The Top 10 Reasons I Prefer an Early Run Over an Evening Run

10.  Because the sky gets brighter as I go, not darker.
9.  I am not trying to run on legs that have stood all day and walked from the first to the third floor of my building and back numerous times.  In heels.
9.  Even if I don't get anything else accomplished during the day, at least my run is done.
8.  I shower in the morning anyway.
7.  John makes me breakfast when I get home.
6.  I feel invigorated and ready to tackle the day.
5.  The birds are chirping in the springtime.  The snow is silent in the winter.  Most of the world is asleep.
4.  I wake up before anyone else and have some peaceful time as I drink my coffee.
3.  I can run long and far without worrying about my bedtime.
2.  When I get home, everyone is excited to see me.

And the number one reason I prefer waking up early on the weekend to run over an evening run any day:
1.  All I have to say is "I need a monkey!" and I have one on my back to help me stretch everytime.

My monkey is usually asleep when I get back from my evening runs.  Just one of the reasons I love running in the morning.

Rain

Cortlan's class was learning about the weather last week.  On Thursday, he drew a lovely picture of his favorite weather and labeled it "RAIN."  Since I had no idea that his favorite weather was rain, I had to inquire: "That is a really nice picture, Cort!  What made you decide to pick rain as your favorite weather?"

"I like rain because it helps things.  And I like flowers, and rain helps flowers grow."

How can you not love this kid?

A special visit

If there were more hours in the day, I would find something to do with them.  And then I would want more hours in the day. 

Thinking back on it, it is amazing how much we were able to cram into our four days last weekend.  I want to record it all, but I am finding myself without the time to do it all justice.  I certainly am not able do this post justice in the five minutes that I have before going to pick the kids up from school, but I am going to post it anyway, for fear that it won't happen at all.

I wish that we were able to visit my Grandma more often than we do (I am making a resolution to try), but I was thrilled at how excited my kids were at the mere mention of visiting Great Grandma on our last day of break.  I was a bit sad we didn't get to go over on Easter, but there is a limit to what we can do in a day, so a surprise visit on Monday would have to do.

We got there and the kids entered the house shyly, but all it took was an offer of a cookie, and they quickly began to warm up. 

"Great Grandma?  Do you still have that toy box?" asked Cortlan after we had been there about ten minutes.

"Oh! I sure do!" was the reply.

We all made our way to the livingroom.  Grandma brought out a big cardboard box from the cupbord that houses detergent bottle lids, blocks, empty spools of thread, old Matchbox cars, some train tracks that my PapPap made, some stacking toys, and other miscellaneous trinkets.  Then my 91-year-old grandma got down on the floor and started playing with my kids.

I honestly don't know who enjoyed the visit more - me, the kids or my Grandma. 

But I do know that we are truly blessed.

Beauty and the Beast

A while back, I had the opportunity to purchase tickets to see Beauty and the Beast, but I declined.  The tickets weren't cheap and I wasn't sure if the kids would even enjoy sitting through a show.  Then I took them to see Peter Pan at the high school where I teach, and they LOVED it.  It seemed serendipitous that shortly after, I had the opportunity to purchase four tickets at a discounted price because they were returned from a group sale.  Despite the fact that the show was at the same time that they would typically be taking a nap, Cortlan and Everly were both very well behaved and truly enjoyed the show.  Cortlan, in particular, was enthralled.  I love the theater, and I love that I can enjoy it with my family.

As when we saw Peter Pan, one of Everly's favorite things about the show was the seat and that she could get herself stuck in it.

Children's Museum (rewind)

With no snow days (or even two-hour delays) this year, this past Friday marked our first official day off since January 2. Having a four day weekend is a glorious thing, and we certainly packed a lot in those four days. I plan to write about the weekend, but first, a little rewind, because I have neglected to mention the day we played hooky. It was the day that Cortlan had his Kindergarten registration. As teachers, John and I both were interested in seeing the school that Cortlan may be attending, as well as what went on during the testing and how Cortlan did. We decided to both go, and then decided to extend the necessary half day off to a full day. We kept the kids home from school, took personal days, and then after Cort's registration, this is what we did:

I can tell you that taking the day off was well worth it.

On ice and athletes

Not long ago, John declared me an athlete.  I am not sure I agree with him, but I will take it as a compliment.  It didn't happen after a PR or a race or even a particularly awesome run.  Nope...it happened on a day when I didn't think twice about lacing up my shoes and heading out the door for a four mile run just like any normal morning.  It just happened to be that on that particular day it was pouring rain.  And then when I got back, I sat in a bath of freezing cold water.  So, I guess if running while nearly ruining my ipod and then torturing myself afterwards makes me an athlete, an athlete I am.

At least one of us is looking cute!  (For some reason, Everly really wanted a picture with me after I ran in the pouring rain.)

After taking some time off, I have slowly been making my comeback from being injured and I think it is going relatively well. What I initially thought was a hamstring pull may actually be sciatica or some other nagging ailment.  As awful as it may sound, I am convinced that soaking in an ice bath (or REALLY cold water bath, sans ice) has helped me remain pain free over the last month or so.  The time off also helped, though it definitely put a kink in my training plan. I am finally beyond my pre-injury mileage; yesterday I completed a nine mile long run for the second consecutive week. I have some good and bad runs recently, but for the most part my confidence is up.  Less than a month to go before the race.  This "athlete" might just be ready!!

 No ice in this bath, but trust me, it was cold! 

Life is full

I have realized over the last few years that I have much more control over my own happiness than I ever knew before.  And let me tell you, I am working it.  I have long heard from many people that though you can't control what happens to you, you can control how you react to it and that your attitude has so much to do with your happiness.  I completely agree; once I am in a situation that cannot be changed, at least I have control over my attitude.  But what I am talking about goes even beyond that.  I now realize that I don't have to even put myself in many of the situations that used to cause me stress.  I realize that I have a fair amount of control over how I spend my time and that I can choose to spend it in a way that brings me happiness.  And I can change things.  And I can make decisions that bring change.  When I can also find a nice balance between all of the things that have become priorities in my life, I am in bliss.

On Saturday, I woke up early and headed to my college alma mater.  The campus has changed quite a bit since I was there last.  The building in which I spent most of my hours as an undergrad physics major has been completely renovated.  Touring the facility, I was amazed at the changes.  I am on the advisory board of the Physics Department there, and was happy to see many of my former professors and to interact and chat with them and the other members of the board.  And I was happy to contribute in a positive, albeit minor, way to the well-being of the department.

I got home at around 2:30 and at 3:30 the four of us headed to the birthday party of a classmate of Everly's whose brother happens to be a classmate of Cortlan's.  From there, we went home for a quick turnaround, dropped the kids off at my parent's house at around 7:00 and headed out to a surprise birthday party for a co-worker.  There, we had a great time socializing with old and new friends.

Despite a late night, I was up early yesterday to complete my first nine-mile run of my training for the half-marathon coming up on May 6th.  This was a milestone, as my longest run pre-injury was eight miles, and I have now finally surpassed that mark as I make my comeback.

We got Everly's pictures taken, which was a bit of an ordeal, and then spent the rest of the day yesterday around the house..

So this weekend, I didn't spend as much time as usual cleaning, though my house is relatively clean.  I got to be "professional" Joyce.  I got to hang out with my husband and friends in a social situation without kids.  I got to hang out with my kids and do the "mom" thing.  I got to rock a long run.  I got to relax a bit, and I tried my best to not stress.  I found a pretty decent balance.  I was tired.  But I was happy.