Shut the front door! Look who's here. Long time, no me, eh?
Lots of stuff going on over the last month. Crazy travel with work. Gone quite a bit this month. Headed to Las Vegas tomorrow for Inspiration Unlimited - going down to help Teresa and Ginger out. Looking forward to seeing lots of friends from past years!
The boys are both FULLY entrenched in football. And when I say fully, I mean fully. August had us at practices 6 days a week, 2 hours a night for each of them. After the first week of September, the league mandates that practice can only be 3 days a week plus a game due to school. So we're now down to 3 days a week for both of them at two hours a day, plus a full day of games Saturday. I joke and say that's my new hobby. Certainly doesn't leave much time for other hobbies!
On to The Good -
In a week I'll have been running for 4 months. Holy cow. Never thought I would say that. And when I say never, I mean N.E.V.E.R. I'm loving it. LOVING it! Ran my 6th race last weekend (5k) and finished in just under 30 minutes. My first 5k on July 4th I ran at 36 minutes, so I've managed to shave off 6 minutes. That just tickles me pink!!
Some fun little stats from www.dailymile.com (the site I use to track my running) -
Still love that 'donuts burned' comparison. That's a lot of donuts!
A side benefit to all of the running - besides being more healthy - I look better. And looking better makes me FEEL better. I'm almost down 30 pounds since last November when I was at my very heaviest ever. More than the weight, I'm more tone and the proverbial innertube around my mid section is deflated. Soon, it will be gone.
The Bad -
Unfortunately with the good also comes the bad. And the bad - my focus on running and being more fit, combined with a new job and football with the boys leaves little time for other things. Like blogging. And scrapbooking. I have a few fun things to share over the next few weeks that I've managed to squeeze in here and there, but overall that side of my life has tapered off quite a bit. And I'm ok with that. It's all about balance, right? And the last 4+ years of my life have been focused on the scrapbooking side. I'm enjoying not feeling the pressure of having to keep up with the latest and greatest, work on assignments constantly, etc, etc, etc.
The boys will be done with football at the end of October and then I'll have more time to bring some scrapbooking back into my life. In the meantime, I'm enjoying having a bit of time off from it.
The Ugly -
And of course with the good and the bad comes the ugly.
Imagine this, if you will.
100+ people lined up for a race. A 5 mile race. Down a pretty steep canyon.
And me in my running skirt. One of 5 that I own. I've been running in them since the beginning and I wouldn't run in anything else. I think they're the greatest thing since sliced bread.
So back to the race. The gun goes off and I start running. And after a few steps, I realize that I have a problem. A serious problem.
A problem of the wardrobe malfunction variety.
Sometime since the last time I wore it (maybe a week ago?), my black running skirt is now too big.
And I feel it sliding down my hips.
And with it, my underwear.
And that my friends is the UGLY of this tale.
Before you gasp, no, I did not let it continue to slide. I hiked it up on both sides. And kept running. And repeated that about 100 times during the 1st mile. Those pooooor people running behind me. But, what's a girl to do?
I tell you what. A little after the first mile I was fed up. I grabbed the edges of my underwear through the outside of my skirt (by the way, it felt like the top of the underwear was about even with my pelvic bone by now, and NO, they weren't that kind of underwear) and pulled hoisted them up like they were granny panties.
And that, my friends, held my skirt in place the 4 miles that were left of the race.
Did I mention the race was down a steep canyon? It started at 9000 feet above sea level. And ended about 7000 feet. An elevation change of almost 2000 feet in 5 miles. That part is kind of important. Here's why.
Fast forward one weekend later to this past Saturday. Another race. After giving it much thought, I decided to wear the black running skirt again.
WHAT you say?
Well, you see, the race where the skirt kept falling down I did something I now know you should never do. I changed things up a bit. I wore a different type of underwear under my skirt. And I figured that maybe had something to do with the skirt falling down. That combined with the STEEP downhill. I figured that gravity surely had something to do with it.
(can you tell where this story is headed?!)
NOPE.
Different race, a pretty flat course (expect for 2 hills), different underwear (the type I normally wear under the running skirt), same black skirt.
And.... the same result.
Skirt falling down. And this race? 500+ runners instead of 100 like the other race. And there I found myself, hiking my skirt up again every few steps. So finally I darted off the course, ran behind a tree and pulled those underwear up like granny panties and, what do you know? Fixed it.
So no, it wasn't the underwear, turns out it's the skirt.
And now the story (and the blog post) comes full circle. Finally.
The Ugly - Hiking up that damn skirt over and over and over again while the people running behind me surely thought I was an idiot and had to suffer through that view over and over and over again.
The Bad - I need at least one new running skirt. And when will the others suddenly overnight be too big and where will I be when that happens?
The Good - The running skirt is too big!!!! I'll glady exchange the Bad and the Ugly for the Good in this case :)
