Weekly Rundown- The Curse of the Pumpkins
Well, I’m not gonna lie. September has been a tough month! My sister and I were all excited to start celebrating Pumpkin Palooza, but the month has not felt very festive. There was my car accident which put my car out of commission for weeks, my sister and her husband both got Covid (after avoiding it for the past two and a half years), my daughter had a stressful incident (and believe me, when a thirteen-year-old girl is stressed out, the family suffers), my husband got hit by a car while riding his bike to work, then when my sister recovered from Covid she had a tooth emergency, and then yesterday her elderly cat had to go to the vet (coincidentally also with a tooth emergency.) Everyone has survived these issues, but instead of a festive Pumpkin Palooza, we’ve decided it is more like the CURSE OF THE PUMPKINS. But all curses have to lift sometime, right? We’re anxious to move forward and put this unfortunate month behind us. And oh yes… there were plenty of workouts this week! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown! Here’s how the week played out. Sunday Now that I’ve switched my long(er) runs to Wednesdays, I’m trying to figure out what I’m doing on Sundays. Last week I took the day off but ended up feeling too blah- so this week I did a 30 minute glutes and legs strength class, with my favorite instructor Matty on Peloton. Monday Okay, let’s get this week started right! I did a 3 mile run followed by a Peloton core class. (Side note- yes, my hamstring is still bothering me. I’m ignoring it! That always works, right?) Tuesday I did two Peloton classes- upper body and core, and then Runner’s Touch exercise. Once again, this helps me so much but I STILL forget to do it. Why??? It felt good to get back to it. Wednesday After dropping my daughter off at school, I went to a park where I used to do my long runs, back in the day. It’s a really nice park and I was happy to be back, but man… the heat. I’m not sure this schedule is working. I just can’t get started early enough on a Wednesday morning, and these runs have been hard. Most of the paths in this park are paved, but there’s a cross country trail as well and I ran a loop of that at the end. I ran 6 miles total but it felt like 16. I’m going to try to hang onto this running schedule until the weather cools down… we’ll see if I can make it. Thursday I stacked three Peloton classes- glutes and legs, upper body, and core. I like Peloton, but I’m toying with the idea of trying something else. GASP! I know… blasphemy. I haven’t been doing yoga (trying to heal up a nagging wrist pain), I don’t do any of the cycling or running classes, and well- there’s a bunch of free classes on Youtube. Just something I’ve been thinking about. Friday 3 mile run, and this felt about 1000 times easier than Wednesday’s run, because I got out just as the sun was rising. Saturday Ah, running is funny. Today’s run was also early in the morning, but felt waaaay harder that yesterday’s. What the…? Oh well, I slowed my pace way down and got it done. Any running is better than no running. Followed this 3 mile slog with another core class. In other news… my frickin’ car is FINALLY FIXED. Here is the text exchange my husband and I had while I was at work. So, after four “short” weeks, my car is done but ironically we couldn’t get it, because by the time I got home from work my husband had to leave for his job. But my husband isn’t working on Monday, so he’s going to get the car. Just in the nick of time, because there really is a hurricane heading our way. The weather this week will not be conducive to bike riding! Sunday On tap for today… probably some less intense strength class, like barre, and possibly runners touch again. And football watching, obviously! How has your September been? Were you affected by the Curse of the Pumpkins? If you do strength classes other than Peloton, can you recommend any to me?
This is Life, the One You Get
You know how sometimes life feels like a long trudge? Every run this month has felt like a trip through Death Valley, the car situation (my car is STILL in the shop) is wearing us down, and oh yes- my hamstring is still achy. I CAN’T WAIT until the weather cools down, I get my car back, and this nagging pain goes away. The other night I was happily reading my book when my daughter came out of her room to talk about my least favorite subject… her hair. Her hair is short now, but maybe she’d like to grow it out? Sara says she would look better with long hair. But Juliana likes her hair short. If she has long hair again, she doesn’t want it to be frizzy. And she’ll still have bangs, obviously… My mind started to wander and I fingered my book longingly. Then suddenly the thought popped into my mind: “This is it.” THIS is my daughter’s childhood, or what’s left of it. Next year she’ll be in high school and the time goes so fast. I know this because my son is in college right now and I miss him terribly. There will come a time where I’m missing my daughter too, and wishing she still lived at home, and that I knew all the thoughts going through her mind. Ever since that night, the theme song to “One Day at a Time” has been going through my mind (ah, the 1970s… could TV have been any more ridiculous?) This is it This is life, the one you get So go and have a ball… This is my life! Do I really want to waste any of my days wishing things were different? Especially the weather… wishing the weather were different must be the biggest waste of time in the world. The days where I’m sweltering hot, have no car and have to work all day are my life just as much as the great days. It’s not like some days don’t count… they’re all precious. In this article, Ingrid Fetell Lee talks about the difference between “happiness” and “joy.” Rather than focusing on the vague concept of happiness, she focuses on moments of joy, which she defines as “an intense, momentary experience of positive emotion.” You can find moments of joy on a good day or bad day. And the more you do it, the more the question “am I happy?” becomes irrelevant. So in the interest of appreciating each day to the fullest, here’s a list of things that have given me joy recently: The smell of my favorite pumpkin candle. The sound of my daughter practicing her flute. A nap on the couch with my cat curled up next to me. Earl grey tea. College football. Seeing the sunrise during my run. Trader Joe’s pumpkin bagels. Getting a massage. An icy cold glass of water with LMNT after a long, hot run. Reading a great book (seriously- is there anything better than being in the middle of a book you love?) I’m still cranky about my car. And I’m not saying I’m enjoying the heat of September in Florida. But I’m trying to focus on the moments of joy, because they’re always there, if you’re looking. Please tell me something that’s given you joy lately!
Weekly Rundown- Three Things
Originally I was going to challenge myself to write this post without mentioning three things: the weather, my car, and my hamstring. Hahahahahaha! Who I am kidding? You’ll be hearing plenty about all of them! Thanks to Kim and Deborah for hosting the weekly rundown- let’s just see how this week played out. Sunday Because I knew I would stay up extremely late Saturday night to watch the Baylor game, I planned for this to be a complete day off. I did an amazing job of relaxing- I slept late and spent the afternoon lounging on the couch while eating pretzels and watching the Dolphins. This is the life! Except… by the evening I was feeling kind of down, and it wasn’t a great way to go into the new week. Lesson learned! Monday Let’s get back on track! I’m trying a new schedule of running M-W-F-Saturday, with my longest run on Wednesday. Today was a 3 mile run, followed by a Peloton core class. So, you may remember that three weeks ago I got into a car accident, and my car has been in the shop ever since. We’ve been muddling along with one car and my husband has been riding his bike to and from work every day. He likes it- except when it rains. And except for today when he GOT HIT BY A CAR. He’s fine!!! Luckily the car was going slowly, but he was knocked off his bike. No injuries, but the rack on his bike (which he uses to carry everything he needs for work) was broken. To his credit, he went right to the bike shop to get it repaired. If it had been me I think I would have said “okay, that’s it- we’re renting a car.” Nope, he got his bike fixed and the driver of the car paid for it (she felt really terrible.) All’s well that ends well, but still- what in the world is going to happen next? Tuesday Day of strength! I did my favorite 30 minute glutes and legs strength class, followed by core and upper body, again all on Peloton. My husband bravely continued to ride his bike to and from work. Wednesday I did a 10 minute barre class, and, after dropping my daughter off at school, headed to the beach for my run. I didn’t run on the sand, but on a road that runs parallel to the beach. This would have been a lovely run if it weren’t so frickin’ hot. But you could say that about everything in Florida right now- as a matter of fact I think it should be our September State Motto: “Florida- it would be lovely if it weren’t so frickin’ hot.” That’s the only problem with doing my longer run on Wednesday- I can’t get started quite as early as I would like. I ran 7 miles (but that last mile wasn’t pretty.) And of course…I jumped in the ocean when I was done. And, today we called the mechanic to find out WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH MY CAR. “Maybe Saturday.” Oooookay. Thursday Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! Ha ha… I needed some more gentle movement today so I did Marcia’s Barre Sculpt Workout, followed by her Core Strength class, and then, what the heck! I went for the triple and did her Balance Training Workout. I really recommend her classes- it’s nice to have a break from Peloton every once in a while. Friday Another 3 mile run, and back to Peloton for a core class and an upper body class. I used 4 minutes run/30 seconds walk intervals for all my runs this week. With the heat and my achy hamstring (yes, still achy!) I’m really liking it. And crazily, my overall mile pace is still faster than continuous running. Saturday I started the day with a 2.5 mile run, and a short core class. Then, my husband needed his car, so I rode my bike to work! In light of the recent events, I took a longer, more scenic, and less traffic-y route. It would be a lovely ride, except, well…. see Florida September State Motto, above. I arrived at work drenched in sweat (of course I brought a change of clothes!) Riding the bike feels really good on my hamstring. I know, I know… I should do it more often. I had another ride home after work. So it’s Saturday- my car should be done, right? Oh no, the mechanic texted us that he has a pinched nerve in his neck and has to see a “specialist.” Ah, well, we can’t expect him to work on the car in that condition! Now, the car “might” be ready Tuesday. I give up. Sunday On tap for today…. somehow I only did one lower body strength workout last week, so that’s the plan at some point. There will also be waffle eating and football watching, obviously- it’s Sunday! If you cycle, are you concerned about cars? – Honestly, it’s one of the reasons I don’t ride more often- I’m afraid of being hit.
More Reading and Eating
Ah, so many good meals and books lately! Great reading and eating make life so much more fun, right? Let’s start with some meals… The first pumpkin waffles of Pumpkin Palooza! The recipe is from Nora Cooks. Sometimes I replace part of the liquid with coffee to make them into pumpkin latte waffles- but I didn’t have any coffee this time. Still so good! This was the first official dinner of Pumpkin Palooza- Pumpkin Sage Pasta from Julie’s Kitchenette. I sauteed and sliced up a Beyond sausage to go in my husband’s portion, but I don’t like sausage, even if it’s vegan. We loved this dinner. I know this may come as a surprise, but I don’t spend the month of September eating only pumpkin. I got this recipe for Cashew Tofu from Birchwood Pie. It is CRAZY GOOD. The tofu cubes are tossed with oil, soy sauce, and corn starch and then baked. Then you add them to the stir fry. It’s already delicious but adding cashews to any stir fry really kicks it up a notch. Okay, enough of the low-quality food pictures. Let’s talk about books! This was recommended to me by The Time For Change. She described it as an antidote to the “I finished Harry Potter and now my reading life has no meaning” dilemma. Assassin’s Apprentice is the first book of an epic 16-book fantasy series, and I loved it. The magic in this world is woven into the story in a subtle and fascinating way. Of course it’s completely different than Harry Potter, but I’m excited to continue on and become more engrossed in the world. But first, I had a couple other projects… I had such an odd relationship with Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks. I read the first chapter and loved it so much, I wrote an entire blog post about it. Then I put it down and forgot about it for a few weeks. I picked it back up and read a couple more chapters, loved them, then put it down again. Finally, after months of renewing it, the library decided they wanted their book back, so I quickly read the last few chapters before returning it. And I loved them! I was mad I had to rush through them. Now I want to check it out again- or maybe this is a book I should just buy. Speaking of which… I went to Barnes and Noble and bought this the day it came out- I never do that, but I love this series so much (J.K. Rowling aka “Robert Galbraith” is still my favorite author of all time.) This book is the sixth in the Cormoran Strike mystery series. It’s over 1000 pages (yay!) and I didn’t get it from the library because I didn’t want to rush through it- I assume because it’s new, the library wouldn’t let me renew it. I’ve settled down for many, many nights of happy reading. Do you like fantasy novels? – I didn’t use to, but after reading Harry Potter I’m liking the genre more and more. I know I’ve asked this before, but do you have a favorite author? – You can narrow it down to two or three if you want!