Sing-Song

I have a new job.
I haven't run much.
My new job is full-time.
My achy running knees have been bothering me.
It's all an adjustment.
I ran a whopping 5-mile long run Sunday morning.
Is it okay to mention I'm scared of 7th graders?
Elijah rode his bike with me on my run.
My kids will ride the bus to and from school.
It was a glorious morning run.
It's hard letting them go...and grow.
You may run 10, 15, 20 miles, but I had cherished time with my son.
I don't get to be so present anymore.
Maybe it's time to shift to a new hobby?
I do feel blessed. Uh huh, I do. That's right.
I like the idea of cooking sit-down-together dinners each night for my family.
Who wouldn't with such a family as this?
I might leave the running to the runners. You out there, Runners?

Dreams

"O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Over men’s noses as they lie asleep;
Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o’ mind the fairies’ coachmakers.
Her wagon-spokes made of long spinners’ legs,
The cover of the wings of grasshoppers,
The traces of the smallest spider’s web,
The collars of the moonshine’s watery beams,
Her whip of cricket’s bone, the lash of film,
Her wagoner a small grey-coated gnat,
Not so big as a round little worm
Prick’d from the lazy finger of a maid;
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers’ brains, and then they dream of love;
O’er courtiers’ knees, that dream on court’sies straight,
O’er lawyers’ fingers, who straight dream on fees,
O’er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with blisters plagues,
Because their breaths with sweetmeats tainted are:
Sometime she gallops o’er a courtier’s nose,
And then dreams he of smelling out a suit;
And sometime comes she with a tithe-pig’s tail
Tickling a parson’s nose as a’ lies asleep,
Then dreams, he of another benefice:
Sometime she driveth o’er a soldier’s neck,
And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,
Of healths five-fathom deep; and then anon
Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes,
And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two
And sleeps again. This is that very Mab
That plaits the manes of horses in the night,
And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes:
This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,
That presses them and learns them first to bear,
Making them women of good carriage:
This is she—"

— Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Act I, scene iv

What we need more of in the world

Aye! There's only two more weeks until school starts. My summer has flitted by with packing and unpacking, driving and waiting, sorting and cleaning, swimming and biking, and more packing and unpacking. Start of summer seems so long ago, but I haven't much to show for the time. Perhaps I'm too hard on myself. Shouldn't I have a finished home? Shouldn't I be ready for my new job? Shouldn't those memory books for last year's class be done? Shouldn't I be logging more than 10 miles on long runs?

Fiesta Texas: Monday, August 4. The boys had free tickets they earned through a school library reading program. Tickets expire August 10, so time was pinching in on me. I dreaded the crowds (I haven't had much luck with Fiesta Texas), but I knew it wouldn't rain (again, not much luck with FT).

It actually turned out to be a pleasant day despite my grouchiness early on. One I relaxed and noticed there really weren't many folks there, I was fine. I think going on a Monday with a projected high of 106 F maybe kept some folks away. We stayed until 9pm, so we were plenty tired when we arrived home around 11pm (love eating Whataburger in the car on the way home).

The rest of my week was filled with work and not feeling well and mostly successful attempts to unpack the boxes from our storage unit. The storage unit is empty, so that's a plus, right? My house is a disaster though, but hopefully it will come together very soon.

DV left on Thursday for his boys' retreat weekend to Colorado. Friday, Elijah, Joshua and I got up early for a Geocaching Event at Dick Nichols Park (8-8-08 from 8am - 8:08am). Afterwards, we found a cache that had evaded us a few weeks back. Saturday we found yet another cache with my sister and niece, so it's been a successful caching weekend for us.

Saturday long run: Scenic/Mountain Bonnell. Well, Coach says "Mountain" Bonnell so I like to say that, too, but in his accent. Just saying Mountain Bonnell won't cut it; you simply must say it with a Burundi drawl.

I'm already tired of running on Lake Austin Blvd, but it was fine. I ran with Barb to the 5-mile turn-around point. We ran into Emily, Allison, and Gayatri there, so we all ran back "together." We didn't really run back together at all. Allison stopped for a bathroom break, and the other three kept going. I waited for her, and we ran along until we caught Emily, who didn't feel well and was walking. We caught back up to Gtree and Barb at the water stop on LAB. Even though I asked them to wait so we would all run together, they took off.

It's for the best as my knees were killing me. I had planned to run 7-8 miles, but Barb asked me to run 10 with her. I felt fine going out LAB and onto Scenic, etc. I didn't really start hurting until around 6-7 miles into the run. Allison was also hurting so we walked quite a bit the last 3 miles (probably half of those last 3 miles). My IT bands and knees really screamed about that run the rest of the day despite minimal stretching and soaking in Barton Springs. Ah, if there was only time for sitting around with ice on my legs.

We need more poetry in the world. Also, if anyone has seen my cat, Simi, tell her we want her to find her way back home.

Glow Hard

Lame, boring recap of past workouts.

July 19 was the Kids' Tri, in which I did the amazing distance of 200m swim, 5 mile bike, and 1.2 mile run. I tell ya though, that run was hard, really hard. Never underestimate a triathlon no matter what the distance. DV said it was hard, too, so it's always nice to know the fast folks feel the same as me.

I think the week before I met Allison to run around the 'hood and probably did 6 or so miles. I've been feeling really fatigued in my legs since the move, so some workouts have been difficult for me.

July 21 we did 700s, and Gilbert told us to do 6 at a slower pace. I went fairly slow, which was fine for me. I didn't even time them, and by the time the 6th one came around, I was pooped. It's been such a hot, hot summer, so running at 5:30pm has been fairly brutal.

July 22 - Total Body Sculpt at Lifetime Fitness. Ow. The entire hour and 15 mins I kept thinking, "I have do 800s tomorrow." It's a great class, but I seem to be sore from it for days...and it really is "total body."

July 23 was a fun workout, actually. That was the evening a crazy rain storm blew threw right as I was driving to running class (about 5:15pm). I knew the storm would keep tons of folks away. When I got to the track at 5:30pm, the rain had blown over and the sun was out. The air was thick with moisture, and the sun kept pushing the clouds aside determined to beat down on the few of us that made it to class. We were scheduled for 800s, which isn't a favorite of mine but don't do it often enough to truly fear it. Let me point out that Sarah and I were the only gals to show up. We ran most of them together, and at the start, 6 repeats seemed like a lot. We didn't think we could make ourselves go faster each repeat, but we somehow did. My last one was 4:44, which surprised me since I haven't been consistently running this summer. I really didn't think I'd be able to run that fast in the sauna we were dealt that day. I left really happy and proud of doing all 6 and doing them well.

July 26 - Blanco Out-Back Tri. I didn't do it, which was a wise move on my part. I cheered David, Linda, and Snowdene on (as well as DVs friends). I did a 45 min long run around 11am - just ran all around Blanco State Park. It was hot but lovely. It's a nice little park.

Later that day we drove to SeaWorld for a Cub Scout sleepover. What a nightmare. The SeaWorld counselor tromped us all over the park from 5:30pm - 10:30pm with minimal breaks. Familyvance was beyond exhausted and would have happily gone to bed at 8pm. However, SeaWorld had our sleeping bags and luggage held hostage. We finally were given permission to lay down around 11 or 11:30pm. We slept in the Shark Habitat, which sounds really cool but was really horrid. The closest bathroom was maybe 1/4 mile away, and we slept on the hard floor covered by thin, filthy carpet that thousands upon thousands of people walk on daily. It was a mixed blessing when the lights were turned on at 6am. I got to get off the hard floor, but I had to interact with our fellow scouts and the SeaWorld counselors. We headed off for more tromping around the park until about 9am, when praise God, we got to be regular visitors at SeaWorld who can stop and sit down and do whatever our hearts desire. I honestly think we walked miles with that slave-driver SeaWorld counselor. And besides, she wanted us to sing summer camp songs as we walked through the park. "Peel bananas, peel, peel bananas. Oy! Stomp bananas, stomp, stomp bananas! Oy!"

Monday, July 28 - mile repeats. I forgot my watch. I ran them slow, and I did 3, even though I probably should have done 4. They weren't anywhere near my past mile repeat times, but I didn't care. My legs were beat up from SeaWorld.

Wed, July 30 - 5 mile fartlek - 3 on/1 off, 2 on/1 off, 1 on/1 off and then repeat. I went to the 5:45am class, and I got to run with Gayatri and Leslie. It was a new fartlek experience for me as there was a large group we were to stay with (Group A). I think there were 12 or so folks in this group. The faster runners would turn back on the "easy" minute to the slowest runner to make sure we stayed as a group. The thought was really nice, and I don't know that I'm against it...just new to me. The group really should have been 2 groups b/c the speeds were a little too far spread out, especially during the really rough 3 mins "on." So maybe a A1 and A2 group is in order, but it really doesn't affect me right now as I'm an afternooner where we don't need no stinkin' groups...er...at least fancy organized groups with letters assigned to us.

Sat, Aug 2 - 8+ mile long run with Leslie and Gayatri. They started at Robert E. Lee, and I met them at LAB and Exposition. I felt fine other than some muscle in my right outer calf bothering me. It's been bothering me since SeaWorld or perhaps even the triathlon on the 19th. It was humid, but I still thinks it's easier to run in a humid morning than 105 degree afternoon. Gayatri ran 14 miles! Yea! Leslie did 12 miles. Yea! Glow hard, ladies!

Now I get to unpack more boxes that we brought from the storage unit. We are never moving again.