{"id":491,"date":"2013-10-03T20:12:26","date_gmt":"2013-10-03T20:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=491"},"modified":"2013-10-03T22:27:26","modified_gmt":"2013-10-03T22:27:26","slug":"kidney-infections-and-karaoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=491","title":{"rendered":"Kidney Infections and Karaoke"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a whirlwind week since I last posted.\u00a0 Last Thursday, I had to knock out my last long run before the Chicago Marathon.\u00a0 Why run 20 miles on a Thursday, you ask.\u00a0 Well, because I needed to get it done before a crazy busy weekend full of fun activities.<\/p>\n

So, Thursday afternoon, I finished up at work around 2pm, did some long run prep and headed out into the hottest part of the entire week to conquer 20 miles.\u00a0 I ran from the back door of the store and headed out through the flats of Chesterfield, just to keep things simple.\u00a0 I ran to the Spirit of St. Louis Airport, and back to the store, with a couple of detours, to make it moderately interesting.\u00a0 I knocked out 11 miles with ease, swung by the store again\u00a0to use\u00a0the potty and a quick water bottle refill.\u00a0 Back out on the levee for 3 more, then back into the store for some sports beans.\u00a0 And back out into Chesterfield valley with a final stretch up Baxter to meet Nick who was running from home to meet me for a couple miles before social run started.\u00a0 As I suspected he was on what we affectionately refer to as \u201cNick time\u201d, ie-he was late.\u00a0 I kept running, getting farther and farther from the store.\u00a0 Typically not a big deal, but I had to be back to lead social run.\u00a0 After reaching the top of a hill and still no sign of Nick, I gave up and turned around.\u00a0 A few minutes later, I checked over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of him in a full sprint trying to catch me.\u00a0 I waited.\u00a0 He caught me.\u00a0 Then he had to catch his breath.\u00a0 I was out of fluids.\u00a0 We were about 2 miles from the store and I needed to be there.\u00a0 Soon.\u00a0 So we started back down the hill to the valley, we were cruising.\u00a0 That last mile was faster than my race pace and considerably faster than the pace I\u2019d been holding for the first 18.\u00a0 We hit the back door of Fleet Feet at exactly 20.5 miles.\u00a0 Nothing like hearing your Garmin announce 20 miles and have to keep running really, really fast.\u00a0 I was tired.\u00a0 Even my ipod was tired, since it started shorting out.<\/p>\n

But, no time to cool down.\u00a0 The social runners were starting to gather.\u00a0 At 6:30, I sent the runners off toward the levee, while Steve and I brought up the rear.\u00a0 I only managed a very slow 1.25 out, and then the return trip.\u00a0 I topped off at 23 miles.\u00a0 Then, put on some dry clothes and went for pizza with the crew.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The social run crew. This is how we celebrate a good run!<\/p><\/div>\n

I was planning to sleep well Thursday night.\u00a0 Then I was going to get up and leisurely get ready to meet Farrell and the rest of the bridesmaids at the spa to get ready for her wedding weekend.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the discomfort I had woken up with on Thursday, turned to excruciating pain on my whole left side by Friday morning.\u00a0 I knew an early trip to the doctor was in order.\u00a0 Come to find out, I ran that whole 23 miles while my body was trying to fight off a kidney infection.\u00a0 My body gave a valiant effort, but ultimately, the infection won.\u00a0 I got some antibiotics and sucked it up to get through the Friday festivities of BBQ, rehearsal and Cubs\/Cards game.<\/p>\n

\"Celebrating<\/a>

Celebrating Linds and Ryan, and all the adventure ahead of them! (I’m still going to call her Farrell, even if its not her last name anymore!)<\/p><\/div>\n

I got back to the hotel around midnight and crashed!\u00a0 By Saturday morning, I was a new woman, and I was ready to party!\u00a0 Which is exactly what I did.\u00a0 I spent Saturday celebrating Lindsey and Ryan\u2019s wedding.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t be happier for them, I was honored to stand with them on their day and I can\u2019t wait to see what adventures await them in their life together.<\/p>\n

\"#Bestbridesmaidsever\"<\/a>

#Bestbridesmaidsever<\/p><\/div>\n

On Sunday, I spent a beautiful afternoon at the winery with friends celebrating my birthday.\u00a0 The celebration continued at the biker bar in Defiance.\u00a0 My memory got a little fuzzy at that point, so I don\u2019t know what time it was exactly when I was sleeping comfortably in my bed. \u00a0I slept for a long, long time.\u00a0 With the exception of a trip to the kitchen for water somewhere in the middle of the night, I pretty much stayed in bed until about 10am on Monday.\u00a0 I allowed myself the excuse not to run that I was still recovering from a23 mile run + kidney infection. <\/i>I made it to work on time Monday afternoon in good spirits.\u00a0 And Monday night I was at it again since Katrina bought me a birthday drink at midnight to celebrate that I am officially 29\u2026again.<\/p>\n

I was planning to run Tuesday morning, but I had some unforeseen things come up and by the time I finished up with some stuff at the kids\u2019 school, it was time for my birthday massage.\u00a0 The therapist informed me afterward that my glutes were a mess.\u00a0 Yeah, like I hadn\u2019t noticed.\u00a0 Then I was off to lunch with Steve before my mom got to town and we picked up the kids for my G-rated birthday party.<\/p>\n

Overall, it was a good weekend.\u00a0 And a great birthday.\u00a0 Last night I got an email from Teri with a great quote, \u201cLet the rest of your days be the best of your days\u201d.\u00a0 Which is exactly how I intend to live, from here on out.<\/p>\n

I finally got out for a run this morning after dropping the kids at school.\u00a0 I got my Garmin set, hit play on my ipod and was ready to go.\u00a0 After that massage yesterday, my muscles were loose and I felt like I was flying.\u00a0 Except for just one thing.\u00a0 Remember that short in my ipod?\u00a0 Almost as soon as I started running, I realized that I could only hear the instrumental music, no lyrics.\u00a0 I got occasional backup singers.\u00a0 But the lead singer was nowhere to be found.\u00a0 Well, shoot.\u00a0 What do I do with that? \u00a0I guess I need some new earbuds. \u00a0I decided to keep it playing and see what happened.<\/p>\n

I quickly realized, it was a little like karaoke.\u00a0 I knew all the words to the songs.\u00a0 Or most of them anyway.\u00a0 And the ones I didn\u2019t know, I made them up.\u00a0 (My apologies to anyone on the path along 109 who happened to catch an earful of my out-of-breath attempt at singing)\u00a0 At one point, I even heard a song that Cole and I sang at Charlie\u2019s one night when a bunch of Fleet Feet-ers went out to visit Eric at one of his last rounds as karaoke DJ.\u00a0 Man I miss those nights!<\/p>\n

It occurred to me, each day is sort of like singing karaoke.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got people in the background that can help enhance each day, singing backup if you will.\u00a0 And we get to fill in the words however they go.\u00a0 Even with a general guide to follow, we can still mess up.\u00a0 And then we can laugh at ourselves, take a deep breath and get back on track.\u00a0 Sometimes we sound really good, other times not so much.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, we get to choose the type of music that sets the tone of each day.\u00a0 I was stuck in something that sounded like a dirge for a really long time, then my life resembled something more like angry chick music (Alanis Morissette, anyone?) But now I prefer upbeat songs that tell a good story.<\/p>\n

Coincidentally, the last song playing when I got to the end of my run, was the song that Silas asked me to sing to him last night when I put him to bed.\u00a0 It\u2019s a song we have sung to each other often over the past couple years, and it\u2019s somewhat reflective of my birthday wish to make the rest of my days the best of my days.<\/p>\n

\u2026when we struggle and it all goes wrong, only you can make it right, so I say\u2026I\u2019m learning to be the light.<\/i><\/p>\n

I hope the song my soul sings each day always reflects happiness, positivity and joy.\u00a0 I have a lot to celebrate going into this next year of my life.\u00a0 I just completed a year of tremendous progress and I am continuing to grow on a daily basis.\u00a0 I\u2019m proud of the person I\u2019ve become and who I continue to evolve into.\u00a0 I\u2019ve accomplished a lot and I know that I can conquer anything in my path.\u00a0 I\u2019m only getting better with age because I\u2019m learning to be the light.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s to the year ahead!<\/p>\n

\"Mile<\/a>

Mile 22 of 23 on Thursday. One of the reasons I love to run.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a whirlwind week since I last posted.\u00a0 Last Thursday, I had to knock out my last long run before the Chicago Marathon.\u00a0 Why run 20 miles on a Thursday, you ask.\u00a0 Well, because I needed to get it done before a crazy busy weekend full of fun activities. So, Thursday afternoon, I finished […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-7V","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":500,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions\/500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}