Saturday, October 10, 2009
Race Report - Real Girls 6K
Hoooo boy, it's been a long time since I had one of these.
6K is a new distance for me, so I knew going in that I'd set a PR. I really had no goals for the race, other than to actually make it to the start, and hopefully also make it to the finish, preferably not last. Getting to the start, as always, is the hardest part of any race. Sami's streak of wonderful sleep came to a screeching halt last night, and The Supportive Husband and I were trading baby-soothing duties until goodness knows when. I think I got about 4 hours sleep, total. To add insult to injury, I had to pump pre-race. Oh, THAT'S why I've been holding off training till she weans. What a freakin' PITA.
I arrived pretty early, and sat in my car rockin' out to my iPod. It was quite peaceful, actually. I so rarely just sit and listen to music these days. When I finally got going, I spent some time stretching, especially my hips, which are still a little tight-feeling, even if I'm pain-free. I saw a few familiar faces, rolled my eyes at the "rah-rah" group photo (but participated anyway), and I was off.
The first good bit was all downhill to the river. Even though there weren't very many racers, maybe 150-200, the course was narrow, which penned me in a bit. This was actually a good thing, as it kept a lid on my speed for the first half-mile or so. The air by the river was cool and damp, but after the turnaround about 1.5 miles in, I headed back up the hill, with a balmy breeze in my face. My car thermometer read 74 when I arrived, which was a lot warmer than you'd expect around here for this time of year. Rain had been predicted, but it held off till after the race. I was secretly disappointed. I like running in the rain. It takes me out of my head a little bit.
At the water stop, I took a few sips of gatorade and a few sips of water to get the gatorade taste out of my mouth. This started a long portion of running on grass. Bumpy, uneven grass. The uphills actually felt really good. All that pushing 2 kids around in the buggy is really paying off. The downhills were just scary. I slowed to a walk on some of them to keep my footing.
And then, the chute! I didn't push to a full-on sprint, but I did pick it up a bit in the chute, and ended up crossing the finish at (I think) almost exactly 43 minutes. I had forgotten my watch, so until official results are posted, that's as close as I can get. At a pace of 11:32, that sounds about right. I was at a pretty comfortable pace the whole time, with a few walk breaks.
I honestly don't remember the last time I ran more than a mile or two without pushing the buggy, so it was a nice change of pace. I felt great afterward, and it reminded me why I put up with the 5:30am wakeups to do this thing. I'm really committed to training for the 10 miler, and then for the half a couple of weeks later. It's really daunting to think about right now, but I'm giving myself permission not to think about it until Sami is weaned.
6K is a new distance for me, so I knew going in that I'd set a PR. I really had no goals for the race, other than to actually make it to the start, and hopefully also make it to the finish, preferably not last. Getting to the start, as always, is the hardest part of any race. Sami's streak of wonderful sleep came to a screeching halt last night, and The Supportive Husband and I were trading baby-soothing duties until goodness knows when. I think I got about 4 hours sleep, total. To add insult to injury, I had to pump pre-race. Oh, THAT'S why I've been holding off training till she weans. What a freakin' PITA.
I arrived pretty early, and sat in my car rockin' out to my iPod. It was quite peaceful, actually. I so rarely just sit and listen to music these days. When I finally got going, I spent some time stretching, especially my hips, which are still a little tight-feeling, even if I'm pain-free. I saw a few familiar faces, rolled my eyes at the "rah-rah" group photo (but participated anyway), and I was off.
The first good bit was all downhill to the river. Even though there weren't very many racers, maybe 150-200, the course was narrow, which penned me in a bit. This was actually a good thing, as it kept a lid on my speed for the first half-mile or so. The air by the river was cool and damp, but after the turnaround about 1.5 miles in, I headed back up the hill, with a balmy breeze in my face. My car thermometer read 74 when I arrived, which was a lot warmer than you'd expect around here for this time of year. Rain had been predicted, but it held off till after the race. I was secretly disappointed. I like running in the rain. It takes me out of my head a little bit.
At the water stop, I took a few sips of gatorade and a few sips of water to get the gatorade taste out of my mouth. This started a long portion of running on grass. Bumpy, uneven grass. The uphills actually felt really good. All that pushing 2 kids around in the buggy is really paying off. The downhills were just scary. I slowed to a walk on some of them to keep my footing.
And then, the chute! I didn't push to a full-on sprint, but I did pick it up a bit in the chute, and ended up crossing the finish at (I think) almost exactly 43 minutes. I had forgotten my watch, so until official results are posted, that's as close as I can get. At a pace of 11:32, that sounds about right. I was at a pretty comfortable pace the whole time, with a few walk breaks.
I honestly don't remember the last time I ran more than a mile or two without pushing the buggy, so it was a nice change of pace. I felt great afterward, and it reminded me why I put up with the 5:30am wakeups to do this thing. I'm really committed to training for the 10 miler, and then for the half a couple of weeks later. It's really daunting to think about right now, but I'm giving myself permission not to think about it until Sami is weaned.
Sunday, October 04, 2009
I placed!!!
My standard spiel about running is that I intend to keep doing it until I place in my age group. Well, I placed yesterday! Sadly, not in running. In pie-baking, of all things. I won the "nut/other" category in the Cville Pie Fest with my "Cheap Drunk Nut Pie." I can't believe it! Unfortunately, I was too sick to attend the event - my third illness in as many weeks. So there's been a lot more baking than running going on at my house.
Well, next weekend I am racing again. I think. I signed up a couple months ago, but realized that I've never gotten any kind of confirmation whatsoever that I am, in fact, registered for the Real Girls Run 6K next Saturday. Maybe I'll look in to that. With all the non-training I've been doing lately, even starting the race, let alone finishing it, is going to be a bigger challenge than I bargained for. I'm feeling much better, and would love to go for a run this afternoon, but I'm stuck at home with napping kids while The Husband is at work. Sigh.
So, in the meantime, here's my recipe for AWARD WINNINGTM Cheap Drunk Nut Pie.
Crust (This recipe is pretty much cribbed from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook - nothing fancy here. Though I do add a little salt where they don't, since I'm making a super-sweet pie.):
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
4 Tbsp ice water
Directions:
Pulse flour, salt, and shortening in food processor until it looks like coarse crumbs. Scrape sides occasionally if necessary. Add ice water all at once and process until dough forms into a ball. Again, scrape sides if necessary. Pat dough ball into a disk, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 450.
Roll out crust and place into pie plate. Flute the edge, or do whatever decorative treatment you'd like. Prick liberally with a fork, especially where the sides of the plate meet the bottom. Line with parchment paper and fill with weights - dried beans or rice work well for this. Press into corners to prevent crust from lifting up during baking. Bake at 450 for about 8 minutes.
Optional: Just before adding filling to crust, use a pastry brush to brush an egg wash (1 beaten yolk with a splash of milk) on the edges and sides of crust. This will give the crust a nice golden color once baked.
Filling (this recipe is the result of lots of research and testing, and passed the ultimate taste test - my 3 year old like it!):
Ingredients:
4-5 eggs (I get mine from the farmer's market, and am not always there at the crack of dawn, so I sometimes end up with medium eggs instead of large)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp cheap vodka* OR bourbon OR lemon juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup raw, unsalted pecan halves
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Spread pecan halves on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake for approx 5 minutes, stir, and bake for 5 more minutes. Watch nuts carefully and be sure they don't scorch.
Once the nuts cool, grind half of them in a food processor to form a meal**, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375.
In a large bowl, beat eggs with the brown sugar till combined. Add corn syrup, melted butter, vodka, and vinegar and mix well. Add ground pecans and stir till combined. Pour mixture into baked crust, reserving about 1-2 Tbsp in the bowl.
Put the remaining pecan halves into the bowl with the reserved filling and toss to coat. Arrange pecan halves on top of pie.
Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes, or until filling is set. To prevent overbrowning of the crust, tent the edges with aluminum foil for all but the last 10 minutes of baking. Cool on a wire rack. Serve plain, or with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream.
*A note about the cheap vodka: I heard that you can also use a little vanilla extract for part of this ingredient. Long story short, I happened to end up with a large quantity of vanilla beans, and have been making my own vanilla extract by soaking the beans in cheap vodka. This process takes months, and my extract is still mostly vodka. Really, really cheap vodka. So, having neither bourbon, nor vanilla extract, and discovering that the only lemon in my fridge was a dessiccated fossil, I used my not-quite-extracted vanilla vodka. You might even find that commercially available vanilla vodka works for you, but I've never tried it, as it is not the cheapest vodka at the liquor store.
**A note about the pecan meal - I find it makes the filling really nice and firm, and not as slimy/gooey as pecan pies usually are. It also cuts the sweetness a bit. But with a cup of corn syrup and a cup of brown sugar, who am I kidding. You can go with chopped pecans, rather than ground, but the chopped ones tend to float to the surface while baking, so they don't end up binding with the filling like the ground ones do.
Edit: Ummm, eeek! I accidentally double the amount of nuts, because I had made *two* pies for the pie fest. I'm sure it wouldn't suck w/2 cups of nuts, but it really only requires 1. I fixed it in the recipe above.
Well, next weekend I am racing again. I think. I signed up a couple months ago, but realized that I've never gotten any kind of confirmation whatsoever that I am, in fact, registered for the Real Girls Run 6K next Saturday. Maybe I'll look in to that. With all the non-training I've been doing lately, even starting the race, let alone finishing it, is going to be a bigger challenge than I bargained for. I'm feeling much better, and would love to go for a run this afternoon, but I'm stuck at home with napping kids while The Husband is at work. Sigh.
So, in the meantime, here's my recipe for AWARD WINNINGTM Cheap Drunk Nut Pie.
Crust (This recipe is pretty much cribbed from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook - nothing fancy here. Though I do add a little salt where they don't, since I'm making a super-sweet pie.):
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
4 Tbsp ice water
Directions:
Pulse flour, salt, and shortening in food processor until it looks like coarse crumbs. Scrape sides occasionally if necessary. Add ice water all at once and process until dough forms into a ball. Again, scrape sides if necessary. Pat dough ball into a disk, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 450.
Roll out crust and place into pie plate. Flute the edge, or do whatever decorative treatment you'd like. Prick liberally with a fork, especially where the sides of the plate meet the bottom. Line with parchment paper and fill with weights - dried beans or rice work well for this. Press into corners to prevent crust from lifting up during baking. Bake at 450 for about 8 minutes.
Optional: Just before adding filling to crust, use a pastry brush to brush an egg wash (1 beaten yolk with a splash of milk) on the edges and sides of crust. This will give the crust a nice golden color once baked.
Filling (this recipe is the result of lots of research and testing, and passed the ultimate taste test - my 3 year old like it!):
Ingredients:
4-5 eggs (I get mine from the farmer's market, and am not always there at the crack of dawn, so I sometimes end up with medium eggs instead of large)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp cheap vodka* OR bourbon OR lemon juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup raw, unsalted pecan halves
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Spread pecan halves on a cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake for approx 5 minutes, stir, and bake for 5 more minutes. Watch nuts carefully and be sure they don't scorch.
Once the nuts cool, grind half of them in a food processor to form a meal**, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375.
In a large bowl, beat eggs with the brown sugar till combined. Add corn syrup, melted butter, vodka, and vinegar and mix well. Add ground pecans and stir till combined. Pour mixture into baked crust, reserving about 1-2 Tbsp in the bowl.
Put the remaining pecan halves into the bowl with the reserved filling and toss to coat. Arrange pecan halves on top of pie.
Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes, or until filling is set. To prevent overbrowning of the crust, tent the edges with aluminum foil for all but the last 10 minutes of baking. Cool on a wire rack. Serve plain, or with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream.
*A note about the cheap vodka: I heard that you can also use a little vanilla extract for part of this ingredient. Long story short, I happened to end up with a large quantity of vanilla beans, and have been making my own vanilla extract by soaking the beans in cheap vodka. This process takes months, and my extract is still mostly vodka. Really, really cheap vodka. So, having neither bourbon, nor vanilla extract, and discovering that the only lemon in my fridge was a dessiccated fossil, I used my not-quite-extracted vanilla vodka. You might even find that commercially available vanilla vodka works for you, but I've never tried it, as it is not the cheapest vodka at the liquor store.
**A note about the pecan meal - I find it makes the filling really nice and firm, and not as slimy/gooey as pecan pies usually are. It also cuts the sweetness a bit. But with a cup of corn syrup and a cup of brown sugar, who am I kidding. You can go with chopped pecans, rather than ground, but the chopped ones tend to float to the surface while baking, so they don't end up binding with the filling like the ground ones do.
Edit: Ummm, eeek! I accidentally double the amount of nuts, because I had made *two* pies for the pie fest. I'm sure it wouldn't suck w/2 cups of nuts, but it really only requires 1. I fixed it in the recipe above.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
feed the blog, or, why isn't mama running?
So, another looooong blogging hiatus.
What have I been up to?
Sick kids, sick mama, the busiest work season of The Supportive Husband's year. Nursing, pumping, working. Knitting!
Not a lot of running.
Max went on a bit of a buggy strike for a while. Gaaah, $400 bucks for the double BOB down the drain! Happily, a coffee shop has opened on my regular running route, and now Max will gladly ride in the stroller knowing that there is a smoothie waiting for him halfway through the buggy ride. I'm back to running Saturday mornings as well - Max has started soccer, and it is the Supportive Husband's job to take him, so Sami and I have an hour to ourselves. So, I get a chance to go for a run pushing the single buggy. Pushing an 18 lb baby plus a 25 lb stroller is like pushing a feather after pushing 90 lbs of kids and stroller. And running with no kids - well, it happens so seldom these days that it feels a bit awkward. I'm not sure what to do with my hands, and I don't have anyone to talk to.
I've also been hitting the gym a bit more these days - I have finally gotten back in the pool, and it feels amazing. And yes, I'm amazed at how my swimming muscles have atrophied over the past 10 months.
I'm doing a 6K in a couple of weeks, and I'm excited to get out there, but at this point, doing a spring half, or even the ten miler, seems really daunting. Max was the age Sami is now when I ran the marathon, and frankly I can't even wrap my brain around that kind of distance right now. Having two children now means that those tiny holes in my day - 10 minutes here, 30 minutes there - have disappeared entirely. Just now, Max has called me into his bedroom multiple times - to turn his music on, take him to the potty, get him a drink of water - and now it's 9:30 and I'm not sure he's asleep, and I haven't had a minute to myself. Let alone found the time to go for a long run.
But in a few weeks, the Supportive Husband's work season will be winding down, and with any luck, the shorter days means the kids will get to bed earlier. And maybe, just maybe I can steal a few moments here and there, and stitch them together until I've got a regular running schedule back.
What have I been up to?
Sick kids, sick mama, the busiest work season of The Supportive Husband's year. Nursing, pumping, working. Knitting!
Not a lot of running.
Max went on a bit of a buggy strike for a while. Gaaah, $400 bucks for the double BOB down the drain! Happily, a coffee shop has opened on my regular running route, and now Max will gladly ride in the stroller knowing that there is a smoothie waiting for him halfway through the buggy ride. I'm back to running Saturday mornings as well - Max has started soccer, and it is the Supportive Husband's job to take him, so Sami and I have an hour to ourselves. So, I get a chance to go for a run pushing the single buggy. Pushing an 18 lb baby plus a 25 lb stroller is like pushing a feather after pushing 90 lbs of kids and stroller. And running with no kids - well, it happens so seldom these days that it feels a bit awkward. I'm not sure what to do with my hands, and I don't have anyone to talk to.
I've also been hitting the gym a bit more these days - I have finally gotten back in the pool, and it feels amazing. And yes, I'm amazed at how my swimming muscles have atrophied over the past 10 months.
I'm doing a 6K in a couple of weeks, and I'm excited to get out there, but at this point, doing a spring half, or even the ten miler, seems really daunting. Max was the age Sami is now when I ran the marathon, and frankly I can't even wrap my brain around that kind of distance right now. Having two children now means that those tiny holes in my day - 10 minutes here, 30 minutes there - have disappeared entirely. Just now, Max has called me into his bedroom multiple times - to turn his music on, take him to the potty, get him a drink of water - and now it's 9:30 and I'm not sure he's asleep, and I haven't had a minute to myself. Let alone found the time to go for a long run.
But in a few weeks, the Supportive Husband's work season will be winding down, and with any luck, the shorter days means the kids will get to bed earlier. And maybe, just maybe I can steal a few moments here and there, and stitch them together until I've got a regular running schedule back.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
4 miles and 60 pounds of kids
I pushed almost 60 pounds of kids and 30 pounds of stroller up and down the Monticello Trail this morning. I was feeling pretty badass about it until a guy pushing THREE kids in a triple stroller smoked past me.
But, both kids were angels during the ride. Max happily rode all the way up, keeping watch for any bears that might be on our path. Ever since I told him the story about the time I saw a bear while running, he's been pretty keen to see a bear. Especially since I've informed him that the bears around here are nice bears and mostly just want to eat blackberries and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had neither, so the bears stayed a safe distance away.
We did stop at the snack bar at the top of the hill. Monticello has entirely redone their visitor center, and there's now a proper cafe at the top of the trail, instead of just the hot dog stand. It was a nice break, having a snack and some chocolate milk in the courtyard by the fountain. When we started back down, Max decided to walk for a while. And then he decided to run. And I ran after him, and he ran past me, and we had a blast running and laughing and leapfrogging. Fartlek/speed play, indeed! He got back in the buggy after a quarter mile or so, and I ran the rest of the way down to the car.
For my cool down, I changed Sami's diaper in the back of the wagon, wrestled the double buggy back into the car, and helped Max climb a tree.
I'm finally getting in to the groove of including the kids in whatever fitness undertaking I'm pursuing. I simply can't do it any other way. The time available to me to run or do anything without at least one kid in tow is practically nil. But between last week's awesome family hike and this week's run up the hill, that's not a bad thing.
But, both kids were angels during the ride. Max happily rode all the way up, keeping watch for any bears that might be on our path. Ever since I told him the story about the time I saw a bear while running, he's been pretty keen to see a bear. Especially since I've informed him that the bears around here are nice bears and mostly just want to eat blackberries and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We had neither, so the bears stayed a safe distance away.
We did stop at the snack bar at the top of the hill. Monticello has entirely redone their visitor center, and there's now a proper cafe at the top of the trail, instead of just the hot dog stand. It was a nice break, having a snack and some chocolate milk in the courtyard by the fountain. When we started back down, Max decided to walk for a while. And then he decided to run. And I ran after him, and he ran past me, and we had a blast running and laughing and leapfrogging. Fartlek/speed play, indeed! He got back in the buggy after a quarter mile or so, and I ran the rest of the way down to the car.
For my cool down, I changed Sami's diaper in the back of the wagon, wrestled the double buggy back into the car, and helped Max climb a tree.
I'm finally getting in to the groove of including the kids in whatever fitness undertaking I'm pursuing. I simply can't do it any other way. The time available to me to run or do anything without at least one kid in tow is practically nil. But between last week's awesome family hike and this week's run up the hill, that's not a bad thing.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Life and other interruptions
So, where was I? The hip is basically healed - almost exactly 9 months to the day since I gave birth. Funny how that works. I'm nearly 10 pounds lighter than before I got pregnant, but I was shocked, shocked! at how flabby I look in pictures. Running 3 miles/week and never going to the gym will do that to a girl. Strangely enough, I'm okay with it. Not okay with flabby as a permanent state, but okay with knowing there's a journey ahead. I don't have delusions of ever regaining my pre-baby body, but I do want to get to a level of fitness that is comfortable for me. Somewhere between "harried, nursing, WOTH* mother of two" and "marathon-ready."
So where is that happy medium for me? It's clear that my life, in which I am The Supportive Wife to The Supportive Husband, can't really sustain year after year of intense summer training programs. The Supportive Husband works late on Saturdays, so out of respect to him, I'd like to not have those really early Saturday wakeups during his busy season (May thru Oct). And honestly, have you ever been to Virginia in the summer? As they say, it's not the heat, it's the humidity. Or maybe it is the heat.
So I'm planning on the Charlottesville Half Marathon in April. That gives me plenty of time to get Sami weaned before I ramp up for a winter of training. I'm kicking off the season with the Real Girls Run 6K in October. 6K is a weird distance, but it's an automatic PR for me since I've never raced it, so score one on that front!
I also want to explore more trail running. The whole family went for a hike on Sunday, and it all came flooding back, how much I love being out on the trail. Oh, how I have missed it, these early years of parenthood. And it was a pretty good workout to hike with Max leading the way and the baby on my back. But I'd also love to have some solitude on the trail, even if that solitude comes in the form of running ahead of the rest of my crew, and running back to meet them.
I know good things are around the corner - my gym is opening a branch just over a mile from my house, which makes me giddy. I can finally dash out for a workout after the kids are in bed, or before they get up! I can put the baby, who does not mind gym day care, in the jogger and take her with me.
Summer hours at work will soon be over, meaning I have to work regular hours on Fridays, but in exchange I get my lunch hours back. So my lunchtime workouts can resume.
And Sami will be weaned in a few short months, so yet another layer of logistics drops away from my being able to run or work out. And I won't have to deal with the girls!! I can go back to my cheapo sports bras instead of the industrial strength.
But, all that is in the future. For now, patience, Grasshopper.
*WOTH=Work outside the home
So where is that happy medium for me? It's clear that my life, in which I am The Supportive Wife to The Supportive Husband, can't really sustain year after year of intense summer training programs. The Supportive Husband works late on Saturdays, so out of respect to him, I'd like to not have those really early Saturday wakeups during his busy season (May thru Oct). And honestly, have you ever been to Virginia in the summer? As they say, it's not the heat, it's the humidity. Or maybe it is the heat.
So I'm planning on the Charlottesville Half Marathon in April. That gives me plenty of time to get Sami weaned before I ramp up for a winter of training. I'm kicking off the season with the Real Girls Run 6K in October. 6K is a weird distance, but it's an automatic PR for me since I've never raced it, so score one on that front!
I also want to explore more trail running. The whole family went for a hike on Sunday, and it all came flooding back, how much I love being out on the trail. Oh, how I have missed it, these early years of parenthood. And it was a pretty good workout to hike with Max leading the way and the baby on my back. But I'd also love to have some solitude on the trail, even if that solitude comes in the form of running ahead of the rest of my crew, and running back to meet them.
I know good things are around the corner - my gym is opening a branch just over a mile from my house, which makes me giddy. I can finally dash out for a workout after the kids are in bed, or before they get up! I can put the baby, who does not mind gym day care, in the jogger and take her with me.
Summer hours at work will soon be over, meaning I have to work regular hours on Fridays, but in exchange I get my lunch hours back. So my lunchtime workouts can resume.
And Sami will be weaned in a few short months, so yet another layer of logistics drops away from my being able to run or work out. And I won't have to deal with the girls!! I can go back to my cheapo sports bras instead of the industrial strength.
But, all that is in the future. For now, patience, Grasshopper.
*WOTH=Work outside the home
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sleeping and waking
The Princess has decided to sleep! I don't want to jinx anything (and I am sure tonight will be very rough, no doubt), but Sami has not only been sleeping 12 hours at night, but napping (napping!!!!) during the day as well (knock wood, send anti-jinx vibes pls). Whenever she wakes I tell her how much cuter she looks after her beauty sleep.
Between a nice stretch of sleep-ful nights, Sami's increasing intake of solids and corresponding decrease in nursing, and generally emerging from those difficult days of early babyhood, I feel like I am waking up.
The lack of running had really been getting me down. But my hip is better, and I can start working back up to some real distances. I have my sights set on a spring half, and am already perusing the online sales for cold weather running gear to get me through the winter. I am more optimistic about my running, knowing that the half or the full or the ultra will all be there waiting for me when I am ready. I know that my baby won't be a baby forever. In a few short months, she'll be weaned, and I'll be able to run early in the morning without pumping, or hit the gym after work without worrying about the next feed, and, most importantly, be able to run any time without having to accommodate "the girls."
Not only am I making plans about running, I'm also consciously embracing other non-mom hobbies and interests. Knowing that Sami is our last, there is an end-date to this gig of full time motherhood.* Not that I'll have to turn in my company ID, training manuals, and restroom key when she turns 18. But yes, at some point, she'll have friends of her own, and hobbies of her own, and she won't want me to carry her in the sling to prom. Weaning is just one milestone in the long process of separation that is parenting. So I'm getting fair warning that I will someday have to fill the hours that are now consumed with bottom-wiping, burping, tooth-brushing, dicing of food, carseat buckling, and a hundred other insignificant tasks that weave together to form Max and Sami's childhoods.
I'm back in the knitting swing of things - I've started my first non-baby blanket project since before Max was born. I renewed my flight instructor's certification (not that I plan to use it, but if you let it lapse, it is really tough to get it back) for another two years, and have started reading flight instruction blogs. Last time I actively sought information about teaching flying there were no such thing as blogs! I am becoming more involved with the Supportive Husband's business, and learning about his craft so that I can be an asset to his (our) business, and pitch in a little more as the kids get older.
I feel like I am waking up from the long sleep of my childbearing years, and I have a long day stretching out ahead of me.
*Astute readers may note that I also work outside the home full time. But I am, first and foremost, a full time mom, who just happens to have a day job, too.
Between a nice stretch of sleep-ful nights, Sami's increasing intake of solids and corresponding decrease in nursing, and generally emerging from those difficult days of early babyhood, I feel like I am waking up.
The lack of running had really been getting me down. But my hip is better, and I can start working back up to some real distances. I have my sights set on a spring half, and am already perusing the online sales for cold weather running gear to get me through the winter. I am more optimistic about my running, knowing that the half or the full or the ultra will all be there waiting for me when I am ready. I know that my baby won't be a baby forever. In a few short months, she'll be weaned, and I'll be able to run early in the morning without pumping, or hit the gym after work without worrying about the next feed, and, most importantly, be able to run any time without having to accommodate "the girls."
Not only am I making plans about running, I'm also consciously embracing other non-mom hobbies and interests. Knowing that Sami is our last, there is an end-date to this gig of full time motherhood.* Not that I'll have to turn in my company ID, training manuals, and restroom key when she turns 18. But yes, at some point, she'll have friends of her own, and hobbies of her own, and she won't want me to carry her in the sling to prom. Weaning is just one milestone in the long process of separation that is parenting. So I'm getting fair warning that I will someday have to fill the hours that are now consumed with bottom-wiping, burping, tooth-brushing, dicing of food, carseat buckling, and a hundred other insignificant tasks that weave together to form Max and Sami's childhoods.
I'm back in the knitting swing of things - I've started my first non-baby blanket project since before Max was born. I renewed my flight instructor's certification (not that I plan to use it, but if you let it lapse, it is really tough to get it back) for another two years, and have started reading flight instruction blogs. Last time I actively sought information about teaching flying there were no such thing as blogs! I am becoming more involved with the Supportive Husband's business, and learning about his craft so that I can be an asset to his (our) business, and pitch in a little more as the kids get older.
I feel like I am waking up from the long sleep of my childbearing years, and I have a long day stretching out ahead of me.
*Astute readers may note that I also work outside the home full time. But I am, first and foremost, a full time mom, who just happens to have a day job, too.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
9 months up
There's a saying about pregnancy weight - nine months up, nine months down. I am lucky (um, and I work my ass off, literally) that I've always lost my pregnancy weight quickly, but I have to constantly remind myself of this maxim. Your body really takes a beating during pregnancy (mine does, anyway) and even though I am at my goal weight, things are still easing back to where they used to be. And let's face it, I'll be happy if some things end up in the general vicinity of where they used to be.
The problems I have been having with my hip are slowly resolving on their own, which is great, since I still have not managed to find the time to actually schedule a physical therapy appointment. But my running hiatus continues. Partly because of the hip, but mostly because I haven't quite figured out how to be a running mom of two.
The double BOB mostly sits folded in the garage, as Max will only ride in it for limited amounts of time. The Supportive Husband, while still supportive, has registered his strong objection to my 5:30 am Saturday wakeups, and that objection has been duly noted. The nature of his work means that he is often working until 11pm or later on Saturday nights, so having been rousted at 5am by my alarm, and then again at whatever ungodly hour one or both kids decide to wake up is pretty tough on him. And to be quite honest, the last thing I want to do on a Saturday morning is get up at 5:30 to pump. I burned out on pumping when Max was about 8 months old, and it did not regain its luster the second time around. And truth be told, Sami is not the sleeper he was. Most nights, I am up with her at 3am for a quick snack and cuddle. 5:30 comes awfully fast.
So where does that leave me? Squeezing in a run/walk after work in the blazing heat. Squeezing in 20 minutes on the treadmill during my lunch hour. Basically, trying to maintain a bare minimum fitness level so that once Sami is weaned, I can consider doing a spring race.
The not running hasn't been so bad, but it has been difficult to not have a "thing." A thing where I don't have to be someone's mom. A thing that has a goal that isn't work related. A thing that is mine - my dreams, my achievements, my time. I am still figuring out this dance of being a mom of two, but as my bones shift back to where they used to be, I hope my thing will start to take shape again. I need my thing back. And I think it's going to take at least nine months to get it.
The problems I have been having with my hip are slowly resolving on their own, which is great, since I still have not managed to find the time to actually schedule a physical therapy appointment. But my running hiatus continues. Partly because of the hip, but mostly because I haven't quite figured out how to be a running mom of two.
The double BOB mostly sits folded in the garage, as Max will only ride in it for limited amounts of time. The Supportive Husband, while still supportive, has registered his strong objection to my 5:30 am Saturday wakeups, and that objection has been duly noted. The nature of his work means that he is often working until 11pm or later on Saturday nights, so having been rousted at 5am by my alarm, and then again at whatever ungodly hour one or both kids decide to wake up is pretty tough on him. And to be quite honest, the last thing I want to do on a Saturday morning is get up at 5:30 to pump. I burned out on pumping when Max was about 8 months old, and it did not regain its luster the second time around. And truth be told, Sami is not the sleeper he was. Most nights, I am up with her at 3am for a quick snack and cuddle. 5:30 comes awfully fast.
So where does that leave me? Squeezing in a run/walk after work in the blazing heat. Squeezing in 20 minutes on the treadmill during my lunch hour. Basically, trying to maintain a bare minimum fitness level so that once Sami is weaned, I can consider doing a spring race.
The not running hasn't been so bad, but it has been difficult to not have a "thing." A thing where I don't have to be someone's mom. A thing that has a goal that isn't work related. A thing that is mine - my dreams, my achievements, my time. I am still figuring out this dance of being a mom of two, but as my bones shift back to where they used to be, I hope my thing will start to take shape again. I need my thing back. And I think it's going to take at least nine months to get it.
