A Humid Run and Yard Work

Holy cow it's been a busy few days, and we're just getting started!

I made it out for my first run in our new neighborhood yesterday. It was also the first run since the race last weekend - there have just been so many things going on!

It was a pretty warm and humid day, but I went out without a real plan, and ended up having a really good run! There are a lot of rolling hills around the house, but not much traffic, and plenty of shade. I ran just over 4 miles at 8:58 pace - and it didn't feel like I was killing myself.

Marathon training official starts on Monday - I took this week as a moving/rest week in between training cycles. Hopefully that means I'll be ready to go come Monday.

Tom has been having fun getting new things. He got this grill which took us far less than the estimated 4 hours to assemble. It's currently the only way we can cook anything - thank goodness it's summer!

And he got a fancy new lawn mower.

Tom would like me to point out that he is in fact wearing pants in that picture.

We have a lot of lawn to mow.

And that's not even all of it! The yard is looking much nicer though. We spent most of the day working on clearing out the overgrown garden areas and picking up trash and sticks.

For now, we're trying to find a balance between not feeling like we're camping (though we are sleeping on the mattress on the floor since our box spring didn't fit up the stairs), and not unpacking very many things. The work is going to start on the house fairly soon, so we don't want to unpack just to pack things up again.

We're all a little tired from all the changes.

The Last Few Days in Pictures

Tuesday after work I arrived at the new house to find the sellers hadn't gotten rid of their dumpster yet.

The closing took longer than expected, so I wandered around the yard for a while until Tom got there with the keys.

Then the tv/internet people and the movers came (and so did some rain).

I drove down to the vet to pick this guy up:

It was a stressful day for him, and he's still a little confused by the situation. He's a little clingier than usual and cries a lot when we leave him in the house.

But he seems to be settling in alright.

We are still figuring out where we put things (it's in that box with those other things, where did you put that?) and this house is going to be more than a little bit of a project, but it's exciting to finally move in! We'll get it all sorted out at some point.

Limbo

We're in a weird state of limbo right now. The movers came yesterday and packed up the house, and after much sweeping and vacuuming, we handed the keys over to the new owners. 

We spent the night at Tom's parent's house and Buddy spent the night boarded at the vet. Luckily he loves it there. 

Tom will be closing on the house while I'm at work this morning and then things will get a little crazy. We have 3 cars between us so getting them to the house  will take a couple of trips, I have to pick up the dog, the movers are delivering our stuff, and the internet people are coming to install our TV/phone/internet. 

It's going to be a long day. 

It's Happening

After talking about it for almost a year, it's finally happening - we're moving! The movers will be here in the morning and we're mostly ready for them.

Buddy does not like all the packing activity. Change is stressful.

So, the movers will be here in the morning to pick up our stuff, but we won't actually be able to move into our house until Tuesday. It's a whole thing. Buddy will be hanging out with his friends at the vet for a day so he's not underfoot and/or stressed while the movers are there. I'll pick him up on Tuesday to bring him to our new house!

He'll be more excited on Tuesday.

So that's the plan for the next couple days. Don't be surprised if you don't hear very much from me this week.

Packing and Running

Things are busy busy around here!

Unless your name is Buddy, and then it's just business as usual.

My training plan has flown out the window and I'm getting a few miles in where I can. I find myself saying things like "well, at least I'll have well-rested legs on race day" and "maybe this extreme taper will make me run faster." Positive thinking, no?

My run today was a fun one. I ended up running 5 treadmill miles (it is super gross outside - hot and humid) and felt great! This is the complete opposite of my final run before my last race. That run left me feeling tired and not ready to run. This run made me feel good about racing in a couple days.

Race day is in two days and moving day is in four. No big deal, right? We're living in a sea of boxes (because we finally started packing) and I'm trying to find the balance between getting things packed and leaving enough things in the kitchen so we can still cook dinner.

Buddy is thoroughly confused about what's going on, and he doesn't like the look of all the boxes. Once he's free to frolic in his new yard, I know he'll be happy, but for now he's pretty concerned. Moving is stressful for everyone.

Now I'm off to take a break to watch the Bone season finale. I hate finale episodes because I don't do well with cliffhangers - I want to know what happens right now!

Priorities

We actually started packing today - for real! 

The buyers came by for one last walk through (mostly to measure things), so we were trying to at least look like we were going to be moved out sometime soon. You know, in a week. 

I was supposed to have a 5 mile run today, but packing was a higher priority. I'm trying to balance packing and running this week since I have the Walkway Half Marathon on Saturday. Someone asked me the other day why I signed up for this race when we have so many other things going on. They didn't think about the fact that I had signed up months ago and had absolutely no way of knowing when we would be moving. 

Buddy and I hung out outside while the buyers were here so he didn't jump all over them. He couldn't figure out why we were just sitting on the grass. And he didn't appreciate my pictures. 

He absolutely refused to look at me, no matter how many times I said his name.

This packing business is making moving more real. We've been talking about moving for almost a year, and now it's happening! It's both stressful and exciting :)

Morning Miles and Procrastinating Packing

Sorry I'm so all over the place lately. We've been busy with work things, packing and planning - I'm still not sure how we're going to get everything done. One day I'll get back to posting more often than you care to read, and then it will be full of running updates and home improvement projects!

I woke up early this morning to meet up with two of my weekend running buddies for some extra miles. We ended up running just shy of 11 miles. It was my last run with the group for a while since my next race is a week from today and then we're moving. It's going to be about an hour long drive to meet up with them once we move, but I'm planning on making the trek for some of my longer runs during marathon training. Miles go faster with friends!

I spent some time boxing up some of my loose things in the basement and re-taping the boxes that I never bothered to unpack when we moved from Alaska. I also boxed up some books and found a bunch of bags/backpacks that will soon be full of things.

I found this picture from my derby days while I was packing things up in the basement.

I'm the one not on the ground.

See those shelves? There were (more) books on them earlier! I'm celebrating tiny victories today, it helps me feel productive.

We keep telling Buddy that he needs to pack up his toys, but he's about as good as we are about packing.

I Should be Packing...

I haven't talked much about house things in a bit. We've been in a sort of holding pattern for a while now - under contract on the townhouse we are currently in, and on the house we are buying. Now things are finally happening, and happening quickly.

Basically, we'll be in the new house in two weeks. Guess how much packing we've done.

That's right! We haven't started!

We did pick up some boxes from someone on Craigslist over the weekend, so that's a start.

My training has continued to be all over the place. Maybe haphazard is a good training plan for me. That seems possible, right?

I was going to run on the trails today, but the rain would. not. stop. so I hit the treadmill for 5 miles this afternoon. It was a good run, one of those nice ones where you feel strong and nothing hurts.

This guy has no idea what exciting things are coming his way. In a couple of weeks he will have a yard to roam!

You know, after we pack...and move...