My grandsons (and their parents) live about two hours away. We usually see them every two or three months, more in the summer because they live in Huntington Beach and it’s so much cooler there. Because of the pandemic, until this weekend we hadn’t seen them since Christmas. They came out to the desert this week because one of my grandsons was playing in a golf tournament. So, finally, family!
When people live so close, you tend to take it for granted that you can see them at any time. Sometimes that means a few months go by but you don’t realize it because they are, after all, just a couple of hours away. My youngest son lives here in the desert and I haven’t seen him since Christmas either!
Alan and I have been very careful during this pandemic. We wear our masks. We don’t go to very many places. I was back to work for a while, which made me nervous, but now I’m home again. We haven’t been out to eat or even picked up dinner to-go aside from Subway. But we really wanted to see our grandsons.
Finally, Family
Finally family! We got a chance to spend some time with family last week. That, plus the week in workouts. #running #weeklyrundownClick To TweetSo on Thursday, Alan picked up the grandson who was competing and his friend and drove them to the golf tournament about 30 minutes away. He wore a mask. The boys didn’t, though they had to when they teed off. And because he is so nervous about having family watch him play, he had Alan drop him off (and drive all the way home) letting his mother pick them up when he was done.
On Friday we were invited to their place in Palm Desert. We picked up some Thai food (first time in almost six months!) on our way over. I admit. I was a little nervous. That was the day it was 120 degrees, so even in the evening, it was too hot to eat outside. We kept our masks on until it was time to eat (though I slipped mine up to enjoy the cocktail my daughter-in-law made for me). We put the masks back on right after dinner, we washed our hands frequently and kept as much distance as we could.
Still, there’s that little voice in the back of my head. Our family lives in Orange County, one of the hotspots of the COVID virus in California. They’re kids. They are not as strict about prevention as we are. I hope we didn’t blow it. Two days out and I’m feeling fine though, so fingers are crossed.
My feeling about this are another reminder of how this pandemic has changed things. Has changed me. How long will it before I don’t have these questions in the back of my mind? And how long will it be before I can give my grandsons a hug and a kiss?
It was great to see family finally though. The kids are getting so tall! They’re 15 years old and shooting up like beanstalks (is that the right simile?). I had a great time chatting with my DIL. It was fun to actually do something on a weekend! I hope it won’t be another six months before we see them again.
Back to Work? Sort of.
I was informed that my fitness center will be offering online classes starting next week. We have training on Thursday. It will be kind of weird because I will be going into work which is currently closed. I have a key to let myself in. Then I’ll set up my class in our group exercise room, teach my Lifestretch class, then go. It will only be one class a week because it’s our offseason, but who knows what the fall will bring or when we’ll be able to open up again, so there’s a possibility it could expand to two or three times a week at some point. At least I’ll be working a little (and stretching a little too)!
The Week in Workouts
The heat has been intense this week, including an increase in humidity on Saturday that put a kibosh on my long run. Our high temperatures have been between 117 and 122! I don’t run at that time, of course, but lows in the 90s don’t encourage a lot of outdoor activity. I decided about halfway through the week that it would be a cutback week. Several of my workouts were shorter than planned because it was just too hot. I feel grateful that at least I got out there.
Monday
Monday is my running rest day but I was up early so I decided to take my TRX outside and try a workout there. It’s always good to #optoutside! I lasted two rounds before it got too hot and buggy.
I’ve been training a client via Zoom for about a week and I’ve found that if I do the exercises along with her it helps her understand the movement. Plus, since the connection frequently freezes up, it helps me keep track of her reps! She has limited equipment, so for her workout, we use bodyweight, kettlebells, bands, and a stability ball. She’s really loving it (and wondering why we didn’t do this before) and so am I.
Tuesday
Neither Alan nor I were feeling our usual six-mile run on Tuesday, so we headed out on the trails with Australia and Buddy. It was warm, of course, but not too bad for the dogs and we got an early start. We ran five miles, then I added an extra .3 with Tito, our Dachshund.
Wednesday
It was hotter on Wednesday but I managed 4.1 miles, most of it on the trails. It’s funny, I wouldn’t call hot runs bad per se, but they are really tough and I feel pretty miserable while I’m out there. Ah, summer running. It ain’t for the weak!
I got in another strength workout along with my client. While I don’t work as hard as I would on my own, I’m still getting in some core work and balance, so that’s all good.
Thursday
The plan was a hill workout like the one I did a few weeks ago, which would have been about six miles. But, 99 degrees at 5:00 am stopped me before I started. Yes, I ran, but I cut it in half and skipped the hills. Except for the hills I ran for my photo (and the normal ups and downs of my neighborhood).
Friday
Running rest day! A little self-care with my foam roller and my new Theragun Mini (read my review here), followed by another client workout.
Saturday
On Friday, I mentioned to an Instagram friend that while our weather is usually very dry, August frequently brings humidity, which makes the heat even worse. Famous last words! The first day of August and we woke up to 95 degrees and high humidity. I knew before I started that I wasn’t going to get my long run in, but I headed out hoping for at least six miles. I took a route that gave me options. At mile four I took the option that would take me directly home, so I ended up with five miles for the day.
Sunday
Amazingly, Sunday was not humid! I was afraid we were into hot and humid for the duration, but, while hot, the humidity seemed to have disappeared for the time being. Still, it was about 85 when Alan and I headed out to the trails with the dogs. The air quality wasn’t very good either. There is a fire about 45 miles from here that is pushing some ash and smoke into the area. We managed four miles with the two dogs, then I went back out and ran about a half-mile with Tito.
Total Miles: 22
Virtual Challenges and Races
I finished up July with 119.8 miles. I’ll need to keep that up because I signed up for the Tahoe to Malibu Challenge, which gives me six months to run 700 miles. I’m already 71 miles in (my official start was July 15)!
I just found out the other day that the Carlsbad 5000 has officially switched to all virtual. I was disappointed that they didn’t give us the option to just switch to 2021. I’m signed up for the All Day 20k and for some reason, doing four 5ks in a row doesn’t sound as much fun as you might think. It’s in September, but it’s usually pretty hot still. I’ve not really been interested in virtual racing so I may or may not participate. They did give us the option of spreading out the races, so I might just do one a day for four days. We’ll see.
So I guess between running challenges and virtual racing, I got excited and I signed up for the Virtual Women’s Half Marathon in October. I did this mostly because a friend of mine is doing it and she asked a few friends to run with her on what will be her first half marathon. I raised my hand then decided I may as well sign up officially.
And now I finally have running goals.
Have you been able to see family finally? Are you doing any virtual challenges or races? How’s your training going in this heat?
Weekly Linkups
My weekly linkups! Please stop by and check out all of the great recipes, workouts, and information that all these awesome bloggers share every week!
Meatless Monday with Sarah and Deborah
Inspire Me Monday with Janet
Tuesday Topics with Kim and Zenaida
The Runners’ Roundup with Rachel , Deborah, Lisa, Smitha, Jenn, and Me!
The Weekly Run Down with Deborah and Kim
I’m so glad you could see your family! The only family we have seen since before March is my mom for a few days last week. She got tested after traveling a few weeks ago so we felt comfortable with it. Now she is on vacation so we will need to reevaluate things when she gets back. Not sure when/how we will see other family though.
It was fun but it felt weird. Plus they weren’t wearing masks. It will probably be a while before we see them again especially in a place that’s so hot there isn’t an outdoor option!
I think you’ll like virtual racing. It is something that I would never have been interested in if there wasn’t, you know, a pandemic going on, but I’ve learned something from each race and scored some PR’s. As much as I love racing, I don’t think that I could do four 5k’s in a row;-) How are they spaced out? It sounds like there is more to it than just a 12.3 mile run.
And I’m so glad that you had time with your family! While I’m in favor of wearing a mask and staying away from “people”, it’s just too hard to stay away from family.
So the race has four 5ks in a row, divided by age groups mostly. The All Day 20k is running all of them. We usually end up with about 10-20 minutes in between each one, so time to grab a drink or a snack. There is one race that we basically have to run from the finish line to the start line and just go. It’s hard but a lot of fun. Not so much virtually, on your own. Another thing I will miss is the elite race at the end. They have set many road 5000m races there.
Most of my family lives in Chicago and I’ve been able to see some of them. Not everyone..too many.
I am glad that you were able to spend time with your family. I love Thai food too!
Your weather makes me cringe. Yikes! It is cooling down here so I am happy about it.
Enjoy your cool weather. We have at least another six weeks before it will begin to cool. Though it isn’t always 120 either! It averages around 105 – 108 in the summer.
I think you’ll be fine, but I understand how you feel. We’re pretty cautious, too, obviously. We all need some family & social interaction!
Humidity is the worst. 🙁
You read stories about people who made the mistake of seeing people just once and ended up with COVID. I think it will be a while before we see them again unless it’s somewhere where it’s not too hot to stay outside.
yay for seeing family again! You are right, it’s easy to take them for granted when they live so close. My parents are just 15 min away but we have kept our distance to protect them and have seen them a few times from outside. That sounds great that you can do in and do your class remotely in a safe way. Are you using your own TRX workouts or have you found some to stream? I am looking.
Well, I’ve had two more “live” races go virtual in the past couple days. That’s three in the past eight days. No surprises, but disappointment aplenty. I”m so glad you were able to have some in-person family time! We’ve started getting back together with our kids, not every Sunday (as we’d been doing pre-COVID), but every-other week. We don’t always have all three of them together, but that’s alright for now.
I’m so glad you got to see your grandsons! We’ve seen our sons quite often but like you, I’m a little nervous about catching something from them…they both are masking most of the time. I don’t mask when I’m with them, tho.
I actually have a few fall races on the calendar, which I wrote about today. 2 are virtual and one is live. I will be surprised if that live race stays live, lol.
Nice miles for July!
My Mom and son live nearby, so we’ve seen them, but not my daughter. I need to figure out when/how to see her but I’ll worry afterwards. I definitely need to see someone do an exercise — even ones I know well, watching the instructor helps me with my form. I hope your virtual classes go well!
I saw my brother, sister in law and their kids last weekend for the first time since January, that was nice. We just stayed on mom & Bob’s porch which felt safe-ish, but looking forward to when we’re two weeks out. So hard to explain to the kids (5,2) why we can’t hug.
Congrats on solid July. I could not do your heat. Am in awe that you can.