Since my last post in May, lots of stuff has happened. I *FINALLY* set a new 10k PR (that thing had stood for way too long), which is awesome, and after a few months of single parenthood, we all find ourselves reunited in California for the next few months.
Make no mistake, single parenting sucks. I stayed behind in Pittsburgh with the kids so that they could do a semester of school at their regular school, we could tie up loose ends, figure out what to do with the house and the cats, etc. The Husband came out to CA and worked. I definitely think he got the sweeter end of the deal and think I have some PTSD from my foray into single parenting, but it's all good now. My hat is off to my friends who are single parents for any reason, there is not a single thing fun about it. I told The Husband that if anything happened to him I'd probably marry the first guy I could get to ask me just so that I wouldn't have to take care of the kids alone. I have nothing good to say about it other than thank god it's over.
A side effect to the single parenting is that I didn't get to run a whole lot, or do a whole lot of anything else, so I gained a few pounds and feel like I might have lost some fitness. But since we've been out here in lovely California, I've had a chance to get back to things, do yoga again, Pilates again, and get in some quality runs. The weather is awesome, especially compared to the polar vortexes (I'm actually not sure if that's the plural of vortex or not!) they're dealing with back in the 'burgh. Though I am missing out on bragging rights for having survived what sounds like the Winter from Hell, I'm kind of ok with that. It's dry out here (they're into year three of a drought), and we are in an area where it is pancake flat, to the point that you feel it when there is a very slight change in elevation. It's both amusing and frustrating. I've come to love the hills because they give my runs variety, so I am frequently bored to tears while I'm running here. There is a decent paved trail nearby, but I learned the hard way that it needs to be run strategically, or else I end up with no shade running next to the stinky San Francisco Bay (which is stinky because the water is so low, the salt marshes are just drying out and stinking the place up). So some adjustment is having to happen.
The Husband and I signed up for the Big Sur Marathon at the end of April, so I've been training for that. If you know anything about Big Sur, you'll know that it is not pancake flat, so there's problem number one. I am, at heart, a lazy girl, and I dislike having to drive to run. I run because I don't want to have to drive somewhere! Back in Pittsburgh I can run up as many hills as I want within a quarter mile of my house. So having to budget time to drive somewhere to run, and carry my own water, which makes me feel kind of stabby, is a mental hurdle I have to get over. My friends out here think I'm a little crazy, and the San Francisco Bay area is not known for being devoid of hills, but I'm not used to having to drive to find them, and believe me, it is FLAT where I am. Weirdly weirdly flat. So my goal for this weekend is to find some hills to run on.
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