Redemption of Lazy Sunday

Totally caved and ate more than one plate at the banquet last night.  Thankfully, the plates were pretty small and I just got a couple spoonfuls of my favorite things on the second one (and resisted most of the dessert table).  We all slept in a bit this morning since we went to the mass for scouts last night at 7 (and the boy went to the first half of the scout lock in).  But truthfully, it was after 3 when my husband came back from the two or three things he did today when finally got completely out of my jammies and robe.  Oops.  Oh, and there was a recliner nap in there too.

But my daughter wanted to go to the Y and my husband wanted my son to go with us (apparently he consumed a week's worth of calories over the evening between the banquet and pizza at the lockin).  So we all dressed and headed out.  No tennis courts available when we got there and the basketball courts were being used for a middle school club team volleyball practice and some elementary school basketball games.  So we took to the little track that goes around the two basketball courts (14 laps = mile).  The short distance makes it kind of tedious, but it wasn't too bad walking with my son (my daughter ran part of it and rested part of it).  We enjoyed half watching what was going on below.  Probably walked (with a couple laps of jogging) about 2.5-3 miles.  Then a tennis court was available so we spent another 45 min or so hitting some balls around (2 kids vs mom).  We got some movement and made up for a bit of our day of laziness.

Then Stacy came over about 8:45 and we did KenpoX for an hour.  It was sweating pretty good.  It isn't as crazy hard as some of the other stuff, but a good way to burn off a few more of the weekend's calories.

Tomorrow starts my month-long attempt to complete 140.6 miles.  I started figuring it up and I think the "run" will be the easiest as I could walk a mile every day and easily knock out the 26.2 (though I am going to try to do as much of it as a "run" as possible).  I've been seriously slacking on getting to the pool and I'm excited that this is going to "make" me get it done.  I'm planning on heading there tomorrow.  The biking is going to be hardest because I don't have the gear to do it indoors at home and will have to hit the Y to get in the mileage - and man it is a lot of mileage. 

Better get to bed.  Lunch making time in just 7 hours and lots to get done tomorrow. 

Run to Remember Sherry Arnold

You'd just about have to been living under a rock in the blogosphere to not know about today's Run to Remember Sherry Arnold - the Montana teacher, runner and cousin of awesome blogger Beth.  If you need to catch up, please go read this awesome post over at Shut Up and Run.  Otherwise, it will come as no surprise that I put in a few miles to remember this beautiful soul.


I thought about her all morning.  I thought about how awful the last month or so has been for her family and friends.  I thought about how the evil in this world can shake our faith to its core.  I thought about how fortunate we all are to get up every morning and return from each training session.  And I'll admit, I thought a little about how cold today was going to be (22° for a high).

As I thought about how to best to honor her memory and observe some moment of silence or prayer, the following verse popped right into my mind and I knew it was perfect:

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil;

for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." 

(Psalm 23:4)

I pray that Sherry wasn't fearful and was comforted as she passed from this world at the hands of evil.  That her family will be comforted as they continue the search for her body and try to make some kind of sense of this awful world.  And I prayed a bit for my own safety after being more than a little freaked out as I ran past a tennis shoe in the middle of the road.

As I made it back to the safety and warmth of my home, I said a short prayer of thanks and another for Sherry and her family.  It wasn't fast (around an hour), nor insanely long (3.29 mi), but it was a Run to Remember. 

On completely unrelated asides:

• Thursday night Stacy and I did the hour long P90X Stretch DVD.  It was ok.  Felt good to work out a few kinks, but weird not to sweat. 
• Punted workouts yesterday, but did check out road bike options (few) at the LBS where we got our kids' bikes (they had THREE).  Back to Columbia to drool up there instead.
• Tried wearing the compression top I got for Christmas as a base layer today and it sucks.  Win some, lose some.  It rolls up and was like wearing a bra with arm sleeves. 
• My last Blue and Gold Banquet tonight.  My Webelo will be a Boy Scout in March.  Will try not to go overboard on all the good food (it's a potluck).

Bonus

After I had a rather unproductive day, Stacy came over and kicked my butt yet again with her stash of P90X DVDs.  We decided to do the Cardio Intervals workout on the "Bonus" DVD.  It looks kind of old school and Tony H is a bit more campy/cheesey in this one, but we got a good sweat on and hopefully it offset a little of the snacking I did today and the big taco salad I ate for dinner.  Will need to foam roll in the morning.

We got a dusting of snow so the weather hasn't been great for biking.  I want the spring weather back!  I need to drag myself to the Y and get in some pedal time (not to mention the fact my inner shark probably is convinced I am having an affair with the road).  We'll see what tomorrow brings.  I really need to try to get some work done now that I have both kids back at school.

West Greenway Run

Today was mostly cloudy and cooler, but still mild for February so I didn't have to pile on too many clothes for a mid-morning run on the greenway.  Susan and I met at the Edgewood parking lot and headed towards the middle school on Fairgrounds.  We did 4.64 miles round trip with plenty of walking/talking mixed with some jogging.  It really is cheaper than therapy.  Forgot to look at my watch, but it took around an hour. 

Came home for a recovery hot dog with my boy.  Not the ideal post-workout lunch, but so be it.  That's the leftovers we had.  He did indeed have strep, but thankfully isn't feeling too awful and has just laid low today in front of the boob tube.  Back to school tomorrow buddy!  And back to getting some work done for me.  Been a slacker with all the sick kid stuff.

Super Bowl Binge

I could have equally titled this post "Ugly MMNW".  My eating has totally been slipping lately.  I haven't packed on too many pounds, but the scale was not particularly kind either.  This morning's naked weight was 175.8.  Considering how late I consumed a number of calories and how icky I felt after it, I should be pleased it wasn't worse.  The chili, hot dog, chips/dip, cupcake, meatballs, crab rangoon, etc, etc - they were just too much for my weak will.  I hate when I eat and I'm not even hungry.  I felt so overfull last night.  Thankfully, Stacy stayed after the game and we did some Just Dance 2 to burn off some of the yuck.  We both worked up a minor sweat with several of the fast songs.

My son is home sick today with a low grade fever and sore throat that I'm concerned could be strep (since it has been burning like wildfire through his school).  Going to take him to the doctor at 1:45 and pray that he doesn't miss too much school this week.  The sun is supposed to come out later and warm us up into the upper 40's/lower 50's.  I had hoped to go for a bike ride.  He can stay home by himself if needed or I can wait for my husband to get home from work.  In the meantime, I'll try to make some progress on my slides for Vegas.

But I Did It

I really wasn't feeling it today.  I stayed up a little too late last night, slept in this morning as it was raining and cool, and then puttered around the house with laundry and out to the grocery store to stock up for the party tomorrow.  But as I sat here, it seemed stupid to let a little drizzle ruin a 50° opportunity to get out and move.  But my spirit was also a little crushed by some thoughtless comments from my husband about how I don't push myself enough because I should've improved faster than I have.  Then again, I've been known to get out the door just to prove him wrong in the past so maybe he thought he was being helpful.

There was just barely enough time to get in 3-4 miles, shower and get ready for dinner out with my mother-in-law.  So I headed out into the damp, dark day and tried to find the motivation to run (ok, jog) more than I walked.  I had some tunes to help me along, but pain in my LAC (left ass cheek) and shins wasn't helping me along.  So I just tried to slog through it.  It wasn't pretty, but I got 3.78 miles done and I'll call that good for really not feeling like doing any (even if at 13:27 pace).  I may or may not have gone to dinner with damp hair.

Hump Day Run/Abs

After being up half the night with a daughter vomiting all over her bed (thank you - yes - 4 loads of laundry between midnight and 6 AM), I wasn't much feeling the love on the workout front even though the weather was pretty awesome again (50's).  Plus I have been falling behind on some work things so I had to suck it up and get a couple projects knocked out.  Thankfully, my husband was home today and could help out.  First we did the housework, then he ran some errands while I worked at home and said sick girly rested, then he stayed home while I took care of a couple of clients and then mother-in-law pinch hit until I could get home while he went to pick up our beef from the locker (our freezer is STOCKED!)

So when I was catching up with Facebook, etc and Stacy IM'd me to work out tonight I was like "Yep!  Need to do that!"  She came over about 8:30 with safety vests in hand and we headed out for a walk/run.  We did 3.5 miles!  Yay!  I was struggling a little at the end.  Legs were begging for some mercy.  So I got off my feet when we got home and did AbRipperX!  What fun! 

I made a list of some things I need to do tomorrow.  It looks like I'll be stuck at home with my sick daughter, but I have plenty to do.  I just feel so bad for her.  She is bummed about missing school.  Funny, her brother would KILL to miss.  Weather continues to be mild here so we'll see if I can get out after my husband gets home from work. 

I'm toying with the idea of doing CTER's virtual ironman (half?? whole??) and am trying to think through how I could get in all the workouts I'd need to do in the next four weeks (the last of which I'll be in Vegas though that might work in my favor weather-wise).  If the weather remains nice, it would help a lot.  But February in Missouri isn't usually super conducive to a lot of bike time and I still don't own a trainer (though I'm hoping an exercise bike would count).  I've been slacking at the pool so this would help nudge me to get those workouts done.  I also would hope this would help me kick into gear my training for the April duathlon and the St. Pat's 5K.  I just finished telling everyone this weekend how much I love virtual races.  How about the mother of all distances?  Spreading it over a month might be the only chance in hell I'd have of finishing it right now.  By tomorrow I want to put my money where my mouth is. 

Better get to bed.  Who knows how many times I'll have to be up before the sun peeks over the horizon.  Just 7 hours until I have to make my son's lunch and scoot him off to school.  Nighty night!