Stay at Home, Stay Healthy

Washington has issued "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" orders, which is a very wishy-washy way of issuing a shelter in place order.  When WA closed the schools, March 17th was my son's last day, my work allowed us to start working from home.  They were actually encouraging it the week before, but once the schools were closed, my office pretty much told us to go home and do what we can from home. 

I work with mentally ill adults, so I am also considered an "essential employee" but thankfully I can do most of my work at home.  I also work with two separate municipal courts (municipal is the city, I didn't know that before I started my current job), and when court is in session for my clients I am supposed to be there.  So even though I was told to work from home, it was understood that once a week I would have to venture out and go to court.  Well, early last week one of my courts canceled all my court hearings until May 5th and then last Friday the second court canceled all my hearings until May as well.  So, I truly am a shut in now. Well, not really, I still go grocery shopping, and I do go for my daily runs outside.  So far WA's governor has encouraged outdoor exercise as long as we are maintaining 6 feet from others.

My treadmill remade as a standing desk.  The desk is
a leaf from my dining table. 

Yesterday I had to go to my office.  Two of my program's participants were scheduled to graduate this last Tuesday and sadly because of this stupid virus, they are not going to get any sort of celebration or acknowledgement in court that they completed the program.  I wanted them to still get some recognition, so I bought them gift cards to mail to them.  That meant I had to venture out to my office and then to a store to get the cards.  I ended up going to three different stores because I couldn't find what I wanted.  And let me tell you, people do not follow this stay at home order.  I was so disappointed at Walmart, there were so many people there, and not just in the grocery section, but throughout the store.  Target was amazing.  They had lines on the ground that people were actually abiding by, had every other register closed and the clerk wiped everything down before letting me come to the register.  I was very impressed.  Walmart and Safeway (a grocery store, I don't know if it's a national chain) were not so great. 

Maddox has been "homeschooling" since March 19th.  I have been very impressed with the Mt. Vernon's system.  The governor ordered on a Friday for the schools to close the following Tuesday.  Over the weekend, Maddox's school set up an online classroom, got together all the ridiculous amounts of websites that he uses on at school with his usernames and passwords.  His teacher sent home a mass amount of books at Maddox's reading level (he's at a lower reading level than his peers) and she puts out a new video everyday with the days suggested assignments and one of the teachers at the school reads a book.  It is very impressive how they got this all set up in a short amount of time.  We've had 4 video chats with his teacher in the last 2 weeks.  I'm just very, very impressed. 

Just going to say sorry now

Life has gotten crazy.  Literally, crazy.  Maybe I should reword that, the world has gone crazy.  I haven't posted anything since the beginning of March, and wow! the world blew up. 

I watch local news. , he I don't watch a lot of it, usually just what's on in the morning as I'm sitting on my couch for 10 min before having to go get Maddox up.  If I'm lucky I'll get to watch something in the evening, but I'm not very lucky usually.  Plus, prior to last week there was mostly just political stuff on my news so my biggest concern was who I was going to vote for in the presidential primaries. 

And then suddenly I started seeing jokes about the coronavirus on my facebook feed.  I'm sure you all saw them, the ones talking about the beer.  And then there was a case in Washington, in Everett, WA, where I work.  Then suddenly a Life Care Center (there's a lot of those around here) had an outbreak and suddenly it's serious and people are dying.  But still everyone talked about the mild flu that it was, and if you weren't old you'd be fine.  I joke about being old, but I'm not really.  And then I started hearing about Wuhan (I know, I know, that was a big thing long before but I didn't pay attention to national or world news). 

And then last week, it really got crazy.  The governor of WA closed schools in 3 counties (honestly I didn't understand why he didn't do it for all of WA), then 2 days later all of WA schools closed.  And then . . . bars, restaurants and entertainments sites, and I think you all know the rest.  It literally seems like things change from hour to hour. 

I seriously have immersed myself in the COVID-19 stats and updates for about a week now.  And it's scary.  It's not scary for me, but it's scary for my Dad, it's scary for Chris, it's scary for my brother-in-law, these are people I am very, very close to.  My Dad was going to come over in March to watch Maddox play soccer (which is now canceled).  My sister, who just moved from N. Carolina, was going to come over with her son for Spring Break.  Now, I don't want them anywhere near me.  My sister would likely be fine, she's not super healthy, but I don't think she falls under any of the high risk factors, but what if she or my nephew carry the disease back to my Dad.  Right now he's kinda automatically quarantined, just due to where he lives, but it could be brought to him.  If my Dad contracted COVID-19, he would likely die. 

And now I'm not sleeping.  I went to bed at 9(ish) last night and was awake at 11:45, I didn't start dozing off again until 3:45 (my alarm goes off at 4:30).  I need to distance myself a little from this.  I don't want to be in the dark about it, but I can't constantly be searching the news for the latest update.  Last night I HAD to turn off the news.  Chris and I watched a show instead. 

Skagit County, where I live, has very few confirmed cases right now.  But I work in Snohomish county, which is considered one of the high risk counties in WA, it's right next to King county, which is where Seattle is.  I could easily carry this invisible bug home.  Sadly, part of my job requires me to be at work.  I work in a therapeutic court, and I have court every week.  Thankfully the rest of the week I can be at home.

Okay, okay, enough doom and gloom for a minute.  I did get my very first tattoo refreshed.  I have hated this tattoo for years, but because it's on my back, I don't see it.  Well, I finally bit the bullet and got it fixed.  It's prettier now. 

And I've kept my runstreak.  Today will be day 503.

And that's all I can talk about good things right now.  Stay safe.  Wash your hands.  Avoid people.  And be kind.

Oh, and don't carry this nastiness to someone who may have health problems that you don't.  You may be fine, but they may not be.

#runstreak day 489

Still here, still plugging away.  School, work, running, mom, grandma, that is my life.  We had some big drama in our house right after we got back from our family trip a few weeks ago.  Needless to say, Damian is living with us again, and he has Asher every other week for a week.  Unfortunately, this all happened a week before Damian started a new job, so he's waiting to actively look for a new place until he has settled into his job and has his income figured out.

I am running.  I run everyday.  I'm not doing a lot on my treadmill, mostly because I hate treadmills so much.  It's a love/hate relationship.  I love the option when the weather sucks, or if I'm only running a mile (especially at 4am), but I hate the monotony of the treadmill.  Plus, it's hot, and the scenery (my living room) sucks.

I have been contemplating another marathon.  Honestly, about this time of year, I always contemplate whether I'm going to train for the Tri-Cities marathon again.  I always choose the Tri-Cities marathon because it's flat and near my parent's house.  However, last year during the Ragnar someone on my team, but in the other van, told me about a marathon that is downhill.  I couldn't remember the name, but remembered that it's always on the weekend that I normally do the wine walk with my sister.  (I was going to link last year's wine walk, but I don't think I posted about it.  I've gotten really bad.)  Anyway, this year my sister and her husband are going on a cruise to Hawaii and will be gone that weekend, so it may be the only year I'm able to do it.  I googled it, and found it.  It's the Cascade Express Marathon.  And it really does look spectacular . . . well, except it's on a gravel trail the whole way (running on gravel sucks). 

I'm stuck on whether I should do it or not.  It literally is the only year in the foreseeable future that I'll be able to (if I have to choose between running a marathon or marathon wine drinking, well, I'll always choose the wine).  On the otherhand, 26.2 miles is not my favorite distance, I much prefer the half marathon distance, and training is a lot of work.  Plus, I would have to run hills, mostly because I'd have to get my legs prepared for the downhill, and I'd have to find some gravel roads to run on.  My dad lives on a gravel road, but he lives in eastern WA, and I'm not going to go to his house every weekend over the summer to train for a marathon.  I could go over once a month (maybe, the summers always feel so busy) and run on his gravel roads . . . plus, his roads are very hilly.

In 2015 when I ran my first marathon I gave myself 20 weeks to train, which means I'd have to start training at the end of April.  So I suppose that means I need to figure it out.  Although, the first month or so of training is pretty much what I am doing now.  In fact, in 2015, my first month of training I "only" ran 60 miles, right now I am pretty close to 80 miles a month.  Plus, I can always start training and decide not to do it.  I did that last year, and in 2016.  (Well, 2016 I did one training run and sprained my ankle.)

The more I talk about it, the more I look at my calendars from my previous trainings, the more I think I'll do it.  Like I said, I can always start training and then decide not to do it.  (I love that I have my training calendars from my two previous marathons.)  I will have to decide which training plan to do.  I would love a PR, and once upon a time I had a goal of getting a BQ (Boston Qualifier) and this is the perfect race for that, but I don't know if I'm that motivated anymore.