tearful day

I hate emotions. Anyone else? It seems like some of them from yesterday carried on into today. Yesterday was more anger and annoyance, but today was a little different. However, I’ll give you the good part of my day, first, which happened first, too!

Got myself up an hour and a half earlier than my planned run so I could do my new run prep routine — it works like a charm for me! Basically I can barely pull myself out of bed so after I use the bathroom I get right back in with my computer, a snack, and a glass of water, and allow myself to wake up for an hour.

Mini Luna bar White Chocolate Macademia

I got a box of MINI Luna Bars and it was perfect! I am still trying to get my tummy used to running on food and this was the best size. I actually thought the flavor would be too sweet (like the cookie) but it was kind of salty from the nuts and was really, really good. New favorite!

Then I got all my stuff together for running. Jeez, I thought I had a lot when I was a swimmer! Runners have so much more gear!

Running stuff

Shoes, sunscreen (!!!), socks, sunglasses (that I didn’t actually wear), heart rate monitor, Garmin, and a hat. This doesn’t even include the clothes I was wearing OR my new Amphipod RunLite 4 hydration belt! I finally got an opportunity to test it out, but only carried 1 bottle and the gear pack on the belt since I had a short run planned.

I headed out to First Landing State Park in Va Beach, where I did my first trail run a couple weeks ago. Armed with my camera in the belt’s gear pack and 1 8oz bottle of water clipped to my side, I took off. My pace was way faster than it felt like! I rarely looked at the Garmin, and by mile 2 I was still running under 10 minutes/mile (fast for me). I took a walking break to gulp some water, turned around, and set off back down the trail a bit slower to finish 4 miles in total. At 2.5 I realized I had clipped the bottle back in incorrectly and had LOST it. I started walking back to find it, then remembered it would be quicker to find it if I ran (novel concept, I know). I found it and doubled back. With a couple walking breaks to adjust the belt — this thing is going to take me a while to get used to — and a hair adjustment (completely necessary), I did 4.15 miles in about 44 minutes. And the scenery was beautiful!

Cape Henry trail at First Landing State Park

Spanish Moss!

Southeastern VA is dripping in Spanish moss, and since I was a little girl I’ve always loved it and thought it was so beautiful! The trails at First Landing are, of course, full of the stuff so I found a particularly pretty “arrangement” to share with y’all

After I finished my run, I wiped the dirt of my ankles, got in my car, and drove to the Honda dealership to get my oil changed & a state inspection. This is where my day went downhill.

I got a lot of weird stares in the waiting room as I assembled, photographed, and ate my breakfast, but what do I care? Oh and maybe they were staring at me because I was straight off a trail run and gross? Just maybe.

Overnight Oats! (1/3 cup rolled oats, 1 tbsp Bob's Red Mill 7 Grain Hot Cereal, 1 tbsp TJ's chocolate hemp protein powder, 1 tsp flax seeds, 1/3 cup water, 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 banana, blueberries)

I still hate how I can never get my overnight oats to be less liquidy. I’ve tried adding less liquid (duh) but then they turn out like cement. However, it was, at least, delicious even if it attracted some weird looks.

Finally my name was called and I was told that my oil change had gone over well. My state inspection had not. Last year it failed inspection because my car had been vandalized and I’d forgotten that they’d also bashed one of my tail lights, leaving a small crack in it (yet the light still worked, so I thought it was okay). As some of you may know, my dad was a mechanic and last year was the first year he wasn’t the one doing the inspection. So because of the exorbitant amount of money they were charging to replace the tail light case and the fact that the sticker on my window with his signature was gone, I was a headcase. Well this year it went kind of the same. I hope this isn’t becoming a pattern. My exhaust system had a leak and they told me if I got it fixed through the dealership it would be $2000 for all the repairs. I was really impressed when they recommended I go to a muffler shop, instead, because it would be closer to $500. That was really nice of the guy helping me, actually, and I thanked him for his integrity.

So I left the dealership with a big old rejection sticker and called my mom to tell her the news. Then all my emotions hit, I started to sobbed, and wailed out “I just want Dad!”, something I haven’t said out loud in a while. It has been 17 months since he passed away and for the last 3 or 4 months, I’ve been handling things much better than before. But today just hit me again. I went home, (finally) took a shower, and collapsed on my bed for about 10 minutes in convulsing tears. But then I pulled it (sort of) together, called the muffler shop 2 miles from the house, and they told me to bring it on over and they’d have me done in an hour. WHAT? Where are all these nice people suddenly coming from??

I thankfully grabbed a Kashi bar and ate it while waiting for my car to be fixed but forgot to take a picture out of stress. The manager could clearly tell that I was having a bad day, as well as the other gentleman waiting for his repairs, so they were both really nice and talked to me and made me laugh. I have to say that if you live in the Hampton Roads area, I totally recommend Big Al’s (local chain) because they were so incredibly sweet to me today! Also, the cost of the repair was only $189 before tax. Where the heck did the dealership get $2000??????

I called the dealership and have an appointment in 30 minutes to have it re-inspected (ie, they stick a prettier sticker on my car) so it will all be done and over with soon. I know it seems ridiculous to cry over car repairs, but man my emotions just hit me today and really got me! Anyone else have triggers like that?? Little, minor things that blow up other emotions for you?

I just ate a quick, easy lunch…

Sandwich thin with 2 tbsp roasted red pepper hummus, squash, & zucchini; TJ's pepper & sea salt rice chips; bowl-o-berries.

Now I am going to play with the puppy for a few minutes to make amends for leaving her so much today. Before I go, please note the fact that all 4 of her paws are mysteriously green after coming in from the backyard…

What has she been doing??

The picture doesn’t do it justice… she is like glowing green.

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