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Weekly Rundown- A Gym PR

Hello and welcome to the Weekly Rundown, hosted as always by Kim and Deborah (thanks, ladies!)  It was a good week with some hot, humid runs, and four gym days in a row, which may be a new PR for me (okay, one of those days was to run on the treadmill- but I was there!)  Let’s just see how it all played out.

Sunday

Well, this was frustrating.  I had a trail run planned, but when I woke up I heard the dreaded sound of thunder.  ARRRG!  I don’t mind running in the rain (as a matter of fact I prefer it to the sweltering heat) but I’m not going out in a thunderstorm.

I would have gone for a treadmill run, but the gym doesn’t open until 8 on weekends.  I waited an entire hour for the storm to pass, and finally felt that it was safe to run.  By that point my desire for a trail run had waned (especially considering that it would be soaking wet) so I just went for a 6 mile run on the roads.  Sigh.

Monday

Let’s try this again!  No storms this morning, and I got out for a 4 mile run, followed by Caroline Girvan’s ab workout..

Tuesday

Leg day at the gym!  I did the Daily Shakedown to warm up, followed by five minutes on the stair climber.  Then the usual routine of squats, Bulgarian split squats, calf raises.  I skipped deadlifts because my low back wasn’t feeling it.  I did hamstring curls instead, and then bench press and abs.

Wednesday

Speed work!  This time, I sensibly took it to the treadmill.  After a warmup of 1.5 miles, I did 12 x 400 at 5K pace.

Whenever I do a workout with that many repeats, I always feel like I’ll NEVER be able to do it when I start out.  The first one always feels so hard!  But then as I go on it gets a little easier, and once I pass the halfway mark I feel better and better.  I was even able to increase the speed gradually for the last six repeats.  There’s hope for these turtle legs after all!

Thursday

This was the “bonus” gym day, an upper body workout.  Our gym just got some fancy new machines, and my son likes them.  He told me the lat pulldown machine works his lats better than regular lat pulldowns, so I tried it out.

Judging by how horribly sore I was the next day, I think he’s right.  I also did biceps, triceps, dumbbell overhead press, and abs.

Friday

Leg day!  One of the other fancy-schmancy new machines is the hack squat.  My son loves it, so I figured I would give it a try.  I did my regular squats first, and deadlifts, then made my way over to the machine.

It’s basically like doing a squat that doesn’t involve your low back at all.  I think it would be good for working on form (I didn’t get low enough here, because I felt like I didn’t have my feet in the right place- it took me a couple sets to figure it out.)  It would also be good if you have a back issue and can’t do regular squats.  But I like the fact that squats engage the core.  When I pointed that out to my son, he said he doesn’t care about that, he’s just trying to make his quads as big as possible.  We have very different goals.

Saturday

5 mile run!  This run felt pretty good, despite the fact that when I walked out the door it felt like someone threw a hot, wet blanket over me.

Side note:  Jessie told me she’s been doing the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout and loves it.  I realized that I didn’t do it once this week!  I’ve been doing abs at the gym, and today they were so sore I just couldn’t bring myself to do the deadbugs.  I want to get back to that workout next week though.

Sunday

On tap for today: lots and lots of sitting.  I’m leaving early in the morning to drive my daughter and her friend to camp, in Tallahassee.  I’ll stay overnight (and have a fun trail run planned!) and will arrive home Monday night.  For that reason, I’ll be extremely late reading and commenting- but I will get to everyone’s posts, eventually!

What was your weather like this week?  – I was officially running through a swamp.

Machines or free weights?  Free weights!  But my son likes a mix of both.

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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

Reading and Eating

I finished Winter of the World, which will from now on be referred to simply as WOW.  It was so, so good, and I’m getting ready to start the third book in the trilogy!  It starts in 1961, where the second book left off. But let’s go back to last week- I had my trip to the used bookstore.  It was everything I hoped it would be (look away, Engie!  I’ve discovered that Engie does NOT like used bookstores!) As I hoped, I did leave with a stack of books. Some classic murder mysteries- I can never resist- and more Ken Follett.  I have no plans to read The Pillars of the Earth anytime soon, but I know I’ll read it eventually, and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get a used copy in good condition. Eating!  Once again, I did not do any meal prep on Sunday so we’re limping through the week.  The good news is, I think I’m training my husband and daughter to expect less and less in the dinner department.  I mean- we do eat.  It’s just not fancy. Sunday morning I made gluten-free pumpkin pancakes from Running on Real Food.  First, let’s look at a picture from the website: And here’s, ahem, mine. All that garnish aside, mine look really weird.  But they did taste good!  Chickpea flour is my new favorite flour.  By the way, if you’re making pumpkin baked good this fall, don’t forget the formula to make them really flavorful- double the amount of pumpkin spice, and add a pinch of cloves.  And whatever you do, do NOT forget the salt! What are you reading now? Top photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Getting Back on Track

I wrote in Sunday’s post that I’ve been feeling like my life is just a little off track.  Then I looked around my house and realized one of the reasons is that I’ve been half-assing my beloved Pumpkin Palooza.  I had some, but not all, of my fall decorations out, and then a summer-y wreath was lying on the table.  Furthermore, I hadn’t had one special meal or snack to celebrate the start of football season. This was all wrong!  I needed to rectify the situation right away.  I lit a fall candle… …and got out all the rest of my fall decorations while watching the first half of the Dolphins game.  At halftime I put together a little charcuterie board… …and then we watched the Dolphins come from behind to win the game.  Fall is back on track! Let’s move on to running.  SIGH.  So far, my calf seems to be better, but my race plans are in tatters.  Back in May, I signed up for a race on November 9th.  It’s a trail race, and you run as far as you can in a certain amount of time.  I chose the 12 hour option. Hahahahaha.  Even if everything goes perfectly from now on, I’ll have no business running a 12 hour race in two months.  I guess the good news is, it’s a 4.5 mile loop that you run over and over again.  I can go and just run a couple loops.  That would be kind of sad- but maybe less sad than not going at all?  I’ve already paid for the race so if I can run at all, I’ll probably go. Now let’s deal with this jury summons.  I know it’s our civic duty, but I think it’s unfair that it creates more of a financial hardship for some people than others.  Additionally, some people never get called for jury duty, and some people get called all the time!  Luckily I’ve come up with a great solution. My plan is, all registered voters would be required to submit a form every five years, indicating the time they would like to do their jury duty.  That way, people would be able to pick a time that works best with their work schedule, and have time in advance to arrange for childcare, etc. Of course, if everyone chose July of 2027 it would be a fiasco.  But I have solutions for that too!  People who are retired, independently wealthy, or who have a very flexible work schedule could volunteer to be “swing jurors,” willing to be called at any time.  There could be incentives for people who serve in months like December (which I’m guessing would be the least popular)- like if you sit on a jury in December, you’re exempt for the rest of your life. I’ll be submitting my request for a postponement- do you think I should include my detailed plan for an overhaul of the entire system?  Haha, that might get me excused permanently (“Don’t let this woman near the courthouse- she’s obviously a troublemaker!”) Anyway, I’m starting to feel a little better.  As long as I can continue to run and nothing else goes wrong, I think I’m back on track. How do you like my plan?  Would you volunteer to be a “swing juror?” Top photo by Redd F on Unsplash  

44 Responses

  1. Swampy here, too, I’ve had a couple of runs in 80% plus humidity, ugh. I wasn’t able to run today because one of the locks on our front door broke yesterday, it’s safe when someone is in the house as we have a big bolt on the inside and a chain, but I’m unsure about leaving and my husband is away so I’m in the house for the weekend (I have a friend coming round with iced coffees later). But when I woke at 6 it was already hot and muggy so you know what? I’m OK with that (I will do my physio stuff and maybe a yoga video as a) I’m allowed to do yoga now, b) my replacement yoga shoes arrived!).

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    1. Yes, I guess that would be a problem! But it sounds like a good weekend to stay inside and skip running. Yoga sounds good!

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  2. We’re hot and dry here, which you know is definitely not the norm! I don’t miss the humidity, but we need rain. You’re really crushing it at the gym! We don’t have any machines at my gym–it’s all free weights and body weight. I agree with you on the squats–I’d rather get that core portion as well. Have fun in Tallahassee!

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    1. Yes, I saw how dry the trail was in your post. I hope you guys get some rain soon. We’ve had PLENTY of rain this summer, which is good for us.

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  3. LOL on your son’s squat goals — youth!

    We’ve escaped “summer running weather” up until now, but yesterday and today have been pretty warm and muggy, but still not FLORIDA warm and muggy!

    Save travels — and great idea on the trail run before you head home!

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  4. I only use the machines. That machine looks great.

    Muggy here but not like Fla. Yesterday. Yes.

    Enjoy your run in tally. I love running in new places.

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    1. Yes, I loved it! The trail I ran on was actually wooded and SHADY! Quite different from South Florida.

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    1. Yes, I guess it’s good to mix it up! My son is convincing me to mix in some machines. And yes, try the deadbug and let us know what you think!

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  6. All the best with the road trip! Hope camp is fun for your daughter. Looks like a good week of activity for you. Sounds like FL is steamy right now. We’ve been so hot and dry as Wendy said. Africa is hot but at this time of year the humidity was quite low and nights got cold.

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  7. Well, you got me intrigued with the deadbug workout! My core might be ready for a little action (emphasis on “might”). I’m feeling a little pudgy having not done any core work since the bike crash. I prefer free weights as well…the machines intimidate me (I’d used some of them while on my PT stint).

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    1. I’m a little worried about the deadbug workout for you because it involves holding weights over your head- it might stress your ribcage. But you could probably do it without weights to start with.

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    1. My trip was great and my daughter was happy when I dropped her off. I haven’t heard anything from her yet, but that’s typical. She’s probably forgotten all about us : )

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  10. Oooh, enjoy your trail run in a new place today! Always fun! Sorry about the trail run fail last week. I’ve run in thunderstorms a few times — obviously not planning too — each of those runs were memorable. Not in a good way.

    I prefer weights because there’s no assist.

    I did try a Caroline Girvan KB workout this week, btw!

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    1. Ooh! How did you like Caroline?
      My trail run was really fun. It was great to be in a different location and the trail was SHADY!

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  11. “We have very different goals.” LOLOLOL. I don’t know why, but I read this is a very dry tone and it made me laugh and laugh.

    You’re making me think I should reconsider my anti-gym stance. Some of those machines look like they could be really useful. Alas, I know myself and the actual trip to and from the gym would really frustrate me and I’d end up never going!

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    1. Yes, I’m actually amazed that I’m getting myself to go to the gym. It sounds like you do a great variety of workouts at home- so as long as you’re happy with those, you’re probably better off sticking with it. Stay with what works!

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  12. My running coach when I was in a running club described that weather as ‘running through soup’. That kind of weather is so hard to run in!

    We were supposed to have rain all weekend but then the storms missed us during the day on Saturday. But today has been a soggy mess. We had a birthday party today. I thought it wouldn’t be too bad as it was just sprinkling. But then it turned into a steady rain so we didn’t last long. There was a shelter area so I mostly hung out here. I had to take the boys’ shoes off in the car and then Phil helped me carry them in and straight up to a bath since they were a muddy mess.

    My week of workouts was so so. I ran on Monday and Saturday and did a 30 min full body strength without on Friday that didn’t feel hard while I was doing it but made me so sore! I meant to do something today but felt sore and tired so I opted to nap. Things will get interesting this week as we no longer have one drop off now that Paul will go to the public school program. So I will do his drop offs on Monday and Friday which cuts my time to run short. I figure even if I just run 2.5 it’s better than nothing. Or I might need to just get up and run early on those days and shower after drop off. Decisions decisions.

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    1. Ah, a more complicated schedule doesn’t help! But I guess you’ll get used to it. I guess Paul’s dropoff is close? So it might be an option to run first and shower after.
      Whenever I do a strength workout that leaves me really sore, I figure it was a good one!

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      1. yes luckily his drop off is about 1.5 miles away! Yesterday I ran 2.5 miles and started my work day a bit later, like 8:15. It’s not like anyone is keeping track of my hours/when I log on, plus I work on the weekend as I compile data for a weekly newsletter. So I figure I need to cut myself a break and take the time to run and start later a few times/week. And then maybe get up at 5 or 5:15 one morning but I need to be sleeping better first. I’ve been waking during the night worrying about things like Paul starting this new program and how he’d so. He’s probably handling it better than I am! 😉

        And yes, it’s nice to feel sore! I was surprised how sore this one made me. But there was a move where you go from kneeling to standing while holding a weight and I think that was the move that made me sore!

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  13. The weather has been so pleasant here lately and cooler than usual this time of year (I am probably going to jinx it by saying that). I’ll take it.

    Great week of workouts for you – speed work is the most intimidating thing when you set out but I also find that it gets easier, once you get going!

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  14. Great week of gym workouts! When I belonged to a gym I liked to mix machines and free weights – now I’m strictly free weights since I workout at home. Sometimes I miss the machines.

    We had avoided the summer soupy weather until this weekend – it’s hit with a vengeance!

    Hope your road trip goes well

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    1. I’m going to the gym with my son next week, so maybe he’ll convince me to mix in some machines. We’ll see!
      My road trip was great : )

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  15. Nice job!

    The storms have been super bad and scary here. I don’t love it.

    Awesome work in the gym. It’s so great to have such a great balance of fitness.

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    1. I actually like the storms, when I don’t have to go anywhere! I like it when we have storms late in the afternoon when I’m home from work. But I don’t like it when I’m trying to run!

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  16. Congrats on your gym PR!

    Speed work is super intimidating for me which is why I tend to not do it, lol. I know that’s the main reason I should do it though.

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    1. Yes, it’s intimidating to me too. But I think strength work is even more intimidating. I just have to make myself do it.

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  17. I hope you had a nice trip to Tallahassee and enjoyed your planned trail run.

    Running in storms is a hard no for me as well. In all of the years of marathon training and long runs, I only got caught out in lightning twice.

    I laughed when you mentioned that your son has very different goals than you. Not surprising considering he’s a teenage guy. 🙂

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    1. Yes, I guess there would be something wrong if my son and I had the same goals at the gym!
      My trip to Tallahassee was great, and I had a fun trail run! Now back to regular life…

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  18. Swampy here in Ohio too! Ugh. That’s always fun when you find machines that work the muscles in new ways. Who knew that muscles was there until it was in pain the next day. ha! I slacked on the gym visits last week. I hope to get my desired two visits in this week! Glad you are still enjoying workouts with your son. That’s great bonding time!

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    1. Yes, I love it. Except on July 4th he’s threatening that we’re going to do a “killer pull day” and I’m scared, ha ha…

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  19. We had really hot weather last week, and now are back to rain, rain, rain. Such an odd start to summer here. I can’t remember having such a rainy June…ever?!

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    1. We’ve had a very rainy June, which I think is good- they say a rainy summer means fewer hurricanes. Hopefully that holds true!

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  20. As soon as I read Jenn’s post I knew you must have had a similar weather week… we had off and on heat a bit of rain and then this weekend in Paris it was SWELTERING. But yeah. we do what we need to do right/

    I am also going to try the deadbug workout by the way!

    great job on all those gym days! I like free weights and machines TBH. that squat machine would be great for me!

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    1. My son is going to show me some tips on the squat machine and I’m going to try it again. He does it in a way that apparently works every muscle in his legs but doesn’t hurt his knees.
      My low back has been very achy so I’m going to start doing the deadbug workout again, and see if that helps!

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  21. That’s a lot of 400m on the treadmill! Or anywhere, for that matter. I think I maxed out with 10 in my speed training for the upcoming JPM 5.6km race…

    Congrats on your PR! Consistency is always key 🙂

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  22. I pulled up the deadbug workout and…wow. I need to do it but there is no way I can do the whole thing right now. So, thinking I will work my way into it (e.g., making sure I can complete the first two before adding on the next two…). Thanks for talking about how much you like it – my core strength DEFINITELY needs work, and this will help. 🙂
    I see from above responses that you had a good time in Tallahassee, which is awesome. Hope you found some time for reading, too!

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    1. I had a great time although not as much reading as I had hoped- oh well. And yes, you probably do need to work your way into the deadbugs- but I’m always surprised at how fast it all comes back to me.

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