Thursday, October 29, 2015

Ready, but NOT

We woke up to that dirty little 4 letter word that starts with S the other day.  It was icky and called snow.  Yup, it happened in October this year.  I am ready for the weather meaning I have the gear but I am NOT ready for the months of endless cold that are to follow.  
 In my laundry room, which is adjacent to our garage door entrance, I store my running gear that is for as you head out the door.  Meaning hats, gloves, jackets and shoes.  My actually running clothes are in the upstairs linen closet--yup, a whole closet devoted to my running gear and the office closet devoted to Sparkle Skirts (spoiled in closet space and running gear).
 I have my reflective vests and bright jackets hanging on a hook over the laundry tub sink. My visors are clothes pinned to the front of my storage bins.  I have 3 bins.  One holds all of my gloves and mittens.  That's a lot of gloves and mittens but when you think about how I have fat ones, thin ones, warm ones and cool ones so I am set for all kinds of weather from fall to spring.
 Another bin holds all my hats and ear bands.  I have a lot of ear bands and it all depends on the weather what one I will wear.  They get tossed in the wash all the time so it is necessary to have many. When they become "tattered" they become throw away gear for a chilly morning at Disney.
 The last bin holds things I don't need on a daily basis in the winter or summer months.  This includes my hand held water bottle, head lamps, reflective slap bracelets and bandanas along with extra visors and hats.
 The last thing that is by the door is my shoe collection.  When my shoes get old I hang onto them for an especially rainy day when I don't want my good training shoes soaked.  I will also use an older but not "dead" pair of shoes for putting my yak trax over so the salt doesn't completely destroy a good pair I need for the marathon and a half.
While I am not mentally ready to admit that winter is on the way I am prepared with my running gear to keep getting out the door.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

weekly recap (it's about time)

I've been back running for a while now and things are going well.  I just started workouts in my training cycle as I prepare for Goofy race #11.  Last week I ran a total of 38 miles and 2 workouts plus 4 easy days.  I nailed my workouts too!  I was scheduled for my first "long run" but I felt cruddy so I bailed and just did some easy miles.

Sunday--the long run I bailed on and opted for an easy 4.
Monday--track workout where I did 7x600meters with 400 between and then wrapped up with a 400
Tuesday--day off from running
Wednesday-- a 5 mile tempo run in an average of 8:04 pace and a total of 7 miles for the day
Thursday--easy 4 miles
Friday--easy 8 miles
Saturday--long run of 8 miles and average of 8:32 pace

My paces are faster than the plan calls for but I know that will settle down as the miles pile up a bit more.  For now I am just generally tired but happy to be getting out for runs.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Dairy Free

So Critter has been kind of fussy after feedings and often spitting up curdled milk 30 minutes to hours after each feeding.  She sounded "wheezy"  a lot of the time like boogers were stuck in her throat.  Dr.Google to the rescue I found out that it *might* be a dairy intolerance/allergy.  Her symptoms fit and the only way to know for sure would be for me to eliminate dairy from my diet.  Yah, that sounds like fun for the girl who will easily drink 3 gallons of milk by herself in a week plus yogurt and string cheese daily.  I have very strong bones and the one time I ended up with a running stress fracture it was almost healed completely 1 week after not running when I finally was able to see the doctor.

Well, I bit the bullet and cut dairy from my diet and knew it could take up to 2 weeks for the protein in cows milk to be eliminated from my body completely and to see results in Critter.  If you are wondering a dairy allergy/intolerance is different than a lactose allergy/intolerance.  There is a protein in cow milk that is different than lactose so even if a food is lactose free it does not mean that it is dairy free.  Shopping has been interesting and I've become an expert label reader.  About 2 days later she was a happier baby and I haven't looked back.  She still gets a lot of mucus but I guess that is just her.  She is significantly less fussy after all feedings and will actually konk out after most of them in a matter of 15 minutes instead of fussing for an hour or more.
Has this been hard for me, YES!  Is it worth it?  YES!  And even better news I can try to add dairy back into my diet when she approaches 6 months and most likely she will have outgrown the intolerance.  If I were to continue eating dairy she might continue to have the intolerance/allergy for a long time or never outgrow it so it is a win/win in my book.  Well, other common allergies are nuts and wouldn't you know that she doesn't tolerate nuts well either.  I love me some PB sandwiches (I was eating 3-4 a day) but she would have puffy/red eyes and be awake for a while after I had one so I eliminated nuts as well.  I eat foods that may have traces of dairy or nuts, meaning they were processed on shared equipment because the intolerance isn't that bad but as a rule I try to not have any.
I never realized how much a mom is willing to do or give up for her own child(ren) until Critter.  Now I get it and can never say thank you enough to my own mom for everything she has done and sacrificed for me and continues to do and sacrifice.  (giving up free time to watch Critter so I can go running).

Monday, October 12, 2015

I Don't Love Every Minute

So many people have said, "love every minute" or, "enjoy every minute."  OK, but guess what.  I don't love every minute of being a mom.  Don't get me wrong, there are many moments that I love it and I wouldn't trade my little Critter for anything.  Here are some of those I don't love this moment parts of my day--and I highly doubt anyone with kids ever looks back at the "baby" stage and says, "give me some more of those minutes please!"
Being awake at 3am with Critter because she was hungry and then doesn't want to go back to sleep because she has the hiccups which then cause her to spit up all over me.  Can't exactly say that I love being out of my cozy warm bed where I was sleeping to find spit up dripping down my hand.  But I do love that look on her face other days at 3am when she is getting burped, wraps her hands around my wrist and squeezes (almost like a little hug) and kind of half smiles at me as she drifts off to sleep happy and content.
I am not a fan of witching hour, which is a lie because it lasts for hours.  Every evening for weeks it has lasted from about 6pm until 11:30--sometimes not ending until 1am!   It doesn't matter what I do she fusses, cries and acts like a spaz.  Totally need more spaz memories in my mind to remember fondly someday when I look back.  Oh, and wanting to eat but then screaming at me when I offer her food because she'd rather scream and cry real tears.  However, I will take more of the daytime smiles and endless snuggles on the couch where she naps happily on my chest.  Those little cooing noises when she is awake and we are chittering at each other and I get that Critter Chitter going.
What I am trying to say here is that there are many moments where I just really don't love being a mom.  It doesn't make me a bad person--it makes me human.  I know that someday I will look back at this time in my life and miss it. But I will probably be thinking of the little snuggles, toothless gum smiles and little "hugs" instead of the spit-up and sleeplessness. I may laugh at some major poopie diaper explosion someday but at the time I am changing it not so funny.  We have a way of forgetting some of the more "unpleasant" parts of life and remembering with great fondness the happy parts.  Just like with running I tend to forget the tough workouts where I feel like trash and remember the days where everything just felt perfect, like I could run forever.  Being a mommy is probably just like going for a run in many ways. I am going to have good days and bad days, where I struggle because "nothing" seems to be going well (even if there are small parts that are good--there always are) but the good days make it more than worth it.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Meeting an Olympian

Fleet Feet hosted an event where you could go for a short run--2 miles maybe? with an Olympian. I signed up and of course brought my mom and Critter.  Mom pushed Critter around in the stroller then entertained her in the car while I ran and listened to the Q & A session.  We met Nick Symmonds, 800 meter runner and creator of RunGum.  Let's just say he is super fast--running his 800 in the time it takes me to run a 400 during marathon training track workouts.  Yes, 1:42 is fast folks.  He invented RunGum during one of his breaks between seasons/training cycles while sitting around for a month doing nothing but some active recovery that involves fishing and hiking.
 It was a chilly evening but perfect for a run.  It had been raining almost all day so it was a welcome evening when the rain ended and we had a dry run.  Nick said he liked my pants.  Thank you Sparkle Skirts for making the amazing JellyBean Mudd Buster Capris that are my go to fall running gear.  Nick is sponsored by Brooks so I guess it is a good thing I also wore my Brooks shoes and vest.
After the run and before we headed inside for the Q & A session I was able to stop him for a quick photo with Critter--because everyone brings their 2 month old out for a run with an Olympian.  The other neat part of the event was the Monroe Milers were there--a group of kids that choose to train for a 5k and get together to run as a group twice a week.  Thank you Fleet Feet for hosting such a great event and I look forward to attending other events like this in the future if Critter is willing to continue to cooperate and mom is willing to continue to put up with my CraZy.