Weekly Rundown- We GET To
Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by for the Weekly Rundown, hosted as always by Kim and Deborah. This week my thoughts were constantly with SHU– in case you haven’t heard about it, she ran a race last Sunday and ended up in the hospital with a VERY serious medical condition (story here.) Thankfully- she is fine and home from the hospital. But the whole thing really shifted my perspective. Running is a privilege that could be taken away at any moment. I don’t HAVE to get up and run in the dark- I GET to. No more grumbling! Let’s see how the week went… Monday I started the week with a 4 mile run! i followed this run with some planks. Now that I’ve learned the world record for holding plank is 9 hours, 38 minutes, and 47 seconds, I’m inspired. (Actually, I’m kind of horrified at the thought of holding plank that long!) Tuesday It was a morning of various strength programs- first, the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout. Then I did my hip stability exercises, and finished with work on the pull up bar. Wednesday LONG RUN! This run felt better than last week’s run of 17 miles. My hips felt really tight in the beginning, but they felt better as the run went on. The only niggle was my left achilles- I must have stepped down funny on the trail, although I don’t remember it. Thursday My plan was to do a short, easy run today, but that achilles was nagging a little too much, so I opted for this instead: Guess what- it wasn’t that bad! I thought it was going to be a horrible slog, especially since I didn’t do many intervals (I was trying to mimic the effort of a slow, easy run.) But I’ve discovered the key to the Stairmaster: MUSIC. Not podcasts. I put on Abbey Road and listened to a good part of that album for a 40 minute climb. Friday I did the Caroline Girvan 4×4 Lower Abs Workout and then hip stability exercises again. I’m doing all the usual ones, plus a focus on piriformis, which I usually neglect. Saturday Our cat decided to start DST a day early by meowing loudly outside our bedroom door at 5 am (my alarm was set for 6.) Thanks a lot, Muffin! Eventually I made my way out for a 5 mile run. When I started, I felt that achilles a little, but it felt better and better as the run went on. I was really happy I opted for the Stairmaster on Thursday, and I won’t hesitate to make use of it again as much as I need to before my race in April. Sunday To ease the pain of turning the clocks ahead, I made this a rest day. Except while putting this post together, I realized that, other than hip stability exercises, I didn’t do lower body strength this week- how did that happen??? So I’ll be making my way to the gym at some point for a squat-focused workout. How was your week? Are you looking forward to some super dark mornings? (NO.)
March Coffee Date!
It’s March! March always seems like a hopeful month- maybe because it’s my birthday month, woohoo! On this first Friday of the month I’m linking up with Coco and Deborah for the ultimate coffee date. If we were having coffee (or, tea for me), the first thing I would tell you is, we have made our travel arrangements for my son’s COLLEGE GRADUATION in May. I know- how has it been four years??? It seems like just yesterday I was weeping in the parking lot of his freshman dorm. All year people have been asking what he’s doing next, and I say “He wants to go to grad school.” But now I can finally say, “HE IS GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL!” He’s been accepted at two of the schools he applied to, and one would be free. He’s still waiting to hear from a couple others (and one of those is his Very Top Choice) so no decisions have been made yet. But we know he WILL be going somewhere. Meanwhile, my daughter is chugging away in her sophomore year of high school. It’s a busy time of year, and this week has been especially crazy. She’s playing in the pit orchestra for the high school musical, and they have rehearsals every night (the show opens tonight!) On Wednesday, rehearsal went till 11 pm. WHAT. I mean- we get up at 5:30 am; school starts at 7:30. What kind of educational system is this, anyway? In an “unrelated” note, my daughter has started drinking coffee. I don’t even drink coffee! She brings cold brew to school in a thermos and drinks it throughout the day. I have a vague feeling this is not a good thing, and I suspect it will be confirmed when I read my new book: I haven’t started it yet (because I’m afraid) but I’m hoping that reading it will lead to a “lightning bolt moment” (as Gretchen Rubin says) that will make me take my sleep habits more seriously. The other reason I haven’t started it is I’m in the middle of this one: I love it! I wish I could go on a reading retreat and just read all day long. Think how much reading I could be doing if I just didn’t have to work (sigh.) That’s it for this week! Have you read either of these books? Do you drink coffee? Did you drink it as a teenager? Top photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Taking a Step Back
Over the weekend, our friend SHU had a very scary experience while running a race. Her story is here. She didn’t do anything wrong, and had no way of knowing she had this underlying condition. She got up that morning to run a race, and ended up in the hospital. This was a potentially life threatening situation, and we’re all so glad she’s okay. This could happen to any of us- probably not this specific condition- it’s quite rare- but any one of us could have our lives changed in an instant. Facing life or death situations makes our current political situation seem NOT QUITE as important. And… maybe it really will work out in the end. There are obvious drawbacks to thinking that way. We could look at Germany and say “Hey, that whole Nazi thing really worked itself out! It wasn’t such a big deal, in the larger scheme of things.” No, we have to care about what happens. But just for a day or two I’m taking a step back and appreciating the fact that my friends and family are alive and healthy. Top photo is the mug from my Secret Santa, Birchie!
My Winnie the Pooh Character… (and I Have QUESTIONS)
I finally took the Winnie the Pooh quiz that Kae and Elisabeth have been talking about, Which Winnie the Pooh Character Are You? And I got… Winnie the Pooh. My first reaction was- “Oh for GOD’S SAKE. This is even worse than when I took the Hogwarts quiz and was put into Hufflepuff! I mean, honestly… I know I’m starting to look a little like Winnie the Pooh… some of my shirts are fitting like his little red one… but, seriously???” Then I thought about a Winnie the Pooh book we used to read when my kids were little. Winnie wants to go on a picnic, but everyone keeps saying it’s going to rain (the sky is looking dark and ominous.) Winnie finally says “Rain isn’t rain until it falls from the sky in drops. Until then, we might as well have fun.” Okay, fine- I’ll be Winnie the Pooh. This all came up during Elisabeth’s FIG Collective month (Finding Joy in Gratitude.) I loved this month of gratitude, but I think I’m not alone in having some questions. How do we reconcile “joy” in our lives when so many really bad things are happening? I’m making my way through this book… …. and I just read a chapter called “You Can’t Care About Everything (On Staying Sane When the World’s a Mess)”. Burkeman writes that after the 2016 election, he started to notice people were “living inside the news.” The news had become more real to them than their friends, family, and careers. The oversimplified message of this chapter is: don’t do this. First of all… remember 2016? Remember how we thought things were really bad, but now it turns out those were actually the GOOD OLD DAYS??? I’m really struggling with this- I don’t want to “live inside the news.” But it’s so hard to find a balance- which issues do I choose to ignore, just throw up my hands and say “Well, I can’t care about everything!” Can I ignore all the news? I tried that, and it didn’t work. Can I just sort of care, but not too much? No, that doesn’t work either. Can I boycott Target and call it a day? Nope- that’s not quite enough. I guess I just haven’t figured out how I want to live right now. I know I spout off every now and then on the blog, but in real life I keep my head down, assuming that everyone’s an enemy until proven otherwise (remember I live in a red state- and he actually lives in my county.) I need to figure out how much to say and do, how much news to consume, and balance it all with living my life- BECAUSE EVERY DAY STILL COUNTS. What would Winnie the Pooh say? Probably something like… “oh, bother.” If you’ve got this all figured out… let me know!!!