life

Rituals // 5 on a Friday

October 4, 2019

Dare I say . . . I rather miss the morning ritual of writing here every day? It actually doesn’t take all that much time and fits nicely into my morning routine. On weekdays, that is. I am reminded of Gretchen Rubin’s writings about the appeal of doing something every day versus the more nebulous “sometimes”.

(On weekends, writing here doesn’t fit very naturally into my day! I think that’s where my streak stretched me the most.)

Anyway, hi. I just started Atomic Habits by James Clear and can already glean that he thinks along the same lines as I do about rituals, habits, and planning (I love all of those things, for the most part).

1- I sort of want to train for a half marathon. There is a very local race that is likely to have lovely January weather (hey, it’s South Florida). This would be my first half in ~3 years, and I do not expect a PR, but I miss having something to train for!

I would probably aim to run 4x/week and continue 2-3x with my Beachbody sessions. The main difference in my workouts would be slightly lengthening some of my runs & doing a longer run each weekend (or on a weekday on a day off). If anyone has a favorite low key training plan they’d like to share (with room for strength/cross-training), I’d love to see it!

2- On that note, I think this will be the month that I finally buy new running shoes (and probably some sports bras & socks) this month! IT IS TIME. I believe my current pair is from 2017. Which is ridiculous. They are good shoes (Asics Gel Nimbus) but no running shoes last that long! I have had this fantasy of going to a local running store and next week might be my week to finally do that. Exciting!

3- Recent blog posts I have enjoyed:

4- TV vs books. I am realizing that it is very hard to keep up with favorite TV shows (even if there are only 1-2 that I am really interested in!) AND read. There is mostly just room in my life for one of the two, save for random periods of binge-watching (ie, during a weekend away). For the most part, I am preferring books right now.

But I do want to catch up on This Is Us and watch more of Schitt’s Creek!

5Sickness update. On the very positive side, there was NO further vomiting in our household after Cameron’s very bad night! He is 100% better. On the down . . . G has yet another (new) cold. Ready for these (slightly OCD) stats?

January – June – Genevieve had 10 total days of a runny nose / URI symptoms. This is actually lower than average for a toddler! Life was great!

July 1 – Oct 4 – She had cold symptoms 7/1 – 7/9, 7/14 – 7/18, 8/5 – 8/8, 8/17 – 8/18, 8/25 – 9/26 (literally an entire month of a running nose), and now is sick with what seems like a new virus. Throughout most of this she is happy, active, and thriving — so I do not think we are missing some complex underlying issue or a pneumonia or secondary infection. BUT OMG THAT IS A LOT OF SNOT! My hope is that if we make it through this school year, she will be equipped with basically every antibody from here to kingdom come and NO ONE will ever be sick in our house again. Right!?

Also, a note to those who have kids that frequently vomit – I feel very grateful that mine do not. (At least, that has been the trend until now). But we seem to have the market cornered on URIs . . .

I use the “yearly planner” section of the Hobonichi as a family health tracker. I also throw PMS/periods on there in my column! I do actually like seeing this data. For example, actually seeing that G was actually very rarely sick from January to July makes me feel better about what is going on right now. It gives me hope that we’ll have another break from the viral load in the future.

6- One extra item. KK, Josh’s grandmother (and basically an honorary grandmother to me, since I have known her since 2002) — is very sick, likely to pass very soon. She is 94 and an amazingly creative, stylish, and spunky human being.

4th of July 2017
Halloween 2016

She had a beautiful life and brought forth an amazing family into this world — 4 children, 9 grandchildren & 13 great grandchildren by my count. I feel so lucky that my kids were able to know their great grandmother. We will miss her.

16 Comments

  • Reply Caitlin October 4, 2019 at 6:33 am

    How do you like Beachbody? I’ve been considering getting a membership (you need one for any program there, right?) so that I can do the 80 day obsession one, but I’m interested in thoughts from someone who isn’t currently a Beachbody coach.

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger October 4, 2019 at 7:01 am

      I really like the workouts. I don’t buy any of the supplements or follow any of the diet/nutrition pieces. The workouts are super convenient and seem like a very good deal for what you get. I love Autumn Calabrese!

  • Reply LuLou October 4, 2019 at 9:08 am

    Hal Higdon does a great low key half training program…. http://www.halhigdon.com/training-programs/half-marathon-training/novice-2-half-marathon/

  • Reply Anna October 4, 2019 at 9:47 am

    I’m training for a half marathon (Hal Higdon plan) and am still trying to fit in my strength workouts. Are you planning to workout every day? (4 runs, 2-3 strength days). Good luck!

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger October 4, 2019 at 11:11 am

      I was thinking maybe doubling one day (short run). I never work out 7 days :). 5-6 is realistic for me but 7 is not

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger October 4, 2019 at 11:14 am

      And thinking about that some more I think it’s unlikely. So maybe 3-4 runs and 2-3 strength 🙂

  • Reply Lisa of Lisa's Yarns October 4, 2019 at 9:55 am

    Glad no one else got hit with the puking. I would say our son is definitely a puker. He had several stomach bugs from 10-16 months. I dealt with SO MUCH PUKE and with a baby/toddler you get absolutely no warning. I got 2 of his stomach bugs. Sometimes he only puked once so I don’t know if that was a bug or if something didn’t agree with him? I’d say I am kind of a puker, too, so he must get it from me. My husband hasn’t puked at all so I’m the lucky one who gets his germs! Yay mom.

    Exciting that you are going to train for a 1/2. I’d love to return to that distance. Or running in general! Ha. I used to be a runner (ran several halfs and 4 full marathons). Since having our son, I don’t run at all… I just have the hardest time fitting it in as we leave the house at 6:50, get home at 5 and are busy with our son until he goes to bed at 7pm. So I’d either have to run at 5am or 8pm and neither is appealing to me in this stage of life. But someday hopefully I’ll be a runner again! For now, I am a walker as we take lots of stroller walks, most as a family which I love! I’m satisfied with my weight so I guess it’s working for now. I’m reminding myself that this is a season of life and things can/will change down the road when we are out of the demanding baby/toddler stage!

  • Reply Lou October 4, 2019 at 10:02 am

    I’ve just subscribed to your blog so I’m really enjoying the more frequent posts popping into my email inbox so I can enjoy them at my leisure. Thanks for enabling this! I was reading via feedly before but I’m trying to be more mindful with my screen-time and collating stuff into one place reduces mindless scrolling behaviour a little. Really love your blog – I’m a mum of 3 and an emergency physician in the UK. It’s so interesting to see the many parallels and the big differences in our respective lives. You are quite inspirational you know! I have a blog, of sorts, but it’s a medical education number. Sorely tempted to start a family/life one too but slight, vague, privacy concerns for the kids, and more worried it’ll be yet more on the to-do list!

  • Reply Edith October 4, 2019 at 10:18 am

    So sorry to hear about Josh’s grandmother! Thinking of you and your family in these final days <3

  • Reply omdg October 4, 2019 at 10:22 am

    A few thoughts — I think you could do 1/2 marathon training by continuing your current routine (not even lengthening your weekday runs), with the addition of a long run on the weekend. You probably don’t even need to go above 10 miles for your longest run in order to make it through the 1/2 in decent shape. When I ran a half I had never run more than 9 miles, was running 2 days per week, and cross training on three other days. Granted, I was 24. But I think your overall fitness is good enough that you could get away with minimal training.

    Having had a child was SO helpful to my immune system. I still do get frequent colds, but they seem much less severe than what my childless colleagues have gotten (knock on wood). We are also quite lucky to have avoided recurrent gastro. There is little that is worse than vomiting. Ugh. So, bright side? This too shall pass. Dyl was sick ALL THE TIME at that age as well.

    I don’t really have time for TV OR books. Well, maybe if I spent less time on the internet, but then I feel like I should be studying instead. I read a couple of books you recommended (Kitchens of the Midwest and one other I think, Little Fires Everywhere? — and they were both good). I kind of want to read Jennifer Egan’s book Manhattan Beach. And Maybe The Hate U Give and Station Eleven. AHHH!!! So many books, so little time! Are you doing paper or kindle these days?

    And finally, I am so sorry to hear about your kids’ GGM being ill. You guys are lucky to have so much living family. My last GM died when I was 14. So glad your kids have gotten to know her!

    Happy Friday!

  • Reply Sue October 4, 2019 at 12:37 pm

    Glad you enjoyed my day in the life! =p Yes on books rather than TV…for me in this stage, I often have to choose whether to watch TV or read as I can’t squeeze in enough sleep and do both at night. Currently reading “Leaving the Witness” and really enjoying it. Sending love to your family and Josh’s GGM.

  • Reply Caitlin October 4, 2019 at 1:41 pm

    I did the Disney half marathon training a few years ago–I think it was designed by Jeff Galloway. It’s free and my sister-in-law recommended it. It’s only three runs a week and you only do a long(er) run every other week on the weekend–so you run three miles two days a week every week, then three miles on a weekend run; the next weekend you’d run 4 miles, then back to three; then five miles, then back to three, and so on. I think the most you’d run is 11 miles.

    I also generally prioritize books over TV, and can’t keep up with both. We usually have one or two shows going but are fine with taking a long time to get through a series. This is partly also because there’s only a hour and a half difference between my daughter’s bedtime and mine 🙂

    I’m so sorry to hear about Josh’s grandmother–she sounds (and looks!) like such a fascinating person.

  • Reply Ana October 4, 2019 at 2:25 pm

    I agree with OMDG, I don’t think you’ll have to do much more to build up to a half, since you’ve always been running. Yes, I cannot keep up with both books and TV, and I usually prioritize books

    • Reply Laura Vanderkam October 5, 2019 at 3:36 pm

      Another +1 here to you not needing to follow a plan if you don’t care about your time. You could probably run a half tomorrow, given your fitness level. My husband ran a half in september based solely on extending a weekend run. If you can do 5 now, do 7 next week, 9 next, 10-11 after that and you’re good. I think he ran like 1-2 times during the week, 2-3 miles.

  • Reply Megan October 4, 2019 at 2:45 pm

    How do you keep up with training, work, family and other obligations during PMS

  • Reply Arden October 4, 2019 at 4:24 pm

    Love KK. She looks like a hoot! I love the pics of my parents with my son wearing whatever hat/costume he wanted. They were always good sports.

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