Month: June 2014

I raced a 10K on Saturday morning.  51:41 – 8:19 pace.  I still can’t believe it really happened.  It was hot and sunny and a lot of running on exposed sun-baked pavement – but it was not half as bad as it was the week approaching the race and not at all bad as it is right now.  I think it’s almost 100 degrees outside now.

I fully intended to take a sweaty selfie to put on the blog, but right after I finished the race, my phone was able to send a quick text, a quick email and then it promptly died.  I think all the water I spilled on myself during the water stops made it to my phone and shorted it out.  So all you get it is an at-home post-race photo with the shoes that I ran in and Maxi who is looking at me and wondering why I don’t take her running anymore (Because it’s crazy hot and humid and I barely make it through my runs and I actually sweat whereas you, my doggie friend, can only pant.  It’s inefficient and you will keel over.)

I was doing well until mile 4 and then it became very difficult and then I realized, my God, I have to keep this up for another 2 miles.  No wait! It’s actually more like 2 and a quarter miles!  Argh!!  It’s like another 20 minutes – how the hell am I going to do this for another 20 minutes!?! But I did and it was over and I was very happy.  I woke up Sunday completely sore all over, even my intercostal muscles were sore (those are the muscles that run between your ribs to expand the rib cage so you can breathe).

Mom is worried that I might be training too hard – my knees in particular.  Mom, there were 799 people who ran the race faster than me.  I was the 800th runner to cross the finish line.   There are at least 799 people who are running faster than me who still can use their knees.

With the end of this race, I feel like I’m truly on a break now.  There’s no running for a few weeks so I can rest this old body of mine. My quarter at work closed the day before the race, school for the kids ended at the same time. I’m not doing my own school.  Jeremy’s home and his big work obligations are easing up (kind of).  That means I’m left only with what I consider my core responsibilities of work, family and the house.  Somehow I can insert back in 20 hours a week of “found time” and then everything expands to fill the time; these things always do.

I’m such an awesome daughter.  I took my dad to McDonald’s on Father’s Day.  And not even to one of the fancy remodeled ones with the McCafe in it.  A plain, old, regular McDonald’s.  It was very early in the morning because Dad wanted to head out promptly to drive back to TN.  To balance out the fact that I spent very little on the food (I think my mother bought the food), I did buy Dad a nice wallet.  I’ve always known my father to carry around a fat wallet, so I did get the larger size from the store.  Secretly, I was hoping that the new wallet would inspire my father to declutter his wallet into a more manageable size.  But my fantasy did not come true.   I watched my father stuff 217 loyalty cards, 17 ID cards, 36 one dollar bills and three keys into the new wallet.  He did hand the one twenty dollar bill to Vincent.

Last day of school means selfies with the teachers and a promotion to Tenderfoot in scouts.  The teacher above teaches Vince orchestra.  Vince is using the violin I used at the same middle school and likely in the same room.  His orchestra teacher came just as my orchestra teacher left, they overlapped careers for a few years.  The tradition of hating to practice continues in an unbroken chain of teachers to student tied together by the actual violin.

Nat wanted to take the kids to the pool yesterday.  It’s been really hot and humid here in DC.  But the pool was CLOSED!  What’s the pool doing closed on a hot day in June?  So they improvised.

My super fancy camera takes video. We (meaning Jeremy, I’m a still photo person all the way) are trying to figure out how to set it up.

 Attempt #1 – out of focus, but the most funny one.

Attempt #2 – I’m talking about my dogs.

Attempt 3# – Jeremy talks about his love for Power Point.  (Notice dust motes floating in the background).

Mom had a bunch of appointments that she needed to go to today, so I took the day off and filled the empty spaces between appointments with things that she’s never tried before.  She got her first pedicure:

Had her first Indian buffet with mango lassi for a drink. Do you remember the first time you tried chicken tikka masala? Yum!  My mother agreed.

And finally, I took my mom to my acupuncturist.  She had never been.  As I opened the door of the office to introduce my mom to George, the acupuncturist, they exclaimed that they actually knew each other.   George turned to me and said, “I knew I knew you from somewhere!”  I do look remarkably like my mother.  George has a beautifully labeled herb cabinet, but all the herbs are old.  He hasn’t maintained them in many years because it takes up too much of his time.

I’m hoping George can loosen up some of the scar tissue in my mom’s elbow so she’ll be able to do the PT exercises more efficiently.

Jeremy is finally home tonight!  Thank goodness.  We need someone competent to captain the ship so I don’t run the whole thing aground.  Mainly in terms of food. We are down to the dredges in the freezer. If he doesn’t come back soon, we all may get scurvy.

Vince managed to bandage his minor skinned knee in this large monstrosity.  He’s being a bit of a baby.

In a moment of mindless multitasking inspiration, I’ve decided to knit hats during phone calls or online training at work.  I’ve already made one hat last week.  We’ll see how long this lasts.

Forget the app Coffee Meets Bagel to meet girls – just try the tactic that is taking middle school by storm – it’s called “zap”.  You set up your pal by writing “zap” on his hand and then a time – in this case “6th period”.  Then, on the palm of your pal’s hand, you write the girl’s name.  Vince would not let me take a photo of the girl’s name.  So at the proper time, the owner of the hand has to ask the girl out.  So Vince asked the girl out during 6th period.  To which the girl answered, “Are you serious?” To which Vince showed her the palm of his hand.  I think then she said “oh” and then walked away.  Ah, middle school can be tough.

Edda went with her school to Breezy Point on Thursday.  She walked the whole day and got sunburned a bit on her back.  She brought home these shark’s teeth for me.

Thursday night is usually date night, but Jeremy’s still away, so I took my mother out for a date.  We went to the Bethesda Crab House.  We took the Metro to downtown Bethesda.  My mom hasn’t ridden the metro in 30 years, so that alone was an adventure.  I’d never been to the Bethesda Crab House, but it had good reviews on Yelp and I thought my mom would like it.  As we were walking there, we both agreed that we’d have the crab cake sandwiches because how could my mom possibly dig and hammer into a crab with her broken wing?

But as soon as we saw the packed restaurant and the plates overflowing with steamed crabs, my mother changed her mind and we got a dozen medium sized crabs.  I entertained myself by watching how delighted my mother can get eating crab.

I find the work to food ratio for crab a little high.  But my mother disagrees.

Today, we went to the 2nd PT session.  The therapist remarked that mom is doing great, all her numbers for flexion/extension/etc. have improved markedly.  My mother is an overachiever.  Slowly but surely.  My mother is eager to get back to the west coast to tend after 20 tomato plants.

Vince and I are sporting matching skinned knees – his is slightly newer than mine.  Vince fell off his bike.  I tripped and fell while on a run.  We both agreed that there is a moment when you first fall when the shock of falling renders you aware of having fallen, but not yet aware of the pain.  Then you think, oh, this should really hurt and then that’s when you feel the pain.  After that, our experiences deviate.  Vince sprang up amid a gathered group of classmates who were rushing to his aid.  I got a text from a neighborhood mom who saw him fall and tried to give him a ride home.  He got back on his bike and went quickly home.  I, on the other hand, lay on the ground for half a minute doing a silent head to toe check to see if I broke anything – which, thank goodness, I did not.  Then I lay on the ground for another half minute thinking – oh,  I wish someone would text my mom and then give me a ride home.