Extra XC

We had another two weeks of cross country practice after the October 31st district meet because Andrew Garcia made it to state (Nov 9th). From there we had a handful of kids run the Nike Northwest Cross Country Regional meet the following weekend on November 16th (yesterday). Annnnd high school boys' swim season begins tomorrow on Monday, November 18th. I don't officially coach winter swim, but Jay is on the team and Jeff is the head coach and we will have the team of 30-ish boys rotating through our barn six days a week for the dryland portion of their practice. Full steam ahead forever, ready or not!

Two Birthdays

On Monday, November 4th, Amber turned 10 and I turned 38. We celebrated Amber's birthday in full a day early on Sunday afternoon and evening, starting with presents before moving on to an extended family gathering that included a big dinner, a pinata, and birthday brownies. Amber soaked it all in and felt very loved and special. Reaching double digits is a big deal! 

October Treasure Chest

This year I have been working on a goal to write down inspiration from my daily scripture study. For someone like me who enjoys writing, it seems like this would be easier to do than it is. Writing about what I read and think engages my brain more and demands more thought. That's why writing is so good, but also why it can be difficult! It often feels so hard to figure out how to write down thoughts and impressions that I have during my scripture study. But I always get more out of it when I write something down. But forcing myself to write spiritual insights every single day risks turning it into a spirit-dampening grind! I've been there! So I compromised: I would try to write a few times a week, hoping (but not forcing myself) to write a short thought every day. 

I wish I took a more cheerful scenic picture during October, but this moody drained canal picture was all I managed.

Culmination

This week was the culmination of months of work, sacrifice, sweat, pep talks, tears, laughter, and miles: Thursday was the district cross country meet, and Saturday was our team awards banquet. The season isn't completely over yet, since our beloved senior Andrew Garcia qualified for the state meet, but the regular season with 40+ kids at practice every day is done. 

Rose's middle school cross country season ended first, with the final meet two weeks ago, but she and a few 8th grade teammates didn't stop there; they rolled right into high school practices and have been running with the high school girls team daily ever since. As coaches, Jeff and I are rubbing our hands together greedily in anticipation of next season, when we will have a competitive girls team for the first time in our coaching career. Muahahaha, it will be so fun! 

Four Day Weekend

Something completely new happened this week: we had a four day weekend in October. The school district calendar is a bit wonky this year and the elementary school parent teacher conferences landed in October instead of November like usual, giving us a four day weekend before the end of cross country season. It was strange to slow down and relax at home with all five of us during the thick of cross country season! We still held cross country practices on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings, but it was a definite change of pace that we aren't accustomed to having at this time of year. I do prefer having these days off after the season ends so we can totally relax and have no places to be, but it was still fun having a breather before the last week of the season. 

Here are a few of my journal excerpts from the week:

Reconfiguring

Saturday Oct 19th was our first weekend in six weeks with zero cross country meet. It felt so rare and luxurious that I totally relaxed and went with the flow. Normally I create and follow a detailed to do list every day, but on Saturday I laid in bed until nearly 8am and did what I felt like doing all day long. It was a very soothing mental break. When every weekday ticks down to leaving for cross country practice at 2:45pm and every week ticks down to a long Saturday at a far-away cross country meet, my to do list creates structure for me to finish necessary tasks within the very limited time I have. It manages a lot of stress and anxiety by removing unknowns and giving me a specific direction each day. I survive by constantly looking ahead at what's next on the list, and trying to get as much done as possible as efficiently as possible so I can have time to rest before the next cross country activity. That's why Saturday felt so freeing: I was completely free and had no mental clock ticking down, no body battery draining before the day's work was done, no skeletally destructive school bus ride at the end of it. 

Gorge-ous

October, week 2 was very October-ish. On Monday I worked in the yard mowing and weed hacking and mole hill flattening. No matter how much working out I do and no matter how many different types of strength exercises I master, yardwork still makes me sore. My skeleton was sore from rattling along atop the bumpy lawn mower, and my arms from shoulder to wrist were sore from using the scissor hedge trimmers for an hour. When I asked Jeff wryly "what form of exercise would get me ready for yardwork?" He replied, "more yardwork." 

John Payne-ful

We knew on Monday that coming off of last week's two cross country meets plus overnight trip would make this week harder, and we were right. The knowledge that the John Payne Invitational on Saturday (October 5th) was our last weekend meet of the regular cross country season did not make the days leading up to it any easier. In fact, it was a rather painful week.

It was the second week of Jeff's recovery from his latest bout of covid, and joy of joys, it yielded a variety of familiar intense symptoms--a different one every day, from vertigo to digestive issues to elevated heart rate to a near- panic attack. Jeff missed cross country practice on Wednesday and left practice halfway through on Thursday. With my encouragement, he took the day off of work on Friday and was able to feel well enough to attend both the homecoming pep rally and cross country practice that afternoon, as well as the cross country meet on Saturday. I was relieved.

A two-meet week

Theoretically we avoid scheduling two cross country meets in one week, but it's unavoidable and every year we end up with one two-meet week. This year's version of that was extra because our second meet was an overnight trip. Since the first meet was on Thursday, and the overnight meet was Friday through Saturday, I felt a time crunch to get all of my usual work done during the first three days of the week. Even though by now this is redundant, I'm saying it anyways: it was a busy busy week! 

Head, cello, knees, and bus

With a second round of head colds hitting during the thick of this busy season, I am keeping a nostril or two above water, but just barely. I didn't proofread this post because it seemed too tiring, so here's a raw edit of our week:

Monday I picked up groceries, went to the chiropractor and mowed the lawn. This time I refined my mowing technique and managed to mow the whole almost 3 acres in 2.5 hours! Still, that took up almost half of the school day and rattled my skeleton. Partway through mowing, I was wishing that my chiropractor appointment had been after I mowed the lumpy lawn! 

Sunnyside September

This week was our first full five-day week of the school year, and it was definitely FULL. School and cross country season are in full swing. Jay leaves for seminary by 6am, and we don't get home from cross country practice until 5:30pm. Together-at-home time is brief at this time of year, and this week we were all so tired when we were at home together that we didn't have energy to do much more than eat dinner and drape ourselves around the family room while listening to the gospel library app read scriptures to us. My husband and kids were all tired from work and school, and I was tired from doing everything else that they weren't doing while they were away. And I had to get it all done before 2:30pm so I could have time to get ready for cross country practice. 

A year of strength building

Three years ago (during fall of 2021) I trained for a 5k and ran it in 20:17 on the track. After that my right glute and hammy were aching more than usual so I took a few weeks of rest and then eased back into running. Two years ago (in fall of 2022), I decided to train for that elusive sub-20 minute 5k again. I made it one month into the thick of training before that same glute and hammy started giving me more grief than before. So I used what training I had in my legs and ran a 5k on the road in 19:53--my first time ever going under 20 minutes! It was awesome to reach my goal, but my glute was hurting. So I took more time off to heal. But the issue wasn't getting better; it just stayed the same for months until I decided to take more action. I got a referral and went to physical therapy for the first time ever, (starting in March of 2023), with a physical therapist that I met at a cross country meet: Daniel Hernandez.