Active Weekend

I really think this marathon thing is going to happen.

This weekend was a really busy one for me - the last two performances of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat took up Friday & Saturday nights. The Carlisle Theater is relatively small, maximum capacity of 940, but when every one of those 940 is standing & cheering & just into a performance? Well, I don't know if there's a better experience in life.

But, this post ain't about that. No, I had the busy weekend in that those two performances plus to do what I can with the raising of two children. Saturday, I woke up a little before 5 because the boy was crying . . . picked him up from the nursery, took him into bed with me, and fed him a bottle. Within 15 minutes, he was back asleep.

However, at 7:00 he was fussing again & the dogs were quite ready for their breakfast, so we all went downstairs. I've written about my dogs before, but they're strange. Hobbes, the oldest (blond, cairn terrier), has almost no food drive. Snickelfritz (brindle, border terrier) is only motivated by food & playing ball. Cosmo (black, yorkie poo) is just an absolute spaz.

Because Hobbes has no food drive, he didn't bother to come downstairs with the boy & I for breakfast (he wants a walk in the morning, no more, no less). By the time I convince him to come downstairs to eat (because he's a freaking dog and dogs are supposed to want to eat), CJ was showing that he was ready for a nap, but this means that he was fussy. So, I abandoned the doggy breakfast idea (much to Snickelfritz's chagrin), into the jogging CJ went as I took everybody around the block.

Get back, feed pets, head into the basement with a few toys (CJ still hasn't napped and is still fussy). After playing around on Twitter for awhile (because, let's face it, I'm addicted) and watching CJ simply crawl from one corner to the next, I realize that he's not going to nap without some form of intervention, and the whining needs to be dealt with. So, back into the jogging stroller her went.

I didn't really have a plan - just, well, run until CJ woke up from a nap and/or until I was too tired to go any further. I made it around the .7 mile park loop 14 times until I started hearing babbling from the trailer. So, that's 9.8 miles, plus the .4 miles there . . . I'll call it an even 10, and I was back in the house & showered by 11:30.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with kids, napping, and heading out to the show. I think I ate a salad somewhere in there . . . with leftovers for dinner.

Sunday, I woke up & went for a walk with the whole brood - wife, two kids, three puppies. We actually made it nearly all of the way around the block before Leila started crying (this is saying something - as she's my biological child, she's ALWAYS hungry). Got back, fed the kids & I decided to head out for a bike ride.

As many of you know, bike riding is my preferred form of masochism, though I haven't been able to do it all that much (if something happens that needs my attention as I run, I simply turn around & head home . . . I might be 10 minutes away from the house at my furthest point -- when I bike, however, I'm sometimes hours away from home). Still, though, I threw caution to the wind & went for a long ride.

All told, I biked what I believe to be 68 miles (I recall that figure from doing the ride previously -- without my bike computer, everything is just a guess). There were a few decent climbs (most notably, King's Gap, which is turning into my favorite climb -- little traffic, and what little traffic there is happens to be beyond bicycle friendly, beautiful all of the way up & all of the way back down).

As I completed the final portion, however, I realized that I may not have been super smart. I passed one of those electronic signs that reads the weather & temperature and saw "100" in bright red LEDs. The day was a beautiful day, but I didn't realize just how hot it was. I stopped at the next convenience store & picked up some Gatorade, realizing that I was still thirsty when I was done (I was drinking water the whole time, refilling both bottles at the top of King's Gap - but that was just to keep myself going). Got home, drank a ton of water . . . and I was fine.

Chinese for dinner, relatively early to bed - and then a run this morning (I'll save that for it's own post, though). All in all, a very good, active weekend :-)