A Morning In The Life of Me

So my writing has taken a nose dive in the last couple of months. I'm a morning person and enjoy the solace of a quiet cup of coffee and being up before the kids. It turns out that with my life on the road I also enjoy sleeping in until the kids wake me up. Since I'm most motivated to write in the morning it's tough for me to write when my kids are awake. It usually goes a little like this...

"Hi mom! I missed you!" - says Ty (2)

Me thinking: Having kids is so great. What a sweetie.

"I want cereal!" - Ty

"Ok, let me pee first"

"Cereal! Cereal! Cereal!" Ty

"Just a minute."

"I. Want. Cereal. Now!"

Me thinking: Oh my god, kid. Seriously, have a little patience.

In reality: "I have to put my contacts in then I'll give you some cereal."

"Cereal! I want cereal!"...getting increasingly louder. Apparently, my kids have no inside voice.

"Ty, please be quiet. Reese and Stephanie (niece) are sleeping. I don't want to wake them up"

Sidenote: Reese without his sleep is like the Predator. Only I can't cover myself to hide.

"No! Aaah! Cereal!"

Internally: This kid is so annoying.

Furiously putting in my contacts, hoping I haven't awakened the beast I rush out to pour his cereal. Phew! Disaster averted. Nobody woke up.

"Feed me!"

"Ty, you can feed yourself."

"No! You! Feed! Me!"

"No, if you want to eat, you can feed yourself!"

Internally: Why did I have kids again?

"Fine, I'll feed you."

Sound of a creaking door. Oh no! Reese is awake. Do a quick eye scan trying to assess his mood. I think we're ok.

Reese shuffles to the couch with his blanket wrapped around him. The blanket is an on going battle for me. Since we live in a 34' travel trailer space is limited. Reese likes to drag the blanket around and behind him therefore, taking down everything in his path. Items he has taken down include: a cup of water, wine glass which he broke, a box of crackers, papers and various items laying around.

"Reese, can you put a shirt on and put your blanket back on your bed."

"Uuuh!"

Internally: That's not good. When he refuses the English language I know it's going to be a rough morning/day ahead. Some battles aren't worth fighting so I let this one go.

"I'm hungry!" - Reese

"Ok, what would you like to eat?

"I'm hungry!"

"You can have a banana, cereal or yogurt."

"I want a cookie"

"No cookies for breakfast."

"Cookie!"

"You are not having a cookie. Eat something healthy first then we'll talk."

"No!"

This is only 10 minutes into the start of my day. Think of an escape plan. What errands do I need to run. I can leave the kids with Jason, right? No, he'll see right through my plan. Think more creatively. Fake an injury? No, then I can't run.

Well, you get the point. Kids keep you busy and I can't complain. Traveling around the U.S. has been in a word: awesome!

Having the ability to see places I've only read about in person has been even better than I could have imagined. The ability to share that with my children has been something I know they will always remember. Kids are just annoying at times and it doesn't matter where your location is. At least I've had the benefit of going to some really cool places. My writing has diminished but that will ebb and flow.

I have some great races coming up and wanted to highlight a few of them:

• Tough Mudder! Huge shout out to Vanessa Runs for hooking me up on this one. I have wanted to run one of these races for a while but hadn't gotten around to it. I've only done one "obstacle" race and it turned out to be less obstacle and more flat trails with one mud pit at the end. It wasn't what I thought it would be and I look forward to pushing and testing myself at this race.

• Way Too Cool 50k - like the name it takes place in Cool, California. I entered the lottery to get into this race along with my badass friend Krista. We had hoped to both get entered and only I got chosen. I felt kind of bad because it was her idea and I was the one picked. This race promises: breathtaking trails, spirited aid stations, amazing views and pure fun!

• Rodeo Valley 50k - This 50k takes place a week after Way Too Cool and since I couldn't run with Krista at that event, I'll be running Rodeo Valley with her, Pablo, Vanessa and Shacky. We're all piling into Pablo's home and basically invading his life with our shenanigans and alcohol consumption.

• Pineland Farms 50k - This race takes place in Maine and I'll also be running with a group of friends. Trisha (who we coerced into signing up), Brad (also taunted him into signing up), Heather, Karen and more that I'm surely missing.

• Big Horn 50 miler - Jason is running the 100 mile race in Wyoming. This is a mountain race and the logistics will be a hassle but I couldn't resist begin able to run as well. Jason will round up a few crew members to assist him. His race starts the day before mine and we'll most likely end up finishing both our respective races at around the same time.

• Grand Mesa 100 miler - This is a grassroots race. Grassroots = small. Last year 13 people started the race and 6 finished. We're working on getting Jesse to sign up and run it with us to make it a party with some running thrown in :) The elevation profile is crazy but I cannot wait to run this!
  
  
  
• Pumpkin Holler 100 miler - I met a special lady when I ran Bandera 100k and I'm am lucky enough to run this race with her in her home state of Oklahoma. Jason will be crewing and pacing us again along with anyone else we can round up to help out. It looks like it will be run during fall colors and be on a beautiful course.
  

I feel very fortunate to have such a great line up of races to look forward to in 2012!