I offer you this distraction.....

I know what you're thinking. What in the world does this picture have to do with running?

The answer? Absolutely nothing. (Unless of course you count the fact that seeing an outfit this ridiculous makes me want to run in the opposite direction.) Really, this picture - of my son attempting to dress himself - is just a distraction from the fact that I don't have very much to say about running at the moment. It's going fine, just kind of boring. I can sum it up with the following....

Ran 16 miles last week. Hot, humid...did I mention humid? Pushed the jogging stroller too much. My neighborhood starts to look the same after awhile. Yep, that's about it.

So, back to that picture. What do you think of the Scooby Doo hat, bright green shirt, pajama pant combo modeled by Noah? Again, I know what you're thinking. That kid has a real knack for fashion!

Our New Toy

Here are some pictures of Noah and I enjoying our new favorite thing! Wes snapped some pics the other night after he attached the bike trailer.

I took Noah for a spin around the block and he loved it! Every night this week he has requested a ride in his "freight car". (You'll recall that is his name for it because he thinks it hooks up like a freight car on a train) It is a great way to entertain Noah in the evenings while also getting in a mini-workout.

My Quarter Life Crisis

I think I am in the middle of a quarter life crisis. Or maybe I am just PMSing...who knows?

My life lately has been narrowed down to two distinct realms. The physical and the functional. I realized that what is missing these days, and most likely causing me to feel antsy and in crisis, is the intellectual realm. So today, after I dropped off Noah at my mother-in-law's for the morning, I started thinking about what I could actually do with my time. There was the physical (do my 5 mile tempo run) and the functional (try like hell to get the soap scum off the shower door and slice up the fruit I bought for dinner) but I threw caution to the wind and chose door number 3 - the intellectual.

I drove to Barnes and Noble in search of some essay collections I have been wanting to read. I slowly made my way through the store admiring all sorts of yummy looking books but eventually settled on some Flannery O'Conner and David Sedaris essays. Because of my mood this week - decidedly cynical and caustic - I started with the Sedaris book and was immediately drawn in. I sipped coffee and laughed out loud and finished half of Me Talk Pretty One Day in an hour or so. And...I felt not one bit guilty about blowing off the running or the cleaning. I will get them done, and enjoy them - well, the running anyway - eventually, but they just weren't what I needed this morning.

I hope I am refreshed enough to pick-up Noah and be very zen about his three year old attitude and potty training accidents. Or at the very least, be inspired to turn those things into some laugh out loud essays!

Cold Turkey Underwear

Today starts a brand new endurance race.

It is called the endurance race of not going crazy out of frustration because today is the day you got rid of your three year old's diapers and went cold turkey with underwear. So far, it's actually going pretty well.

I guess it's not technically cold turkey. We have been trying potty training for a while off and on. He has spent a couple weeks in pull-ups, which worked for a while but then he realized, hmm, these are basically the same as diapers so I can just pee in them no big deal. And, really, he is right. Why bother with the potty when you can pee in the pull-up/glorified diaper. So, because he is three and a few months, and won't be able to go back to pre-school next month if he is not potty trained, we picked today as D-Day (or pee day if you will!). Amazingly, we are 3 hours into our day and he is still dry and wearing the same underwear he put on when he woke up. He has made three calm and un-dramatic trips the bathroom to pee and I am in shock. I think he has totally been holding out on me! Not to say we are out of the woods yet. I am still terrified of actually going anywhere with him. I don't trust it yet, but the good news is that we are well on our way to being a "big boy" and to Mommy not loosing her pre-school tuition deposit.

On the running front... I hit 17 miles for last week! Am slowly working my way closer to 20 mile weeks and I am stoked. My legs are feeling good and I have been really enjoying my runs and how I feel after accomplishing them. Wes and I are talking about signing up for the Memphis half marathon in December. Sounds kind of random I know, but we have some good friends who might run it with us so that would be fun. We would have a little running vacation!

Anyway, off to monitor the underwear situation. Will fit in my run for today when Wes gets home to play potty training watch guard!