Welcome to funky town

I have not run since the Freihofer's race. I planned on taking the week off to catch up on all the things I have been neglecting the last couple of months. Instead, I had birthday parties (one we hosted for Chewie and a couple for the Princess to attend), multiple school visits, field day, doctor visits, dentist, etc. I shlepped poor Light Runner around so much. I planned on just taking last week off but I had also planned on getting stuff done! So, here I am this week trying to scramble to get it all done. I've managed to clean a couple of toilets, repeatedly straighten up the kitchen, finally have clean underwear to wear, straighten up the deck, clean off my craft table, and there's so much more I still want to do. I feel slightly better that I'm getting some of this stuff done, but I am in a serious non-running, non-exercising funk. It's my own choice,  but I know that with a 16 week half marathon training plan coming up, I need to get my affairs in order.

Part of those affairs was seeing a stone specialist about these damn kidney stones. Long story short, I have NO plan for these stones other than to "wait and see." No blasting. No magic pills. I can drink citrus to try to prevent them and to try to help with the blood in my urine when I run, but other than that there's nothing that I can do. On the one hand I am glad I don't need parathyroid surgery. On the other hand I don't want to be in the middle of running the half in October and start passing kidney stones!

Another loose end that has been finally wrapped up--Chewie and her speech. I received a letter a couple of weeks ago that she qualifies for twice a week services, no meeting necessary. Ooookay. We had our review meeting yesterday and she will not only get twice a week services in the fall, she'll also get it in the summer. Easy peasy.

School is winding down and I can't wait for it to be over. We've come up with a list of fun things we want to do and I plan on actually doing them this summer. Instead of waiting for friends to invite us to things we're going to make our own fun. We're also going to be doing a lot of running. In addition to my 16 week training plan on the fridge, there's also an 8 week plan for the kids! It's a 5K plan, but the biggest ones will be running a 1 mile race in August. The Princess wants to run a 5K next spring, so I figure we'll train this summer. If SkyWalker can last a mile without complaining he can do a 5K sometime too. I'm looking into getting a jogging stroller for LightRunner, but I'm not quite sure what I'll do with Chewie. She can run, but I'm not sure she can run that much. I don't want to get a double jogging stroller though because I hope to run a lot when she is in preschool three days a week next year and I just have LightRunner. I'm thinking of seeing how I can do with the stroller I have now that lets her stand in the back. We aren't going to be running fast or far, so I might be able to get away with that and just get a real jogging stroller for the fall.

I can hear LightRunner crying in his crib so my brief naptime break is over. But one more thing--if you actually visit this blog instead of just read it in a reader, you'll see a brand new image over to the right. I am now a #RunChat Runbassador!  Those of you on twitter who also run should definitely check out the #RunChat tag, it's super helpful. On Sunday nights there's sponsored chats, but the rest of the time it's just runners exchanging info. I think they're still accepting Runbassadors, so click on the image in my sidebar and fill out the form.

Running smart

I know. It's been a few days.

So, my goals for the Freihofer's were:

C. Beat my last 5K time: 28:26

B. Beat my last Freihofer's time of 27:58 (I need to double check this!)

A. 26:30 or better

I didn't do it.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't slightly disappointed, but this year the cards just seemed stacked against me.

For the first time I was able to see the starting line from where I was. The first year there were hundreds of women in front of me. This year I was in the 3rd corral and could see the elites and the road ahead! Crazy. I started out strong with a good first mile and got slower with the second and even slower with the third. It was WICKED hot. I didn't go to the bathroom before the race and I wound up having some complications from that. And then in the home stretch when I wanted to speed up, my shoelace came undone. For the first time ever.

I kept switching sides when I was running to try and stay in the shade and I freely admit that I didn't "empty my tank" (well, I emptied one of them, hahaha). In fact at the finish line when most women stopped or passed out, I kept on running. I could have run longer. I think I'm okay with that now. I didn't stop to walk, I didn't have to visit the medical tent, didn't pass out, didn't vomit. Didn't collapse. There will be other races when I can give it my all, but when it's already 79 degrees at 9 in the morning and I have EIGHT KIDNEY STONES and four little children to go home to (they were at soccer and missed the big race)... well... I think I ran smart even if I didn't run exceptionally fast.

I wound up finishing with a net time of 28:30 (gun time 28:45. I was only 15 seconds from the start!).

How cool are these results? I mean, the layout, not the time.

My friends all ran great and did really well in the heat. It's so nice to be a part of a supportive group.

I'm taking this week off from running and exercising and trying to get to all the things I've neglected. Laundry, toilets, my poor garden. I've been doing tech support with our wireless network and security camera for the last 2-3 days. Today we had a birthday party from Chewie who has managed to turn 4. I need to start planning Lightrunner's first birthday party next month. I see the stone specialist on Friday and hope I have some more answers and a plan for these stones. My next planned race will be the 10 mile Clove Run in August (on my 11th anniversary. Maybe I'll run the 1 mile fun run with the kids to make it 11 total!). I'm not thinking about that yet though. I'm keeping my fridge plan-free for a little while.