Friday, September 30, 2011

Baby Steps

Since Josh changed the title of his blog to "Life as WE go," I am considering that permission for me to jump on and post. I have a few minutes right now while Ryah is napping, so I thought I could sneak onto the computer. Based on the length of her recent naps, I may just have five minutes. At the pace she is growing these days, it means she expects it is time to eat about every hour, or really, whenever she looks at me. I don't believe she sees me and thinks, "Yeah, there is mommy." Its more like, "Yeah, there is lunch #3." How a baby goes from the 5th percentile in weight to the 80th, in just four months, is beyond me. Obviously, she is doing fantastic and continues to make up for lost time- and then some. Its hard to believe she is already four months old. She loves being outdoors- I think she enjoys going to races as much as we do. I still laugh when I think about how I was worrying about her while I was pacing Darla at Where's Waldo 100k- I hope she isn't fussing too much for Josh, I hope she is OK, etc. When I get to the finish line, I see Josh, but no baby. She was off being taken care of by everyone at the race- pretty much every spectator, racer, and volunteer held, fed, and played with her, and she didn't fuss one time while I was gone. One day I will tell her she was so special even Dave Mackey held her.

On the running side of things, tomorrow is the first annual Bend Marathon. Today, I plan to sign up- talk about procrastination. Before I committed, I wanted to see how the Bachelor Butte Half would go last weekend. It felt great- I kept waiting for the wheels to fall off, so I ran with a sort of hesitation, expecting any mile I might regret racing. I still don't have a good sense of my pace and effort levels, or knowing how long I can sustain something. So, it was a pleasant surprise to get to the finish and feel like there was more left in the tank. It's amazing to me, considering two months ago, I could barely run five miles at a ten minute pace. The body does hold onto some muscle memory. At this point, I am just happy to be running, so anything else feels like a bonus. It was such an overall great day- seeing everyone, being a part of a race again, and having my dad come with us to watch Ry so both Josh and I could run. Getting a taste of that post race runner's high sparked my desire to run the Bend Marathon.

Normally, I would hesitate to run a marathon. My body doesn't like roads, and I normally shy away from things that require leg turnover. However, this race is so hard to resist. For one, it starts here in Sisters, three miles away from our house. It is also almost half on gravel, and the whole second half of the race is uphill, so I think that helps the body and my revulsion to running fast. My real hesitation (other than the crazy high cost) was that oath I made about being smart in training and listening to the more reasonable side of my brain rather than the "I want to run..." side. I have been really good since overcoming the latest set-back, and run pain free for almost three weeks now. I'm not really ready to run 26 miles, and the last thing I want to do is be forced to take another chunk of time off for being overambitious. So, I am calling this a training run, and promising myself to run it smart and just enjoy the local atmosphere of the event. At this stage, just the act of signing up for a race and being able to pin on a bib number is pretty exciting. I am actually anticipating the drive to Bend tonight to sign that waiver form, and get my little goody bag =)  Its been a long year, and I appreciate every run so much more- the ones that feel amazing, the ones where I am pushing Ryah in a stroller and realize I really do need to get some upper body strength,  and even the ones that feel like I had to take 6+ months off.


And for the record- Ryah did not sleep through this whole posting- I typed half of it one handed while holding her in the other. Just one more lesson in multi-tasking. Looking forward to a fun day tomorrow!
- Ashley

1 comment:

  1. We've got lots of Columbians thinking about 3 days of Syllamo. Hope to see all 3 of you there!

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