Weekly Mileage #287 and the National Parks Relay Race

Monday was our designated conference recovery day, though we did get up and get Sunshine to seminary, so recovery day was after seminary for her and a trail run for me. The days that work best for trail runs are Mondays and Wednesdays, so I didn’t let recovery day keep me from the trail. Max and I had a good run and she snuggled next to me for most of the day afterwards. Probably because she was happy I’d finally taken her for a run, she was happy I was home again, or both. Probably both.

At the end of the run I stubbed my left big toe, which aggravated the small bone spur in that joint. Super fun as now both big toes are sore, since I stubbed the right big toe last week and took a chunk out of my nail, just as it was almost healed from me doing the same thing a week earlier.

Tuesday we had music lessons, and I finished an email for the automated sequence for the emails I’d collected at the conference, only to discover that the first email never sent. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to figure out why before we had to get ready for karate class.

That evening I dug out my headlamp (mornings are darker, so I want to be prepared for when I need it) and gathered up my gear so I’d be ready to take Max for a run in the morning. Naturally, she saw me doing this and knew what it meant, but she wanted to go right then. Telling her she had to go to sleep first didn’t have much impact on her little brain.

Wednesday I took Max for a good trail run, but it left me wiped out and I ended up having to rest most of the morning. I’ve always hated having to ease into training and gradually increasing mileage, but it’s definitely more of an issue these days.

*love the colors of the sunrises these days (especially since I’m actually seeing them)*

I figured out the issue with the unsent emails and got them sent before my accountability call, then I worked on unpacking and organizing everything I’d taken to the conference and cleaning up.

Thursday was my carpool day and I once again worked on my email inboxes. I need to work faster or I’m never going to get them under control. I’m just not super functional that early in the morning, though, so it’s slow going.

I took a nap after we got home because I was just so tired. Exercise and not enough sleep was too much for me. On the other hand, I am getting used to the early morning wake ups.

We tried to do two karate classes that evening, but we missed the fact that the schedule changed last week for the Thursday classes and we arrived just as the intermediate class was ending and the advanced class was starting. We’d planned on doing the intermediate class, followed by the beginner class, but had to settle for just the beginner class, which was after the advanced class.

Friday morning we went to park day with friends. That evening there was no karate class since the teachers are all at a seminar in NC this weekend with the teachers from the other school branches. This was part of why we were trying to do two classes on Thursday- we’re short on our attendance stripes and need to do some catch-up. We’ll have to do it next week.

I went to the doctor in the afternoon to get the lump in my arm looked at. I’d found it while showering last Saturday but initially just thought it was a small injury from hauling bins around and setting up my booth. It was still there Monday though, so I made an appointment, but Friday was the earliest I could get in. The lump can be moved around and doesn’t hurt, so I knew it wasn’t just a knot in a tight muscle. The doctor said it’s not a cancerous tumor- it wouldn’t be moveable if that was the case. She thinks it’s a lipoma, which is a fatty tumor below the skin. They don’t know what causes them and the only treatment is to remove them surgically, though that’s more for cosmetic reasons than anything else, so isn’t always done. We’re going to get an ultrasound done to see if anything else shows up, but she doesn’t anticipate anything abnormal popping up.

Saturday I did a one hour run with Max and River for my portion of a virtual National Parks relay race (I ran it last year as well). It felt good, though River and I are definitely out of shape and need to build our running base and endurance. Max loved it and could have run more.

I prepped everything the night before, which Max saw of course, and got really excited about. She was so excited that she came into my room in the middle of the night (I heard her tappy toenails on the floor and woke up), checked the top of my dresser to make sure all my running gear was still there, then climbed into bed and laid right next to me. She maintained contact with my body for the rest of the night just to make sure I didn’t try to sneak away without her. The paranoia is strong in this dog.