Skinned Knees

4:30 am...time for hillsprints

I swear Mother Nature is out to test me on Sundays. Every week its this constant tease to see if I can suck it up and finish my week's training or if I'm just going to curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and a book. After yet another Sunday blizzard run, my eyes frozen shut, the front of my pants no longer looking black and my pony tail a frozen icicle slapping my neck, my miles are in and while today's tempo run lacked anything that even remotely resembled a tempo I can proudly say I beat Mother Nature for another week. 

This week was painful. I recovered more slowly from last weekends race than I expected, I'm sure the lack of sleep I've been running on had nothing to do with that. I battled through my training runs though. Another 4:30 am hill sprint workout. For some reason at 4:30 in the morning a foot of snow doesn't look so deep and it seems reasonable that you would tie your shoes on the edge of the treadmill and head outside. It honestly did sound like a good idea when I walked out the door. I slogged my way through mud and glaring sun on Green. And Dan and I went for a 19 mile date run on Friday. Friday was actually the best I felt all week. And then Saturday was nice enough to go for a family run. All in all it was a good week of training, I hit my miles and workouts, but it was not an easy week. My legs just felt like they had a lot more taken out of them then I expected from the race. I'm already ahead of last year in terms of miles and vertical so I'm pretty happy with where my training is at right now. Especially since I have a late race this year.

snowy morning run

The past couple weeks I've been thinking a lot about one of my dear friends. She has always been this source of strength for me. She's handled every challenge that comes her way with grace, confidence and a smile. She has held my hand through every step of my journey with James. She made me realize that sometimes its not about hoping or praying for a healthy kid or for things to go your way. Its about having the strength to handle the unexpected. Its not that I don't wish every day James was healthy and I didn't worry about his heart or his immune system, but that was the card he was dealt, all that matters is how I handle it. No one sails through life down the easy road. And if you do you're probably missing out on a lot of things. So instead of continuously looking for things to get better if you look for the strength to handle these situations the rocky bumps will be better. You'll learn to love the look of skinned knees and scars, the oxygen tanks will one day make you laugh and you'll learn to cherish little moments in hospitals when you glued red hearts to your faces with vasoline. I know right now she is a pillar of strength as she waits for decisions to be made and that no matter what the outcome she will continue to be strong for herself and her family because if there is one thing I know about this amazing woman...she is strong. And I will continue to always look to her for strength. 

Mr Attitude

So Friday when I got the news that James didn't get into daycare I had my short-lived pity party before I told myself to suck it up. We weren't getting anywhere by being upset about it. It's just hard not to feel like you didn't let him down. Because I didn't want to inconvenience myself to camp out overnight James didn't get in. I know in some ways that sounds totally ridiculous, but at the same time there just aren't a lot of options that work for us. Getting in to this one preschool was about the only option that I could make work. Now I'm left to figure out how we're going to get James enough therapy. It's just not my personality to pray for James to get into a certain school. That's just not me and not something I'm comfortable doing. Instead I'll buck up and figure out a way to get him the therapy he needs and give him the same opportunities he would have in a public preschool. It's not the easy road and will definitely take some fighting and finagling on my end, but I'm determined to find a way to do it. 

you're better than you think you are and you can do more than you think you can -Ken Chlouber

Week February 9 - 15

Miles Running: 50.8
Hours Hiking and Running: 9.0
Vertical: 7200 

Monday: 5 miles, recovery run with Dan at Matt-Winters

Tuesday: OFF

Wednesday: 4 miles hill sprints 10 x 30 sec in an early morning blizzard

Thursday: 7.3 miles, Green Mountain

Friday: 19 miles, with Dan, Green Mountain, hogback and Matt-Winters, legs felt much better

Saturday: 7.5 family run at Bear Creek

Sunday: AM: 4 miles family run at Bear Creek; PM: 4 miles of neighborhood laps in another blizzard

Ralston Creek Half Marathon finish line

Green Mountain summit

Green Mountain summit...again

Valentine's fish and chips