Day 15 of 40 - I'm Falling In Love Again...
I'm falling in love with running again! Honestly, I don't even know if I have the right words to fit the emotions left over after yesterday's long run. I can't tell you the number times over the last few years that I have whined to The Hubby about not being able to run and telling him how much more I would appreciate it if I ever was able to again. I am holding true to those words. I will NOT take this for granted. I'm very lucky and blessed to have a second shot at something I love to do.
It's crazy how emotional I get with each hurdle I crash through this time around. Sure, I was proud of myself when I trained for my first half marathon. I was hitting distances and paces for the first time ever. It as a crazy, awesome experience and I'm proud of myself for sticking it out and conquering my goals along the way.
This time around it's so different. I feel like it's all brand new as I start over from ground zero. Not only that, but each accomplishment this time around seems so much bigger! Take something away for a while and apparently you develop a better appreciation for it once you have it back?!?
I'm kind of going about this post backward, but I'm just basically spilling everything that's in my head.
Sunday morning my best friend drove the 45 miles down to the cabin to run our long run together for our 10K training. The two runs prior had left me very nervous about running five miles this weekend and even signing up for the race. I was dreading a bad run.
The run ended up being so far from bad!! We ran for over an hour straight! I haven't run for the long since October 2013!!!
Seriously, how can you not love running when it looks like this all around you? Unfortunately, this isn't what my daily route looks like, but this was our absolutely perfect Sunday morning run! It was slightly hilly and a bit windy, which lent a bit of a challenge to the run, but we conquered both and kept on moving! This was definitely one of those runs where we hit the end and I couldn't wait to go on my next run!
We finished with zero pain for either one of us and kept a very steady pace given the additional challenge of the hilly route we ran. Now we just hope and pray that next Saturday goes just as well!
After the run it was time to refuel. I mentioned the Chipotle Chicken Bowls in my last post, so I wanted to share a pic of that. These are so good!! My running buddy can't have anything with gluten in it, so this was a perfect lunch for both of us to enjoy!
After lunch, we decided to entertain ourselves with our annual "girls shoot" that we do every spring. We put out targets and shoot my .22's at them. Always a good time and it was just another perfect addition to a great day!
Alright, now it's time to rewind!
Friday we headed down to the cabin right after work. I will say that while it was a very fun and relaxing weekend, it was not a great food weekend. I was not 100% on track and I was struggling, but I bounced right back this morning and haven't even had a craving for something naughty! So, Nana and I took the girls out for fish on Friday night. The only thing local to the area are bar/pub type restaurants, so you're getting greasy any way you look at it. It was tasty, but my body wasn't a fan later on! So bloated!
That night Abbycakes was crying that her throat hurt as she got ready for bed. One look at her throat told me she had strep throat, so I gave her some pain meds to get her through until we could get her to the walk-in clinic the next day.
Saturday was filled with doses of Children's Tylenol and Ibuprofen as we prepped to get her to town to be seen. She was a trooper though! Her temp was down when she got up, so we went to see the new Jungle Book movie with the girls since the weather was crummy and then took Abbycakes to the walk-in after. By the time we got there my poor peanut had a 103 fever and we had no clue! She was slightly cranky, but otherwise she didn't really act sick! Needless to say, the strep test came back positive AGAIN and we were off to pick up some anitbiotics and more pain meds for my peanut before heading back to the cabin.
We did make a quick detour on our way home to stop and see my niece and her boyfriend as they prepped for Grand March for her prom. She's a senior this year and is 18 today! She looked beautiful and the girls were excited to see their favorite big cousins!
The nasty bug my little critter had finally took over on the way home from taking pics and she passed out cold. That's a true sign that she's sick, because she never sleeps in the car!
Karate is a bit messy this week with Emmy Lou still in a wrist splint and some other events that are planned for this week, but the adults still have to go. We are in dire need of classes! Plus, I'm winding down the final week of my 10K training with the race on Saturday. I have a feeling May will be one of those months that goes by in the blink of an eye!
It's crazy how emotional I get with each hurdle I crash through this time around. Sure, I was proud of myself when I trained for my first half marathon. I was hitting distances and paces for the first time ever. It as a crazy, awesome experience and I'm proud of myself for sticking it out and conquering my goals along the way.
This time around it's so different. I feel like it's all brand new as I start over from ground zero. Not only that, but each accomplishment this time around seems so much bigger! Take something away for a while and apparently you develop a better appreciation for it once you have it back?!?
I'm kind of going about this post backward, but I'm just basically spilling everything that's in my head.
Sunday morning my best friend drove the 45 miles down to the cabin to run our long run together for our 10K training. The two runs prior had left me very nervous about running five miles this weekend and even signing up for the race. I was dreading a bad run.
The run ended up being so far from bad!! We ran for over an hour straight! I haven't run for the long since October 2013!!!
Seriously, how can you not love running when it looks like this all around you? Unfortunately, this isn't what my daily route looks like, but this was our absolutely perfect Sunday morning run! It was slightly hilly and a bit windy, which lent a bit of a challenge to the run, but we conquered both and kept on moving! This was definitely one of those runs where we hit the end and I couldn't wait to go on my next run!
We finished with zero pain for either one of us and kept a very steady pace given the additional challenge of the hilly route we ran. Now we just hope and pray that next Saturday goes just as well!
After the run it was time to refuel. I mentioned the Chipotle Chicken Bowls in my last post, so I wanted to share a pic of that. These are so good!! My running buddy can't have anything with gluten in it, so this was a perfect lunch for both of us to enjoy!
After lunch, we decided to entertain ourselves with our annual "girls shoot" that we do every spring. We put out targets and shoot my .22's at them. Always a good time and it was just another perfect addition to a great day!
Alright, now it's time to rewind!
Friday we headed down to the cabin right after work. I will say that while it was a very fun and relaxing weekend, it was not a great food weekend. I was not 100% on track and I was struggling, but I bounced right back this morning and haven't even had a craving for something naughty! So, Nana and I took the girls out for fish on Friday night. The only thing local to the area are bar/pub type restaurants, so you're getting greasy any way you look at it. It was tasty, but my body wasn't a fan later on! So bloated!
That night Abbycakes was crying that her throat hurt as she got ready for bed. One look at her throat told me she had strep throat, so I gave her some pain meds to get her through until we could get her to the walk-in clinic the next day.
Saturday was filled with doses of Children's Tylenol and Ibuprofen as we prepped to get her to town to be seen. She was a trooper though! Her temp was down when she got up, so we went to see the new Jungle Book movie with the girls since the weather was crummy and then took Abbycakes to the walk-in after. By the time we got there my poor peanut had a 103 fever and we had no clue! She was slightly cranky, but otherwise she didn't really act sick! Needless to say, the strep test came back positive AGAIN and we were off to pick up some anitbiotics and more pain meds for my peanut before heading back to the cabin.
We did make a quick detour on our way home to stop and see my niece and her boyfriend as they prepped for Grand March for her prom. She's a senior this year and is 18 today! She looked beautiful and the girls were excited to see their favorite big cousins!
The nasty bug my little critter had finally took over on the way home from taking pics and she passed out cold. That's a true sign that she's sick, because she never sleeps in the car!
Like I said, Sunday went much better! Abbycakes woke up fever free and said her throat was much better. Emmy Lou and Nana had a blast at church together. Nana teaches a Sunday school type class at church and Emmy Lou got to join in the fun and loved it! Bestie came out to play, we had an amazing run, the hot tub was perfect after our run and it was fun to get out and shoot for the first time this year.
We finally wrapped up our weekend with a little Yard Yahtzee (courtesy of Papa's mad creation skills) while Papa played with his tractor.
Nana showing us how it's done!
Emmy Lou's turn!
Abbycakes took home the win!
It really was the weekend I needed. Quiet, fun, relaxing, and just plain perfect!! The Hubby even made it down on Saturday since that was his day off!
But it was back to reality when we hit the city limits by home. There was a solid 20 degree drop in temp and I spent the evening washing dishes, kids and laundry... in that order! We managed to snuggle in for a little bit before bedtime for a nice wind down with a movie the girls picked out. I love nights like that. Everyone was in bed on time and I thoroughly enjoyed the silence before heading to bed myself a couple of hours later!
Yup! It was definitely the kind of weekend I needed!!
Now, onto this week. Our menu is set, The Hubby and I tag teamed some more Chipotle Chicken - he marinated and I cooked, diced and packaged them. We have two kiddos coming home today and two going off to their dad's for 3 out of the next 5 days, and karate and triathlon training schedules set. Bring on the busy week!
Here's this week's menu:
Monday - Grilled Pork Chops with Salad
Tuesday - Grilled Buffalo Chicken Breasts with Au Gratin Spaghetti Squash
Wednesday - Marinated Venison Chops with Brown Rice & Green Beans
Thursday - Chicken Enchiladas with Salad
Friday - TBD (I'm still planning this one since it's the night before the race)
Karate is a bit messy this week with Emmy Lou still in a wrist splint and some other events that are planned for this week, but the adults still have to go. We are in dire need of classes! Plus, I'm winding down the final week of my 10K training with the race on Saturday. I have a feeling May will be one of those months that goes by in the blink of an eye!
Comments
Post a Comment