Slow miles

We had another fairly full weekend. One highlight for me: running the Frostbite 5-Miler. This is the third year I’ve run it (with Jane in her penguin costume! Pop over to Instagram, @lvanderkam, to see that one). Between last year’s running and this one I had a baby and, wow. I am clearly not anywhere near back where I was. My time was about 10 minutes slower than my 2018 time (I can’t find my 2019 time right now). And that’s for a 5-mile race! I also felt pretty achy afterwards, though I now realize that was more because I was coming down with a case of mastitis. Lovely — fever and chills much of the afternoon/evening but it is much better now. But anyway… I ran slowly, but I did run and finish the thing and so I am proud of that.

I also managed to finish constructing the porch furniture I purchased. We started this project two weeks ago and then it lingered in a half-finished state. I managed to get some quiet, hands-available time on Sunday afternoon when my husband took the big kids skiing and the baby took a 3-hour long nap. So I pulled out my best allen-wrench-wielding skills and now have a great bar-height table and set of chairs. I drank my first cup of coffee out on the porch this morning. Yes, it was 30 degrees, but the birds were singing and it was quite nice.

The 7th grader had a piece shown in a local art show, so some of us stopped by that (including the baby!) I spent some time hunting for our old activity gym, but couldn’t find it, so I bought a new one. The baby loves it! He’s been batting at the toys and kicking his little legs. It really is amazing how quickly they grow and become more alert. He’s crossing out of the newborn phase and into the chubby baby phase. None of the rest of us change this much in two months!

Photo: Baby with big brother’s art in the background — a repeated ink wood block print plus Sharpie. 

4 thoughts on “Slow miles

  1. You probably ran slow mostly because of your infection, not because of your lack of fitness, if that is any kind of consolation. Frankly, I’m impressed that you made it to the finish line! Hope you feel better soon!

  2. Sorry to hear about the mastitis – such a bummer and another reason to be thankful for antibiotics! I remember driving home from work one time when my kid was a baby and thinking, “Ugh, why does my skin hurt?” It turned out I had a decent fever from mastitis. Fun times!

  3. Oh mastitis – I had a horrible experience.

    Truly incredible that you finished the race that soon after delivery AND while battling mastitis. So glad you’re feeling better. And gold stars for making the furniture. What a sense of accomplishment.

    Onward and upward 🙂

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