Sunday, August 26, 2012

Sunday Salon: Running

 Well, I almost bagged the idea of a Salon today.  I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record, and I'm not sure I have anything mind-shattering to tell you about my week that has just passed.  Except that in my memory, I've never had such a week.  My husband was out of town.  Five of the last seven days, I've gotten up between 4:30am and 4:45am, and the other two by 5:30am.  One day I was in my car for 4.5 hours.  I never consumed my dinner before 8:00pm.  It was just unbelievable!  I offer a humble and reverent admiration for all single parents of teenagers out there.  I'm not sure I could keep up this pace for the long-term.  When my husband got back home last night, I was laying on my bed talking to him while he unpacked, and I fell asleep mid-sentence.  It was that kind of week!  And he leaves again for three days this week, but I'm choosing not to think about that right now.

So lots of running around.  Including the kind that involves my legs moving and pounding the pavement.  The stress is better managed when I am physically exhausting myself.  My routine seems to be holding fast at three days with Andre and four days running primarily with my running partner, who is also named Sandy.  In order to fit in our "long" run of the week, I got up at 4:30 yesterday morning and met her in her neighborhood (whose streets have better lighting than mine) and we put in 7.5 miles.  Yeah! 

So, a Tropical Storm or Hurricane?  I don't think it is going to hurt us too much.  We will see some rain, and I think the best I can hope for right now is that we have a day off from our activities.  I did allow myself a few minutes of fantasizing about what we would do if we had a day off from school.  Lay around and read?  Yes!  Go to the movies?  Yes!  Sleep?  Yes!  

I do have to tell you all about the highlight of my week.  My son's first official football game of the season was yesterday, and we played a team that is a division above us.  A team that handed us our asses last year (actually our only regular season loss).  But we are back stronger and madder in 2012.  These boys walked out onto that field yesterday thirsty for blood, and they got it.  We beat them 8-6 in a nail-biter, that ended with us sacking their quarterback.  REDEMPTION!  Yes we take our football seriously down here.  It was awesome.

I was really disappointed to have missed our book club discussion this week of Alma Katsu's "The Taker".  I don't take kindly to missing book club, and at this one, Alma was actually calling in to talk to us!  The ladies that attended had a ball.  Alma is the nicest, most interesting woman you will ever meet, and they were totally enthralled with her.  Next month we are reading "Code Name Verity", which I've had on my Kindle all summer.  I really hope I can make that one.

Last week I whined about my reading, and I guess it is fair to say that it has picked up just a smidge.  All the time in the car does help with the audio consumption.  But here is the deal.  I had agreed to participate in the TLC tour of "The Orphan Master's Son" because I already had it loaded on my iPod.  So happily I went, listening and doggedly attempting to get through it.  Then I realized that it was OVER 19 HOURS LONG!  OMG!  Holy Moses.  This book has me totally perplexed.  For the first 5 or 6 hours, I even considered DNF-ing it.  I was confused, didn't always understand what was going on.  But now I'm mesmerized.  I'm glad I persevered.  Anyway, Lord willing, I will finish this week.  I think I have four or five hours left.

After two weeks, I also finished "The Meryl Streep Movie Club" which was nice.  Predictable novel about angst, love, girlfriend power and the comfort of a Meryl Streep movie.  I enjoyed it.  I just now started a true crime book for TLC called "Wilderness of Error", and it is like a million pages long.  True crime is my brain candy, so I am hoping that I can dig in and get some momentum with it.

So I'm off today at 7:15 for church, then some time at the animal shelter to hold kittens and walk puppies, then probably grocery store and a shorter run later this afternoon.  Hopefully a little reading and a nice relaxing Sunday dinner perhaps?  A little blog visiting?  Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

  

18 comments:

bermudaonion said...

What a crazy week! I've been getting up early these days too, but it's because of our poor little senior dog. You are going to be so happy when your daughter gets her license!! I hope this week is better for you.

Ana S. said...

Don't worry about mind-shattering - we just like hearing from you whatever's going on! I'm excited that your book club is discussing Code Name Verity next. Fingers crossed that you make it!

Dawn @ sheIsTooFondOfBooks said...

Good for you, to keep your running routine going while manning the homefront entirely on your own!

I hope the storm loses intensity if it hits land. My parents are down that way, too, and are keeping a close watch on the weather.

Unknown said...

I know that it's been an exhausting week, but whenever you do a post like this one, my reaction is "Sounds like a pretty great life to me."

I hope the storm passes without damaging anything. Whenever there's a hurricane, someone out here ask why people live in hurricane country. I remind them that they live on a fault line. Usually shuts them up.

Carrie K. said...

Wow - Reading about your weeks makes me so, so tired! I hope this next week involves a little less running and a little more relaxing. :)

Marie Cloutier said...

Whew! congrats on getting through the week, on the football victory and best of luck for a great day today. I hope things settle down for you and you get some reading time in this afternoon. You've earned it!

Julie P. said...

I can't believe you missed Alma!!! Sounds like your week was crazy. We just got back from a week at the beach and I'm already dreading the chaos of this week.

Alyce said...

Wow, what a week! Even though my husband travels a lot and I do the single parenting thing, I don't think I've every had a week that intense (thank God and crossing my fingers). I hope that things ease up a bit for you!

Peppermint Ph.D. said...

Glad you guys are in the clear...unfortunately for us, it looks like Isaac is headed straight for us again. With remnants of Katrina in all of our heads, my small community and the communities on the coast of MS are having heart attacks. Surely not again...surely.

Jenners said...

That is a punishing schedule … no wonder you fell asleep in mid-sentence.

And YAY for getting redemption at the football game. I'm sure it was thrill.

Stay safe and dry down there!

ds said...

Trusting that Isaac has ignored you. Super crazy week--even for you. I don't know how you do it, Sandy, but you are truly impressive. With luck the week to come will be slightly less hectic.

Heidenkind said...

Nothing will make you feel the length of a book like an audiobook. I remember Order of the Phoenix took 4 tips between college and my parents' house to finish. It was a 10.5-hour drive one way. D: That was way too long.

Beth F said...

What a week!! I get up early too but I'm not running. :) I do walk pretty much every evening. Except this past Saturday when we were at the county fair. But we ended up walking 6.5 miles when we there, so I think I did okay.

Zibilee said...

I can't even imagine getting up at that time, and you are running as well. It has got to be really hard to take the kids everywhere, and do everything you usually do, plus all that extra, so my hat is off to you. Hopefully it will only be a half week of this kind of stuff this time around...

Ti said...

So glad your son's team kicked their butts this time. Redemption. It feels good.

Orphan Master ended up being a decent read for me. Sort of bizarre happenings here and there but I couldn't turn away after a while.

Iliana said...

Well, I'm seriously impressed that even with all that you have to do you still get your work-out. Congrats! I need to pay more attention to taking care of myself but it's so hard sometimes isn't it?

Hope you have a great week ahead Sandy!

Natalie~Coffee and a Book Chick said...

7.5 miles!!!! GREAT JOB!! I have been so laid out with injuries that I have no idea when I can get back to being consistent with my running. It's always just a spur-of-the-moment "Hey, I feel good today, I should run" and then the next day it's "Holy sheesh, I tore a muscle, what do you know." I really need to incorporate some strength-training, huh? :)

Kathleen said...

I get tired just reading about the week you had. I hope things have settled down to a dull roar by now.