Yaktrax: 1, Blizzard: 0

I am back in good ole Nebrasky for the holiday festivities again. Luckily, we arrived at the in-laws the day before a nasty, windy, wintry blizzard hit. However, Shortie2 being the not-good secret keeper she is, inadvertently slipped and mentioned that one of my Christmas gifts was a pair of Yaktrax. SCORE! So, when the snow rolled in on Wednesday, I promptly started begging (and pleading and whining and begging some more) the hubs to open that gift early, so I could go for a run in the snowy glory. (I may or may not have used guilt and dangled the horror of another broken bone or head-injury possibility, resulting in a costly medical bill and sad, sad holiday in front of him. And more importantly, in front of my young, impressionable, and easily frightened Shorties. Yes, yes, once again I get the Mother of the Year Award...)

Of course I won. Gift swiftly opened, instructions skimmed, rubber contraptions strapped on, winter tech layers laid, fleece headband secure.

I had a superb 6.13 mile run in the snowy, non-windy goodness. It was the perfect snow run and after 2 days cooped up in the house due to the horrid 50-mph winds, I am extra glad I weaseled the Yaktrax gift and went. Plus, the looks of shock and open-mouthed gaping stares on the faces of all the snowblower folk and neigborhood drivers was well worth it, "Is she MAD?!" Why yes, I am. Thanks for noticing.

Thursday brought a slightly less-satisfying indoor 3 mile run at the local Y before it closed for the holiday/blizzard. On a 1/20 mile elevated track. Yeah, that was 60 hardcore laps. You better believe my ass was cruising faster than usual to get that over with. But, now I don't have to feel guilty about the holiday goodies and extra beer consumption. Here's to hoping the snow wind ends and I can get those Yaktrax out for another spin.

Happy Christmas! Hope you all are enjoying food, family, and good running [gifts] yourself.

The Tooth Fairy Has A Lot on Her Mind These Days

So it's been another super-busy week. Work is crazy (no surprise) and on top of it, Shortie2 had a birthday last week. So that involved present-buying (of COURSE Target no longer has the Spiderman bike that is the only thing he's been asking for since April...and I won't mention how we've been caught in that trap BEFORE on present occasions; can't believe we made that rookie mistake...again!) grocery-shopping for funfetti cupcake supplies, Shorties' cupcake-making-to-take-cupcakes-to-the-preschool-class episode (followed by mom's remaking new batch of cupcakes because Shortie-made cupcakes included unhealthy doses of saliva and cough-sniffle germs which I refused to knowingly subject the rest of the preschool to), balloon-run ($10-fucking dollars for ONE mylar balloon? Really? I don't care that it's a big, awesome, fire-truck shaped one....TEN DOLLARS FOR ONE BALLOON????), card-and-goodie-bag-supply-run....etc., etc.

Then the weekend was full of still more fun activities like riding the alpine slides and nasty, sketchy (and probably highly unsafe) rides at Heritage Square...hiking up The Hill, going for runs (both mom and dad), and all the rest of the regular household duties. Then on top of all that, I have the Wild West Relay this week, which I am totally stressing/obsessing about. So when Shortie1 lost her 4th tooth yesterday (thank GOD, she's been whining about it wiggling for AGES) it was just the straw that broke the proverbial duty-worn mythical fairy-type creature's back. Yes, I am referring to the fact that the Tooth Fairy was apparently, ahem, a little overloaded, and may have gone to bed early last night, and thus forgotten she had a very important stop to make at the M2 household.


Let's just say Shortie1 was not amused this morning. She was already pissed the last time the Fairy visited because the Fairy was evidently more careful with her tracks and did not leave large sprinklings of "fairy dust" (very similar to Martha Stewart glitter, in case you were wondering) all over the floor like she had on the last visit. Woops. Now THIS time, not only was there no fairy dust, but the beyotch had the nerve to make no visit at all! I fear Shortie1 is starting to lose her faith in this tooth-stealing ephemeral being-ette. And of course, her first question (naturally, with an endearing and slightly pathetic little crushed look on her face) was, "Didn't the Tooth Fairy think my tooth was good enough to use in her castle?" Because that's why the Tooth Fairy needs all those little teeth in the first place: to use as building material so she can add on to her tiny little castle wholly constructed of kids' teeth. Obvi.

So now, this mother must face the task of seeking out the Tooth Fairy (does she have a website (apparently she DOES!)? We know she has a cellphone because that's how she knows to come to your house...she gets a text when your tooth falls out, alerting her with your name and address, duh) and seeing exactly what her excuse for missing our house last night was...

a) Swine flu
b) Had too many stops to make on the east coast over the weekend and couldn't make the red-eye flight to Colorado
c) Ate some bad oysters and was laid up in her castle puking her guts out
d) Had the Annual Fairy Convention and got drunk with Tinkerbell

Perhaps I should stop making up such elaborate backstories for the fictional creatures that visit out house. It leave a lot to clutter up the head; and my Shorties are going to really kick my ass someday when they find out about all the many, many lies they've fallen for. But hey, it's good fun in the meantime. (And I am comforted by the fact that at least I don't have imaginary email correspondence between my kids and the Fairy like This Guy...)

TIaRT: Big Up to Moms

This week's Runners Lounge Take It and Run Thursday topic is dedicated to a "running mom who inspires you, makes you laugh, kicks you in the butt when you need it, coaches you, runs with you, brings you water, or just simply runs."

I have a multifaceted approach to the topic...one, I would like to salute my own mom for being a great runner-support mom, while not actually running herself. Two, I would like to give thanks to some other runner moms I know who DO inspire me, daily. And three, I'm a running mom myself, and my Shorties are a big inspiration for that.

One: THANKS MA
Most everyone loves their mom, but I have to say that my mom really is the best. She is a great friend to me and has always supported every crazy idea I've had (and there have been some, I promise) with enthusiasm and genuine excitement. Though not that into sports herself, she saw how important they were to me as a youngster and shuttled to-and-fro for a ridiculous number of soccer practices/games, volleyball tournaments, Optimist basketball sessions, and (yes, shudder and guffaw) cheerileading camps.

When I started running for fun and exercise in high school, she would come and walk the track with me at they gym, or give me the time and space I needed to do so. Nowadays, she watches my Shorties so I can run, always asks how my training is going, and has volunteered to come visit and see me finish my first half-marathon. There is no one else I'd rather have cheering me on. She bought me my garmin, sends me links to helpful articles, and is my official supplier for the Shot Blocks I like that they dont' have near me but have at the running store near her house. In addition to all the overt support, she is an inspiration to me because she has a warm disposition, a generous heart, and a ton of inner strength.

Two: RUNNING SUPER MOMS
I know some amazing running moms. Nothing inspires me to keep going more than another mom (especially if she has more kids than me, runs faster/farther than me, and is in better shape than me) to keep going than those chicas. I thank and salute my personal friends who are running moms, all those moms out in my neighborhood with strollers, the super-moms in my running group (and there are some really amazing running mamas there), and of course all the RBMs out in blogland. It takes a lot of dedication, commitment, and guts (and patience, and lack of sleep, and sandwiches for dinner a little more often than you ought, and hella stroller arms...) to make time to run and train and balance it all as a mom so THANKS for continuing to inspire me!

Three: TO MINE OWNSELF BE TRUE
I run because I love it, and it makes me feel like "me" more than anything else in life. But I also run because I hope my runinng will someday be an inspiration for my own Shorties. If they have one memory of me, over everything else, I hope it's of me in my wedding dress, cause DAMN I looked good me running (though preferably not this particular day), because I'm at my best when I'm running. I hope I am still running at 85, and that they and their kids are running right along beside me.

I Ran My Kids Off a Curb

Just as a good run often follows a bad one, the weather the last 3 days has been gorgeous in response to the cursed snow last week. I had 400 things to squeeze in today before leaving town tomorrow morning, and at the end of that list was running. Not because I didn't want to do it, just because the 399 things before it were all stupid, time-consuming things I didn't want to do but had to pressing issues that must be dealt with today. (Or so they kept yelling in my face.) ANYWAY, I got a free timeslot when Shortie1's rescheduled soccer game got cancelled, due to...mud. (Mud? Really? Whatever.) And just like that, a run was in.

Because the weather was outstanding and both hubs and I wanted to take advantage of it, and because we only planned to do a short loop around the neighborhood, we decided to attempt the double stroller. It is important to understand that the stroller plus Shorties probably weighs 100 pounds (they are technically probably too big to be in there, but we're risk takers like that) so this decision is not taken lightly--it was that nice out.

We started off, me pushing and all was going well. Until we encountered a lingering snowbank blocking the sidewalk ramp-thingy down the curb at a corner. Ok, no problem, I'll just bump over down the curb and go around it....and then I promptly face planted both my children in the [wet] gutter with the stroller on top of them. Much crying ensued. There was a scraped knee. There was finger pointing and fist shaking. And mommy will never hear the end of how she is "not safe" enough to drive the stroller. While I feel bad about the wreck, I am also secretly glad to permanently recuse myself from stroller duty. :-)

Today's run: 3.8 miles, neighborhood loop

Good Plan, Bad Execution

Tuesday's plan:

1 - Drop off Shortie1 at soccer practice.
2 - Drive home, get double stoller, install Shortie2, run back to Shortie1's soccer practice.
3 - Pick up Shortie1, install in stroller, run home with both and arrive in time to cook dinner for all.

The execution:
1 - Drop of Shortie1 a soccer practice, 10 minutes late because of traffic and slowness at daycare.
2 - Drive home, find double stroller up on hook waaaayyyy high in the garage as hubs forgot to get it down before going on his run. Waste 10 minutes getting ladder out in order to retrieve stroller. Nearly drop stroller on Shortie2, who asks "You got it mom? You got stroller? Not drop it?"
3 - Another 10 minutes making 4 return trips inside for: milk (Shortie2), snack (both Shorties), potty break (me and Shortie2), water (me).
4 - Finally set off, 35 minutes behind schedule...20 minutes and 3 miles to get to practice. Psych self up, "Ok, we can do this! Go!"
5 - Sinking realization that Shortie2 is considerably bigger than last time I ran with stroller...or I have lost stroller arms...or both. Begin worry that I won't make it to practice in time.
6 - Coincidentally meet hubs on the back side of his out-and-back run. Convince him to join us (and take over stroller duty). Feel mildly guilty as he has already run 10 miles. But not guilty enough to keep stroller.
7 - Almost there, leave hubs with stroller, allowing him to walk so I can sprint and get to practice field in time, so Shortie1 is not left wondering where mommy is. Panic, recalling in head conversation on way to practice in which Shortie1 says, "but what if you aren't there when my practice is over?" in response to hearing my great plan, and me pinky swearing, "Mommy will be there Shortie, don't you worry. I will have a watch and I will make SURE I am there in time." All-out sprinting now to make it there in the next 2 minutes.
8 - Arrive just barely on time, decide to let Shorties play at playground while hubs rests a few minutes before the return 3 miles home. Uphill. With extra 55 pounds of Shortie2. Did I mention uphill?
9 - Walk-jog home with hubs glaring and griping. Slight guilt that I convinced him to join me (that was not in the plan). Shorties whining that they are huuuunnnnnggrrrrryyyy moooommmmyyyy.
10 - Arrive home 30 minutes later than planned, too late to cook, everyone tired and hungry and unhappy with mom's plan. Rush trip to Subway.
11 - Apply for Mother of the Year Award. Again.