Monday, September 2, 2013

Happy Labor Day!

I hope you have enjoyed the unofficial "last" day of summer as much as I have!  It's bittersweet; I love summer, especially when it's as mild as ours has been (save the last week or so), but I also love fall and am looking forward to a chill in the air and my favorite holiday, Halloween!

We went swimming today for the last time of the season (boo!) and it was actually one of our more successful outings.  Jack, much as he loves the water, is usually only good for about an hour and a half before he's had his fill and is ready for a nap.  Today, though, I wanted to enjoy as much pool time as we could since it's closing, so we headed out early, I packed lunches for the boys (completely forgot one for myself, oops), and I decided to bring Jack's stroller to the pool with us, so he could take a nap if he got tired and Nick could swim a bit longer.  My mom's good friend is in town and so she and her sister came with us and it was fun having a big group at the pool.  It was also relatively empty at the pool when we got there, which was an added bonus.

Nick and I had a marathon jumping contest in the deep end and it was a blast.  I haven't jumped that much in years and I felt like a kid again.  The giggles from both of us were aplenty!  I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I love that my boys love to swim as much as I do!  Jack did pretty well, although he never did take a nap.  He ended up swimming quite a bit without his water wings, which he enjoyed immensely.  I could tell by his face that he was thinking I'm free! I'm free!  Daredevil, that one is.  He's not even 18 months old and he thinks he's Johnny Weissmuller.  (That reference made me smile.  That's a goody from my Grandpa Steffen.  Whenever we'd talk about swimming or putting Nick in swim lessons when he was a baby, Grandpa would say "Who do you think you are, Johnny Weissmuller?"  Side note, I miss my Grandpa.)

We ended up staying out for about 3 hours, which was great, except that I didn't put sunscreen on myself, nor did I remember to put sunscreen on Nick's face.  Gah.  Not a Mom of the Year moment.  He was lathered up from the neck down and as he reminded me, I did remember to put sunscreen on his ears, which was helpful, I suppose.  Needless to say, he is a bit rosy cheeked and I resemble a lobster.  We had a great summer at the pool, though, and I know that we will all be excited next Memorial Day when it's open again!

I went on a run tonight and had high hopes for an amazing run due to the fact that it was in the mid-80's with a fantastic breeze; a vast improvement from Saturday.  My run was ok.  Not amazing, but not miserable like Saturday.  I wanted to see if I could pick up my pace and possibly increase my mileage to closer to 4 miles, but I learned that I need to change up my route if I want to accomplish my mileage goal.  I favor a particular spot on the trail and it's about 1.2 miles each way.  Since I've been averaging about 3.1 - 3.2 miles on my runs recently, this means I do a lot of double backing on the trail.  It's starting to get boring though, so I think I need to keep going on the trail, which is a bit out of my comfort zone as it involves crossing a pretty major road, until I reach anywhere between 1.75 - 2.0 miles and then turn around to achieve my mileage.  I did 5K tonight, though, which is nothing to sneeze at.

I could tell it was Labor Day on my run; many of the houses I ran by had their BBQ grills blazing and the smell of BBQ was so enticing, particularly since I knew Matt was at home grilling up our holiday feast!  He grilled up some pork steaks and corn on the cob, yum!  It was delicious and a great end to the long weekend!

What did you do this holiday weekend? Did anyone participate in any weekend races?

Love the quote below; applicable to much in life and it certainly speaks to me and my running journey.

"If you can't excel with talent, triumph with effort."


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