No rest for the wicked…no rest for the Warrior!
Back on the Trail! Next up is the Park Forest Scenic 5. (Five Mile Road Race)
It’s a good way to stay in the groove for the fall and winter season. One race every other month works for me. Keeps me less chunky and somewhat in shape.
I’m already thinking about how to modify some training for the Warrior Dash next year. Since, I had trouble at the Wall, I’m going to need to work on some arm strength and jumping to get me up and over WITHOUT needing a boost. Not that I didn’t appreciate the help! Thank you boosters!! You rock! We would have been there even longer without all your help!
And since it was on a lot of grassy, hilly, uneven, gravel, nature-trail-like course, I will be running at the actual Nature Preserve Trails that we have in our village. It’s almost identical to the course. Maybe less “spooly” and “walk-the-planky”, but similar just the same. I’m still excited. I can’t wait!! I’m not training for Mud Crawling or Fire Leaping though, I’ll just play that by ear.
I also noticed people on the internet comparing bruises! Hilarious! I just noticed a few myself last night! I have one on my forearm and one on each leg where I struggled to hoist my booty over the Wall! Next year I’ll do it gymnast style and never touch the wood! Yeah right. I did see a good suggestion for a springboard and THAT would be totally cool and fun! We could really get some air with something like that!
Alright. Anyway, back to today. My son was so inspired he wants to start racing with me and my sissy. I took him this morning and got him his first running shoes. Nothing fancy. Just the basics. The first race he is hoping to run is in December. Plenty of time.
We hit the Trail together. Run ¼ mile, Walk ¼, Run, Walk, etc. He managed to hang in there the whole 3.6 miles. There were moments. But in the end he managed to run One and One Half Miles, plus an extra tenth of a mile or so right at the end, out of the total!
So proud! Not bad for his first time. He even said he is ready to do it again tomorrow! That’s the spirit!
I took pics of this because he really gave it his all. Please check him out below and give him a positive shout out! I told him that the running people are the best people! They always enhance and never detract! Smile and say keep up the good work! You can do it!
This is for you Mason! XO. Mom.

One mile. Sweating and cranky, but still manages to flash the peace sign.

One and one quarter miles down. Sucking it in! Looking good!

One and one half miles! That was the goal! Nice job! Still have to walk another half mile + though back to the car.

Kickin' it out on the last tenth of a mile! Finish strong! AND he didn't throw up! ALWAYS a good thing!
Monday. All is well in Tree-velle
Mother Nature saw fit to spare my trees and me this year of throwing off any more of their limbs into my back yard. Maybe it’s because I already have a forest of limbs ready to cut up; or maybe I’ve been extra good; or maybe, the Rotation of the Earth, Atmosphere, and Global Warming just couldn’t muster up enough high velocity wind to knock any down this weekend; (???) Whatever the reason, I feel relieved. It takes me all summer to get rid of what is already there…just in time for next year….but we won’t go there right now.
As for the other Mother…me…my day rocked from top to bottom and is rolling on today. Sounds corny. Looks corny typed but I’m having writing issues. I’m working on it with a Miller Lite and some leftover pizza. Stay until the end of the post, it should be real good and sappy.
Where I left off: Sat. PM.: Waiting for Mom and sister. They arrived, and we went to the restaurant. The food was not as great as it could have been for the money, but it was gigantic! Please click on the food item to see a snapshot of said entreé:
QUEEN FILET w/ GIANT VEGETABLES
The Dirty Martini, I had, however, was excellent. Skyy Vodka and Bleu Cheese Olives–(yum–not gross like you would think)
We gave the Mom our present–digital camera–now everyone on Earth finally has one!
I gave my sissy her little present: CLICK HERE!! She’s so silly.
We ate, we drank, we went home. I went to bed.
Sunday: Kids are delivered to me by their other Aunty (Dad’s side) who had a 6-month Halloween Party–fully decorated, scary movies, costumes, etc…she’s a bit of a loony…Saturday night. I was immediately given my Mother’s Day presents; two gifts my children could barely keep a secret since buying them for me on Thursday night.
Drum-roll please….a Candy/Chocolate Pizza… AND… a Toaster!
It doesn’t look like much typed out, but believe me, when I unwrapped the big box handed to me by my son, a toaster was the LAST thing I was expecting to see. I laughed so hard I was crying. The reason it was funny is because the toaster we have, (had), just started toasting weird this past week, like Monday. It burned one side and didn’t cook the other. My son was not happy. He likes perfectly toasty toast. But he never even said anything. Then 6 days later–there it was: New toaster! It’s ingenious. His poor girlfriend/wife.
Anyway, that picture is below. I was told that I keep posting the same pics so I need to get more creative. Thanks boyfriend! Helpful criticism is always appreciated.
After the presents we went to the Monee Reservoir in Monee, IL and fished for a few hours. It was windy and chill and kept trying to rain on us. The BF is the only one that caught a fish. Picture here: BLACK CRAPPIE
We over-enthusiastically bought two boxes of NightCrawlers (in the fridge–yuk) and a dozen minnows. The guy gave us alot more though, so we took them home and fed them to the Oscars. An exciting day for all of us!
Then we motored on over to El Famous Burrito. Very delicious guacamole and the BEST Chicken Quesadilla. It’s not on the menu so you have to ask for it specifically–but it’s the best thing they have there! Especially if you get it later in the day, with all the soaked chicken in that magic red grease juice. My kids love it with fries…
Night time. Bed time. School time…moving into Monday AM: As soon as my kids were dropped off I zoomed over to the post office to pick up my very important Certified Letter. I missed the damn thing by a few hours on Saturday:
My acceptance into Nursing School for Fall!! Thank god. Four more semesters and I’m done. Four more really tough semesters. I’ve been going to school part-time, work in the day, school at night, for the last three years to get to this point…the adventure begins….
Kids, if you are reading this…go to school RIGHT AWAY. How ever you can get there! Do not get a full time job (unless it’s like 100K +), get married, have 2 kids, get divorced, turn 40 and THEN decide that maybe school is the way to go. It’s do-able when you are older but easier when you are younger. Please, please, please, listen to me!!
So, I got my letter. I’ve read and re-read the thing 100 times. Took pictures. Stared at it while waiting for the BF’s Mom at the doctor’s office, and thought about it the whole time I ran around the Forest Preserve Trail today; 3.6 miles of happiness. Not SO hard to get around this time…
And here I am. Finishing this. Beer is almost done. One last drink….It might not seem like much, to some, but it is for me. I’m going to be a nurse.
Here is my playlist for the day. Used it today. It’s called, “Pretty Beautiful.”
That’s just about right.