Friday Coffee Date

On the last Friday of every month, I link up with a group of bloggers for the “Ultimate Coffee Date.”  I enjoy those posts so much, I’ve decided to make the Friday Coffee Date a weekly thing!  So get a delicious hot beverage and join me… I’ll be needing my dumpster fire mug for this one. So, did you know I sprained my ankle?  JUST KIDDING.  That ankle injury has been, unfortunately, the focal point of my life for the past four weeks.  The one thing keeping me sane and motivated is the hope of running a race at the end of April.  If I ask myself “WHY am I going to the gym for the sixth day in a row?”  Oh right, I’m rehabbing my ankle.  Or, “WHY am I getting on the stairclimber again today?”  Oh yes- I’m training for a race. I hadn’t actually registered for the race, because I wanted to be a little more confident that I would actually be able to run it.  But every day I checked the website to see how many spots were open.  It held steady at 25 spots until…. Tuesday night there were 25 spots open, and when I checked Wednesday morning it was… SOLD OUT. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! WHY did I wait?  HOW did 25 people sign up overnight?  I emailed the race director, and he said he’ll open a wait list next week.  Okay, great!  Now I’m training for a race that I’m not even sure I’ll physically be able to run, or even get into.  This is a tough one. You might be thinking, “Maybe this is a sign from the universe that April 27 is too soon for you to run a 50 mile race.”  Yes, you could be right.  The problem is, we’re getting to the end of the ultra season in Florida.  There are no other races (that I’m aware of right now) that I would want to run until next year.  Bummer. But there’s some good news!  I ran this week!  It was on the treadmill, really slow, and only for 30 second intervals.  But I did it!  Yes, my ankle was achy, but not any more than it is while I’m walking.  I’m encouraged (ironically, this was on Wednesday morning right before I found out “my” race was sold out.  Hurumph.) Also on Wednesday- you can see Wednesday was quite a day- I saw my sports chiropractor.  He did all sorts of treatments on my ankle, including a laser, and something that looked like this: It sends little pulses through your muscles and causes them to twitch- it’s a really weird feeling.  It’s supposed to help get rid of the residual swelling, and I’m going back for another treatment today. If we were having coffee (or in my case, tea) together, I would also be able to talk about something other than my ankle for a change. My son’s trumpet ensemble went to a national competition last week, and they made the finals!  This was very exciting because the finals were live-streamed, so we got to watch it. They won second place!!!  This involved a cash prize, and they’re going to use the money towards travel expenses for another competition in Anaheim this summer.  So exciting. Not to be outdone, my daughter’s band had MPA this week- Music Performance Assessment, which in my day we just called “contest.”  Basically they do a performance, which is judged, and they receive a rating.  It’s their biggest event of the year, and the band received straight Superiors, which is the highest rating possible.  I knew they would!  Their band director is incredible. One side note- for this, they wear their formal concert dress.  The boys wear tuxes (they look so handsome!) and the girls wear long black dresses (they all look so beautiful!) and pearls.  The dresses and pearls are supplied by the band.  In addition, they were instructed that hair had to be “straightened or pulled back.” I don’t know why that bothered me.  I know that’s part of the dress code in corporate jobs, but it seemed a little extreme for a high school band concert.  What’s wrong with curly hair, anyway?  My daughter pulled her hair back without too much complaint… …but if you look closely, you can still see her purple head.  Ha!  I guess they can’t dictate the color. What would you tell me if we were having coffee together?  How was your week?  Any big plans for the weekend?