The Stress Erasing Run

We have some serious family drama going down. I've been made POA over my dad, and it's a mess. I've spent the weekend researching sollutions and crying. I sobbed to my husband last night that I was so stressed, I didn't even know where to start.
This morning I started with a run. It was a six mile run with my runner partner/best friend/ therapist. Even though it was hot as hell, it was an amazing run. We ran the hilly six mile loop that is becoming our regular route. My quads were aching from the strength class on Thursday, or maybe it was just the stress planting in my legs. But I ran through it, griping most of the early miles until I settled into a comfortable pace. I came home, showered and again made the calls needed for my dad's affairs. Even though I had the same snaffus as I had the days prior, the day was so much smoother. I need to start every stressful day with a run. Good results follow.

The Offseason

Runners run for the love of running. It is a need that must be met. I feel this way which is why I can call myself a runner. The rub is that once I skip a few days of running, it's really easy to let running slide. It is a slippery slope. In the past three weeks I have run no more than 12 miles a week. That's two runs a week. I am not feeling much like a runner.
Being the awesome mom that I am, I am gloing to blame the kids. Raising kids and being a runner means that not only do you have to be a routine, but your kids do too. We are a busy family so I must schedule my runs or they won't happen. I've learned that if I don't run by 10AM, it's just not gonna happen. Family life is too hectic. Summer running is usually sporadic with all the trips and visitors, but once school is in session we are all forced into a routine. The regularity of waking early every morning, eating and getting dressed by 8 AM allows me the luxury of running at least four days a week. Ideally, I take my kids to the child watch at the Y Tuesday-Thursday and run either on the treadmill or on the trails near the Y. Then I run longer on the weekend when my mom can hang with the kids. Mr. Hilarious works an ungoldy amount of hours which include most nights and Saturdays. I could get up and run at 6AM before Mr. Hilarious leaves, but then I would have to go to bed at 9PM. When would I see Mr. Hilarious if I did that? It's out of sheer love of my husband that I don't wake up in the cold, pitch dark to run every morning. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
This amounts to three days at the child watch for my two youngest kids. I feel no guilt being a stay at home mom who uses day care an average of 3 hours a week. However, my kids rebel against it every chance they get. According to them, sitting in a room with a bunch of other kids, lots of toys, a TV, a jungle gym, and a computer for one hour is pure hell.
Now that school has started and my blister has healed, I am ready to start running 4 days a week. This morning I dress in my running clothes, drop off my daughter and head to the Y. My two year old starts crying when he recognizes the street to the Y, and my older son is crying by the time we get out of the car. I am bribing everything from gum to a trip to the zoo if they will just let me run for an hour. I tell them I am staying healthy so I don't have a heart attack. I tell them I am staying sane so I don't beat them. But they cry on and on. I pry them from my legs in the child watch room and the workers look at me with both sympathy for having to deal with them and hate for leaving two crying boys for them to deal.
My heart was pounding as I walked to the treadmill. I can't believe the nerve of those selfish kids! I just want one hour! If I wasn't so mad, I would've cried. It took one mile before I forgot about them. I listened to my upbeat tunes and felt strong as I ran five miles at 9:30 pace. I was so relaxed. I felt like a gazelle as I skipped back into the child watch. I beamed with love at my two boys building a block castle together. I was going to love on them all day. They looked and me and burst into tears, "I don't want to leave!" they wailed.

The Nuts

We are all nuts in my family and embrace it.
My oldest is my peanut. I think that is the most common nickname for a baby, and she was girlie and petite from the getgo. We heard, "she's such a little peanut" weekly. In reality she is in the 50th percentile for height and the 20th for weight, so she's pretty much your average size nine year old.

My son was 14 days late and born a beast. The little outfit I knitted for him to wear home was skin tight and never fit again. Our friends said we had a linebacker. I called him my walnut. Even though his genes caught up with him and he is now 50th in both height and weight, he is still so solid and tough he remains my walnut.

My baby was born 16 days late and even bigger than his older brother. At 9 and a half pounds he was at the top of the growth charts. I thought he'd be my brazilian nut, but by his first birthday, he had swung down the other end end of the chart. I don't worry because he is healthy, active and happy. He eats all day. When he is not sitting at the table, he is crying at the pantry door for more food. He scales counters and shelves rooting for anything to put in his mouth like a racoon. He will eat everything from raw veggies to sugar straight from the canister. Yet his pants constantly slide from his tiny bum. He is now two and a half and barely hanging onto the one percentile curve. I have had to rename the pinenut.

I was telling the pinenut about how I have three nuts, the peanut, the walnut and the pinenut. And he said "you are the almond". Oooo. Packed with goodness, slender, tan and exotic. How flattering!

My husband is not a nut. He's still Mr. Hilarious.

Ouch

Last week was week one of my turbo marathon training.

It's canceled!

Last Wednesday it was so hot and humid, I could feel the air clogging my lungs. I walked the last mile of a six mile run. But worse, I grew a sizeable blister on pinkie toe. I have always been a big fan on running socks and tell all my rookie runner friends they are worth the investment. This bit of knowledge was passed down from my running guru friends. Even though I wore non cotton socks on Wednesday, I still developed a blister. They were the cheaper Target brand so lesson learned. There is a difference. This makes me want to try barefoot running even more passionatly, but need to do more research before I jump into that crazy pool.

Thursday, I did what most avid, stupid runners do and ignored that blister. I ran indoors and did a strength class after. It was a great workout, despite the piercing pain from my pinkie. When I pulled off my sock, I saw the blister now covered my entire pinkie and another smaller blister was forming on the next toe. Putting on socks was excruciating. I debated popping it, but decided it was best to just take a break and wear flip flops. I did run again yesterday and today, six miles each. The blister popped and is nagging, but not unbearable.

Because I still have not put in a long run, I am rethinking the whole marathon in 10 (now 9) weeks. It's just not smart. I have been scouring the marathon directory for a marathon in November or December. It blows me away how many marathons there are. Now I do love to run and brag about conquering 26.2 miles, and that is the point. But after that, I need the swag. I don't want to pay $60-$80 and just get a cotton T shirt. This happened when I did an Olympic Length Tri last summer. I swore to only participate for a good cause or good swag. It seems to me that the Akron Marathon has the best offerings. All participants get a running jacket and a voucher for brand new Brooks shoes. Sweet! However, that marathon is in September.

Since the whole idea is to give myself more time to properly prepare, running in that one would be stupid. The other factor is distance and driving. The only close marathon to Indianapolis in late fall is in Bloomington, IN. I love Bloomington. It's absolutely gorgeous. And absolutely hilly. Indianapolis is as flat as it gets, so hills kinda scare me. Plus, I learned a valuable lesson in that tri last summer. Two lessons if you count that you should check the swag prizes before forking over the big bucks. The other is that it's good to know what you are getting yourself into. I bit off more than I could chew with that tri. My friend rode on a mountain bike because, well, we just didn't know better. She was so exhausted that she could barely finish the run. We weren't dead last, but I think there was just one guy behind us. Plus, they were out of drinks at the post race fuel tent. That's bad. So I need to know what I am getting into when trying a race. A hilly marathon just might not be in the books the fall. Maybe I'll have to be happy with running for the love of running and wait for the Indy marathon to roll around again next fall.

Marathon Ready in 10 weeks?

My summers are always hectic. With so many weekend camping trips, family reunions and vacations, my running schedule is sporadic, to put it kindly. The kids are home full time, and they give me such grief for dropping them at the child watch at the Y. You'd think that asking them to play with a few other kids in an indoor playground was like asking them to scrub their hardened pee that missed the bowl from the bathroom floor. The things I do for them without complaining deserves a few hours a week to run. I am mute to their whines, but do limit the child watch time to two or three days a week because summer is summer and we should spend the time doing summer things like play in the sprinkler and make homemade lemon aid. Okay, they just beg to watch a lot of TV and play the wii. I can only ignore their whining for so long before I give in. I never said I was super mom.

I had embraced not training for a race and instead enjoyed running for the love of running. However, now that my last out of town trip is over and our routine is taking more regular, I have the itch to train. The weather is starting to cool a bit and running feels great. Truthfully, besides the marathon I run everyday raising my kids, I have only ran one marathon and that was over four years ago. I call myself a runner, but I want to call myself a marathoner. I spent the day doing a little research and think I can be marathon ready in 10 weeks, in time for the Indianapolis Marathon in Lawrence. It's as hilly as Indianapolis gets, but familiar turf. I run parts of the course weekly because it's near my house. I plan to follow the Novice 1 training plan starting at week 8. I was so excited when I saw that today (Monday) is REST!! I am also going to add a strength day on Thursday because that's my routine now. I run three miles on a treadmill and then do an all strength class at the Y. Now I need to pressure my best friend and running partner to run the marathon too. She has said many times she is happy not training this summer, so I am not expecting her to jump aboard, but I am hoping she do many of the training runs with me.

Non-Running Couple

Yesterday I celebrated my 8th wedding anniversary. Ronan, my 5 year old woke us up with breakfast in bed. It was one bowl of rice krispies. He proudly handed me the bowl, then sheepishly looked at my husband and mumbled, "well, I, um, just made it for mom." It's so obvious he loves me more, and since I know it won't be like that always, I'm going to brag now.

It was some kind of crazy heat wave here in Indy so I skipped my run. Mr. Hilarious said, "well, I was hoping we could run together for our anniversary, but I guess it's just too hot for you."

He is not a runner. In fact he's never run more than mile in his life. Despite my pleading and begging and promises of how it will bring us closer, he refuses to run with me. I know some couples who both run. They swap advice and tips, spend their vacations and anniversaries jogging together. They push each other to new and higher goals. We are not a running a couple. But we are a great couple. To be fair, he didn't know he was marrying a runner. I only started running after my son Ronan was born. He's had to spend many long Saturdays alone with the kids while I run. Even though I would love to run with him, I kind of like having him cheering me on from the sidelines. When I ran the Flying Pig in 2002, he met me at mile 18 with a camera and a giant poster that said "run, mom, run". When I saw him again mile 26, I was so emotional, I started crying. I didn't think I'd see him until after the race and too see him standing on the median with our kids was so sweet. I stopped running and hugged him until he said "you aren't finished yet. You have to keep going."

Another bonus: he's a great running gear shopper. I'm a sale rack shopper so I buy mismatched pieces in funky colors. He splurges and gifts the best. The ultimate gift was for Christmas a few years ago. He bought an ipod nano with the nike mileage counter. Even though he doesn't understand the crazy need to run, he supports it, and that's huge. It also means that I have to let him go to marathon poker games with his buddies. My running addiction is a healthier, but when he wins, he does buy me cool running gear. It's a win/win.

Marathon of a vacation

I just returned from back to back family vacations. First, we spent a week with my in-laws in Portage IN for the bi annual family reunion. Four generations gathered in one home to eat, play cards, and sleep on air mattress. Because running reduces my stress level, I ran like Forest Gump.

We drove back to Indianapolis where I spend one day at home doing laundry, watering my plants and answering emails. Then I loaded the SUV with luggage and the three kids, left Mr. Hilarious (aka my husband), picked up my squid hunting sister (yes, she really does hunt the squid) and drove 12 hours to Fort Morgan, AL for the annual Kelly family beach vacation. This family reunion is unique in that men are not invited. 25 women and children cram into a house meant for far less people to "enjoy" a relaxing week at the beach. This year, it was a tar ball covered beach no less.

We have done this for the past 14 years, and I run almost every day just to get out of the madness. However, it is 105 degrees with a blazing hot sun so I usually on run 3 miles before I want to drown myself in the ocean. Even though we all love each other dearly and continue to make the brutal drive I have noticed we still complain the majority of the time and always about the same things.

1. When you want to go to bed, someone is yelling right outside your door.

2. You are woken up at the crack of dawn by someone yelling outside your door.

3. During happy nappy, someone is yelling right outside your door.

4. Because no one sleeps, everyone is testy.

5. Someone will always take your beach towel, leaving you soaking wet and toweless

6. If you are lucky enough to steal someone else's towel, you will undoubtably sit on the wet spot on the couch left by someone who had no towel.

7. There are never any bath towels

8. There are never any dish towels.

9. The milk is always warm. We don't know why, but these beach house fridges just can't get it done.

10. There is never enough food at dinner, even if you double the amount you think you need.

11. Even if you bring 3 bottles of sunscreen, someone will use it all by the second day.

12. People will always try to talk to you when want to read a book. If you hide in the bathroom, they will find you.

13. You have to share a double bed with at least three other people. It is worse if one or more of those people is a kid. They kick.

14. Someone will get stung by jelly on the fist day scaring everyone from the ocean the rest of the week.

15. If you aren't one of the first three awake, you have already missed the donettes.

So if any of these are deal breakers, this trip is not for you. Every year I say it is my last. Yet when I get home and look through my photos and videos and facebook all my sisters, aunties and cousins, I just think it looks like we had so much fun. So I will return and complain all next year.