Over the Weekend

Is it really Monday already? I feel like this weekend just flew by. The good news is that we made it through our first weekend with Matty back in classes, but nap time was not a successful endeavor either day and is something that we really need to work on if I am going to make it through this semester. Maddie is still doing two to three hours on the weekdays and I really, really want to keep that up as long as possible, including on the weekends because a two year old with no nap is about the scariest thing I have even seen. and it makes the evenings not so fun. I think I need to make sure that I am getting her to the indoor play space or the park (weather permitting) Saturday mornings so she can run around and tire herself out. I am also going to try and get up really early before Matty has to leave and get on a spin bike at the Y so that I can be nice and stress free when it comes time to make nap time happen.

Saturday was full of errands and checking off to-do lists and Matty even got home from class early, which gave me time to do some food prep before the week. I made a batch of marinara sauce for pasta and chopped up a bunch of veggies for slow cooker chili, all while a chicken tikka masala cooked for dinner on Saturday night. I love feeling prepared like this before the week begins and that it allows less scramble and more play time with Maddie when we get home in the evenings. I am going to try and keep on this routine since we are going to be a little more home bound on the weekends and I will actually have a chance to do so. I also got everything to make the "kalelicious" smoothie at home and even got Matty drinking it! I added some blueberries this morning and it tasted really good! I am already noticing a difference in how I feel and I swear my skin is starting to look a little less winter dull. Here is the recipe that I have been using, with some modifications (less apple juice to make it thicker and the frozen blueberries). I want to get some flax seed and probiotics to add-in and plan on mixing up the frozen fruits and switching to fresh once the winter is over.

Thanks to my wonderful AIL Matty and I were able to get our 13 mile run in together on Sunday, but boy oh boy was it a miserable time. Not spending time with Matty, I love that, but whenever I have a bad run I turn into a raging lunatic that blames him for everything because he is the better runner and I am an irrational human being sometimes :) Thank God he loves me and didn't actually leave me 5 miles from home in the freezing wind on the Esplanade like I screamed at him to do through frozen tears; I probably would have left my ass there, not gonna lie.

See, the thing is, running can really, really suck. Sure there are a lot of things I love about it and those are the things that I think about when my nostril has frozen shut and my thighs are cold and chafing but there are some times when recalling that feeling of crossing my first marathon finish line or fitting into the smallest size jeans I have ever fit into just don't do it for me. These are the times that I stop and yell and cry and question why on earth I am out in the New England winter cold doing this again. It is at this point that I try and muster every single ounce of determination and anger in my body, turn up my headphones, and go. I just go and go until I am done, until I have another 13 miles logged and I am that much closer to my next race and I am showered and warm and ready to eat all the things in the refrigerator. Sometimes, I just have to go and be mad and mentally cuss out every single person who passes me until I get back to the reality that I am so incredibly lucky that my body allows me to do this, that I am healthy and alive and have such a better handle on my anxiety because of running. And when I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, hobbling across the kitchen, I smile and know that I will run until I can't run anymore and that I will never have to worry about my favorite running partner leaving me on the side of the road with nothing but my frozen tears to keep me company. Thanks babe, you're a very patient man that way.

So that was our weekend - and here are some adorable Maddie pics because, really, what weekend can be half bad with this little ray of sunshine? No nap and all, she is pretty much the cutest thing ever, am I right?

Have a great Monday!