Saturday was the longest day of the season, and I am still really tired from it, so without further ado, here are some journal excerpts from the week:
Monday, September 29th:
Me: "I think I'll go pick a tomato for my sandwich."
My two tomato plants: "here, take three gallons. We won't even notice they're gone."
The youth in our ward dressed up for school to honor president Nelson today. ❤️ Jay said when people asked him why he was dressed up, he told them the leader of our church died.
Last night we finally managed to play a family game! We played the classic card game Cover Your Assets, and Jeff destroyed us all by over $600,000. It was fun spending that time together with my family. My hope is to have family game night every week, but we'll see when we can all feel in the mood again!
It was cloudy and barely cracked 70 degrees today. It was a VERY welcome relief from the relentless sun and well over 80 degree weather we've had all month long. I didn't even sweat at XC practice (I didn't run there either, but still!)
This morning did a 13 minute test run! Before the run I did 30 minutes of PT mobility and drills. My tendons were cranky for the first few minutes of the run, then felt better--not 100%, but way better than they've felt in months! The real test starts now...how the tendons will feel while they recover! 🤞 So far it's ok 10 hours later, but definitely more stiff than I want them to be. Also not nearly as bad as it was after my last tiny run 3 weeks ago.
For family scripture tonight, Jeff was in charge and had us sing the first verse of The Spirit of God. I played the piano and sang about 2/3 of it before giving up and focusing on trying to play the music. It was fun and I love how singing hymns brings such a happy spirit into our home.
Tuesday, September 30th:
During school today, Jay sent me 2 pictures of the frog he had just dissected in biology class. At dinner tonight, he asked "Mom, did you like the pictures I sent you today?" Everyone wanted to know what he was talking about, so he showed the pictures and started telling us about his frog dissection. When Rose stopped eating and told him she was losing her appetite, Jay doubled down and started describing how to get to the lungs and how he had to drain more fluid out of the frog before he could dig deep enough to find the lungs. Jeff and I were laughing so hard, but Rose was legitimately grossed out. It took her a while to be able to eat again.
I went to seminary as the second adult this morning. Of course that involved me jolting awake at 3:30am worried I had missed my alarm, and then barely slipping into a light doze for the rest of the night. Blah. I need to figure out how to sleep better when I have somewhere to be first thing in the morning!
I rode my bike 10 miles right before XC practice today, and my legs are tired! It was only 71 degrees today and it felt amazing!
Amber really hates it when kids on the XC team don't pay attention to Jeff when he's talking. She prowled the edge of our group during Jeff's speech at the end of practice today and kept telling me who was doing what badly. Today especially it was a kid who was on his phone. I told Amber it wasn't her job to tell kids to listen, and after practice she told me "I told that guy to make better choices." HAH!!
The girls talked me into getting our inaugural Donut Month donuts one day early on our way home from practice today. So we stopped at Pepe's and got a few maple bars. I can hardly believe that October starts tomorrow!
Wednesday, October 1st:
I ran again this morning! For another 13 minutes! I made it 1.7 miles in that time, and the first 4 minutes were pretty slow. I was cranking! I figure if I'm only able to do short runs, I'm going to run hard enough that I want to stop when my short time is up. It worked! I was gasping for breath by the end. My tendons were cranky again for the first 4 minutes before they got used to running. But generally I'm still on the mend so far!
During dinner tonight, I told everyone that the yam turkey chili needed salt. I said: "I can't believe it needs more salt! I put in a tablespoon of salt already!"
Rose pinned me with a look and said "only a tablespoon? In that whole big pot?"
"Do you want to start cooking dinner for the family every day, Rose?" I asked. She retreated and apologized. But I still felt a bit peeved at her censure, when she doesn't know how to cook at all! Sigh.
Then Amber piped up with "how come there are so many hairs in this?"
"It's not hair; those are fibers from the yams!" I said. Seriously, cooking dinner can be the worst.
Jay didn't complain about the dinner. It's weird because generally our kids don't complain about what I cook. I have probably scarred them for life with all the lessons I have taught them about being thankful when I cook for them. But tonight was a rough one. Sigh. I knew we were all tired, so I didn't give too intense of responses, but still. It wore me out emotionally.
Jay did not want to go to youth activities tonight because he was tired and wanted to relax at home, so Jeff and I worked to figure out a system for him to decide when to go and not go. We landed on if it's an athletic activity, Jay can choose to stay home, but if it's service or another type of activity, he should go. I felt bad because I totally understand how tired Jay felt, not just from running, but from seminary and all day at school, and the looming alarm clock already set to do it all again tomorrow.
I had Froot Loops for my bedtime snack tonight.
Thursday, October 2nd:
I went to the chiropractor this morning but I didn't need anything adjusted! Progress! My tendons and calves were sore and achy last night but they improved today. My calves are still sore and my tendons are still tight, but it seems to be functional so far. This is the strangest slow comeback to running I've ever had.
I was in charge of the "gimp squad" (injured and slightly injured kids) again at XC practice today, so after the warmup and plyometrics, I took them into the fitness room so they could cross train. Some of them worked hard, but others were super wimpy and I felt drained from riding their cases the whole time. Don't sit on the stationary bike and slowly pedal with one foot! Come on. Don't slide back and forth on the rowing machine seat without holding the rowing handle! Ugh. I want to be able to run with the team again. It's way more fun and fulfilling.
I did a bunch of detail cleaning around the house today, like wiping the dirt off the white banister, cleaning stains off of kitchen cabinets, sweeping the cobwebs off the front of the house, sweeping the front porch, leaf blowing the barn floor, and vacuuming the basement stairs. It was a lot of stuff that has been bugging me for a while, so it felt good to get done. I got out an autumn tablecloth and the leaf garland, but I ran out of steam and didn't hang the garland because I didn't feel like dusting the mantel.
For family scripture tonight, Rose gave us part of the lesson they had in seminary this morning about getting ready for general conference.
Friday, September 3rd:
My head has been throbbing all day. I took Tylenol an hour ago and my head still hurts. I think I'm coming down with a cold. Of course tomorrow is the longest day of the whole cross country season. My alarm is set for 3:40am. It's going to be a long painful day tomorrow.
I ran 2 whole miles today! I decided to treat myself to a "longer" run today since my tendons warmed up nicely. But boy my upper calf/back of knee is so sore. I can't win.
Instead of family movie night and pizza tonight, we had leftovers and family scripture and prayer, then dispersed at 6:45pm to wind down and go to bed early.
Saturday, October 4th:
Our day had an ominous start, with this email that Jeff sent to the team & parents:
"To the parents and 31 athletes currently on their way to the meet, skip ahead to the final paragraphs. You are wonderful and your kids are great. Keep up the great work.
To everyone else, I have written in the past few weeks that our attendance, especially meet attendance, has been poor. I wrote just yesterday that 20% of the team had already given some reason or another to miss today's meet. That is already an extremely poor number.
An additional 16 students did not make the bus this morning. Nearly 60% of the team is absent today. That is entirely unacceptable.
It’s beginning to feel personal. As a staff, we realize that we can’t expect everyone to be as dedicated as ourselves, but showing up should be a minimum standard. Less than half of the team showed up today.
Going forward, I’d like to see the following:
If your student truly doesn’t care or if the parents are unwilling to make arrangements to get them to practices and competitions, let me know. We can end things amicably and go our separate ways.
Everyone else needs to commit to coming to practice and competitions. 3 missed practices or a missed meet will constitute quitting and will be reported to the ASB office as such. I normally don’t do that because it affects early season eligibility for subsequent sports, but the current situation needs to change.
I firmly believe that there is a place for everyone here and we will gladly work with anyone regardless of ability level who wants to get better. Some of the best of our community are on this team and they deserve our best efforts. They will get it. We
To the 32 who came (and those making the effort to arrive despite failed alarms!), you are amazing and I can’t wait to see the awesome things you will do today. Your hard work and dedication is helping make you even better individuals than you already were.
To everyone else, I hope to be able to say the same things about you next week. I want all of you to be there so I can cheer for you and celebrate your accomplishments."
Jeff and I were in separate buses on the way to the meet this morning. My bus left almost 2 hours before Jeff's bus, and the drive was about 3.5 hours, plus a bathroom break halfway. About 2/3 of the way into our drive, our bus's transmission locked up or something and the bus got stuck in 4th gear. It wouldn't shift up or down, so we could only go 55 mph. Climbing hills was risky. Coming to a full stop was risky. Our driver cajoled the bus all the way to the meet, and then the bus totally died once he parked! I was praying all the way there that we'd make it safely without big issues, and my prayer was totally answered.
Thankfully the day only improved after all of this. Our team ran tons of PRs. Dad flew in for the weekend and came to the meet with my sister Mel and her family. Dad and Mel ran the community race and I got to watch them finish! I had enough energy for almost all of the races. I had to sit down during the last 2 races. My sinus headache was throbbing all day. I swallowed so many nasty oblong pills today. I have sinus headache medicine that has tylenol and a decongestant in it, and I had to take 2 of those big pills every 5 hours. A side effect of all that tylenol was my tendons didn't hurt much! It was so nice having barely any pain in my bad ankle and leg, courtesy of the tylenol! Haha. Hopefully I can keep improving my tendon mobility and be more functional soon! Also hopefully my head cold doesn't get worse...
We ordered a Sunnyside Cross Country t-shirt for Dad with his name on the back. The shirts arrived yesterday -- perfect timing! I gave it to Dad today at the meet, and he wore it proudly. I also gave 18 month old Dahlia Amber's old youth sized red Sunnyside XC t-shirt, and she wore it like a cute dress. She was an adorable little fan girl.
Jay ran a 5k PR of 18:48 and finished 4th on the team.
Rose ran a 5k PR of 25:06 and finished 5th on the team.
Amber ran a 1.5 mile PR of 11:56 and beat all of the middle school girls from Sunnyside, even though she's only 10 years old.
Jeff ran the last race of the day as a partner to our runner who is on the autism spectrum, and it was sweet. We had such a good group of kids with us. They were out on the course cheering for the last JV boys during the final race.
We stopped at Chick fil A for dinner. On the bus ride home, I listened to/dozed to the Saturday morning session of general conference, and half of the afternoon session. The last hour was definitely more dozing than listening. I can't call it full on sleep because I was so horribly uncomfortable on the school bus, but I also don't remember much of what I heard. We got back to our house at 10:30pm tonight. (I got up at 3:35am). The longest day of the season is over!
Sunday, October 5th:
Dad came to our house for a few hours today! We walked all over the lot in front of our house and made plans. We watched general conference and had dinner. We had fun talking and spending time together before Dad drove back to Seattle after dinner. It always feels like a special bonus when my family comes to visit!
No comments:
Post a Comment