JUNE Coffee Date!
Woohoo! It’s June! June feels like such a hopeful month- maybe because of all the sunlight. Since it’s the first Friday of the month, it’s time to join Coco and Deborah for our monthly coffee date. I’ll be drinking my earl grey tea, as usual. If we were having coffee (tea) together… I would tell you how much I’m enjoying having both my kids home for the summer. My daughter will be doing one week of sleep away camp, but other than that, they’ll both be here until the beginning of August when my son returns to college for his junior year. If I let myself think about it too much, I get a little sad- one of the reasons my son came home for the whole summer is that next summer he may not be home at all. And after that… who knows what will happen, but he probably won’t be coming back here for extended periods. I’m trying to appreciate every moment of this (possibly last) summer with everyone home. The only thing that could mar my pleasure is all the extra cooking this entails. But we’ve come up with a very reasonable plan- I’ll cook two dinners a week, my son will cook twice, my husband will cook twice, and the seventh night will be takeout. I can handle two dinners a week! Furthermore, my son and I have decided to branch out and try new dishes. He made a spicy Thai stir fry, and tonight I made a new Indian recipe. We really enjoyed both those dishes. My husband hasn’t quite embraced his two nights of cooking yet… so far he’s made pasta, and pasta. To be fair, he’s still busy with end-of-the-year school things. I’m sure he’ll join in our cooking adventures more as the summer goes on. Moving right along! My daughter has somehow convinced me that we should get two pet rats. This won’t be happening right away, because first I’ve been elected to help her build a cage for them. Ahem. I did build the cage for our guinea pigs, and we have leftover materials that could be used. HOWEVER… Guinea pigs are very humble, unambitious animals. Our cage doesn’t even have a lid, because they would never in a million years try to climb out. They’re happy to meander slowly around the cage, dozing and munching on hay. Rats, on the other hand, are VERY smart and will escape from a poorly-made cage in an instant. And we have two cats! We can’t have rats wandering around the house. I’m all for pet rats. I had rats when I was younger and I loved them- they really can be smart and affectionate, much more so than other rodents. But this cage-building scheme is stressing me out a little. I like my daughter’s DIY spirit (after all, she cut and colored her own hair) but I’m not sure it’ll work in this case. I’m been secretly searching Amazon for rat cages. That’s about it! How do you feel about pet rats? – Rats get a bad rap. They really do make great pets! Do you have a full house this summer? If so, who’s handling the dinner duties?
Designing My Summer
Every year around this time, Gretchen Rubin and Liz Craft have an episode of the Happier podcast called “Design Your Summer.” It always sounds very luxurious and exciting! They talk about trips, museum visits, and things like “The Summer of Proust” or “The Summer of Virginia Woolf.” Today at work one of my clients was telling me her plans for the summer, which included an Alaskan cruise. Then she asked what I was doing. Er… well, I’ll be spending a day in Tallahassee? My summer probably doesn’t sound super-exciting. My job doesn’t give me any PTO, so I’ll mostly be working (I can get as much time off as I want- without pay. So I’ll be at work.) Our family is borderline dysfunctional when it comes to trips (it’s a long story) so we won’t be taking any together. But! I do have a couple mini-trips planned. At the end of June, my daughter is going to sleep away camp at FSU for a week. She and a friend are doing it together, so I’ll drive them both up to Tallahassee. I’ll be honest- I’m not especially looking forward to the trip there, for various reasons. BUT! After I drop them off, I’ll have the rest of that night and the next day for a little mini-break. I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do for that day and a half, but the important thing is I can do whatever I want. My husband can’t come with me because he’s working, so I’ll be on my own, and I’m looking forward to it. Then, at the end of July my son and I will be making our annual drive to Texas. He goes to school at Baylor, in Waco. His freshman year we decided to drive because it was easier to transport all his stuff. Sophomore year we had to drive his car there, and now this year we once again have to get his car to school. Believe it or not, I’m looking forward to it! I’ve come to really enjoy this road trip. I get to spend two solid days with my son in the car, and we get along well. Then I’ll spend a couple days in Waco, helping him move into his house and getting everything set up before I fly back to Florida. So those are my trips. Additionally, I have a couple themes for the summer. The first one is “The Summer of Strength.” I need a theme to keep me on track. This week, I plan to go to the gym on Tuesday and Friday for leg day. Sunday I did a ten mile trail run, and my legs are still a little sore from that, making me question my strength schedule for the week. Why did I do a ten mile trail run? Do I have a long race coming up? (Nope- not till the winter- more on that decision coming soon!) I have to scale back on my longer runs if it means my legs will be fresher for my strength training. It’s not “The Summer of Long Runs,” it’s the “Summer of Strength.” I also WANT it to be “The Summer of Reading.” My fantasy is to have a week all by myself in a remote cabin, where I just read and read. Hahahahaha! Obviously, that won’t be happening. But I’m going to declare the week my daughter is at camp, “The Week of Reading.” I’ll still be going to work and doing my usual activities, but I can definitely carve out extra time that week to just read. The only problem with that is, now I feel like I need extra amazing books for that week- I don’t want to waste the week of reading on anything so-so. The pressure is on. I’m linking up with Kim and Zenaida for their Tuesday Topics! How about you? Do you have any themes for your summer? Any trips planned? Do you think about designing your summer? Do you have any great book recommendations for my Week of Reading?
Weekly Rundown- School’s Out!
Woohoo! Summer vacation has begun, and while I of course will still be going to work, the carefree atmosphere is contagious. My mornings will be much more leisurely and I love having my son home. It’s all good! And I had a good week of workouts. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Let’s get right into it! Sunday I had a GREAT trail run! In the beginning it seemed doomed, because I didn’t get out as early as I hoped. My kids kept me up late on Saturday night talking (how can you go to bed if your kids want to have a fun conversation?) and when I woke up on Sunday, it was already light. No, no, no! If you’re going to do a long (ish) run in Florida in the summer, you should already be running once the sun is rising. I got to the trail as quickly as I could, bracing myself for a heatfest… and it was fine! Yes, it was hot by the end, but I felt good. I ran 8 miles, but in the future if the run is going to be longer than that, I have to get up earlier. Monday I did this Caroline Girvan abs workout, and then my “at home” leg day. Bulgarian split squats and calf raises with 2 x 15 pound dumbbells- if I were at the gym I wouldn’t be going any heavier than that, so it was fine to do at home. Tuesday Well, I overslept by 35 minutes. Apparently I turned my alarm off and went back to sleep, although I have no recollection of it. I got out for a quick 3 mile run, followed by the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout. Wednesday Speed work! After a warmup run I did 6 x 400s, on my “poor man’s track” (i.e. stretch of sidewalk that’s approximately 1/4 mile.) I’m starting to feel a little, tiny, bit of speed coming back into my legs. Next week I’m hoping to get to an actual track! After dropping my daughter off for her penultimate day of school, I went to the gym for leg day. Very exciting news- they got a bunch of new equipment, including a new setup for the squat bars. And they have… The big ten pound plates! I’m totally set up for deadlifts now! I did squats, deadlifts, calf raises, and bench press (had to do something for my upper body.) Great workout. At night we had my daughter’s middle school graduation! Look out, high school… she’s coming. Thursday I overslept AGAIN. Seriously- I need to start going to bed earlier. Luckily today was a rest day, other than this Caroline Girvan 20 minute abs and core workout. Friday I started the day with a 4 mile run… And then focused on some single leg strength work. Runner’s Touch exercise, more Bulgarian split squats, and calf raises. This was the first official day of summer vacation, and I celebrated by going to Starbucks before work. I sat there while reading everyone’s “Runfession” blog posts and drank my favorite Earl Grey tea. Fun! Saturday Caroline Girvan deadbug workout- I can finally say it’s getting easier (although not more enjoyable.) And then I did some back exercises (rows with dumbbells) because my upper body strength was deplorable this week. Sunday On tap for today… a 10 mile trail run! I have high hopes of getting out early to beat the heat- as much as possible, of course. It’ll still be hot and humid, but that’s called “Summer.” Overall it was a good week! I feel like I’m finding my stride with strength workouts. I managed to get them in without trashing my legs for speed work or my longer run. Next week my goal is to get to the gym on Tuesday and Friday for squats and deadlifts both days. How was your week? Does it feel like summer where you are? What’s your favorite running season? – Since I live in Florida, winter. But I do appreciate all the daylight in the summer!
May Runfessions- I Want it Now!
Normally I would say “I can’t believe May is almost over!” but my son is home, my daughter has officially graduated from middle school, and my husband is starting his summer vacation… so yes, I can definitely tell it’s the end of May! And that means it’s time to join Marcia in the “Runfessional.” Overall my May has been going well. I’ve gotten back into strength training, I’m doing speed work, and I had a great trail run last weekend. My runfession is that I want to do it all, all at once. When I’m out on the trail I want to start doing long trail runs again; when I’m doing speed work I want to add speed to every run; and when I’m at the gym I want to lift weights every day. And I’m impatient to see results- I want to be stronger and faster NOW. In short, I’ve become the Veruka Salt of the running world. Remember Veruka from Willa Wonka? “I want the works I want the whole works Presents and prizes and sweets and surprises Of all shapes and sizes And now Don’t care how I want it now Don’t care how I want it NOOOOOOoooooowwww….” We all know what happened to Veruka- she fell down the egg-dicator, never to be seen again. I’m not sure what the running equivalent of that is and I don’t want to find out. I don’t know why I have so much trouble with this, but I have to remember to “keep the main thing the main thing.” And right now, that’s strength, with one day of speed work thrown in per week. On a seemingly unrelated note, we attended my daughter’s graduation this week. Around here, middle school graduation is not a grand affair. It’s held in the high school gym, which means sitting on bleachers. It’s crowded and noisy, and the sound system doesn’t work very well. And yet… I found myself tearing up when the graduates walked in. One thing I learned from Covid is that nothing is guaranteed. I certainly believe there will be more graduations (college for my son, high school and college for my daughter) but just in case this was my only time to see my daughter in a “Pomp and Circumstance” processional, I soaked in every second of it. How many times have I had to remind myself that nothing is guaranteed in running? You can train for months and still not get your PR, or might not even get to run the race at all. The important thing is to enjoy every run. Instead of being impatient because I’m not as strong or as fast as I want to be right now, I have to just appreciate where I am and enjoy the process. “I want a party with room fulls of laughter… ten thousand tons of ice cream…” Sing it, Veruka! Did you watch Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory growing up?- We watched it once each year when it was on TV. Do you have trouble keeping the main thing the main thing? Or is it easy for you to focus on a plan?