These Are The Moments

Yesterday my dotor's office called and told me I that I was ready to test my achillies out more and try a 2-3 mile run that day, and a 4-5 mile run this weekend! WHAT!? I was so excited when I heard that! (Actually, at first he told me to do 7-8 miles this weekend, and I was like, "Are you sure?" Turns out he thought I was doing a much sooner half marathon so after I corrected that, he toned it down a bit.) 

BUT, I had already decided that yesterday was going to kind of be my rest day and that I would just go swimming with the kids so I resisted the urge to go out and run in the snowstorm.

Actually, to tell you the truth, even though I remember how much I loved my last snowstorm run, I couldn't get very excited about doing that. So I just decided to run the next day and went out and shoveled snow instead. 

I'm kind of weird because I actually like shoveling snow...

I took the kids to the pool in the evening, and had them all swim laps before they could go play. Yeah, I'm such a cool mom. :) Even my daughter's friend came with us and got in on the fun!

They were actually excited to swim laps because that meant they were allowed to use the fins! They each did some laps with the kickboard and fins and some without. Actually, Elle (7) either had the fins or the kickboard for all of her 3 laps, but I figured that was a lot for her! Ethan did a total of 6 laps, I think, and Mindy and her friend did maybe 5. Anyway, it was fun to do my warmup with them. Then they got out and played in the kid pool while I did the rest of my workout. 

It really wasn't a huge workout. Durring one of my sprints, I remember just having such a hard time breating while I watched my 10 second rest go by on the clock. I realized that I haven't swam since before I got sick on Chirstmas, so I wasn't too hard on myself. I don't know if I'm all the way better, I still have the occasional cough. Anyway, I got maybe 1200 yards in, then it was time to get out and get George from the daycare.

This morning I almost slept in because I told myself I could just go later. But then I remembered that I got to run 3 miles today which is something I haven't done in 2 months, and something I've been dying to do! So I got up! Yes, victory! :) 

I made it to the gym by about 6:30 which gave me just enough time to run for half an hour. That is between 2.5 and 3 miles for me so I figured it would be perfect per doctor's orders. I ran on the indoor track and didn't want to count laps so I just went for time, and it was really hard! I had a hard time breathing again in the first 10 minutes or so, then it got better, but I never really felt comfortable the whole run. I even doubted whether I'd be able to do it or not, but I just kept going and was able to finish out my 30 minutes! Wahoo! Then I hurried and walked home, and it was still pretty dark.

I've really been enjoying walking to and from the gym, it gives me a nice 5 minutes to warm up and cool down, and also an extra few minutes to myself to think before I begin the chaos of the day.

My achillis felt good during my run, though I was totally nervous about it, and it still feels good! Keep your fingers crossed for me that it will still feel good in the morning!

When I got home, Mindy was making a smoothie, and Ethan and Elle were playing with George. They were all dressed and ready for school and I just felt like my heart would burst because my life is just so great! I really enjoyed this morning, and it made me think about how the in-between moments like when you're just getting ready for school or whatever, are still importatant. Those moments are still part of our lives and we need to make the most of every single moment! We've sure had our share of stressful, hurried mornings when we're going to be late and everyone's fighting, George is crying, and I'm yelling at the kids to hurry, but I'm going to try to make every morning be more like this one!

I also got to shovel some more snow later on today! Yay snow!