Kids

My kids have been quite a handful lately.  I am in the middle of potty training, and it is somewhat successful. I forgot how time consuming it is to teach a child to use a toilet instead of a diaper. Other than that, Meeghan is deep into the terrible twos. She is very stubborn, and loves to dump water all over the floor. I can't get her to sit for any type of learning so I am trying to find creative ways to teach her. Most days I am at my wits end from her antics, but at night when she tells me she loves me it is worth it. 

Hannah is 4 going on 14. Door slamming, spitting, attitude, and eye rolling. I am in trouble when the real teen years hit. I have caught her lying a lot, and she just doesn't understand why she needs to stop. Despite her behavior at home, she is flourishing at school. She has started reading, and keeps asking for more to learn. She loves school. She even asked me for homework yesterday, and we have been working on flash cards today. I hope her love of school continues as she gets older. 

These two (plus my two fur babies) have been keeping me busy. In fact, it took two hours to write this post. I grumble about how I feel like I never have a second to myself, but I know in a few years I will be sad that they won't want me around. For now, I make sure there is plenty of chocolate in the kitchen to help me through the days. 

That time I ran a marathon and my legs hated me for it

I have mentioned it before on here about how I am struggling with an injury. It is calf and outer leg pain which is being lumped into the category of shin splints. Basically, after the marathon I didn't stretch or roll, and now my body hates me. I usually stretch after every run. I did not after the marathon because it was raining, and I was starving. Plus I had to hunt down my dad because he was lost. I also didn't foam roll or stretch that night before bed. The odd thing is I felt great after the race. I was walking without any problems. I felt fine the next day as well. I took 6 days off and tried to run. My calves locked up on me, and I was done after a mile. I tried the next day and it was a bit better. I was told to rest, roll, stretch, ice, and all that stuff. I couldn't though. I was too stubborn, and I think I made it worse. Finally, E started treating me like a child and put me in time out. He was not going to let me out of the house to run. One time I tried to sneak out by claiming I was going for a walk, but he knew I was going to run. He gathered the dogs and the kids, and we all went together. So, I decided to listen to him. In the month of February I have only run 5 times for 13 miles. I am usually at the 40 or 50 mile mark by this point in the month. Most of my runs have come in the last week when my legs were feeling better. I have been using compression sleeves and intervals. Two days ago I was able to run 3 miles without any pain. Today I ran 4 with no pain. There is some tightness, but no pain. Unfortunately, my endurance is gone. My legs are fatigued pretty quickly so I am going to stick with intervals to finish out this racing season. I have a 15K in March and a 10K in April. I had grand goals of a PR in the 15K. I have changed my goals to finishing the race. I have been playing around with intervals, and I have found that 2 minutes of running to 30 seconds of walking worked really well for me. I will stick with that and see if it works as my distance increases. Hopefully, taking a bit of time off in April will heal whatever is wrong with my legs, and I can start fresh in May.

Alton Brown Live

I am a science nerd. My degree is in biology. I also love food. When you combine the two, I am in heaven. That is why I love Alton Brown so much. He teaches you about the scientific component of food as well as teaching you how to cook. He currently is out on the road with a live show called the Edible Inevitable Tour. I was so happy when I saw Jacksonville was on that list. Due to the Navy, and lack of babysitter, I waited until the day before to buy my ticket. And, yes, I went by myself. It was okay though because it was hilarious. Hilarious! I laughed for 2.5 hours straight. My cheeks hurt by the time I left. He talked about many subjects, sang a few songs, and even made a pizza on a huge easy bake oven. If you are a fan of his, and he is heading your way, I suggest you go. You won't regret it.

The view from my seat

My day off

E decided to take the girls to Disney World today because Meeghan has been asking to ride Dumbo, the tea cups, and the tram all week. He said he wanted to take them, and I could stay here. A day to myself? Yes, please! Do you know what I have done today? Not much. I went for a run (oops, I can't seem to rest even though it hurt), I am doing laundry, watching non-animated television, and I went grocery shopping. I love my kids, but I have found to keep my sanity I need some time to myself.  Some people are perfectly content with the constant chaos. I am not. It makes me nuts if I can't have quiet at some point. This is my quiet. Of course, I still have the dogs hanging around, but they are pretty quiet compared to a 2 year old and a 4 year old. Tomorrow it will be back to the grind, but for today I will pretend I am 25 again and have a lazy Sunday.