Monday Is The New Sunday

I waited to post today until I caught up on everyone's race reports. It was a fantastic day at the races for bloggy peeps! I know I've commented individually, but I want y'all to know as a whole how inspiring and exciting you are. Thank you for generously sharing your race wisdom, technical tips, and enthusiasm for this sport. It rocks my socks.

A few things I've done since the last post:
I spent some quality time with my boyos. I've been trying to figure out my way around using their names - but still talking about them. I've decided for the purposes of Stronger Than Before to call them by the Scottish names I would have given them if they hadn't had a remarkably French (and difficult) last name. (We went with easy family first names in real life.) Also the boy in the very center of the picture below is (let's call him) Tyler. He's an almost son - one of two boys who have been best buds with my guys since they were wee sma. Sheumais is my newly 16 year-old redhead on the left. (Remember him? The one I struggle to take a "decent" picture of? He's my own personal Calvin - in more ways than one.) Angus is my rising fourth grader in the green shirt in front. He's learned how to ham it up too. Iain is my very social almost 14 year old over on the right. They are so different from each other and yet very close and caring as brothers. God, I love spending time with my kids! I have to pay close attention to make sure I give them enough space and time to hang out without me. Even though it's "my" time and I feel glommy wanting to squeeze them and hold them close - it's really "their" time and they need time with mama close by but not all up in their business. Sigh. No one ever promised that parenting would be easy.

I took Sheumais to get his ear re-pierced. He had it done for his birthday last year but didn't take care of it at camp and also messed it up pretty bad wrestling with Tyler. He had to take it out and let it heal for a full year before he could get it done again. I told him from the beginning that I'd only sponsor one piercing - ever. He was angry and upset last year when he had to take it out. We ended up compromising on the "ever" part. I let him get the same piercing a second time but he had to wait the entire year and pay for the re-pierce ($75), not to mention promise to take exceptional care of it this time.
He looks a little groggy in this picture. I don't know if it's from trying not to show any pain or if it's from how cute the piercer is. (She's completely great. If you're in the Nashville area and need a piercer, write me and I'll send you her info. I completely trust her - obviously as I let her stick a very sharp object through the body of my baby.)

I got to Nashville early in the morning and couldn't pick up the boys until the late afternoon so my mother and I pampered ourselves with pedicures and gabbed a mile a minute. She is terribly camera shy! If you saw a picture of her, you'd see where my son gets his red hair. The pedicure felt great and the blue polish makes me smile when I see my feet. I love my feet because they so rarely give me any trouble, but don't you think feet in general are weird looking? (Seriously, I can't look at my toes for very long before wondering if I'm a mutant because my toes start looking so strange to me. They're like wiggly little stumps on the blobs that are my feet.)
And talking about feet brings us to running. (What's that? Finally, you say?) After getting up at 4 am on Friday to fly, I stayed up until midnight with my kids. I do not function well on long days and short sleep! Accordingly, I planned from the start to wait and run on Sunday morning. Wouldn't you know it - Saturday night a massive storm with thunder and lightning moved in. Drat! But it was raining so hard that I was sure it would wear itself out before my early morning run. No such luck. It was still raining BUCKETS. It finally let up mid-day but I had plans with my boyos. No room for an almost 2 hour run! Reluctantly I put my running gear back in my suitcase. Hence my lack of pictures of Old Hickory Lake to show off! (Our 10 mile run in two weeks will be another Nashville weekend, so maybe then!)

Last time my weekend run got rained out in Nashvegas (two weeks ago), I ended up not being able to catch up and work my long run in on Monday. This week I was DETERMINED to get it in, even if it crowds my two "short" runs this week (both 4.5 miles). And look! I did it! Yay me! I ran EIGHT miles today. (For those of you keeping score at home, this is now the furthest I have ever run by myself!) Now, my overall time isn't super and my average pace is much slower than my last few runs. I started to get down on myself about this during the run, but I reeled it in. Hard. My goal is to stay healthy, log the training miles, and finish the race. No speed goals! (Well, other than to finish the race before they close the course!) Today, I had ITB issues again (which serves me right since I haven't stretched or rollered in a week). In both miles 5 and 6, I got caught at l-o-n-g stoplights (so I stretched), but look at my last two miles. The two fastest on the day. (As if I needed another indicator that stretching works for me!) I've iced and rollered this afternoon. I hope I can soothe my ITB and get back to pain free runs. Still, I was mighty pleased with myself. At the end I caught myself thinking, "Only five more miles and I would have finished the half marathon." I smiled. And then I thought, "Holy crap! Did I just put the word "only" before the phrase "five more miles" and smile? Me? Willie will be so proud."

I celebrated by spending some birthday money my mother gave me for training gear. Tomorrow you're in for some gear review and thoughts on the great gel experiment. Tonight it's more ice and sleep for me.