Hi Again

Hello all...
I have been absent for a while. Life just has a tendency to get in the way when you're not looking I suppose. Its been an eventful last few weeks to say the least. I'll try and get a recap done.

My running buddy after our WHOPPING 2.6 miles yesterday...

• Running/health - I have been on a hiatus. My ankle wasn't acting normally for a really long time and I still don't trust it. I still think I might look up a sports specific, or even running specific, doctor just to get it checked out. It seems to be holding up alright now. I went for a jog/run yesterday and didn't do that badly. I really didn't focus on speed or time. I just jogged when I felt like it and when I got too winded walked for a bit. I took my dog with me which was good for stopping because that dog needs to mark everything where we live as his own. My ankle and I feel ok today. I think, given the weather being beautiful, I might take my son on a LONG walk and get out of the house. Go stretch my legs, soak up some vitamin D from the sun, listen to him declare how he is Super and everyone around him is Super... Those are the best medicine for healing. I have my first 1/2 marathon in October that I'm entering serious training mode now and I would like to drop at least 40lbs by race day. I read that for every 5lbs down, you can drop your finish time by 1-2 minutes. I'm doing well. I'm down almost 10lbs as of this morning. But its all ebb and flow. I'll get there.

• Potty Training - OH HOW I LOATHE THIS. My son apparently is totally fine with just living in his own filth... We were doing really well for like a week. And now nothing. If anyone has any advice on this front, please don't hold back. Essentially we are reward training him. If he completes a successful "transaction" (if you will - I'll keep this as PC as possible) we give him a prize (three M&Ms). It worked to the point where he didn't need the prize anymore and then just fell apart. I'm just frustrated.

• Boston - Last week the bombing at the Boston Marathon really shook me. I think now that I am more aware of the world and a mom, I just immediately go to "what if that were my family" which immediately makes me scared and sad. I just can't believe that the world is coming to this. Why can't we all just agree to disagree and move on? Its not worth all the manpower and energy. I just hope that everyone who was injured or lost a loved one can find some peace and healing soon. I hope that the runners who didn't get to finish don't let this stop their dreams. My husband and I just recently joined the running community and the runners that I follow, though I don't know them personally, I do know them through their blogs and facebook. What I can say is that you can't keep the spirit of a runner down. We just keep going. Its how we are programmed.

•  Emotionally - I'm basically a wreck right now. I've had some things happen in the last few weeks that I'm just not ready to talk about but they have left me very upside down and I am left not feeling like myself. Its like I don't know my own body anymore. Grrrrrr... Couple that with the hiatus in running and exercising in general and you have the perfect equation for a very cranky and emotional Kathy. I think over the next few weeks and months, I'll be able to talk about everything but for now, I just need to sort everything out and figure out where I am as a mom, wife, and woman. Now that I feel physically able to run again and that the weather is getting better (though its still Ohio, we are still in a month that has an "r" in its name, therefore we can still have a blizzard one day and 78* the next) I think that I'll be able to reason things through in time.

That is all for now. I am making it a goal to not go another three weeks without posting. This has been therapeutic and cathartic. Now, I need to go get some endorphins flowing...

How are you feeling about the Marathon Bombings? How are you reasoning through it?

Kathy