Weekly Mileage #244 and the Learner's Permit

pre-race group selfie

Monday Jeremy drove Sunshine over the mountain to the valley to the DMV.  She successfully passed her permit test and is super excited about being official. She has to log a bunch of hours with a parent (like an actual log has to be filled out to track her practice) and she needs to go to a driver's school. She had to wait till she was 15 and 6 months to get her permit and she can't get her license till she's 16 and 3 months, so she's got some time to get all her requirements finished. Which is good, since she also needs to complete her Eagle project before she gets her driver's license, and she is not as close as she should be.

While they were doing that, the boys and I did the grocery shopping, which isn't happening again anytime soon.

I also worked on some notebook covers.

Tuesday Sunshine and I were supposed to renew our military IDs, but we got a call a few minutes before we needed to leave saying the system was down and they’d call to reschedule once it was up again.  They expired a year and a half ago, but we were given an extension because of things being shut down because of the pandemic. That extension ended at the end of October, but this was the first date we could get an appointment for. Sure hope it doesn't take too long to reschedule. 

We did online music lessons since we were supposed to be out doing our IDs until just before our lesson time. I could have switched to in-person, but I was hoping they’d call and see if we could come in right at the end of lessons. So naturally, they didn’t. 

I sewed my batch of mason jar cuffs. I'm really happy with how they turned out.

large = pint, small = half pint

Karate was mostly a review from last week since there’s only two days of classes this week. We did start a new portion of Universal 10 that we’ll do more with next week. It’s a series of 5 kicks, all done with the right leg while balancing on the left leg. Made my IT bands so sore. I have got to start foam rolling.

After the kids were in bed I did a 1.5 hour phone call interview about my narcolepsy. I did a much more in-depth study a year or so ago with this same group- this was kind of a continuation of that, and more focused on the actual sleep study itself this time. The interviewer was intrigued by the idea of sleep studies being conducted in a hotel, as both Jeremy’s and mine were. Our local sleep clinic is housed in a hotel, which is much less stressful than some sleep clinic setups I've heard about. I got $150 for talking and answering questions go an hour and a half. 

Wednesday I had intended to take Max for a trail run, but I was tired from karate the night before, so I wussed out. After a slow start, I managed to run some errands. Afterwards I made pumpkin and apple pies and red white and blue jello so I didn't have to do them on Thursday.

Thursday morning we ran the local Turkey Trot. It was just over freezing at the start, but it was in the mid-50s by the time we were done, which was quite nice. This is the same Turkey Trot we've done since we moved here, but it was at a new location and a new course. The course has less dramatic hills than the old location, so it's a little easier. 

River after the race, while we waited for Jeremy, Sunshine, and Ocean

I still haven't done enough consistent running. I'm averaging once a week or so, and it is not enough. River started with me, as usual, but left me in the dust the last mile or so. It has begun. He was sad he didn't win anything in his age group (under 10, so it would have been difficult anyway since he's only 8), but I can see him putting a little more effort and consistency into his running in the future. Jeremy walked with Ocean and Sunshine, though Sunshine did run the last bit to the finish line. This is the first 5k Ocean has completed (while he walked last year's Turkey Trot, it was about a mile short for him, Jeremy, and Sunshine).

Sunshine running into the finish line

I pushed it the last little bit and felt pretty close to puking at the end, which I haven't felt like in a long time. Unfortunately, the cold at the beginning irritated my throat and lungs and they didn't feel great the rest of the day (though this was not unexpected as it's happened many times when I run in the cold). I was also pretty tired the rest of the day. It is so frustrating that I can't run hard (with a couple walk breaks) for 37 minutes and still be functional afterwards. When we got home, I had to lay down for a while and I even dozed off at one point.

Jeremy and Ocean walking to the finish

After my nap, I made some gluten free cornbread and some stuffing, Jeremy smoked the turkey, and Sunshine peeled and chopped the potatoes for mashed potatoes.

Friday I slept in, so no trail run, though I had planned on one.

I caught up on emails and bills and had to call the bank because of an unathorized charge to one of my business accounts. It took 4 phone calls to figure out where the charge was from, then to get the unauthorized charge form submitted. (though after thinking about it for a week or so, I'm pretty sure it was me, accidentally making a payment on a credit card from one of my business accounts instead of our regular checking account. oops.)

I finally heard from my accountability partner. She'd emailed me at the end of August to let me know she had covid, but I hadn't heard from her since. It turns out she was hospitalized a week later and immediately intubated because of super low oxygen levels. She spent the next 7 weeks in a medically induced coma. She was woken up at the end of October and finally came home a week ago. She's super weak and has a feeding tube for a couple more weeks, but she's home. Super scary. I'd suspected that she was hospitalized since it wasn't like her to not respond, and I'm happy that she's finally doing better, even if she still has a way to go.

Saturday I got a slow start to the day, but I was able to take Max for a trail run, and she was sooo excited. She was staring at me as I got dressed, nearly vibrating with impatience as I put on my shoes and socks, and not willing to let me out of her sight while I used the bathroom, in fear that I'd leave without her. Which we did on Thursday, and she knew it, so it wasn't a totally unjustified concern.

Afterwards I organized my work space. There's a pile of stuff that needs to go out to the storage container, but my shelves are a bit better organized. I also sorted my leather. The downside of buying online is that I have several sides that I'm not super happy with and don't want to use in products to sell. They are handy for prototypes (I've totally been using them on the mason jar cuff prototypes), but there's still more than I know what to do with. blech. I hate wasting money.

first version of the key fob: has the cool halter snap

second version of the key fob has just a simple key ring (it weighs less than the halter snap)

Sunday Sunshine taught our YW class lesson (she was voluntold by me a few weeks ago when we didn't have any volunteers), River gave a talk in Primary and Ocean gave the prayer in Primary (Jeremy helped the boys). It was a busy 2nd hour, but we survived.

On Friday I bought some leather patterns for half off. Ocean had seen a build video I was watching for one of them and wanted one. I've been feeling more creative lately (finally!)- key fobs, mason jar cuffs, notebooks, etc, but I haven't made something just for fun in a long time. 

I had Ocean pick out the leather he wanted me to use and I sat down and made his bag. It went quicker than I thought it would - it's all hand stitched, but it came together pretty quickly, all things considered. The leather was thinner than recommended, but it still worked and Ocean is happy with it.

Weekly Mileage 

Thursday-      3.08 miles             1.0 hours

Saturday-       1.90 miles             .5 hours

       total- 4.98 miles                             1.5 hours

2021 totals

277.0 outside hours

244.19 miles