September Runfessions!
While I’m baffled and alarmed that it’s already the LAST FRIDAY OF SEPTEMBER (WHAT???), that does mean I’m joining Marcia for her monthly Runfessions! Let’s just see what I might have to runfess and confess this time… First of all, I’ll runfess that it’s “Angry Running Season” here in Florida. Summer is what it is- it’s hot everywhere. But by late September everyone else is talking about the chill in the air and leaves changing colors. Here, it’s hot, muggy… and rainy. I think it’s rained every day this month, and when it rains here in September, instead of cooling things down it somehow makes everything even more muggy and steamy. It’s a TERRIBLE month for running! As much as I want to complain about the dark mornings, I’ll runfess that it’s the only “comfortable” time of day to run. The one thing we do right in Florida, though, is AC. You will never be hot inside! As a matter of fact, it’s usually so cold you need a sweatshirt. The place I appreciate the icy cold AC the most is the gym. I’ve been there several times this week. I’ll runfess that I haven’t run since Saturday. I wanted to give my cranky hamstring a good rest, so I’ve been walking and getting on the Stairmaster. I’ve also had two lower body strength days this week! But I runfess that I continue to neglect my upper body… sigh. I just can’t seem to make myself care. Lastly, I’ll confess that I really made my life harder by getting a third cat! Kittens are… rambunctious. The other day my daughter asked where the cats were. I answered “Well, Muffin is in the living room, and Foxy-” we suddenly heard a crash from another room- “er, wherever that crash came from is where Foxy is.” He is into EVERYTHING. I know he’ll settle down as he gets older, but right now… sheesh. Meanwhile, Muffin is completely better except that she still can’t meow! I feel like we need to give her some sort of tool, like a horn to honk so she can let us know when she needs something. Because she can’t talk, we’ve been referring to her as “Harpo.” This of course makes Charlotte “Groucho” and I guess Foxy is “Zeppo”? Do you have any silly nicknames for your pets?- I frequently refer to Foxy as “Mr. Fox” or “Baby”, since he’s the baby of our family. Give me a good reason to work on my upper body strength (I need motivation!) Do NOT tell me about your weather! – I refuse to listen.
Wednesday Weirdness
Oh hi there! Let’s get the weirdness started with a book I just finished: This was a unique spin on a classic murder mystery. It was recommended by Meredith on Currently Reading podcast, and she compared it to Anthony Horowitz’s mysteries. The unusual thing about this book is that the author regularly breaks the fourth wall, addressing the reader directly, talking about classic murder tropes and the history of the genre. I liked it! It was a good mystery with lots of promise, and I liked the asides from the author… UNTIL THE END. This was the third time in one month where I had to google “What happened at the end of…” What is going on? Are super confusing endings a new fad??? Anyway… the ending made a lot of people angry. I had to think about it for a little, but I decided I liked it. It was definitely not what I expected, and that’s something… right? Moving along. Muffin seems to have recovered completely from her illness, although she still can’t meow (that’s kind of weird, right?) As a matter of fact, she’s recovered so much that she seems to think she’s owed a week’s worth of meals that she missed, and is begging for food constantly. Actually, we were kind of hoping this would set off a weight loss journey for her. Now- we never, ever fat shame the cats, but let’s just say Muffin could live off the fat of the land for quite a while. She’s perfect exactly the way she is, but for health reasons it would be good if she lost just a little weight. Let’s talk about my daughter, Angie. I have a new nickname for her- she and her friends are very amused that in a show they watch, there’s a character named “Angie Fierce.” That is SO FUNNY, and well, it’s perfect. I mean, if the character were named “Angie Sweet” well… let’s just say it wouldn’t fit at all. Anyway, Angie Fierce has grown out her bleach and color-damaged hair, and is ready to start all over again with hot pink. She’s lived with plain old brown long enough, I guess. Not sure if the hair will be dyed before or after Homecoming, which is this weekend. Updates to come! Anything weird going on with you lately? Top photo by Dan Parlante on Unsplash
Leaning Into the Little Things
After a couple weeks of feeling overwhelmed by normal and abnormal (i.e. a sick cat) life stresses, I felt a glimmer of joy return this weekend. It’s the little things, right? Here are a few things making me happy right now: Oh yes, seasonal creamer!!! This definitely puts me in a holiday frame of mind, because I only get the seasonal flavors. I think I may have mentioned (ha ha, once or twice) my love for Earl Grey tea- but once a week, on Saturday mornings, I drink plain black tea and add this creamer. I would get sick of it every day, so I keep it to a once a week treat. Windows open! Okay- it’s not actually cool enough to open windows yet. But we’ve been opening the bedroom window for a little each day so Muffin has something fun to do while she convalesces. Eventually the warm, muggy air is too much and we close it- but it’s reminding me that REAL windows open season is coming! Yum! I had a beer for the first time since May. Not gonna lie- it was about 100% better than that non-alcoholic crap. I drank this while watching football on Saturday night, and enjoyed every single sip. Muffin’s new food! Ahem. The best theory we’ve been able to come up with about what happened to her is that she had some sort of infection that affected her throat. She definitely wants to eat now, but can only tolerate creamy foods, so she gets Churu treats and chicken baby food. The reason we think her throat was sore/irritated is that she has lost her voice! She looks at me and tries to meow but nothing comes out (it’s actually very cute). We’re not too worried anymore- in every other way she seems normal. She’s hungry, affectionate, and luckily she IS able to hiss at Foxy- I mean, lucky for her, not him. We assume she’ll eventually make a full vocal recovery. We’re certainly not taking her back to the vet, since they charged us $500 and failed to pick up on the fact that anything was wrong with her. Sheesh. A good book! After I finished and loved Death of the Author, I read two mysteries that were kind of meh. I started to think “maybe I just don’t like mysteries anymore!” and that would be a sad state of affairs. Luckily I’m really enjoying this one (more coming up tomorrow). Life is just so much better with a good book, right? What little things are making you happy right now?
Weekly Rundown- It Was a Dark and Stormy Week…
Well- not entirely. We still had our Florida sunshine, but it rained a lot, and I had some dark runs. My mind was dark and stormy for the first part of the week, but things are better now. I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for this Weekly Rundown! Let’s get into it… Sunday 10 mile run! I started in the dark and then got on the trail when the sun came up. I tried out a Ucan gel on this run, and… meh. For whatever reason, I didn’t feel great from the very beginning. I think it was just one of those days, and although I didn’t feel good, I did have the energy to complete the run- so maybe that was the gel kicking in. I’ll definitely try Ucan again on another run. Monday Leg day! I did all my hip stability exercises, and then hit the gym for squats and core. Tuesday 4 mile run… and I started to notice my left hamstring nagging at me. Nooooo! This is the exact same issue I had all of last winter and spring. Sigh. Later in the day I did Adriene’s Yoga For Lower Back Pain. Of all her videos that I’ve tried, this one is helping me the most. Wednesday UGH! I felt so awful this day- I slept horribly, was worried about our cat (still) and also worried about that hamstring. In the morning I did Caroline Girvan’s deadbug workout and hip stability exercises. Thursday Extra dark and early run this morning, because I thought I was going to have to drop our cat off at the vet before work. BUT! She must have gotten wind of that plan, because she started eating again, PHEW. Still not sure what was wrong with her, but as long as she’s eating I’m not going to worry (as much). Friday Earlier in the week, my daughter sent me a video of herself doing squats, and she PUTS ME TO SHAME. Fine- challenge accepted, Missy! Back to the gym for leg day #2. From now on, I’m hitting the gym twice a week to work on my squats. I also did core, and hip stability exercises. Saturday I shouldn’t have run, but I did- 3 miles and my hamstring is definitely angry. Darn. Later I did Adriene’s low back pain video (why am I not doing this every day???) and watched football. We no longer get the fancy (expensive) channels, so we watch whatever is on FOX or ABC. Baylor was on Fox this week! Sunday Sigh. On tap for the day… working for a few hours in the morning. Then, a trip to the gym to get on the Stairmaster. This coming week will include lots of strength, Stairmaster, and a few days off of running so the hamstring can calm down. How was your week? Was it dark and stormy? Have you ever tried Ucan? What did you think?