10 More Days

My relay race (Red Rock Relay) is in 10 days! And we'll leave in 9 days to get down to the start. Holy Cow! I am so not ready for this race. I do not want to leave my baby behind (boo hoo!). This has caused me serious anxiety. I almost quit the team, but since we had teammates dropping left and right and I happen to be the captain, I did not. I just felt like I couldn't do that to my team again (I bailed on my team for Ragnar Wasatch Back a month before the race). I know Henry will be fine at home with daddy and his wonderful brothers and sisters, but I cannot help worrying about him. And myself. I will miss him dearly. He is such a sweet, cuddly baby. He is 3 months old and he gives us hugs and "kisses" (slobbers on our face) already! He is that loving. Oh man am I ever going to miss him!!!

I'm not exactly physically ready for this race either. I have not dieted since I last said I was going to. I think I am down a couple of pounds from my 15 pound weight gain, so at least there is a little progress. It's simply because I have put in a more concerted effort to exercise more regularly.

I just got back from a 4.9 mile run/walk and promptly ate a piece of cake with my recovery glass of milk. Yep. That's how I roll. Literally. I am not sure I will ever stop this behavior. And when I force myself to count calories, etc., it just makes me more obsessed about food. I think exercise is the major key for me.

But I digress ...

I am relieved that I have the easiest legs on the whole race. I am runner 1 and my total miles are 10.8. Yeehaw! I will be able to muddle through that without a doubt. I might look like a wounded cow doing it, but I will definitely complete my miles. ;-)

My 8 oldest kiddos all started school yesterday. I have been a homeschooling mom for many years and have never had all of my kids in school before. This is weird. I cried yesterday when I dropped off my 4 youngest. Luckily I was holding Henry and could cry into his sweet little body. I have to say that my run yesterday and my run today were great. No guilt. I knew my kids weren't at home, bored to tears, probably watching TV. They were at school ... learning. All I had to worry about was Henry and how long he'd last in the jogging stroller. I think this aspect of public school is going to be a very good thing for our whole family.

Regarding the jogging stroller: it is so much harder to run with that thing! It slows me down considerably. And today Henry started crying hard about 3 miles in and I had to carry him in one arm, push the stroller with my other hand and walk up this huge hill. I thought I was going to die. About .75 of a mile after doing that cool trick, I was super motivated to put him back in the stroller no matter how hard he cried to finish my run. (Luckily, he did fine the rest of the way and even fell asleep.)