Stop the Clocks!

Forget about moving the clocks back one hour, can we please just stop them for about 48 hours so that I can catch up with all the stuff that I want to get done before the holidays?

I am NOT ready for the Christmas season. Jeepers! It seems that no sooner did the Halloween decor disappear from the stores that the Christmas supplies came out. Wasn't there supposed to be a break for Thanksgiving? Where's all the turkey and pilgrim paraphernalia? Walking into a Target store or a mall these days is enough to send me into a fit of panic.

1. Parent-teacher conference with D's teacher next week.

2. Bake pies for Thanksgiving. I'm probably safe doing this on Thanksgiving morning because I'm not cooking the whole meal this year. Will be experimenting with new recipe - should probably make tried and true pie#2 just in case all goes to hell.

3. Shop for M's birthday present. T minus two and a half weeks till the day. I know what to get, just need time to hunt it down and go buy it.

4. Get ready for 12K run. Today's Dish run just KILLED me. Running with a bunch of rabbits, er, new members of running group who are disgustingly fast, will do that to you. I haven't felt so humbled while running in a long time. Sigh.

5. Shop for Christmas presents. Must not forget teachers and little give-aways for extended family that we haven't seen in two years. Must be done early this year because of trip home that starts mid-December.

6. Have family Christmas picture taken. We won't be able to do this on Dec. 23rd like in years past because we'll be in another country! Why do I have visions of our addressing Christmas cards at the airport just like we did about 4 years ago?

7. Christmas cards!!! Forget about an annual letter, that's the stuff dreams are made of.

8. See list of to-do-things with about 200 items on it at work.

9. All the other things that I'll remember still need to be done. I'll be remembering them in the middle of the night and then I won't be able to get back to sleep.

Is it any surprise that I'm running around frazzled all day? Maybe I need to start meditating.

NO! No more new things.

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At least not till the New Year.

And So I Begin Again

On Dec. 9th, M and I will be joining our first race together, a 12K trail run. On one hand, yipee - a chance to run together! On the other hand, ever since the half-marathon, I haven't felt great while running. It's as if the week that I took off while sick took not only the stamina but also the willpower out of me. The first two miles have always been the hardest for me and when the second one is going straight uphill, it's just about enough to make me whimper with frustration. I'd get going and just not want to keep going. If it weren't for my running friends, and my desire not to appear like a total wuss, I'd be down to running 25 minutes at a time.

So, today, I thought, let's just see if I can go for a nice, relaxed five miler. Don't try to set any land speed records, just try to get through it without stopping to walk. How I ever made it through 13.1 miles is really beyond me. I mean, I remember running the distance, I recall crossing the finish line and that bizarre feeling in my legs when I finally stopped. But since then, I haven't felt like I could push beyond 4 miles.

That was then, this is now.

As predicted, about 20 minutes into the run, I just wanted to go home. But the stubborn and persistent side of me took over and and kicked me in the behind. It was an out and back route, just the right thing for a negative split challenge. Miraculously, my legs finally hit their stride, as did my breathing. Bless those endorphins: I felt quite good on the way back. It helped that the final quarter-mile is downhill and I could focus on lengthening my stride with gravity on my side. I slowed down to a walk, hit my timer, checked my heart rate.

Good numbers - a bit of confidence restored.

Next weekend: kick it up to 6 miles on the long run.

Spoiled!

It's getting colder these days. I really shouldn't be surprised, after all, it is November. Living in California, though, I must admit to being thoroughly spoiled. As one of my running buddies said to me today "I hear there are other seasons but I haven't really experienced them except on vacation."

Today started out chilly, misty, foggy and gray. It did not bode well for the rest of the day. Out came my trenchcoat from the closet. The air was heavy with moisture as I drove to the office, but it didn't rain. I sat down at my desk and quickly got absorbed in work.

When I came up for air and looked away from my computer and out the window, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. It was absolutely perfect weather for a run. Sunny but not hot, breezy but not cold.

Not bad for a November day.

Focus on the Elbow

During Tuesday's class with Doran Sensei, we spent the whole time on aihanmi katatedori ikkyo. Here's what I came away with:

1. Don't focus on the wrist that is being grabbed.
2. Focus on dropping your elbow, not lifting your hand.
3. Get off the line of attack.
4. Blend!
5. Don't try to yank your partner around. Redirect.
6. Use your whole body, not just your arms.
7. Move from your center.

Why do almost all these things sound so familiar? Because I hear them all the time. It is sinking in. Come to think of it, many of these things apply off the mat as well.

Aikido is a way of life.

The Letter of the Day is F

F is for

• Flu shot: This morning, we drove out to the clinic to get our annual flu shot. P is pretty stalwart about getting a vaccination but D, my sweet, sensitive D, is beset by a deep...
  


• Fear of anything remotely resembling pain. So there we were, in the room where all the nurses were set up, and D just tried to shrink into invisibility. Clutching his little stuffed puppy, which I thought might give him some sense of security, he looked at me with this really scared expression on his face and tears started to roll down his cheeks. What kind of a heartless mommy am I? Sigh. The kind that doesn't want her kid to get the flu. So I sat down with him in my lap, while two nurses helped to hold him still and a third one administered the shot. It was over in an instant.
  


• Feast, which was our breakfast after the clinic outing. We went to The Original Pancake House (not the original one, of course, since we didn't go drive to Oregon) and got a ridiculous amount of food for ourselves. Most of mine came home with me. See the Apple Pancake on their website? That's what I had. Mmmmm, I'm thinking of it right now. Good thing I've brushed my teeth already or else I'd have dropped this laptop and headed straight to the fridge for a little snack about two minutes ago.
  


• Fence: 'Tis finally finished. A weekend project that stretched well over a month because of (a) industrious little boys 'helping', (b) M getting sick, and (c) me being at a conference last weekend has been completed! Hurrah! It is a sturdy fence and, if the Big One does hit, it will definitely still be standing.
  


• Football: Was there a big game on this afternoon? He, he, he. Yes, we did catch some of it and it was good. However, I didn't see all of it because I was busy feeling...



• Fast. The last time I had timed myself on a 2.5 mi run, I did it in 23 minutes and I really was pushing it. Today, I set out with the good intentions of running 5 mi but just couldn't go through with it and fell back into my old, familiar 2.5 mi loop. Felt slow and then the music picked up and so did I. 23:33 with a brief stop to retie my shoelaces. Didn't feel like I had gone all out though.



• Finished.
  

Halloween Aftershocks

Left-over candies and chocolates that lie in wait for me in the cupboard, tempting me to eat them.

Two little boys who can't wait to go trick-or-treating again, today.

Two very well worn costumes - Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

One carved pumpkin, carved in record time.

One bowlful of drying pumpkin seeds, will they ever get roasted?

Two sparkly orange pencils. (Pencils! Who gives out pencils?)

Left-over candies and chocolates that lie in wait for me in the cupboard, tempting me to eat them.

Get behind me, candies!

Turn Back The Clock

I don't like the daylight hours shrinking. Where I grew up, the hours of daylight are pretty much constant throughout the year. You can count to the sun coming up at around 6 am and setting at around 5:45 pm - every single day of the year. On Sunday morning, we'll turn back the clocks here in the US and it will start getting dark at just after 5 pm.

Yuck.

I don't like picking up the kids in the dark.

Could be worse, I suppose.

Could be raining.