Small Slice

Hello!  I'm blogging to you live from sunny, muggy Orlando, FL.  I'm creaking by here with a S-L-O-W connection, and I've got a lot to share...  I might die from frustration.  Or, you know, just get over it.

Let's see, Tuesday, I ran like a good girl.  Wednesday was a day of rest for us newbie running folk.  Kim and I compared aches and pains.  Kim claimed no feeling below her waist.  Another area where she totally wins.  I could feel, and I was aching in the calves.  Numbness would have been welcome.

After our day of rest on Wednesday, and with the final day of school upon us, I wasn't excited about running. I was a little sore still, and feeling rather cranky about it. Kim called me on my wussy attitude, and we met at the park after we got the kids into class. Her two year old and my three year old were in rare form, so we attempted to turn on a movie in the van and head off.

We were about halfway through our first lap, when we noticed the kids flailing around in the van, not even remotely watching the movie. We sprinted - okay, jogged faster - to get back to the van, and settled them back down. Lap two, same deal. Lap three, we let the kids out of the van and spent plenty of energy trying to keep them from dashing into the street or feeling abandoned.  Trying to get all the way around the park before something gets destroyed or someone bails into traffic is actually a pretty good motivator. 

I never thought I would be looking forward to waking up at 5 am to run while the family sleeps.  But there is.  I'm officially mental.  I've run myself silly.  And it's only week one.

We took little stretching breaks between laps in an effort to ward off soreness. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated seeing my Big Slice panties pointing skyward in downward dog. I have already come so far from worrying about what people might think, seeing me *gasp* stretching and *gasp* working out. I finally figured out that 1) no one is looking at me anyway and 2) I'm having fun, regardless. When I stopped worrying about it, and looking around, I noticed that people are smiling at me, not laughing. I, on the other hand, am laughing at them, because I'm bent over at the waist with my butt pointed at the sky, and they are avoiding eye-contact and smiling grimly as they fetch their newspapers or climb into their cars.  Good times, people.  Good times.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur of activity. I packed and sorted and packed and packed and yes, packed.  Despite the fact that our accomodations are in a villa, complete with a private pool and a washer and dryer, I felt the need to pack every possible outfit.  Just because, you never know.  And then I went back and eliminated two outfits for each family member.  I felt like that was so smart of me.  I'm an expert! 

We left for the airport just before dinner, and arrived in good time, and good spirits.  This was a new experience for me, flying at night with the kids.  Personally, I like red-eye flights.  Less conversation from total strangers.  The kids dropped off to sleep after the first hour, and I drifted in and out of sleep for the entire flight, waking only to secure my share of the beverages and snackies.  I didn't even eat them, but I wanted to make sure that I had options. 

After we landed, and reboarded our connecting flight, we found the entire experience to be smooth and easy.  We flew on Delta airlines, and after my nightmare experience with United, they have earned a new and vocal fan.  Preboarding families (by special request - if you have a car seat) is so awesome.  Especially when said family can't figure out what seats are their seats.  Not that we had any problems with that.  No.  We're totally not guilty of that particular sin.

Although I had prepared for the kid's amusement needs on the plane by purchasing several coloring books and bringing along a portable DVD player and iPod loaded with every kids album we own, they didn't require anything but sleep.  Viva La Red Eye! 

We picked up our mini-van and waited for my husband to arrive on his flight.  After we were all reunited, we made our way to the villa.  Thank goodness Friday is a rest day in my training plan, eh?

After a quick trip to the local Winn-Dixie (I love Southern names for stores) we enjoyed fresh baguettes with soft cheese, sliced watermelon and cold beer by the pool.  A lunch of fried chicken purchased from the Winn-Dixie deli was awesome, and everyone took naps in the late afternoon.  Well, everyone except my mother, and my oldest daughter.  My poor mom managed to get my daughter to sleep finally, but never got any rest herself. Meanwhile, I was drooling merrily all over the fluffy pillow in my bed.  Bliss.

We grilled hamburgers and bratwerst for dinner, with potato salad, watermelon, green salad and vegetarian baked beans.  We all went to bed shortly thereafter, and slept like the dead.  Bliss.