Fluctuation

I'm finding that my runs these days are fluctuating between feeling really good and just plain feeling flat. Today was another 'flat' day. I only had a short run on tap, so it wasn't really an issue. And I didn't run any slower than I would have on a good day, either. I looked at the Garmin after I got back home, and it said I had kept the pace right at 8:30s for the loop, which is a mix of trail and roads, so there is nothing wrong with that. But like I said, I just felt blah. Am I not yet recovered fully from Gator Trail? Is it the weather? How I sleep the night before? What I've eaten? Am I running too fast on what should be an easy run? I don't feel like I'm pushing myself. I'm just running at a pace that feels comfortable. I wish I could pinpoint it on one thing. Ah well, I'll just hope my next run is a good one, and take it from there. Speaking of my next run, we're headed down to Ryan's parents for the weekend, so I'll head over the Bradley Palmer for my long run on Saturday, which I'm looking forward to. The trails should be in good shape at this time of the year down there, and it's always fun to run some place different! I'm planning on 12 to 15, and Ryan is going to join me for 6 miles or so, which is always a nice treat these days. Gotta love grandparents :-)

Spring, At Last!

It finally felt like spring to me during this morning's run. I got out the door at 8:30am after dropping Sam off at daycare, and still managed to get in a nice hour-long run. On days like today, I really appreciate my job, which allows me extra time in the mornings. I know it is unusual, and I try not to take the extra time for granted. Of course, talk to me in the summer, when I'm in earlier and work later, or on a Saturday when I'm working and not with Ryan and Sam, and it might be a different story, but for today, I felt lucky to have the time to get in a good trail run before coming into work. When I left, it was 50 degrees and muggy. The air felt heavy and full of moisture. Buds have finally appeared on some of the trees out front, and the lilies and irises are really starting to grow by the front door. I decided to head over to the Cathance trails again, and ran a loop similar to Sunday's run, but with a few changes, making the route 6.5 instead of Sunday's 7.15 miles. Skies were overcast, so there was no deafening chorus of peepers in the Heath, but the phoebes and black & white warblers flitting around the Vernal Pool were making quite a racket. I also spotted my first flower of the season - a few blooming trailing arbutus in some of the sunny spots! Hurray!

Trailing Arbutus

A number of fiddleheads were also pushing through the wet ground as well, but nothing else is blooming yet. Still, the forest floor will be filled with greenery and spring flowers in the next few weeks, which always makes me smile. I always say fall is my favorite season but there is something so wonderful about spring. The days get longer, lighter and warmer. Birds flit about, mating and nesting and singing. Plants rise through the ground, flowers bloom, trees bud and the world becomes green again.What's not to love?

Flat

Felt a bit flat during today's run, so I settled for a short and sweet 3 miler on what Ryan has dubbed the "Suck Loop," although really, it isn't so bad. A quick jaunt up the powerlines, along Highland Green Road, through the woods and back on Canam Drive. I heated up lunch the second I got home, and felt better after a big bowl of leftover white chicken chili casserole. Guess I was hungry - still haven't quite figured out the whole 'run while Sam is sleeping' thing when it falls smack in the middle of the day.

At the moment, Sam is in the midst of a nice, long nap, so I'm taking advantage of the time, and relaxing a bit! Once, she wakes up, we'll head over to Nate and Shannon's for some play time with the kids, and a nice dinner with friends (which will not result in broken ribs and a pneumothorax this time around!!) to end the day.

Happy Sounds

Morgan's high-pitched shriek, followed by Sam's deep belly laugh, as I chased Morgan around the kitchen, while holding Sam tight in my arms. Lap after lap, the shrieks and laughs continued.

The golden silence of naptime.

The deafening chorus of the peepers as I ran around the Heath.

The loud call of the Pileated Woodpecker, high above.

The soft pitter patter of a spring rain falling in the forest.

The rush of the rapids along the Cathance River.

The sweet sound of Sam saying "Mama, Mama," after I return from my run, sweaty, muddy and happy.

The bubbling of a casserole in the oven.

The sweet sound of a quiet house after Sam has gone to bed.

Happy Easter, everyone! Hope your day was filled with happy sounds :-)

Fueling up before the easter egg hunt!

This is fun :-)

Hmmm, are there more eggs out here?

I found another one! Yeah!

Sun Rising

I mentioned to Ryan last night that I was thinking about starting to get up and get out for my runs at 5:45am. Sam typically wakes up sometime around 5:00 to 5:30am, but will go back to sleep for another hour to 1 1/2 hours. I have been using this time to either sleep or get up and go downstairs and relax a bit with a cup of coffee and my computer. This is all well and good, and it's nice to have some quiet time, but the reality is that my days are busy and I am constantly feeling like I don't have enough time to get it all done. Of course, let's face it, there isn't enough time to get it all done, but I can at least try! Plus, once summer rolls around, I will have to be at work earlier, and I won't have the time to run after dropping Sam off at daycare. That is a luxury, for sure! So, I figured I should get used to getting up and out early at least a few days a week. I'm pretty sure Ryan just shook his head, and figured that this morning, I'd be doing my same old routine, and would not be out the door to run at 5:45am. Well, wasn't he surprised when I whispered in his ear, right at 5:45am no less, that I was headed out for 6 miles on the cart paths :-)


It was a beautiful morning. Crisp and clear, and quiet. As I ran up the Mt. Ararat hill, I saw the orange orb that is the sun rising up along the horizon. And as I ran along the packed gravel cart paths on the golf course, the sun rose up above the trees, its light kissing the frosted grass on the greens. I meandered and twisted and turned, and all the while, the sun rose on my left, and the waning moon, still high in the sky, looked down at me on the right. A woodpecker tapped away at a tree trunk, the phoebes called to each other from reeds along the marsh, and the robins hopped about on the greens in search of breakfast. I was admittedly feeling a bit tired from being up and out so early, but otherwise, I felt great and had a very peaceful run. What a nice way to start the day! Even better was that I had the chance to hop in the shower and get cleaned up before Sam woke up for the day.

Feeling Better; Feeling Sad

I woke up feeling much better this morning, and had a nice, snappy 5 mile run on the Highland Green loop. Boy, was it windy, though! Wow. A few times along the route, I was running straight into a serious headwind and felt like I was barely moving forward. At one point, as I was headed back on the powerlines, pushing into the wind, I looked over and saw a hawk being buffeted around by the wind, trying to turn circles above the grasses. Guess I wasn't the only one who thought the wind was strong :-)

I also got a good look at a Northern Flicker as I ran through the Highland Green development. He was initially down on the ground, but flew up to peck on a tree trunk as I ran by. Such a cool looking bird.

~

My grandmother, Mim, passed away earlier this week. She was 90 years old. Despite slowing down a bit in the past few years, she was overall in good health and in good spirits, and her passing came as a bit of a shock because of this. Or perhaps it is always a shock to realize that one you love is gone, even if you have been readying yourself for the day. But, in the end, we all must go, and if we must, the way Mim went, peacefully, in her sleep, after a good day and a good meal with my aunt, uncle and cousin, is the best way I can think of. She will be missed greatly, by her five children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren and many others. We are lucky to have had her in our lives, and I am so glad that she had the chance to get to know Sam, even if only a little bit, over the past year and a half.

You will be missed, dear Mim. We love you.

Mim enjoying the afternoon with Morgan and Sam, March 2011

Blah

I went to bed last night with my stomach feeling a bit off. Luckily Sam slept better last night, and I got a nice stretch of blissfully uninterrupted sleep from 9:30 until 4:00. Ahhh! I thought a good night's sleep might do the trick, but I still feel a bit blah today. And the weather isn't helping, that's for sure. It was 36 degrees and rainy when I got back from dropping Sam off at daycare, which made it seem a much better day for curling up inside on the couch with a cup of coffee than for going out to run. I didn't have much energy or desire, so I just ran the 3-mile Patriots Common road loop, and called it good. Hoping to be back in the swing of things and feeling better tomorrow!

Two Parts: 'Sam's 18 Month Stats' & 'Mud and Flood'

Sam's 18 Month Stats:

This morning was Sam's 18 month check-up. A week late, but close enough :-) Unfortunately, I can't proclaim that she is actually weighing in at over 20 lbs., even though that was what the scale indicated last week when I took her in for an ear check. Today she weighed in at 19 lbs. 9 oz., and is now 30 1/4" long. Her head circumference is 17 3/4".

All of this means she is one small munchkin! Her weight puts her pretty much at the bottom of the percentage chart, and maybe even off it. Our doctor, however, wasn't concerned, noting that overall, Sam's been gaining weight, even if slowly, on her own curve, and she's never been in the high range on the scale anyway. For height and head circumference, she's in the 10th percentile, so right about where she's always been.

She is slightly ahead of the curve verbally and with her fine motor skills, but may be a bit behind on the gross motor skills, ie. climbing, etc, simply because she's so small and honestly can't climb up onto things easily! :-) Otherwise, she seems to be doing great, and there are no concerns. Other notes: She's getting in her two top 1 year molars (with the top right partway through) and one canine tooth, and her bottom gums are swollen, meaning those teeth are imminent. And she has another ear infection. Ah yes, this is why she was so happy last night! Here's hoping the antibiotics kick in quickly!

~

Mud and Flood


After we got home from the doctor and pharmacy, and gave Sam her lunch, she went up for her nap. As soon as she was asleep, I headed out the door. The plan was for 10 miles. Of course, by the time I started the run it was 12:45, I hadn't eaten much all day, and I didn't sleep much last night. Recipe for a good run, for sure :-) Ha. But I figured I'd give it a go. It was a nice sunny day, and just a bit windy. Although Ryan cautioned that I was likely to run into some flooding along the Cathance River, I thought I'd give the Cathance trails a try anyway. I really wanted to do something different, and to see how things were shaping up down in the single track.

Needless to say, it was very wet and muddy, pretty much everywhere. And the river was high. Along the first stretch of trail, the river meandered quietly, its muddy waters seeping up over the banks in spots. Then, after Barnes Leap, the rapids were roaring wildly, the water churning, even overtaking our favorite rock outcropping.

Roaring river

Rushing water

I was actually pretty easily able to work around everything, either by doing some creative bushwacking, or, in two spots, do some fancy footwork on a downed tree to get across a swollen tributary. It wasn't until 3.5 miles into the run, as I hit the head of the Rapid's Loop that I was stymied. I looked down into the ravine, the bottom of which is a small stream with a decent bridge crossing, and realized I couldn't get across. I couldn't even see the bridge. So, I turned up the hill instead, running the top of the Beaver Loop, and taking the dirt road out to the Ravine Trail, where I found the majority of the snow for the day, as well as a lot of shoe-sucking mud. I returned up the road and hooked back up with the Heath Trail, scaring up a solitary Great Blue Heron among the marsh grasses. For the final few miles, I meandered a bit down the back Highland Green Road and on the Mt. Ararat trails to get the mileage to an even 9.0. I had been out for 1:29, and that was more than enough for the day. The twisting single track was tough work in conditions like today's and I was tired enough before I started. Still, it was a wet, muddy and fun run on the Cathance trails, and I was happy to be back out running on them!

Squish Squish

We ventured out this morning in the midst of the wind and rain storm to have a yummy breakfast at Broadway Deli. Sam had a great time, enjoying her pancakes, and making friends with everyone in the restaurant. By the time we got home, the rain had stopped, and the sun was thinking about making an appearance. Sam went down for her nap right around noon, and I laced up my shoes and headed out for my run. I ran 5 miles out and back on the powerlines. It's amazing how different the trail looks compared to yesterday's run! No more hoar frost. Hardly any snow remaining. Lots of mud. Lots of deep puddles, and a few sinkholes. I came home with muddy legs, and shoes that were clearer than when I had started out, having been 'washed' in a few of the puddles on the return trip :-) Sorry to have missed the first TMR Sunday run, but at least I had the chance to get out and run in some mud!

Crunchy

It felt like a return to winter this morning when I headed out at 6:30am for a short run before everyone woke up. The thermometer was reading 28 degrees. Brrr. I sank into frozen mud puddles, and big patches of thick, curling hoar frost coming up through the wet sand crunched beneath my feet as I ran along the powerlines trail. So much for spring! I got in a mellow 3 miles, and came home to find Sam and Ryan reading in bed. Cute :-)

The past few days Ryan has been feeling much better, and I can tell the pain from his ribs has diminished significantly. Hurray! I think it will still be a few weeks before he's out running, but at least he can walk around normally now, and has even voluntarily left the house a few times (other than for a doctor's visit) :-) Encouraging, so sure! Sam, on the other hand, seems to be going through a bit of a rough patch - with her two upper canine teeth coming through, a bit of trouble adjusting to the "big kid" room at daycare (actually, this is the room she should be in, with all the kids being in her age group, but she is the smallest by far!), and a little 'mama' separation thrown in too. Poor kid. Luckily, Ryan's parents came up today to help Ryan out while I was at work, and Sam seemed to emerge from her little funk, having a great day all day. Not to mention, she took a 3 hour nap. That always helps!

Wind? What Wind?

It seems like it has been windy for the past two months. What is up with that? I mean, I like a good cool breeze in the summer, and sure, the whipping wind is cool to watch (from the couch!), but running into the wind day in and day out is just plain silly. And what do you know? This morning, it was windy :-) I hit the Highland Green loop for 5 miles. It was chilly, and the grass at the edge of the puddles from the rain the other day was tinged in ice. My legs felt a bit heavy, but the pace was good. I feel like three weeks out from Gator Trail, and I should be back to "normal," but maybe I'm still recovering to a certain extent. Ah well. I'm out there, and that's what counts.

Cart Path Run

When I ran the Highland Green loop on Monday, it got me to thinking that the golf course cart paths should be clear of snow, and would make for a nice run today. The course is actually now open for play, but I knew I could likely get in a run before anyone was out there. Besides, on a morning like today (46 degrees, dreary, windy and damp), who in their right mind would be out playing golf anyway?! I got a bit of a late start, as Sam slept in and then we played for a bit before I took her to daycare, but I was running by 8:45. I figured this gave me just enough time to squeeze in 5 or 6 miles before I had to rush to shower and change and head into work. Perfect.

I ran the Mt. Ararat trails over to Mountain Road, and then hit the cart paths. The Mt. Ararat trails were pretty wet, and there was still some good sections of snow, but if we get a few more warm, sunny days, those should be gone soon. The cart path was pretty wet too, but since it's packed gravel and dirt, and it was snow-free, it made for some great running. The cart path measured almost exactly 3.25 miles, so it certainly doesn't take the most direct route! The path meanders and dips and turns, running by a few neat quarry pools and a number of babbling brooks through the woods, as it weaves through the development. There were a few robins out digging for worms, and a woodpecker tapping away at a dead tree, but otherwise, there wasn't much life out there. The woods are still drab and brown, and even the marshy areas aren't yet showing any signs of spring. Soon, though, soon! Still, I enjoyed the change of scenery, and was happy to get in 6 miles out there - and before the rain started too! That certainly was good timing :-)

Coffee

This morning's crazy wind, rain, thunder and lightening gave way to warmer temps and brightening skies around lunchtime, so I lucked out on my run and managed to stay dry! I headed out a little after noon, once Sam went down for her nap, and ran the 5-mile Highland Green loop to give my legs a little bit of a break after yesterday's messy trail run. Phoebes were calling, groups of robins were chattering to each other, crocuses were blooming and a few skunk cabbage were poking their heads out of the mud in the wet areas along the back dirt road. And on the return trip, with the wind blowing in my face, the burnt aroma of fresh roasting coffee from Wicked Joe's over in Brunswick wafted over me. Ummm, coffee! :-)

Messy

Sam's word of the day is "mess." {Actually, today she has two new words, but the other is "elbow," which isn't really pertinent in this tale. :-)} And indeed, today's run was a bit messy. I headed out once Sam went down for her nap, right at 12:00. It's a beautiful spring day, bright and sunny and 60. Hurray! It's also a bit windy out there, but what else is new? Seems to be windy all the time, these days. My plan was to run our winter 7-mile snowmobile trail/dump loop, see how I felt, and add on if I had more energy. Turns out I didn't. The trails were tough going. There were sinkholes in the mud, the sand, the snow, and there were stretches of slushy snow and ice that could have used screw shoes. I slipped and slip, and postholed and sunk and lurched, and in general used up a lot of energy just trying to keep upright, and drag around my wet, mud-laden shoes :-) (Valerie and Mindy, I can't believe you ran 24 and 14 miles, respectively, on the trails yesterday. My 7 about did me in. You two are awesome!) I ended up just running the 7 mile loop, and was happy to look down at the Garmin at the end and realize I had (just barely) finished at under 10:00 pace. I had hoped to have more "umph" in my step and get in some more miles, but ah well. I can't complain, as my sick and injured, and increasingly cranky, husband, would kill to be out running on a day like today, and is instead stuck inside on the couch. So, I will be happy with my miles and my hour+ on the trails. Here's to more melting and more drying on the trails soon!!

Sam at 18 Months

18 months. Wow! Where did the time go? Sam continues to amaze us every day. She may be small but she is mighty! :-) And she continues to be a happy, social and observant child. This is not to say that she is not a challenge at times, and we certainly are having "those moments" where she goes from happy to melt down in 2 seconds flat, but somehow I think you can't have a child without going though some of that!

Sam is an excellent communicator and truly seems to comprehend most of what we say, following through on instructions, or giving us a smirk and doing exactly what we asked her not to do :-), etc. Her list of words is quite long, and now includes: neck, knee, dip (ketchup, hummus, etc), boo boo, no, yes, mama, daddo, nini (my mom), pipi (my dad), grammie (Ryan's mom), bampie (Ryan's grandfather), Gigi, Ronnie, baby, my baby, book, read, run, go, bag, ball, Elmo, rub rub (for hand washing/lotion), up, down, out, nite nite, hi, bye, "oh boy!", "uh oh!", "what's that?", "what is (it)?", pasta, pizza, "me me me" (translation: give it to me!), mine, thank you, and probably some others that I've fogotten. She also knows the sounds for snake (sssss), bee (buzz), penguin (waddle waddle), horse (neigh), owl (hoo hoo), dog (woof woof), cat (meow), lion/tiger (roar), sheep (baa), monkey (oh oh oh), and she flutters her arms for butterfly, claps her arms together for crocodile, and raises her arm like a trunk for an elephant. She can point, when asked, to her feet, leg, knee, belly, bellybutton, neck, arm, hands, hair, mouth, teeth, nose and eyes, and to the same body parts on our bodies. She knows, and still uses, the signs (or really, her own signs) for 'please,' 'more,' 'all done,' 'hat', 'hair brush', 'toothbrush' and 'mittens.'

She loves for me to sing to her. I'm not much of a singer (just ask Ryan), but I have been singing "ABC," "The Wheels on the Bus," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "Row Row Row Your Boat" and "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" a lot lately. Mostly when we're in the car. The singing seems to calm Sam too when she's upset, and I'll look back into the kid mirror and see that she is signing "more" when I stop singing, and start up again. She tries to sing along, imitates the spider crawling up the water spout hand gestures, and can now say "A,B" when she's "singing" the "ABC" song in her sing-songy voice, which is just so cute!  She also loves to dance. She'll stand edge of by the TV stand, where we keep the IPod, and do this little up and down "dance" movement with her legs to let us know she'd like some music to dance too. She's white alright :-) and doesn't have much rhythm but I do love to see her bopping to music. Last night in the restaurant, she was grooving in her highchair to the music!

She has been working on putting her own clothes on, trying unsuccessfully to put on her own shirt, socks and shoes, with putting on and wearing her hat being her most successful and therefore most loved technique! She can take at least one pair of shoes off successfully. She puts her arms out for her jacket, and will sit down by the door when it is time to go outside so that we can put on her shoes. Although we still feed her occasionally, she loves to have control of her own bowl and spoon/fork. Of course, a lot of times it means she just plays with her food, but oh well! She can feed herself yogurt quite well, and is working on pasta too, although it's often messy ;-)

Messy girl! And do you see all those teeth?! (4 new ones up top, still just 2 on the bottom)

She can twist the cap on and off her fruit pouches, and loves to play with our water bottles and their tops, trying to figure out how things work. Playing with her blocks and stacking cups takes up a lot of our time, and she's still loving her books and coloring. She's definitely in the stage where she loves to copy what we're doing. She does a lot of "cleaning," rubbing a baby wipe around on the floor, the chairs, etc, since she watches me use wipes to clean up her messes often :-)

We're still working on stairs, but she can go up and down on her little stool holding onto the coffee table all by herself. She loves to walk, walk, walk, and will stop and ask what everything on the ground is. "What is?" "What is?" "What is?" When we hear a bird, she will stop and look up, and make her "Oh!" face. So cute! She loves to share, and to feed us bites of her food. She also loves to try to give her food to Ronnie and Gigi, although sometimes she will catch Ronnie eating her cheerios and trot over to him and say "no no!" :-) Again, adorable!

We don't have her 18 month stats yet, but according to her latest ear check appointment, she has finally eclipsed the 20 pound mark, just barely! Yeah :-)

Run, Run, Run

In my head, when I was thinking about this week's running, I had been gearing up for the Merrimack River Trail Race, which happened this morning. Well, things didn't quite go as planned this week, so unfortunately, "The Rivah" ended up not being in the cards. However, we did decide we would still go south to spend the weekend at Ryan's parents. His sister and brother-in-law were coming up, so it seemed like a good chance to see everyone, and to get a little distraction for the weekend, both for Ryan and Sam. Unfortunately, that didn't quite go as planned either, as Ryan started to feel a bit feverish last night, and decided traveling was just not a good idea. However, this morning, he pretty much told Sam and I to get in the car and go down for the day, and leave him in peace to rest! I was a bit discombobulated by this turn of events, but I raced around gathering things up, and we headed out. It was a great day of visiting, and I'm glad we took the drive. Sam had a lot of fun with Grammie, Grampie, Auntie Meg and Uncle Chris! Thanks guys!

All this means that running today also didn't go as planned either :-) Yesterday, since I knew the race was out, I figured I would stick with a pretty mellow week, and just went out for a quick run before work. I headed down the powerlines to Topsham Crossing for a short 3 miler. It was chilly out, so things were fairly solid, but more and more bare ground (ie. mud) is beginning to appear. Today, I had hoped to go over to Bradley Palmer for a trail run on bare, dry ground while Sam slept and Ryan visited with his family, but when we decided to go down and back in one day, I didn't really want to spend more time driving, so I settled for a nice 5 mile road run in the middle of the day. It was beautiful out! 65 and sunny. A bit windy, but boy, did it feel great to be running in shorts and a t-shirt, and to feel good! I think that after two mellow recovery weeks, my body is ready for a bit more mileage. I ran the 5 miles at 7:38 pace, and although I was working a bit, things felt pretty comfortable. Hopefully I'll get out for a longer run tomorrow to start things off in the right direction.

In flora and fauna news: I've seen a lot of cool birds lately, including the osprey returning to nest along Rt. 1, and a flock of 10 Great Blue Heron flying over the house yesterday morning in geese-like formation. I love this time of year as the birds come back! Today's run didn't yield much of excitement bird-wise, but I did see a number of little turtles and mallards in one of the ponds I passed, and ran across a decent size Garter snake sunning itself at the edge of the road. I tried to scare him off the pavement, but he hissed and lunged at me, so I let him be, and hoped for the best. I also saw a fox, a porcupine and several Red-tailed Hawks along the highway's edge as Sam and I drove home as the sun set.

Mixed Bag

Yesterday was a day off. We all woke up a bit late, so I took Sam into daycare, and got home with just enough time to shower and hop in the car to accompany Ryan to the hospital for another chest x-ray and a visit to the pulmonologist's office. The good news is that the x-ray showed that there was no expansion of the pneumothorax, meaning the doctor felt that this was a "no brainer," so to speak and should heal up on its own without any chest tube needed, etc. Hurray! We do have to go back for another follow-up x-ray and visit later this week/early next, just to ensure that things are indeed healing up and haven't taken a turn for the worse. But the doctor was pretty chill about the whole thing, and really didn't think Ryan had much to worry about. In fact, he felt the air pocket should dissipate/reabsorb within a week or so, which is great. Now, the broken ribs and rib pain are a whole other story, but I know we were both relieved to hear that the lung wasn't really an issue at this point!

After dropping Ryan back off at home, I headed up to work for the afternoon, so there was just no time to run. But that's OK. I'm still in recovery mode from the 50k, so I don't need to be doing high mileage this week anyway. But today, I didn't want to waste a bright and beautiful morning, so I headed out on the powerlines around 8:30, after dropping Sam off at daycare and running a few errands. I decided to run straight out on the powerlines to check out the conditions. There is a lot of bare ground out there, but overall, the conditions were a mixed bag. Soft sand, frozen sand, soft mud, mud mixed with hoar frost, mud pocked with sinkholes, snow, ice and a few puddles. Still, it was good to see things melting, and nice to know I could get in a good, messy trail run from home. I didn't have the time to explore some of the side trails and the winter/summer loops off the main powerlines, so I just turned around once my Garmin read 2.5 miles. The way back was straight into the wind - the whole way - and I could definitely tell I didn't quite have the regular 'umph' back in my legs, so it was a bit of a slow go on the return trip, but I came in the door with muddy shoes and tights and that means it was a fun run, for sure! :-)

Not What We Had Planned

Last night, we went over to Nate and Shannon's for dinner. The plan was to celebrate Ryan's win at the Gator Trail, catch up and let the kids play together. It sounded like such a great idea! Unfortunately, only about 15 minutes after we arrived, Ryan picked up Finley and took a few steps with him in his arms across the living room, probably headed to give him a piggy back or a twirl him around in his arms. The next thing we knew, both Ryan and Finley had hit the floor. Finley was fine, and bounced right back up, shocked more than hurt, I think. Ryan, however, didn't move for quite a while, clutching his back. We ended up ending the evening almost immediately. Ryan was just in too much pain, and wanted nothing else but to come home and sit in one spot on the couch with an ice pack.

He decided on the ride home not to go to the ER, thinking he had probably cracked or bruised a rib, about which nothing could really be done. He seemed OK through the rest of the evening, but when he went to get into bed, it was another story. It became quickly evident that something was indeed wrong, and he agreed that he did need to go get himself checked out. Unfortunately, at this point, it was already 10am, Sam was asleep, and so, he ended up driving himself to the hospital. I was really nervous about this, but it didn't seem we had too much choice. (Valerie, we thought of calling you, but Ryan decided he just really needed to get there now!) I laid awake in bed, waiting for his text that he had arrived. When it did, the thumping of my heart in my chest slowed down, and I was able to relax a bit. Both kitties snuggled up against me, as if they knew I needed some support. I didn't think I'd fall asleep, but I guess I did, as I awoke to Ryan coming home at around 1:30am. Turns out, he has two broken ribs and a punctured lung. The puncture is small, so it appears it will heal up on his own, but still darn scary! Luckily he is young and healthy, and the prescribed percocet is helping to dull the pain, and overall, he is doing remarkably well.

This is certainly not what we had expected when we went out last night to have a nice dinner with our friends! But accidents happen, and this was just that. A freak thing. A slip and a hard fall in socks on a hardwood floor. A chance landing, just so, at a weird angle. And so, with that, Ryan is on the DL. No lifting. No picking up Sam. No physical exertion. No running. Just resting and healing. But heal he will. And hopefully he'll be back out running in no time!

~

Speaking of running, after dropping Sam off at daycare and then taking Ryan back to the hospital this morning for another chest x-ray,  I headed out for a short run. I ran 3.5 miles, wandering through the Mt. Ararat and Highland Green roads and trails. There is still a fair amount of snow out in the woods. It was dreary and damp out, and I felt tired. But it was good to be out running. I am lucky, and I can't forget that. To be able to move, to run, to sweat. So run I will.

A Little Bit of Everything

This morning's run had a little bit of everything... Things went from pavement to packed dirt and gravel to sand to snow to ice to water to frozen mud to soft mud and back again. Variable is the term for today, for sure! It was a nice morning, bright and sunny, with rising temps and a good breeze, as I headed around a little before 10:00 am. I ran our revised 5-mile Highland Green loop, and was happy to be feeling better today!

Sam seems to be feeling better too. She had a few longer stretches of sleep last night and woke up in a good mood at her normal wake-up time. However, we could really use to get rid of all the phlegm and post-nasal drip she has going! Poor little girl. She has been coughing a lot, and especially at night, it seems like her body decides that it has had enough of the phlegm and the coughing turns into spitting up. Gross. This has happened the past three nights, right before bedtime or soon after. Gotta love having her all ready for bed, and then needing to do a complete change of her, yourself, the bed. Sigh. Phlegm, phlegm go away!

She also has been teething, and the four top middle teeth are now all finally through, and looking big. She went from 2 1/2 teeth to 6 teeth in no time. I do think that might have been part of the reason for the interrupted sleep the past few nights too. With all her teeth, she is definitely looking like a full-on toddler now!

Bam

The second my feet hit the ground this morning on my run, I felt it. I guess the combination of having run a 50k last Saturday, traveling late into the night on Tuesday, and basically being up every 2 hours for the past three nights with a sick kiddo finally caught up to me. I was tired. My legs felt like cement. I felt a bit like I'd been run over with a truck. So, I took the cue from my body, and ran an easy 3 miles on Ryan's Patriots Common loop instead of attempting anything more ambitious. There's always tomorrow.