Murphy's Law

“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” Runners know this oh so well. Today I ran my 7^th half marathon, but I came really close to not running it at all.

Lucia has been battling colds and ear infections on and off for about a month now, and while I know that I should be grateful that she lasted six months without really ever getting sick, her being under the weather has been taking an enormous toll on my nerves. I hate it when she’s sick. I feel so helpless and totally not in control. I try my best not to freak out, but she’s my little princess, and I get so incredibly nervous when it comes to her health.

On Monday she finished up a week’s treatment of antibiotics. She was doing much better. On Wednesday Jason came down with a hideous stomach bug that had him out of commission for about 36 hours. Of course, psycho mom over here wouldn’t let him touch the baby because I was so worried that she’d catch something else. So Lucia and I went about our normal routine (work, daycare, work, daycare, etc.) for the rest of the week. By Thursday evening all was well in the Neves household and we began making plans for the race weekend.

Jason and I had miraculously found a babysitter for tonight (date-night will have to wait for now) and we were making plans for our first date in a few months. I don’t normally work on Fridays so my plan was to clean up around the house, run some errands, and pick up my race packet. Friday morning, when I got Lucia up for her first bottle, I noticed that she had a little more gunk in left eye than usual. I brushed it off thinking that she laid on it a certain way during the night and brought her downstairs to feed her. That night at dinner Jason so eloquently said “She’s got this green eye booger.” He confirmed what I was afraid of… the little munchkin had pink-eye.

So there we were at 7:00pm, a baby with symptoms obviously consistent with conjunctivitis, and nothing that we could do about it. Our pediatrician was probably about 45 minutes away, and definitely was not in the office that late. So we took her to the Urgent Care. Luckily they were open, and they were quick. By 8:00pm we were out of there with a prescription for some eye drops.

I laid in bed last night cursing the parents who bring their kids to daycare sick. I was so angry. It seems like it has been one thing after another with Lucia and every time I get her better she comes back with something else. I was livid. I toyed with the idea of not running the race, heck , I toyed with the idea of becoming a stay-at-home Mom and quitting my job. I was so upset about her getting sick all the time that all these crazy thoughts were running through my head.

So ,to make a very long story, just a little bit shorter. I ran the race, except I ran sick. The second the race started I realized I had caught whatever it was that Jason had earlier in the week. I had to stop running to throw up twice, and somehow finished in my best time for a half marathon since 2007 by just less than 5 minutes. Instead of enjoying my victory and hanging out with my husband and baby, I curled up in the fetal position on the couch and hoped that whatever was in my system would go away soon. And, on top of everything else, I think I have conjunctivitis in one eye too. I've been in laying down since I got back from the race, Jason has been running around like a mad man taking care of the Lucia and making sure I stay hydrated. Since I am tired of sleeping (is that possible) I figured I would get up and blog a little, it can be very therapeutic at times.

Anyway, whatever could go wrong, went wrong. But I stuck through it. Sometimes running through adversity can teach you a few lessons. I know that I can push my body, I probably shouldn’t, but I know that I can do it. And, if I can keep running, I can certainly keep working (not that I really entertained the whole stay-at-home Mom thing for more than 2 seconds). Running today made me feel awful, but it gave me a little gut check (literally and metaphorically). Lucia is going to get sick, Jason and I are going to miss our date-nights every now and then, I’m going to get tired, there will be rough weeks, and there will be great weeks. You’re never going to see the light at the end of the tunnel if you quit and turn around. You just have to find the energy to keep going!

Marathon #5: Part Deux

It’s funny how the only time this week that I’ve been able to sit down and blog is during the Super Bowl. If you know me well, you know that this is entirely uncharacteristic of me to be distracted from the world’s most important game! But, life has changed.

Life has changed so much that:

-Waking up at 6:45am is sleeping in.

-When the house smells like pureed sweet potatoes, it smells good.

-Going out with our friends for dollar beers and dollar hot dogs is a great Saturday night and the fact that we are in bed by 9pm on a Saturday night is even better.

-Going out on Saturday night is a miracle.

-I use the word “Poopy” at least 80 times a day.

-Either Jason, Lucia or I have had a cold/flu/fever/cough/ear infection for the past 75 days.

-It takes all day to clean our house. It stays clean for 65 seconds.

-I have to schedule everything. EVERYTHING. If its not on the agenda… its not happening, and even if it is on the agenda, there’s no guarantee its going to actually happen.

-Lucia’s laugh makes me crack up hysterically no matter how often I hear it.

-I like the taste of Gerber’s Apple flavor baby cereal and I consider mixing some for myself in the morning before I go to work.

-I can’t really remember a time that Jason and I weren’t married, or that Lucia wasn’t a part of our lives.

-We’re really happy. Who would have thought that moving further South was a good thing (I’m saving a little more on this topic for another post… I have a lot to say about this!)

-It doesn’t take me 25 minutes to get out of bed anymore, the second I hear Lucia on the monitor, I am up and ready to go. She’s the most reliable alarm clock ever!

-Life is glorious.

So, yes, life has changed in very good way. I know it may seem like I’m complaining, but I don’t mean to be. I actually wouldn’t have it any other way. It just makes blogging about my little running escap

ades a little harder than I thought it would be. So here I am, writing whatever thought comes to mind, and glancing over my computer every other 5 minutes just to make sure the Packers are still winning (Sorry Steeler Fans, I’m a die hard Cowboys fan, and the Steelers winning this game just isn’t good for America’s team).

So lets get back to Marathon #5; The Disney World Marathon. My previous entry was about MY race, but I wanted to make sure I wrote a little bit about the actual race itself. My overall impression… AWESOME. If you have fond memories of Disney as a child this race is for you. Every mile was enjoyable, there was plenty of entertainment, and there were surprisingly a lot of spectators. The water/aid stations were great, almost at every mile. There were bananas,

oranges, and candy at about every 3 miles (unfortunately I didn’t opt to grab any). There were probably about six GU stations in the last half of the race. And, I’m going to guestimate about 7-8 medical stations complete with barrels of biofreeze and vaseline. It was very well run, and very well organized.

The race course was wonderful, it took you through all of the Disney World parks beginning and ending with Epcot. The race started with awesome fireworks (and we all know how much I love fireworks). There are Disney characters all along the way and fabulous photo ops! I had a wonderful time, my family really enjoyed it, and reliving some of my greatest childhood memories on a 26.2 mile adventure was priceless! It definitely brought out my inner child!

My one piece of advice for anyone who wants to run this race is to run it for fun. Run with Mickey Mouse ears, stop and take your pictures with all the characters on the way, and take some extra time to enjoy the scenery. It’s a flat, fast course so you’re going to run well, but if you don’t take the time to enjoy it, you’ll regret it later. Since this was my comeback race, and my competitive side got the best of me, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have. The only picture I have of me with a character is when I crossed the finish line and Donald Duck gave me a high five. I don’t have a picture of me in front of the magic kindom in my race gear, I sped through Epcot, and I pretended like I didn’t want anything to do with Sleeping Beauty when I saw her at mile 11 (she is my favorite princess of all time). So, if you’re running the 2012 Disney, enjoy it! That will be my plan, at least! I have two more races this year to take seriously. When I do the 2012 Goofy challenge (13.1 miles on Saturday and 26.2 on Sunday of marathon weekend) I will be taking it slow and easy, and enjoying every minute of it!:)