or thoughts that have crossed the dashboard of my life in the last so many days.  Since I have limited quiet time, I will recount them in no particular order, importance, or reason.

Death Wish — Turkey Style. Driving home yesterday, the largest most wild turkey flew directly in front of our windshield.  Now, as a woman whose mother has hit a deer in her lifetime, you would think the sight of a bird flying extremely close to a window would be small potatoes, but in my case I nearly fainted.  Out of nowhere on a highway connector came this bird with purpose.  As the passenger, I saw it before my husband, but instead of warning him I merely closed my eyes and waited for it to all pass.  You think it strange that I would not warn my hubby of this honkin’ bird that could probably do more damage to our car than it to us, but it seemed perfectly legit to me.  See — my hubby told me I had to stop making noises or yelling if cars were too close or something was happening while he was driving because it startled him.  So, in some zen meditative state, I remembered this piece of advice and calmly closed my eyes with my hands over them and waited.  Of course afterward, my husband wondered why I hadn’t warned him, but like the good wife that I am I reminded him that he asked for less squeaks or comments and for the first time I actually listened to his request.

Running. The half marathon is a couple months away, but I am on week 3 of training and doing okay.  Since I hadn’t been running since pre-baby by a long shot, I was a little nervous about starting with running.  My friend told me that her doctor had told her no running until after she was done breastfeeding because of how loose the joints still are, but I assumed her doctor meant her and continued my quest anyway.  I am glad that I have.  I feel stronger.  I feel faster.  I feel more assured as a runner this time around.  I don’t know if this is because my cross training is running after a little duffer who has recently learned to crawl or carrying him around (at least 25 pounds) or if because I am beginning to feel fit again, but I actually can say without reservation — I like running.

The Burlington Scene. In the last couple days, my hubby and I have had to be in Burlington doing things and for the first time we decided we are so not Burlington.  We have definitely become part of a different scene which is really having no scene at all.  Sitting at Breakwaters watching some really out there outfits while visiting with colleagues, we realized we are not 25 anymore.  Burlington has this feel to it that seems like a time in our past.  In addition, the news is reporting that we are getting a Whole Foods in South Burlington — ugh.  Let’s bring more of corporate American disguised as some holistic food market to our small state.  Interestingly, the comments on the news website embracing the chain are from the same people who condemn Walmart coming into other parts of the state.  Hypocrisy?  Plus, the driving in the Burlington area has gotten a little out of control in the last couple years.  People drive like Jimmie Johnson–like they want to hit you in turn four right before you cross the finish line.  In some ways, we could mourn the fact that we are not as hip as we thought we were once, but both of us agree that we are okay not being cool.  In fact, we are enjoying it.

It’s, oh, so quiet. It’s, oh, so still. You’re all alone. And so peaceful until…

I find lately when I am in situations where it is really still and quiet that this Bjork song comes through my head like a montage.  I wait patiently for the part in the song where Bjork explodes, but still all is quiet.  With an eight month old, two dogs, and a house full of guests until a couple days ago, I forgot what quiet was.  Today, my little duffer is at daycare and my hubby is at the junkyard with two of his friends looking for car parts and I am sitting oh so quietly on my couch after a quick hilly run.  There are gray clouds in the distance that scream thunderstorm so I know the tweet of the birds and the whistle of the leaves is temporary, but I’ll take it.  Of course, in all this quiet, I don’t know what to do with myself.  I want to get the laundry cranking, do all the dishes in the sink, vacuum the rug in the living room, but I am actually thinking how nice the quiet is.  Plus, I keep waiting for the part of song to get revved up and the dogs to start barking at the neighbor’s truck returning or the phone ringing telling me I need to pick up my son or something that will disrupt the sweet tinkling sound my dog’s bell makes as she checks in with me to make sure all is well.  But… for now I’ll take it.

Father’s Day

Today is my hubby’s first Father’s Day.  He is sleeping an extra half hour — only when he wakes up will he find out the U.S. Open has been postponed due to rain until at least noon.  He ended up losing the golf tourney yesterday so he is home with us today.  He isn’t playing baseball despite low numbers and his team needing him because it is supposed to rain and baseball in rain is less fun than golf in rain.  As the good wife, I told my husband he could spend the day watching U.S. Open prior to rain delay and my husband says “I think I want to mow the grass.”  Is there such a thing as a Stepford Husband??? Little man had his first solid food yesterday — rice cereal.  Check out his video at our Shutterfly site.  He loves it.  He was like Oliver Twist, “More please?” I think he really wanted fries and steak, but had to settle for just the rice cereal.  Not sure if it was that or his ear hurting him, but little duffer didn’t fall asleep until at least 9:30 last night.  He finally collapsed in our bed after walking, bouncing, singing, nursing, and the possibility of a car ride (luckily, this didn’t happen).  Did I run yesterday?  No.  Did I do the Shred?  No.  However, I am hoping to get out for a run today.  The frogs are singing this morning.  The dogs are listening from the porch. My son and I are watching SportsCenter.  He is gearing up for another big day of working on his push-ups and a killer ab workout.  All preparation for the crawl that will hopefully happen in the next week.  Today, we might actually get the sit-up on his own moment if we are lucky.  It would make for a good Father’s Day.  But even if he doesn’t, he still just says Dadadadadadadada on repeat twenty-four seven so that should be good enough (no word on the mmmmmmmmm.).  For all of you out there, Happy Father’s Day!