The Making of M.O.M.

We have a unique living situation. As you all probably already know, we sold our house at the beginning of March. Currently we are renting a house. We are renting it on a "campus." That's about as specific as I'd like to be with our living location and broadcasting it to the interweb, so if you know where we live I'd appreciate the ambiguity as well in your comments.

The reason I'm bringing it up today is because at this very moment, right outside my front door is this:

Yes. Three HUGE inflatable bouncehouses/slides. Where we live they are celebrating. A celebration that only takes place every 5 years, to my understanding. Which means, it's a BIG celebration.

And, we are not really invited to play on those lovely, fun, totally-would-wear-my-kids-out toys that are RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR FRONT DOOR. Yes, that's our lawn furniture and toys laying in the grass. Squeals and laughter are echoing through our house as the sounds of children enjoying themselves on these bounceable toys. And, there's a band playing somewhere on the not so distant lawn.

Those things pretty much make our RRIAP look like a deflated kiddie pool.

Wow. I've never drawn our blinds so tightly as I am today. I think I'll blindfold my kids and carry them out to the van 1 by 1 and leave for the entire afternoon. Thanks to a friend who will make that possible by loaning us her house this afternoon.

I sure hope no one gets the bright idea to look out the window. Something tells me I'll be playing zone defense this morning, with my zone being all the windows/doors on the front side of our house.

Bring on the meltdowns.

I have blogged about running before. 7 times to be exact. (Hint: Click on each of the words in that 1st sentence to see my previous posts about running.) 1 of those times was to promote Run 4 Revolution so really it had nothing to do with me running.

The last time(s) I posted about running, my running streak lasted 10 days.

TEN DAYS.

Like a fart in the wind, it was gone quicker than it came.

Today I registered to Run my first ever 5K. Yes, I know I blogged about running a 5K once before but I never ran in it. In fact, I chickened out/hyperventilated from nerves the morning of the race. But now, I'm actually running. Like for real running.

Like, I've been running for about 7 WEEKS. Weeks, not days people. That's pretty monumental for me. And, the craziest part is that I am actually enjoying it.

Truthfully, I don't really run. I jaulk. It's like a half jog/half walk. I haven't mentioned my jaulking here on the blog before now because it could have been like the whole "fart in the wind" thing again and then I'd be 0 for 2. And my dignity can't take that kind of a record.

I'm actually registered to run a 5K on July 17th (I even paid a registration fee!). My friend Lindsey has been my ~~Drill Sergeant~~ accountability partner and kept me in check, asking if I'm running and concerned with how I'm actually doing. She even made me a spreadsheet telling me how much I should be running each day so that I don't burn out. And, even once, she dumbed down a run and ran/jaulked with me. She talked the whole time, while I gasped for air, and made it rather enjoyable for me. (Lindsey is training for the Boston Marathon so when I say "dumbed down" her run, she REALLY dumbed down her run. It would be like a Rocket Scientist doing addition flash cards with a 1st grader.)

So, I'm running or something like that. And, I'm proud of myself for not quitting. My husband has been a constant source of encouragement. Because, you see, I'm NOT a runner by nature. In my athletic prime, I wasn't a distance runner. In fact, I PREFERRED the days we did wind sprints over the days we did distance running. I sorta liked sprinting as long as the sprints were 1 lap or less around the track.

And, I imagine this running/jaulking thing will be something I continue to do. Even though, technically, my favorite part about the running is the stopping at the end.