Tuesday Topics- Self Care
Welcome to Tuesday Topics, which I host with Jenn from Runs With Pugs. This week’s topic: Self-care check: how do you show yourself kindness this month? I’m actually pretty good at showing myself kindness. Now that my kids are older, I have the time to make sure I have what I need on a daily and weekly basis. Those things are: exercise, reading, margins in my day, and time on the couch with my cats. Exercise is a no-brainer for me. I need some form of daily exercise just to keep my head above water. If I don’t get it, I truly feel like crap. Morning works best for me- on the days where I put it off to the afternoon, I feel vaguely anxious all day. However, a late afternoon run really relaxes me and sets me up for a good night’s sleep. Let’s talk about READING! If I’m not in the middle of a book, I feel sad. I love fiction, so that’s mostly what I read. I just finished this: When I went to the library to pick up Age of Innocence for Engie’s book club, I couldn’t help myself and got this as well: Yes, I know I said I had to read all the books I own first, but I couldn’t walk out of the library with just one book! Margins in my day- this specifically refers to my morning. I don’t start work till 10 am, which means I could do my workout after I take my daughter to school. But then I would have to rush through my breakfast. I would much rather get up a little earlier and work out before I take my daughter, even though it means running in the dark. That way, after I take her to school I have to time to sit down to a nice, leisurely breakfast, sip tea, and read blogs. Sometimes I’ll write a blog post during this time as well (or, at least start one- often I’ll start it and then finish or tweak it later in the day). I LOVE having this time to myself before starting work. Let’s move on to… CATS! I love, love, love sitting on the couch with my book and a cat, or preferably two cats. For a while Muffin and Foxy were happy to snuggle with me. Lately it’s been Foxy and Sylvie (new kitten- renamed from “Evie.”) BUT GUESS WHAT HAPPENED LAST NIGHT… Muffin didn’t stay long, but she got up on the couch and sniffed at Sylvie. Muffin was not aggressive and Sylvie wasn’t scared. I feel like it’s only a matter of time before Muffin is comfortable enough to join in the snuggling. Will I have a photo soon of all three cats cuddling together??? STAY TUNED! Oh… and my husband has officially said we can keep Sylvie! But he also warned me- NO MORE FOSTERS. My son concurred… as he put it, “This is why we can’t foster- we’d end up with 100 cats.” Link Up With Tuesday Topics Welcome back to Tuesday Topics, as Jenny, from Runners Fly joins Jenn at Runs With Pugs to co-host this link-up! Please join us every week for a new topic! Write on our weekly prompt or choose your own topic! Make sure to add your post to the link up, link back to your hosts, and comment on the other shared posts! Next week’s topic: Share something you LOVE about your active lifestyle! You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter Do any of these things say “self care” to you? Do you have other ways of showing yourself kindness? Top photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Weekly Rundown- Things are Getting Crazy!
It’s been quite a week! Last Sunday I shared that we are “fostering” (ahem, hopefully keeping forever) a new kitten. We also saw 90 degrees to start our week, and are ending the week with a temperature swing of almost 60 degrees! What is even happening??? Anyway… thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly rundown. Let’s get into it! Sunday A big long run of 23 miles… and this was HARD. It was a hot day, and my body wasn’t happy. Around mile 18 I felt really awful, nauseous and depleted. I walked for about half a mile, ate some pretzels, and then gradually felt well enough to run again. It’s been a while since I’ve run in the heat, and I think I need salt pills. Gu Roctane has enough sodium when it’s cool out, but not for the heat. Live and learn! I was glad to finish this run. Monday Upper body strength workout. My quads were sore but other than that, I felt good after that long run! Tuesday This was the start of our cold weather (stop snickering, you northerners!) It was in the 40s when I woke up, and windy, so brr! Hat and gloves came out for this 4 mile run. Wednesday I started the day with hip stability exercises… and then I took down the outdoor Christmas lights. YES, I admit they were still up! But I wasn’t turning them on (that would be bad and weird). It was a big job, but a relief to finally get it done. Thursday Brr! It was in the 40s, so once again I bundled up for a 4 mile run. After work I rushed off to take the kitten to the vet. I just wanted to get her checked out, have them give me an approximate age (six weeks?) and confirm the gender (she’s so tiny we weren’t sure). One of Angie’s friends wanted to do a “gender reveal”, so I kept it a secret from the family until… Now that we know she’s a girl for sure, we had a big talk about the name. “Evie” has been changed to “Sylvie.” Hopefully this is it and we won’t have any more changes! Friday Since I did an abbreviated Weekly Rundown last week, I didn’t mention that I tried a new Caroline Girvan abs workout-Stellar Abs . It’s a very intense and effective 10 minute workout- so effective, in fact, that when I did it last week I hurt myself, straining an oblique on my right side. That hurt for a while, but now I was ready to try the workout again. I was a little more cautious this time, and managed to emerge unscathed. I really recommend this workout- but be careful! I also did my hip stability exercises, and a lower body strength workout at home. Saturday I waited until later in the day, then got out for a 6 mile run. It started off a little chilly (which felt good) and by the end, the sun had set, the wind was picking up, and I was cold! Then it was home to hunker down for the rest of the evening with a blanket, my book, and a kitten. Our temps are supposed to plummet to 31 degrees tonight! In all the time I’ve lived in South Florida, I don’t think it’s ever been this cold. Do we need to turn on the heat? Does our heat even work??? It’s been years since we’ve had it on. Sunday On tap for today… sleeping in! After my incessant whining about the heat, I’m glad I’m not running today (next long run is Wednesday). Early in the morning, our “feels like” temp is supposed to be… 17 degrees. I don’t even own clothes for those conditions. I’ll be safely inside sipping my hot tea! Tell me your crazy weather stories! Have you ever done a gender reveal for a kitten?
January Runfessions
It’s been a while since I’ve joined Marcia for Runfessions. This month, I have plenty to share. You could say I have nothing BUT runfessions going through my mind. Let’s get started. In my last post, I shared that our weather has gone berserk. After reaching 90 degrees on Monday (WHAT) we have swung way, way, waaaay down. Susanne asked if were happy about the cold, or “awkwardly dreading” it. I thought that was a funny way to put it, because yes, this is awkward- after complaining about the heat so much, I now have to runfess that this is a little TOO cold for me. Lows in the 40s are rare for us, and four nights in a row down to the 30s are unheard of. Let’s move on to a more serious topic. I think I’ve mentioned (oh, a couple times) that I have a big race coming up. On March 21st, which is my actual birthday, I’m running 60 miles to celebrate turning 60. My runfession is that, although I signed up for this race last spring and it’s been a big goal of mine all year, I feel very behind in my training. I could go on and on with excuses- my cat died, the holidays threw me off, my calf started hurting… but none of that matters. The fact is, I’m running 60 miles in seven weeks and my longest long run to date has been 23 miles. Originally I thought of running a 50k at the end of January (this weekend) but I couldn’t work it out logistically. It is what it is- I have several more long runs coming up and I just have to make it happen. One last confession is that my diabolical plan is working… muahahahahaha. My husband was opposed to getting the kitten at first, but I assured him we were just “fostering.” Now he’s saying things like “I’ve never seen anything so cute!!” and “I just hope I don’t fall in love with her” (oh, you will… heh heh). Meanwhile, Foxy and Kitty (tentative name is Evie) are BFFs. The last holdout is Muffin… but I think she’ll come around. Are you training for anything big? Could you possibly resist a little cutie like Evie???
A Book, the Weather, and Kitten (Obviously)
Hey guys! Let’s talk about the weather. You might remember that I complained about doing my long run in the heat on Sunday, and then I was DEEPLY ANGERED that we got up to 90 degrees on Monday. I was literally sputtering all day “This is why we need to move! I can’t do 90 in January!” THEN… A cold front blew through!!! Because I live at the bottom tip of Florida, it takes a lot for cold air to make its way down to us. We have to have a low pressure system, with a high pressure system up north. Then the air has to come straight down the peninsula. It it goes over the Gulf of Mexico or the ocean, it warms up before it gets to us. This time all conditions were perfect! Let’s look at Sunday. THIRTY-ONE DEGREES. It has escaped no one’s notice that it would, theoretically, be cold enough to snow. The last time it snowed in South Florida was 1977. My husband was in high school at the time (right here in Boca Raton) and he said they looked out the window, saw that it was snowing, and everyone just went berserk and ran outside. In reality, it’s very unlikely it will actually snow. But the kids are all hoping for it. Let’s talk about reading! I finished this book: This is the eighth book in the Cormoran Strike detective series. “Robert Galbraith” is a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling, who is my favorite author of all time. I KNOW. You don’t have to tell me- she’s a terrible person. I get it, but I still love everything she’s ever written. I was so excited to have a new Cormoran Strike book. I bought it shortly after it came out, but was waiting for the perfect time to read it. In the meantime, Engie read it and mentioned that it was “boring.” WHAT??? I remember that Engie also felt The Running Grave needed editing, and I loved that one so, so much, so I took her opinion on this one with a grain of salt. But, while I read it, I kept an objective eye out for why a person would consider it boring. Here’s the thing. These are real detective novels. Kind of like a police procedural, except that Strike and his partner, Robin, are private detectives. They delve deeply into every detail of the case, and some of my favorite parts are where the two of them meet for a debrief and hash out all the information they’ve gathered so far. I love that, but I can see how it wouldn’t be for everyone. I do have to admit that the “will they or won’t they” aspect of Strike and Robin’s relationship was starting to grate on me- MAKE A DECISION, PEOPLE- and I had some frustrating moments in this book. But without giving anything away, I’ll say that the ending was satisfying to me. THE KITTEN!!! Two other people who need to make a decision are my daughter and her boyfriend- they are in charge of naming her and so far she’s still “kitty.” In the few days she’s been with us, she’s gone from being a fragile little baby to a confidant, tiny cat, trotting happily around the house. Even my husband is coming around. First dibs still goes to my daughter’s boyfriend, who is trying to convince his father. If he takes her, I’ll be sad, but I know she’ll go to a good home. Have you read any of the Cormoran Strike books? Should I get out my winter boots and snow shovel? – Hahahaha. Obviously I don’t own either of those.