Day 20: Small Tempo Run and Estate Sales

Day 20.

I started to write this earlier today and then I ran out of time. Now, hours later, on a Friday evening after getting kids from school, dropping kids at acting and soccer, waiting for said kids, and getting home for a couple hours before going to pick up another kid and this mom is tired!  It's harder to write at this time of day but I'm hoping to fit in a short post before my husband gets home and we make pizza together for family night.

Speaking of tired at the end of the day. Yesterday I taught kindergarten at my kids' school.  I love this class.  So full of spunk and energy and ideas and anything you can imagine.  They are funny, witty, and outspoken.  A range of ages and stages and all things WOW.  At the end of the day, I didn't think twice about giving my son some screen time when he asked.  For one, I was pooped (in a good fulfilled kind of way). And for another, I got a good reminder of just what a long day school can be for these little ones!  They NEED downtime at the end of their day.  I needed to be reminded of this.  I think sometimes when I don't see their day, I am quick to say no to certain activities they ask for and I often expect them to be doing something active or reading or something stimulating for their brains.  But the truth is:  They've been doing these things all darn day!  They need to zone OUT a bit!  Just like us.

Also, on the tired note, I'm feeling a very HAPPY TIRED right now after a really nice run with my sweet and inspirational friend Corie.  For those few of you besides me that read this, she's my friend that pretty much coached me for my first triathlon. Also the person that takes me on snowshoeing and mountain adventures.  Really, she's a amazing in so many ways (even though she dislikes the overused word amazing ;)).  Anyway, I had planned on a long run today but instead, Corie and I ran 10ish with 4 at a tempo-for-us-right-now pace.  It felt really good to push myself a bit more than usual since lately I run many many many slow untimed runs.  Mostly really.  With a few faster stuff on my treadmill stuffed in between.  No real training plan but I'm still fitting in miles and feeling happy with my running.  Today brought me right back to that place where I'm feeling a little hungry for more serious training again.  Maybe not enough to actually sign up for a marathon to race and actually stick to a plan and go for a goal time... but.... it gave me a whiff of that desire again.  Our run was a mix of rolling hills, trail, and flatter-for-Bend (but not entirely flat at all) roads.  We had a few really nice gradual ups and downs that allowed our rusty legs to get some more turnover than usual.  My Garmin and hers were definitely off with the splits even though we ran the same route....grrr...this is annoying to me since I don't know if it was my Garmin that was off or hers.  I'm going with mine being the accurate one because I liked my splits a bit better than hers:

7:28
7:18
7:26
7:32

Our miles before and after this portion were easy conversational pace.  Actually, we kept up conversation through the whole run really.  Admittedly, we were breathing a lot heavier and our words were fewer and farther in between while running the miles above but we still talked.  Thank you Corie!!  Next time we can run 13 with 2x4 miles at these efforts. Fun fun!

Estate Sale
Before I met up with Corie, I was going to run a bit beforehand so I could fit in more mileage today. I got a little distracted.  Instead of heading down to my normal trails by the river, I ran on the roads in my neighborhood.  At about a mile I saw a sign for an estate sale and something made me stop.  I'd never been to an estate sale so I asked a lady coming out to tell me how it worked. I asked,  "Do I just want i the house??" Yup.  I guess that's how it works.  So glad I did stop!  I found a really beautiful piece of furniture (at least I think it's beautiful) and a couple solid end tables!  I am still slowly adding pieces of furniture to my home.  I'm in no rush because I want my house to have an eclectic feel.  I value things that tell a story... unique and meaningful.  I can't wait to find a place for this.

Before I wrap this up, a few bullets of gratitude and intentions for this Begin Again Project.

Again, here  in link is the post that began Project Begin Again.  And below are the guidelines I keep in every post.  

So, here's how this will go. 

1. I will write something on here every day for 38 days because that is how many days until my 50k.  
 
2. I will keep in simple!!! Some days will consist of three sentences if that's all I have.   
3. I will write for me.  
4. I will try very hard NOT to compare my old Runninghood self to the Amanda typing today.  
5. I will keep my posts to daily gratitude, intentions and.... because how can we not feel sad, heavy hearted and powerless at so much happening in our world...I will include at least one small way I can or have done something to make the world a better place (this can be as simple and powerful as helping my child learn a lesson about love and kindness).  
6. Why am I doing this?  To Begin Again.  Just as with training for a marathon when we put in our daily workouts, I want to get into the habit of focusing on the things that make me happy and my intentions for making my life what I want. Writing helps me with this.  

Days 20:

Gratitude:

• My run today.  It wasn't anything fancy but it did feel really good to get out on the roads and wake my legs up a bit.  
• Time with my friend Corie.  
• Life in general.  Tis Good.  

Intentions:

• RELAX with my family this weekend!

Ah, it's Boston Marathon weekend!  Remembering my Bostons with such warm memories and thinking of all my friends who are running this year.  So exciting!!!!  

Feeling a bit of that Boston Strong spirit that I'll never forget. 

--Amanda