I Didn’t Run Today

I didn’t run today. And I did it on purpose. This is breaking one of my cardinal rules. “Never miss a Monday.” But my body needs a rest. Holiday stress is encroaching. Parts of my body just hurt. My stomach has been giving me issues lately. I just needed a break to catch up and relax.

The boys get on the bus at 7am. For the next hour, I did this.

I sat in my recliner with my cozy K-State sweatshirt blanket and my snuggly puppy, and I finished my book. I read The Jewel by Amy Ewing this weekend. I enjoyed it. If you liked The Selection, you must read The Jewel.

Then I got busy. I emptied the dishwasher, loaded it back up, and started it. I sorted laundry and managed to do FOUR full loads…including the folding and the putting away…before I had to leave for work. I made myself a yummy lunch (turkey breast, couscous, and broccoli), followed by another round of empty and reload the dishwasher. I drank six 12oz glasses of water, spacing them out every hour. I am determined to get my water in and get my stomach issues back under control. I vacuumed AND dusted the house. I decluttered the kitchen table. We could actually eat dinner on it if we wanted to! I hung every jacket and coat up. I put everyone’s shoes away. I tidied up the living room. I took one glance at the disaster that is the boys’ toy tubs and decided to tackle that another day.

By the time it was ready to go to work, I had 8500 steps on my Vivofit. Never miss a Monday…I definitely didn’t miss it. My workout was just different than circles around the YMCA track.

I love to run. I need to run. But sometimes I need to be a housewife and a mom and get my house back in order. Nothing destresses me like a CLEAN, TIDY house!!

I could have ended this post here, but I do need to share something. Yesterday, all four of us ran in our city’s 2-mile Turkey Trot. We came home with four frozen turkeys…YES! There’s also a 10-mile race, and one of these years I’m going to do it, but for now I enjoy running with my boys. Well, I got to run with one of them. Four-year-old Mark did the Turkey Trot last year in 31:31. This year five-year-old Mark did it in 24:14. So proud of him!! I had a major Mom fail since I didn’t take any pictures of Mark running or before or after. I lost count of the number of people who gushed over how cute and how awesome our little runner was!

Last year six-year-old John ran the Turkey Trot in 22:23 (11:12 pace). This year seven-year-old John ran the Turkey Trot in 15:34 (7:47 pace)! SPEED DEMON!! His dad and I are so proud of him. He is so dedicated to his running and is so smart with his training. I just love him. I see us running races together for many, many years to come. I get butterflies just thinking about running a half marathon with him some day. Here is his finishing picture from yesterday! PURE JOY! (And I love his toothless smile…he lost two teeth in two days.)