Run & Shoot

On Tuesday morning, my running group completed our two mile time trial. 

We all ran down to the high school track together (a 1.8 mile warm up), well not really together - the fast people went really fast, but my semi-fast running friend stayed with me. 

The two mile time trial is supposed to be a benchmarking tool to help set goal paces for workouts.  Our coach's instructions were kind of vague - go as fast a pace as you can maintain for two miles (but not further) and try to have something left to push the last half mile.  Turtle translation: jog fast, don't collapse and at the end, jog a little faster. 

Two miles is easy (well, at my normal turtle pace it is), but eight laps around a track is BORING.  Even at 6 AM, it was humid and gross and every lap felt like it took forever.  Finally, I finished (not last, but second to last) - 16:38. I was very consistent:

1st half mile: 4:15

2nd half mile: 4:11

3rd half mile: 4:08

4th half mile: 4:04 (that was as much as I could push it)

If you put my two mile time into the magic calculator - these should be my race times:

Marathon:	04:23:39 (10:03/mile)
Half Marathon:	02:05:01 (09:32/mile)

Those times would make me really freaking excited.  Now (apparently) I need to start training at these paces when ever we do a "mgp" (marathon goal pace) run.  This might hurt a little.

**WARNING - NEXT PART INVOLVES THE SHOOT PART OF TITLE**

My semi-fast friend and I jogged back together discussing our kiddos (she has two) and running.  We were jogging in a neighborhood when we noticed a police car do a really quick u-turn and head towards us (like driving on the shoulder of the road, coming right at us).  Just then, we noticed an injured baby deer immediately in front of us on the shoulder of the road and the police man was parking behind it.

As we passed by the officer and deer, we made "awe" faces at the baby deer who had an obvious broken leg. I wondered (to myself and then aloud to my friend), Is he going to put that deer in the back of his police car and drive it to a vet?  My friend (her name is Tamara) gave me a funny look.  Then the following statement actually came out of my mouth  - Well, I know from watching Law & Order that the police have to file a report every time they discharge their weapon, so certainly he's not going to shoot the deer - think of the paper work. 

Can you guess what happens next?

Step . . . Step . . . Step (that's us jogging by). 

BANG!

We both jumped and I said - Holy s--t pickles, he just shot the baby deer!

I know deer cause a ton of damage and there probably wasn't much that the police man could have done for the little deer, but I still didn't like being so close when he shot it.

***END OF SHOOTING STORY***

Now, the moment Liz has been waiting for - Cub trying to eat an enchilada.  

 

Probably not as messy as she was expecting. 

Wordless Wednesday

A Fine Afternoon

Graby was in a particularly good mood this afternoon, maybe he knew I needed to laugh.

Here are a couple pictures of him playing outside.

No Words

Last night, my dear friend Shannon's (I call her Nana) mother died.

It was not expected.

I spoke to Nana this morning and I just had no words.  I tried to be a good listener. 

I've known Nana's mom, Maria, for over twenty years.  I spent so many summer days at their house - so many childhood memories include their family.  

As an adult I didn't really know Maria, but I still found myself crying today.

I cried for Shannon.  I cannot imagine being a new mother and not having my mother.  

I cried for Shannon's sister (and my very good friend), Colleen (I call her Weenie) who is pregnant and was already planning to name her unborn daughter in honor of Maria.  

I cannot even imagine their pain - all I can do is be there and listen.

Misfit Monday

Buttin has this theory - it's impossible to have three bad work weeks in a row.

Buttin's theory is currently being tested.

In an effort not to dwell on bad stuff, I asked Buttin - What's one good thing that happened today?

Buttin: I came home.

Me:  No, work related.

Buttin: I left work.

Me: No - at work.

Buttin: You gave me a hug.

Me:  No, something to do with work, while at work.

Buttin: We got mail.

Yes, we did get mail.  

Sadly, I don't think I can do much better.  I got an email from a customer that had a smiley face on it.  That was a good thing, I suppose. 

Luckily, no matter how bad the day - Buttin and I get to come home to this face.

Houses

On Friday, Buttin and I went snooping around in houses (to potentially purchase one).  

It was a much more successful trip than our first excursion.  We expanded our search area by about 5 - 10 miles and were able to find some really nice houses in our budget.  It's making me very excited.

In other house news, ours is still warm.  The a/c works, but cannot keep up with how hot it is outside.  Currently (at 6:45 PM), it is 83 in the main area of our home.  Thankfully, the classy window unit in our bedroom and the portable a/c we bought for Cub's room keep those two rooms closer to 72.  The a/c people are supposed to be out tomorrow.

To escape the heat, we actually went outside - to the splash pad.

Graby decided to flirt.

Here, he thinking - Hey ladies, my mom is a dork but I'll be available in about 17 years.

Speaking of Graby - he's decided to eat solids now, but just a limited selection.  I sure hope he can thrive on milk, cheese and vanilla cupcake Goldfish.

Ewe and Ick

Ewe

My run this morning was dis-gus-ting.  I ran 13.7 slow, sweaty miles (12:23/mile).  We had some clouds this morning (and I even felt a little sprinkle), but with the clouds came an extra special amount of humidity.  My fabulous new lululemon shorts, which were practically dry after last week's 12-miler, were SOAKED after today's run. 

Ick

At Cub's school, they offer the potty chair to him during every diaper change.  We haven't been as consistent at home, but today he made the "sssssssss" noise (his teachers make this noise when they put him on the potty chair) and started trying to get into his potty chair.  Buttin took off Cub's diaper and put him on the potty chair.  We made the "ssssssss" noise, but nothing came.  We let him sit there for a couple minutes and then Buttin took him out of the potty chair.  Can you guess what happened next?  About five seconds later (before we had a chance to get the diaper back on) little Cub pooped and peed all over Buttin's shorts.  

That wasn't really a fun game for Buttin, but he and Cub did play a ton of fun games today.  Here they are playing (Cub likes to squeeze himself into tiny spaces, like the little shelves we have in the kitchen) this afternoon: