Long week = Long post

Life is starting to settle down from a pretty busy week, and now I need to try to reclaim a routine. After sickness, travel, lots of exercise, more sickness, and more travel...I would like a vacation please : )

Last Tuesday, I held and rocked Jon most of the day. He NEVER lets me rock him, but this time it was because he was sick and pathetic. Although we both shared a sweet day of snuggling, I learned that I am very glad to have a kiddo who goes to sleep on his own and does not demand being picked up all the time. I really did not accomplish anything at all last Tuesday because I was holding Jon most of the day.

Last Wednesday, I frantically tried to get laundry, cleaning, and packing done because Jon and I headed out on my trek to the St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon. Thankfully Jon was feeling better, and more importantly falling asleep on his own like normal. After packing up the Subaru, we drove up to Dallas and crashed at my parents house. (Jonathan had to stay in San Marcos unfortunately).

Thursday I drove to Memphis from Dallas. It was the longest drive I've done by myself with Jon, and it went pretty well. (For those of you wondering why I drove instead of flew, it was a) the cost, and b) not wanting to lug suitcases, a car seat, a pack n' play, and all other stuff one needs to take care of a baby for 4 days through an airport by myself.) Driving during the week is nice, because there is not really much traffic on the highway or at rest stops. When I reached West Memphis, Arkansas and caught my first glimpse of the Memphis skyline since August I totally teared up. Not gushing or anything, but just a feeling that I was coming home, and then a reminder that Memphis is no longer home. The city is a pretty beautiful site after driving through East Texas and Arkansas for 9 hours. With a brief stop at Becky's apartment to unload valuables (we were in Memphis, after all), we headed downtown to pick up our race packets. In the ten minutes we were at the convention center, I saw 4 people I knew. The only time I see 4 people I know in San Marcos is at church on Sunday. Not kidding. This was pretty much the first of many occasions throughout the weekend in which I was reminded of how much life would be different if Rhodes had just hired Jonathan instead of some random person who doesn't even have their PhD yet. After packet pickup and a swing back to Becky's to feed Jon, we went to Bosco's for a dinner treat! Except it wasn't such a treat, because they wouldn't take my temporary TX drivers license, so I couldn't have my beloved Midtown Brown. (Note: In Texas, if your old state DL is not expired, they take it from you and give you a piece of paper as a temporary DL until your card is made. This makes it very difficult to prove you are who you say you are when outside the state of Texas.) Jon also threw up half way through the meal. Yep. Poor kid.

Friday I slept as late as I could, and then took Jon to say hi to folks at Youth Villages and Davis Kidd story time. The YV Development Department continues to do an awesome job at raising money for kids and families - over $70,000 raised at the Hauntedweb of Horrors this year!! It was great to see my old work mates, and although they all told me that I am doing a very important job of staying at home with Jon, I missed work a lot while walking through that building. Becky met us at DK and we hit up Jason's Deli for a healthy pre-race lunch. I, of course, ran into more people I knew at lunch. While Jon napped, we vegged in front of a movie. Then an early dinner of carbohydrates and early bedtime for the race.

All day Friday we were monitoring the weather predicted for Saturday. The last time I ran the Half Marathon, the temp at the start was about 28 degrees - not fun at all. I bought Jon a hat and mittens, figured out how to use the weather shield on the BOB, and had everything set to go for a below freezing race. Becky had spent hard earned money from her book sales on a new running outfit for the weather. But instead of freezing weather, the forecast was for a 47 degree start. This caused some wardrobe reworking Friday night. Then we woke up at 5:30am to 55 degrees. 55 degrees! At 5:30am in December! The warmer temperature was not going to affect my race all that much, since my only goal was to finish the thing. But Becky had been actually training for the past 6 months, including going to track practices, short group runs and long group runs each week. A temperature change not only affects wardrobe, but can affect how much fluid you take in and your pace.

Despite the unexpected high temperature, Becky did awesome! She finished in 2 hours 14 minutes, a good hour faster than the first time we did the Half Marathon four years ago! I hobbled across the finish line at an embarrassing time, but I finished the darn thing. I told Becky that I am never, ever going to participate in a long distance race that I have not trained for...ever. I did enjoy the walking tour of Midtown and Downtown, and I ran into an alarmingly high number of people that I know : )

We met up with Josie, who had been taking care of Jon during the race, and we had very large hamburgers for lunch! The afternoon was spent resting and trying to entertain Jon while expending the absolute least amount of energy possible. Unfortunately, both Becky and I woke up at different points Saturday night puking our guts out. Throwing up is bad enough - throwing up when your whole body is sore is no fun at all.

I managed to make it to church Sunday morning and really enjoyed worshiping at 2PC and saying hello to friends. After a post church nap due to still feeling pretty bad, I repacked the car and headed back home. It has taken me about a day and a half of being home to feel back to normal. I'm still a bit queasy from whatever caused the vomiting, and Jonathan has been such a big help with Jon while I have recovered.

So that's my week! Now to try to reestablish a routine back at home : )