Home is Where the Heart is

Happy Monday folks! Did you have a good weekend? Here’s what I’ve been up to …

Started off Friday morning with a run that felt really good! Some days you feel good, so days you feel okay and some days you just feel bad. Friday was one of the good ones and I welcomed it with open arms. Daniel and I ended up doing an unintentional progression run (steadily dropping the pace) for the first few miles and then I was supposed to pick the pace up during miles 11 and 12. Done and done.

I had some errands to run. One of which was getting my driver’s license renewed. It expired a few weeks ago. Oops! I didn’t have to wait in line at all at the DMV. I couldn’t believe it. In all of my 14 driving years, I don’t think that has ever happened!

Next errand (not quite as important priority wise) was to purchase a swan. Our Ragnar family is planning a swan fleet reunion and we are all going to float on our swans.

Then I picked up lunch for Daniel and his co-workers Friday and took it to them at work. Five Guys for them and some froyo as a treat for the delivery girl.

I came home to find a snake in the yard. By “find” it, I mean that it was less than a foot away from my foot while I was throwing the ball for Brooks. Ick. I took Brooks inside and then all I could think about was that dang snake. Sometimes when we are gone during the day, we leave our porch door cracked so that Brooks can go sit on the balcony. He loves to sit out there. Unfortunately that also means that it is possible for critters to come inside. I like to think that Brooks would bark and/or scare them away if they tried to come in, but I’m not entirely sure how logical that line of thinking really is.

Needless to say, I was a little bit skittish after we came back inside the house. Everything that brushed against my leg made me jump out of my skin. I knew what I had to do … I had to go find and kill that snake. I went outside, found a shovel and sure enough the snake was laying right in the middle of the yard waiting for me. I was so torn. I wanted him dead, but I didn’t really want to kill him. I know that makes no sense.

I found this awesome picture, which sums up my sentiments perfectly (and coincidentally looks almost exactly like the snake) …

To make a long story longer, I swung at him with the shovel, but only hit his tail. He scrambled back off and burried himself under our kayak in the bushes right beside the house again. Lovely. Daniel actually “found a dead snake in the yard” the next day, so I’m going to just pretend that was the same one and that he died of natural causes. I didn’t ask any questions.

Moving on …

The Grandman Triathlon (a sprint tri) was Saturday morning. One of our Ragnar teammates, Becca, did the race and several of us met early to run and watch the race afterwards. We made several signs. My two favorites were Ride the Swan and GrandWOMAN!

Becca did great! She finished in 1:32:17, which gave her 2nd in her age group and 10th place overall female! Beast mode!

After the race I came home and looked over some of my coaching stuff. Training plans and excel formulas … oh my! I am pretty sure that I have found the perfect job that combines my love of all things Excel and RUNNING. Someone pinch me please.

Side note: I knew this computer was going to come in handy at some point. I hardly ever use it for accounting anymore (not that I’m complaining).

My brain and body needed a rest Saturday afternoon. The weather was a little bit iffy and it made for perfect napping conditions. Now that I think about it, I don’t know what imperfect napping conditions would even be.

I finally wised up and got my stuff laid out ahead of time for my long run. The 4 a.m. alarm Sunday morning is never fun, but if I have everything organized and ready to go, I can get out of the door a heck of a lot quicker and without distributing Daniel. You’re welcome honey.

The 4 a.m. alarm went off and unfortunately there was 100% chance of rain and thunderstorms from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Rebecca and I decided to play it safe and not run. There’s always next weekend. I ended up doing 7 miles (that felt like 20, so maybe we can count that) on the treadmill. The treadmill and I are having some issues lately. Basically this …

After my run, I packed up and headed to see my mom and dad for a quick 24 hour trip. They are in the process of cleaning out (in hopes of moving one day soon-ish) and they needed my help to sort through the mess in my old room. I lived in the same house my entire childhood (where they still live now) and there was what felt like approximately 20 years of accumulation. Lots of memories!

It took about 6 hours to sort through, but we made some good progress. Seeing all of the old pictures and cards, etc. that I kept over the years was fun. It was a flood of memories and now I am feeling super nostalgic. A little piece of my heart will always live here on the Alabama River.

Meanwhile, the rest of my heart (i.e., Daniel and Brooks) are still at home on the bay. Daniel sent me a picture of the beautiful sunset sky while I was gone.

He also sent me a picture of my little booger.

As we sorted through the closets, we found some gems. Please note: 1) my eighth grade cheerleading uniform, 2) some size 6 rain boots that I got at some point in college even though they are about two sizes too small, just because they were cute and 3) a crown (I have no recollection of why in the world I have this).

It was quite a walk down memory lane! I’ve still got soooo many pictures and old notes to still go through. That’ll be a job for next trip though. I’m headed back south today.

I hope everyone has a great week!