Weekend

It was a kind of a strange weekend. Darrell had to work late on Friday and didn't get home until midnight. Reagan and I were getting ready for bed about 9 and I went to let the beagles in and only Charley came in. I called for Cali and realized she wasn't in the backyard. Reagan and I got in the car and made a couple of loops around the neighborhood and called for her, but we didn't see her anywhere. I had sent Darrell an email letting him know that she was gone and he told me to leave her blanket out front like we did when Charley was missing. Darrell and I talked a little when he got home and we went to sleep around 12:30.


I got up at 6:20 to go for a run. When I went to get in the car, I heard Cali bark, so I called for her and called for her, but didn't see her. I went ahead and headed down to the trail to run. I did realize that I had forgotten something at home and turned around to go back. When I came back in the house, Darrell and Reagan had already come downstairs. I told him that I had heard Cali and he said that he had gone out to bring in her blanket and she was in the neighbors yard across the street. He called her and she came right over. Crazy beagle! We still can't figure out how she got out this time.

I ran just under 5 miles yesterday morning. I went ahead and decided to join Austin Fit again this year for my training. They are training for the 3M and the Austin Half Marathons, so I will need to increase my mileage more than what they do each week, but that's ok. I know that I can go out and meet my group and have people to run with at least part of my run. Since the San Antonio Half Marathon is in mid-November, I will still go meet the group to run with to keep up my miles for the other two races that are in January and February. This weeks Austin Fit route was 2 miles. I ran with them the first part and then went further down the trail. The weather was amazing. It was nice and cool out, which is unusual for this time of the year. We generally don't get cooler mornings until late September or even October. It did make for a beautiful run and the trail was packed with all of the training groups that started this week.


I think something we ate Friday night must have bothered Reagan because he had stomach issues all day yesterday and part of the day today. Poor guy! He hasn't run any fever or anything and he seems to be feeling a little better now. Hoping he makes it through the day at school tomorrow!

So in my last blog, I said that my surgery was only 5 more days away, which meant it would have been today. Guess I'm just looking forward top breathing too much! The surgery is actually a week from tomorrow, September 3rd. I'm nervous about the recovery, but know I will feel better in the long run! I'm very anxious about it and it seems like the week is crawling by.

I managed to get 45 minutes in on the elliptical on Monday and I headed down to Town Lake for a 3 mile run at lunch today. You know fall is on the way when it's just under 90 degrees at 2 in the afternoon! It was not too bad out there at all today and it took me 40 minutes to do my 3 miles today and last time I ran 3 at the trail, it took me 45 minutes. The cooler weather makes me a little bit faster.

Reagan started his new class on Monday. He really likes his new teachers and is with a few of the kids that he's been with since he started the daycare, so it wasn't too big of a transition for him. He's really starting to say alot more words these days. His favorite word this week as been "bus." We see lots of school buses on the way to school and on the way home and every time he sees one, he gets very excited and yells, "Bus! Bus!" He also did one of the cutest things he's done yet on Monday. We were in the car leaving the day care and were right in front of the daycare and he blew a kiss and said, "Bye-Bye scoo!" He was saying by to his school! He doesn't often link words together, so I thought that was pretty great! The other thing that he does that always makes us laugh is to combine Darrell and I into one person. He yells for us together "MamaDadda!"

We are hoping that he's out of his biting phase. He hasn't bitten in a while and he hasn't been bitten either. He does have more teeth coming in and I know they are bothering him. He's been chewing on his shirt and will chew on my shirt too when I'm holding him. Sometimes he'll go to chew on my shirt and bite me, so we've been telling him "No bite." alot. He does know how to say that as well.

Really looking forward to the weekend!!

Saturday Morning Run

In the excitement of the pool party yesterday, I forgot to mention that I got up and headed down to the trail at 8 am and went for an hour and ten minute run. Not really sure how far I ran, but I'm thinking it was between 4 and 5 miles. I saw a few people I knew and would run with them for a while and then turn back and head the other direction. I may say this every time I go to the trail, but I really do love it and we are so lucky to have such a great place in Austin, TX. It's so great to see so many people down there running, walking, and riding their bikes. I felt really good about my run yesterday morning and didn't really feel too tired after it either. Need to make sure I am getting as much runs in as I can since my surgery is in only 5 days!

Pool Party!

We had a pool party for the kids today. The kids had a blast and I think they will all sleep well tonight.

Road Block

I had my appointment today with my Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist to go over the results of the CT Scan that I had last Monday. The sinus under my right eyes is about 3/4's filled up with fluid and doesn't appear to be training, which is the root of the continuous sinus infections. As I told the nurse that called last week to schedule the appointment, I wasn't taking any more antibiotics since I had been on 4 rounds of them and they weren't clearing up the problem. Now that they have told me I have chronic sinusitis and the results of my CT scan came back showing the results that they did, they have determined that I am going to have to have the surgery to go in and clear everything out and widen my sinus passage ways in hopes that it will to help my sinuses drain better. The surgery is scheduled for September 3. I'm not looking forward to the surgery or the recovery (which I've heard is the roughest part), but I am looking forward to getting better and not having to worry about this any more. The doctor said that the first 5-10 days are the worse and that the full recovery will take 6-12 weeks.

My concern was how long it will take before I can run again. The doctor said that I cannot do anything for the first five days and for the next at least five days, I can only do low impact activities (cycling, elliptical, walking)

Hopefully, this is a minor set back that I will be able to overcome!! I am definitely going to proceed with caution. I am going to remain optimistic!!

In Reagan news, I went to pick him up from daycare today and they told me that he will be moving up to the next class on Monday. Apparently, they have an overflow of kids around his age and not many at all in the next couple of ages, so they are spreading the kids his age among the other classes. I am not very worried about the transition for this one because the teacher that he will have is Miss Chelsea and that's who I leave him with in the morning, so he's comfortable with her.

Cheese!

Our sweet little boy has learned how to say, "Cheeeeese!" when we pick up the camera. I was washing dishes tonight and he was sitting on the stool playing with his dishes.

We hear him say new words every day! His favorite words are momma, dadda, more, and Gabba. ( He LOVES Yo Gabba Gabba!)

Elliptical

I was never a huge fan of the treadmill because I'm super clumsy and always felt like I was going to fall off. For a long time in college, I was obsessed with the elliptical at the Student Rec Center at SWT. I would get on it for an hour at a time and just loved it until I discovered how much I liked running outside and then I just hated the days that it would rain or be too hot and I'd have to go back to the elliptical. I have since become coordinated enough to stay on the treadmill and actually enjoy it and I've even been able to get to about a 10 minute pace on the treadmill.

We have two gyms at our office. One of them has an elliptical and treadmill and the other has a treadmill and a stair stepper. I've yet to try the stair master, but have been contemplating getting on it. Maybe one day to switch it up...

Today, my friend that I work with and I talked into doing the 3M with me last year, Cindy, ran on the treadmill, so I got on the elliptical. It's been a long time, so it was good to get back on. After running outside and the treadmill, I never felt like the elliptical gave me as good of a workout as the other two. Today, I had it at a level 5, so there was more resistance than I usually do and I was on for 35 minutes. According to the machine, I burned 280 calories and walked 3800 steps.

I forgot how much my appetite increases when I'm working out on a consistent basis. I'm trying to make good decisions with the foods I eat like I normally do when I get back into training mode. It's back to limiting my baked good intake to 1 item per week and having one day when I can eat whatever I want, within reason!

Back to Work

I often dread what I'm going to come back to at work after being sick or having time off. Today wasn't great, but wasn't the worst either. I left the office on Thursday with 5 emails in my in-box and was greeted today by 76 after being out just one day. I plowed through them fairly quickly, but it didn't help that I was getting two emails in to every one that I deleted! Oh, well...being busy definitely makes the days fly by!

So today, I got back on the treadmill at work. I did 3.1 miles in 35 minutes an felt really great. I ran most of the time at a 10 minute pace, which is quite a bit faster than what I normally go, but I'm trying to push myself. It does make me feel pretty good that I'm able to comfortably run 3 miles after I haven't worked out more than 4 times within the past 2 months. I found this little blurb on www.shapeup.org

"Will missing an activity session periodically or reducing training temporarily affect endurance or strength?"

Answer: " No. Studies show that if intensity of training remains the same, fitness can be maintained even when the frequency of the activity is reduced for up to 15 weeks. Similar findings were found when strength training was studied. When strength training was reduced from 3 or 2 days per week to 1 day, strength was maintained for 12 weeks."

Swimmig Sunday!

After lounging around most of the day yesterday, we had pretty busy day today. Reagan slept until 7:45 this morning, which was awesome. We finally got out of bed around 9 am and decided to go to Upper Crust Bakery for breakfast. I love this place and miss the bike rides that I used to take with my cycling buddies up there. We used to meet early Sunday mornings and take a 15 mile bike ride up there, eat alot of delicious baked goods, and ride 15 miles back home. I may try getting a group together to do it again when cooler weather rolls around.

After our breakfast, we headed back South and went over to Sprouts to go get some produce. If you guys haven't been over there, I highly recommend it. We read the weekly ads and every now and then we will go over there and get our produce. Today we got a ton of stuff for only $15!

We got home and Reagan and I dropped Darrell off and we headed to Borders to get some new books. One of Reagan's favorite book to read is "Where's Spot?" It has little flaps that you can lift up to see if Spot is hiding in various places. I will ask if Spot is under a place and Reagan will say, "Nooooo!" We usually read this book at least twice before bed time on most nights. So, we went to go find some more Spot books so we can switch it up some.

Darrell was at the grocery store when we got back, so Reagan and I sat and read all of his new books and by that time, Darrell was back home. Once the groceries were unloaded, we decided to load up and head to the pool. We went over to Dick Nichols Pool, which is where I used to swim alot when I was training for the Danskin Triathlon a few years ago. There weren't very many people over there at all today and I was surprised since it was over 100 degrees today! Last weekend, I had gotten Reagan a little swim suit with a flotation device built in since he really wanted to let go last weekend. It worked pretty well. It's a little big on him since he's so skinny, but it served its purpose. He kicked and splashed ans squealed and had a great time in the water again. He even treaded water in his little suit and we showed him how to blow bubbles. I think Reagan is going to be a better swimmer than me in no time!

The other thing I did today was to REGISTER for the San Antonio Half Marathon. November 14th, I will cross that finish line!

Beach Day!

Yesterday, we ended up loading up and heading to the beach for the day. We left here about 8 am and decided that we were going to go to the Texas State Aquarium first. We went down there and Reagan was a big fan of all the "ish" (fish). He kept going up to the windows of the aquarium and kissing them and telling them "hi." I knew that my battery on my camera was low, so I had grabbed the other one off of the charger before we left, but for some reason, I put that one in, got 4 pictures and it died too. Bummer...I went over to the gift shop and did grab a disposable camera to grab a few pictures. We wondered around there for about an hour or so and checked out all the fish, birds, turtles, frogs, crocodiles, and everything else and then headed to get some lunch. There was a Walmart in the parking lot of where we had lunch, so we ran in and I got a cheap digital camera.

After that, we headed towards the ferry to take it across to Port Aransas. As soon as we were done with lunch and our Walmart trip, Reagan was passed out, which was good because he had only slept about 15 minutes on the trip down. There ended up being an hour long wait for the ferry, which was perfect because Regan got an hour and 15 minute lap before we hit the beach.

This was his third trip to the beach, the first two being Isle of Palms and Folley Beach in South Carolina when we took our trip back in March. The water was way too cold to get into when we were there, so we just played in the sand. Yesterday, he got to have he full beach experience complete with sand, seaweed, and salt water. He really enjoyed it. He splashed and played, dug in the wet sand, picked up shells, and chased seagulls. We spent a little over an hour at the beach, which was plenty of sun for all of us.

On our way out, instead of going back across on the ferry, we went through Mustang Island and across the Intercoastal Waterway in Padre Island and through Corpus. Darrell's brother's family live in Calallen, on the north side of Corpus, so we stopped and saw them for a while. Reagan had a good time playing with his cousin,Curtis, his Aunt Lisa, Uncle Ray, and their little Yorkie, Broozer.

It was around 8 pm when we left their house, so after we ate dinner and got back on the road, it was close to 9. Luckily, Reagan slept the entire way home. We made it home about 12:30 this morning. It was a long day, but it was well worth the trip. We had a great time!!

No Workout Today

I didn't work out today! Reagan woke up around 4:30 screaming. I went and got him and finally got him calmed down and back to sleep around 5:15 or so. The alarm went off way too early at 6:20 and I woke up with a bad headache.

It was pretty quiet at work today which was a welcome change, especially since I am taking tomorrow off as a vacation day. This is the first vacation day that I've taken since the South Carolina trip in March and it is much needed. I did get everthing I needed to take care of done today since I worked through lunch. I look forward to days off, but dread knowing what my desk is going to look like when I get back to the office.

We are kicking around ideas of what to do tomorrow. We may go to Sea World in San Antonio or possibly drive down to Corpus for the day and go to the Texas State Aquarium and spend some time on the beach. We will decide when we wake up tomorrow!!

Steamy 3 Miles

My ears have been killing me today. There's alot of pressure in them and it just feels like they need to pop, but they won't. So, needless to say, I didn't get on the treadmill at lunch today.

I got a call from the nurse at my Ear, Nose, Throat Dr's office today and said they had received the result of my CT scans that I had on Monday and I do still have acute sinusitis. She said they were going to call in a prescription, but I told her that if it was for antibiotics not to bother because I'm not going to take them anymore. After being on 4 rounds of them in 2 month, the last thing I want to do is to take some more. I'm just worried that eventually I'm going to get sick with something other than a sinus infection and then the antibiotics won't work because I've built up an immunity with them. I also have enough stomach issues without being on the antibiotics and I'm not a fan of how they make my stomach even worse. So, the nurse said that she would talk to the Dr and call me back. I got a call back about an hour later and she said made an appointment for me for next Wednesday morning and the doctor is going to go over my CT Scans and discuss treatment options. Can't wait to see how that goes! I'm going to be optimistic. Just ready to feel 100% better!

I picked Reagan up from school today and they told me that he bit someone. He's been bit 4 times now and I was dreading the day that they told me that he had done it to someone else. I know that it's something most kids go through. The director told me that he does not like to have anyone in his space and this is something that we have seen a couple of times here lately. I asked her how we deal with that and she said that it's pretty typical because they are used to having everything revolve around them and they don't yet have the concept of others. She said that sometimes thy don't grow out of it until around 2 or after.

When Darrell got home, I just kept talking about how I needed to run or walk or something. He finally told me to stop talking about it and go. So, I threw my clothes on and headed down to Town Lake for the first time in several months. I was thankful that it had rained because the temperature dropped below 90. The only hard part was the ridiculous humidity! The rain did make for a beautiful lake with steam rising off of the water. That coupled with the beautiful sunset made it so worth it! I just did 3 miles and it took me about 41 minutes. I ran the first half and only walked twice for 2 minutes at a time. The second half, I went back to my trust 2 minutes running, 1 minute walking that I loved so much last year with my Austin Fit training group. It was very hot and humid, but I made it through. As it gets cooler and as I get stronger, it will get easier!

Starting at Square 1!

I did 2.75 miles in 32 minutes on the treadmill today.

Not only am I thankful for having a job, I'm thankful that I have a job that promotes health and wellness, so we get an extra 15 minutes if we work out during our lunch hour. Our office complex also has two small workout rooms, each one with a very nice treadmill and several weight machines.

I did 45 minutes on the treadmill a couple of weeks ago and did speed intervals to the point where I thought I was going to barf. After that, I decided that I need to remember that I haven't really worked out more than 4 times in the past two months and I should probably start out a little slower. Today, I felt just ok...was having a wierd issue with my ears (due to the sinus issues). It feels like my ears are all stopped up and need to pop, so that was kind of lame dealing with that while I was working out. All in all, I was glad I did it and it's day one of the the fall marathon training season. Only around 96 more days to get to that finish line!!

I think that my friend/co-worker Cindy may do the San Antonio Half with me as well. I talked her into running 3M with me last year. I love that she is nearing 50 and has no fears of doing these types of things. She's pretty awesome and way more dedicated to working out than I find myself being. We were day dreaming today about when the weather turns cooler and we are able to head down to Town Lake to get our 3 miles in at lunch. Running outside is so much better than the treadmill, but the August heat is just unbearable. It will be at least a month or so before we can head out. In the meantime, we will be kicking it in the gym. I will run on the treadmill while Cindy stairsteps and when she is on he treadmill, I will be on the elliptical. I am hoping to get up early one day this weekend and attempt a 3 mile benchmark run out at Town Lake.

Swimming!!

Sunday morning, I called Mom and offered to bring her breakfast tacos in exchange for swimming at the pool at her apartement. She gladly took me up on that offer! This was Reagan's first time in a big swimming pool. I should have known how much he would have liked it given his excitement of bath time and playing in his little pool out back, but I could not have guessed how much he would LOVE it! He was not the least bit hesitant in the water and really wanted to be let go of more than anything. I didn't have any floaties or anything for him, so I had to hold on to him, but Mom and I did toss him back and forth and he would squeal and laugh everytime we did. I would count to 3 and dunk him in the water and he would laugh so much and yell, "Gin, Gin!!) (AGAIN!) We had such a great time in the pool! Yesterday afternoon, I went to Toysrus and got him a little swim suit with a built in life jacket, so I can hardly wait to use that next time we go and let him kick and splash on his own.

Today, he got sent home very late in the day with fever, so I'm really hoping that he isn't going to have an ear problem from the water yesterday.

I finally had my CT Scan today of my sinuses. I've now had 4 sinus infections in 4 months and just can't seem to get rid of this gunk in my nose. The technician said my ear, nose, and throat specialist should have the results tomorrow, so I'm really hoping that they figure out what is going on and get it fixed quickly.

I haven't really run in about 2 months since I haven't been able to breathe very well. I am so wanting to run the San Antonio Rock N'Roll Half Marathon, but I'm not sure I can pull this off since it is in early November. I think that if I start training now that I may be able to pull it off. I know I'm in better shape now than when I ran the Zooma Half Marathon 11 weeks after I had Reagan. I'm pretty sure that I can do this now! Sooo....here's to the beginning of traning. November 14th is 13.7 weeks away. If I can run 45 minutes 2-3 times during the week and increase my mileage by one mile each week, I will be ready to go! Here's to better breathing, eating, and getting back to my routine! I am SO hoping that this will make me feel better! In order to have some accountability, I will be posting my workouts here so I can make sure to track my progress. Here we go!!