One Step at a Time

I’m glad it’s Friday. It has felt like a long week, with the kids back into school. I believe that school is partially designed to test the organizational skills of parents. Did you sign the library book form? The field trip form? Did you remember it’s Hot Lunch Day? But did you remember to send a snack? Is it a peanut-free snack? Did my child bring three tin cans for the science project? Did the other one bring his Show and Tell item, on an “Occupation of a Loved One” theme? Yikes! I swear, with just two kids in school presently, I spend at least 20 -30 minutes per night doing school “stuff”. But I love ‘em dearly.

Today was just that kind of day: errands, housecleaning, loose ends. No run in yet, but I did do about 45 minutes of walking to my errands. I decided that I wouldn’t drive to my errands, as they were all fairly “light” (ie. I wasn’t taking a DVD player in for a repair job or anything), and it was really nice. That fantastic pre-rain smell was in the air this morning, and this afternoon I hear the puddles forming. I love spring rain.

I bought kumquats today. It’s not usually on my grocery list, but I love to buy at least one “different”, ridiculously expensive unseasonal piece of produce when I go grocery shopping. My son can’t stop saying the name, and it’s one of the words that when you say it over and over again, it just sounds funnier. You guessed it, we don’t have cable…. lol.

So, I’m curious: what’s your favorite not-so-common fruit? Maybe you’ll inspire me for next week.

This is how my brain works, so in foresight, I’ve created a category for it. Here are thoughts from this morning’s run …

1. It smells like spring. Finally.
2. I love that crispness in the air.
3. My mouth still hurts from that horrible dental appointment yesterday.
4. People in the old days survived with little dental care … why can’t I??
5. Or did they just have really bad teeth?
6. I’m trying to remember if anyone on Little House on the Prairie had bad teeth.
7. I love my Forerunner. I’ve gone 3.44 k so far.
8. I just love knowing that, personally.
9. Melissa Gilbert had fantastic teeth. Makes no sense.
10. How does Mark do this barefoot??
11. I must not forget to sign Troy’s report card when I get home.
12. I must not look at my Forerunner every minute.
13. It’s really not safe.
14. I should name it, I suppose. Something more than “my buddy”.
15. I hope I can eat something besides mushy banana today.

Had dental work this morning, and the freezing wouldn’t take, and wouldn’t take, and ……. sigh. The dentist put so much freezing in my mouth that I feel like I am faceless. This was 3 hours ago, and I still can’t make a work call because it will sound like a prank. Might call it a day, and go and drool on all of the gym equipment ….

I hate getting dental work, have I mentioned that?

Me: I really …. (pant, pant) want to (pant, pant) do a 5k in June (big breath).

Tara: Absolutely we will. (cheerful smile) And then later in the summer, we’re going to do a 10 k.

Me: You’re …. (pant, pant)…. gonna do (gasp) …. a 10 k?

Tara: No, we’re going to do a 10 k. Together. Not until August or so. We have to have something to look forward to after the 5k! (cheerful smile with absolutely no laboured breathing.)

***
I’m not beating myself up at all; Tara really has a fitness level that I aspire to. She also has a love of the morning hours that I hope is contagious … she wakes up raring to go. I, bleary-eyed, take a bit to warm up. By the end of our hour together this morning, we were all laughs and chat, and yes, I was able to breathe. Awesome time.

In other breaking news, I have weaned myself down to one Diet Coke every second day, and really haven’t made a whole lot of other changes to my diet / exercise … and I’ve lost 4 lbs this week. I’m drinking loads of water to compensate, and I’m really thinking that’s a big key I was neglecting.

I’m very, very happy, because I’ve finally found someone to run with. She’s a neighbour of mine, and she’s very blog-phobic, so I’ll call her Tara. (Names have been changed to protect the innocent, ‘n’ all that…)

This is a big answer to prayer for me, as I’ve been hoping to find a running partner (in the middle of all of the negativity with some people in my life, that I was writing about earlier.) Tara is an experienced runner, and a young mom too. She’s a morning person, who faithfully gets in 35-40 k per week. Moreso, I love spending time with her as she’s a wise, wise soul. I’m really excited that she’s wanting to run together and help me gain more running experience.

We went out yesterday morning and this morning, and I have to say, it was FABULOUS. She’s very supportive and very motivating … and I definitely need the motivation to get up at 5:30 a.m. to run!!

“You can’t expect to hit the jackpot if you don’t put a few nickels in the machine.”

Happy Sunday, and thanks for the supportive comments!

Hubby is on night shift, and I didn’t get my act together in time to rent a chick flick, so here I am.

Haven’t sorted out the race deal yet. My friend would like me to walk a 10k with her in June, which sounds good to me. The goal remains, though, to run a 5k this summer.

Okay, enough small talk.

Does anyone else have anyone in their lives who tries to “sabotage” or rain on your parade?? When I initially started losing the post-baby weight, I had a lot of difficulty with one friend of mine who is very overweight. It was very textbook-ish, as we went through a lot of emotions about this together, and I’m sure we’ll continue to do that. She is able to talk fairly openly with me about her feelings, though, and I think we’ve come out OK. Another person in my life is a different story. She is so negative about me running … and so very verbal about that … that today I had to declare the topic off-limits. No more. She goes on and on about how running is really for elite athletes (she’s never jogged a meter in her life … (yep, I said “meter” just for Jon…. ) I’ve had to set boundaries in the past with her, but today this had to be addressed. I’m getting better at confronting these things. Surprising myself these days, generally-harmony-loving me.

When I think about the reasons why I wanted to blog, I think that it’s the support that’s really key. I grin because I’m a new runner full of questions and queries, and I can celebrate small successes and gain support from an experienced and empathetic circle of people. That’s huge. I certainly am blessed with other supportive friends and family members … but the RBF really fills a need for me in that sense. I’m surprised at how early I’ve recognized that in my blogging experience.

Okay, laundry is calling.

… I would start everyday like I did today. Got in 5.83 km this morning before 9 a.m.. Morning-cool, and sunny and bright … with that faint hint of spring in the air. Love that!

Took my son on his bike with me, and he had a huge wipeout on an iced-over puddle. He flew in the air for a few feet, and the bike then landed on him. He’s pretty bruised up, but he did want to ride home. Kids recover quickly: he had no hesitation about going swimming with dad later this morning.

I’m suffering from my first ever bout of RSD. It’s painful and all-consuming. Race Scheduling Dilemma: eek! I was hoping to do a 5k Father’s Day race here in my town, but then I realized that weekend is full for us with a Mine Rescue competition of my husband’s. That weekend is always exhausting. Soooo … I’m stuck. Maybe I push it and try and do a Mother’s Day 5k? Why am I even asking this in my outside voice? Not one of you is going to comment and say, “Nahhhhh … don’t you push it … just take it easy … why don’t you wait until autumn???”

I think the Mother’s Day race is in support of Alzheimer’s, which is a dear cause to me with my work. Back to the Running Room site to look for a race…