Miler Method #4: Week 4/6

Week-beginning Thoughts:

How is it almost October? So many of the default events I use to mark the passage of time (USATF Nationals, Peachtree, summer vacation, etc) haven't happened, and it's really throwing my mind for a loop. 

Monday

Scheduled: 15-20min WU, 4x5min tempo/90s recovery, 10-15min CD

Did: as scheduled = 5.57mi @ 9:09/mi avg

Man, I need to stretch more. As soon as I started running this morning, I had a tightness in both upper glutes that was almost debilitating. Eek. I was able to push through, though.

Tempo was hard. I think that's probably indicative that I shouldn't have swapped prescribed days around the way I did (i.e. in such a way that I ended up having back to back tempo days). Oh well. Even if I didn't hit the paces I wanted, I definitely exerted the right amount of effort for the day. 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 5-7mi easy + 2-3xCore

Did: 2x Core, 10KTuesday @ 9:40/mi avg

Weee, did my core before the run today. Having someone else in the training FB group as a pseudo accountability partner is definitely helping with this. :)

My glutes still hurt a lot during 10KT. I think I've realized this is because I was trying to work on my forward lean during the weekend's runs (I tend to lean back when I run... a lot). However, instead of doing it properly, I was leaning forward at the waist, wreaking havoc on my upper glutes. Soooo, lesson learned. Don't do that. :P 

Wednesday

Scheduled: rest

Did: yoga

I set a stretching alarm a few times throughout the day to work on my hips/glutes, and indulged in some runners' yoga before bed. Here's to a better tomorrow!

Thursday

Scheduled: 15-20min WU, 4x70m pickup strides (faster than MP), catch breath, 2x200m @ goal 800m pace (0:40s with 2:30min recovery), 5-10min rest, then 800m (2:40=1:20/400m = 0:40/200m = 0:20/100m), 10min CD, 2-3x Strength

Did: mostly as scheduled, 4.48mi @ 9:13/mi avg (2:51.3 TT), plus 2x Strength

MM#4: 800m Time Trial

Friday

Scheduled: 5-7mi easy

Did: 5.05 @ 9:53/mi avg

Mmm. Today felt really nice. 49 degrees, light breeze, and absolutely no repeats, pace requirements, hills, or anything "extra" assigned-- just run. 

Saturday

Scheduled: 8-12mi long, 2-3xCore

Did: 6.13mi @ 9:50/mi avg, plus 3.74mi stroller walk

Swapped Sunday/Saturday because we'd planned on getting up and out early to go apple picking. The original plan was to do this as a family run, but I was wide awake at 4:30am and really itching to just get it done. That was SUCH a good plan. The kids ended up being sick and throwing all plans out the door :P I'm glad I got my run done ahead of all that chaos.

The five easy felt good. I ran a new route as a "special treat" (lol) and then finished out with the strides. I'm still certain I'm not doing these "right", despite watching videos and such... 

Also did nearly 4mi of stroller walking in the afternoon to help the the littlest calm down and sleep a bit. 

Sunday

Scheduled: 5-7mi easy + 6x100m strides (easy, med, med, med-fast, fast, med)

Did: 10.09mi @ 9:32/mi avg, 2x Core

Pretty sure I'm about to get sick with how my kiddos have been this weekend... Blergh. Glad today was an easy run day. Felt great during the entirety of our family ten miler, and even picked up the pace at the end. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 37.7

Week-ending Thoughts:

• I'm going to run a 6:00 mile. If it doesn't happen in two weeks at my trial, it will definitely happen soon. I feel so confident and so strong right now. 
• That said, my diet has sucked this and last week. Definitely need to get back on the veggie bandwagon and stop snacking on taco shells/banana bread. 
• Also, I really hope I don't get whatever my kids have. All the congestion.... :P 

Recovery Week

Week-beginning Thoughts:

It is REALLY, REALLY nice to sleep in. I have so much time if I don't run in the morning. I can sleep. I can do yoga. I can curl up in my reading nook with a book and a warm cup of coffee. I can sprawl out on my couch, ALONE. I can calmly make breakfast. I can DO WHATEVER I WANT. 

Also, my legs are definitely tired and sore. I should have gotten up and done yoga this morning instead of going back to sleep... but sleep was nice. :) 

I need to figure out what I'm doing this week. Part of me had wanted to take a week "off" from running (and by "off", I mean maaaaybe 20mi/week). But, we're super close to finishing the Great American 5000 relay, and are kind of "racing" another team... so that means mileage. 

My next Miler Method camp starts on September 7, three weeks. I think I'm going to try to get back to 25-30mpw of easy running in combination with a lifting/yoga program to prime myself. Decisions, decisions... 

Monday

Did: 2.11mi walk, yoga
Didn't get up in time for much yoga, but did opt into a lunch walk with my husband. My left calf (not the one from Saturday's incident) is a little sore today, but I'm otherwise feeling alright. 

Got yoga in post-dinner, felt super relaxed... and then had to snap back to reality rather abruptly. Ugh. 

Tuesday

Did: 30min yoga, 10KTuesday in 3.5mi@ 10:04/mi avg + 3.11mi @ 9:16/mi avg

Opted out of meeting up with anyone today in favor of: 1) sleeping in and 2) letting my calf rest a bit more. I got up around 5 and fit in a nice yoga session solo. That was really nice. Plus, I got to enjoy the post-yoga zen for a bit before the fam woke up. Ohhhhhmmmm. 

Wasn't sure I was going to run today, but my calf felt good, and the weather was PERFECT (like, cool enough that I wore a shirt, which was so weird). I did a 5K after kiddo drop-off, and then another one pre-dinner. Feeling good. 

Wednesday

Did: 30min yoga, 2mi walk, 2mi treadmill walk, 5K @ 8:17/mi avg, 1mi treadmill walk/run 

What a day. Another morning of sleeping in until 4:30am (BLISS), followed by yoga, and a post-drop-off walk before starting my work day. 

...and then my husband sounded the alarm. 

Our virtual cross-country relay team was in an intense race to the finish (for 11th place in our division... lol). We'd started the day 40mi ahead, but the other team was rapidly gaining. 

"20 miles to the finish line, we are up by ONE mile. This is gonna end today, on thing that's left is who's first," he posted in our team forum.

For the next hour, I had the most fun I've had this entire quarantine. Our team had a flurry of messages back and forth, with each of us trying to figure out how we could maximize our contributions for the rest of the day. The adrenaline was pumping, and the team spirit was exilierating. We had about half the team drop what they were doing and go run RIGHT THEN, updating each other on how many miles we planned to do, and locking them into the databse as soon as they were complete. I took a late lunch and busted out a faster-than-usual 5K run, feeling SO energized, like I was actually running a real relay race to the finish, with/for my team. It was awesome.

The flurry of messages seemed to indicate that, once my husband finished his 5, we'd be done. I drew a quick finish line on our street for him to cross, and grabbed our trusty cowbell to cheer him in.

...and then I looked at the tracking site. 

We'd been counting down miles to the next waypoint, i.e. the New York state line, NOT the actual finish line, which was about 25mi further.

...well, I feel a bit silly. 

So, we all had a great laugh about how we just exerted a ton of effort for... nothing. Haha.

...but then we re-doubled our efforts as a team later in the evening, with our guys carrying us through to the finish, running and walking until the wee hours of the night (well, 10pm-- that's late for us). 

We proudly finished 115th overall, and solidifed our 11th place division finish (pretty sweet since we were in the 12-person team division, but only had 9 on ours). 

Thursday

Did: 30min yoga, 30min strength training (21 Day Fix Extreme: Upper Fix Extreme), 4mi @ 9:03/mi avg

I am loving this sleep in + yoga week. :D Also treated myself to a weight lifting session over lunch, as a reward for staying so focused at work this morning. Weeee. 

Finished off the day with an easy 4mi (that was surprisingly fast) and celebratory Zoom call with Team Pink Elephants on Parade.

Friday

Did: 30min yoga, 1mi walk

Another morning of yoga, followed by a full day of work... then around the park with the kids.

Saturday

Did: 13.11mi @ 10:07/mi avg with the double stroller

I was solo with the kids today while my husband took some time off. When I asked my kids how far they wanted to run, and the older one said, "A HALF MARATHON", I didn't give it a second thought. I mean, I've been running 10mi every weekend without any issues since, like, March. What's another 5K? 

With a double stroller? A LOT. 

I haven't run more than about a 5K with the double for awhile, since my husband pushes the kids whenever we run as a family as a "pace equalizer". Today was a looooong run without him. We stayed entertained with singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "C is for Cookie", making up stories about a dinosaur and his family vacation across the Pacific Ocean, up to Russia, and up to the North Pole to search for Santa Claus. 

Had some calf issues during the run-- little sore spots that always went away within a tenth of a mile, but were still noticeable. Biggest "issue", though was the soreness I had in my wrists throughout the afternoon and evening post-run. I guess pushing 110+ pounds of stroller+stuff+kid is demanding.

Sunday

Did: 4mi hike

Opted for a family hike today instead of our normal Sunday Runday. This was a nice change of pace. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 26.9 (and I feel like such a slacker... lol)

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Starting my days with yoga and sleeping in has been really nice this week. I'm glad I gave myself the week "off" from morning runs. I missed them for sure, but it was a nice temporary change of pace
• I think I'm going to try to do 14 days of "21 Day Fix" from Beachbody over the next two weeks (until Miler Method starts back up). That'll give me something active to do each day, but also be more strength-training than cardio. I'll also try to get back on that container nutrition plan, since it worked out really well for how I felt before. 

5K Training: Week 11/12

Week-beginning Thoughts:

Wow, we're already at Week 11 of 12? This training cycle has gone really well. I feel like I've been working hard, but not so much that I'm consumed by running/training thoughts all the time, or having to modify my life to accommodate training. Opting to train for a 5K instead of a spring half was definitely the right call. 

Monday

Scheduled: rest
Did: rest

Tuesday

Scheduled: 10K w/strides
Did: 10KTuesday with 4xhill repeats= 6.35mi @ 9:49/mi avg, Big 2
Hooray for having training partners back! :D We had some nice easy miles to start (all really consistently around 9:40 after the WU mile), and then took off for the hills. I felt really fast and really strong up them, but my pace was "only" in the 7s for the ~150m or so of hill. Oh well, still felt like I had good form and got something out of it. 

Wednesday

Scheduled: XT
Did: 20min weights, 10min yoga
Heeeey, look at me, I'm doing something on Wednesdays! Special thanks to the littlest baby in our house for having a reasonable sleep schedule that facilitates this sort of thing. ;) 

Arms, chest, back, and then some hip-opener yoga

Thursday

Scheduled: 1mi WU, 5x1000(4:11)/400, 1mi CD
Did: rest
Felt kind of sick and opted out of working out. Got a 90min sports massage to deal with my IT tightness. Oof. Hurt so good.

Friday

Scheduled: 3-4mi easy
Did: 2mi @ 9:55/mi avg treadmill, Big 5
Felt a bit better from the sickness side of things, but my IT band was definitely feeling the effects of yesterday's massage. I decided to run, but just cut it to 2mi.

Saturday

Scheduled: 1mi WU, 3x2mi(16:00-16:30)/800, 1mi CD = 9.5mi
Did: 2mi WU, 5x1000(~4:30)/400, 2mi CD = 8.72mi @ 8:47/mi avg, Big 5, all-day chorus session
I had a lot of thoughts about what this workout could/should be. I knew I wanted some sort of "challenge" element, and that it probably ought to be on the speed side versus pure distance. I ended up choosing to do Thursday's workout, but parking further from our usual track parking to get extra mileage on the WU and CD. 

It was a cold morning- 28 degrees. The 2mi WU wasn't bad, and then it was just a matter of knocking off a series of (5)-2 1/2 laps with 1 lap in-between. Between my sore IT band, getting over a sickness, being tired, and the cold weather, I had plenty of excuses to lean on when it came to not "going for the gold" on my split times. Based on my indicator, I should've been running 4:11. I let myself not do that today and just went comfortably hard, which ended up shaking out to:

4:30, 4:31, 4:30, 4:28, and 4:27

Good. Enough. 

Stretched, showered, ate, and then set off for another full-day chorus coaching session with my adorable 20+ lb weight strapped on for seven hours.

Sunday

Scheduled: 4-5mi easy with stroller
Did: 5.02mi @ 9:54/mi avg with the double, Big 5

Couldn't figure out why my legs were so sore on a Sunday until my training partner noted she felt the same... due to speedwork on Saturday. Ohhhhh, yeah. River was flooded so our route was limited with the strollers- lots of out-and-backs, but we got our 5mi in. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 22.09

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Definitely does NOT feel like the last week of training before a race... There's no anxiety, excitement, or even confidence leading into this coming week. I think I've already "checked out" of Publix? Maybe it's because my IT band was acting up, or because I already had the performance I was hoping for at my time trial, but I'm just kind of in a "go with the flow" mood for my goal race. 

5K Training: Week 8/12

Week-beginning Thoughts:
Life feels busy. Time to find a way to slow down and smell the roses.

Monday

Scheduled: rest
Did: rest
There's nothing quite like going through your day still smelling the poop from when you changed your baby at 5:30am, despite washing your hands and arms six times. 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 6.3mi with hills
Did: 3.27mi WU @ 9:30/mi, 6x200m hills (<8:00/mi)/200m recovery, 2x200m hill (easier)/200m recovery, 1mi CD = 6.24mi @ 9:28/mi avg, Big 5
Pretty solid workout here. 

Wednesday

Scheduled: XT
Did: 20min strength training, 15min yoga
Baby slept until 4am, then got up for a quick change/feed before allowing me to get up and get a half-baked workout in before getting ready for work. :) Woo, look, ma, I cross-trained! 

with my cat

...and then, after work, I helped my older one practice on a pedal bike, which wrecked my back from all the hunching over to support him, but was super fun. :)

Thursday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 8x300(@ mile pace)/100m, 2mi CD
Did: 1mi WU, 8x300(@ mile pace)/100m, 1mi CD = 4.4mi @ 8: 49/mi avg, Big 5
Oh, man, am I feeling my arms/shoulders/back today! Ooooof.
Thought I only had a 1mi WU/CD when I got to the track-- oops.
Wasn't sure what I needed to hit for my 300m, but I'd had 67.5 in my head. 

#1- 68.5s
Whelp, there goes that... I think I might've let myself give up a little after this one. I didn't want to be push that hard, and it was easy to make excuses. 
         My back is sore. 

That has nothing to do with your legs, and, if you're not twisting, 

you shouldn't even feel your back too much.

       I have a time trial Saturday; I should take it easy. 

This workout was specifically given to me by an Olympian coach for

two days before my GOAL race one season. NO modifying necessary.

       I'm on my period. 

So what?

I didn't give up completely, but didn't push myself to where I needed in order to get the most out of this workout. I showed up, and that was about it.

#2- 70.5
#3- 70.3
#4- 72.6
#5- 73.8
#6- 75.2
#7- 75.1
#8- 72.6

Friday

Scheduled: 3-4mi easy
Did: 3.0mi on treadmill @ 9:49/mi avg, Big 5
It throws my whole day when I don't just run first thing after waking up. I "only" waited until 6am, but it was still so hard to stop what I was doing and run after I'd gotten started with my day.

Saturday

Scheduled: 2mi WU, 5K Time Trial, 2mi CD
Did: 7.11mi total @ 8:53/mi avg, Big 5
Race Report

Sunday

Scheduled: 4-5mi easy with stroller
Did: 5.0mi with double stroller @ 9:50/mi avg, Big 2
Definitely felt a lot better than the day after a PR should have :) In fact, this felt just like every other Sunday Runday ever. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 25.75

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Loving what the tempo workouts have done for me :D 
• Looking forward to pushing hard over the next four weeks to see just what I can do at my goal race

5K Training: Week 5/12

Week-beginning Thoughts:
Lots of big changes this week.... first full week of work in six months, first week at a new school for my oldest kid, first week back at chorus after holiday break... I'm just trying to keep on top of it all.

Squad Goals

Monday

Scheduled: rest
Did: 10min of yoga
Took a few moments to just breathe this morning. 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 6.3, hills

Did: 6.6mi @ 10:11/mi avg (4xhills), Big 2

Incorporated three repeats (4x up the hill total) of a monster hill just off our typical 10KTuesday route. No speedwork on it-- just getting up the hill running was enough of a workout for today. 

120' of gain in 0.34mi = beastly

Also went to chorus in the evening-- first rehearsal back after December's holiday break. SO nice to be there, but, man, did I crash HARD when I got home... Fortunately, my husband took the overnight wake-up with the baby. Unfortunately, my phone died overnight and my alarm didn't go off... 

Wednesday

Scheduled: XT

Did: 5min of HA yoga in the evening...
Today was, yet again, proof that, if I don't workout before my family wakes up, I don't work out. 

Thursday

Scheduled: 1.5mi WU, 6x200(0:44)/200m, 1.5mi CD

Did: as scheduled,  4.66mi total @ 9:23/mi avg, Big 5

Incredible night of sleep (thanks, littlest baby!) = up at 3am of my own volition for some personal email catch-up, and then off to the track for a workout. 

It was a little weird to have more than a mile of warm-up/cool-down, but I definitely needed it for this sprint workout. 

Splits:
0:42.0
0:44.8
0:42.4
0:43.6
0:42.4
0:42.5

All solidly in range (esp when you consider the lag in crossing the line and stopping my watch). I had mental trouble keeping my core engaged with such a hard speed effort, but thought this was a good workout. 

Friday

Scheduled: 4mi easy

Did:

Since I'm doing Friday runs on the comfort of my own treadmill, which is a great pace-regulator, I decided to switch this from a pure easy run to a little bit of a tempo. On Thursday, I had the following in mind:

What? You don't make Excel tables with unit conversions for your workouts?
Why not?

...but I didn't end up doing that. I was too tired to motivate myself to do anymore than just get ON the treadmill, so, instead, I did:

1mi @ 6mph
1mi @ 6.2mph
1mi @ 6.4mph
0.75mi @ 7mph
0.25mi @ 6.2mph

Saturday

Scheduled: 12mi fartlek

Did: 12.08mi (2mi WU, 8mi fartlek, 2mi CD) @ 9:23/mi avg, Big 5, 1K with kid

This run was mentally really hard. My training partner and I agreed to do this fartlek thing visual-style, with each of us calling out a landmark and pace so we had an idea of how far/long we'd do each interval. Due to a hillacious route, we decided to give ourselves 2mi warm-up , and then we began random sprint, tempo, slight-push, and easy intervals. 

After about 2mi of this, I 'felt like we'd gone muuuuuuuuuch further than we'd actually gone. So, maybe having the first fartlek in forever be part of a double digit run wasn't the brightest idea... 

We made it through a total of eight miles with the fartlek style, and then agreed that two miles of cool-down was appropriate. :)

Sunday

Scheduled: 4-5mi easy

Did: 4.35mi with double stroller @ 9:46/mi, Big 5

This run felt hard to start (t's been awhile since I've run with the double), but ended up feeling alright. Definitely glad to have had a shake out run after yesterday's fartlek.

Total Weekly Mileage: 31.69

Week-ending Thoughts:

I am so glad that I'm "just" training for a 5K. After my first week of full-time work + kids + training + chorus, I really feel like I'm at about the max that I can reasonably handle. I don't feel overwhelmed or overloaded on any front, and I'm glad to be able to keep it that way, while still feeling like I'm training. 

I think this year is going to be "the year of the short distance race" (though, TBH, that'll probably be every year until my kids are grown enough to not need me much on the weekends... lol). 

Game plan:

• February 1: Hearts and Soles 5K-- Time Trial
• March 1: Publix 5K- Goal 5K
• March 2-April 10: no real training
• April 11: Revive my six-week Miler Method training plan
• June 20: Atlanta Road Mile- Goal Mile
• July 4: Peachtree Road Race- Fun run
• July 9-11: USATF Masters Outdoor National Track and Field Championships
• August-October: focus on Sweet Adelines (international show chorus competition), keep up runs for run
• October 25: Alpharetta Women's Half Marathon, with baby in stroller- break 2:00
• November: Atlanta Lab Rescue 5K- competitive showing
• November 26: Thanksgiving Race of sorts- fun run
• December: maybe find a fast Christmas 5K 

Atlanta Marathon Training: Week 17/18

Week-beginning Thoughts:

What? Taper week already?!?! I guess all I needed to distract me from marathon training was a wretched virus that had me down for about a week, another major and unforeseen derailment from "how I always thought my life would be" to cope with, grieve for, and start the long process of "getting over", and a national track meet. 

Monday

Scheduled: rest

Did: 1.0mi on treadmill @ 10:00/mi, 2mi @ 9:07/mi
I took today off from work to recovery from the track meet (we got back super late last night), and it seems like a shame to waste an opportunity for a daytime run. Of course, laundry, grocery shopping, getting kid back, and all sorts of other "adulting" took over my day and I found myself still in need of some miles at 5pm.... so I got one mile done on the 'mill and then another two outside. 

Fun fact: actually using your arms while running evidently makes you run faster

...so does dressing inappropriately and being freaking cold for your entire two mile run. 

Tuesday

Scheduled: 6.3mi

Did: 6.3mi @ 10:23/mi avg
Wow, I can't believe there's only one more weekend between me and the marathon! Today's run was tough. My body is tired, and I'm starting to experience some not-so-fun symphysis pubis diastasis (not enough to stop, but enough that I'm starting to notice it occasionally). Blergh. 

Wednesday

Scheduled: 3mi easy

Did: rest

Especially with how work has been (in, y'know, the DAY I've been back), I'm glad to have had a rest day. :) 

Thursday

Scheduled: 1mi WU, 3xmile/400, 1mi CD

Did: as scheduled, 6mi @ 9:18/mi avg
As much as I love me some mile repeats, I was scared about this workout. My legs have been tired since the meet (I think that might be the first stretch of five consecutive running days, especially HARD running days, that I've done this cycle?), and the idea of maintaining that 8min/mi pace for my last speedworkout of the cycle was intimidating.

On the bright side, weather was ideal: 30 degrees, no wind. 

On the down side, I felt so slow and incapable going up our YMCA warm-up hill that I'm certain I would have been faster walking it. 

elevation chart on the track portion is obviously wrong.... 

"At least the track will be flat," joked my training partner. 

"Preach, girl."

The track was flat, but I still worried about keeping the pace. I decided to just focus on hitting each lap in 2:00, and see how I felt. I made it through the first mile in 7:50, and instantly had more confidence. I jogged the 400 recovery, took a water break, and headed back to the line for round 2. This was more challenging. I really tried to focus on my arms, something I've always struggled with (and, honestly, not paid much mind to), and think that helped carry me through to a 7:47 finish. 

One. More. Mile. 

One more mile at an 8:00, and you'll have gone the ENTIRE marathon training cycle hitting an 8:00 (or better) pace for every speedwork interval. While growing a tiny human. This is what unicorns are made of. 

Final mile: 7:44. 

So proud. So very proud.

Friday

Scheduled: strength + yoga

Did: yoga
Had you noticed something missing from all my runs this week? Like, idk, the "Big 5" or any variant of stretching... Yeah, legs were definitely not loose this morning, and I got myself up to do some serious stretching/yoga. We're one week out from packet pickup, and I need to focus on some self-care for sure. 

Saturday

Scheduled: 15mi easy

Did: 15.03mi @ 10:26/mi avg, Big 5, foam rolling
Lots and lots of thoughts during this run. I planned a route that took me through one of my favorite first long run routes, that holds great memories not only from marathon training seasons past, but also my first training cycle with Atlanta Track Club. It was hilly, but not crazy hilly. I'm really happy to have conquered so many hills on my runs this cycle, and even more pleased with how manageable they've felt. Publix is a hilly course, but I feel ready for it. 

today's route

I felt good throughout the run. It was the sort of day where I didn't want to do another half marathon at the end of it, but I felt like I could have: exactly where I ought to be un-tapered, one week out. By the last 3-5mi, my feet were definitely tired, and I worry a little about getting "marathon legs" around mile 20 next week, but, hey, I'll be running a marathon, so that's kind of to be expected, right? 

Came home, was treated to bacon/eggs/toast by my amazingly supportive family, and then enjoyed power walking another mile along the river while my munchkin bicycled. I can't believe the taper really starts now!

Sunday

Scheduled: 4mi easy

Did: nada
Sick kid = no running for mama. I suppose I could have done some treadmill miles while the munchkin slept, but I wasn't feeling 100% myself either. This close to the marathon, I decided it was much better for me to let my body focus its energy on staying healthy instead of logging miles. 

Total Weekly Mileage: 30.34

Week-ending Thoughts:

• Really, really hope that I don't catch whatever my kiddo has and wind up with a 102 degree fever this week...