If You’re Tired of the Same Old Story…

Happy Independence Day!!  As mentioned in my last post, I have been tired lately.  I’m sure the heat is a big factor in that.  We have been under an Excessive Heat Warning for days now. Still, I am doing my best to keep up with all aspects of my 10k training plan, including all that cross-training that is not nearly as much fun as the running. 😛

I will admit that I skipped Sunday’s strength training (shame!), but I made up for it by doing it last night, along with a short bike ride.  Normally, I run on Thursdays, but because I was off for the holiday, I decided to run today, which meant instead of getting up at 5:40am, I got up at 7:30am.  I had planned to be out the door by 8am, but I procrastinated because I’ve had a lot on my mind lately and am trying to work out some problems.  Finally, I put it all aside and got out there at 8:45am.

It ended up being what I would venture to say was the worst run I’ve ever had.  I was so hot, and I could not find any enjoyment in it at all.  When I turned around at one mile, I was in front of someone’s house, and I could distinctly smell bacon.  Damn it. Someone was having bacon for breakfast, and it wasn’t me! 🙁 I don’t have any bacon in my house, either, so there wasn’t any chance I’d be having it later.  Curse my neighbors for having bacon without me!

Once I got 3/4 of a mile from home, I picked up the pace.  Even though I was hot and feeling like I was running through a bathtub full of warm water, I knew that going faster would get me home faster.  I constantly checked my Garmin to see how much further I had to go, which is silly because I knew exactly where my stopping point is: the curve of my driveway.  But I needed something to keep my mind off the miserable run.  And the bacon.

When I got home, I was literally dripping in sweat.  I ran in the house, grabbed my waiting glass of ice water, and immediately changed into my swimsuit.  And then I literally jumped into my pool!

I never thought I would be in my pool at 9:15 in the morning, but I can honestly say it was the best feeling on earth!  I had a pretty hard run:

Pretty good second split, I think.  It was so hot by the time I got home:

Eventually, we had an “official” high for Detroit at 101 degrees, but the official high for my town was even higher:

Man, that’s hot! I was in the pool four times today–even more than the kids!  I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed my pool so much!   I discovered a few things today, too:

1. My iPad, when put on the patio table, plays Sirius/XM plenty loud enough for me to hear it in the pool and to drown out my hillbilly neighbors’ music.
2. My other neighbors, in an obvious attempt to kill me, were having not just cheeseburgers but bacon cheeseburgers for the holiday.
3. My Kindle can access the web! (Yes, I realize that I am probably the last person to figure this out.)  It wasn’t the best method, but it did allow me to catch up on my blog reading, which I always enjoy.

I was having so much fun reading in the pool, I even broke my unwritten rule of “no wine before 4pm” and had a half-glass at 3:42…

And then a few more after 4pm. 😉   Eventually, my Sirius App logged me out because I’d been listening too long, which was actually okay, since it was on that way-overplayed One Direction song, anyway.  *eyeroll*  It was also at that moment that my neighbors’ music began playing a song I am well-familiar with…do you know it??

If you’re tired of the same old story,
Oh, turn some pages…

My older brother instilled in me an appreciation for REO Speedwagon, and I especially love that song.  I may or may not have rocked the air drums in the pool while it was being played. 😉

As I listened to it, I realized that it was a very fitting song for how my life has evolved over the last seven months.  I was definitely tired of the “same old story” last year, and I guess you could say that I did indeed turn some pages…and now I’m rolling…er, running with the changes. 😉   The more I listened, the more I smiled (and looked like an air-drumming fool).  I decided that I am definitely going to put that song on my 10k playlist for Sunday.

All in all, I enjoyed laying in the “pool boat” and being lazy today, which I haven’t had a chance to do in a while.  It was great therapy!  Eventually, we were driven from the pool in the evening by the inclement weather.

Since we couldn’t swim one last time, I treated the boys (and myself!) to spontaneous sundaes…

Don’t fret, I’m still on Weight Watchers. 😉  It’s low-fat Breyers vanilla, a small squirt of Redi-Whip, lots of strawberries and bananas, and a tiny squirt of chocolate syrup on top.  It was delightful–you would never know that Breyer’s half-fat ice cream wasn’t the real thing!

That’s it for today–I hope you had a great holiday (if you live in America!). Thanks for reading–and by the way, if you have any suggestions for other great songs for my 10k playlist, please let me know!  I love to hear what songs other people are inspired to run by, and I will listen to just about anything–country, pop, rap, classical, you name it!

Right now, however, I’m going to go air drum to some more REO. And dream of bacon…