My last day as a "single mom" - and a bit of running frustration

Hi there!

Hope you all had a great Saturday and did something fun. It was our last full day in Florida and after so many days of rain and yucky weather, we saw the sun for a bit!

I opted to do a run outside with Julia today since I've been stuck on the dreadmill so many times this week due to rain. Well, it was about 80 and super humid at 9:30 this morning when we headed out. Believe it or not, the route here is hilly - I know, right? Where are there hills in Florida besides Space Mountain at Disney!? For some reason our neighborhood has rolling hills and the path they built around the sub hits every one of them. No matter which direction you go, it's still hilly! Ugh.

So I ran/walked with Julia in the stroller (man, she's heavy!) and sweated like crazy. If you know me, you know I don't sweat much so when I'm drenched, I know it's super humid. The loop is 4 miles and I ended up at about 35 minutes - not bad but I felt awful.

Honestly, I'm a little frustrated with how my runs have been in this heat and humidity. I realize I'm pushing a stroller and it's more humid/hot here than it is in Michigan (for the most part) but I'm starting to get really nervous about Steelhead 70.3 which is quickly approaching in 5 short weeks. Can I handle it if it's hot? Will I struggle in the run? Will I be able to hydrate enough? I need to get back to long runs next week while I'm home too and I'm scared of those too for some reason. It's quickly turning into a mental game and me starting to doubt that I can handle this race - and I'm not happy about it :( Any suggestions!?

But I digress...

So after the run, I showered (and continued to sweat even after!), ran to the Post Office and intended to take Julia to the zoo. However, she was acting up and it looked like it may rain (again)...so it was time for Plan B. I decided to take her to the park about 10 miles from our house instead - they have a huge playground and I could get a bit of a break while she played.
We had fun, and it was interesting people watching too!

Julia fell asleep on the ride home (which involved a trip to Chick-Fil-A's drive-thru. Hey, I had to get my fill before we leave!) so Paula and I just hung out and chatted while she napped. It was finally sunny and beautiful and made for a nice afternoon. We continued to play outside with Julia too before heading to dinner with Paula's family at a place right on the Gulf of Mexico. So nice to be on the beach overlooking the water! Yummy food too - I had grouper, scallops and shrimp and Paula's dad even gave me one of his lobster claws - heaven! We discovered Julia loves clam chowder too - she ate half my cup!

After dinner, we let Julia play in the park near the beach for a bit and then headed home to start cleaning and packing. We leave at 6pm tomorrow but I want to be able to enjoy as much of the day as I can so I got all of it done tonight. Just have to pack last minute stuff and turn off the water, lights, etc.

I'm anxious to get home, see Rob and get back into a routine with Julia. As much as I've enjoyed being down here, I'm ready for a break from being a "single mom"...I think it's Rob's turn to be a single dad for even a few hours :)

And I'll be 10 days away from my next triathlon so need to get back on track.

Oh and special congratulations to my new tri-buddy Melissa (link to her blog) - she completed the Muncie Half Ironman today in a time of 6:06, taking about 10 minutes off of her time from our 70.3 in June! AWESOME JOB, Melissa!!!

Until next time...

Questions for you:  

1. How to you stop from freaking out when a big goal is in front of you?
2. What is your favorite seafood? Or do you hate seafood?
3. Can you believe it's already basically mid-July?!