I know people refer to this month as “Mayhem,” but I like “May-cember”- when May is busier than December but there aren’t any presents (courtesy of Hungry Runner Girl. ) Yep, it’s a crazy month. Thanks to Coco and Deborah for kicking off the month with their Ultimate Coffee Date!
Why is this month so busy, you ask? WELL, my daughter has all sorts of end-of-year concerts, some of which are inconveniently located at the other end of the county. This involves a lot of extra driving for the parents. Once again, I don’t remember my parents driving me all over the place for extra rehearsals and concerts. I mean, they had jobs. Oh wait! So do I. I love it when the start time for a rehearsal an hour away is at 5 pm on a Thursday. What… how… sigh.
Anyway, some of the concerts of course are at our school, or at the high school which is close by. Then there’s also the eighth grade dance, and graduation! Yes, we have a lot coming up. In the middle of it all, my son will be arriving home with his college roommate. The roommate has generously agreed to help Paul drive his car back to Florida. He’ll stay with us for a bit and then fly back to Texas.
Don’t get me wrong- I’m grateful. I didn’t want my son to make the twenty hour drive by himself. But I’m a little stressed at the thought of hosting a houseguest in the middle of all the other craziness.
I’m trying to remind myself that these are all things I WANT. I want my daughter to be involved in activities, and I want my son to come home! I just wish all these things weren’t happening at the same time.
Meanwhile… I’ve been lurking on Ultra Signup, looking for something to get me out of the post-race slump. There are several possibilities, but nothing jumps out at me. If I want another race that seems like an adventure and gets me really excited, it looks like I’ll have to travel to a different part of Florida. I can do that, but it involves checking my family’s schedule and getting off work. It’s complicated.
If I want to stay in the area, the options are similar to the race I just ran, but not as fun. Like a 50k that’s multiple loops of a sandy 4 mile trail. Um… I think I may be sand-ed out for a while. I’m sure I’ll figure it out, but right now I can’t settle on anything.
MEANWHILE, I haven’t forgotten that I want to work on my speed. My husband and I have decided to run a 5k on Mother’s Day and another on July 4th.
For the Mother’s Day race, I expect my pace to be somewhere in the vicinity of “I’d rather not discuss it.” Then I’ll do speed work and hope to better that time on July 4th. I know that’s not a lot of time in between, but I would hope to see a little improvement. Any way you look at it, it will be a fun project, and I need a running project right now.
How does May look for you? Is it a normal month or super busy?
Do you have any races coming up?
46 Responses
The 5k’s sound like fun…I mean it’s fun to read about your plans for them. I might get crazy and do the one mile race again but I don’t think I’ll take my running beyond that right now. We finally got our treadmill fixed and the lure of doing 20 minutes of power walking and calling it good is strong.
Good luck with the end of the year crazies! It’s all one big long Boy Scout meeting for us from now until the end of June.
Yes, I’m sure scouts is busy this month! Once again though, a great thing for them to be involved in.
It can be tough juggling everyone else’s schedule while trying to plan your own things too. Hope it all works out for you. Those 5K’s sounds fun. I like when they are holiday races, people seem to be so festive!
Yes, holiday races are extra fun!
No presents, but still a lot of fun. I don’t think there was as much going on when I was a kid, or maybe I just wasn’t active in so many things.
I don’t think you need to stress about your son’s friend. College guys are not very demanding house guests — just stock up on snacks. 😉
Yes, I think you’re right. I even mentioned to my son that I needed to deep clean the house, and he assured me that his friend would never notice a mess. So that’s good! You’re right, lots of food.
May is always so busy for us as well but all good things just busy! My hubs also agreed to train for and run a 5K with me this summer. I do not really like 5K’s bc of the speed and I am just more of a longer distance run lover. It will be fun to do together. Thanks for stopping by for coffee
Yes, 5ks are hard- longer distances are better for me as well. But I really want to get faster, so running some 5ks will be good. That’s exciting that your husband wants to run one! Maybe he’ll get really into running and do some longer races with you.
SO BUSY. Birthdays, Mother’s Day, end-of-year concerts and events and celebrations out the wazoo. We were also going to ADD to the mayhem by having a friend visit from out of town, but she can no longer come so I’m really bummed. Then my husband and I have our TWENTIETH college reunion this month as well, so I’m excited but also nervous. On top of everything, I somehow scheduled a bunch of routine doctor’s appointments this month, too. DON’T DO THAT, ME.
I love that you have these two 5Ks on the schedule. They sound fun and like a really good measure of your progress toward your speed goal. And you will find the perfect Ultra!
It’s funny you mention doctor’s appointments, because I have a rule never to schedule them in December- but then I always forget and am super stressed and disgruntled when I have to go to the dentist in the midst of all the holiday chaos. Yes, don’t do that, me!
My parents definitely do a lot of driving (but my mom didn’t work outside the home). Which is what they pushed me to get my license as early as humanly possible — I didn’t even want it!).
Our May really isn’t too busy. Just the usual couple of trips to my mom. My sister, however, is presently running an AirBnB for relatives that want to come visit my mom. 🙂
I think if my daughter gets her license in a couple years and starts driving herself, I’ll end up being a nervous wreck. So maybe I shouldn’t complaing about driving so much.
I so get what you were saying about rehearsals and recitals – getting my girl where she needs to be and on time and with the right supplies AND keeping up with work seems impossible in this mad dash till end of school. But, you’re so right on: I want her to do these things she loves so much (but why do they have to all be at the same time?!?!).
Yes, can’t we schedule some of these things in a different month??? March was pretty dull.
May is the best. I mean, eventually it will be the best. Right now, my husband is at the end of the semester and he’s overworked and grumpy, but THEN! THEN! He’s chill! And has a break! And it’s his birthday and our anniversary and May is glorious!
But I don’t envy you driving all over. It is also the start of construction season here, so every time we leave the house, it’s a battle to see what roads will be closed. That is not convenient!
Yes, I can see how May would be a good month for you! Especially if you’re having spring weather, and it’s the end of school. The construction does not sound fun though- that would be annoying.
Since my kids are so little, May isn’t bad for us yet. I think they are doing Paul’s PK graduation this month since a lot of kids are leaving the school in June. But that’s a ‘show up and watch the program’ type of thing w/ no other requirements. I didn’t even think we’d be going as we are pulling Paul in late June to enroll him in a public school summer program and graduation is usually in August. But so many are pulling their kids (probably because they hate that they still nap in his room like we hate it) so they moved it ahead to May/early June. My grandma turns 100 (!!!) mid-month so we are going up to my parents lake home so we can go to her open house party. I’m excited to see her and some extended family. That’s also our anniversary weekend but we won’t do much for it. I”m sure my parents would be willing to babysit the boys so we could eat out but I get so little time with my parents, I’d rather not go anywhere while we are at their house. My MIL also has a milestone birthday (80) so we will celebrate her but it will be low key.
I would NOT do that repeating loop 50k! That sounds so miserable! I would need a change of scenery! I hope you can find another race to train for, though. I looked at 10ks online this week but didn’t commit to anything. I’m working out/running so little right now since work has been nutso. But hopefully things improve soon.
I also did not have parents that schlepped me all over the place when I was a kid. But I had VERY FEW extracurricular options and I had older siblings to help w/ the schlepping. But both my parents worked and they had 5 kids so we were limited to doing activities that were offered by the school, generally speaking. I did take piano lessons in a city that was an hour away starting around when I was 12 of 13, I think? But I think they were every other week maybe and my mom usually had other things she needed to do in that city and then by 15 when I got my license (which is terrifying to think about now but was allowed in ND – at the time you could get your license at age 14. They’ve since changed the law to 16) I drove myself to piano lessons. I read about all the things kids are doing and then hear about the cost and it’s kind of shocking. I want my kids to be involved in things but their options will be limited because we both work and don’t have a ton of flexibility in our schedule.
Yes, I shouldn’t complain- the people who are REALLY busy are the kids who do these travel sports teams. And it’s really expensive. As much as I wish my kids were more athletic, I should be happy they chose band.
Your grandmother is turning 100???!!! That’s amazing! That should be a fun celebration!
My Aprils and Mays were always crazy busy when the kids were still here. We had dance recital (for both daughters for several years), spring concerts (all three were in band, but the son is the only one who stayed in through graduation), golf and tennis. And, let’s not forget my 9-year tenure as the Prom Promenade CEO, LOL. Oh, and there may have been some races thrown into the mix as well. Like you, they ALL were things I wanted, but it was such a busy time. I hope all goes well with your May-cember 😉
Thank you Kim! Yes, it’s all fun stuff- just so much all at once.
At first when I saw “May-Cember” I thought, is it COLD in Florida? That doesn’t seem right! But you’re talking about busyness! May doesn’t seem too busy to me, but there are a few things on the go. One, my youngest has his graduation ceremony – although school goes until the end of June. I am organizing our high school reunion which is on June 3. It’s my mom’s 70th birthday this month, and, oh yeah, we sold our house. Ha! So I guess now that I type that out it is busy but it feels very doable.
Actually that does sound very busy! I’m glad it seems doable and you’re not overwhelmed with it all.
I feel you on the struggle with finding a trail race to run! As a non-ultra runner, I don’t want to go crazy with the distance. I probably need to hold back right now because I’ve got a half marathon in June and then Leadville in July. But I want to run ALL the trails!
Enjoy those kiddos while they are home. Even tho my youngest is graduating, he’s not moving home! He’s staying in Madison for the summer and then moving to Chicago to live with his brother.
Yes, there are some amazing races out there and it’s tempting to start signing up. At least you have two races planned already- you have a good schedule for the summer.
Being in Australia May is a normal month for us. We just have December which always included Christmas and end of the school year celebrations, so it was double crazy for us, but now my kids are all out of school so we only have our adult end of year stuff in December. I think I prefer the school years lining up with calendar years though, but our financial year ends 30th July which is good as it doesn’t overlap with Christmas and our summer holidays.
Good luck with fitting it all in. Even though it will be busy it’s great that you are able to be there for your kids and support their interests.
Ha, if I ever moved to Australia I would be so confused. It’s funny how ingrained these things are- Halloween is in the fall and Easter is in the spring, OBVIOUSLY. But not if you live in Australia!
Another ultra. How exciting. And not surprised.
I decided to DNS my 5k tomorrow. Just not 5k ready. I’m going to sleep in and run for fun.
May is busy for me too. Me and my hubby have birthdays. Two races. Gardening etc.
Well, it sounds like running for fun is a good option. You are on vacation, and no one else in your group would run the race with you. Probably wouldn’t be worth it to get up that early and go run a 5k you’re not ready for. I’m questioning whether I’m “5k ready” as well.
Oh gosh, I remember when my daughter was young, all of the end of year activities. Fun and tiring for sure. We sure as heck didn’t have 8th grade graduation when I was a kid. You just finished 8th grade and went on to High School. On the other hand, life can be tough sometimes, so it’s fun to celebrate where and when we can.
My May…well, my husband’s birthday was this week, and we went out for a nice dinner, and then had a birthday party yesterday. Next weekend is Mother’s Day, but I have a friend in town so will be celebrating by NOT being with my family. My friend lives in PA and I live in CA, so there’s almost an entire country between us.
Good luck on increasing your speed before July!
Let’s see… we did have 8th grade graduation, but not elementary school. Nowadays the kids have elementary school graduation ceremonies- my daughter’s was canceled though because of Covid and I wasn’t mad. We don’t need all these ceremonies.
Sounds like your May is pretty busy even without a young kid to take care of!
I’m not discussing my Mother’s Day race pace either lol. It will be fun!
I love having A so involved. I did a lot as a kid, but I always felt like an outsider and didn’t fit in. He is so passionate about his interests, so I am happy to taxi him around or car pool with his buddies. I don’t even care that we will be in Alabama on our anniversary for a marching band event.
I hope you find something cool in the ultra world!
Oh, and I DO get presents in May because it’s my birthday and Mother’s Day!
Thanks Jenn! Yes, it’s definitely good for the kids to be involved in something they’re passionate about. I complain, but I would rather have it this way than have them sitting at home playing video games.
The May crush is hard for parents! I am grateful that May is just a pleasant month for me – no crazy school things to worry about or graduation ceremonies. Just Mother’s Day, which is always pretty low-key. Good luck this month!
Thank you Stephany! I know you and your mom are very close so Mother’s Day is probably a nice day for you.
Ha, I guess it’s normal to have a busy May. This made me feel a bit better. I feel like I also had a busy April since there was a field trip to be planned (why in the world did I agree to be room mom for the whole 6th grade?), and the start of band concerts ( for 6th and 8th grade), and a trip back home to celebrate my dad’s 80s (by myself no less). There is a light at the end of the tunnel and 8th/6th grade graduations are just around the corner.
(Oh hi, Meike!) You are a room mom??? Wow. You’re busier than me! I only have an eighth grader. But yes, there’s concerts, graduation… etc. It’s definitely a chaotic month.
Because I’m one of 6 siblings, I’m sure May, and every month, was super busy for my parents. I do remember though that there were things they simply did not attend and at the time, I never gave it a second thought. Times have definitely changed. Safe travels to your son. Other than when Thing 1 drove her car down to Atlanta, we did not drive a single time down there. We’d all fly and we purchased and stored her stuff there over the summer. It worked out great. Have fun at your 5ks! Summer is a great time to work on speed, just saying.
Well, I’m sure kids in really big families are used to not being the center of attention all the time. If I had six kids (screeeaaam!) I doubt I would be going to every concert and event.
What a busy month, indeed. I’m so excited your son will be home soon, but you know how I feel about overnight company so can emphasize completely that it all feels like…a lot right now.
May is typically not my favourite month. Not sure why, but I think it has a lot to do with the weather which can still be so variable? Hot one day, freezing cold the next. BUT…we have some fun adventures planned, next Sunday is Mother’s Day and my birthday comes at the end of the month, so I’m sure it will be lovely!!!
Ooh, that all sounds fun! But I know… growing up in Chicago, the weather was never reliably spring-like in May.
OMG, May is INSANE for college and high school/middle school. I do not envy you at all, to be honest. I’m sorry that there is a lot of driving hither and yon, and that you are feeling stressed about your son’s friend. (Don’t stress! They’ll be glad to eat real food and sleep in real beds – I seriously doubt they’ll care about clutter and cleanliness!) Hang in there.
Thanks Anne! My son assures me his friend won’t notice any mess at all, so that works out perfectly. i am doing a lot of cooking, because I know they will be HUNGRY.
You caught the ultra bug! We are halfway through May and soon it will be June. Cannot wait. Is your son home already?
I guess for people who have kids in school May is busy. It’s a rather “normal” month for me… I have some semi- deadlines, but I always have those… so it’s not particular to May.
Good luck getting through this busy month. Try having fun along the way 😉
I guess for people who have kids in school May is busy. It’s a rather “normal” month for me… I have some semi- deadlines, but I always have those… so it’s not particular to May.
Good luck getting through this busy month. Try having fun along the way 😉