Blog Slacker, Marathons, Kitchens, Oh my!

Several people have informed me recently that I am a blogging slacker.  And I would have to agree.  At this rate, I'm blogging at a rate of 3 posts per year.  Not quite the rate I started at.  But, hey, I can only get better.  This would be my optimistic way of saying I really can't be much worse.  My last post was May.  Right before school let out.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  In a "nut"shell, the summer of 2012:

• FUN (and exhausting) vacations,
• Recovery weeks from said FUN (and exhausting) vacations (read: unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, laundry, getting kids back on schedule, laundry, did I mention laundry?),
• Lazy days by the pool.  OMG, did I just say lazy?  I must have been thinking of the people sprawled out on the lawn chairs, reading 50 Shades of Grey or gossip magazines.  Unfortunately, that was not me.  Mine were more the CRAZY days by the pool.  Basically, I took kids to the bathroom, fed kids snacks, lunch or dinner, did my fair share of "swimming" and counted to 4...over and over and over again.  To make it interesting, I sometimes tried counting in different languages.  Just to, you know, keep my mind fresh.  But, let's face it.  That was definitely overestimating my current brain power and it would usually just confuse me.  So, I was back to English...1, 2, 3, 4.  1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4.
• Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays.  The baby turned 1, the 2-yo turned 3 and the 4-yo turned 5.  Within about 15 minutes of each other.  Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration.  More like 15 days, but it felt more like 15 minutes. 
• Another running injury - what is it with me, 2012 and running injuries??  I feel like my body is trying to tell me some kind of secret, like....hey, lady, you're getting O-L-D.  But I am not going to pay any attention to that hogwash.  Luckily, all this one took was a very uncomfortable MRI, about 6 weeks of rest and some high dosage anti-inflammatories before I was back on the road, regaining my sanity again. 

There are more things that went down this summer, but at this point, writing this blog post has been taxing enough on my brain and I can't seem to recall much else.

Then, fall started.  With it brought school, routine, homework and soccer.  You know the drill.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  Or something like that.  The fall hasn't been completely routine though.  You know how I said I was not going to pay any attention to my body getting old?  The group I run with decided to train for a marathon and although I tried resisting for a while, I finally decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  Besides, I couldn't give up EXTRA miles (and time) with these lovely ladies if I tried.  I did learn very quickly that it is not ideal to jump straight into the 3rd week of marathon training right off an injury.  It certainly proved to be a humbling experience, but alas, training is done and the race is Sunday.  Am I worried about the race?  Am I nervous about my first official time for 26.2 miles?  No.  And let me tell you why.

First, I don't feel well.  This does not surprise me.  Everyone I talked to last week was sick.  I sanitized like crazy, rested, drank juice, held my breath and....still got sick.  Second, my 6-yo turns 7 Saturday, so between his party Thursday, his family birthday Friday and his actual birthday on Saturday, this week is really all about him.  Third, Wednesday is Halloween.  And my children keep changing their costume.  And finally, fourth, I have no kitchen.  Last week, we started a "modest" remodel.  This turned into a scramble to find cabinets which I had no intention of replacing but ultimately, lost that choice.  Now, we have a demolished kitchen and no cabinets.  We also got an unexpected new subfloor through this process.  SURPRISE!  Merry Christmas to us!  We are temporarily parked at my parents' house. 

I have a history of obsessing over race times....getting nervous, focusing too much on a certain time goal.  But, not this time, baby.  The race called a marathon is far from my mind, but I will admit that I'm looking forward to a nice, long run with my girls on Sunday. 

And hopefully, a good reason to blog again next week.