Time for a change and decisions?

I was hoping to get back to a more regular schedule but my body threw me a curveball in the form of my monthly friend with some wicked horrible cramping and bleeding this week.  I seriously am ready for menopause even with the fun that "the change" brings.  I feel like I am back in high school with the heavy periods and incapacitating cramps.  This meant I rested on Monday thanks to horrible headaches all day and then stayed in bed Tuesday morning to try and get some sort of sleep.  

Stella and I headed out post work to get as many miles as we could.  The corn is being harvested on our running route, meaning I had no clue how bad traffic would be with grain trucks heading to the Co-op and of course the gravel dust.  I have some in town routes, but I was curious honestly to see how the harvest was going.  They are rocking and rolling because one of the biggest fields was already bare.  We only had one or two times we had to put our buff on to protect against dust from grain trucks.  While it was a little hot, there was a cool breeze blowing that made it very nice out for getting in 5 miles.  

Post work Wednesday we headed out again to see how the harvest is going.   The upper fields are all done now, so they are out working on the lower fields by the river.  Soybeans are looking good and will be ready soon too.  Boom got some mommy time and while it was hot, there was a breeze blowing to cool all of us down.  

I didn't take the above picture, so all credit goes to Jamie our gravel road ride leader, but it's harvest time so the gravel was busy!  We had a doggy visitor come run with us and then we got yelled out for said romp.  I mean the dog has a strava segment named after it so this is a common issue and not the first time.  I know folks in the country commonly let their dogs out to roam loose but as a dog owner, I would NEVER do that for fear my dog would run out in the road.  Next time if we see the dog we will just stop and go knock on  the door because I am not going to be yelled at again, but geez, I kind of think it's the dog owner's responsibility to keep their dog in their yard.  Robin and I got a little over 15 miles in and despite a few tough hills, felt great.

On another note, I made a big decision this week to try the Herbalife shake program. I know, it's just a band aid, but at this point I have gained so much weight that I am truly miserable and need a jumpstart.  I am hoping that the shakes plus counting my macros and calories will help me get back to a better healthy state and weight.  I am not happy with the way I feel, the way I look, or the way my bloodwork is probably going to look when I have my yearly physical.  We have totally gotten into the habit of just eating out all of the time and I need to stop.  It affects all aspects of my life and  I can still eat out occasionally for dinner.  Honestly, I did a week of calorie counting and was below my normal in training calories, but the way I was getting to that count was not healthy.  My hope is that once I get to a normal weight for my height and build, I can cut back to one shake a day.  Just in a week I have lost 5 lbs, so hoping I can keep up the good work and get back to a more manageable size and get my health back on track.  

A short recap of the weekend here.  If you would like a longer drawn out recap, I did a live video on my blog page on Facebook: Running with Reds.  We had plans to head down Friday to practice and to stay, but unfortunately work got the best of us and we ended up working late and then hurriedly packing and heading to Topeka to drop the trailer and get in bed.  Oh well, we don't have cable so it was kind of nice to just lay in bed and watch TV.  The dogs were boarded at our local vet's office safe and sound.  

We slept in till 7:30ish and then laid around before heading to the track to do some work on the cars and get some practice in.  Night races are always fun because the track changes from the heats to the features, throwing a wrench in set up.  Andrew got to have the American flag on his car and be on the track for the national anthem, which I loved.  

Junior Honda (black and green car) was better than he has been doing.  Large field with 2 move ups from rookie class meant things might be interesting as seen above.  You can see Andrew zooming around the wreck, a good reason for him being reactive for once.  He tends to avoid these big wrecks and I am glad because the kiddo in the purple car hurt his thumb and had to scratch the rest of the night.  We started 4th and ended up 4th and then started 3rd in the feature and ended up 5th.  Not bad, still fighting the car and set up.  Tony found a broken part on the car that has been broken for who knows how long that probably was affecting Andrew's suspension.  Some day we will figure this car out.  

Junior Animal was a smaller field with only 4 drives starting and Andrew had good parts to both heat and feature.  He ended up 4th in both classes, as he just did not have the fastest car and that is on us.  Again, his starts were good and he held position for a while at the front till the faster cars overtook him.

 

Overall I am SUPER proud of how amazing he did, finish position doesn't matter to me right now.   His finish in Jr Honda will help him in the points (trying to aim for top 10 and top 5 would be HUGE icing on the cake).     We are so proud of his buddy above, Mr. Madden.  He has won Junior Honda the last two weekends and beat two very awesome experienced drivers.  We love racing with him and the other good kids because it pushes Andrew to work hard and gives him something to strive for.  I also love that post race they play their hearts out. I wished we lived closer because I feel like these two are going to be great friends for a long time!

Have a great week!  I only got 2 runs and a bike ride in but it is what it is.  Racing season is winding down with two more points races and one more two day fun race.  I am still mulling over possibly jumping into a 12 hour race (with my running partner coming with) with the goal of having fun and getting whatever mileage we get.  I am pretty sure at our pace we could easily get a 50K in 7ish hours and we could both get some pretty belt buckles.  The only thing holding me back right now is time to train with us trying to finish out the racing season on a good strong note.  Decisions, decisions :)