Last minute nerves

I am currently laying in a tub contemplating the half marathon i am doing in the morning, 13 hours away. The description of it says mostly flat with some "fun hills" to keep it interesting. If you know anything about race descriptions, that tends to mean a hilly race. I don't think it's as hilly as the San Juan half was, but I'm expecting hills.

And I haven't been training on hills, not like I did for the San Juan half.  So, my thing with my knee has meant that I plan to walk downhill but I've always had a pride about the uphills. In fact, when I was running the San Juan half my mantra on the uphill was "races are won on the uphill" and I ran up every single hill on that course. And since then my mantra on uphills has been "if I ran San Juan, I can run this hill."

So tonight I'm laying in my bath thinking I may have to walk uphill too. And I get embarrassed. The people on the course won't know I've been struggling with my knee. They won't know that I'm not properly trained (for the second distance race in a row). But it's so silly to think that way. Everyone is there for their own reasons and have their own abilities. There may be a couple (I've been one) that feel superior because they ran up the hill, but that's their issue, not mine.

 My sister let me borrow her knee brace for tomorrow. I've never used one before, so I hope it helps. =) I also need to remember to take some ibuprofen before I go.

I woke up last night with a rash on my neck. It itched so bad at about 3am I had to get up and put cortisone on it. This morning it was a little better but it's still not gone. I hope it doesn't get worse between now and the morning.

Anyway, I won't be posting tomorrow, so I hope everyone has a great New Year's. Stay safe! And thank you for reading my ramblings this year. I'm sure next year won't be any better writing, but I'm also sure I'll continue to write and run.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I've been thinking about goals a lot recently.  I know that I've said so many times that January 1st is just another day and my goals don't have to start there, but I do get caught up in all that "new year new start" crap that I really don't believe in.  The issues that I've had in 2017 aren't going to magically disappear on midnight New Year's Eve. 

The biggest issue that I've had actually has only been since August when Chris had his stroke.  I've had other struggles throughout the year, mostly in my personal life, but the biggest one was when Chris had his stroke and changed our financial situation significantly.  And that's not going away.  He's not magically going to get better suddenly.  It's going to still be a wait and hope thing. 

With all that said, I am still working on goals for 2018.  There are things I would like to do differently, I touched on them last week, but I'm still thinking about specifics.  I don't know if I will get all of it down and out of my head, but I'm going to continue with them.  I think the majority of my desire is to "fix" my financial situation, and without getting a new job, I don't know if that's going to be possible . . . unless Chris does magically get better.

My running has been less than mediocre.  I did go for a really nice run in eastern WA when we were over there for Christmas.  It snowed, and for whatever reason (maybe because I live in an area where it rarely snows and never sticks around long) I always have the desire to go for a run in the snow.  My parents live on a hilly road, one way is a gradual downhill for a half mile and then a steep up hill and steep downhill and steep uphill again before reaching the 1 mile point (if I continued past the 1 mile point it would continue to be a steep uphill for another half mile).  All other directions are all up and down constantly.  With my recent knee problem, I am trying to avoid running downhill as that seems to aggravate it the most, so I decided the gradual downhill followed by the steep hills . . . but that meant I would have a half mile of gradual incline to get back to my parents house and I still would have to figure out another mile (to make 3 miles). 

Well, as I was descending the steep downhill I thought that running through the abandoned gravel pit at the bottom of the hill might be fun.  I hadn't wandered through it since it was active in my teenage years.  And it turned out very interesting, I found all sorts of things.  And it added the extra mile I needed.

Anybody want lunch?

A shooting range?  Not my parents, someone is trespassing.

rocks, just because

Tires, yes, I tried to flip one, it was cemented to the ground.

I was able to flip this one. ; )

The view back to my parents house.

And just me

We had a good, if very short Christmas with my family and with Chris's family. 

And we were back over the mountains and home on Christmas Eve.

I went for a run on Christmas day after opening our presents.  I was planning on 8 miles, but my knee started really bothering me, so I cut it short and ended up only running 5.5 miles.  I'm really hoping my knee will hold up for my last half marathon on Sunday.  I have to run it in order to get my series medal . . . well, I may end up walking a lot of it.  It's going to be a slow one.

I have been stretching but I need to also work on my butt and hip muscles.  I think that will be my biggest 2018 fitness goal, increase hip strength and flexibility, butt strength, and overall flexibility.  I'm tired of the aches that have plagued me this year, so I think that will help a lot. (I hope.)

I hope you all had a great Christmas and are safe on the New Year.  We have nothing planned, so it will be a quiet evening at home, I think. =)

Goals

If you've followed me for very long, you know I don't do New Year's Resolutions.  "Resolution" means "the firm decision to do or not do something" and I've always thought making that "resolution" at the first of the year is silly.  I can make that resolution today, or tomorrow, or yesterday, I don't need a new year, new week, new month, to get started.  Today is just as good as January 1st, and better because Jan. 1st is 2 weeks away, and I'd already be on my way by then.

I've been making goals for a few years now but I actually have been pretty unsuccessful in achieving my goals each year.  I try, and that's the best I can do.  I just went looking for each year's goals, and I am not good at labeling so I couldn't find actual posts with the goals, but I found the years' wrap up posts that talked about the goals for that year.

I started running in March of 2012 and didn't make any goals.  I guess my goals were to start running and to lose weight, which I was successful at. 

In 2013 I couldn't find anything related to goals.

2014 was the year I started making actual goals.  That year I wanted to run 100 miles a month and to run a marathon. I made these goals while struggling with plantar faciitis, and didn't succeed in either goal.

2015 my only stated goal was to stay injury free, which I succeeded at.  Deep down my other goal was to run a marathon, which I was also successful at.

2016 I wanted to run a race a month (started on my 40th birthday in October 2015 to end on my birthday in 2016), and I sprained my ankle and was unsuccessful.  I also wanted to run another marathon (also unsuccessful).

2017 my goals were to "do more half marathons" and run another marathon (ultimately I wanted to PR my half and full marathon times).  I did succeed in running more half marathons, 4 to be exact (well it will be 4 after December 31st), and I succeeded in running another full marathon, I did not PR either.  I did however PR my 10k time.  A few months into the year I found the Washington half/full marathon series, and that became my new goal, to complete 4 half or full marathons to get a special medal.  I will succeed in that, even if I have to walk on Dec. 31.  Overall, in 2017 I ran (or will after Dec 31) 4 half marathons and 1 full marathon.

In 2018 I have a few non-running goals.  I want to get out more, I want to start hiking.  I am going to start that.  My sister and I have talked about hiking for years, and we don't.  I'm going to do it, even if I have to go alone.  I have also been thinking about starting an Etsy shop, so I'm going to work on that in January (I picked January because it's after Christmas and I'll have more time).  I also want to switch banks, so that's another January goal (again January is because it's after Christmas). 

My running goals are to PR the half distance (under 1:59:00) and the full marathon distance, ultimately I want a marathon under 4 hours.  I also want to work on my strength, which I did start in 2016/early 2017, but quit cause I got bored.  I always say I'm going to work on my flexibility, and do a little yoga here and there, but I would really like to work on it. 

I just read my January 2017 goals post and in it I talked about resolutions vs goals, and I found myself nodding along with it (which obviously means I still believe what I wrote) (honestly I'm surprised I was so insightful 11 months ago).  ; )  I also talked about another goal I had forgotten about . . . that I succeeded in.  I said I would stop talking about my weight, and for the most part I did.  I know that I said something a couple times (maybe 2? times), but I really used to obsess about it, and haven't lately. 

I'm headed to eastern Washington tomorrow after work to see my family for Christmas.  It's very doubtful that I will post again before Christmas, so I hope everyone has a great Christmas. . . or whatever you celebrate.  

Security Alert

I didn't realize I didn't post at all last week.  I guess I haven't had a lot to say lately. 

After my 8 miles on December 3rd, I felt on top of the world.  I was so happy I was still able to run 8 miles that I thought it would be a piece of cake to finish the year with a half marathon.  Well, last week (December 10th) I decided to run 10 miles, then this week 11 or 12 and I'd "taper" (is one week a taper?) Christmas week. 

I went out for my run on the 10th late.  We had a lot of shopping to do, Christmas and grocery shopping, then we took Maddox to go see Santa at the mall.  They were having a big event at the mall with a bunch of activities that were all free.  Unfortunately we couldn't enjoy most of them because Damian had to work at 4pm and because of the shopping beforehand we didn't get there till after noon.  Maddox did go play in a big pile of snow that they had trucked in from the mountains.

He's in the orange coat with his back to me.

And Damian wanted to do a rock climbing thing.  Poor Damian, it was not really meant to be a hard thing, and he was up in 5 seconds and flying back down. 

Maddox also went partway up (he's on the wall in the second picture) but he looked down and got scared and came down right away. 

After we got home, I went for my run.  I had been on my feet the entire day, they were sore, and my knee was a little achey, but I decided I needed to run no matter what.  Unfortunately I didn't think about the precautions I had done the week before, walking at every mile mark and down every hill, and my knee started bothering me pretty early in the run.  I already didn't want to be running, it was getting dark, I had been on my feet all day, I was tired, so I ended up cutting it short.  I only did 7 and a half miles.  I figured I could easily run 10 miles the next weekend and still be fine for the half marathon on the 31st. 

It was a beautiful run though.

I only ran once during the work week last week.  I haven't wanted to run after work in the dark, and I only had one opportunity to run on my lunch break at work. 

On Saturday I wasn't sure how far I wanted to run.  I needed to go to the store during my run to get some meds for Chris.  The store he gets his meds at is only about a mile from my house, so I figured it'd be super easy to stop and I wouldn't have to carry them far.  Well, I was about a quarter of a mile from home when I hit 4 and a half miles, I knew I wasn't going to get to 5 miles, so I decided to stop my tracking and call it good.  I had my phone in the pocket in my arm along with my license and debit card, both in a sleeve (the same sleeve).  I pulled my phone out and stopped MapMyRun, the app I use for tracking, and put my phone back in the pocket and walked home. 

Sunday we went grocery shopping and finished up our Christmas shopping.  Chris used his card for our grocery shopping, but when we were getting Damian's present I noticed that I forgot to put my debit card back in my wallet. 

We were headed home when I looked at my phone and noticed I had 2 emails from the bank.  I get notifications all the time from the bank and I usually ignore them because I keep pretty good track on what's in there (usually nothing).  Well, this time right before I hit delete I noticed both of the emails said "Security Alert: Unusual Debit Card Activity."  I clicked on one of the emails and it said they had detected unusual activity on my card and I needed to call them right away or my card would be suspended.  There are definite times that I would ignore this type of email and send it to spam, but since I had forgotten to put my card in my wallet I decided to call them.  Plus, I figured if they asked me for any numbers I would refuse to give it to them and would hang up.

Turns out that it wasn't spam email.  I had 3 transactions from Walmart and 2 from some gas station I've never heard of.  All of the transactions had been denied except one at Walmart.  It took me awhile before I remembered if I had spent it or not, we do go to Walmart regularly, but I didn't remember going at all the day before and we hadn't been there on Sunday, so I told them that it must have been taken.  And then I remembered my run, and realized it must have fallen out of my arm pocket in between the store and home. 

It bothered me for awhile trying to remember when I took my phone out of the pocket after going to the store.  I was thinking the only time I took it out was when I got home, so I was upset that someone that I knew on my quiet street would pick it up and then attempt to use my debit card.  It really was a little while before I remembered I took my phone out on a fairly busy street to stop my tracking app while walking home and it must have fallen out there. 

It is interesting how they detect the fraud.  I go to Walmart regularly, so it's not like it would be an unusual place, and they attempted to spend $100, $50, and succeeding in spending $67 and some change.  It was also denied at the gas station two times, both purchases around a dollar each.  None of these purchases are ridiculously large or unusual for me to spend, so I wonder how they knew it wasn't me.  Anyway, I'm thankful it was caught before they were able to spend a ridiculous amount of money that I don't have.  They stopped the $150, but allowed the $67, so I have to wait up to 90 days to get that money back, which sucks, but not as bad as $217 would suck.

Anyway, after the mystery of the debit card was solved I went for my 10 mile run.  And right away, in the first 2 miles, my knee started aching.  I did remember to walk at every mile point and walk down all hills, but it was still not feeling great.  It's not the pulled muscle pain that I had a few weeks ago, this is the same pain I had after my marathon (Google describes it as "runner's knee" which is caused by a weak butt and hips). 

Immediately after my run it hurt a lot, and for the rest of the evening.  I iced it and am taking ibuprofen, but I'm discouraged that it is back.  Today it's been pretty painful.  I will take it easy for the next few weeks, but will continue to run a little.  The half marathon I have to do is December 31st, so I have 2 weeks, and then I can work on getting better.  I am expecting this will be my slowest half ever, I'll be lucky if I finish in 2 and a half hours.  My slowest half was this year, the San Juan Half Marathon that I finished in 2.09.26, but I think I did pretty good for that one as it was all hills.  I'm not expecting to do that good for this particular half, but I have to finish it.

That is what I keep telling myself, get through this last half, and I can rest and recover. And train for another half in February.

I've had some ideas for some goals for 2018, but as this is a pretty long post, I will type it up another day.

Just thoughts

In 2012 I started seriously running.  I was reading a blog, Runs for Cookies, that led me to more running blogs, that led me to more running blogs.  It motivated me to start running (and to start a blog).  I was literally reading at least 30 blogs at one point.  I was invested in some of their jouneys, and was following along with them as many of them started their running "careers."   I often would get behind, very, very behind, in my reading and would spend hours trying to catch up.  I didn't want to miss anything about these people's lives that I had become so invested in. 

If I found a blog (and I had several) that were older blogs, I would often go back and try to read from the beginning.  This was difficult as several people I read had years worth of posts.  Over time, the vast majority of blog writers I started following have disappeared.  Even some of the long term bloggers (hello Sublurban Mama! where'd you go?).  I had one that I read religiously (Poonapalooza) that started running at about the same time I did, and started blogging at the same time I did.  She was an extreme weight loser but I felt a connection with her.  She changed her blog to Punchapalooza and eventually stopped blogging completely, even left Instagram where I followed her. 

No I didn't stalk these people, but I did enjoy reading about their lives, and their fitness (most were runners, but not all).  I am down to 4 regular blog posters, out of the dozens that I follow, and of those 4, only one posts very reliably (you guessed it, Runs for Cookies, although she's not running much now). 

Do you ever feel like you have a connection with someone you've never met?  I'm sad every time I realize I haven't seen a post from one of my favorite bloggers in a long time.  I've been debating about searching for another blog to follow, but I don't know.  I don't read them right away, I tend to blog binge, and then go for weeks without reading any.  Having less is definitely a time saver for me. 

There's no reason to all that above, just something I've been thinking about lately.

The weather here in western Washington has been beautiful.  Cold, but beautiful.  It's sunny and clear, and it makes me sad that I run after work in the dark.  Well, actually I haven't done any dark running in awhile.  With my leg issue (I think I pulled a muscle) I cut way back on my running for awhile, and now that I'm back to running, I've been using the treadmill at the gym. 

Tuesday I went to the gym to run.  It was beautiful outside, and I really wanted to run outside, but it's also cold, and I didn't bring outside running gear, only capris and a light shirt to run on a treadmill, so I spent 40+ min running in place staring at the sun outside.  =/  So yesterday I decided that I needed to run in the sun, outside.  I took my outside running clothes and when I was done with work ran through neighborhoods in downtown Everett (where I work).  It was so nice, I ran to a small park and stopped and enjoyed the sunset for a few min and then ran back.  It was a perfect 3 miles. =)

I was unable to get to the gym to shower, so I did a mini sponge bath in the bathroom before I had to walk to the bus to go home.  I may do this again, it really was nice. =)

I've been thinking about . . . well, just life in general.  There are things that I've always wanted to do, but haven't.  I'm a fairly lazy person, once I'm home, I don't like to do anything.  I put off a lot of stuff because I just don't want to do it.  For example, hiking.  I think hiking would be so much fun.  The overnight backpacking that Damian was going to do this summer had me so jealous.  I let things stop me, like not having the gear for it (or the money to buy the gear).  And not wanting to do things by myself.  That was the biggest reason when I was younger, I didn't want to go alone, and I had no one else to go with me.  But recently, the more I think about it, the more I want to do it.  And I think I would do it alone (or with Damian if he wanted to go too).

My biggest problem is leaving the house.  One of the only reasons I make myself run is because I almost always leave from my house.  I can't remember one run where I drove somewhere to start the run (not counting races).  In fact, the majority of races I do are in my town, I don't go places to do a race. 

I think of things I want to do on the weekends, and then never do them.  Why?  Because I'm lazy.  I'm comfortable on the couch watching my TV (the many mindless shows I watch of others doing things.)  I just need to get over the mental hurdle of leaving my couch.

I think, in many ways, running, specifically long distance running, makes a person mentally stronger.  I truly believe that I am a stronger person, mentally, than I was 6 years ago, or even 4 years ago.  I just need to figure out how to channel my desire to do something into actually doing something.

6 miles +2

I mentioned on Friday that I went for a run at the gym on the treadmill and had no problems with my leg/knee.  I went to bed Friday feeling awful.  I was in bed at 8pm (early for this early bedder, and even worse on a Friday night), I woke up on Saturday feeling a little better but still not great.  I was planning on running 6 miles on Saturday, but with not feeling well and my leg was a little achey so I didn't want to push it.  But I knew that I needed to at least walk 6 miles over the weekend in order to see where I'm at so that I can figure out how I'm going to run (maybe walk) a half marathon on December 31. 

I decided that Sunday, no matter what, I was walking/running 6 miles.  I don't know if 4 weeks is enough to get back to half marathon ready, but I definitely can't afford to wait any longer.  Walking doesn't hurt my knee usually (unless it's already hurting), so I thought I would run a little bit and stop and walk for a bit, and then run again, and so on.  I figured as long as I could keep my knee/leg from hurting I'd be okay.  I decided that even if I ended up walking the majority of 6 miles, I still needed to do it.

I was anxious to go out to run, I was going to wait till after we go grocery shopping, but Chris was sleeping late, so I decided to just go.  I had no idea how long I would be out, but knew I needed to.  I started walking out of the neighborhood, but started running pretty quickly into the "outing."  I was running up a hill on my normal route when I started thinking about the downhill, I almost always start feeling a little bit of a twinge of discomfort on the downhill, so I also decided I would walk any downhill sections of my route. 

I have one major uphill in the first half mile, and then downhill, with another small uphill and downhill in the second half mile.  Then I have a long, gradual uphill till I get to fairly flat land that I do the majority of my short and mid-level runs on. 

I have definitely lost some of my fitness level because the long gradual incline that I run almost every time I run outside felt sooooo long.  I was so winded, and I kept wishing I would either get to the mile marker (no luck) or a downhill (again, no luck).  I pushed through and walked at mile 2 (mile 1 walk was on the second downhill of the run), but by that time I had gotten to the flat part of the run and felt good, so it was a short walk. 

There were some definite times where I felt I wanted to walk just because I was tired, but I didn't.  I kept it to every mile, but I was hyperaware of my leg.  If I had any small twinge of discomfort I was going to stop immediately, I never really did.

Somewhere in mile 4 I realized that I was going to have a steep downhill in the middle of mile 5, so I decided to skip the walk at that mile marker in order to walk downhill when I got to that spot.  In mile 5 I decided I felt great.  I had no leg issues at all, I wasn't winded, and I needed to see how far I could actually run, so I decided to add mileage onto the run.  I ended up running 8 miles, I got home and felt great.  I had no leg problems, and I wasn't dead.  In fact, I think I could have run farther, but I didn't want to push it.  Today I feel fine.  I do not feel any discomfort in my leg and I am not sore, both very good things.  It definitely makes me think that I will be able to actually run a half marathon on the 31st. 

I will say that I have the same discomfort in my knee that I had after my marathon, I keep calling it "runner's knee" in my head, but I really don't know.  But it's not a "bad" pain, one where I know I shouldn't be doing anything.  Anyway, that has reappeared today, but I am okay with that discomfort, the other, the leg/knee pain, was not good.  (I wondered if I had pulled a muscle in the back of my thigh, but I don't know.) 

I almost forgot!  And how could I forget such a huge running milestone!?  I lost a toenail.  I have had a pretty black toenail on my right foot for awhile.  A few weeks ago I painted my toenails a really dark purple to disguise it and haven't really thought about it much since.  Well, on Saturday night I was clipping my toenails and noticed that the black one was moving around weirdly, so I started looking at it more.  And sure enough it was partly detached from my toe.  Of course, me being the picker I am, couldn't just leave it alone, so I started messing with it, and pretty soon I had the tweezers out and was pulling on my toenail.  haha!  (I wish I had emoji's for this.)  Anyway, I pulled it off (no pain).  There is what appears to be another nail underneath, but it's super soft, so I don't know if that qualifies as nail or not. 

Anyway, I was kinda excited about it.  I've never lost a toenail before.  =)  I posted it (of course) on Instagram and Facebook.  I thought it was very funny that all my friends on FB hit that "like button" but not to "like" it, they used the "sad" faced one (if you don't have FB, then I'm sorry, I'm sure you're completely lost).  The only person that hit the actual "like" version of the "like button"  was a fellow runner.  =) 

running and tattoos

Well, I've been trying to take it easy on my knee/leg since my last post.  The 16th of Nov. I did something and it hurt worse than it has.  I took a full week off of running.  I did walk a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day with my sister, which was fun and my knee didn't hurt at all. 

On Friday after Thanksgiving I decided to go run, my knee was feeling fine and I thought it would be okay.  Well, about a mile and a half through the run my knee started bothering me again.  I thought it wasn't too bad and I would just do 3 miles instead of the 4-6 I was thinking about.  Well, the 2nd mile I ended up walking quite a bit, but I was thinking that it's not that bad, I can totally push through the pain.  I ran most of mile 3, and as soon as I got home had bad cramps and pain in the back of my thigh and knee.  It was awful. 

The worst part about it was that I knew the pain was not the type of pain that you can "suck up."  I knew it was a "bad" pain and I kept going.  The rest of Friday afternoon was not good for me.  I iced, I took ibuprofen, I rested, I cried and it hurt. 

On Saturday it was feeling better, but I knew I shouldn't run on it.  I don't know if I've mentioned, but over the summer I had the idea of running with a neighbor's dog.  The dog is a large one (I think he's a lab) and they never take him out.  They never walk him and he's very untrained.  I learned very quickly that I can't run with him until I train him a little (or a lot).  Well, with marathon training and hip issues, and running when I could, I had no time (or didn't make time) to take the dog for a walk. 
Also, every time I would take the dog out he pulled soooo hard and it was impossible to do anything with him.  At the Turkey Trot with my sister she gave me her dog's old choke collar.  Her dog was never good at walking and pulled constantly, and they trained him from a puppy. 

(I'm glad I don't have a large audience that reads this because I know that choke collars are not nice, and the reason they're effective is the pain they give when the dog pulls.  Like I said, my sister trained her dog from a puppy and tried everything else before resorting to a choke collar.  Hank is not my dog and his owners don't take the time or the energy to train him properly, and I don't want to make the time either because he's not my dog.  My hope is that the he's a fast learner, he's only 1 or 1 1/2 yrs old, and I'll be able to walk him without the choke collar eventually.  I also hope that a choke collar walk is better than no walk at all, which is how his owners have dealt with his constant pulling.)

So on Saturday I decided I was going to walk Hank (the neighbor's dog) and use the choke collar from my sister.  He did great.  He still pulls more than I would like, but it was his very first time.  Actually, now that I'm writing this, I'm pretty sure I walked him on Thanksgiving day after our dinner.  That walk wasn't very long, we went around the neighborhood, and since he was doing so good, I did a little extra.  Saturday I decided to go for a much longer walk.  We went 3 miles, and he did amazing.  He's much better on trails where there is no traffic or other distractions. 

I walked him again on Sunday, this time doing the 3 mile route that I run with the thought of teaching him that route so it's not so hard to get him to turn when I want him to.  Like I said, he's much more distractible walking on sidewalks rather than trails, but he still did great.  It gives me hope that by summer (or sooner) I'll be able to run with him regularly.  It also makes me think about getting a different dog when our dog is gone.  (Our dog is small and very stubborn, he's never been a good walker, and he's so stubborn and not a great kid dog, that I haven't really liked having a dog.) Unfortunately I haven't taken him since Sunday.  I get home after 6 often, and it's dark and I have to figure out dinner.  I know, I know, I take the time to go for a run at that time, but a walk is longer than a run, even just a 3 mile walk . . .

Yesterday I went to the gym and ran, and my knee/leg felt fine.  Today it is still fine, but I can tell it's not 100% still.  I don't know why the treadmill is so much easier on the leg.  Yesterday I played with the incline quite a bit to see if that was causing the pain, but it didn't do anything.  I may try a run outside tomorrow and see, but stop at the first twinge of pain.  I don't know how this is going to affect training and running a half marathon on Dec. 31st.  I hope that all of my marathon training isn't gone and I can quickly get up to the mileage needed for a half marathon, but it continues to be an issue.  This half marathon may end up being a run/walk thing.

(This half marathon is the end of the Washington Marathon/Half Marathon series I've been doing all year.  I have to run it in order to get the medal for running all the others.)

Also!  I almost forgot . . . my son has wanted a tattoo since he was 8 years old (that's when I got my first), and when he turned 18 he has constantly asked for a tattoo for a present.  I haven't done it, I've been hesitant because he's young and it's permanent, but he's going to do it sooner or later.  Well, a month or 2 ago I had the idea of getting a mother/son tattoo and asked him if he'd be interested.  He said he was, but we had no ideas on what to get. 

Then about a month ago I was talking to someone about it and they said to find something that means something to both of us.  We don't have anything specific that means something to us both, but the more I thought about it, I came up with something, even though I thought he wouldn't be interested. 

When Damian was little I read this book to him all the time, and he loved it.  It's about a mom who has a baby, and as a baby she rocks him at night and sings "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be."  As the baby grows she continues to rock and sing to him at night, even as an adult.  Then the boy is older and the mother is old and he rocks and sings to her.  Damian used to ask me if I did that when he was sleeping.  I even used that quote in his Senior yearbook last year as the letter from the parents.

So I had the idea of getting that "song" as a tattoo and asked him, thinking he probably wouldn't like it.  But he loved it.  The problem has been our conflicting schedules.  He's often at work when I get home at night, and he often works afternoons on the weekend and the tattoo place doesn't open until 12pm. 

Well, the Friday after Thanksgiving I told him we were going to do a mother/son thing after he got off work.  We went to the tattoo place to talk to them about it.  I told him that we probably wouldn't be able to get the tattoo that day, but we could maybe come back on Saturday (he had the day off).  Well, we were told that one of the artists had some time so could do it for us, but then we took too long picking out a font and making adjustments so we couldn't do it then.  He was pretty disappointed after thinking he'd get it.  And she doesn't work on Saturdays.  But she had an opening on Tuesday evening and he didn't work.  So we made an appt.

And on Tuesday . . .

 It turned out amazing!  He loves it, and that's more important than me liking it (I think). 

I added his birthdate to the end of my half.