Here are all the things I hope to accomplish during #freedomweek!

• Oil Change
• New License (MY BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW! LAST YEAR IN MY TWENTIES!)
• Massage
• Pedicure
• Hair Cut & Color
• Miles Hair Cut
• Miles 2 Year Well Check
• Meeting Up With Heather
• Spread the 40+ Bags of Topsoil Purchased Today
• Ship Back Work ‘Stuff’
• Prep for Miles 2nd Birthday Party This Weekend!!
• Orthodontist Appointment
• Run/Bike a Few Times
• Groceries
• Somehow Teach Miles to Sleep Again
• Organize Things for 1st Week of Work – clothes, what time I need to wake up, that sort of thing
• Maybe Find 5 Minutes to Relax?? Maybe…

HAPPY MONDAY!

It’s such an odd short period in my life right now. I’m in-between jobs. I have about 10 days off between my last job and my new one and it’s an very out of body experience thus far. Last time I switched jobs I also had a few days off but I was already much more checked out that time knowing I had to find another job if I didn’t want to move to SoCal and I made that move with no hesitation.

I am SO EXCITED for my new job but there was definitely hesitation on making the move. I won’t go into gross detail explaining how it was a hard decision, but just take me for my word that it was.

So now I’m trying to shut my mind off for all the projects I was working on, all the things I was responsible for and the grand plan of things I wanted to do this year. How do you just shut that off? You can’t. Well at least I can’t. But I’m trying. Hence the 10 days off between gigs.

I find it especially hard because I really didn’t get the normal closure when you leave a job because I work remotely. There was no final farewell lunch or happy hour. I didn’t leave my office for the last time. My office is about 6 feet from where I’m sitting now and I’m shipping my work laptop and other things back this week.

It’s just odd. A very odd thing. Not good, not bad… just odd.

On top of all this weird-no-closure emotion we’re earning some major parenting stripes lately.

Miles stopped sleeping well 20 nights ago. We have not had one good night of sleep for 20 nights. We finally decided to try something totally crazy and get rid of his crib and make the move to a regular bed. That in itself is a challenge. So basically we are back to square one with sleep. I had 2 major crying-on-the-bathroom-floor meltdowns yesterday. I was just tired and frustrated and anxious.

I remember how anxious I felt when Miles was a newborn and Mike was about to go back to work leaving me home alone with this new baby and I was running on about 3 hours of sleep total per night. I felt SO ANXIOUS back then. I felt it again yesterday. I just want our nice little life back of when Miles would go down so easy at 8:30 PM and wake around 7:30 AM. We’d get to have our time on the couch with our favorite shows and get good sleep. Now we are back to fighting with Miles for 30-45 min at bed time to lay down and sleep. Then up 3-4 times per night repeating this process. Kids are so hard. SO HARD.

And then don’t even get me started on how hard it is to feel frustrated and then guilty about being frustrated. Seriously, too much emotion and exhaustion for me.

Thank goodness Mike is as cool as a cucumber. While I am about as cool as whatever the hottest thing you can imagine is.

So basically I’m wading through my life right now trying to figure out how to let go of both a job I loved and sleep I loved and how to prepare for a new job and no sleep (again).

This too shall pass.

Saturday night Mike and I headed on over to Bay for a shin dig at Alana & Dean’s place. I knew it’d be a fun night with fun people but I did not know HOW MUCH FUN it would be.

We started off with some chit chat, good food provided by all and some drinks. I didn’t want to repeat my Holla Days performance so I kept it to good ole beer all night thankyouverymuch.

We ended the night with what seemed like a multi-hour dance party. Seanski even gave me the new nickname of DJ Vermin. Not sure that isn’t an insult? Oh well.

Good times, good friends! Mike and I got home at 2 am. Definitely past our usual bedtime these days but a total blast!

Me & Alana, Lisa & Me, Dean’s bonfire in action

Mike & Me, Firefighter Lisa, Dance party beginning

If you want an idea of what our dance party was like, these animated gifs basically sum it up.

Also, if you don’t watch Happy Endings you are missing out. “It’s the FRIENDS of our generation, you guys.” – Sean or Alexa… I can’t remember

Thanks Dean & Alana, you are wonderful hosts!

Saturday I went to the Cleveland West Road Runners Club Spring Classic 10-Mile and 5K race. Normally this probably isn’t a race I would sign up for but I deferred my registration from the Fall Classic Half Marathon to this race since I was injured at that time. I still went to that race and hung out with Sarah OUaL. That was fun!

But since I already had a bib and t-shirt paid for and I needed to get in a good long run I figured I might as well do the race. The race is held in a metro park in Strongsville. I knew my good buddy Mason would be there since he also deferred a registration from the Fall Classic as well.

I got there an hour before the race so I could pick up my goodies and also score one of the close parking spots so I could stay warm before the race. I picked up my stuff, used the porta pot and shortly after Mason arrived and we just chatted until about 10 minutes before go-time.

Normally I don’t love out and back courses with switch backs but I really liked it during this race. It was a small race so it was nice to see the faster runners, how many runners were behind me, etc. I got to see and cheer for Mason a few times.

I started out a tad fast but my legs just felt so fresh. I’ve been running very low mileage so fresh legs have been abundant which is nice. The first 3.5 miles you are heading out with one switch back.

Mile 1 – 9:06

Mile 2 – 9:38

Mile 3 – 9:47

Mile 4 – 9:36

Then you head back towards the start and see some of the 5K racers as well.

Mile 5 – 9:40

Around this time I remember thinking OK, it’s time to crank it up a bit. There were a few ladies in my sights I wanted to pick off. I started working hard and picked off a pair. I caught the next one and she decided she wasn’t having it and she started to pick up her pace as well. I would chase her the remainder of the race.

Mile 6 – 9:13

Mile 7 – 9:17

Around mile 7 you go right by the finish area. Basically the 10 mile racers do a 7 mile out and back and then do the 5K course.

Mile 8 – 9:26

Mile 9 – 9:23

The last mile I continued to try to hunt down the girl in front of me. I started closing in but just ran out of road. She ended up finishing 10 seconds ahead of me.

Mile 10 – 8:56

It felt good to finish strong. I was winded but still felt good. I wish I would have kicked it in a little sooner.

Official time: 1:33:21

6/13 in my age group

75/128 overall

So I totally crushed my A goal! And have a new 10-mile PR by over 8 minutes! Woo!

Me and Mason after the race. PR Party for all!

Tomorrow is my first 10 mile race of the year! Woooooo! I ran my first 10 mile race in Huron last May and loved it! I finished that race in 1:41:50. That race was tough and I think I’m much more mentally prepared for tomorrow’s race. I haven’t been ‘training’ for this race but am using it as a good way to get in a long run. However I am still hoping to PR in the distance!

A Goal

1:37 – 9:42/mile pace – This will be a tough goal for me. My super great 11 mile run a few weeks ago was at 9:51 pace and I was really pushing it the last few miles of that run.

B Goal

1:39:XX – 9:54/mile pace – This would be a a really good long run pace if all goes well. I’d be super pumped to come in sub 1:40!

C Goal

Finish, have fun. Any day I can get out and run 10 miles is an ah-mah-zing day in my book.

Yes, I will be using Happy Endings gifs in like every blog post from this day forward thanks to this collection.