An Odd Morning Run...

My morning run was, well, odd. Actually, the entire morning before I started work was odd.... the run was odd in kind of a bad way, but the morning was odd in kind of a good way.

Last night Ladybug decided she would be a night owl. She was playing in her closet while Angelfish slept, and only was discovered when she came out into the playroom for more toys. But I'm not sure she went to sleep when I turned off the lights and told her it was late at night and she needed her sleep as I tucked her into bed. All I know is she was up late. I caught her at 10 pm as I was headed off to bed myself, and then some hours later (I didn't have my contacts in yesterday) she arrived in our bed and slept the rest of the night with us.

About 5:30 am, Angelfish arrived and wanted to be with her Mommy, who was starting to get ready for her day. Mommy (of course) stopped and snuggled with her for a bit and once Angelfish was sleeping, I returned to getting ready and having my breakfast.

Mr. Darcy, who kept himself up until about 11:30 last night reading his FDR book (he says it's finally gotten good because the war has started), was not motivated to get up and get going this morning. But we had a nice chat and agreed that I would do Team in Training again in the Spring season (which starts in January, I believe) and aim for the St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Pete. Mr. Darcy even agreed that if they'll have me, that I'd like to be a mentor. So fingers crossed! But it took some doing to get Mr. Darcy moving along so I could run.

And then (brace yourselves, or look away for a moment because this may be Too Much Information) as we were talking, I sneezed and pooped at the same time. Clearly not expected and a bit gross and unsettling. I ran off to deal with that situation.

(TMI is over.) Angelfish sprung out of bed and was in a happy, silly mood. Racing herself to the potty, dancing around naked, singing songs, and using her toy stethoscope to pretend her belly was a doctor but that she wasn't. I asked her if she had a nightmare and that was why she slept in Mommy and Daddy's bed. She said, "No. I opened my eyes and I was all alone. Megan not there. Mommy and Daddy not there. I was sleeping on my floor and even Minnie wasn't there. So I decided not to be alone." (She sleeps with a stuffed Minnie Mouse as her lovie, but why she was sleeping on the floor is still a mystery as she didn't seem to know either.) I thought that was pretty good reasoning for a 3 year old!

Ladybug on the other hand was very sleepy and very precious sleeping in our bed. We really do have beautiful children! When I got Ladybug up, the first question she asked was "Are we going to stay all together today?" I had to tell her no, but promised that we'd spend the weekend together. She was OK with that, went potty nicely, and then evidently had a meltdown with Mr. Darcy about wearing shorts and a shirt instead of a dress... and the next thing I see is Mr. Darcy carting a fully dressed Ladybug (in shorts and a shirt) out to the car. Ladybug is wailing and gnashing her teeth. I got Angelfish out to the car by luring her with her bag of muffins and chatting.

Mr. Darcy went back in for the girls socks and shoes and the little ladies and I discussed that sometimes Mommy and Daddy get upset because they don't listen but not just because we're in charge but because we're trying to keep them from getting hurt or to keep them safe. That seemed to calm Ladybug down a bit. Angelfish even gave her example of how she didn't listen the other weekend when she was playing with the rope and she fell down and hit her head (this was back when she got the staples) and that Ladybug gave her a toy flower to make her feel better. The memories these kids have is amazing! I told her that was a very good example.

Then Ladybug told me that she wanted to stay home with me. I told her that it was a school day and that Mommy and Daddy had to go to work. That was when she said, "Angelfish can go to school. I want to stay home with you, Mommy, please." Talk about heart wrenching. I told her that we couldn't do it today but that we would do a Mommy-Daughter day soon. I felt so loved and so torn all at once! But, I'll be looking on the calendar to find a date for us.

Everyone was finally out the door, and I set off on my run. I was supposed to do a 5 mile run alternating easy and hard. And that's what I started out doing. But my back had other plans. I did the 1st mile at a nice pace in Zone 2, and the pain started radiating from my back into my butt and across my quad and down around the base of my knee. I ignored it. Mile 2, I stepped it up trying to run pretty fast but the pain got to be excruciating so I probably wasn't running nearly as fast as I could if I wasn't in pain. Mile 3, I walked at a brisk pace trying to keep my HR up to around 140. I haven't had to walk in a long time and I must say, I didn't like it. I felt like a woosie girl. I knew I could be running but when I tried the pain was so bad I knew I shouldn't run. At this point I decided that 5 miles needed to be turned into 4 miles because I wanted to be able to do a 6 mile run on Sunday during my race and that listening to my body today would let me tear it up on Sunday. But I didn't completely give up. I did my best to run fast (and was at least running in Zone 3) for that last mile. It hurt like hell, but it got done. And I even surprised myself. My time for the entire 4 miles? 47 minutes and 46 seconds. Less than a 12 minute mile pace on average... even though I walked about a mile of it!

So the pain was bad (and still was for a bit afterwards, but seems to have subsided a little bit), but my time was still decent. I wonder what I could do if my back situation was better? The mysteries of it all...