2.3 miles in the books

Quick post tonight, as I am one exhausted Mama! Both boys were off today; their summer camp ended on Friday, Nick doesn't start school until Thursday and Jack's daycare was closed today for a teacher work day, so I spent the day with my boys.  I had planned to take them to the local Y to swim at their awesome outdoor pool and Nick had his heart set on that, but again, Mother Nature had other plans.  We awoke to stormy skies and I figured if I'm going to shell out the money to go to the Y pool, that I'd rather go on a beautifully sunny day and get my money's worth.  When I looked at the weather forecast, I ruled out the Zoo, going peach picking and pretty much any other outdoor activity.  As I was trying to think of indoor fun, I realized that I haven't taken the boys to the quintessential St. Louis landmark, the Arch.  Nor have I been myself in easily a decade.  So after we visited Matt at work and had lunch with him, we headed to the Arch.

I hoped that the gloomy weather might deter some of the crowds and that was pretty true; when we arrived, we were able to buy tickets for the very next tram and had very little wait time to go to the top.  Nick was pretty excited to go in the tram to the top and Jack seemed to enjoy it, too.  My favorite part was being at the top, because it once again illuminated how distinctly different my babies are.  Jack absolutely loved looking out the rectangular windows at the top and if those windows opened, I guarantee that he would be dangling off the ledge to get a better view.  He had his forehead pressed to the window the whole time and he got mad when I moved him to the next window for a different view.  Nick on the other hand, was so worried about Jack falling out the window that he was on the verge of tears. It was almost comical (and I must admit, a little frustrating), but he was so concerned about his baby brother falling out of the windows that he was grabbing Jack's waist to pull him back down to the ground (I assure you that Jack did not find this amusing, he just wanted to keep looking out the darn window) and was wailing at me when I asked him to stop.  "But, Mom! He's going to fall out the window!" Such a sweetheart and a gentle soul. He worked himself into quite a frenzy and then proclaimed that it was time to go back down.  He later told me that he was freaked out up at the top, but he did have a great time.  It was fun playing tourists in our city!  We sometimes take for granted the things in our own backyard. 

The Arch

My fearless, youngest son. He would've stayed like this all afternoon if I let him. 

My gentle, oldest son. Apparently, it's ok for him to be this close to the window, just not his little brother. 

As we were leaving the Arch, I was afraid I wasn't going to feel up to my planned run this evening, but I got a second wind after dinner.  It was a bit humid tonight, but there was a great breeze and I felt pretty good on my run.  I figured I would attempt 2.2, but when I got that far, I was so close to my car that I kept running.  I ended up running 2.3 miles and felt pretty amazing afterwards!  I paid a bit more attention to my running form tonight, as Saturday night towards the end of my run, my right shoulder was cramping up.  Of all the places, right? Tonight I tried to make sure I didn't slouch and that I stood up straight while I ran and it seemed to help the old shoulders.  My pace tonight was a little slow at first, but then I got into a groove and my average pace was 12:39, which I was pretty pleased with. 

"Running is nothing more than a series of arguments between the part of your brain that wants to stop and the part that wants to keep going."