Did you miss me?

My nephew is awesome. He gave me this yesterday and hugged me forever. 
He doesn't even know how much I needed that!

It's been a while.

Personal life stuff got complicated and all the ups and downs were too much to put into words. Still are a bit, but at some point you just have to say I'm tired of thinking about my own stuff, ya know!?

SO here's a winter/spring catch up --

I was running great.

Had a relaxing week in the Keys -- where, since I could run, I did NOT get on my mom's bike and break an elbow again. Whew.

Went to some Flyers games and Phillies games.

This school year has been the toughest yet. Coworker and administration frustrations, and nothing being done about it. Grr.

Got into Wales Marathon training, and BUGGER! My right calf got all pissy. I've had to take some time off, get work done, and do some medicinal return to running. SO far so good, but I'm not sure I'll get enough of a return to run the full in Wales. We'll see how things go as I get some mileage back. On a related note, I think I deal with "calf heart attacks"... google it. One chiro didn't really give any credibility to that possibility, but he also doesn't spend a ton of time with his patients. A new guy I went to thinks these chronic calf issues seems to stem from a weak butt. Or something like that. So now I'm strengthening my butt and hips.

I've got another house project started. Two actually. Cleaning out my massive closets, and redoing my dining room. Every time I try to load pics here something gets wonky, so I'm not promising you'll see before and afters...

Warmer weather is here, the sun is shining longer, and I was down at the beach and took my first outside shower of the year.

SO even when some things are still a difficult struggle in my life, there's a little bit of good there, too.

Healing

I need some.  My heart's hurting a little right now, I haven't been treating my body well and that needs some healing, and I need some for some hurting friends, too. 

Also, my foot, where I got the small chunk taken out and biopsied, is still healing...  it's been about two months, and the (sorry -- gross word ahead) scab just fell off today.  It still has a bit to go, but at least it's healing. 

A little healing done.  A bit of healing needed. 

Send some positive vibes my way if you've got any to spare ~ with today's rain washing away my sunshine, I feel like I need some extras right now.  Thanks :)

Spring is Coming!

Yesterday morning, I awoke to this: 

It proceeded to snow all day.  It was a wet, heavy snow that blew around like we were living in a snowglobe, but it never really settled onto the roads.  I actually looked forward to running in the snow after work -- but of course, by the time I got home the snow (and even the drizzly rain it became) ended.

And then, as if by magic, it seemed like spring arrived overnight.  I woke up in the early hours of the day, too warm, and opened my bedroom window.

When I got out of bed just a bit later, the sun was shining and the crisp air was refreshing.  I did an easy run around town and then headed to my nephew's basketball game.  And while dropping my other nephew off back at home, we marveled at the spring flowers that popped out overnight.

I stretched out on my deck chair all afternoon -- face in the sun, napping.  Exactly what I needed today.  I'm so ready for days like today to be the norm, not a pleasant diversion from the cold and grey.   Come on, SPRING!

Thursday Randoms

Randoms -- simply because I feel like my life has been busy and scattered lately... 

*I've been helping two friends through some serious relationship troubles, and although it's been a while since I went through the most serious breakup of my adult life, I can so easily recall how broken and awful I felt -- and I think that's making me want to help these friends even when it compromises my well-being at times. 

*I went shopping yesterday and got a new pair of jeans and a couple tops.  Nothing exciting, but I didn't pass out from the anxiety of clothes shopping, so it was a successful trip.

*I got my hair done last weekend and I'm HATING the color job she did.  She used a different color/method to keep my baby greys hidden longer, but it looks to light and red to me.  Yuck. 

*I stil have a pointsettia from Christmastime in my house.  Time to toss it?

*My running, though somewhat uninspired these days, has been solid recently.  That's a good thing. 

*I'm super excited that I took a personal day for this coming Monday.  It's going to be 60*!

Windy? Shocking. Except today!

20mph winds for my afternoon run?  A bitter wind ruining a perfectly clear, sunny day?  But of course.  Look at that flag.  It's standing straight out and whipping.  My whole winter of running has been like this.  It's annoying, monotonous, and killing my enjoyment of my daily run.  I'm over it.  Yesterday I had had it, and cut my afternoon run to a shorter 5.5 miles. 

And then, as if by magic, or maybe to keep us sane before another snow(maybe?)/heavy rain event rolls through, today was gorgeous.  A taste of spring.  It was almost 50*, sunny, with little wind.  I hit the hills and stretched my run an extra mile to make up for the shorter one yesterday, and I just cruised.  Didn't pay attention to pace, just ran and soaked up the sunshine. It was a great reminder that most of the time, even when I'm beat from work, my afternoon runs can be enjoyable!

The week got by me...

I ended up fighting some sort of head cold that mainly just settled into my throat.  It wasn't really sore, but I had no voice all week.  Ever try to talk when you have no voice?  It's exhausting.  Teaching 7th graders made this even tougher, but I never felt down for the count, so I didn't miss a day the rest of the week.  I took Wednesday off from running and went to a hot yoga class instead -- which felt great.  I got some solid running done the rest of the week, though it was a bit slower pace just because of feeling worn out. 

By Friday night I was itching to hang with my Philly peeps, so I met them at a great place in the city for a couple glasses of wine, then headed home early.  But not before trying this:

It was an accidental pour for the bartender, so we got to taste it for free.  It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't something I'd drink for real.  The name alone was scary!

After a longer run Saturday morning and some errands, I met some of the running store peeps for bowling and beers.  Except we never got lanes and just drank beers instead.  Another late night of playing = Sunday wasn't so great -- but I made it through a morning run and then an insane day at the store (we were slammed!). 

And now it's time to get ready for another week of teaching!  I hope I see a bright, bold sunrise like this one on my way to work tomorrow morning:

Sore throat and a run with a friend...

Figures, after taking the day off yesterday I now have a sore throat brewing.  It's been bugging me all day. 

I probably should've headed to the pool today, but a friend asked me last night to hang out with him today after we were both done work, so we decided to run around town.  He's much faster than me, so I told him he'd have to slow way down and I wanted to keep it short.   After my long run yesterday and a stacked couple days of miles, I wanted to run easy today. 

I met him at the store directly after work.  The run started with a race to see who could get changed out of work clothes and into running clothes faster.  He declared I'd take forever.  *rolleyes*   While he did win that race, I wasn't far behind.  So far, so good. 

We decided on hitting the hills -- ok, that was his idea -- and it was actually a really good run.  He ran my pace, we talked the whole way, and soon enough we were back at the store after covering 5 miles. 

I don't really run with other people very often.  My sister on the weekends at times, and some randoms here and there, but mainly I'm a solo runner.  I generally prefer that.  But today was good.  I know I was helping a friend, and I got a run in on a day I hadn't planned to, and it went just fine.  It even made me forget about my sore throat for a bit!