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Weekly Rundown- IT’S TIME!

Hey, guess what- it’s pumpkin time!  September 1st is the official start of Pumpkin Palooza, a festival celebrated by… well, very few.  But those of us who celebrate, do it very enthusiastically.  Light your pumpkin-scented candle and let’s get into the Weekly Rundown!  Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting.

Monday

I started the week with an upper body workout from Sally McRae’s app, and followed that with Caroline Girvan’s deadbug workout.

After work I went to my sports chiropractor for the second treatment on my calf.  He did some scraping, and ART.  He suggested waiting a couple days to let the soreness from the treatment subside, then run on Thursday.  Okay!

Tuesday

45 minute pool run!  I think this might have been my least favorite pool run ever.  It rained, and also with about 20 minutes to go my flotation belt broke.  I finished the workout awkwardly holding the belt under my arms.

Oh, and it was dark and creepy.

Later in the day I did my hip stability exercises.

Wednesday

Gym day!  I did 20 minutes on the Stairmaster, then did a hard leg day, plus bench press and abs.  I was definitely feeling down before this workout but felt MUCH better afterwards.

What could be more exciting than a shot of my favorite ab machine?

Thursday

Running day, finally!  I walked one mile and ran two.  No pain in my calf, but that doesn’t mean anything.  I usually have no pain the first run back.  But I’ll take a pain-free run any day!

Yay!

Friday

Full body strength- hip stability, upper body (Sally McRae app) and core (Caroline Girvan.)

After work I had another ART treatment on my calf.  It was painful but productive!  He suggested that, for now, I run every third day- okay, fine.  Any running is better than no running.

Saturday

Off- except that, at my daughter’s request, I got out our pull up bar and did some dead hangs.  Funny how hard those are now!  Am I going to once again start doing dead hangs and negatives, pretending that I’m working my way up to an actual pull up?  We’ll see.

At night, WOO HOO!  The first Baylor game!

We have an exciting new quarterback, and won 45-3.  Perfect way to start the season!

Sunday

On tap for today- well, it’s the third day so I get to RUN!!!  After that, the first pumpkin waffles of the season, and taking out my fall decor.  Don’t try to rain on my parade by telling me it’s too early- school has started, football is in full swing, and it’s September.  Pumpkin time!

I’m still working on my blog issue- please scroll waaaay down to leave a comment (I don’t know why this happened, grr!)

Do you follow college football?

Too early for fall, or are you ready?

Top photo by Dave Adamson on Unsplash

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Weekly Rundown- Everything is Awesome!

I don’t want to say this injury is behind me, because that would be tempting fate a little too much.  But let’s just say “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie has been running through my head, and life seems good!  I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for this Weekly Rundown.  Here’s how it all played out… Sunday I walked one mile and ran 3. Everything felt good! Monday I did lower body strength at home, including single leg exercises and squats.  One of the (few) things I’m proud of from my work this summer is the progress I made in the one leg sit-to-stand.  It’s one of the foundation exercises on Sally McRae’s app and also one of the hip stability exercises from Brad Beer’s book.  You start sitting on a chair or bench, and stand up using one leg, then sit back down, stand up again, etc. only on one leg.  When I first started I could only do five reps on each leg- now I can do 36 reps!!!  At least something has improved. I also did Caroline Girvan’s deadbug workout..  I’m really tired of it by now! Tuesday I walked 3 miles… … and then did a different core workout!  I did Caroline Girvan’s Standing Abs Workout, and I liked it.  At least, I liked doing something different. Wednesday Again, I walked one mile and ran 3.  Still feeling good! Thursday I did my single leg exercises, and another core workout.  This one Engie recommended, MadFit Standing Core Workout..  I liked this one too!  Then I had time for 20 minutes of walking. At night we watched the Dolphins game, which was a complete fiasco.  We lost, and our quarterback got ANOTHER CONCUSSION.  The poor guy will be out for… ever?  The rest of the season?  I feel really bad for him, and now our season is a shambles after only the second game. Friday Gym day!  It was a very squat-focused workout, because I skipped deadlifts.  My low back is nagging at me again, and deadlifts sadly make it worse.  After squats and Bulgarian split squats I did some core (abs and low back machines.) At night I planned to go to our high school football game, but it rained so much that the band couldn’t play (so I didn’t go.)  They did manage to play in the rain and our team won!  This was our homecoming, and last year’s homecoming was completely rained out.  September outdoor events just shouldn’t be a thing in South Florida. Saturday This was a big day- I walked one mile and ran 4!!!  I’m getting there! At night we watched the Baylor game.  FINALLY.  A game where it didn’t rain, no one got injured, and we WON!  At least the football week ended on a high note. Sunday Off!  Sleeping in and waffles will be involved (obviously.) So, it was a good week.  Moving forward, I’m going to cautiously try running every other day.  Running every third day was great to get me back from this injury, but I can’t do that forever! How was your week?  Were there any moments where you sang “Everything is Awesome?” Top photo by Stainless Images on Unsplash

Friday Coffee Date!

Hey, it’s Friday!  Pour yourself a beverage in your favorite fall mug (wait- you do have one, right?) and join me. Let’s talk about the weekend!  Tonight is another high school football game, and I will be there.  The last two weeks have been away games, so I’ve missed going.  But you know what that means- it’s time for Homecoming!  My daughter decided to go to the dance with a group of friends, and we started thinking about what she would wear.  But let’s back up for a moment… The high school concert band uniform is tuxes for the boys and long black dresses for girls.  When my daughter was a freshman last year, she said she would prefer to wear a tux. Now, I wasn’t entirely opposed to this, but I just preferred that she wear a dress… like all the other girls?  I told her that whatever she decided to do was fine, but there’s a reason boys usually wear suits and girls usually wear dresses.  Girls are more curvy, so dresses flatter them more.  My daughter is very curvy, and I thought a tux would just make her look kind of big all over. She decided to wear the dress, and I thought she looked lovely!  Then I was telling my friend about how well I handled that situation, and she thought I was VERY WRONG.  Why, she asked, did it matter how she looked?  Why did I make that the most important thing? Er- good question.  When it was time for New Year’s, my daughter wanted to wear a suit to the party.  I agreed immediately, and she actually looked kind of cute (not that it mattered!) Later I asked how she liked wearing the suit, and she said “I loved it.  I felt really confident.”  Okay then. Back to Homecoming!  My daughter said she wanted to wear a suit, and we got to work on her outfit (I was tasked with finding her some new pants, which was surprisingly hard.) Then yesterday she went to the mall to help her friend find a dress, and came home with… a dress, which she is now wearing to Homecoming. You guys, I can’t keep up!  Girls are so hard!!!  Boys are so. much. easier. Anyway, while my daughter is at the dance on Saturday night, my husband and I will be watching the Baylor game!  I have a fun fall-themed dinner planned, with some new things to sample from Trader Joe’s. One last thing- I’ve submitted my request for postponement of jury duty.  Weirdly, the request had to be submitted in writing, and by that I mean I had to write a letter and mail it through the U.S. postal service.  When was the last time you did that? I was so confused.  I couldn’t even really remember how to do it.  When I printed out my letter, my husband looked at it and said “You didn’t leave room for your signature.”  Oh yeah- I totally forgot.  Then I had to find an envelope and a stamp, and take it to the mailbox… I mean, don’t we have more modern methods of communication nowadays?  Anyway, I hope it gets there, and I hope I get my postponement (actually, I’m hoping they forget all about me, but if worst comes to worst I’ll take a postponement.) That’s it for this week! When was the last time you mailed a letter?  I don’t mean a greeting card or postcard, but like an official letter?   Do you think I was wrong to encourage my daughter to wear a dress?  How much does appearance matter? What are your plans for the weekend? Top photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Reading and Eating

I finished Winter of the World, which will from now on be referred to simply as WOW.  It was so, so good, and I’m getting ready to start the third book in the trilogy!  It starts in 1961, where the second book left off. But let’s go back to last week- I had my trip to the used bookstore.  It was everything I hoped it would be (look away, Engie!  I’ve discovered that Engie does NOT like used bookstores!) As I hoped, I did leave with a stack of books. Some classic murder mysteries- I can never resist- and more Ken Follett.  I have no plans to read The Pillars of the Earth anytime soon, but I know I’ll read it eventually, and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get a used copy in good condition. Eating!  Once again, I did not do any meal prep on Sunday so we’re limping through the week.  The good news is, I think I’m training my husband and daughter to expect less and less in the dinner department.  I mean- we do eat.  It’s just not fancy. Sunday morning I made gluten-free pumpkin pancakes from Running on Real Food.  First, let’s look at a picture from the website: And here’s, ahem, mine. All that garnish aside, mine look really weird.  But they did taste good!  Chickpea flour is my new favorite flour.  By the way, if you’re making pumpkin baked good this fall, don’t forget the formula to make them really flavorful- double the amount of pumpkin spice, and add a pinch of cloves.  And whatever you do, do NOT forget the salt! What are you reading now? Top photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Getting Back on Track

I wrote in Sunday’s post that I’ve been feeling like my life is just a little off track.  Then I looked around my house and realized one of the reasons is that I’ve been half-assing my beloved Pumpkin Palooza.  I had some, but not all, of my fall decorations out, and then a summer-y wreath was lying on the table.  Furthermore, I hadn’t had one special meal or snack to celebrate the start of football season. This was all wrong!  I needed to rectify the situation right away.  I lit a fall candle… …and got out all the rest of my fall decorations while watching the first half of the Dolphins game.  At halftime I put together a little charcuterie board… …and then we watched the Dolphins come from behind to win the game.  Fall is back on track! Let’s move on to running.  SIGH.  So far, my calf seems to be better, but my race plans are in tatters.  Back in May, I signed up for a race on November 9th.  It’s a trail race, and you run as far as you can in a certain amount of time.  I chose the 12 hour option. Hahahahaha.  Even if everything goes perfectly from now on, I’ll have no business running a 12 hour race in two months.  I guess the good news is, it’s a 4.5 mile loop that you run over and over again.  I can go and just run a couple loops.  That would be kind of sad- but maybe less sad than not going at all?  I’ve already paid for the race so if I can run at all, I’ll probably go. Now let’s deal with this jury summons.  I know it’s our civic duty, but I think it’s unfair that it creates more of a financial hardship for some people than others.  Additionally, some people never get called for jury duty, and some people get called all the time!  Luckily I’ve come up with a great solution. My plan is, all registered voters would be required to submit a form every five years, indicating the time they would like to do their jury duty.  That way, people would be able to pick a time that works best with their work schedule, and have time in advance to arrange for childcare, etc. Of course, if everyone chose July of 2027 it would be a fiasco.  But I have solutions for that too!  People who are retired, independently wealthy, or who have a very flexible work schedule could volunteer to be “swing jurors,” willing to be called at any time.  There could be incentives for people who serve in months like December (which I’m guessing would be the least popular)- like if you sit on a jury in December, you’re exempt for the rest of your life. I’ll be submitting my request for a postponement- do you think I should include my detailed plan for an overhaul of the entire system?  Haha, that might get me excused permanently (“Don’t let this woman near the courthouse- she’s obviously a troublemaker!”) Anyway, I’m starting to feel a little better.  As long as I can continue to run and nothing else goes wrong, I think I’m back on track. How do you like my plan?  Would you volunteer to be a “swing juror?” Top photo by Redd F on Unsplash  

38 Responses

  2. Hooray for ART and a return to running.

    No it’s time for pumpkins. I’m ready. Not for football. Us open tennis.

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  3. ANd here I was going to complain about the Thanksgiving-themed products at the grocery store! (It was the turkey-shaped chocolates that I thought were way too soon).

    I hope the ART does the trick. I think the fact that it hurts indicates that it is doing something!

    P.S. The comment field seems to be where it should be.

    Reply

    1. Oh thanks Coco- you’re right, it looks better. But it’s only working because this is a longer post. Otherwise you have to scroll down past the recent posts written out in their entirety on the sidebar.
      And yes- even I will agree that it’s too soon for THANKSGIVING. Let’s start with fall and Halloween.

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  4. Glad to hear your calf is showing signs of improvement! I’m having lots of calf tightness and have been taking my theragun to them–ouch! I’m starting to have twinges of PF and we don’t want to go down that path.

    You know I’m a college football fan! On Wisconsin! Go Badgers!

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  5. Woo hoo for running every third day!!!

    I’ve had so many mornings like your pool run morning where everything went wrong, and it feels like the universe is telling you not to work out. The only thing you can do is laugh.

    I’m all for the start of pumpkin season! I love summer, but I’m ready to move on to fall…and then winter so that we can get summer back.

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    1. I felt like the universe was telling me that pool running is stupid. Okay, I’ll be happy to run on the roads again, universe!

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  6. Yay, glad for some potential calf progress! I’m sure it’s so tempting to rush the process but hopefully if you can follow his advice exactly, it will be the right thing overall.

    And also yay for pumpkin season! I also love love fall but usually don’t bust out all my fall decor QUITE this early in September. But I will be away for a conference for a week at the end of Sept and then another week with family in Mexico in October, so, I might need to start enjoying fall sooner than later this year. Don’t want to miss it!

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    1. Yes, Kae, do it soon! Get your fall things about before you go away for that conference! You definitely don’t want to miss it.

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  7. Ooh it does not feel like pumpkin season yet. I have a philosophical ban on anything pumpkin until October but you go ahead and enjoy! Fingers crossed for you that your calf treatment works and you continue to be pain free. That scraping is fun huh?

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  8. I hope the run goes well today! And happy fall to you! I am still holding onto summer but if I lived in FL I would be declaring the start of fall, too!!

    We do not follow college football. It doesn’t seem to be as big of a thing in the upper Midwest. We follow the Vikings and loosely follow the U of M Gophers. I went to a smaller school so it doesn’t have a big team to follow. I went to grad school at the U of M but don’t have an allegiance with them because it was so freaking expensive and I feel a little salty about that school!

    Reply

    1. I was never into college football until I had a son in college, and now I LOVE it! I actually like it more than the NFL (although of course I’ll watch that too.) Oh and I root for all Florida teams, or Texas teams (unless they’re playing Baylor) but I couldn’t care less about my own alma mater.

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  9. Yay for running! Even even 3rd day is something. I’m slightly injured right now and going crazy not running so I wish I were running again. That’s crazy about your flotation device! But amazing how you made it work by holding it. Nice job!

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  10. That’s a full week of excellent activity, some good tentative runs, and hopefully you had a great one today!
    And I think you fixed your blog issue?
    Bring on the pumpkins!!

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    1. The blog issue only looks like it was fixed because this is a longer post. It’s still showing every single word of the recent posts in the sidebar (WHY?) But I’m glad everything else is working.

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  12. I am SO ready for fall because it is my favourite season of the year. I honestly wish I could just live in September/October forever. I love the weather. I love the food. I love the new beginnings and routines.
    I’m glad you’re making progress with the calf. It must be so, so frustrating, but I’m incredibly proud of you for sticking with this and trying new things. You’ll get there eventually and I’m sure you’re learning more about your body and how it recovers throughout this process.
    That’s an incredible first game result!!!
    We start school on Thursday and I’m counting down the days. On one hand, I am SO ready for routine. On the other hand…I can’t believe it’s time for school to start. This summer positively whizzed by.

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    1. I agree Elisabeth! I wish we could just be in fall forever. Well- except that September-October are not great weather months down here. It’s still super hot and we have a lot of storms. Okay, I’ll vote for a perpetual November.

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  13. I remember my PT doing a LOT of scraping when I was seeing her (our “relationship” began almost a year ago, in October, and lasted a good eight months). This reminds me that I should get back to a better routine with my Theragun (why do we let those maintenance things slide when we start to feel good?). Of course, I’m a huge NCAA sports fan, and it’s been a long time since basketball ended, so I’m all about football!!!! Congrats to your Bears! My Hawks had a similar win (40-0), which is a great start, but these pre-season games can be pretty misleading…

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    1. Nope! I’m taking this first game as a sign that we’re going to have an AMAZING season!!!
      My relationship with the sports chiropractor has been on-again-off-again for at least ten years now. I always think I’m going to try something different but come crawling back eventually.

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  14. I’m so glad you’re back to running and hopefully it continues to be pain-free!

    I think September is acceptable to break out the fall decor and food, even though in AZ and FL it won’t feel like fall for quite awhile. At least we can pretend it’s fall while we’re enjoying our pumpkin things!

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    1. Yes, this is truly “pretend fall” for us. But if I waited for the weather to actually cool down, it would be winter and I would miss fall entirely. We wouldn’t want that!

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  15. Too early for fall here (it’s still so hot) but you do you! I know how much you love your pumpkin palooza! 🙂

    It sounds like you had a decent week and I hope the treatment and you taking it easy on the running will help your calf heal!

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  16. Hope this new treatment will help! Btw what is scraping? It sounds very painful to me but maybe the name of the treatment is just overly dramatic?
    I’m not into pumpkins but actually, despite this dreadful joke of a summer, I’m excited about autumn. There is something special about the autumn and the crisp fresh air. We’re going to Italy soon so we’ll get our share of real summer and after that I’ll be very ready for autumn walks.
    I wonder if I could do dead hangs. When we first got the pull-up bar in early 2023 I couldn’t even do that but oh how much lat and shoulder training I’ve done since then.

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    1. Suzanne, your lats and shoulders are so strong, dead hangs would be a piece of cake for you.
      “Scraping” is also called “graston” or in Chinese medicine, gua sha (or, at least it’s similar to gua sha.) Not sure if you’ve heard of either of those. Basically the practitioner has a little tool and actually scrapes the skin over the muscles, to promote blood flow. It’s not painful EXCEPT in the areas where you especially need it. Like with me there was an area in my calf that felt very “grainy” and he spent more time scraping there. It’s less painful than ART, though.

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  17. Yay! I am so glad you are back to running a little! That’s great news. I was just asking Lisa (because she is the PSL expert) why there are pumpkin coffees already in August! They start early; I guess they didn’t get your Sept 1 memo! Aside from.cycling, my only exercise is a 2-3 mile walk every couple of days to get groceries. I should probably do some YouTube strength workouts or maybe go for a short run from time to time, but the motivation just isn’t there!

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    1. Kyria, I think you’re good with just the cycling for now!
      I know- Starbucks rolled out their pumpkin drinks at least a week ago. I have no problem with that! Start as early as you want.

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  18. I was at a family function this weekend and football was on and I was SO CONFUSED. Like, it’s football time AGAIN? Didn’t we JUST HAVE IT? And it turns out that it’s back. *sigh* Bring back the Olympics is what I say.

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  19. It’s good to hear that you’ve gotten in two pain-free runs since the scraping. Fingers crossed your sports chiropractor is on to something.

    I’ve had so many blog issues lately that I don’t even know where to begin to fix them… 🙁

    And nope, it’s not too early to decorate for fall. It’s September after all!

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  20. I have had good luck with ART/scraping. I hope it helps you! It hurts though!!!

    I think September counts as fall, right? October is by far my favourite month of the year 🙂

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  21. I clicked through thinking, football season! and then it was pumpkinpalooza. LOL. I guess they go hand in hand… I haven’t heard anything about Baylor this year. Did they change conferences?? I can’t keep it straight anymore!
    I hope hope hope the scraping helps. It sounds like he found some trigger points so maybe working on those will help your chronic issues? Fingers crossed.

    Reply

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