so happy to run again! + mother's day weekend

Marathon recovery with Coach Josh's plan is worse than tapering! Last weekend I REALLY WANTED to RUN. But he said no... give my legs a rest... so I grudgingly complied. I was ecstatic to see running on the schedule for this week!

Monday:  Rest Day

Tuesday:  Ran 4 easy miles in 44:21 minutes, 11:05 minutes/mile average pace.  My daughter is with her dad tonight so I scheduled my run for this evening. I arrived home late from work and began my run at 7:50 p.m. I decided to leave the sunglasses at home since it was dusk. big mistake... a bug flew into my eye at about the 2 mile mark and it irritated me most of the rest of the run. However, I was too happy to get to run again so it didn't get me down. Lesson learned: always wear eye protection when running.

Wednesday:  Rest Day. This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. On Tuesday, the children were supposed to bring a flower to school. Each student's flower from the classroom would be combined together in a single vase for their main/homeroom teacher. Every year we've cut a rose, usually the first rose of the season, from one of our rose bushes for this occassion. Yesterday morning we were sad to see that none of our roses were in full bloom. I cut this rose (still just a bud barely opening yesterday) for my daughter to take to school. She wasn't thrilled. She purused our garden and found a gorgeous iris to cut/take to her teacher instead. Since I had already cut this rose, I took it into the office. I didn't have a vase with me, so I tucked it into my 26.2 cup, after I finished drinking my Teavana tart cherry tea. Happy that the teacher received our prettiest flower and I got a rose too. win-win!

Thursday:  I was supposed to swim today but had way too much other stuff to accomplish.  I'm so far behind with work, house work and yard work...

Friday:  Today was scheduled as a Rest Day, but I did a good bit of yard work instead.

Saturday: I was supposed to run 4 miles today. My daughter and I are spending mother's day weekend at our favorite local horse ranch, Southern Cross Guest Ranch. This is our third year in a row of what is now known as our "tradition". I told her last night that I had planned to get up before she awoke this morning and go for a run on the horse trails. She begged me not to. She pleaded that I spend the entire mother's day weekend with her and not leave her to run.  She knows how to pull at my heart. So I slept in instead. We woke this morning to an amazing sunrise! The photo from our balcony just doesn't do it justice. It's about a quarter mile from the guest house to the stables. She normally rides one of the guest bikes to/from and I normally walk (can't bear the pain of sitting on a bike after two hours on a horse saddle.)  During the two hour morning horse ride I tried to scheme how to get a run in. The answer came to me that I should run from the stable to the guest house between rides as she biked. I didn't get 4 miles in, but probably ran a mile (total) from the stable to the guest house (in riding boots and jeans). She had fun daring me to keep up with her (on a bike), and I had fun trying.

Sunday:  Mother's Day. Today was supposed to be a rest day but we spent the entire day riding horses. Horse back riding may seem like "resting", but four hours of riding, plus tacking/untacking a horse twice a day for two days in a row really works your core!  By the end of the day today, I have sore muscles all over. My daughter is pictured here next to "Ghost". She rode Ghost yesterday afternoon and said I should ride him this morning. She said he had a very smooth canter. She wanted to ride a different horse and got stuck with Sparky this morning. It wasn't fun for her; Sparky isn't so sparky. Our guide suggested that she ride Harley this afternoon, but the woman in line before us asked for/received Harley. My daughter was in tears, but rode Ghost again this afternoon. She was upset at the beginning, but perked up after the first canter. I've found a new favorite horse for me, Codey. At the end of the day we dined with a woman from our group ride that had just come to the ranch for the day. She said that she used to ride with her mom, who has passed on, and wanted to ride today in remembrance of her mom. Talking with her reaffirmed how important this tradition is. Hopefully my daughter will remember these special moments way into the future. We had a wonderful third annual mother's day with daughter at the Southern Cross horse ranch!

Weekly Summary:

• Days run this week: 2
• Miles run this week: 5-ish
• Highlight of the week: running again! + mother's day 
• Goal for next week: run more