The Adventures of Nichole, continued…

Aventuras numero uno:

What do you do when the day’s events look like this?
1. Nathan needs to leave for ski race at 9am for 11am race, back by 2pm
2. Nichole needs to be at congregation budget review at 9:30, Greta can be in the church nursery during
3. 10:45 church service with baptismal rememberance, optional, but I’d really like to make happen
4. Nichole’s workout: 12 miles in some form of a double
5. Windchill predicted to be close to -30
6. Zoom! Yah! Yah! is being held starting at 6:30am. Not a must, but it would be great to stop by.

Would you drive to church (maybe stop at Olaf on your way), and wait until Nathan is back to get the first run in? Sounds great, but that risks the second run. I don’t know about you, but I lose a lot of motivation to get out in the evenings.

The scheme Nathan and I came up with:

-I run to church, stopping at Olaf to watch ZYY on the way. Kim is in town, so I’ll have company!
-Nathan drives stroller, Greta, and a change of clothes to the church
-Drop off said things while I’m still running
-I end my run at the church, change into jeans and a sweater and attempt to look like I haven’t just had icicles for eyelashes
-Attend Budget Meeting (which went great, BTW!)
-Take Greta from the nursery to go to the service together. That was INTERESTING, trying to keep her from playing with baptismal candle’s flame or wanting to run around and explore the church. Good thing hoods can double as kid leashes :).
-Change back into running gear, heat up heat packs for stroller in the church break room, bundle Greta up
-Run the remainder of my 12 back home.
DONE before 1:30pm! Nice!!

Kim braved the first run with me. -26 degree windchill when we started. Isn’t her frost makeup beautiful?!?

ZYY! So glad I could stop by and cheer! The winning guy’s time: 2:56, winning woman’s: 3:17. Full results here.

My load on the way home. Diaper bag in basket, clothing from the budget meeting on top, lots of blankets, and a very bundled up kid inside. Hard to capture it all, my arms aren’t long enough. Many passing motorists stared with eyebrows raised. I’m sure we were a sight!

Later I found out Nathan was stranded on the side of the freeway after the race, apparently a rod broke & punctured the Subaru’s engine. Yikes.

SOOO – we are now in the market for a vehicle. If someone has access to Consumer Reports and wants to share info on wagons, crossovers, and/or hybrid reviews, that would be AWESOME. Thanks in advance 🙂

Or, if you know of anyone selling a Subaru Outback or Honda CR-V, please let me know!!

Aventuras numero dos:

Yesterday I went out over lunch with the mileage goal of: just run, see what feels right. I could run a double of 12, a double of 14 – so 8, 9, or 10 was in the back of my mind. It was pretty cold, -21 windchill, but I was as warm as is possible in my Brooks Infiniti Jacket (I’d link to it, but it’s no longer sold online) and Craft Storm Tights. The combination is bomb proof! I only take out the storm tights when the windchill is negative.

Brooks Infiniti Jacket for the WIN!

I digress. I start with an out and back run through the neighborhoods so I’m a little more protected. Then, I see the Jesse James Days 15k course (out in the country, unprotected)… hmmm… that looks fun, I haven’t done that in a while. If I did this, I could knock out my 16 mile LONG RUN today… It just felt right, so didn’t think twice and went with it.

Going with the wind on the way out felt great. Running into the wind on the way back was a little chilly 🙂

Normally I wouldn’t randomly knock out my long run on a Tuesday, but I’m planning to cheer at Nate’s ski race on Saturday, my normal long run day. Getting my long run done yesterday allows me 2 days of recovery before a hard medium-long effort, and allows me to just have to push Greta for 7 miles on Saturday before the race. WINNING!

I’m feeling pretty bad-ass until about 2 miles from home when I slip and fall HARD on a patch of ice. An elderly woman is out walking her dog and is very concerned that 1) I fell and that 2) I’m even out running in this weather. She comes up to me after I dust off.

“I was so worried! He [my dog] was worried too! She started crying when you fell down! Oh, he was so worried. Did I mention he was crying for you? How long have you been running, anyway? It’s so cold!”

I think to myself: Was the dog really crying over my fall? Or crying because he just stepped outside and his paws and nose REALLY hurt because it’s so cold? I’m guessing the latter, but then again… dogs do have empathy.

I pet the pooch and assure her I’ve only been out for “a bit” 🙂

Aventuras numero tres:

I dropped off Greta at daycare. I started my car and almost pulled out of the lot before I saw one of her teachers running out after me.

“We just changed Greta’s diaper and it was BLACK. As in, as black as your coat type of black! Sometimes it’ll be slightly black after eating blueberries, but we’ve never seen something like this before”

I asked if she thought it meant something was wrong? She didn’t know, but was going to ask around the school. I told her I would call the clinic and let her know what I found out.

Before I called, I texted Nathan and Craig who were with her the previous evening.

Nichole: So… daycare ran out to tell me that they changed Greta right away and her poop was black – as in, true black
Nathan: She ate a ton of blueberries last night
Nathan: Like, pretty much the entire container

HAHAHAHAHA! The entire container!!!!! That explains it 🙂

Now I don’t have to worry that her black poop is signalling internal bleeding, which is what it can mean. In case you were wondering.

When I picked her up, all of the Montessori teachers knew about “the whole container = black poop” incident!
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Your turn:


Any fun/random adventures lately?


Do you have a fun “a dog rescued me” story?