But, now I am back. I can't promise you any great essays filled with wit and inspiration, but I can catch you up on all the goings on in my little running life. So, here things are in no particular order.
First off, I will start on a positive note. I had the most incredible run yesterday. And, actually, the one the day before was no slouch either. Sunday's run of 10 miles was just a salve to the soul. After running just once in nine days, I wanted to ease back into things and the 10-miler showed me I could. Yesterday's run, though, was just big-picture, running-does-fit-in-with-life-sometimes fun.
In my mind, yesterday was supposed to be the start of my children's summer school. I say "in my mind" because as it turned out, we were a day early (although not necessarily a dollar short). So, leaving the quiet building and all dressed up for a run with no free time to do it, I decided to try something new. We got home, got out the kids' bikes and I had them ride along with me while I did my slow recovery jog to the park. That worked out splendidly! LG is just proficient enough now on his two-wheeler that I don't feel I need to hold on to him while he rides. He is still getting the feel for stopping the bike and jumping off, but all wrapped up in knee pads, elbow pads, gloves and a helmet, I didn't worry about him hurting himself too much. At most, the only inconvenience about this plan while he is at this stage of the biking game was that I had to help him get going a couple of times.
Anyway, this was such a fun way to start the day! Biking to the park killed a mile and a half of the three miles I had planned, and while the kids kept telling me how slowly I was going, they made up for it at the park. There, they played on the equipment while I ran around the park to finish the three miles and each time I would circle around close to them I would arrive to cheers of Go, Mama, Go! and You Can Do It! It made me smile to have my own cheering section.
So, that's what's happened over the past two days. Over the past couple of weeks, it's been a different story - lots of ups and downs.
I have slowly been working my way out of the post 50K recovery phase. I opted to take the slow road here, so my long runs were all of 4 miles, 8 miles, and 12.5 miles for the first three weeks, respectively. This past weekend, I was supposed to run a 10K race up in Green Bay, but I had to miss it for my grandmother's funeral. Her passing wasn't unexpected. She was, after all, 90 years old and had long dealt with (successfully, I might add) cancer. However, despite that, processing the fact that she is no longer around is taking some time. While we lived in different states, this is a lady who was very much at the center of our family. She is the reason I visited Michigan one or more times a year. Actually, she is the reason for a lot of things. So, the fact that she is no longer there will take some getting used to.
In addition to traveling to the funeral, I seem to have picked up a cold about a week and a half ago while camping in the South Kettle Moraine while Hubby was running his 100K. That put a halt to running as well this past week.
So between the funeral, travel, and cold, all in all in a nine day period I managed to run once. I have some catching up to do. I am not too concerned about catching up, though. I have to say that this article, "Losing Running Fitness," from runnersconnect.net was very timely and put my mind at ease as far as what is manageable and what is not. I really wasn't too worried anyway, but this helped me feel even better.
Adding to my life's changes of course is summer break. My kids are home! Gack! Just kidding. I love the freedom that having my little darlings home grants us, but on the other hand, having LG say already at 2:30 in the afternoon yesterday (with tears in his eyes no less) that he was bored was an eye opener. What are we going to do all summer?
So, that's what's happening here. This next week, I will ease back into some semblance of a rhythm and hopefully get back on track with the blog writing.
Does summer mess with your training at all? Or does it make things easier?
