Sickness, date night, running

Last week felt like mystery illness week here.  The first was Allie with an itchy rash across her chest.  Here and there, the girls have had bouts of very mild eczema.  This didn't appear to be eczema but we treated it that way because she had absolutely no other symptoms.  Nothing.  She ended up going to the school nurse for anti-itch lotion during day 2.  I know the school nurses and they are wonderful.  They called to say that sometimes they see a rash there with strep throat (scarlet fever!) but Allie's throat looked normal and she was fever-free.  I told them that she was eating, sleeping and playing the same as usual.  We were stumped as to why she had this rash.

But now I have Emily complaining of a sore throat.  She's also fever-free and I quickly associate the sore throat with her congestion.  Allergies?  All three of them have suffered on and off from allergies this spring.  Emily said her ears were clogged and she sounded congested but her nose wasn't running.  After two days of this, and Allie's rash appearing to spread, I called the pediatrician's office.  This was Thursday morning.  We've all managed to stay free from strep throat this year (knock on wood) and I absolutely believe that's related to me being at home.  The last few school years, we've seen strep throat appear in different forms.  Sometimes in the form of a cold.  We also know of someone who was diagnosed with scarlet fever but never had any symptoms of strep throat.  That whole story was a frightening one.  I was nervous that both had some odd form of strep throat.

The pediatrician's office talked through all the symptoms with me and told me to wait to bring them in.  If they are the same on Monday, bring them in.  If they get worse, call right away.  I was feeling a bit paranoid and anxious Thursday night, thinking that maybe I should have pushed for an afternoon appointment.  If I brought them in, I could put my mind at ease.  By Friday afternoon though, the rash had begun to fade and Emily was returning to her normal self.  Huge sigh of relief from me.



May, thus far, hasn't been a particularly warm month.  I guess we're stuck in some sort of cooler weather pattern.  It felt more like fall than spring this morning.





Rich and I snuck away for a date night last week.  Red Sox game.  Despite dressing in several layers, I was freezing cold.  I didn't want to be the weirdo in winter gear but better weirdo than cold.




(Rich called this "modified" Regina's.  Same name, not quite the same taste.  Plus, the cheese to sauce ratio just wasn't right.)




(Big camera selfie)




(If you're visiting Boston and love historic homes, be sure to drive the Jamaicaway in Jamaica Plain.  The roadway is lined with beautiful old homes.  It may seem random that I'm posting this but we took the Jamaicaway when we drove into the game so it's on my mind.)

Okay, let's talking running/working out.  I had planned to run last Monday.  I didn't run or work out at all during vacation week, except for walking around DC, and I just wasn't feeling it the week after.  I cut myself some slack.  Another week off wasn't the end of the world.  Right?  But then Monday rolled around and I kept procrastinating until it was too late and I wouldn't have enough time before having to leave to pick the girls up from school.  Tuesday was the same.  And then Wednesday.  And then I told myself to just let it go.  I didn't have to run.  Another week off would be okay.

I finally ran yesterday.  I walked as well and covered over three miles.  I walked first to warm up, then ran a mile, walked a half of a mile, ran .75 miles, then walked home.  I haven't had any knee pain these past few weeks and then I wore heels Saturday morning.  I don't know what I did but a few times in the afternoon, I felt that sharp stabbing pain in my knee.  I took that first mile slow and ended up running a 11:15 minute/mile pace.  You know, for awhile there, I'd become so disenchanted with anything online related to running because I was constantly reading how 10 minute miles are so incredibly slow.  I find that I'm actually more inspired by someone who goes out there and runs 6 miles in a hour than I am with all the 7 minute milers.  You know why?  Because I'm never going to run 7 minute miles.  Maybe one, but not three in a row.  It's actually discouraging because I feel like it's something I'll never achieve.

One of my nieces celebrated her First Communion Saturday morning and of course, we were running late.  I had sort of planned an outfit but then it was still raining so I had to change it up real fast.  I grabbed a pair of gray dress pants purchased from The Limited in 2002 from the closet.  I last wore them a year ago for work and while they had fit, it had been a snug fit.  I had them dry cleaned after I stopped working and they've been hanging in plastic in the closet for almost a year now.  I was somewhat surprised to find that they fit and were not snug at all.  I've been doing something right.  Now I just need to get back out there again this week.