He's down and not out

Mr. Jeep went fishing Saturday morning on our friends’ boat with the guys. This is something new for Mr. Jeep, he never fishes. But he wants to get into it more and secretly I think he has mini-man crush on our friend Bill that owns the boat. Bill is a cop/fireman/paramedic and is big into hunting and fishing. He also has guns and great toys. All things Mr. Jeep also loves. Anyway, Mr. Jeep ended up hurting his back while fishing Saturday morning. I think the thing that really made it worse was that he didn’t take it easy the rest of the day Saturday, Sunday or Monday. He got up to get ready for work yesterday morning and could barely walk to the bathroom. He’s had this happen before and it was a bulging disc that was causing the problem. So he stayed home yesterday and ended up taking a Vicodin, which he hates doing. He’s still not better today. He’s supposed to be leaving tomorrow night for Vegas for work, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to be happening. He stayed home again today and is going to try and get in to see the doctor. Hopefully they can do something.

Not so great morning run report

I ran this morning and that’s about all that I can say. I ran 3 miles…just 3 miles. It was very humid and I was extremely sweaty when I got home. And no I don’t perspire, I sweat (very easily I might add). It’s supposed to be 95^o or something crazy like that today. There’s a heat advisory for today here.

We set up LC’s new pool on Monday and when I got back home from my run I walked over to it and for one brief moment considered jumping in. In hindsight I should have; it would have felt great! Instead, I reached in and splashed water all over my face. It felt good, but not as good as jumping in would have been.

Morning Run Report

I’ve decided I’m going to start doing a morning run report. I think this is going to help me in a couple of ways: 1) It will provide a pseudo run log and 2) hopefully help with I think it considered “hitting the wall”. Let’s talk about #2 for a moment. For the last couple of weeks whenever I go running I have had one hell of a time finishing. Usually the first mile is the hardest for me and then I’m fine. But lately every single mile is the hardest for me and I even struggle with *gasp* walking. I never do but I think about it really hard. I went running Sunday morning and did 4.6 miles. I planned on doing at least 6, but I got to the point where I could turn to go home and I honestly felt like I couldn’t run anymore and turned to go home. I didn’t run yesterday, but I went this morning. I ran 4.4 miles this morning (9:07/mile) and I felt good. I ran a different route than one of my normal ones that I choose from, so I’m thinking maybe this helped. I’m going to try and map out some different routes than what I normally do and see if maybe it’s just boredom with the same routine that’s making me dread running.

So the report for this morning was very good. Like I said, I ran 4.4 miles and I felt great. It was starting to get light out when I left. I love the fact that the sun starts rising so early now. I leave for my runs around 5:00 – 5:15 am, so it’s kind of nice that’s it not dark outside. And by the time I get back home it’s really light out. I wish I could carry my camera some mornings because the sunrises are so beautiful. It was about 65^o when I left the house this morning and already was starting to feel humid. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s tomorrow and I think high humidity…summer is here in Michigan! I only passed one other person this morning and saw one rabbit. Oh and I ran through every cobweb in the area. I probably look like a crazy person some mornings because when I have to run where I think there may be cobwebs, I flail my arms out in front of me to clear the cobwebs before I have to run through them. It works, but I don’t always remember until it’s too late.

So that’s my first morning run report. Hopefully it helps me!

Awesome Giveaway

Felice over at The Happy Runner has a great giveaway going on. She's hosting a giveaway for some pretty awesome running gear. The contest ends 6/25, so hurry on over!

Torture

This past weekend we surprised my mother-in-law with a spa day during the day on Saturday and then dinner in the evening. That is a long ass day to spend with my in-laws. The reason for the surprise is that my mother-in-law turned 70 on May 28^th. My sister-in-law and niece came in from Illinois to surprise her as well. It was a very nice thought and gesture for my mother-in-law and I know she really enjoyed herself. Can’t you just sense that there is a “but” coming?

Let me give a shortened version of my husband’s family situation. You may want to take notes because it’s a little complicated. Soap operas are written about this stuff. In fact there was a little show called the Brady Bunch that it was loosely based off of. My father-in-law was married before and had two daughters from that marriage. His first wife passed away when the girls were really young. She had tuberculosis. My mother-in-law was also married before and had three daughters from that marriage. Her first husband was a Detroit cop and was hit and killed by a Detroit City bus while on pursuit of another vehicle. The girls were also very young, in fact the youngest was only about 5 months old. Both very tragic stories. My in-laws met, married and had my husband the following year. He is the youngest and the only boy with five (yes 5!) sisters.

I can only imagine what the house was like growing up. The oldest daughter from each of my in-laws are the same age and the next two from each are only a few months apart. When my husband was born, the oldest daughter was about 9 years old. So my in-laws had six children under the age of 9 when my husband was born. Can you even imagine? It explains some things in that family. I mean you have to be a little crazy to be able to handle all those kids, right?

My husband really only gets along with three of his sisters. The oldest from my mother-in-law and my husband do not speak to each other at all. I also do not speak to her. She is an A-1 bitch. And we are all certain that she has some mental disorder or something, possibly a little bipolar. We’re not sure, but she is super nice one minute and then just a total bitch the next. Most of the time she learns more towards total bitch. She didn’t even go to her own sister’s wedding two years ago. The wedding was on the other side of the state and it was her second marriage, but everyone else made the trip. Even the sister from Illinois made it. Funny enough, she came to our wedding and our wedding was in Charlevoix which is in the very northwest part of Michigan. The other sister, ironically the oldest from my father-in-law, we used to get along with. In fact, she’s the one that introduced Mr. Jeep and I. She used to be my favorite of the sisters. I still don’t know what happened, but she never really acknowledged when LC was born. She came to my baby shower and was her normal self. She sent a card the day after LC was born, but that was it. She never came to the house to see LC. She never called. She ignored us the next time we saw her. It was all very bizarre.

They all pretty much drive me crazy. They are very LOUD people. More so, two of the sisters that Mr. Jeep gets along with are very loud. The one regularly states that she is the smartest in the family. No joke. I have heard her say this on several occasions. Actually she says that she and the other loud one are the smartest in the family. And it’s the entire family, not just the immediate that they are above. Who the hell says this? She’s also the one that last Memorial Day when we were up north, emerges from the house in full on make-up and some outfit that looked like it came straight out of Orvis! We have no running water or electricity at the property up north. Everyone pretty much looks gross all weekend. That’s how it is, accept it. I could go on and on with the stories, but you probably get the idea. They are a couple of high maintenance chicks. I like to think that I am not.

So when the idea of spending pretty much the entire day with the five of them came up, I shuddered. Instantly I began thinking of ways to get out of the spa part of it. Finally I told myself that it was for my mother-in-law and not me and to suck it up and do it. So that’s what I did. All-in-all it went pretty well. The first appointments were supposed to be at 10 am and we were to get there before 10 am to surprise my MIL. My niece was bringing her to the spa. 10 am came and went and there was still no sign of the niece and MIL. Finally it was around 10:20 or so and the massage therapist that was going to be working with me asked if I wanted to get started or keep waiting. I felt horrible making her wait because this then meant that all of her appointments were now pushed back for the rest of the day. I finally told her let’s get started; I can always say hi after my massage. I ended up leaving around 2:30 pm and they were still there. Apparently they didn’t leave until almost 4 pm! Thank God I made an early exit.

We were supposed to be at the restaurant at 6:00 pm for dinner. Mr. Jeep, LC and I were actually early. I was very proud. Everyone else trickled in after that. We probably didn’t sit down to start ordering until 6:45. There were about 20 people total in our group. The restaurant had 1 waitress waiting on 20 people. They had us split up into two long tables and 1 waitress! WTF! We never left the restaurant until after 9:30. LC was crashing big time at the end. She kept saying “Momma, I’m so tired.” I felt really bad and I also wanted to leave. My brother-in-law came up to me to see how I was doing and so we had a little bit of a bitch session between the two of us.

It was one day/night and my MIL had a great time. That’s all that matters. And the saying “you can choose your spouse but not your in-laws” is oh so true in my case. They’re all headed to Frankenmuth (a German touristy town north of Detroit known for its chicken) together today. Mr. Jeep and I were not jumping on that train.

Go Wings!

Tonight is Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals and I can’t wait! Hopefully it will be a total repeat of last year and the Red Wings will win tonight. If they win that means a late night for Mr. Jeep and I. Of course we’ll have to stay up for all of the celebratory stuff after the game. I love hockey!

Good luck boys!

Keep your mouth closed

I was almost home from my run yesterday morning and this bug flew right in my mouth and went back in my throat. I started gagging for a few seconds and was in total disbelief that he flew right back into my throat. I’m pretty sure the damn thing hit my uvula on the way in. That bug must have been flying pretty fast with the force I felt at the back of my mouth. He was too far in to try and spit him out, so I must have swallowed him (I don’t know why she swallowed the fly….).

So I decide on the way to dropping LC off at school to tell her about it…that was a mistake and I should have known it would be. I couldn’t really see her face as I was telling her the story, but she asked me why he flew in my mouth. I had to explain that sometimes those things happen.

LC: “Did he come out?”

Me: “No, I swallowed him because he was back in my throat.”

LC: “I don’t like that very much.”

Me: “Well I didn’t really like it either, it made me gag.”

LC: “Are you o.k.? Where is the bug right now?”

Me: “In my tummy most likely. He’s not coming out my mouth that’s for sure.”

So we get to her school and I go to unbuckle her from the car seat and she has this pained expression on her face and she’s staring at my mouth. I really think she thought the damn bug was going to fly out of my mouth! I had to laugh. She looked at me and she said “Momma, I don’t want you to kiss me today.” I said “why not?” She said, “I don’t want the bug to fly in my mouth when you kiss me!” I couldn’t help but laugh. It’s amazing how her mind works.

She brought it up again at dinner and then before bed and then this morning. Maybe next year she will have stopped asking me about it!

Crazy Talk

I’ve been thinking about running a marathon for a long time. I’ve always told myself that I will do one before I am no longer part of this Earth. There are two marathons that I would consider doing as my first one. One is the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar marathon and the other is the Chicago Marathon. Obviously the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar would make more sense. Last year I thought about doing it for a long time and then I just didn’t feel quite ready. Plus I figured I should probably do a half before I attempted a full. Well now that I have the half under my belt, I really have no excuses.

Last Thursday I received an email from the Free Press marathon stating that the race fee is cheaper until June 30^th. After I finished the Martian ½ Marathon I had made up my mind to run the ½ for the Free Press. Now I’m considering doing the whole thing. In my head I know I could do it, but there’s also a little voice that is telling me that is a long ass way to run! I emailed my friend Elena, which was a mistake blessing, to hear her thoughts on the subject. Of course she says that she would also like to do the full marathon. Of course. She has a book with a training program that only requires you to run three days a week to avoid burnout and injury. Ugh, I think I’m running a marathon. I have until June 30^th to make up my mind for the cheaper rate.

What's Been Going On?

Not a whole heck of a lot is what’s been going on. Well, I guess I shouldn’t say that. I have been crazy busy at work, I mean crazy! I work for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Trustee (yes, I’m still at that same j-o-b) which explains the reason why I’ve been so busy.

Since my last post I’ve run one race. I ran the Oak Apple Run two weekends ago. It’s a 10K and usually has a pretty small turnout, which is nice for me. My time was 56:32 and I am still very happy with it. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to do a 10K under an hour. I know it’s not fast by any means, but it was fast for me. And in all honesty it probably would have been better if I wasn’t stuck in a crowd for the first mile or so. I was one of those people at one point where I ran up on the sidewalk to go around a group of people. Mr. Jeep and LC went with me because LC was running the Kid’s ¼ Mile Fun Run. So while I was running my 10K they were at the Coney Island in downtown Royal Oak having breakfast. LC got a kick out of seeing me at mile 4. She enjoyed herself because she got to pet a ton of dogs. I did the ¼ mile run with her. We didn’t actually run. She had been practicing for the entire week before by having me count 1-2-3…GO! Sure enough we get to the start line and we start going and she doesn’t want to run. So we walked and then she wanted me to carry her. Mr. Jeep met up with us at the 1/8 mile point and “ran” the rest of the way with us. We told LC that she had to either walk or run through the finish line. She did and she was really excited. She cleaned up at the end of the run! First she got a trophy (I did not) and a backpack full of stuff! And good stuff, not crappy stuff that would end up in the garbage as soon as we got home. Needless-to-say, for the next week she carried that trophy with her everywhere. It was very cute! All momma got was a banana, some Gatorade and water.