Week 2: Training for the Hell Creek 20 miler

 What I was suppose to do this week:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 3 miles

Wednesday:  3 miles

Thursday: Cross train

Friday:  Rest

Saturday:  5 miles

Sunday:  Race day/rest

Monday:  Rest day/Strength training.  I stuck to my normal.  Rear squats (10 lb plates), 30 second plank, dead lifts with 15 lbs of plates, single leg balance with kettle bell in farmer's carry.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, yet so effective.  

Tuesday: 4 miles.  Temperature was wonderful, humidity was not.  I had to get up a little earlier thanks to hubby needing to be at work at 7.  After a previous night of not sleeping, I got a full night's sleep and got my butt out of bed early to get done by 7.  I brought stella ella since it was a little cooler.  

Wednesday:  My usual rest day thanks to the day O' meetings.  Business networking at 7 am and then board meeting later that night.  We had to shuffle things around because hubby had to go into work extra early and I couldn't get to my meeting and drop my kiddo off to boys and girls club for his field trip.  Oh well, I think I can have 2 absences ever so many months.  Honestly, I really am burnt out on the networking group and wouldn't mind stopping my attendance all together. I don't have the time I need to devote to get all the CEUs and networking I need to do to make it work.  I feel horrible, it's a great group of people and businesses, I just have really struggled to do all the things I need to do to stay in the "Green".   Everything I do is done at 110% and if I can't give that 110%, it really, really bothers me.

 

Thursday:  Another super early morning for the hubby to up and at work, so no running for me.  Plus, after work kiddo had football camp and I had to mow post camp.  Ah the joys of owning your own home.  Andrew had a much nicer day at camp, and bonus, we got our back to school hair cut done at  real barbershop!

Friday:     Didn't get up early to run.  Bad mistake.  Finally got out around 9ish thanks to a busy day at work.  I sure do love being able to work from anywhere even if sometimes the accounting side of it drives me insane.  I also hit the weights later in the day and did front squats, deadlifts, planks, and some hammy exercises.  I still struggle with my front squats so not upping the weight on those any time soon till I can comfortable lift two 10 lbs plate + bar.

Saturday: Long run day! I totally forgot I had signed up for a Hive Hustle Challenge with Honey Stinger.  I had to do 10 miles to complete the challenge and earn the medal.  At first I was going to hit the trails with Melly mel and get in 10 trail miles.  We were suppose to have 100+ temps and I was dreading it, but I also wanted to support Mel as she trains for her 100, even if it was only for 5 miles.  Then we had a Covid positive at the race track and another mom and I who have our vaccinations and have had Covid decided to meet at the track and clean before the next race.  This meant I needed to be done and out pretty quickly if we were going to meet and clean.  I decided to get up at 4 am and start running at 5 am to be done and showered and on the road.  OF course as usual, I was wide awake till past 11 even with the help of melatonin, so 4 am didn't happen, but 5 am did and I was out by 6 am after coffee and fuel.  The temps actually came down to about 76 around sun rise and the humidity was in the high 80s, but I was drenched after 1 mile.  I also had massive stomach issues and had to make an emergency pit stop in a ditch.  I ended up walking a full five minutes both times i fueled and sometimes taking a 2 minute walk break instead of 1. I am fine with the fact that it took me over 2 hours to get done. I was so over the heat and just trying to stay upright.  I took one bottle of water and one bottle of Tailwind Colorado cola to get me through, plus my honey stinger waffles.  No pups since the dewpoint was at 70 when I headed out.  I draw the line at 69-70 and that much heat for my dogs.  

Sunday:  Rest day.  Post running and cleaning, Andrew practiced both of his cars and then we went to a cook out at one of the family's houses.  The kids played their butts off till almost midnight and we had fun just sitting and talking.  We are all battling some similar issues with our kids and all kind of trying anything and everything we can to keep them successful and happy.  That was Saturday, so fast-forward to Sunday where I slept till 10 am!!!!!   I can't believe how late I slept!  We had planned to go on another day trip, but voted to have a lazy day at home instead.  

On a side note, we had a friend and expert in our chassis go over the cars and he found many things wrong with both.  We don't claim to be experts but we were shocked but happy to find there were reasons why Andrew slowed down over this season.  We all took our kiddos and the cars out to practice and tune.  His animal car, the red one had the most wrong with it, but even after fixing it, his times did not get better.  The white car got slightly better but still not the increase in times we had hoped for.  Sigh.  We even had a kiddo that is really good and his size drive it, same times as Andrew and a kiddo that is much lighter than him and really, really good, same times as Andrew.  We are all very very puzzled.   To be continued.  

What I did this week:

Monday:  Rest/Strength train

Tuesday: 4 miles easy

Wednesday: Rest    

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Strength training/3 hot miles

Saturday: 10 miles

Sunday:  Rest/Race day

I am still really digging this plan, especially with the heat this week. I can wrap my mind around 3-5 miles in the heat.  While I still would prefer to NOT run in the heat at all, I am hoping we can make it through the end of July/August in one piece without passing out.  Onward and upward.  

Week One Training for the Hell Creek 20 miler

Welcome to a short mileage week of training but nevertheless week 1!!!!!  After a nice long break from formal training, I think I am ready to be back at it. I say think because getting up early is still not one of my most favorite things in the world.  Here is what week one is suppose to look like:

M: Rest

Tues: 2 miles easy

Wed: 3 miles easy

Thurs: Rest

Friday: Cross train

Saturday: 4 miles easy

Sunday: Rest

As you know or maybe you don't, I have a networking meeting every Wednesday in another town, which means an early up and out.  Also Wednesday nights are for either board meetings or club meetings for our racing club, so Wednesday anything is pretty much out unless I can do it over my lunch hour.  This is how the week played out.

Monday:  The day of all the appointments.  Andrew got to go to his favorite dentist and got a mostly clean bill of health.  This kiddo hates brushing his teeth and I am shocked that the sealants are good enough to circumvent that issue.  He has one small cavity in a baby tooth they are watching, but it's in a molar that should be gone soon anyway.  We also went to the track to practice.  We just can't get these cars dialed in and it's not for lack of trying. I am all for paying someone to go over them and figure out what we are missing.  The black and green car wouldn't fire up at all, but we aren't racing that one anyway, just practicing.  It was still a frustrating practice for all us since we just can't find the speed and seem to be going backwards.  Again, I know it's the cars and not the kid in practice because his lines are tight, he is driving hard, it's just some small thing we have to be missing on the cars.  Everyone else has their cars dialed in at this point and we are still just flat out struggling which erodes Andrew's already low confidence.  The best or maybe worst part was all of us pushing the 160 around the track praying it would start and just not getting anything but exhausted.  Tony and Uncle Cayce are not runners, but they were that night!

Tuesday:  3 miles easy.  First of all, late night getting home  (we didn't even get to eat dinner till almost 9 in Topeka) meant a wind down period which meant an early morning was not happening.  I was able to sneak out around 8 and get a quick 3 miler in before work and shuttling Andrew to Manhattan for art class.  The temps and humidity were still low enough for me to bring boom boom and there was still tons of mud/water on our running route for him to get in and cool off if needed.  

Wednesday:  Since I have no time really to run with BNI in the morning and board meetings at night for the racing club, I had to settle for a 30 minute lifting session at the shop.  I am keeping it simple, 4 rounds with front squats (20 lbs on the bar), kettle bell swings (20-25 since I have a light weight), dead lifts (20 lbs on the bar), and 30 second planks.  Nothing fancy, simple basic lifts.  I kept a big eye on my form and I am dripping with sweat by the end without doing anything crazy.  On the coaching front, I have contacted a few coaches and while I do feel like the prices they charge are warranted for what they do, the cost is just not fitting into my current budget for what I want.  It makes me sad as I really want to do some sort of strength cycle and be professionally followed while doing so for form and safety, but I may have to put that desire on hold for now.  I would rather spend that money at the chiropractor getting fixed :)

Thursday:  Woke up to heavy rain, lightning and thunder.  Sigh.  Waited and still storming.  Had hoped while Andrew was in art class I could get out somewhere in Manhattan and get a run in.  We pretty much had rain all day and by the time it stopped, it was hot and humid and jungle like, and I had to desire to run.  Took it as a rest day instead.  I love watching Andrew create.  He didn't know I was sitting there watching.  He was so deep in thought with his painting.  

Friday:  3 miles.  It's so weird to just be running 3 miles, but at the same time with my hatred for all things summer running, I am enjoying running "just" three miles.  Post running Andrew had his last day of art class.  God bless his teacher, she was amazing and patient and I think she will do so well teaching elementary art.  We decided to stick around and paint some ceramics, which I found to be way harder than I thought it would be.  You have to paint 3 coats of every color to make it look good and that takes a long while.  I will be back for sure on a rainy or bad weather day as it was a fun way to pass the time.  I can't wait to see the final product.  Andrew painted a Mandalorian helmet mug and i painted a plate that said one spoiled dog.

He worked so hard to make it look "weathered".  I love that he loves to be creative!  I was the same way as a kiddo and I outgrew it but I hope his love of all things art stays. I can still remember begging my mom for those paint by number velvet things at Walmart. Remember those????

Saturday:  Long run day!  4 miles LOL!  Again due to my lack of good sleep I am not getting out early enough.  Robin and I both commented that we got out too late and when we get longer runs this will have to change.  Sigh.  Can someone figure out how to make me sleep 8 hours straight so I can get up early and not feel like a zombie?  Post running we got cleaned up and headed to Hutchinson Kansas to the salt mines.  I had seen several people post about this place and with it only being 2 hours away, had to get to there and check it out.  I need to do a post about it on it's own because we had SO much fun!  We did three tours: a train ride through the mines, the dark tour on a tram through another part of the mines, and a salt safari which was a more in depth tour of the 1950s part of the mines.  Who knew salt mines could be so educational and fun!   Who also knew that this existed 650 feet below ground thanks to Kansas at one time being an ocean?  Plus, the film industry uses this very mine to store film props and old film because of it's safety from natural disasters and it's constant temperature and low humidity.  Here are a few pictures from our adventure:

I had been warned about the dark elevator ride to go down into the mines.  It's 90 seconds of being crammed in an elevator in the dark while going down.  Not my jam since I am not a fan of tight spaces, but since I was prepared for it, I was able to breath through it and not freak out.  On the way back up was a different story as some sensor got tripped and we had to sit for a few minutes in the dark, but again, I was able to hold it together and not completely loose my you know what in front of my kiddo.  

Sunday:  Race day/Rest day.    I wish I could write that things went well, but I can't.  I am going to keep it super real.  We can't get the cars fast enough for Andrew to be competitive.  He is feeling that we are struggling and he like me is super sensitive to that and it's killing his confidence.  Whereas at the beginning of the year, even if he wouldn't pass he would hold his position and line, now he is clearly stepping on the brakes and moving himself to the back no matter what.  He had great positioning twice at the race and didn't even try to keep it.  His confidence is shot and I am not sure how we are going to bring it back.  Stay tuned.  We aren't giving up, but I am not sure what we are going to do at this point.  We are not quitters and things can change if and only if we can get the cars faster, BUT I am not sure how we are going to do that.   

So here is what I actually got for the week.

M: Rest

Tues: 3 miles

Wed: Cross train/Strength

Thurs: Rest

Fri: 3 miles

Saturday: 4 miles

Sunday:  Race day/Rest

Have a great week y'all!  Football camp starts this week and we have yet another race.  Plus, we may go paint ceramics again :)

Last week of FREEDOM!

Short work week, but lots of work to catch up on being out for four days!  Two more months of summer running and I am seriously counting down the days. I am all about #teamwinter.

Monday was all about clean up.  I am so glad we had the day off but dang, I was not ready for the mess left at work from being off Friday-Monday.  Monday was also the last day of firing off fire works.  This holiday truly is my hubby's favorite, so he had spent a ton of money and we still have quite a few left.

We also took advantage of the after holiday sales.  I am a sucker for all things stars :)  Hoping this can be his fall picture day shirt.  It really makes his blue eyes pop.

When I came home from my very short and hot 4 miler, I came upon a chicken in a dog crate on my porch.  Yes, you read that right.  Not only do we live in the middle of the city with owls and foxes, we now have chickens.  Sigh.  I posted on the city FB page in hopes that someone might come forward that was missing a chicken.  I finally got a FB message at 4 pm that her mom was looking for her.  No more chicken, but an odd smell started wafting from under our porch.  Hmmm......TBC.

Now that we are post Covid, trying to do some fun things to make up for lost time. Our tiny town now has an 8 lane bowling alley complete with arcade and pool tables/dart boards.  Andrew wanted to go and they have really good pizza and beer, a win win situation.  We bowled two games and then played pool, one of my most favorite games of all.  Many a weekend we spent in Manhattan shooting pool at Fast Eddies as well as in Martin TN at Cadillacs.  If I could practice more and get better, I would totally do pool leagues.  Andrew of course prefers the claw machine and pacman.

Thursday meant running was on tap and I woke up to cooler temps, but holy moly the humidity was pretty close to 100%.    I decided to keep my run short since I still can being off plan and take stella.  I am pretty sure she smiled the entire run even if she was puffed out like a huge puff ball thanks to the humidity.  When we got home the smell was SO bad on our front porch and even in the house that we had to do something.  Tony fashioned a hook out of conduit and started dragging stuff out from under our porch.  I am not sure what IT was but IT was big, had brownish hair, was covered in maggots, and smelled horribly but was not bloated so hadn't been there too long.  It had part of a tail and I could sort of make out rings so maybe a raccoon is our best guess.  Not sure why it was under our porch unless it got hit and just crawled under there to die.  We really need to figure out a way to enclose that underneath so that doesn't happen again.  It was a HORRIBLE smell and if anyone drove by while tony and I were fishing it out, you would have seen lots of gagging and gasping.  

Friday was my first day back strength training.  I had moved all of my equipment to the shop and Tony had carved out a small space for me in the back to set up. I can't leave stuff out, I have to put it up every day post working out but I will take it.  I was kind of worried about the ability of the stand alone rack to handle the weight but they seem very stable and very convenient.  I did a simple set of 10 back squats, 10 regular deadlifts, 30 second planks, and 30 second one leg balances with a kettle bell held over my head.  Easy peasy but oh so hard!  We also were dealt some bad news Friday afternoon at the shop.  One of our service guys who has been a very hard worker for us has decided to give his body some rest and take a break from electrical work.  Being of the same stature as me, he has been the one for years to go in all of the crawl spaces and attics and his body is just not having it anymore even though he is in his 30s.  He has been involved in some pretty awesome ministry at his church and with area wide foster youth and his heart is telling him that this is an area that might need to be explored in the future as employment.  We wish him all the best in his next endeavor and will be on the look out in the next few weeks for a new service guy who will have big shoes to fill.

   

Friday night we had some big windy thunderstorms roll through.  Not sure if it was the wind or lightening that got so many trees in our town but it looked like a war zone.  That also means lots of people with trees near their houses got their service ripped off.  We don't technically do emergency or weekend work, but if it is a repeat good customer we will if we have guys to work.  It just so happened most of our guys were in town working at our big industrial customer anyway, so one agreed to go do one of the service calls we got.  

In the meantime, our favorite local winery was having a bbq food truck and music later on.  We decided to go early as previous food trucks had run out of food or were just about out when we arrived.  We got there and the band was setting up, but the food truck had just pulled up.  While waiting for both to set up, a small storm blew through with a little bit of rain, but the nasty stuff stayed south of us.  

Was pretty cool to watch the storm approach, dump a little rain, and then move on.  We decided to go ahead and get a bottle of wine and enjoy the cool evening while we waited on food.  About the time we started eating the service call we had been working at got power turned back on but for some reason the power was not coming into the house.  Tony decided to go and check it out and leave us at the winery, thinking it would be a short call.  Two hours later, we needed to head home before the sun set if we were going to head out on foot.  

I run this route regularly so I know it's about a mile and a half.  We both had flip flops on, which made the trek a little more challenging, but we made the walk and had fun doing so (even if he had a sour look on his face).  

I knew Sunday that we were suppose to have rain in the morning, so getting up super early didn't need to happen.  Lucky me, got to sleep in till 8 and then hang out while the showers showered and then moved out.  Boom and I still had plenty of cloud cover and a nice wind to keep us cool.  There were also tons of fresh puddles on the road for boom boom to cool off in.  Not going to lie, still felt those bottles of wine but we made it through 6 miles on the gravel.  

Every day he gets a little better and more consistent at running.  He will never be like my stella ella but I am starting to have more fun with him running wise.

Have a great week y'all!  It's going to be busy with lots of racing practice, lots of appointments, a last minute art class for Andrew in Manhattan, and race day!  Plus, I start back on my official racing schedule and this is a super short week of 3 runs, cross training, and strength training.  

Base Build in 2 weeks?????

 

Another week and more fun!  We started out by cat sitting our friend's 11 cats.  Thank goodness they are all spayed and neutered!  I want the orange one soooo bad!

Little man got his first shiner.  We are not having a lot of luck at boys and girls club this year.  First Covid and now this.  I am surprised this is the first time.

After a long night Monday night, getting up early was not in the cards.  Luckily my hubby could take the kiddo to BG club so I could get some quick miles.    Yeah for clouds, boo for humidity.  

Wednesday meant the fair a block from our house opened.  It is SO nice to get back to some sort of normal even if variants are running wild.  We got arm bands and we got our money's worth.  This is Andrew overcoming his fear of scary rides.  I told him he would love the scrambler and I was right!  He rode with his girlfriend several times.  We ended up closing down the fair :)

Thursday morning meant a 5.8 mile run to celebrate my running BRF's 58 birthday!  It was super duper humid, but there was a cool breeze.  The dogs needed to stop several times to drink from puddles and cool off, but being dog runners we are use to that.  

One more run for the week on Saturday.  A nice slow 4 miler for the 4th, except it was the 3rd.  One more week of taking it easy before we dive back into training officially.  

Probably do a separate post for Boomtown.  We invited several families from the track and two came to party with us.  I think we all had an amazing time and I think we are already planning for next year.  I always think Wamego can't outdo the previous year and then the next year comes and they blow it out of the water.  If you haven't been to Wamego for the 4th, you are missing out and i will gladly let you have VIP passes to see the BEST fireworks show ever.  30 minutes straight of a finale set to music??? Yes please!

Have a great week y'all!

I'm Breaking FREE!

Eighteen days of quarantine DONE!  It could have been worse if I had been negative and Tony had been positive, so I will take it.  I am not going to lie, I really did like working from home and staying in my pjs all day.  The zoom meetings I had I just put on a polo and kept my pjs on the bottom :)

Monday and Tuesday were both unseasonably cool.  We woke up to low humidity and cool breezes. Can summer be like this all summer?  Decided to let Stella have a spin since Boom handles heat a little better right now.  I really had no clue how my body was going to react post Covid, but other than just feeling a little out of shape, everything was good.  

The rest of the week running wise was more hit than miss.  We woke up Thursday to rain and storms and also Friday to storms.  I like not missing sleep, but also I need to get some base building done when it isn't 1000 degrees outside.  Unfortunately, most nights were not the best for even short runs as we were busy at the track or at the pool, or it was a million degrees plus humidity.  I did get into the chiro and got so much needed work done.  Thanks to the huge amount of life stress and sitting at our dining room table for large amounts of time (no padding, no back on the chairs), I was a hot mess in my back and shoulder region.  I really need to get in and have a really good deep tissue massage.  

I did get a run in finally on Saturday, only because I got to sleep till 7 am and the cloud cover made it possible.  Boom and I got 5 miles in and had mostly cool, but humid miles.  There was tons of water on the road from the recent rains and Boom is getting much better about drinking on the run, although he seems to prefer puddles to fresh water.  He is vaccinated for Lepto before you worry :)  Th rest of the saturday was about doing a million things we needed to do post Covid, including my favorite, a Target trip and a trip to my most favorite antique store Eclectic Charm.  

Sunday was all about racing. My hope was that with me there this weekend, fewer cars in his class, and a few practices under out belt that Andrew would be brave.  While I certainly saw moments of brilliance, those moments were pretty short. Part of the problem is we are fighting both cars now with some sort of unseen issues that are making both slow and we knew this from his practices.  He is starting to come around and try and battle, but the other cars are tuned in so well and so much faster (6.3 versus our 6.7 best lap in one class) that we just can't compete.  Tony and I are coming to this from a very non racing background, so what we know and what we do comes from  YouTube and asking friends/reading books.  It really puts us to a disadvantage when most of these kids have dads and grand dads that are racers and set up their own race cars weekly.  Overall it still was a good day and I am proud of his 5th and 4th place finishes.  

At the end of the day this is what it is all about anyway.  Andrew and his buddies having a great time after they battle on the track.  Plus bonus, we got a free air show while we were racing thanks to the air strip being so close to our track.  Look at this awesome picture our race photographer got!  They even did a simulated battle and it was LOUD!

Have a great week y'all!  It's 4th of July week and that is our favorite holiday here in Boomtown.  My parents are coming up and we are having a little party with some of our track friends.  I can't wait!

Quarantine Week 2

Hello, it's the mutant Colemans here :)  We are currently hunkered down for a while, while our bodies process Covid.  So far it's been an interesting ride.  Get ready for some memes because pictures from my yard and the house are kind of boring and those are the only places I have been lately.

First off let me start with my new mantra.  I am working hard to live by this and stop being such a people pleaser. I am finding that I can not make everyone happy and it's not my job.  I also need to stop apologizing for living my life.  I owe no one anything and you the reader don't either.  Let's rise up together!  

Monday started out like the Monday before, working from home and waiting to hear something from the lab.  I am glad we had rapid tests done, so we at least knew what we were up against.  I felt on again and off again good and bad.  The Covid roller coaster I had seen my own son go through is not a fun ride. 

Tuesday I woke up hoping to get a short run in before the heat they were predicting was to set in.  We have had a blessing of low humidity for a while now and I really wanted to take advantage.  Except my body waved the white flag and I had to listen to it.   I unfortunately had a 9:30 zoom meeting that I had to pull myself together for, so I slept till about 8 and then drank as much coffee as I could muster, brushed my hair, and pulled myself together.   Post having some not so fun conversations, I struggled through the day till I could go back to bed and die.  I did call the health department to see if our positive tests were in the system, since our rapid tests were done on Saturday.  They had no record of either our rapid or our lab confirmed test being done.  Sigh. Once again if this is the monkeying around people have to do, I can see how this mess gets spread far and wide. I also lost my sense of taste and smell Tuesday night.  It was super duper weird.  I had a big bowl of ice cream after a session of trampoline jumping and I could taste every single delicious bite.  When dinner time rolled around and the hubby made some yummy spaghetti, I couldn't taste a thing.  I could feel the textures of the foods, but no taste.  My diet coke tasted like warm nothingness.  Then I took a shower and couldn't smell the soap, the shampoo, or the after shower lotion.  This is such a weird virus!

Wednesday was also the day of all the meetings.  Our business networking group started off they day and our quarter midget track club ended the day.  Y'all know this, but I just need to type it here to get it off my chest.  I am a huge empath.  If you are angry, I feel your anger as if it were my own.  If you are sad, I absorb it.  If you are mad at me I feel your anger and my feelings as well.  At times it's a bit much because I can't just feel my own emotions, I feel everything you are feeling too.  I am not saying you can't feel emotions around me, everyone can.  I am learning how to block it to a degree, but somedays like when I am sick or tired or whatever, I just don't have that skill and it kills me.  Wednesday was just one of those days for me.  

Thursday was probably the worst day Covid wise of all the Covid days.  Not sleeping much the night before, letting go of some really stressful stuff, and trying to wrap my brain around some relationships I have, just left me with nothing in the tank.  My pulse ox was all over the place and my heart rate was also high compared to what I normally am at.  I had horrible chills, but no fever, and my head felt like it was going to explode.  I felt like I needed to sleep, but was terrified to sleep by myself with just andrew around, just in case I did have issues with breathing.  I could take a deep breath no problems, no tightness in my chest, but still very worried as to why the pulse ox was fluctuating so much.  I finally starting running a fever, but it stayed below 100. Just enough of a fever to make me feel like pure poop.  I had hoped for an early bed time but right before i was headed, I looked for a document that I had worked on for 3 hours earlier in the day and it was gone.  Like poof, never existed, gone.  I finally found it, but the document had been completely renamed????.  This is seriously the weirdest thing ever because I downloaded the document with a name that included the word June.  Post downloading it I edited it and saved it multiple times and  added the words "TKQMA" and "2021" to the title.  How it reverted to a name that had neither of those words in it and added words makes NO sense to me, but at least I found it and it existed and I had not dreamed it up.  Of course adrenalin running through your veins does not make you sleep, so I was still wide awake at 11 pm.  

The ONLY good part of this week was that Andrew was back to normal and had fun building a late birthday present Lego set.  While I was super bummed it was to be delivered post his birthday, it came at the perfect time for him to have something to do.  Two days and almost 3 thousand pieces later, he made R2D2 a reality.  He amazes me with his skills because this set was for 18+ and he only asked for help once.

I slept till a little past 9 on Friday and honestly I think I needed sleep more than anything. The head congestion finally let go a little and I could actually smell a little bit.  I still took it very easy all day and mostly did computer work or sat on the porch.  The health department finally called and discussed our quarantine periods (which are almost over) and symptoms.  They were pretty honest in that there were 14 cases in our area, but that people were not getting tested that were sick so that number was very misleading.  Most people were loading up on fever reducing meds and going back to life or just waiting till they were a few days fever free to go back to life.  No judgements, you have to do what you have to do, but it totally explains how this mess just gets spread and how it's never going to end no matter how careful a person can be.

Saturday was another day of sleeping in.  Another almost 12 hour night of sleep that can do nothing but help me get better.  I woke up feeing a ton better and decided to try and tackle some much needed yard work and work work.  The temps were high but the clouds were out and I managed to get most done before the sun peaked out and started baking me.  I spent most of the rest of the afternoon resting in the recliner watching musicals and Downton Abbey.  Finally finished In the Heights and while I didn't love the first half, I certainly did love the second half and now will need to watch it all the way through again.  

Since both the boys were off of quarantine and it had been almost 2 weeks since the cars had been to the track, Tony and Andrew headed out to a super short practice in the heat.  No one was at the track so perfect time to get some laps in and not be around people.  While I am only a few short days away from hitting my 10, I am still a little nervous the boys are back out around others.  

Sunday was race day and I was dying not being able to be there or be able to watch via payperview. I had to hop from live video to live video on Facebook, as the moms at the track were taping their kiddo's classes.   Andrew did not race well and I am not sure why.  I am sure not being heat acclimated and just coming out of quarantine from Covid probably had a lot to do with it.   One of his cars was just not running right at all and his other car while fast, was not fast enough.  It's hard because his last races were so much better and had so much improvement and now we kind of feel like we are back to square one.  I even thought a few times about getting out and trying to do a walk or a bike ride and elected to stay inside, stay cool, and wait a few more days to try and reintroduce myself into the athletic world.  

Happy Father's day to all of those fathers out there!  Hope you had an amazing day where you got to chill out, eat good food, and do what you love.  I am saying a big Happy Father's day to my step dad Tommy who raised me, my genetic dad Mike Gordon, Tony's genetic dad Omar, and to Andrew's newest pops Bob.  

Here is to hoping next week will be better right?  I will be out of quarantine and back to work Monday, Andrew will be at camp and swimming at night, and I will hopefully be able to do some sort of athletic endeavors.  Have a great week y'all!