Weekly Mileage #109 and the Morning of Mulch

little boys playing with bricks (not sure what's up with Ocean's expression and hands...)

Since I worked ahead and cleared my schedule in anticipation of working on the RV last week and this coming week, I had time to start learning how to effectively market my businesses. I've been using Pinterest, but it's time to branch out to targeted Facebook ads. I've been avoiding it, but it's time to jump in with both feet and figure out what I'm doing. It'll be a process.

I finally managed to go on a trail run Tuesday morning. I'm still trying to get my sleep schedule back on point. It got derailed when I got sick a month ago, and I've been slowly getting back to where I should be. I can definitely feel the lack of exercise over the last month.

After music lessons on Tuesday we finally made it to our weekly park day. I'd planned on being more regular this past fall, but my broken foot and worsened narcolepsy symptoms meant it never happened. I'm hoping to finally get back in the habit now.

River jumped up to the monkey bars and managed to move forward one bar. He ran over to where I was sitting to tell me what he'd done- he was so proud of himself! I encouraged him to try again and to go further. He ran back and after a number of tries and trips back and forth between me and the monkey bars, he made it all the way across! Then he went and did it again so I could make a video for daddy :) So proud of his hard work and determination!

There was a stream running through the park and the kiddos had lots of fun playing in the water and sand. Ocean especially.

I really need to start carrying towels and extra clothes in the car

I wanted to do a bike ride Wednesday morning, but I was still recovering from Tuesday's run and busy day, so I slept in a smidge before taking Ocean to speech therapy.

I love the woods in spring time

Thursday I managed another trail run. I ran my route from Tuesday backwards, thinking it would be easier. It wasn't- it was much more difficult. Lesson learned :)

Friday we drove the RV to an RV body shop to get an estimate on the work that needs to be done (we'll get it in about a week once they've had time to look at it and figure out how much it will all cost). Mr M also spent some very frustrating time on the phone, trying to convince the insurance company that they should cover the damage. They won't, unfortunately. If we weren't already planning on switching companies, this experience would be the clincher in that decision.

We'd only switched to them because they don't cancel your policy if you rent out your RV, like most companies will. Since we're not renting out the RV anymore (we were concerned about damage having a negative effect on our resale value), we don't need to be with them anymore. In any case, it was a super frustrating experience, but Mr M handled it better than I would have. I was only listening in and I had to leave the house at one point because the guy was being so stupid. He clearly doesn't own an RV or understand standard use patterns. If I'd been the one making the call, I would have been yelling at him.

that's about 55 tons of mulch there

Saturday morning Sunshine and I hauled mulch as part of her troop fundraiser. Mr M's back would not have stood up to hauling bags of mulch, so he stayed home with the boys. Sunshine did a great job helping haul bags and spreading some mulch for an older lady who couldn't do it herself. She definitely worked harder than some of the other, bigger kids. Some of the wetter, heavier bags of mulch weighed almost as much as she did! We did lots of walking back and forth, but I didn't track the exact distance, so I'm just going with 1 mile.

at our last delivery I remembered we hadn't taken any pictures, so this is Sunshine posing for the camera, playing up how heavy the bags were (50-60# average)

In the afternoon we headed to the drive-in theater to watch Avengers: Endgame. We arrived 5 minutes before the gates were supposed to open, only to find that they'd opened an hour earlier because traffic was backed up already. We managed to get a decent spot, and even found some friends who were also there. The kiddos all had fun playing with each other while the grownups chatted.

Ocean really does excel at getting disgustingly dirty.
The chopped up tire mulch in the playground left their mark all over him.

The movie was really good, but it was a long day and I'm still recovering from overdoing it in the morning and not getting enough sleep that night.

waiting for the movie to start

I'm not as sore as I thought I'd be from hauling all those bags of mulch (though Sunshine is), but I am tired. I'm still working on figuring out what my physical exertion limits are and how much is too much. I'm not good at tempering my efforts, but I'm working on it since feeling crummy for several days after working on a project is not optimal.

Mr M met with his VA advocate this week and started the paperwork to get his disability rating. He's also updating all his files so his Reserve unit can start the process to medically retire him. He's been going to physical therapy and accupuncture for the last several months and is getting an epidural shot of some sort this week, but his back is not improving, so it's time to move on. He doesn't have 20 years in yet, which we were trying to hit, but he's close enough that he should be eligible for medical retirement.

Weekly Mileage
Tuesday- 1.77 mill trail run
Thursday- 1.65 mile trail run
Saturday- 1.00 miles walking while delivering mulch
total- 4.42 miles

10 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

47.30 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
11.15 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
60.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
118.45 miles total