‘When the Going Gets Tough’

I’ve been studying a daily devotional called No More Unglued Mama Mornings. This 5-day plan may very well be one I go back to again and again. Thus far, my favorite line has been – “I can’t own this situation and let it throw me into frantic, fix-it mode. I let the consequences of their choices scream, so I don’t have to. I have what it takes to be the mom!” I am the mom! It references “immature leadership” many times and I feel so drawn to those words because if those words aren’t pointing directly at my mini, next to stubbornness, nothing else is.

Driving to the school to register my mini for kindergarten, I felt the familiar stirrings of anxiety unchecked. No need to ask why. It was quite apparent to even oblivious me. My sweet girl has been concerned about not being able to make friends, what to do if/when someone says something mean to her or her friends, and many other uncertainties concerning being social. May I remind you: she is a social butterfly and has never met a stranger so I feel this whole situation is mute. Nonetheless, I hear her fears loud and clear.

Because – big reveal – I’m having the same ones. As ridiculous as it may seem, I’m dreading having to interact with her classmate’s parents. My problem (well, a laundry list of them) is I am an observer, a flower on the wall, a sit in the back and wait for it type of girl. So my butterfly baby forces me to take center stage and jump right in. Why couldn’t I be blessed with RBF? You know, resting b**ch face. Then I could quietly blend in. Oh, and I’m a brunette which naturally makes me more approachable. Research it. Truth. I’m doomed.

the face that screams “come talk to me!”

In related news, I am already good friends with the mom of another young lady who will also be entering kindergarten at the same school and I do know the mother of a young boy in the same situation. With 3-4 kindergarten classes, I don’t know the chance they’ll all be in the same class but it did make me feel better knowing I know a few parents there.

In closing, I leave you with this: yesterday’s mess can become today’s message!

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I ask you –

Are you approachable or considered standoffish?

How often do you feel unglued?

Care to share your favorite motivational statement?

Upcoming Ideas!

I’ve finally got it! My next creative writing project will be titled “From Bed to Tread” and will feature the catchphrase similar to this – Today on From Bed to Tread, we’re going to show you things you shouldn’t do! Bonus points if you read this in your best Robin Leach voice. I didn’t realize he had passed in 2018. Looks like you have a chance to continue his legacy then. Good luck!

Even though I’m able to extend my lunch to total about 90 mins, it’s to the point where I need between 90-120 mins to complete my runs. First world problems. And since Texas is beginning to do what Texas does (aka get hot) I’ve started getting up around 5am to be out the door about 30 mins later. No wonder I’m tired at 6pm.

always my baby

Since mini will be leaving me for a 10 week Tennessean adventure soon, I’ve been brainstorming some summer goals/projects/etc. If you thought I was about to share them here, you’re wrong. I haven’t come up with anything yet. Yet. I want to return to a full keto routine which isn’t really that hard. Just do it! I’d like to read as many books as possible. I also want to ride my bike more than once every two weeks. Hashtag training problems.

Of course all of these things will be post-Memorial Day. From the moment I decided to only run 1 half marathon vice 3, I’ve felt overall more relaxed and prepared to run. The ability to incorporate more rest days into the week instead of running multiple days in a row has been calming. Even my resting heart rate has decreased. I was constantly feeling guilty for taking long lunches toward the end of each week because I my weekends were super busy with family and 5 yr old activities so I was juggling running midway through the work day. Or getting up very early and being unable to go to bed earlier to counteract it. Although I fully realize this is a decision I willingly made, balancing what I love to do and other priorities in life is really hard. Soap box, I’ll stop now.

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I ask you –

Do your plans change from summer to winter? In what way most often?

Would you rather get up early or go to bed early?

Tell me your optimum lunch period! ex. 30 mins, 1 hour, etc.

Old Age and such / Today is a Very Special Day!!

Trying to go to sleep many nights ago, I remembered when I feared I had a stress fracture. Because bedtime is the perfect time for your brain to think about…everything. At the time, I was routinely wearing steel-toed boots for my job as a government contractor. Those suckers are heavy! Pretty sure the boots hadn’t caused the possible injury, so I was looking for other reasons. Mileage and running were the culprits, in my mind.

Stretching with my shadow

Some weeks went by and as I was contemplating finally calling my doctor I realized the problem. As a right-side sleeper, I typically lay with my left leg over the top of my right with my left heel wedged firmly into the top of my right foot. Exactly where the pain was. Once I made a conscious decision to move my feet away from each other, the pain subsided within days.

So what exactly is the point of this jog down memory lane? Honestly, I don’t remember anymore but I’m sure there’s a lesson here somewhere.

Now it’s coming back to me! My coworker recently shared women should be getting their first mammogram around age 35. Wait. I’m 35. So now I need to remember to call my doctor. At least the coworker said colonoscopy screening is near age 40. Small favors. You can bet I’ll be sharing all those details.

Again, I digress. Seems the pulled ACL/MCL issue I’ve been toying with for many months now may be caused by none other than yours truly. Shocking, I know. When I’m sitting or have my legs up – which I do often – I tend to cross my feet at the ankles, left over right. This position places strain on my inner right knee which is exactly where I develop bruising and pain especially as training mileage increases. Coincidence? Ha!

1 of 5

So here we are to this point. I’m attempting to keep my legs in their proper places. Preferably not kicking anyone, although I did take a knee to the shin one night and considered it. Next thing you know I’ll forget where that bruise came from because middle 30s and all.

Final thought: speaking of old age – today is my sweet baby’s 5th birthday. It’s so hard to believe because I could never imagine this day. Everything about her pushes me to be a better person. Even when it’s not-so-sweet qualities. She knows my every button, my every weakness, my every desire for all good things in her life. Yet she tries me still. She tree, me apple.

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I ask you –

Do you self diagnose or make an immediate appointment with professionals?

Be honest – how often do you forget things?

Coincidences don’t exist! I’ll say it.

Oh Where…is My Hairbrush?

It’s not unusual I find odd things in my purse, but sometimes I crack up at the scavenger hunter’s dream it has become. Fruit snacks? Check! Hair ties and barrettes? Check, Check! Sunscreen? Got it! Random banana? I have one of those! You just never know what you’ll find.

My Navy days have never let me down in terms of hydration. Though I’ve been known to let myself down. Water is a staple. I go nowhere without it. Luckily a huge purse can carry water bottles, too.

Something about springtime or maybe it’s just spring training makes me crave sandwiches. I grew up hating sandwiches so this is a big deal. Bread = yuck. Cheese = double yuck. Slowly I’ve come around to the adoption of the sandwich as a viable food option. Pile it high with vegetables and add “special sandwich sauce” aka Boar’s Head Deli Dressing. Ta-da! A sandwich connoisseur I am! Surprisingly the training hunger hasn’t kicked in. Yet. But it shouldn’t be too long until it does. Then the real fun begins. I’ll take a baker’s dozen of donuts, please! No, I’m not sharing these!

Maybe instead of “I Met All My Husbands in the Police Report” I should start with something easier to digest, like “The Sandwich Stories!” Would I become a food blogger then? Nah. Seems like a lot of pressure for someone who really only wants to cook chicken and fish and vegetables. Maybe next time.

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I ask you –

Are you the familial stuff holder?

What food did you despise as a child but love now?

Name the craziest thing you’ve found in your purse or pockets!

What I Really Miss!

Lies of Motherhood and other things they said I would enjoy but do not:

You’ll miss: getting kicked in the back or spleen or forehead whilst co-sleeping
You’ll miss: spending hundreds of dollars to dress them each season
You’ll miss: the level of exhaustion that comes from any sentence beginning with “Help Me”
You’ll miss: being bitten during breastfeeding
You’ll miss: throwing snacks at them like wild animals poised to attack
You’ll miss: a snarky ‘Why?!’ when asking them to do anything (including the things they WANT to do)

Truth be told, there’s people even funnier than me. And I don’t say that lightly. Here’s where I’d like to share I’m a tough crowd, that it takes a lot to make me laugh. But that’s a big lie! I laugh at everything: you, me, the dream I had last week where I literally woke myself up laughing loudly. Let’s not forget I’m still laughing about what made me laugh at my dad’s funeral nearly 25 years ago. I just now nearly made a joke that started with “we’ve got a live one” but I see I’m talking about a funeral so live one jokes might be a bit much.

Considering starting a spin-off of Running on Fumes titled “I Met All My Husbands in the Police Report”. Perhaps it won’t be received well, but I’m overflowing with great ideas! Also, did you know there is a limit to how many espresso shots Starbucks will give you before they cut you off?! Me neither! And it’s 12. Now you know.

I leave you with this: A woman was asked ‘What is the best thing about being 104 years old?’ She replied: ‘No peer-pressure.’

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I ask you –

What on my list reasonates with you?

Do you think my spin-off title will endear me to anyone?

Share your best joke!

Day in Photos, pt 921

“Day in Photos” started when I realized there were a lot of photos in my phone that maybe didn’t fit whatever topic I was writing about during the day/week. Now look at it. Just look at it! It’s become a successful way to share a whole bunch of photos, very few words, and still count as a blog post!

Let’s begin –

brand

I’m madly in love with my logo and what my sister gifted me with on our birthday: branded apparel. I truly enjoy advertising for other small, local, women-owned, military-owned, etc brands – and will continue to do so – but I also need to share my own!

oh the drama

No matter how many times I say ‘the foam roller is not a toy’ it never fails to become a group activity. Not really a group type of girl. Solo foam rolling is much appreciated. Unbeknownst to me, some people have no clue what a foam roller is or what it does. All I can say is it hurts so good!

sister, sister

Leaving you with this photo of my twin. It’s been nice catching up lately. Never a dull moment when she’s around!

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I ask you –

How often are you shocked at the number of phone photos you have amassed?

Are there items in your home with the designation “not a toy'”?

Tell me your sibling(s) name(s)!

Daughter Date!

Trampoline places are the equivalent of a relatively inexpensive way to discover you have a weak pelvic floor. Also, supportive sports bras should be required. Some women will regret their choices tomorrow.

Having a “date” with my (only) child somehow always ends with ice cream. And by ends I mean ice cream is the whole point of the date! There are few rules on girl’s date night/day so ice cream could be at 9am or 9pm. I make the rules around here. Braums is our regular hangout, but Dairy Queen will do in a pinch. We didn’t have Braums on the east coast so I’m making up for lost time. According to my internal ice cream tracker, I’m behind approximately 6.76 years.

Speaking of daughter dates, it would be sad not to include my childhood best friend in this post! Morgan and I grew up together. She remembers my Dad, that’s how far back our friendship goes. If you’ll recall, she and I ran the 2018 Rock n’ Roll New Orleans Half Marathon, as well as this past December’s Stars at Night Half Marathon in San Antonio. Morgan has a huge heart and I’m so thankful for her friendship! Her love of Mexican food is my next favorite thing. Bonus: her birthday is 2 days after mine. I’m sure our parents were just overjoyed when we ingeniously thought of joint birthday parties.

You’d think after nearly a year of part time teleworking we could get this figured out. You’d think, but… My work from home days are still a confusing piece of the week mixed with a little frustration, lots of annoyed looks, and sometimes some tears. Lucky guess on what belongs to whom. I’m eternally grateful to games, letter boards, badminton, and whatever the above photo shows of this shaker glue thingy. It makes it to where I can get approximately 3 minutes of work done before moving on to the next thing or playing maid.

I’ve heard it said going to work is hard. I disagree. Staying home is harder. And somehow louder. Yet the 3 mins to do some work before interruption is still the same. Imagine that.

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I ask you –

Do you have regular dates with your child(ren)? How often does it include ice cream?

Did you and your childhood best friend bond over a close birthdate?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans!

Wanna…Go for a Bike Ride?

Cross training? What’s that? Admittedly, I know I should be cross training during a training cycle, but usually what happens is I get so focused on running, it’s all I want/make time to do. Terrible, Coach.

This time, I’m following my own tried-and-true advice! Instead of walking or, my personal favorite, more running – introducing cycling! Let me tell you my quads were sufficiently sore after only 15 mins of cycling. The glute pain lasted much longer. Seems cycling mimics downhill running very well which will be super helpful at May’s Texas Triple because there’s a short section on each lap that kills my quads! If you allow it to happen, turnover on the downhill portion will have you running a 5 min/mile. Athletes who regularly do this are mind blowing. P.S. the number mentioned isn’t a guess, I personally saw my watch register this pace as I was flying down the hill. Exhilarating and a little scary! Stopping? Impossible!

As usual, I digress. Regular cycling should be helpful this time around. Worst case scenario: I develop overly muscular quads and thighs then run like a wiener dog. Unlikely. These bird legs of mine have required much of me to embrace.

In terms of cycling, guess who has almost successfully taught her mini to ride a bicycle sans training wheels?! It’s me!!! Pretty sure the very core of my patience has been tested, as well as every muscle in my lower back from leaning over her, but, HEY!, she’s almost there! Who needs to stand upright anyway?! She’s making great strides, no pun intended. Relatedly, I heard a story of a young lady turning 6 years old a few weeks ago and she thought upon her 6th birthday, she would somehow inherently know how to ride a bicycle then. Like – POOF! She also thought she’d be much bigger at that point, too, so here we are.

My birthday is this weekend. Lucky 13. I’m not sure what I ever envisioned mid-30’s looking like, but I hope I wake up that morning with the ability to whistle loudly! POOF!

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I ask you –

Will cycling give me Dachshund-style legs?

How old were you when you learned to ride a bicycle? I was probably 4-5 yrs old. My siblings told me to sit on a “big bike” then proceeded to push me down the front walkway. It was sink or swim time and I was full speed ahead from then on!

Tell me your lucky number!

The Talk / History Lesson

In current world news, on today’s newest episode of “I’m seriously not qualified for this job!”, I’ve been tasked with talking to a teenage girl about how underage drinking and smoking are very serious and should not be taken lightly. Great, just great. Not qualified, under qualified, whatever you want to say. This was not included in the parenthood guide! Well, maybe it was, but the kind doctors and nurses simply forgot to give me mine when they gave me all the other paperwork to complete post-birth. I was robbed!

I’m not cut out for the enormous responsibility of these oh-so-important life talks. I genuinely don’t know what to say. But then I think back to working with children from unimaginable hardship. In a leadership position, I climbed my way up; somehow I did it then. Younger, more confident perhaps? Now I just sit here cringing, thinking WHY ME?! Again, I’m not qualified. No joke, Kel. My mother told us the story of her father finding out she smoked. She said her father made her smoke an entire cigar (his poison of choice) as punishment/lesson learning/complete craziness if you ask me. She said it was awful. Plot twist: it didn’t make her quit smoking though. She just learned she didn’t like the taste of cigars. Seriously not helpful, Mom. I can, with complete honesty, say I have never smoked anything. Not once. The smell of cigarettes gives me the feeling of all the oxygen being pulled from my lungs. Can’t make this up. I literally feel like I can’t breathe. And I can smell cigarette smoke from other cars if sitting in traffic. Weird, I know. Smoking may be the grossest habit anyone can have. But it is a habit and I know too many who have struggled to quit because it’s truly an addiction. As for drinking? Let’s just say – when I think back to what I used to do, I’m lucky to be alive; we’ll leave it at that.

The advice given to me was to talk about the safety aspects: cancer, juvenile record, even death. Sounds harmless, no pun intended. I feel like if I cap it off with a sentence sounding like ‘I was once your age and I did the same things, blah blah blah’ then it’s a well rounded conversation. Yet somehow this feels like a giant cop out – back to the unqualified statement. On the subject again of my misplaced parenthood book, it probably states do not include stories of your own teenage misadventures. But I imagine it doesn’t give you other available options either. Those of you in possession of this elusive book, feel free to chime in, please.

There’s no winning here, is there? I suppose we just do what’s best in the moment, hope it turns out alright, and pray our children don’t end up in a mess only a miracle can fix. But there is a little voice inside me screaming ‘I’ll be damned if my child behaves this way!!’. She probably will. Face it now, Kel. My time is coming.

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I ask you –

Did you get a book?! If you did, can I borrow it?

Any weird adverse reactions to another’s addictive habits?

Tell me what I should say! P.S. this isn’t my child I’m talking to. She’s 4. Let’s not rush things.

On Your Left

I’m about 24 hours out from starting a new training cycle. What I mean is…forgive me for not returning your calls, texts, plans, and anything else that doesn’t include running or eating. I was speaking to a co-worker several minutes (could’ve been weeks, it all runs together; runs, get it?!) about her Spring race plans and she mentioned she still had “unfinished business” with a marathon goal. (To be clear, this woman is an ultra runner, 2000+ day streaker, and super speedy marathon finisher. We’re not even close to being in the same category!) But she’s fun to talk to and very encouraging so she gets a free pass. As I shared my triple half marathon goal, her sounds of incredulousness made me laugh. Here’s this woman who runs high double digits regularly yet thinks my 13.1 for 3 days is insane. Just means we’re all a little different. And equally crazy. Next time I’m going to tell her my life goal of completing a Ragnar. Look it up. It’s awesome!

There’s no getting around it. I have a shoe addiction. Running shoes specifically. There’s something about the sleek, cushioned, makes-me-feel-like-I’m-running-fast beauty of new shoes. I’m currently rotating 4 pairs. Excessive? I don’t know. Like I’ve said for years: you can’t do enough to take care of your feet. They’re all you get! No replacements available. But, if it came down to it, and I couldn’t speak for myself, YES! I want a foot transplant! Please remember this! You can take my voice; you will never take my feet! I may not be able to berate you with my tongue, but I want one last opportunity to run you down and kick you. Enough of that.

Thursday nights’ Freedom small group is going well. These are the most courageous, strong, and honest women I could ever know. How I got so lucky to lead this group is beyond me. Many times in my life I fretted about being able to be open with other people, especially women. Nothing against women, but being one myself, I know how ugly we can act. Freedom in Christ, amongst other believers, was never a part of my plan and for this I’m thankful because without Him I wouldn’t have made it this far. Life sure is funny like that. I miss my 6am group, but Thursday nights are special in their own way.

Lastly, the title of this post is the most common phrase used by every runner. A close second: where’s the bathroom? I’m not entirely sure this is true, but it’s true for me! I try to smile and wave, clear my throat unnecessarily within earshot, and do all the other things to let people know I’m about to pass them, but obliviousness tends to rub me the wrong way. So if you see me at the lake or in my neighborhood or on base running and I look grumpy, it just means I’ve said “On Your Left” one too many times.

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I ask you –

Last call: anyone willing to train with me for the Texas Triple scheduled for Memorial Day weekend?

Is kicking people as I pass them allowed?

My shoe collection reminds me of the cutest video I have of my mini, age 18 months, walking around the house yelling for her shoes to appear and she looks at the ceiling as a viable option.