Weekly Rundown- IT’S STARTED!!!
By “it,” of course I mean school! We’ve made it through an entire week, and even had our first football game. Switching to an earlier wakeup was tough, which meant that workouts were slightly compromised. BUT THERE WAS RUNNING, so all is well. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting. Let’s get into it! Sunday I walked .5 mile and then ran 2.5 miles. NO pain in my calf! Woohoo. I’m feeling encouraged but also afraid, so I’m increasing my distance very, very slowly. Monday First day of school! I counted, and as a mom I’ve now experienced 16 first days of school. Over the years, I have LEARNED a few things! Mainly- the first day is hard so don’t plan anything else big, like complicated workouts. I did the Caroline Girvan Deadbug Workout and my four hip stability exercises, and called it good. Tuesday I repeated the same run from Sunday- a .5 mile walk and then 2.5 miles of running. Again, no pain, hooray! I had big plans to do a strength workout after work, but ended up taking a nap instead. When I got up, I discovered that my daughter had also napped. No, no, no! I felt like we were trying to recover from jetlag, but doing it all wrong. We just can’t get the hang of the early wakeups yet. Wednesday Leg day at the gym! There were people using the main squat racks, but luckily there’s another rack I can use- it just doesn’t have the larger plates, which I like because it looks like I’m using more weight than I really am, ha ha. While I squatted my puny little plates, I could watch the people on the other squat racks, one of whom was a woman who was squatting a mind boggling amount of weight. I did my usual thing of envying her, wishing I were that strong, feeling inferior about my own strength. I finished my workout, showered, dressed, and then as I was walking out of the gym I could see the woman- who was already working out when I got there- was still there working. And I realized- THAT’S why she’s stronger than I am. I reminded me of Kae’s post from this week about matching your expectations to the energy you’re willing to give. The truth is, I’m kind of dedicated to strength training, but not really that much. That’s why I’m kind of strong but not super strong. This is all the energy I’m willing to spend on it right now, and I have to accept the outcome. Thursday I may not have squatted heavy weights, but I was VERY sore today. I ran 3 miles (woohoo!) and then did some planks and my piriformis exercises. At night, I went to the first high school football game! It was the earliest first game ever- usually we have a few weeks, but this was on the fourth day of school. Was the band ready? Well, let’s just say what they lacked in precision, they made up for in unbridled enthusiasm. It was really fun to watch them- even in the stands, they have all sorts of choreographed moves. Oh and our team won- great way to kick off the season. Friday All right. WHOSE stupid idea was it to have a football game on THURSDAY NIGHT??? Isn’t this hard enough? It’s like there’s some conspiracy to keep us from getting enough sleep. My legs were STILL sore from Wednesday’s workout! I did the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout, and an upper body workout from Sally McRae’s app. Saturday Will this leg soreness ever go away? I got out for a run and went 3.3 miles. I was going for 3.5 but towards the end I thought I felt a twinge in my calf- okay universe, I’m listening! I was in my neighborhood anyway so I stopped running immediately. At night my husband and I went out for an “end of summer” date (his school starts back with students tomorrow.) We got some delicious beers! I love IPAs so much, but I hardly ever drink anymore (sadly.) We also got delicious veggie burgers- fun night! Sunday On tap for today- leg day at the gym? I use a question mark because as I’m writing this (on Saturday night) my legs are still sore from Wednesday. But my son assures me that it’s okay to work out again if you’re still just a little bit sore, so I guess that’s what I’ll do. The week had some challenges, but was overall good! And I’m glad it’s over. The first week back is hard. How was your week? Did school start where you are? Do you have any areas of your life where your expectations don’t match the energy you’re willing to give?
Back to School Coffee Date
Oof. What a week! Monday was so painful that I needed a “double tea day” at Starbucks (tea plus a free refill.) Yes, we started school! Obviously we live in an “early” part of the country, and school started August 12. Growing up in Illinois, we always went back to school after Labor Day. My parents were both teachers, and there was kind of a collective family scream of “NOOOOOOO!” as Labor Day drew near. Now, my husband is a teacher, so the start of school affects him as well as my daughter, which means there’s a big shift for the whole family. My daughter was the only one excited to go back- my husband and I had to be dragged, kicking and screaming, back to the school year. At least that’s what it felt like when I set my alarm for 5:30 am on Sunday night. On the last day of school in May, I vowed that NO wakeups would start with a “5” for the entire summer, and I kept that vow. As the summer went on, I got up later and later, until by the end I was luxuriously sleeping until 7 or 7:30. This was only possible because, thanks to my calf, I wasn’t doing much running (sigh.) If you want to run in South Florida in the summer, you HAVE to get out early. But since I was either running very short distances, or not running at all, it didn’t really matter. I even went through a couple weeks where I saved my workout for after work. That was fine, because we didn’t have to worry about eating dinner at any special time. I realized that going to bed at midnight and getting up at 7:30 works much better for my body than going to bed at 10 and getting up at 5:30. Same hours of sleep, theoretically, but going to bed later and knowing I could get up later is more relaxing for me, and I slept much better. I love the IDEA of getting up super early, but the reality of it doesn’t work well for me. But, here we are. High school starts at 7:30, in spite of NUMEROUS studies showing that getting up that early is not good for teenager’s brains. A law has been passed in our area that high school has to start later, but it won’t go into effect until my daughter’s senior year (eye roll. Or, I guess better late than never?) The high school is only three miles away, but traffic is so horrendous the first couple weeks that we have to leave the house at 6:40. That gets her there pretty early, but if we leave ten minutes later we’ll sit in a gigantic car line for 20 minutes. Plus, after I drop her off, my daughter has to get in a long line to go through the metal detector. She gets VERY stressed out at the thought of being late, so 6:40 is our leave time. There is someone happy about the early mornings though: TGIF!!! What would you tell me over coffee? If you have kids, did they go back to school yet?
Reading and Eating (A Rant)
I’m in the middle of Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants and I love it!!! During my travel last week I read half the book, AND listened to TEN episodes of a podcast called The Rest is History. Four episodes on the murder of Franz Ferdinand, and then six episodes on The Road to the Great War. Between the book and the podcast, I was fully immersed in life in Europe before and during WWI. Since I’ve been back, I can’t seem to find large chunks of time to read, and it’s frustrating. I just want to sit down for a long afternoon and finish this book! Sigh… the first week of school is hard. Eating Okay, here’s the thing. I’ve come to the realization that I hate cooking dinner so much that I don’t want to do it anymore. Why do I hate it so much? GLAD YOU ASKED. It’s too much work to plan the meals, get all the ingredients, spend time cooking, and then spend more time cleaning up…. all for a meal that some of us don’t even like that much. It’s gone beyond “irksome”- it’s a colossal waste of time and energy. We just don’t all like the same thing. I want simpler meals, without white bread, pasta, or rice, with no sugar, and I don’t like plant-based “meats.” Over the summer, my son and husband took over some of the cooking, which was GREAT. But I didn’t feel like I could impose my demands on them, since they were the chefs, so I either made my own thing, or reluctantly ate a dinner that didn’t really agree with my “sensitive” digestive system. If I cooked, I either had to modify the meal to suit everyone else, or incur the wrath of the family (everyone is still trying to recover from the fried rice made with brown rice instead of white.) Even if I can manage to make something we’ll all eat, my daughter will- at best- declare that it’s “tolerable.” It’s incredibly unsatisfying. The new plan is this: on Sunday I’ll make a “regular” dinner (I already can’t even think what that will be, but I’ll figure it out one night a week.) I’ll also meal prep simple things like roasted vegetables, marinated tofu, rice, quinoa, some simple sauces, and I’ll have cans of beans and chickpeas on hand. Monday-Thursday, dinner will be bowls, made of anything people want from the prepped items. You don’t like quinoa? Fine, have white rice. Or pasta. You don’t like the tahini sauce? Take the peanut sauce instead. And if anyone wants something more elaborate, they can cook it and clean up after themselves. Friday will be takeout as always (thank God) and Saturday my husband can cook, or we can finish up anything left over from the week. If I can pull this off, it will save my sanity. I didn’t exactly get it started this week- again, the first week of school is so hard. But I’m making simple dinners, like Nora’s Easy Chickpea Curry (I doubled the recipe and we’ve already eaten it twice,) I have my eye on Nora’s Buddha Bowl and also the marinated tofu from her Poke Bowl. This weekend I’ll do the meal prep- again, nothing too complicated because I also don’t want to spend all day Sunday in the kitchen- and next week we’ll start our “easy bowl dinner” journey! Does anyone have any suggestions for EASY sauces that could go on a bowl? Who has read Fall of Giants?
Texas Fun
When I was planning the “Ultimate Waco Adventure” (the last road trip to Texas with my son) I imagined doing all sorts of new and exciting things. I even contemplated taking a day trip and exploring the surrounding area. Then I realized- I had two days to spend in Waco. Other than graduation (which will probably be a very quick trip) it will be my last time there. I decided to just hang out, relax, and soak it all in. One thing I really enjoyed was my long walk around the Baylor campus. There were parts of it I had never seen, and I figured now was the time! I read every plaque and examined every statue up close. Look at this- a Black man, who was also apparently disabled, graduated from a university in the south in 1967. There was also a statue of a Black woman who graduated the same year. I wonder what college was like for them. My son and I both LOVE iced tea (well, I love hot tea as well- I like all tea.) He was very excited to take me to HTeaO (top photo.) They have all sorts of tea- black, green, sweet, unsweet, flavored… you can sample any tea you want, and then make your own concoction. I made a combo of unsweet raspberry, unsweet peach, and some black tea sweetened with stevia. I LOVED it! Because we were there during “Tea Happy Hour,” both our (giant) teas together cost $3.30. We went there twice, and I would have gone again if I had been there longer. I already mentioned the bookstore I loved so much. This was a sign inside the store: On my other trips to Waco I sought out interesting places to run- trails and paths along the river. But I never really explored the area right around my son’s house. Instead of going toward campus, I decided to explore the other direction. After a couple of blocks it became very rural, and it was lovely. So, it wasn’t a trip full of amazing adventures- but I loved it. I got to spend time with my son in the town he calls “home” (for one more year.) I’m sad that it will all come to an end, but I feel like I really got to know Waco well. And… there will be new adventures ahead! Have you ever been to Texas? – In addition to Waco, I’ve visited Austin, and ahem, spent the night in Houston. Do you like iced tea? Sweetened or unsweetened? – I usually like plain, unsweet black tea, but the tea I had in Waco was so good!