Covid Shot #2!

Let's start out with a laugh shall we?

Now on to Michelle is serious.  Have you ever said something that you instantly regret?  Something that comes out of your mouth and the second it leaves your lips, you want to take it back?  I did this very thing this week.  I am not proud of myself, it should have never been said, even if it was the truth.  I was and am insanely stressed and tired, and am reacting off of emotion lately and it sucks.  It's not the first time, sometimes I speak before I really think it through, and I am sure it won't be the last time, but I am embarrassed and frankly disappointed in myself because it affected someone else, not just me.   I try so hard to fight for the truth, to do what's right, and sometimes I just slip up and fail when I get this emotional.  I need to go back to my girls on the run lesson about toothpaste, how once it comes out, you can never get it back in.  I also need to say things out loud to myself first and not just pop off immediately to my friends, as you never know who is listening or who something will be repeated to and how it will affect the end party. I have thrown myself on my own sword several times this week and I still don't feel any better, but I have to move on and i hope by blogging my feelings this will help.  Onward. 

Let's talk about some good things now.  Last day of school.  Andrew has had an amazing year and I am SO glad that he got the best teacher for him and his amazing little creative brain.  We have been all in all year and the teachers, staff, and crew at our school has gone above and beyond to make this a good school year for all of our kiddos despite all of the challenges Covid threw at them.  Andrew finished the year above grade average in all of his subjects with all As and two B pluses in English and spelling.  My favorite grade?  A 100% in SCIENCE!!!!!!  He no longer needs to be in the special reading program and he is no longer in weekly tutoring.  We are going to let him have a summer of fun with camps, swimming, racing, and lots of laziness LOL!  He finished the year in size L/XL clothes dependent on the brand, size 5 shoes, 97 lbs, and 4 ft 6 inches tall.  

I got two runs in this week and zero rehab or strength training.  Again, it is what it is and I am viewing this as time for the dang shin to completely and totally heal.  My watch was all about giving me guilt trips about overreaching when I did run.  Dang watch, just doing 2-3 runs a week and taking my time.  Guess maybe it's because my sleep hasn't been the best?  I like doing 4-5 mile runs as my base runs because heck my body doesn't warm up till I have run 2-3 miles, so maybe it thinks that's too far for me where I am right now in training or lack of training.  I had plans of doing 4 runs again this week, but that quickly fell apart with the rain and with me getting my second Covid shot and just not getting a lot of sleep early in the week.  

I had hoped I would be one of the lucky ones that had no reaction at all to the second shot.  Number 1 just gave me a super sore arm for 3 days, so I really did have hope.  Andrew went with me to get my shot and he asked the nurse so many questions and had her in stitches laughing.  He kept thinking it was a trick to get his shot, but I told him a million times (and I am not exaggerating) that his age group was not approved yet.  Post shot I felt fine, a little bit of arm soreness again, nothing more.  Then sometime during the night the fevers began and I tossed and turned and sweated most of the night.  I woke up with a fever in the high 100s and stayed that way the majority of the day.  The boys planned a fishing trip,  and I had the house all to myself so the dogs and I cuddled up and binged watched a show, something I NEVER do. Watch Mare of East Town ASAP.  You won't be disappointed.  

No fish were caught because no fish were biting, but they had a ton of fun hanging out at the lake.  The boys even came home and did the mowing for me!!!!  I am not down and out very often, so while I would have liked the day to be minus the fever and body aches, I did enjoy sitting cuddled up with my dogs watching HBO max and Disney Plus.  We rented Cruella and it is a MUST see, plus the soundtrack is amazing!

I felt much better Sunday, but decided another rest day would not hurt.  I briefly contemplated a short run or a bike as the weather is absolutely perfect right now for both, but once I got up and going,  didn't feel up to pushing myself so gave myself grace to rest.  I did work in the flower bed for a little bit, but even that was a little too much and I paid for it by being completely wiped.  One of my mom friends came through and took Andrew to the pool so I could just be a big ole slug and do nothing for a bit and I can't thank her enough, even if they closed the pool right after they got there and they ended up at the park instead.  

I've learned some really important lessons this week.  Mainly the value of friends and delaying your response, even when it is something you are super passionate about.  Sometimes the job isn't to point out the truth, sometimes it just to sit back and listen and let others come to the truth in however they need to.   It hurts me to see so many people that i do dearly love and do consider still to this day my very close friends be all upset at each other but I know this too shall pass.  I am also super glad to be done with my Covid shot.  I am not here to preach to anyone.  I chose to get my vaccination because I would never be able to live with myself if I gave my parents Covid.  I also personally worked with mRNA in my research for years and even though I did not use it for this specific purpose, I understand it, trust it, and totally think this is the coolest application EVER for mRNA.  

And last but not least, I made the leap and bought a new shoe for running.  I will get it this week and I am so excited but nervous as always.  While I LOVE my altras, zero drop running has never loved me no matter how I tried to get into it.  I was running with in thin insert in to try and mitigate the 0 drop but even that was not really helping enough.  I am going to try the Topo Ultra adventures and see what I think.  My running store does not carry them and could not get them in stock, so had to just order them and pray I got the sizing right based on what others told me about sizing.  Keep your fingers crossed these shoes work for me and that i didn't just throw away 130 bucks :)

Y'all have a great week!  I am going to try to keep some things that are stressing me way out in perspective and try and just chill and go with the flow.  We have a 2 day race coming up which is always fun, but also loads of stress as we usually have many out of town families come to race, so keep me in your prayers :)

Race Week 3!

The third week of the month is always a doozy for me.  We normally have our big BNI regional meeting on Mondays, PTO Tuesday night, our normal BNI meetings Wednesday morning and then our quarter midget track club Wednesday night.  It's emotionally draining because I put 1000 percent into every organization I participate in.  It's also hard because I am stepping way out of my comfort zone in several of the new organizations I am in, and so to be questioned about my efforts, well, it's hard.  I do take it personally because I feel like I am doing the best job I possibly can.  I also feel super guilty because I feel like I need to put forth more effort than I am, even if i am giving it every minute that I possibly can and work, be a mom, run,  and just plain old exist.  It really makes me question why I am a part of these groups if my effort is going to be questioned and scrutinized instead of welcomed and appreciated.   Anyway, just needed to whine a bit now moving on to nicer things!

Well, take a step back, this isn't nicer, but it is a reality for me right now.  As summer rolls around, I am moving back to early morning running, not only for me, but also for the comfort and safety of my dogs.  Thus far we haven't had any high spikes in heat or humidity, but we are so busy at night right now that if I am going to try and do any base holding at this point, I have to get up early and run.  Last year I noticed a big difference in Stella's heat tolerance or lack there of.  Heck, even I seem to supremely struggle with training in the heat, which kills me because there are SO many good ultras in the fall.  I also had the scare at the 50 miler where I knew something was wrong with Stella, but couldn't figure out what.  She had NO obvious injury or limp, just was running head down, not really engaging in me while she ran.  I quickly switched her out but still.  She had a chiro appointment with her beloved chiro Dr. A on Monday and she just had so many things wrong that were painful to adjust that it just made me know that retirement from any long runs/long distances is the best thing for Stella.  We can still do short runs and Dr. A is going to put her on some herbs to help with any inflammation or soreness, but she probably will no longer race and will have very limited training with me. I haven't really processed all of this fully yet.  I knew it was coming and had odd hope that she could somehow do the 50k and the 50 miler but I knew in the back of my mind that this was probably not going to happen, thus the reason I brought Boom just in case.  While he has a super long way to go before he is the awesome trail and running dog that Stella ever was, he is settling in and getting better.  

I did run but only twice and it is what it is.  For me this is the summer of no guilt and running for fun.  What I get is what I get.  I am disappointed in myself that I am NOT getting my weight training done but that is going to be the priority moving foward.  Now on to race day!  Since I am writing all of this way past when I needed to post it, this will be short and sweet.  The computer draws for us and andrew got super lucky in that he got the pole in Jr Honda and outside pole in Junior animal.  While he still isn't passing right now, he is back to mostly holding his ground and holding on to his position.  He finished 2nd to Makayla in Jr Honda heat and post a big wreck on the start of Jr Animal, got shuffled all the way to back and finished 5th.  The good: we inverted the field thanks to the coin flip so that helped in Jr Animal to put him back to the front.  The bad: the good finish in Jr Honda was now reversed and he would have to work his way back to the front which is not his strong suit yet.  As I figured, he stayed where he was in Jr Honda and tried to stay out of several wrecks and finished 6th even with a very fast dialed in car.  He held on to his spot for second place in Jr animal and lost to the lovely and talented Makayla again.  I knew he wouldn't be able to hold her off, even with a fast car.  We celebrated with pool and burgers post race at the pool hall in town and andrew had so much fun with his friends!

Have a great week y'all!  Humidity is back so boo but hopefully we will acclimate and make it through!

Race Week Two!

 Another week of three runs, no strength training (ooops), and Points Race #2.  Going to keep this short and simple.

Most of my runs were pretty short with a 5 miler, a four miler, and a 5 miler.  If I am going to get back to four days a week, morning running will be a MUST.

Lots of practicing at night.  Figuring out the cars is a full time job some days for my hubby.  Add into the mix an 8 year old that somedays just doesn't want to put 100 percent effort in.  If we didn't see improvement every single time he practices and races, we would be done LOL!

Crazy eyes and Boom got some gravel road time.

She is such a poser.  I love this time of year when all the pretty flowers bloom.

First morning run of the year.  Up at 5:25 and out by 5:45.  Need to get out earlier because I did not have time to get myself and my kiddo ready for school and not be late.  One more week of school and then we will be on summer break which will make life easier.

This shin is being super stubborn.  We are attacking it with lots of scrapping, and rehab exercises.  I feel like I once again spend most of my day doing rehab exercises (i don't but it feels like it).

He is starting to not appreciate my constant picture taking of him.  

Mud run Sunday thanks to the all day rain.  So lucky aussies dry quickly.  

Race number 2 went much better.  Andrew still didn't finish as well as we thought he could BUT we saw improvement in both cars in both races.  He was hit yet again but it didn't take him out this time and he was able to come back and finish the feature.  He held off a couple of kids in Jr Honda and finished 5th and finished 4th out of 5 in Jr Animal.  Lots of good stuff for sure, a long way to go for sure, but I am seeing good things and that's all that matters.  

Have a great week y'all!  

Practice at a different kind of track and HAPPY MOTHER's DAY

 I am still kind of in recovery mode trying to get this stupid shin to calm the F down, so enjoy some random photos of my dogs, flowers, and kid.  I want to try and get 20-25 miles a week, but right now I am lucky to get 3 runs a week in with our busy schedule.  This means that morning running is going to have to make a come back so I don't have an excuse to not run.  Sigh.  I hate feeling like a zombie, but at least in the summer Robin is off work and Andrew doesn't have to be at camp at any certain time.  It's kind of like dieting, it really doesn't suck as bad as my brain thinks it does once I get into it and use to it, but my brain likes to put up a huge road block until I actually get into the thick of getting up early and or dieting.  

I ran a few times this week.  One run was amazing, one run sucked horribly, and the other run was a mud run.  

I ran two times with both dogs and one time with just boom boom.  

We got to the track several times this week as well. We are still trying to get cars dialed in and fixed which is challenging as we still are learning so much ourselves and dealing with a kiddo that is still somewhat cautious at times.  He may never win a checkered flag but dang, doesn't he make a super cute race car driver?

Got another session of scraping and fascia blasting done with some pretty bruising.  I hope that means we finally got to the root of this issue.  I admit while I sit here typing this, it feels a million times better and that is with not taking my tumeric the last two days because of mom brain fog. 

Celebrated mother's day all weekend:)  Got to sleep late both days till 9 am!!!!  I had some furniture at the antique store I really wanted and some running stuff I really wanted, so hubby obliged.  He is such a sucker.  Also got a super cute sign for our front porch.  We visited the winery in our industrial park for tasty food truck food and more shopping as they were doing a sip and shop with local vendors.  It was an AMAZING weekend and I am so blessed!  Also on mother's day, got to go have a few beers at Manhattan Brewing company and eat my favorite chinese.

We did have our first tornado scare of the season.  After a relatively calm storm season last year, we had some pretty bad storms predicted Saturday afternoon/night.  We got some track time and had dinner in Wamego and got safely home before the lightning started.  After a while of nothing, all of our phones started going nuts and the sirens started.  Huh.  Nothing really going on outside yet, but we all headed to the basement and then it hit us.  Our basement is not finished but it does the job of keeping us underground and safe.  The only problem is those steps go straight down and the dogs hate them.  After putting harnesses on and handing them down into the basement (and stella running upstairs in a panic), we finally all got settled.  Except Andrew was having a huge panic attack and somehow called all of his race track friends on kid's messenger.  It was after 10 so he woke some parents up calling, but one answered and talked him into being calm.  Sigh.  That stinker.  

Have a great week y'all!!!!  

Recovery week 2 and I DID A THING

I signed up for another race for late fall.  I was eyeing this race as it's only a 20 miler, so training won't be that much, and if I miss some long run weekends thanks to racing, it won't be the end of the world.  Robin and I are going to run this one together with our pups and of course train together.  I did a 50K out on this course years ago and got my very first DNF, so I am very acquainted with the trail itself.  Robin has also run some races out there and it's absolutely gorgeous, just not very shaded.  Again, it's a mountain bike trail which makes running a challenge for a penguin turned out feet runner like me, but we are just going to have fun and take our time and enjoy it.  

Most of the week was spent resting or running very short distances with my girls.  I did get one strength session in with dead lifts, back squats, planks, and some birddogs and dead bugs.  We ran about 2 miles per our running times and did a short 4 miler with Robin and the girl dogs on Sunday.  I am DEFINATELY not heat acclimated at all.

We had our 5K for our Girls on the Run on Saturday.  It was a warm blustery day and the course was an out and back that took them not only straight into the wind but also up a slight hill at the end.  Good think we do hill work every single run!  The heat kind of got some of the girls and made their goals a little hard to hit, but overall they all did AWESOME and I can't wait to have our service project and celebration Monday.  We didn't get to have our normal stations that they could rotate to to have their hair done and pictures taken, but they all got handwritten notes from our sister sorority group that partners with GOTR and also tutus that were super cute.  I am so proud of my girls and pretty much cried when each one finished.  I am really going to miss this group so much, but we are only loosing a few of them to middle school and should see most back next fall.    

 

I am going to miss coaching with this lady, but lucky me, I get a whole rest of my life with coach Butler:)  It's been a challenging year for educators and coaches and we made the best of it and I can't thank all the teachers enough for what they have accomplished this year.  There were so many challenges put before them and they met them with grace and tenacity.  Our school system was SO lucky to be 100% in all year with very minimal breaks and I attribute that to the teachers and staff for their hard work.

Most of the weekend was spent hanging with these yahoos.  Andrew had baseball camp Saturday morning with the high school kiddos coaching the littles.  We then showered and headed over to eat BBQ and Moes and then to buy some plants to plant in our front flowerbed.  

He loves the picking them out part, not so much the planting part, but this year I dug the holes and he got them in and the roots buried.  He was a big helper.  I hope he inherits my mom's green thumb because I sure don't have one.  These perennials are super hardy and I haven't killed them yet, just have a super big bed that I need to add to every year so I don't go bankrupt buying that many at one time:)  Plus, I love helping out a local business like our local greenhouse that employees many of our are youth.

We also got some track time this weekend while everyone else was out of town racing in New Mexico.  We were going to sell the black and green car and decided to keep it and put a different motor in it.  She now has a 160 motor in her, which is one of the most competitive classes in quarter midgets.  It will be a long while before Andrew is ready to race 160, but we felt like now is a good time to start practicing it.  Tony forgot one little thing though, brakes.  Whoops.  Oh well, we got 2 good fast laps in before he realized he didn't have any and we had to quit.  

Have a great week y'all!  I am looking forward to getting some short runs in this week and having one last fun day with my girls doing their service project.  SUPER SUPER GIRL POWER!