Mother’s Day in 2 Acts

Act 1, Scene 1

I spent Mother’s Day (way back on Sunday) with my in-laws at Blue Mesa Grill. Let me tell you a secret: I got to be a pretend mother. Caleb, my three-year-old nephew, was with us, and I played with him for hours. I love quizzing him. (That must be the teacher in me.) I talked to him about the names for different fingers, (you know, pointer, middle, pinkie) and then asked him to repeat them back to me. He pointed out cars in the street and things that were red or blue or white. He would randomly laugh and then I would randomly laugh. When we are walking to our table in the restaurant, he held my hand, and my shriveled little heart just about exploded. Precious!

Being silly.

He fell asleep on the ride home. I had to sneak a paparazzi photo of his lovableness! The best part – he doesn’t really belong to me, so when the fun is over, he went right back to his dad.

Act 1, Scene 2

Other than playing with Caleb, I loved getting to spend mother’s day with my mother-in-law. It’s no secret that this has been a really difficult year for me, and during this time, my relationship/friendship with Lori (the MIL) has really grown. She regularly invites to me things, even though I don’t always accept. She likes to have me over for dinner and she always makes sure to have something Amy-friendly to eat. I don’t mind chewing the fat with her over the phone for an hour or two. It’s so easy to be around Lori; I have no problem relaxing and being myself. I got really lucky in the mother-in-law department!

Act 2, Scene 1

I couldn’t have mother’s day without my mother! Both my brothers and I saw her the day before mother’s day (at my big brother’s engagement party), so it seemed liked a good idea to spread out our mother’s day to later in the week. We all met up at One 2 One in Frisco (where I’d eaten once before) for a post-mother’s-day-mother’s-day-dinner.

veggie sliders

The food was fantastic (natch) and the company couldn’t be beat. It can be tricky for all of us to get together, so I really try to treasure the time that we are. I’m pretty lucky considering I have an awesome mom, a mother-in-law I get along with, two fabulous grandmothers, and one grandmother-in-law! That’s a lot of mom action. While it was a little tiring for this homebody to have so much celebratin’, I can’t think of too many other things that deserve that much celebrating! Three cheers for all the moms out there!*

Three Things Thursday: ? Edition

Three ?’s that have been rattling around in my noggin lately.

1. Why don’t technical tees fit me right? (Do they fit anyone right?)

Why do so many races give these outs? Am I the only person who prefers a regular ol’ cottong t-shirt?

2. How do kids have so much energy? My students are rambunctious, and I’m struggling to match their energy level. Hopefully I can manage for 10 more days ’cause that’s all we got left.

3. Why do walks take so long?

I couldn’t muster the energy (see above) to run on Tuesday, but Geronimo and I did go out for a 2.5 mile walk. It seemed to last forever! Walking is exhausting!

That’s all I got.*

Sharing vs. Showing Off

After reading this here bloggy, you might think that all I ever do in real life is talk about running. Ah, but it is not so. (Except for with my running buddies. We almost exclusively talk about running.) At work? With non-runners? I rarely talk about it.

When I was training for my first full back in 2010, all I did was talk about running. My husband and I would have never-ending conversations about pacing and breathing. Every single Facebook status that I wrote during that time included either a pace or a distance or a picture of me sweating it out after a long run. Even at work, my mind was one-track: running. This training cycle, however, mum has been the word. Por que? Because I feel like I’m a bragger!

From January to April, almost every single weekend I ran double digits and/or ran a race. I PR’ed 5 times (The Frigid 10k, The Trinity Levee Run, The Texas Half, Austin, and Big D). How many times can I wave the “I’m awesome flag” without driving everyone around me crazy? Maybe it’s because the first go around I wasn’t as confident in my running, so I didn’t feel like I was bragging. Now I think I’m hot stuff. (Just kidding. Sort of.)

I know that one-upmanship is definitely bragging. One-upping is when person a says something and person b (consciously or not) tries to trump them. For example:

• Person A: I ran a 5k.
• Person B: I ran a 10k.
• Person A: I ran a 2:15 half marathon.
• Person B: I ran a sub-2:00 half marathon.

My big brother is really bad about this. (That’s right, I’m putting him on Front Street.) His bff is married to a badass runner. (Badass as in, she doesn’t run races, she wins them, big ones.) Any time we talk about my running, my brother throws down that he knows someone who won Cowtown and runs a million miles a week and eats Boston Marathons for breakfast. He thinks he’s sharing, but really he’s showing off.

I try to avoid one-upmanship because it gets my goat so much. In fact, I like to leave my finish times out of the conversation unless the other person brings it up. We’re all different runners with different goals. No trumping is necessary.

I know that one-upping is showing off, but what about the rest of it? Where is the line between sharing and showing off? Do you talk about your running with coworkers/non-runners? Do you feel like a major bragger?*

Sleep? What is sleep?

My sleep saga continues. I’ve written about not sleeping well and sleeping well (with the help of sleepmaker), and now I’m back to not sleeping well. Ugh. I blame the deployment. No matter what tricks and tips I try, they are no match for the stress of my spouse being in a war zone. That plus end-of-the-school-year work stress and I’ve become a bleary-eyed sleep-deprived zombie.

Failed sleep strategies:

Sleepmaker

I love this app, absolutely love it. I wouldn’t so much say that it has failed me so much as I’ve just gotten too used to it. The app plays rain sounds of your choosing (my favorite is “Medium onto concrete”) for 45 minutes before shutting off. In the past, I have found that it helps me sleep more soundly. For some reason it also helps with my fear of the dark. (Not sure how that is, but it is.) Alas, lately I sleep restlessly with my rain sounds or without.

Napping

Napping is one of those things that always sounds good, but I usually end up regretting it. It banks me an hour or two of sleep, but then my sleep schedule is messed up. I almost never nap during the week, but I’ve gotten to the point where I always nap on the weekend. No bueno.

Less physical activity

It might sound backwards, but when I was running more (30 miles a week training for Big D, for instance), I was sleeping better. I think it’s because training  (1) helped physically tire me, (2) provided an outlet for my stress, (3) gave me structure. Now that I find myself sans race, I find that I am more restless, more stressed, less productive, and more willing to stay up late. When I’m training, sleep isn’t optional, it’s mandatory. Why is it that I can take care of myself when there is a race at stake, but I’m not so good at taking care of myself when I’m not training?

I know that I sleep best when I have a schedule (yes, like a child) and go to bed early. Unfortunately, deployment makes that tricky. I kinda know when Stephen might be online and it’s after my ideal bed time. I often find myself staying up “just a little later” and obsessively checking Facebook to see if he’s online. The times that he is, it’s totally worth it. The rest of the time, I’m just tired and crabby.

Are you sleeping well these days? If so, what are you doing (because I want to do it, too)!*

Engagement Fiesta

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good. Between PR-ing at a 5k on Saturday morning and enjoying a mother’s day brunch with my in-laws, I attended my brother’s engagement party. He proposed to his fiance, Anne, back in February, and they are getting married in September. Some of Anne’s parents’ buddies wanted to throw a party for the happy couple, and they went all out!

They had cups and napkins with the bride & groom’s names.

Tables and chairs with linens and pinata centerpieces were set-up in the backyard.

These aren’t all the tables. The other ones were set up on the other side of the pool.

Dinner was catered by Mariano’s. (They are known for creating the first frozen margarita machine back in the 70′s.)

Jason Castro (from the 2008 season of American Idol) was the live entertainment. I’m not a huge AI fan, but I knew who he was. He’s got a great voice. I even downloaded one of his songs on iTunes while he was singing it. Ha!

The bride and groom looked happy the whole night. Isn’t that what really matters? Anne has great style. Just check out these shoes.

I had never been to an engagement party until now. If this is what they are all like, count me in! Have you ever been to an engagement party? Are you a Jason Castro fan? (The song of his that I downloaded is “That’s What I’m Here For.” It’s good; you should check it out!)*

Dash and Dine 5k Race Recap

Since running Big D last month, I’ve been very unmotivated. You’d think having a great race would motivate me, but instead I’ve got this “Never gonna do better than that why bother” kind of mentality. So not fun to be around. I was lamenting this fact to my husband last month when he told me that I should immediately sign up for a 5k. So I did. Earlier today I ran the Dash & Dine 5k. It was a small race held outside a local mall as part of the Texas Food Truck Fest. (Food and running? Yes, please!)

It was kind of gray this morning but also cool. (65 degrees in May! Nice!) I got to the race site ridiculously early (because it’s what I do), and I sat in my car until about 20 minutes to the start. Then I stood at the start for 20 minutes (because it’s what I do also).

At 8:30 on the nosey, they sounded the horn and 200 fellow runners and I took off. The course was two loops around the outside of the mall. Since it was such a small race, my strategy was to run balls to the wall the entire time in hopes of placing. Normally I focus more on my own pace and running my own race, but today was about motivation. I wanted to run all out.

Mile 1: 7:56

The first mile was really fast. I honestly didn’t know I could run a sub-8:00 mile. I figured that I would probably end up regretting it, but I just kept pushing myself. I realized pretty early that I wasn’t exactly going to be winning the whole race. (Wouldn’t that be fun though?) I could see the leaders way ahead. It also seemed like the handful of people around me were all women in my age group. Darn you, speedy women runners! My breathing was fine, my body felt okay, the cool weather helped me keep pushing, so I kept charging on full speed ahead.

Mid-race feeling exhausted. Running fast is hard work!

Mile 2: 7:50

When my watch beeped for mile 2, a runner next to me asked if I knew what our total time was so far. “Under 16 minutes,” I managed to huff out. I don’t know that I’ve ever run 2 miles that fast in my life! I felt like a cartoon character with legs that are just a spinning blur. I was in major mental battle mode. I simultaneously wanted to keep going fast (beat my PR, beat the runners around me), and slow down (body tired, mind tired).

Around 2.5, we started to come upon people who were walking and just finishing their first loop around the mall. Thankfully the race director had already instructed people to stay to the right on their first loop so that faster runners could easily pass on the left. Sure enough, they were all way to the right. No issues there. (Good job, race director!)

I could smell the food trucks and just had one last turn when I hit my 3rd mile.

It wasn’t the most picturesque race (the view was similar to this the whole time), but the double loop served me well. I ran 3.1 exactly. Me like.

Mile 3: 7:56

I was shocked to see that it was another sub-8! I felt like I had slowed down a lot, but I guess not. I knew for sure that I’d PR at this point, it was just a matter of running in the last little smidge.

Final .1: 7:35/pace

There wasn’t much of a crowd at the finish line, but I threw my arms up as I crossed anyway. I knew that I ran my tooshie off. What more could I ask for? My previous 5k PR was set back in March of 2011. I was in top form back then. I had been doing speed work regularly and the weather was really ideal for pushing it. I’ve tried a few times to beat that time since then, but I haven’t been able to pull it out until now.

My stats:

• 3.1 mile finish time: 24:21
• Average pace: 7:53 per mile

A new PR! With this race, all of my PR’s are now from 2012. I guess all my running has paid off. This race also did another thing for me: it got me motivated again! I’m not signed up for any more races between now and when Stephen comes home, but that will most likely change. Even though the weather will be heating up, running keeps me sane. There’s no way I’ll make it to the end of deployment without it.

Post-race it was time to hit up a food truck. There were about 10 of them to choose from. A few caught my eye, but really the only thing that sounded good to my tummy was something breakfast-y. That meant only one truck would do: The Belgian Waffle Company.

It smelled divine! I got a regular waffle with strawberries and whipped cream. The warm waffle mixed with the cold berries and cream was so satisfying. I scarfed it down while I waited for the race results. This was my first time eating food truck food, and I liked it! I only wish that something more unique had sounded good.

After the results were up (I got 6th female out of 107 and I came in first in my age group), I rolled out and headed home. I have evening plans (my brother’s engagement party is tonight), but I managed to find time to talk to Stephen, shower, and nap. All things I love! Not a bad day, not bad at all.*

Prom Season

I don’t know how it is in your town, but prom season is in full swing here. Prom pictures have been blowing up my Facebook news feed, prom sales have been advertised on the radio, and I even saw some kids pull over on the highway to take prom pictures in the grassy area to the side of the road. (That’s not normal.) All this promishness got me nostalgic for mine back in the day.

I loved prom! Stephen was my dates (obvs). For fun (and to mix things up a bit) we decided not to tell each other what we were going to wear. (Unlike homecoming. We intentionally went matchy-matchy to homecoming twice.) It was so fun to reveal our prom ensembles to each other on the day of. (Confession: I’m wearing my prom dress as I type this. No, it doesn’t fit. No, I don’t care; I’ll wear it anyway!)

Stephen had been in charge of getting the limo for the group that we were going to prom with. Everyone in the group wanted a black limo, but I thought we should get a white one (because it’d look better with my dress!). I vividly remember Stephen telling the group that the limo place was all out of black limos and only had white. The true story is that he requested white for me! My hero! (Go figure, I only have one limo picture of us, and you can’t even tell that it’s white!)

My friend Carlie had the picture enlagraged and put in a frame as a shower gift when Stephen and I got married. I love it!

We went out to dinner at a place called Maguire’s and then to the dance at the Hotel Intercontinental. Stephen and I danced the entire time we were there. (What else is there to do at prom, anyway?) We weren’t very good dancers, but we didn’t care. (Well, maybe he cared, but I sure didn’t.)

Post-prom we changed and drove up to the school. Every year the high school has a post-prom party with prizes and music and games. The idea is for kids to go there instead of off doing naughty or dangerous things. Post-post-prom, we went to my friend Scott’s house to sleep. His place was always the go-to sleep over house. (Don’t worry, there weren’t that many co-ed sleepovers in high school, just after dances and for new years.) In the morning (afternoon?) Stephen and I went to the movies and saw X-men 2. (I remember there being no one in the theater and the two of us eating Taco Bell burritos that I had shoved in my purse.)

And that was my prom! Wouldn’t change a thing. Tell me a thing or two about your prom! Did you dance? What’d you do post-prom? Was it fun or lame? My prom gets two thumbs up!*