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 :)  

Mix it up!

 

Mondays are normally rest days for me, but because I didn't get a run in pre or post Andrew's race, I had to felt fresh and ready to go.  Convinced Robin to head out with me and out the door we went with the weather feeling like fall.  Except my body didn't get the memo that everything was good and perfect outside.  I was short of breath although the humidity was below 60%.  I got hot quickly and was glad i had water even though it was 80 with a nice breeze blowing.  I felt like the harder I tried to catch up with Robin, the worse I felt.  My hip hurt, my hamstring hurt, and my feet hurt.  It slowly got all better but still what the heck????  I know I am close to 400 miles on my shoes, but still.  

Tuesday had a visit to Andrew's therapist, whom I really, really like.  They talked about who was on his string of love.  Love the fact that Elvis and boom made it on and his "girlfriend".   They are still establishing a relationship prior to the ADHD testing which is coming up in a few weeks.  His anxiety is pretty much quieted itself, thank goodness I think in large part to the getting back to some sort of routine.  

Back to my pumpkin saga.  I have learned so much about pumpkins after we magically had a pumpkin plant appear at our front door in a patch of rocks by the gas meter.  I now know how to pick out female flowers (see above) and pollinate them (see my work below).   We may be having a second pumpkin grow, stay tuned.  

I got to get adjusted on Wednesday and we are upping my supplement game.  I take a multi vitamin, a probiotic, and tumeric, but my chiro thinks I need to get back on a Vitamin D as well as a fish oil supplement. I haven't had much luck with fish oils, so here is to hoping I can swallow this huge pills and not burp up fish all day.  I am very excited about the Vitamin D since they are just once a week.  Whew.  Plus, my chiro can source both for a very affordable price.  I told her about my crappy run and how sore I had been and she immediately jumped to my diet....which is horrible.   She asked if I had done anything new or out of the ordinary.  Uh, well, kind of.  We did have wine and a lot of it over the weekend and I am not a wine drinker, but I do drink beer, so not sure if that is a trigger or not.  She did remind me wine has a ton of sugar in it and sugar overload equals inflammation.  

Thursday was a quick run and then a 14ish mile  ride.  My watch died mid ride, so not sure exactly how long we got but it was a fun trip.  It was so hazy from the fires  that I can't even imagine what it feels and looks like in California and Oregon.  Jamie picked a beautiful route that had some challenging hills and some nice flats.  It is so beautiful out on the gravel right now, but harvest is on the way so corn cob riding it is!

 

I decided since I had only ran twice this week with one run being a super short one, that i would head out on a run while Andrew was in piano.  Lucky for me, hubby took him to piano so I could work late and then go on a run with both of my kiddos.  They did SO good for me off leash, hanging out right with me without me having to say a word.  I am so lucky to have rural gravel roads to run on so they can be loose.  You can't see boom in the picture but he was right next to Stella like a good, good boy.  We got 4 quick miles in :)

Robin and I decided we wanted trails but we didn't want snakes or spider webs which meant heading to the rails to trail trail up in Marysville.  I am so glad we did because it was a beautiful morning and we saw lots of amazing flowers blooming along side the trail.   I love this trail but flat rail trails really beat me up for some odd reason and I was sore for the next two days.

Post running and showering, we headed out to try out Andrew's new motor on his Junior Honda car.  Lots of kiddos out practicing which meant limited track time but he put in quality work and I am glad that it is all coming together!  I think Tony is getting closer to figuring out the Junior Honda car and when he and Andrew get it together, well let's just say I can't wait!

Sunday was race day.  We had a new motor that was really not tested enough and a kiddo that was ready to race.  I will say he had one hell of a race day.  As always, we don't measure his success by his finishes but more on what goals we set for the day.  

We set our goals for the day being good starts, pass at least one car, and don't give up position unless the car behind you has a really good run on you.  He had amazing starts all day, getting to lead a few laps in several races.  In the Junior Honda heat, he started 4th and held off two amazing racers to finish fourth out of six racers.  The coin flip determined we inverted the field so he moved up to 3rd and inside, which is his favorite place to start.  While he had a run on the 1st place car, he didn't pass and ended up in second for a while, then third, then fourth and finally back to 5th.  The car was not fast enough to give anything to those first 4 and we knew it, being a new motor with just some practice laps on it.  We were VERY proud of both races and how he drove the car as hard as he could. That is all we ask for.  He even at one point was pushing the car SO hard he was up on two wheels and didn't get scared and back off.  His good buddy Madden got his very first feature win and we are so proud of how hard madden has worked all year to get that win!

 As always, his confidence lies in this car and he had amazing starts in both races.  In the heat race he ended up 2nd place to a very fast car (the one pictured behind him, stalking him).  I was proud of him maintaining his gap between him and 3rd and fourth and running good fast lines.  He was OH so close to breaking that 6.6 barrier laying down a 6.707.  GAH!  He ended up with another good start but the two cars that are just faster hunted him down and passed him.  Again, I am SO proud of how hard he drove and that he never gave up his good lines.  Those good lines are going to help him next year when he moves up to the senior classes before.  


Have a great week!  We have a night race this week and I hope to get more running and biking done.  

Labor day Laboring

Labor Day!  We celebrated by working on race cars and heading back to the track to practice.  We tried using visuals to help Andrew with his lines.  Clean lines equal no momentum lost.  Yes, kids can still win with bad lines, but the really fast kids and the kids that move on and do well in senior classes have clean lines.  At a point in time the faster cars won't drive well if they aren't on the best lines.  Crappy lines = spin outs.

He put in a good solid practice, pushing his car as far as he could.  We are still fighting his Jr Honda car (black and green) with set up issues, so who knows what will happen this weekend.  At least he is holding up his end of the bargain. I can't wait to see all of his hard work pay off.  

Tuesday's run was chilly with temps dropping from 90s down to 40s.  I love colder weather, but some sort of transition into colder weather would be nice mother nature!

Wednesday's run was just as chilly, but add in some driving rain that started about a mile and half into my run. I decided to tough it out and just keep running and finish my 5 miler.  

Due to several days of rain, our gravel bike ride was canceled, but the waffle fairy came and cheered me up :)  You know me, I love to support my local running store as much as possible, but I had to get some goodies during Honey Stinger's  Labor day sale.  I also got a new pair of shoes on clearance, which NEVER happens to me.  I was getting close to 400 miles on my current Altras, so started looking around since I wanted to stay with the year model I am currently with.  Low and behold, Runner's Warehouse had one size 8 pair (i normally wear a size 6.5-7, but in altra's I wear a size 8, go figure) on clearance, so I saved over 70 bucks.  My trusty local shoe store doesn't stock older models, which means I don't feel as guilty about buying from someone else.  

Saturday's long run wasn't particularly long.  We had briefly thought about heading to a race 2 hours away and then decided while it would be fun, the 2 hour drive was not worth it for a 10k, even if it were on trails.  Neither of us wanted to get up at the crack of dawn since the temps have been much cooler.  We settled on 8 miles at 7 am and it was glorious, although the humidity was still ridiculous at 98%.  Post running we headed into town for some yummy sandwiches and sweet tea and then off off to the parking lot sale at the antique store I so love to go to now.  

Can I just pause right here for a moment and say that my kid is wearing my shirt and pants in a size men's small????  Plus he can wear my shoes!!!!! We had to make an emergency trip to old navy for jeans and pants because none of the clothes I had set back for this winter fit.  No more guessing what size he will be in!

I really, really wanted this piece.  It was 25 bucks and super cute.  Who didn't have a telephone chair in their house?  I just couldn't figure out a great place to put it in my house so had to leave it there:(

I had contemplated a long bike ride as the weather was glorious.  After our adventures for the day, we decided to try a new to us place and catch some live music while social distancing instead of me heading out on the gravel.  We have two wineries in our little tiny town, 456 winery and Oz Winery.  Both have tasting rooms, but we aren't much on wine drinking so haven't really tried both out.  Wine mostly gives me a horrible headache the day after, so I tend to stick to beer.  456 winery was having a food truck and social distanced music and my live music loving heart overcame my hang over tendencies.  We had street tacos from a food truck, listened to a really good band that did a lot of 90s covers, and just had fun in a safe outdoor environment.  We tasted five different wines and chose a few to take home.  You could even take a chilled bottle to your table and we did so twice (whoops). Happy to say even after 2 bottles shared, no headaches so maybe i have finally found a wine I can drink.  Plus bonus, the grapes are grown in Wamego and the wine is made right down the street from our shop!

Sunday was race day.  Sigh.  We had so much momentum going into the weekend before and got a weekend off for the holiday.  Even though we practiced and he had amazing practices, he just was kind of flat day of.  Junior Honda was a mess with both the feature and the heat being dead last place.  Again, as always our criteria is just try and there was little to no try. He just doesn't like that car and doesn't push it but too bad, you are stuck with it this season.  Junior animal was better as he started 6th but made his way up to 4th in the heat.  We inverted so he started in third for the feature and had a GREAT start to move up to 2nd.  He hung on to second for about 7 laps till Makayla stalked him down and caught him.  He hung on to 3rd and had an impressive gap and hung with the leaders till he hit a car that had spun out.  Since he was avoiding, he got to keep his spot that time.  He hit lap traffic and didn't have a clean pass (see picture above) and got into it with his buddy Brody.  Due to the rules, they both had to go to the very back with only 8 laps left.  Even though he was ahead of Brody in position, he was behind him in the race so he tried again and passed with 2 laps to go.  That was his best 5th place finish ever :)  It's hard though, we had to talk frankly about the lack of try in the one class and he was one little upset dude.  I keep telling myself he is only 8, this is his first year of competitive racing and most of the kids in his classes have been at competitive racing a lot longer.  He will get it, we will practice lots this week and finish this season strong.  

Have a great week y'all! I am looking forward to another glorious week of fall like weather and some more racing!

  

BACK TO SCHOOL (Yes I am yelling and crying)

 Can you be utterly excited and terrified all at the same time about the same thing?  That is honestly where I am at right now.  I want my kiddo to have some sort of regular routine again, but at the same time I am terrified of an outbreak and what that means to the students and the teachers/staff.  We are watching the numbers spike in Manhattan (college town about 12 miles away) and wondering just how long they will be in school thanks to the college kids acting like well, college kids.  Our school system is starting off all in, so honestly, I think it is just a matter of time before we are at hybrid or all remote.  Sigh.  It really is a no win situation for either the parents or the school system/admins.  I am trying to stay positive, pray a lot for both students and staff/teachers, and run my stress off.

Running is about to get interesting.  My running partner is a teacher and she has to take temps, which means she will have to be at the school super early.  This means morning running during the week may not happen unless it's cool enough for me to take the dogs and go by myself.  I was an afternoon night runner for many years, so this isn't something new to me.  I just over the years I have converted to a morning runner and it's quite convenient, even though I really don't like getting up super early AT ALL to do anything.  We went through a brief cool off, but now are back to hot temps and high humidity.  Tuesday's run was horrible and hot and for whatever reason I brought Stella with me to suffer together.  We had had a good rain the day before, so lots of puddles and water for her to get into, and we stopped a lot to look at bugs and flowers and the soybeans when I felt like we both were getting too hot.    

Wednesday run was a bit warmer, but the humidity was much less.  Decided to do a no pups run and listen to a running podcast about a guy who ran under a 4 minute mile in college and now runs 100 milers.  It was super good (Look up Ben and Barry's Podcast for some good ones) and it kept me motivated to get 5 miles done instead of turning around at the 1.5 or 2 mile mark. 

 

First day of school FINALLY on Thursday after the longest spring break EVER! Again, nervous, excited, scared, terrified, ready (and that was both of us:).  Since we didn't have back to school night like normal, he had to lug in all of his supplies, which meant a kind of stressful morning getting everything labeled and ready to go.  Plus, this year he has a locker!  Who has lockers in 3rd grade????  They don't lock them thank goodness, just use them as a cubby outside of their class, but still.  I am SUPER glad we got there SUPER early and were the second in line for temp checks because the pictures of the drop off lines I saw on FB later were crazy long.  Hopefully we can keep up with getting there early every day and avoid the mess.  Picking him up later in the day was fun, again long lines but I got there early.  He came out with a HUGE smile on his face.  Best part of the day?  The new super cool playground, go figure.

Robin and I headed out for a quick 3 and then grabbed our bikes and got in close to 12 miles on the gravel with our tour guide Jamie.  Even thought it was still warm out, you could feel just a hint of fall in the air and I for one LOVE it.  We did mostly flat gravel with a  few small hills thrown in.  Kansas is SO beautiful this time of year with the sunflowers blooming.  We did decide to start going out a little earlier on Thursdays to not be in the dark so much, although soon it will be a moot point anyway, no matter how early we head out post work. 

 

Robin and I headed out for a longish run.  We are excited to hit some trails once it cools a bit and we don't have to get up at 4 am to head that way.  We actually went out a little later than normal and still caught a beautiful sunrise.  The temps were still manageable, but the humidity was horrible at 93%.  ICK.  It kind of hit me during our run, we should have been doing the Hawk today.  This summer has honestly beat me up and spit me out training wise.  I will more than likely not do any more early fall/late summer ultras unless it's a 50K or less.  I am still pretty sad as I don't know if Stella or I have another 50 miler in us.  I am going to try next April and then I think my desire to train for these big races is done :)  Stay tuned. 

Got up Sunday to hot and blustery so tried to get a quick bike ride in before we went to the track to practice.  I got 12 miles in on the gravel and in the industrial park and only felt like I was pedaling and not going anywhere a few times.  Tony has been working super hard on the cars as we are entering the final stretch of the season.  We now have fun because Andrew is pushing the car, working hard on the correct lines, and making our job easier as he can give feedback on whether the car is better or worse post tweaks.  

Have a great week y'all!  I am loving biking more and running less and think I will hang out at 4 runs a week and at least 2 bike rides.  I love having new biking friends that are always up for bike rides whenever on our abundant Kansas gravel roads.  I am not sure how next week will go with the snow and rain and yucky on the way.  At least I am not in a training cycle so I can just go with the flow!

Fall is that you?

 Seriously, stop teasing us and just come on in fall!  This is the last week before school starts, or what we are now getting use to as school.  We are eating up every last minute of it and enjoying our extending spring break.  Although I am ready for some alone time where I don't have to listen to stupid youtube videos or the bleeping and blooping of video games.  I love my son so much but 6 months straight of having him 24:7 has been a bit much for me mentally (moms of multiples, I honestly don't know how you do it).  

Don't mind the dog hair under he chair LOL!  We celebrated National Dog day with three very spoiled pups curled up and watching the Eco Challenge race.  Have you watched it yet? I know I am behind most in watching things, but it's thrilling and exciting and makes me want to do adventure racing IF I could handle heat a tad bit better.  I would be one of those racers who on day 2 is already in serious heat stroke judging by the way I have handled this summer and training.  

Had some late nights at the office and some rough days.  You don't own a small business, it owns you, and we are clawing our way through our first four years of being a business.  We have both learned SO much and continue to learn.  Some nights the best course of action after a rough day is go have some tasty brews and start fresh the next day (hopefully minus hang over LOL).  

Found out i was famous yet again.  KSU holds on to any footage they take for any reasons and they tend to reuse it.  This footage was originally for a commercial we did a few years ago that funny enough was on the jumbotron at the KSU football games.  Now, I am in a video for student recruitment on the homepage for KSU  (don't tell anyone that I was certainly not a student when this was shot). Sepia tones really bring out my freckles LOL!  

A little bit of summer and a little bit of fall.  Ready for my pumpkin beer and pumpkin coffee!

The weather has honestly been weird.  Super hot during the day with heat indexes in the 100s.  70s in the morning with one morning having no humidity and the other during the week being in the high 80s but both doable for us and the dogs.   We are still trying to get 4 runs a week in with one long run.

Also still trying to be brave and do the gravel bike rides.  Last week left me a little nervous and defeated but I was ready to come back for more and hoping for a little less hilly route.  We went back to our old route (THANK GOD) and we only had one big hill and one smaller hill.  Much better for wussy me who likes to ride my brakes down hills.  The scenery was amazing and we saw a few historic sites again.  We talked about ghost stories the whole way back and had such a good time minus one spot of crazy hard rocks.  Then it happened. I had forgotten my safety glasses and it was pitch black dark so I couldn't wear my sunglasses.  We were biking back and I ran through a spider web (ON THE FREAKING ROAD) that had a bug or something in it.  The something in it went into my eye and began clawing my eyeball to death.  My only response was to rub as hard as I could till i got back to robin's house where i could douse it with water.  Never found the offending whatever but boy did it hurt.  Glad my hubby wears contacts so I could use his solutions to make my eye not feel on fire.  Will have my safety glasses in my pocket to put on next time FOR SURE!

Had storms Saturday morning so no long run, plus I had had a few beers the night before knowing it was suppose to storm, so slept in and enjoyed a lazy morning.  Had lunch over in St. George and then came back and did some chores around the house.    Finally couldn't take it anymore and headed out on my bike for 10 and then changed quickly, grabbed the dogs and got a quick 3 before we headed to the track again for practice.  

 

We had what I would call productive practices.  The car is resisting us on any changes and we just can't get it dialed in lately.  It's frustrating for all of us, especially Andrew.  Now that he has a car that is super fast and is easy to work on, having a car that isn't can be a little tough.  

My plan was to get up early and get in 10 before races but after another late night of practices, I decided to sleep in and run post races.  Yeah, I know, bad idea.  I do need all of my senses when I score so it is very important that I am not sleepy.  We somehow screwed up a line up last weekend and while it was a rookie class, so doesn't matter how we placed them, it mattered to the parent and to the kiddo and I get it.  We had our normal two heats and two features.  Andrew had not practiced his Jr Animal car (the burgundy 18 above) but he had practiced his Jr Honda car (black and green pictured in the practice picture).  We are still trying to figure out best set up and we are still a work in progress.  I do feel like he is pushing the car now and driving hard, we just need to figure out how to deliver the best set up.  Basically long story short, Jr Animal he started on the pole in the heat and finished 3 out of 5.  The top two cars are running 6.4 seconds per lap and he is running 6.79.  We have to figure out how to get more out of this car.  In the feature he started 3rd since we didn't invert and he got passed by 3 cars so ended up 4th.  He ran 2nd most of the race but again, their cars were just set up better and faster.  He did a little better in Jr Honda this week and that was the big point we were trying to make with him.  If we are going to sell this car, it has to be pushed and look sellable (we already have someone interested, YIPPEEEE).  In the heat race he finished 5 out of 7 with a 7.05 being his fastest lap (fastest car ran a 6.88).  In the feature he  raced hard, made it through some wrecks and finished 4th out of 7 which put him in 3rd for the points for the day.  Again he ran a 7.09 and the feature winner ran a 6.77.  

This is why we race though.  I had a fleeting thought about packing up and rushing home so I could run.  Then I saw him playing and I just didn't want to leave.  These kids race their hearts out on the track and then play like nothing happened.  We adults could learn so much from them.  For that reason, I did not get a long run in this week and I am not sad about it.  

Have a great week! I am looking forward to school starting, cooler weather, and a long weekend!

Humidity and sleep

 

Started out the week with a bang!  Storms cleared everything off of our front porch and then some.  Still not as bad as what hit Iowa.  Have you see the pictures?  WOW!  Glad that some of my Iowan friends are finally getting power back.

Kind of disappointed.  Andrew earned a new Lego set and everything including instructions is on an app.  I wanted Legos to keep him off of a screen and now he is back on a screen.  It's a cool set, very interactive, but still.  With the very real possibility of online learning again this school year, anything done off of a screen is a good thing.  If we have to do 6.5 hours at a computer, I may scream and cry daily.  Seriously.  

  

Then we found out that the set we bought needed a "starter set" in order to work properly, so Andrew wanted extra chores to earn it quickly.  I do all of the yard work and honestly I figured it wouldn't hurt with the proper safety gear and instruction to teach him how to mow now.  And yes, he smiled the entire time.  It's so cute when kids think chores are fun.  I have always had a hard time letting him do chores, because I have a very specific way I do most things (Type A all the way), so letting him do things means extra work for me.  Well, I am trying to put that aside and let him step up and do more around the house.  Not going to lie, it's an internal struggle for me, but also I am tired and need help since hubby doesn't have the time to help me with any type of house or yard work.  

Was so excited to see 60s in my weather app until I also saw 92% humidity.  Dang it Kansas, knock it off.  The humidity fog was so heavy that it was hard to breath and enjoy the cooler weather.  At least the dogs got to get out and got a free bath in the process.  

Tried a new eating place that opened up over at St. George.  It's funny, when we moved here, we had 0 BBQ joints and I went through serious withdrawals.  Yes, there is KC BBQ in KC, but we are about 2 hours away from KC,  and meat smothered in sauce is not anything I like.  Anyway, we finally made it over for lunch time and it was AMAZING!  It was Alabama BBQ, which I had never heard of (just means covered in red sauce that is tomato based, who knew), but the naked meat was amazing and the sides were SO GOOD!  We had the best fried okra EVER!  We can't wait to go more often and support yet another great BBQ joint in our immediate area.  

I was trying to take a picture of the humidity fog, but this is what I got. Not a falling star, just my camera phone doing weird long shutter things.  It was 60 degrees, but 90% humidity!!!!!!!  I am SO done with humidity.  I can't even enjoy the cooler temps because I can't catch my breath, and my pace is still super slow because of that.  Sigh.  Someday it will be fall and I will rejoice.  

Looking matchy matchy for my gravel bike ride.  We did a MUCH hillier, much more trafficked gravel road, and honestly I hated it. I  am not a fan of going down huge rock covered hills. I have a vision of hitting a pot hole or a rock and going over my handlebars when I go fast.  For that reason, I ride my brakes going down big hills and get quite behind the group.  Of course i catch up on the ups, but then they whiz past me and I get behind again.  I was also not in shape for this ride, so post ride I was spent!  Of course the next morning i woke up with a stabbing pain in my groin area, so decided to take a day off and rest and make sure this wasn't something more than just typical soreness from doing something I haven't ever done before.  Since I am not on a training plan, why not.  I did tell my running partner that i think I would like to run Thursday mornings again, so that I can't use the bike ride as a reason to wuss out on my run the next day.  

I then did a dumb thing.  Tony had to go into work Saturday morning and work with a crew and I decided based on when he needed to leave, I would rather wait and run later than try and get any early.   When he got off work around 10 ish, I thought, what the heck, go out and get your 10.  It was feels like 85, but the humidity was low, so I figured I would do two 5 mile laps and just carry my water bottle and not my pack to stay cool.  I got about 2.5 miles out and felt good and had plenty of water, so I kept going.  BIG MISTAKE.  Around 3.5 miles out the wheels fell off and I started feeling like I was going to puke.  I somehow stupidly thought well if I can at least get to 4 I will stop and turn around and walk the rest of the way back.  I made it to 4 somehow, but then the walk back was painful.  It was hot, dusty, and I had to really watch my water.  My hubby was in another town with my kiddo, so not near enough to come pick me up quickly and both of my running partners were out of town.  I decided to try power walking as long as I didn't feel like I was going to pass out and ended up making it back.  Four mile of my walk run and 3.4 miles of power walking.  You would think I would have learned my lesson from previous experiences, but you know, I am not the sharpest tool in the shed sometimes.  

Long run day number 2.  Decided even though Sunday was a race day to coffee medicate, get up super duper early, and head out to try and get 8-10 running miles.  Robin and I got 10 no problem and enjoyed the cooler temps and the lower humidity.  

So this is going to be a little long winded so grab a beverage , get comfortable, and welcome to my brain.  We had another race weekend with both cars.  We had not practiced the above car, which is his Junior Honda car.  Ever since he has had success in his Junior Animal car (the maroon one), he has been down on this car.  He doesn't like the way it handles, he doesn't like the way it runs, and he has just given up trying to drive it hard.  I was SO excited when I saw in random draw he had drawn pole position. That would at least let him get out and run some laps in clean air until he caught up to the tail end cars.  We have some AMAZING drivers in Jr Honda, some kids that this is their second year doing this class and they have confidence, amazing cars, and that competitive edge that Andrew doesn't quite have yet.  He held on for a little bit but then those cars caught up and he got passed down till he was in 6th place.   He did hold off 2 cars to finish in 6th, but not great effort honestly, but he is 8 so who knows what goes through his head.  We didn't invert the field, meaning that he started 6th and again he quickly got shuffled to the back where he just hung out and drove the slowest laps ever (fastest in the heat for him was a 6.955 compared to a 7.4 in the feature).  It was very obvious he was NOT trying and that is our only criteria, YOU HAVE TO TRY.    Very disappointed and will be doing lots of practicing for sure this week with this car.  This car is not crap and he has to believe that.  We are going to get another car like his Jr Animal car ordered (same chassis) as i guess chassis are different and kids can find one that they like more than others.  We are blessed to have the money to do so and we can sell this car as I have mentioned before and get money back but dang it, if we do this he'd better drive his BUTT OFF!

Next up was Jr Animal, his maroon car.  He had an amazing practice with this car during the week, turning a 6.4, which is truly the fastest he has ever pushed this car.  Again he had a lucky pole position and got a great start pulling away quickly.  He had about 16 laps of leading AND passing which is so good for him before one of the veteran racers caught up to him and passed. I would have liked to see him race her a little harder and not give up so quickly, but he managed to hold off the car behind him and get 2nd place.  He was SO excited as were we!  He raced his BUTT OFF!  Again we didn't flip the field, so he started outside pole.  Here is where it gets super tricky.  The inside pole sets the pace BUT the inside pole can also jump the start IF the flagman feels they accelerate too quickly.  The inside pole was charged with jumping the pole twice, which meant she went to the back.  Then Andrew was on the pole and jumped the start.  Sigh. He got the black flag, which totally scares him to death, so the next three or so starts, he wouldn't go and the outside pole car was charged with jumping the start.  He moved to the back which moved another racer up to the outside and we finally got the race started.  Andrew held first for about half the race and the other two veteran cars caught up to him.  He didn't put up much of a fight and let them take 1 and 2, but held onto 3rd spot and finished strong. I am sure he was tired, there is no telling how many laps they did trying to get that start right.  

Overall a pretty good racing day, just have to figure out how to convince him in his head that the green and black car is not crap, it's still a good car and he can still race it hard.  We are getting a new car, however, it may not be here till the end of the season dependent on when we  get it ordered.  We expect the same amount of try in both classes and are tickled pink he is being competitive and trying hard with one but we expect that from both.  

Hope you have a great week!  I can go on and on but stopping there so I can get this posted and done:)