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Weekly Rundown- It’s All Good!

Welcome to the Weekly Rundown! As if to make up for the fact that March has whizzed past, this week seemed really looooooong.  I’m linking up as always this Sunday with Kim and Deborah.  Let’s just see how this week went…

Sunday

This was the day before my birthday, and until a few weeks ago I had planned to do a long run to the beach on this day.  But I came to my senses and realized my foot couldn’t handle such a run.  Instead, I woke up and did a 60 minute yoga class (all classes this week were on Peloton- yoga with Denis Morton as always!)

That felt good, but as the day went on I started to feel pretty blah.  In the afternoon I decided I needed to get outside and get moving.  “Motion is the Potion”, right?   The magic potion to cure a low mood.  I got out for a two mile walk, and then came home and did a 10 minute core class.  Much, much better.

Monday

March 21st- it’s my birthday!  I did a 3.21 mile run in honor of the occasion.  Then, goaded on by Kim, I did a 3 minute, 21 second plank.  But!  I took two breaks during that time.  As Coco said, “I might be able to hold a 3+ minute plank, but I certainly don’t want to.”  Ha ha… well put, Coco.  Kim was a beast and DID hold a 3.21 minute plank though!!!

Birthday run! In other news… the strap to my Garmin broke so I’ve just been holding it… grr.

Tuesday

I have a new favorite Peloton instructor for strength classes- Ben Alldis.  I did one of his 20 minute glutes and legs strength classes, and then a 5 minute core class.  Later in the day I did a 30 minute yoga flow, focused on lower body.  My left hip is still a little cranky.  Sometimes I feel it in my hip flexor and sometimes pain shoots all the way down the side of my leg.  But it’s not keeping me from running, so I’m just going about my workouts normally, with a little more focus on yoga.

Wednesday

Started the day with a 3 mile run!  Every running day is a good day.

After the run I did a 10 minute core class with Ben, and then Denis’s 10 minute hip focus flow.  This is a great stretch for your hips- my only complaint is that he runs out of time on the left side for pigeon.  I just keep holding the pose while he ends the class.

Later in the afternoon I did my pull-up work- assisted pull-ups with a band, and “negatives”- I pull myself up with the band, then slip my leg out of the band and lower myself down, very slowly.  These are KILLERS.

Thursday

Started the morning with a 45 minute yoga flow, which felt great.  I fully intended to do a core class after work, but I completely forgot.  Thursdays are weird.

Friday

Ah, speaking of weird days.  My daughter’s school band went on a trip to Universal, and she had to get up at 4:30 am.  It was one of those restless nights where I was afraid we were going to oversleep, so I probably got about… three or four hours of sleep?  Arg.  After getting her to school and onto the bus, I went back to bed.  I woke up a couple hours later and did a 20 minute yoga flow before heading to work.  Definitely not my usual Friday morning!

After work I did a 3 mile run and a 10 minute core class.  I’m normally a morning runner, but I do like these late afternoon runs!

So, having my daughter gone overnight gave me a taste of what it will be like when both kids are out of the house… and I didn’t like it ONE BIT!  Luckily we have five more years before we’re empty nesters.  I’m not looking forward to it.

Saturday

Before work I did my pull-up routine, and then later in the afternoon I did a 20 minute glutes and legs class with Ben Alldis, and then one of his 10 minute core classes.  After that I felt like I needed a good stretch, so I did Denis’s 10 minute hip focus flow again.

This is the class I took this week, but I just realized Denis has several other 10 minute hip focus classes- I’m going to check them out too!

Sunday

On tap for the day is a five mile run!  We’re so, so lucky to be getting a beautiful cooldown for a few days- nights down to the 50s, days in the 70s, and low humidity.  It’s truly a gift this late in the year, and I can’t wait for my run.

How was your week?  Were you able to get outside as much as you wanted?

Those of you with older kids… what’s is like being an empty nester! – Please tell me it’s not too sad!

 

More Posts

Reading and Eating

I’ve started Edge of Eternity and we are now in the 1960s!  It’s amazing to me how much I actually don’t know.  Yes- I did know there was a wall in Berlin.  But if you asked me when it was built, I would have said… right after WWII?  No!  It was built in 1961, after the US and USSR threatened war over the Berlin crisis.  This was going on during the Civil Rights protests in the US.  What an incredibly turbulent time!  Needless to say, I’m loving this book. This is the third book in Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy, and in between books 2 and 3 I quickly read this: This was a reread, as all Agatha Christies are for me.  I found it at the used bookstore, flipped through it and didn’t recognize any of the character’s names.  I took that as a good sign, and decided to risk it.  So many times I start an Agatha Christie (I read them all at least thirty years ago) and remember the ending about halfway through. Not this time!  I KNOW I read this one, but I truly couldn’t remember it.  I even tried out different “ingenious” solutions: “The narrator is the murderer!  The priest isn’t really a priest!  Someone is a long-lost son!”  Nope.  The ending was a complete surprise.  I really enjoyed this reread! Eating wise… I’ve continued to pretend that it’s not hot, muggy, and steamy here, and made chili!  I while ago I made Vegan Cincinnati Chili from this website. I was planning to make that again, but when I went to the website, I noticed he also has a recipe for “Texas Chili” which is called Best Damn Vegan Chili Ever.  Well!  I had to try that. It was very good!  I’m not sure I believe the claims that this chili is “award winning.”.  But to be fair, I did leave out two “optional” ingredients, pickled jalapenos and masa harina.  Mayne next time I’ll put those in and see if it wins any awards. I will say that my husband LOVED it!  We ate it for two dinners, and both times he exclaimed over how much he enjoyed it. Chili: Cincinatti, or Texas style? What are you reading now?

Fall Fun

I had a really nice, fall-ish weekend!  When I say “fall-ish,” I don’t mean I visited a pumpkin patch or went apple picking.  No, we don’t have that in Florida- although, I’m pretty sure it’s too early for those things just about everywhere right now.  But those are things that never happen in Florida, so we have to make our own fall. We may not have cool temperatures and falling leaves, but we do have football and homecoming!  Saturday night was our high school homecoming dance, and my daughter went with two of her friends, looking amazing in her new dress.  I got a lot of GREAT comments on my post about the suit vs. dress dilemma, including one from Julie saying that she wore a tux to her prom!  For this dance, my daughter wore a dress- who knows what will happen in the future. I dropped my daughter and her two friends at the dance, and I loved seeing all the kids dressed up.  I also loved that these three girls didn’t feel like they needed dates- they were happy to be going together.  I was excited that it was my daughter’s first high school dance. I was also excited that after the dance, another mom was picking the girls up and bringing them back to her house for a sleepover.  I knew that my daughter would be in good hands and I knew she would have fun- and my job was done for the night. I got home just in time for the start of the Baylor game.  It was gloomy and rainy outside (a typical South Florida evening in September) and my house was so cozy!  We broke out the fall food and beverages. We tried each of the beers: the Oktoberfest was very good; the Pumpking Ale was okay, and the Howling Gourds was terrible.  The only one we actually finished was the Oktoberfest.  It turns out some things just shouldn’t taste like pumpkin, and beer is one of them.  But it was fun to try them all. I LOVE chips and salsa, but don’t normally eat them.  It’s one of those thing I can’t stop eating once I start, so I usually don’t let myself start.  But I made an exception since they were “fall-themed” (holiday foods don’t really count, right???) and I loved them.  The pepita salsa is delicious, and chips are always good.  Plus they looked like fall leaves! We also had this: It was good.  I mean- it was good for a prepared dinner.  Elaborate cooking wasn’t in my plan for this night, so we definitely enjoyed these “heat and serve” enchiladas. We watched Baylor win, and oh yes- I was wearing my new favorite pajamas. After the game, I stayed up late reading, and finally crawled into bed, knowing that there was no work or school tomorrow, and no one would be needing me for anything.  I could sleep as late as I wanted, and didn’t wake up until 9 am.  It felt AMAZING. After a nice slow start to the morning, Sunday got underway.  I picked up my daughter, did the grocery shopping, and started thinking about plans for the week.  I felt a little melancholy that the weekend was coming to an end.  Sometimes everything just comes together perfectly.  I know there will be more fun times this fall, but it’s possible that I’ll look back and say “Yes, that was the best night of the whole season.” Are you starting to think about fall, or are you still in a summer frame of mind? Pumpkin ale- yay, or nay?

Weekly Rundown- Everything is Awesome!

I don’t want to say this injury is behind me, because that would be tempting fate a little too much.  But let’s just say “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie has been running through my head, and life seems good!  I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for this Weekly Rundown.  Here’s how it all played out… Sunday I walked one mile and ran 3. Everything felt good! Monday I did lower body strength at home, including single leg exercises and squats.  One of the (few) things I’m proud of from my work this summer is the progress I made in the one leg sit-to-stand.  It’s one of the foundation exercises on Sally McRae’s app and also one of the hip stability exercises from Brad Beer’s book.  You start sitting on a chair or bench, and stand up using one leg, then sit back down, stand up again, etc. only on one leg.  When I first started I could only do five reps on each leg- now I can do 36 reps!!!  At least something has improved. I also did Caroline Girvan’s deadbug workout..  I’m really tired of it by now! Tuesday I walked 3 miles… … and then did a different core workout!  I did Caroline Girvan’s Standing Abs Workout, and I liked it.  At least, I liked doing something different. Wednesday Again, I walked one mile and ran 3.  Still feeling good! Thursday I did my single leg exercises, and another core workout.  This one Engie recommended, MadFit Standing Core Workout..  I liked this one too!  Then I had time for 20 minutes of walking. At night we watched the Dolphins game, which was a complete fiasco.  We lost, and our quarterback got ANOTHER CONCUSSION.  The poor guy will be out for… ever?  The rest of the season?  I feel really bad for him, and now our season is a shambles after only the second game. Friday Gym day!  It was a very squat-focused workout, because I skipped deadlifts.  My low back is nagging at me again, and deadlifts sadly make it worse.  After squats and Bulgarian split squats I did some core (abs and low back machines.) At night I planned to go to our high school football game, but it rained so much that the band couldn’t play (so I didn’t go.)  They did manage to play in the rain and our team won!  This was our homecoming, and last year’s homecoming was completely rained out.  September outdoor events just shouldn’t be a thing in South Florida. Saturday This was a big day- I walked one mile and ran 4!!!  I’m getting there! At night we watched the Baylor game.  FINALLY.  A game where it didn’t rain, no one got injured, and we WON!  At least the football week ended on a high note. Sunday Off!  Sleeping in and waffles will be involved (obviously.) So, it was a good week.  Moving forward, I’m going to cautiously try running every other day.  Running every third day was great to get me back from this injury, but I can’t do that forever! How was your week?  Were there any moments where you sang “Everything is Awesome?” Top photo by Stainless Images on Unsplash

Friday Coffee Date!

Hey, it’s Friday!  Pour yourself a beverage in your favorite fall mug (wait- you do have one, right?) and join me. Let’s talk about the weekend!  Tonight is another high school football game, and I will be there.  The last two weeks have been away games, so I’ve missed going.  But you know what that means- it’s time for Homecoming!  My daughter decided to go to the dance with a group of friends, and we started thinking about what she would wear.  But let’s back up for a moment… The high school concert band uniform is tuxes for the boys and long black dresses for girls.  When my daughter was a freshman last year, she said she would prefer to wear a tux. Now, I wasn’t entirely opposed to this, but I just preferred that she wear a dress… like all the other girls?  I told her that whatever she decided to do was fine, but there’s a reason boys usually wear suits and girls usually wear dresses.  Girls are more curvy, so dresses flatter them more.  My daughter is very curvy, and I thought a tux would just make her look kind of big all over. She decided to wear the dress, and I thought she looked lovely!  Then I was telling my friend about how well I handled that situation, and she thought I was VERY WRONG.  Why, she asked, did it matter how she looked?  Why did I make that the most important thing? Er- good question.  When it was time for New Year’s, my daughter wanted to wear a suit to the party.  I agreed immediately, and she actually looked kind of cute (not that it mattered!) Later I asked how she liked wearing the suit, and she said “I loved it.  I felt really confident.”  Okay then. Back to Homecoming!  My daughter said she wanted to wear a suit, and we got to work on her outfit (I was tasked with finding her some new pants, which was surprisingly hard.) Then yesterday she went to the mall to help her friend find a dress, and came home with… a dress, which she is now wearing to Homecoming. You guys, I can’t keep up!  Girls are so hard!!!  Boys are so. much. easier. Anyway, while my daughter is at the dance on Saturday night, my husband and I will be watching the Baylor game!  I have a fun fall-themed dinner planned, with some new things to sample from Trader Joe’s. One last thing- I’ve submitted my request for postponement of jury duty.  Weirdly, the request had to be submitted in writing, and by that I mean I had to write a letter and mail it through the U.S. postal service.  When was the last time you did that? I was so confused.  I couldn’t even really remember how to do it.  When I printed out my letter, my husband looked at it and said “You didn’t leave room for your signature.”  Oh yeah- I totally forgot.  Then I had to find an envelope and a stamp, and take it to the mailbox… I mean, don’t we have more modern methods of communication nowadays?  Anyway, I hope it gets there, and I hope I get my postponement (actually, I’m hoping they forget all about me, but if worst comes to worst I’ll take a postponement.) That’s it for this week! When was the last time you mailed a letter?  I don’t mean a greeting card or postcard, but like an official letter?   Do you think I was wrong to encourage my daughter to wear a dress?  How much does appearance matter? What are your plans for the weekend? Top photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

38 Responses

  1. Celebrating a birthday with Denis is always a treat! Nice to see you branching out to Ben as well. He is sweet. Hope your 5 miler went well. I always stress when I have to get up early for something

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  2. Happy belated birthday! I know it wasn’t all that you had hoped for workout wise (sorry you can’t run longer), but I hopefully things are looking up with your new year! Related items for me – is your daughter’s band playing in a parade at Universal? (do they have those??) My son’s marching band will be playing at Disney World over Thanksgiving week! I am looking forward to that performance. But, not only will my family be all split up on Thanksgiving (first time EVER), my daughter will still be in college, my son will be on the band trip, and my husband and I will be on Disney vacation on our own. Just the two of us. Soooooo odd. Hopefully it will be good and not a bunch of sad memories of “remember when we took the kids here” kind of thing. It’s a tough change for sure. Luckily we will get to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner a few days late, but still, a look into what’s ahead.

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    1. Their band played, but not in a parade. It’s some sort of concert band contest. But I think the main thing is they had two fun days in the park. Yes- you will have an odd Thanksgiving. I think it will probably be fun but with a little bit of sad nostalgia as well. This is the first year my son won’t be home for Easter- not that it’s a huge holiday for us, but it still feels strange.

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  3. LOL, I’m glad my plank comment resonated!

    I was really sad when my son (my youngest) went off to college, but I got used to living by my own schedule pretty quickly. 😉

    I hope your 5 miler goes well. I hope you don’t think I’m copying you, but my left hip has been acting up lately too. It doesn’t bother me during a run, but is cranky later. I was hoping to blame all the hours I sat in front of my computer, but I’m not sure. ~sigh~

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    1. I think you could definitely blame the hours sitting for your hip issue. Mine definitely seems to get worse when I sit too much. That’s weird that it’s your left hip as well… hips are so complicated.
      Yes- I can see how there would be positives to having the kids gone. Even with the two days my daughter was gone certain things were easier, schedule-wise. We have to take the good with the bad!

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  4. Glad you had a nice birthday!! It was an honor to be a part of the celebration. I heard (from you, maybe?) that March 21 is the National Countdown Day (3,2,1). Maybe next year, we can do a 3:00 plank, followed by a 2:00 plank and then an easy-peasy one minute, LOL. It is weird having the kids all out of the house. Thankfully, with technology, we can FaceTime frequently, so they don’t seem as far away. Our kids were all three years apart, grade-wise, so we had somewhat of a gradual transition (and they all went to college fairly close by (at least within the state).

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    1. Okay, leave it to you to make the planking even HARDER! Now that you’ve put it out there, we’ll have to do it. I’ll have to get in better planking shape before then- usually I only hold minute planks. Maybe my daughter will go to college closer to us- that would be nice.

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  5. Argh, of course I want the boys to grow up and to be productive adults but I am in no hurry to get there. Life will be very different, that’s for sure.

    I’m Team Coco when it comes to planks. 30-60 seconds is good for me.

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  6. My parents were practically pushing me out of the house (I’m the baby). But I know plenty of parents (ahem! SIL) who are happy that the adult kids actually ended up coming back. You are not alone!

    Sounds like a good birthday AND a good week! Nice weather just for your birthday. 🙂

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    1. I always tell me kids they can come back anytime (my husband on the other hand is not a fan of adult kids living with their parents.)
      I did have nice weather for my birthday- can’t complain about that!

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  7. I hope you enjoyed your birthday! i have to laugh about the plank holds–so my strength coach is not a fan of long plank holds, instead, she prefers multiple planks with shorter holds. That works for me!!! And yeah, pull-ups with negative are not my favorite. Which means I need to do them more.

    I still miss my boys, but I am used to it being just my hubs and me now, so that when my youngest spends the night, it disturbs my sleep, lol! Shhhh. Don’t tell him I shared that.

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    1. Ha ha… I’m pretty sure your son won’t be reading my blog. I do know what you mean- as much as I miss my son, it does seem kind of crowded when he comes back now.
      I think whatever is super hard is what gets you stronger… so negatives should do it!

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  8. Happy birthday! Sounds like a lovely celebration. I often wake up before my 4:45 alarm on the mornings where I have to run very early- I think my mind is worried I’ll miss it.

    I hope you continue to be able to run pain free!

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    1. Thank you Kim, but I do have to reiterate that I took two breaks during that 3.21 plank- I didn’t hold it all at once.

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  10. First off, happy belated birthday! I hope you had a fabulous day!

    We are loving your cooler, low humidity weather while here in Florida, especially since we have another polar vortex going through Virginia this weekend (it’s forecasted to get down to 21° there tonight).

    Our sons are in their early 30’s so we have been empty nesters for years and LOVE it! I cried all the way home from dropping my youngest off at college, but by the next day I had fully embraced our new lifestyle. LOL

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    1. Oh really??? That’s good to hear! I guess it’s probably nice to finally focus on your own things after so many years of putting the kids first.

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  11. Happy Birthday! Sorry you couldn’t do the birthday run you hoped to do. but it sounds like you made the best of it. We’ll have an empty nest in two years and I know the time will fly. Our younger daughter will be away this weekend at a leadership camp so we’re going to get a taste of silence as well. Sigh. Glad you’re enjoying a little cooldown. It is literally freezing and snowing here. Over it!

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    1. Yes, I can’t believe everyone’s weather I’m reading about- crazy! But when I think back to my years up north, March was always like that.
      It should be interesting with you younger daughter away- it’s easier but also more empty. SIGH!

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  12. I sometimes think about what it will be like with an empty nest; I read this article by one of my favourite writers who talked about how strange mealtimes and grocery shopping are with no kids in the house, and that really resonated with me. So much of my time is spent thinking about food and what the kids would like, and one day it will be just me and my husband. It will also be so quiet! Absolutely a different time of life.

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    1. Yes- grocery shopping after my son left for college was a whole different thing already. He’s the only one in the house who likes mangos, and I still get sad every time I walk past the mangos in the grocery store!

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  13. I’m a long way from being an empty nester, but I can already sense differences. Like at my daugher’s birthday party – I did so much less “entertaining” as the girls all wanted to play their own games independently for much of the time. Or she wanted to stay up until she officially turned 11 (at 12:40 am) with her sleepover friend – while I went to bed at 10. It’s crazy even now to watch roles reverse and change.

    I think many people like running in the morning best; my favourite runs have always, always happened in the evening. 8 pm is about my best form and distance, but then I have trouble sleeping. With kids (and often being solo at home), evening runs haven’t always been possible. Though, at this point, I haven’t been running since December because the weather sucked and I just refused to do treadmill running. April 1st, I start…and it is NOT going to be pretty. Sigh.

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    1. Ha ha… it is hard to start again when you haven’t been running for a while. Still, I’m excited to hear all about it. April 1st is coming right up!

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  14. Happy belated birthday! Nice work on all that planking – I like to do shorter holds so your approach to 3.21 makes sense to me. I’ve got two more years until we’re empty-nesters and I have to say I’m not looking forward to it 🙁

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  15. I’ve been an empty nester for a long time, it seems…

    The biggest thing is less cooking and less cleaning… more time for yourself.

    But I was NOT a runner when they were home… I played a lot of tennis. and worked full-time. Don’t remember how I fit them in LOL

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  16. My mom never really figured out how to empty nest and she moved in with my sister (and my sister’s long suffering husband) soon after my sister bought a house! I hope you adjust better than she did, but you’ve still got some time to prepare yourself.

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    1. Ha ha… yes, that’s the solution! I’ll just move in with my son. Somehow I don’t think he (and his future wife) would be down with that.

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  17. Happy birthday! I was able to get out in the sun a fair bit – had to walk up to my one friend’s twice, once to deliver painkillers then the next day for a proper visit, and walked up there without a coat on both times!!

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    1. That sounds amazing for your part of the world- it’s funny because here we’re always trying to avoid the sun!

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  18. Happy Belated Birthday Jenny!!! Hope your year is an amazing one!!!
    Your Garmin looks very similar to the one I had previously – that strap broke too but fortunately I was able to superglue it together!

    My kids are only 8 and 10 so a way to go before leave us but I do get that feeling you got when they are away visiting grandparents. The first night will actually feel okay, like a holiday for me, but by the second day, I miss them and the conversations we have.

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