I’ve moved my long run to Tuesdays because both boys have school. That way, I can run as long as I want and not really impact anyone but me. Because today was a holiday, the boys and Beer Geek were home. Beer Geek asked me to run early in the morning. I had an eight mile run planned, so I had the alarm set for 5:30am and was planning to hit the road by 6:30 am. Shoo had a bad night and last night was the first time it was supposed to get below freezing, so when my alarm went off, the last thing I wanted to do was get up. So, I didn’t. LOL I ended up sleeping until after 8.
That meant I’d have to get my run in later in the day, which is always hard around here. We had a busy day and I took the kids to the park for an hour and a half. When I got home, I was cold and in a crappy mood. No real reason for the mood (except maybe that I hadn’t run since Saturday.) I finally forced myself to put on my running clothes. I always hate the first couple of cold runs in the fall, mostly because it takes me a few runs to figure out what to wear based on the temp, the wind, and the sun. I decided that 8 miles was just too much and set my minimum at 2 miles. I figured I’d run a mile away from my house and see how I felt. I felt good, so I kept on going. At the three mile point, I decided I could manage 5, so I ran a bit farther away and then headed towards my house. At five miles, nearing my house, I decided I could do one more and that I should make it really count, so I did fartleks. As I approached the turn that would take me to my house at exactly 6 miles, I decided to do just a little more. So, I ran to our church, then decided I could do a bit more to make it 6.5, then a bit more to make it 7. Then, one block from our house, I was at 7.15 and thought I’d just get it to 7.25. Next thing I knew, I was back at my house with 8.06 on the Garmin LOL. It wasn’t a great run. The last two miles were really hard as I had gone out a bit fast, thinking I wasn’t running long, plus I usually do a Gu at 6 miles and I’m trying to not do that if I’m doing a run less than 10 miles. Also, I have zero ‘ade in the house, so I was running with just water. Anyways, 8.06 miles in 1:17:12, so not so bad.
Yesterday was all about cross training. Shoo and I went to our exercise class and I got a really good workout. Then, after lunch, I raked leaves while he played in the yard. Most of the leaves are still on the trees, but our side yard had a pretty good amount. I made a huge pile for him and then we picked up Jones from school.
Both boys loved playing in the leaves (huge pile = less than a 10th of what will eventually come down):
Then they commandeered the rakes and moved the leaves from the yard to the street a few feet away. The vacuum truck doesn’t come for a couple of weeks, so we may end up re-raking this particular set LOL. This is the first year they’ve helped and they actually did a really good job. I see an easier leaf season in my future LOL.
Good job getting your long run in.I used to love playing in leaves. Of course that wears off when you become the raker instead of teh pile jumper/player. LOL
Cute pic of the boys in the leaves! I feel your pain on the raking. We usually have about 80 bags….I really wish we had a vacuum truck.I was just thinking about cold weather running and how hard it is to get out there the first few times.
Nice job on the run! And way to put those children to work! Their small hands are perfect for all sorts of hard labor.
It was cold yesterday morning! Nice job fitting in the 8 miles anyway. That photo of your boys in the leaves is so sweet. I guess there are some advantages to having a yardful of leaves, at least if you have kids!By the way, thanks for your marathon training advice– it is very helpful indeed!
OMG! That looks like a lot of leaves! And I complain about our measly little tree out back. This is the part where it’s good to have kids. One day they will be old enough to do it for us HAHA
I so understand about having to work runs around the family. That’s the life of the active mom, though, right?I love how you psyched yourself out and did the 8 miles. It’s amazing what happens when you just get that first mile done. It’s always the hardest for me. The boys look adorable in the leaves. How fun.