4/27/16

Trying again to get started with my running, This was supposed to be the "Year of Running" for me, but so far that has not been the case. The last few days I've made the conscious decision to get out the door. This morning I got up early to run since we have scouts tonight. I'm going to try to run early tomorrow too since the kids are coming to work with me and then we need to move stuff to my in-laws. Let's Go Pens!

Restart

I haven't been running much lately, and I've become more and more disappointed about it, so I decided to hit the restart button and try to get going again. We got back last night from HHI (it's amazing how much time traffic and the necessary stops when you travel with five children can add to a trip). I ran three miles this morning.

Congratulations to Matt Centrowitz, Brenda Martinez, and all the other American athletes who won medals at Worlds this past week. I did get tired of seeing all the news about the LGBT controversy though. I'm tired of hearing about how we should all just think it's ok and move on, and when Nick Symmonds expresses his opinions he's a hero but when Yelena Isinbayeva says the opposite she's the devil.

I'm hoping to get the consistency going and maybe actually run a race. It's been too long.

Camping

Ben and Jonathan and I went camping this weekend. I've never been camping this late in the year before, and I wasn't exactly sure how to prepare. It was going to be pretty chilly at night. I ended up with three layers plus a blanket and sleeping bag, and still was a little chilly. Luckily the boys must have been ok because they didn't wake up until morning.

I was able to run Saturday morning before we went camping, but took Sunday off. This morning was the first long-sleeve shirt run of the fall.

Where do the 15 Minutes Go?

It happened again this morning. I'm almost ready to leave, and it's about 6:30 am. I finish up the last one or two things I need to do and head to the car, and it's 6:45 am. I'm not sure what happens to the 15 minutes, but this morning the loss of those minutes made me have to drive to the other commuter lot and arrive at work later than I'd like.

I got out for a little more than 4 miles this morning. I love running in the fall. It's so nice to step out into the cool morning air and not be drenched in sweat when I'm done.

Change

Change can sometimes stress me out. I like having my routine. I get concerned that change is going to mess up my routine. Right now I'm looking at a big upcoming change: selling our house. We're living in a townhouse, and with four kids it's getting a little small. We'd like to buy a single family, with a yard and garage. We're just starting to fix everything up to get the house ready for the market.

My training is going very well. I've discovered some consistency in 2011. I'm hoping the house projects don't take their toll on that.

Last week we took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor water park in Williamsburg, VA. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time.

Winter

December was an abnormally cold month for Virginia. Having grown up in Pittsburgh, the cold temperatures don't bother me, but I never remember it being so windy in Pittsburgh. We had Christmas decorations blowing all over the place. We were briefly tricked into thinking we would have a reprieve when it warmed up for New Year's (just in time to play hockey outdoors at the Winter Classic!) but that didn't last. The temperature was back down for January second.

The cold weather has allowed me to experience one thing I enjoy in winter: running in the snow. Saturday morning the ground was covered and the snow was still falling as I headed out for my run.

The streak I mentioned in my last post is still going.

I Wouldn't Call it a Comeback Yet

2010 was not a good year for running. Nothing extremely bad happened, but I struggled with consistency for pretty much the whole year. Emily, our fourth child but first girl, was born in September and while having a new baby is wonderful it doesn't help your running.

During the last few days of 2010 I was thinking that I don't want another year like it. I want to be running consistently. So I started getting up and getting out the door. Now we're into 2011 and I've got a little streak going that I don't want to break yet. It's remarkable how hard it can be to get started again once you've stopped, but also how easy it can be to keep going once you get some momentum.

In non-running news, we've started to put some plans together for some house reservations. We want to replace the flooring on the first floor as well as renovate the kitchen. While this will make the house nicer, we're really renovating to sell. Having four small children in a townhouse is workable, but not ideal. We'd really like something bigger as well as unattached to our neighbors.