Hi friends! Sorry I missed you all on Monday, but I took the day off of work because this little monster’s had a day off from daycare and we spent the entire day together, just he and I.
It was glorious and just what I needed after a very long, sick weekend(more on that later.) I have a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head and don’t necessarily know where I will land with this post, so just go with it and we will see how it lands, okay?
So, let’s pick up where we left off on Friday. I was really excited about a pretty low-key weekend. Well, around 10 a.m. I started to not feel so hot and by noon I was in tough shape. I ended up leaving work early, picking Ashton up from daycare and putting on a movie for him (something we never do) so I could rest. Robyn found me on the couch barely moving when he got home. He immediately got changed, got me settled in our bedroom and took over with Ashton so I could rest. The stomach bug is no joke…and when I woke up on Saturday morning, I felt like I was hit by a bus and was super weak. I was trying to find a way to make light of the fact that I looked like the walking dead and was laughing telling Robyn that the upside of the stomach bug is that I strained my stomach muscles so much over the past day that you could see a six pack peeking through on my stomach since I was so dehydrated! Not something I would advocate for normally, but I had to find the humor in the fact that I was beat up!
Thankfully the worst of the stomach bug had passed but about an hour after I woke up, my legs were COVERED in hives!?! The itching was so bad that I itched some skin off and was bleeding, coupled with it looking terrible. I am not allergic to anything I know of but this was awful. I took a Benadryl and about an hour later the hives were all gone. So random! We went about our day and I tried to keep up with the boys. I didn’t want to waste the weekend in bed when I barely get any time with these guys during the week. I took a nap when Ashton napped in the afternoon and I was finally able to keep some bland food down which felt like a win to me. After giving Ashton a bath, reading him his bedtime story and putting him down to bed for the night, we went downstairs and curled up on the couch to watch a Netflix movie and I got hit with the worst heartburn I have ever experienced. I was in tears and it felt like my chest was being torn apart. I have had heartburn a few times before but after taking a handful of tums and some acid reducer, nothing was touching the pain. It got so bad that Robyn left the house after 9 p.m. to get me some stronger meds. I was sitting on the coach bent over trying to breathe through the pain and was pretty pissed off at how this weekend was turning out. Like the stomach bug and hives weren’t enough, we had to layer on a severe case of heartburn to round the day out. After Robyn came home with more medicine, I took it all and after an hour or so I was starting to feel better. I took my book and headed to bed to read before calling it a night and starting thinking back on the day. It started off and ended tough but there were some really great moments in the middle that I am glad I was able to experience, like Ashton’s swim lessons, some playtime outside and Ashton voluntarily going to the potty and peeing! This is a huge deal for us. He used the potty for the first time on July 1st and hasn’t since, so the fact that he did it with no probing was celebration worthy! Anyways, as I was lying in bed, I reminded myself that I need to be thankful for these little moments instead of being mad that I was sick. At least I was on the mend again and it was just a bump in the road.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning and after not working out since Friday, I attempted a run. I did my usual 4 mile out and back along the Boston Harbor near work and it was hot, humid and my legs felt really heavy, but I finished it. I posted this pic on my Instagram.
I mentioned how I felt sluggish and my friend Hung commented “Your “sluggish” run is my goal #perspective” ;) I stopped and realized he was right. I just ran 4 miles at an 8:24 pace! That pace was unimaginable to me just a year ago. Hell, even 4 months ago that was a stretch. However, over the course of the past few months, I have increased my speed pretty significantly where this even happened last week!
When I finished that run last week I thought I was seeing things when I saw the average pace. I have run miles in the 7′s before but never averaged a run in the 7′s. I was getting stronger and faster in my running, but I was beating myself up about a run that not only was a GREAT pace, but it happened after I was sick all weekend. On top of that, what I felt was a pretty crappy run, is someone else’s goal to run at that pace. I needed a reminder to gain some perspective and see how FAR I have come in the past few months. Mike then posted after Hung “Perspective? With Runners” haha” and Mike was right. I think as a runner (and it’s just how I am in general) I always want to push myself to be better, get faster, do more, etc. It’s hard to not want to constantly see improvement, but I don’t want to forget the journey and I need to take the time to recognize my progress and stop downplaying that progress when a run doesn’t feel as good as I expect it to. It made me realize that all progress hinges on our perspective, hell, most situations hinge on our perspective. You can choose to focus on the negative or the positive. While I tend to try to look at things in a positive way, I am human. I have days when I am not able to do that initially and I need to take a step back to re-evaluate it. So, Hung, thank you for helping me see that, I needed that reminder, I appreciate it!
I warned you guys this post was kind of all over the place, but like I’ve said before, these are just my thoughts right in the moment. Anyways, I hope you have a great rest of your day!! xo
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Question of the day
Do you struggle to keep things in perspective?
