I am a sucker for all the ads from Nike and friends. I like the taglines. Just do it. No excuses. Those two pretty much sum it up as far as running goes. I think anyone can do amazing things if they adopt that attitude. But I’m full of excuses right now. 5 weeks of no running, and I went out for a 7 mile hilly run. Dumb. Obviously. Not surprisingly, I injured myself. Rather than call H to pick me up, I slogged out the last two miles home and made it worse. It’s not serious. I’ll be back running in a week or three at worst but still. The want is coming back though. Immediately after, I didn’t want to work. Didn’t want to run. Basically didn’t want to do anything. I’m remembering what it feels like to work hard and reap the rewards, such as they are. I’ve been thinking a lot about my 1:43 half marathon lately. 1:43 is nothing amazing – great for me, unattainable for some, terrible for others. For me, it represented a lot of running in the cold, in the dark, on ice, early mornings, sacrifice. I want to try again and see what I can achieve.
At the same time, I can’t help but think about #3. And for me, #3 means putting everything on hold – running, work, etc. It means absolute misery for two months at a bare minimum, likely closer to three, and nothing resembling running for about a year. I’m 38. The clock is ticking on ability to be procreate again, to run fast. Basically everything physical. I wonder if it’s as real for men? For a woman, there’s no denying age. Menopause will remind you if nothing else. One of my older mom friends was talking to me about menopause and how it’s sucking for her today. It’s coming.
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In other news, it’s sign-up time for fall activities. B will be doing soccer once a week and twice a week individual swim lessons. They only offered daytime group lessons Mondays and Wednesdays, when she has preschool, so individual it is. (The major drawback is cost.) She’s been making rather painful process in her group lessons. She currently has a teacher who is tough and makes her do things she doesn’t want to which results in tears. It is hard for me to watch, but I cannot deny she’s making progress. And she says she likes her teacher. So Bri will have 9 hours of preschool (MWF), 1 hour of swim (TR), and 1 hour of soccer on Tuesday mornings. It should be enough to keep her busy.
L’s freestyle is starting to look kind of awesome (even if she can only do it 10 or 15 yards), but I’m not sure yet if we’ll do fall swim lessons for her. I feel like school is such a huge commitment, I don’t want her to be overwhelmed. Dance is her favorite activity. I am not a huge fan of dance. I don’t like the costumes. I don’t like what pointe shoes do to feet. I don’t like the ultra-competitive nature of ballet. I don’t like the lack of team that you have in group sports. I don’t like that it lasts all year instead of just a season. But it can’t be denied that she loves it, so dance will be her primary activity. She’ll probably do an hour of dance after school, once a week. We’ll also possibly do a weekend swim lesson. And that’ll be it to start, as she adjusts to first grade and gets used to being spoken to in French again.