Hugging My Loves, Digging Deep

What a week.

What a day.

I didn’t realize what had happened at Sandy Hook elementary school on friday until I checked my email friday afternoon – when I finally had a moment to sit down – and found a few emails from you kind readers inquiring, concerned about the safety of my children.  thank you.  wow.  what a little community this blog world is.

I had a whole post written about my feelings and thoughts, and I deleted it.  It was enough to write it.  but, my children are safe.  my heart sank so deep when I read and saw what had happened that morning, thinking about my own precious girls in kindergarten and first grade.

All I know is, there seems to be nothing more innocent, precious, alive, full of promise and love, than a 5 or 6 or 7 year old.  so, I hug my kids a little more.  I stare at their precious faces a little longer.  I hold them a little tighter.  I don’t have to dig so deep to find that patience for them, or to say “yes” to a simple request, or to enjoy the simplicity of what I am blessed with – my three little loves.

I also know that I am a faith filled mama, there is no other way I could get through life.  I’m a spiritual kinda gal.  I pray for my kids daily.  I pray for my family, my friends, and now this effected community in CT.  that is all I can do.

the day to day of our lives was a little sweeter this weekend, in all of it’s craziness.  nothing different, but I daresay we got more out of each minute than we did on thursday night, if that’s possible.   let’s talk about the good.

luke really wanted us to cherish every moment with him and thought 4:45am would be a good time to start a saturday.  he’s out of his mind.  finally, by 6:15, super hubs got up with him and I didn’t find my way out of bed until almost 8:00.  oh my word.  crazy.  I didn’t know where I was or what day it was.  I managed to figure out the basics and got on with the day.

super hubs continued on by going to get us coffee and the kidlings muffins, which they always want and never eat, so I end up eating most of the mocha fudge and part of a blueberry muffin.

THE LONG-ISH RUN

I was kind of looking forward to this run all week.  fresh sneakers.  fresh feeling legs.  time to run a little bit longer.

super hubs took the kids up to the playground to let off a crap load of energy (didn’t work, I think they picked up more energy somewhere on the monkey bars) while I got in a pretty wonderful 13 mile run. outside.  I think my last outside run was before thanksgiving.  Hi, I’m Katie, and I’m addicted to the treadmill.  what has happened to me.  I’m afraid of the cold and I live in CT.  It was chilly this morning, 30′s, but I sucked it up and ran in shorts and longsleeve – almost forgot the bra.  crazy things happen around here, and had to go back in to put one on.  so glad I didn’t run in leggings.  just unnecessary.  I am going to try to keep the leggings on the shelf unless it’s in the teens, low 20′s.  who am I kidding – I will be on the treadmill in those temps.

this was the longest run since Harrisburg.  I was excited about it.

 I ended up running about a 7:10 pace and got the last mile in at 6:15, cruising, this was strange. it was eerily comfortable for mile 13 after a 9 mile tempo yesterday.  the first 3 miles were slightly under 7 minute pace.  I was just running by feel, no push, until the last mile.  I wore my garmin, but it didn’t kick in right away, so I didn’t pay attention to the pace until the last mile.  I have NEVER run a last mile of a medium long run feeling so much like I just started running as I did today. I was feeling pretty done by that point, maintaining the pace I was running would be enough work.  I wasn’t hurting, just had enough of the run.  But I decided to look at the pace after it beeped the mile 12 split, and saw 6:40.  hmmm, hello sneaky 6′s, where did you come from?  well, lets push and try to get in the 6:30′s for this last mile – that’s what this speedy mama would do – all about finishing strong, or something.  then there was 6:30′s on the watch.  hmmmm, this feels strangely easy-ish, almost like I am holding back and my legs want to move faster…let’s push it a bit more….hello 6:20′s….well, we are half way there, might as well push for the teens…there is another gear…I finished with what I thought was a 6:10 mile, but garmin connect later revealed it was a 6:14, I won’t get in a fist fight over that one.

here’s my lesson(s) of the saturday run -

1. there is another gear in there – try to use it, sometimes, so it knows how to work.

your head doesn’t always know it’s there, but your legs do, make it happen.

2. Time off is GOOD.  reset.  take a break every now and then.  listen to the bod. don’t stress about what might be lost.  it will be temporarily lost.  and it will come back.  be patient when you come back.  this was the end of my first full week back after a lot of time off/easy running.  slowly and surely, the speed, whatever speed you may be at, the fitness, and the endurance, however far that may be for you, will come back.  with open, loving arms.

3.  easy days are GOOD.  wednesday and thursday this week were very easy running days for me.  pretty sure that contributed to a good run yesterday and today.

4.  running outside isn’t all that bad – even if it is a little chilly.  phlegm, on the other hand – not so pretty.  and someone should make a long shirtsleeve with the microfiber nose wiper for the snotty days.  today was one of those.  tmi??

the fun filled, kid-full day continued.  I was hoping to get a good reaction from Luke when we went on a little Santa hunt in a shopping center.  I don’t know that he’s really gotten up close and personal with santa, ever.  I got no such reaction.  all smiles.  ruin my fun.  no big deal.

I was also hoping to make it through the grocery store in one piece with all of my little loves by my side.  we made it.  it was crazy there. saturday madness.  but my babes didn’t take down any gift card stands or stacks of canned goods placed in precarious positions.  success.

we finished off the day by finally getting our tree put up.  it was hiding in the attic.  we do fake.  which, I have to say, is not easier or more convenient, than a real one.  despite not having to cut it down and haul it inside, there are things to be done with a fake tree to make it look half decent.  ours is looking a little rough around the edges. and from top to bottom and everywhere in the middle.

for an almost 10 year old tree, the light situation is looking pretty grim this year.  and for someone like me, who is anal about insignificant things like making sure tree branches are properly positioned, because that’s what you have to do on a fake tree, then real tree is the easier thing to do – the branches fall where they fall.  you have no choice in the matter, you don’t have to type A them into the perfect position for ornament hanging.  especially when 3 and 4 foot tall people are decorating.  and only the lower portion of the tree gets decorated.

there’s our tree.  proud of it.  unlit, half decorated, fake tree.  special.

luke spent the rest of the evening following in my anal footsteps by rearranging all of the ornaments.  ornament placement seems to be important to him. he was taking it very seriously.

meanwhile, I was cooking up a mean omelet and raspberry pancake dinner.  gourmet style.

anna was stuck somewhere mid-july wishing she were at the beach

refusing to smile, sweet thing

and Alexandra appears to be lost somewhere in Easter-land with her bunny

we are a little confused about the holiday’s.  the tooth fairy has been visiting, all sorts of magic happening.  who knows if it’s christmas time or easter time.

we are doing christmas round 1 today with my husbands family.  the kids are pretty excited.

tonight, they will be donkey’s in the church christmas pageant.  so cute.  I’m sure they will make great little donkeys.  maybe next year we will try for a wise man or shepherd.  start small.

Did you run long this weekend?

Do you do multiple holiday family celebrations?

What is your favorite holiday?