Eating, Hallowe’ening & a Jerk on a Bench*

Oh, hi November.

I can’t quite believe that it’s actually NOVEMBER, but here we are–the month before Christmas. Or, the month before the Christmas month.

Or something.

I feel like a lot has happened in the last few days. Hank is still not sleeping terribly well, but I feel like things are getting a bit better. He was waking almost every hour, but his stretches are beginning to lengthen out a little more, and I’m actually making it into my own bed… at least for part of the night. Progress!

I’ve also had some success getting him to eat in the last two days. I’ve been giving the baby led weaning thing a go over the last two weeks, and he seems to really enjoy feeding himself. He hasn’t actually been ingesting much, but it’s a huge leap forward from his refusing to let anything near his mouth. It had been a few weeks since I tried feeding him anything from a spoon, so on a whim last night I gave it a go… and he ate a third of a jar of baby food. I thought it may have been a fluke, so I tried it again tonight… and he ate again. It’s a Christmas miracle! I am SO hoping that we are on the road to solids. My big boy has been nursing exclusively until now, and mama is ready for a break. :)

This was technically Ruby’s third Hallowe’en, but it was the first year that we took her out trick or treating. She was the cutest little lamb that there ever was, and she loved ringing doorbells and calling out “Trick or Treat!” at every house.

I ran my third race with my brother and a friend, and while I didn’t quite get the time that I wanted, it was still my best official race time yet. Also, Doodle ran the 10km race and came 8th (!!) overall. He is unreal… so proud of him!

I really struggled with my running throughout most of October. I feel like I lost my guiding hand when I finished my c25k program, and I wasn’t progressing the way I felt I should be. The lack of sleep I’ve had, combined with some hip / pelvic issues I’m still working on from my labor with Hank has really pushed my motivation to an all-time low since I started running.

In a word, I’ve felt really discouraged… and this really bothered me as I have come to love running. I really look forward to it every day.

Last week was probably my worst week, and I realized that if I wanted things to change, then I needed to change them. I found a free little coaching app, and I decided to give it a go today. I punched in my long-term goals, and it set a very easy, slow pace for me to run. As you run it kicks in and tells you to slow down or speed up if you move outside the pace it has set for you. I almost shut it off after I started because it felt SO slow, but as the kilometers stretched out one after the other, I realized that I was running easily, breathing freely and I had no hip discomfort. It was the first run in a long time that just felt so… good. I easily ran four kilometers and I only stopped because my “session” for today ended.

I so needed that today. And thank goodness it was such a lovely run, as it was interrupted by a not-so-lovely experience.

I run several different routes through my neighborhood, and people often wave or call out a greeting as I run past. As I was coming off a pathway today, I noticed a man sitting on a bench nearby. I could see that he was trying to speak to me, so I pulled my headphone off as I ran past. He smiled and called out, “Well, someone is getting a work out, eh?” I laughed a little, nodded and moved to put my music back on. Just as I was about to put my headphone back in my ear, I heard him sneer:

“Looks like you still need to work out a bit more!”

He continued trying to yell something else after I had my music back on, and it took me a minute to really understand what he was saying to me.

A few weeks ago, this would have really bothered me. Here was this man I didn’t know, blatantly yelling in public that I’m fat as I’m trying to run. But guess what? I already know that I’m a little overweight and that my body isn’t perfect. I know I’m not the fastest runner out there, and I may look silly to someone more experienced.

But I also know that the road to getting myself healthy again is a marathon, not a sprint. Just two months ago I was in a very different place, and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished so far.

And hey–he was the one with his bum glued to a bench, not me. So that’s something. :)