Week 11: Crewing for the Hawk 100 and running the Flatrock 25K

We officially become puppy parents again this week and I am a little stressed.  Let me explain since I am a dog trainer and have raised many puppies and am not new to having a puppy.  This is a tough week for me as we are in the final stretch of planning and executing our PTO 5K, Andrew is starting school, and I am once again working at both KSU and Coleman electric.  Let the freak out and super stressing begin!  I am going to be picking up Mr. Boom early Friday morning in KC, thanks to some dog friends getting him picked up from his transport late Thursday night. I then have to work all afternoon Friday with the committee getting things ready and then get up early and function to make sure our 5K goes off without a hitch Saturday. The alternative of course was to drive down to TX and back, which makes no sense as driving 1.5 hours is way better than 8.  Bring on the red bull and coffee and pray he sleeps good Friday night!

Monday:  Rest day.  Back to school night!

We are officially entering first grade and I can't wait to see how this year goes!  I am hoping and praying Sylvan will pay off and my kiddo will have a better year.  In some ways he is so much more mature and in others he is still a big goofy kiddo.  I love him so much and just want to see him successful and happy.  

Tuesday:  Easy 6.  I woke up at 2 am with a very unhappy tummy and then couldn't get back to sleep.  I think stress of physically going to get the puppy and also planning and executing the 5K for the PTO is really getting to me.  I messaged the girls and said count me out.  I think the fact that it was raining buckets made neither of them run either.  I decided to run when Andrew was at Sylvan, as I had two hours to do something while he was being tutored.  I decided to go back to the park where I did loops on Saturday and get my easy 6.  It was super humid, so I took it super easy and walked a tenth of a mile every mile.  I have to say I kind of enjoy that little trail, even though I have to loop to get my mileage.  There is something comforting about being 1 mile away from your aid and a porta potty at all times!

Wednesday:  First day of school and rest day.  I am going to get back to doing the things I need to do some day.  Right now things are super hectic and I just have to get stuff done and not worry about not getting on my bike.  My body wants sleep right now to deal with all of the stress going on and sleep it shall get, so no early morning bike rides for me.  I will add that my stress has been greatly relieved by one of my KC dog friends stepping up and getting little Boom for me tonight, so I don't have to do a midnight run late Thursday night.  God bless her!!!!!  Load off the shoulders for sure.

Thursday:  Easy 6.  Trying to NOT do speed work (although the 5K might turn into a tempo run if the weather isn't horrible) to let my body heal.  I am not sure what is causing my butt/hip/back issues at this point, so I have stopped doing Barre as that seemed to irritate it.  I am not sure speed work was or wasn't irritating it too but eliminating variables and trying to get as much trail time as possible, since that seems to be kinder on my body right now.  I had stayed up late Wednesday night stressing about something stupid, so I didn't get up and go with the girls at 4 am.  Instead I dropped my kiddo off and headed out into 100% humidity.  Bleh.  Got er done with some walking and lots of and lots of water.

Friday:  Boom pick up time and go time for the 5K!  I knew today was going to be a wash because I had to go pick up Boom in KC, get back to Wamego, introduce boom and wear him out, and then head out to get ready for packet stuffing/street marking/last minute preparations.  Thank God for my hubby and friends.  My dog friend Pam that picked him and his sis up for me and kept him overnight wore them out before I got there.

After more playing we loaded up and headed back to Wamego.  I had a small puppy sized crate (thanks to another dog friend Jen) bungeed into the front seat so he could be right there with me.  He barked/cried for about 10 minutes and then laid down and slept till we hit the toll booth and he thought we were done.  10 more minutes of barking and then back to sleep.

Tony met us at the house and helped me get him unloaded and introduced.  He met the big dogs first and then the cat.  Other than some corrections from Stella, everything went very smoothly.  He wore Boom out first and then Mel came in after Boom had a nap and wore him out a second time.  I was able to walk Andrew home after school let out, so he could meet his new baby.  

she can be a bit cray cray but he took it all in stride

 Sparky loves him and thinks he is a big kitty.  They played immediately and haven't stopped.

We got him the bedroom at 9 and in the crate by 9:30 pm.  He woke up around 11:20 barking and crying but I could tell it wasn't a "I need to go" cry but more of a "I want out of here" cry.  He slept real good until around 3:30 am when the cry changed to I need to potty cry.  I quickly got him out and he pooped and peed.  After some playing, he went back down around 4:30 and I got about another hour of sleep.  Not bad for his first night!

Saturday: Run Back to School 5K  race day!  I had planned on running this race, but we needed some volunteers at some crucial spots, so I gave up my running spot to help.  I have been a committee member and involved in this race for two years now (one of the committee members has done it for 7 years, WOW!).  It's a great fundraiser for our PTO and the money and school supplies donated go straight back to our kiddos at Central, so I always find it a very worthy cause to run for.

I worked day of registration and then ran down to my corner and the boys were down the street helping cheer on runners at another corner.  Post the runners coming through, I headed back to the race to help and Andrew got ready to run the 1 mile.   I may or may not have told him exactly the distance.  He has always done the fun run, but I felt like he was ready to do the miler.

I am happy to say that he did GREAT!  I am SO proud of him and hoping that we can do more of these types of runs.  I think the race was a big success and I think we raised around 4K for the PTO, maybe more.  I learned so much the past two years and look forward to one more year of planning and executing!

A side note, I was suppose to run 3 miles that day but at 11:00 am, I had 6 miles of walking in and I figured that was good enough.

Sunday:  Long run on the trails day!  Well, at least that was the plan. I should have known better than to organize any type of run when I wasn't getting good sleep.  Tony stayed up late with Mr. Boom and tried to wear him out so maybe he would sleep later. I had to be up at 4:30 to get ready to drive to Lawrence to meet the ladies at 6:30 to run at Clinton.  Tony brought Boom up around 11:30 and he SCREAMED bloody murder for about 30 minutes straight.  Then he quieted down and I just couldn't sleep. I listened to every noise he was making and every time he moved.  He somehow got his foot caught in something and started crying but tony got him uncaught and he was fine.  Then I laid there for ever and ever and ever just telling myself I needed to be asleep, I needed to be asleep.  I think I finally drifted off around 1ish and woke back up at 3ish and texted both ladies I was meeting with and said I was a no go.  I felt like two nights with no sleep was probably not a great idea for driving in the dark.  That meant I had to figure out how to get my long run in.  

Mel was heading out around 9 am and I figured we could do some miles together in the rain.  I would get a few in before we met, then do some together, and then I could finish.  I did three, we met up and did 7 and then I had 4 to go.  I stopped at the house to reload on water and headed back out and that is when I started feeling horrible.  Like a truck hit me horrible.  Like smack into the wall going 90 mph horrible.  Like you are going to have to power walk most of the last 4 miles horrible.  I honestly wanted to call Tony to come pick me up.  It was raining hard and I felt so, so bad.  I manage to gut it out but then felt horrible when I got home.  Tony has some little small Dr. peppers for sugar lows and I stole one and ate some food and felt a little better.  I pretty much spent the rest of the day in Pjs being super lazy.  

Well, another week down, another week of running.  Nothing great or spectacular, but miles none the less.  I don't think leaving speed work out did anything for my back/hip/butt, but next week since the puppy is still learning our routine I probably won't be doing anything crazy due to shear exhaustion.  Hopefully as the week goes on, he will get use to the routine and I can start morning running again.  Have a great week and say a little prayer that I get some sleep!