Week 5: The Hot Mess Continues

Is there any week that’s NOT a hot mess when you have a toddler? Honestly. Hot mess brigade, over here. 

Why the hot mess, you ask? Well, we started this week with a 3 mile run on Sunday and I was so tired that I would have rather laid down and melted into the floor than put on my running shoes. I wrote about that last week, but technically Sunday’s are the beginning of my “new” week. My exhaustion didn’t improve once the work week started and several people told me I looked “… kinda tired…” on Monday. They were right, and part of that is probably because Cooper and I got our butts up before 6am and went for an hour long walk Monday morning. I was hoping to get over my sluggishness on Tuesday, but I got a call from Adam that he was picking Noah up from daycare because – DUN DUN DUUUNNNNNN – explosive diarrhea was making a comeback in our family. 

I just about dropped to my knees to pray to Jesus, Mary, and All The Saints that we wouldn’t endure another week of a near-death-stomach-bug again. Someone out there in the Universe heard me and Noah was pretty much back to normal after sticking with the BRAT diet and taking a long nap. We kept him home on Wednesday just in case, so I wasn’t able to get my usual yoga class in. I did use the opportunity to make up the missed running day and tried out my new elliptical!

The elliptical is in our 3-season room right now, which is a udder and complete disaster (HOT MESS). It had carpeting previously and the residents before us did not take care of it, so it was ripped out when we moved in. It’s now down to the original stone floor with a bunch of gnarly leftover adhesive (thankfully no longer sticky, though). Our plan has been to put down temporary padded flooring, move Noah’s bigger toys out there when the weather is nicer, and spruce it up a bit. Right now it’s just basically a dumping area for our fire wood and kindling… and now my elliptical. Cooper stood there looking at me like “hey… lady.. you know we can just go run outside, right?” Of course we would both prefer that, but options are limited when you’re home alone with a sleeping baby. I quickly remembered how much I despise working out on gym equipment, mostly because I can see how much time has passed – or worse, how much time HASN’T passed. Seriously? I’ve only been doing this for 4 minutes?

My longest Strava title yet

I thought going out to Mines Falls, our favorite local trail running spot, would be a good compromise for Thursday. The forecast originally said it would be in the mid-40s (perfect), but it changed and we got a dusting of snow instead. I figured the January thaw would have taken care of a lot of the ice. Heh. I was very wrong. We started on the less-traveled half of the loop and did our best to avoid dislocating our knees and bruising our egos. The trail was mostly ice with a thin sheet of snow evilly disguising it. Perfect. We also encountered two off-leash dogs, which is not always great for Cooper. He’s a very lovable laid back dog, but he’s very protective and has fear aggression issues with other dogs. This is hugely exaggerated when he’s on a leash (he plays with dogs well at daycare, but not so much on a leash). One of the off-leash dogs was a great listener but it was still tough to navigate past them while trying to not break a hip… the other off-leasher, not so much. 

This is just a general PSA, but having your dog off-leash should hold the same theory as driving in bad weather – it’s the other dogs that may be a problem. My dog is the problem, for sure, but that’s why I have him on a gentle leader and try to control the interactions he has. That is not so easy when an off-leash dog approaches us multiple times and doesn’t listen to their owner. 

I was so heated from that, trying to salvage what could hardly be considered a run, slipping horribly on ice every 10 feet, that I, for the first time, truly regretted going to the woods instead of the road. Not ten minutes later we came upon a mama and baby (more like teenage) white-tailed deer on the trail, and it was so cool that it made the whole shitty experience worth it. Cooper was very eager to show me his hunting skills and catch some venison for the family, and he didn’t really understand why letting him loose across Nashua HS South athletic fields wasn’t a great idea. 

Find the silver linings right?

Weight check in:170.2 as of 1/28.

Song of the week: Call Me in the Afternoon by Half Moon Run - THE DRUMS

Running song of the week: Heads Will Roll by the Yeah Yeah Yeah's