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Thursday, February 21, 2013

I'm in a funk

Yesterday's workout:

Lol, that didn't happen... Rest day


I'm writing this at 8 in the morning sitting on a pillow on the floor with a baby playing by my feet, a dog cuddling next to me, three kids on the other side of the carpet playing with blocks. Another kid is at the table eating and my other dog is standing under the table just I case a muffin crum falls her way. It's a typical morning.

As I'm sitting here it's hard not to notice the crazy amount of dog hair that's all over everything. And that reminds me of what a mess the hallway floor is, and the kitchen floor, and the bathroom floor, and the mounds of laundry that still need to be folded, and the mounds that have yet to be washed. I used to be on top of this stuff. My house was sparkling. My "messy" was other people's "tidy". I had a system and it worked for me. Every room was clean, the laundry was under control and I did it all on my own. Things are very different now.

The kids have gotten older and my husband and I decided they need some extra responsibilities and to contribute to the household. We started giving them each chores and making them responsible for their own laundry. Now my house is a complete disaster and nothing is ever clean. I need to get back to my routine but I can't seem to force myself to do what I know needs to be done. What's wrong with me? I'm not happy the way things are and I know how to fix it. So what's my issue? Why can't I just buckle down and do it? Please tell me that I'm not the only person going through this.

I guess I should put this away and clean something... But I really don't want to.



Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Mermaid Half Wrap-up

Yesterday's workout:
Treadmill: Warm up and alternating speeds
1.5 mi, 21 min
Stationary bike:
7 mi, 25:26

We turned my race weekend into a week long vacation. The day before my race we spent in Disneyland. I was worried that all that walking around would hurt my race but I don't think it did. We hadn't been to Disneyland since Sami was 5 and Nevyn was 2 so this trip was much different. We were joined by Jeremy's brother and two family friends. We had a ton of fun. In the shop outside Star Tours Nevyn found and fell in love with an Ewok backpack he named Alex and hat he name Zack. I don't remember the last time he loved a toy as much as he loves that backpack. He wore everywhere.




After leaving the park we drove down to San Diego, checked into the motel and had some diner then I soaked my foot in a cold tub in preparation for the race. I was nervous about the weather. California has had a very cold winter and all over the state we have been reaching record lows. Even in sunny San Diego. The day before, in Disneyland, we got caught in a hail storm... Thankfully the race gods were watching out for us ( or maybe it was the mermaids). The sun was shinning throughout the race and even though we had to run against the wind at some points, it was a beautiful day!


I had a few issues on the course but overall I feel really good about my run. I had some tummy troubles in the very beginning but thankfully this course was blessed with lots of port-a-potties. Yes, I said blessed. My first three miles were really rough but around mile three those good running feelings hit and it was smooth sailing. Until around nine a half miles. I drank too much water and felt a little sick. I made another pit stop and ate a z-bar. That helped a little but I was tired and had slowed down so it was nearly impossible to get back to the pace I had held through most of the course.

At the finish I was greeted by the biggest finish line crowed I had ever had. Jeremy and the kids where there as well as his brother, Daniel, our friends, Jimmy and Brittany, and one of my best friends from high school, Carolina and her daughter. That was really special. I wanted to finish in three hours but considering the tough start and feeling sick near the end I'm happy with my time. 3:15:17

My family and I stayed in SD for a few more days while the rest of our group headed back north. We explored SD and visited with Carolina who I hadn't seen since she moved there years ago. We visited the USS Midway (AWESOME!) went to Sea World, Balboa Park, Little Italy and downtown.

Our next stop on our So Cal tour was Indio ( east of Palm Springs) to visit Jimmy's grandmother. We have known her and Jimmy for close to 20 years and she has adopted us as part of her family. (Backstory: Jimmy was my friend in high school and Jeremy's friend from swim Team. we both met him separately around the same time. He introduced us to each other about sixteen years ago.) Our visit was very short but very nice. The kids really like her and Nevyn even gave her a hug, without prompting, when we left. If you know Nevyn than you understand how impressive that is.

My aunt got us reservations at a hotel in San Luis Obispo for our last couple of night in So Cal and on the way there we stopped by Disneyland for one more day of Disney magic. We went on a lot more rides, met a few more characters, including Sami's favorite-Belle. We made to SLO very late that night and feel asleep as soon as we hit those wonderful beds. Jeremy spent the next day doing homework so the kids and I went for a walk. A block away from the hotel there is a lake so we went exploring. It was sunny, warm and gorgeous. After lunch the kids played in the hotel pool. I think they really miss being in the water. Both of them are excited for swim team to start again.

Later in the day we drove 15 minutes to Pismo Beach. I loved it there! We walked down the beach to the pier and watched the surfers. I really loved the SLO part of the trip. The hills are green, the sky is blue and the air is clear. Everywhere you look you see hills and trees and you're only minutes from a beach. In my dreams I live there.

The drive back home was uneventful. The kids slept and Jeremy and I enjoyed the scenic drive. As we got closer to the valley and Sacramento the sky was less blue and the along the skyline we could see the brown smog cloud that looms over the city we call home. It's no wonder our first two mornings home we felt sick.


Looking back over the week, I can safely say that this was one of the best family vacations we have ever taken and we are planning on going back to SLO soon.







Monday, February 4, 2013

5 days till race 1 of 13

Workout:
Super Bowl 10K
Time: 1:25:50


Yesterday I ran the Super Bowl 10K as a way to force myself to get 6 miles in over the weekend. It took me longer than I really wanted but I have to remind myself that I've had a lot of set backs over the last two weeks. Let me fill you in on my recent hurdles.

1) Eye woes - Last summer I was scratched in the eye by one of my daycare kids. It took forever to heal and the doc warned me that if my eyes get too dry, the scratch could reopen, especially first thing in the morning. A couple of Thursdays ago, in the afternoon, my eyes where too dry (I guess) I blinked and the scratch reopened. The next day I saw my doctor and he confirmed that it was the same scratch. I was doomed to wear an eye patch tapped to my eye for the next few days.

2) Skin issues - The tape the doctor used to secure the eye patch to my face was plastic medical tape. I forgot that I have a latex allergy. Can you see where this going? When I took the patch off my skin was red, itchy and there were even a few sore where the tape had been. I even had a sty on each eye. 


3) Monster hand - I had, what I thought, was just a small clogged pore on my left hand. I get these ever now and then from the buckets of lotion I use on my dragon skin. I popped it and though that was the end of that. The next day I bumped into something while I was walking down the hall and it hurt my hand more than it should have. I looked at it and was shocked to see it was flaming red and hot to the touch. It was infected. I tried cleaning it out as much as I could but it continued to get more and more painful and at one point my had was about three times the size it should have been. I had to take my wedding ring off it was so swollen (the injury was near my thumb). I went into the doctor and was put on two antibiotics. The constant throbbing in my hand was torture.    

So I missed a lot of workouts and I knew I couldn't flake on my last weekend before my half. The 10K was a lot harder than I thought it would be. That makes me nervous for the half on Saturday. Send me good thoughts for race day. I think I'm going to need them.