All is well

Just a quick post - my parents got in with just one hour delay on Thursday morning and other than that their travel went smoothly. We were all grateful for that.

Yesterday we walked downtown, did several errands, and then had lunch on the Grote Markt right across from the cathedral. It was rainy but we didn't mind!

Today will be filled with shopping, cooking, setting up tables, taking kids to activities, and basically getting ready for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Felix's big day and we are all looking forward to it!

And then Monday Mom and I are planning to run at the Finnish track together. My back is feeling better every day and so I am really looking forward to that.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks

Thanks so much for your encouraging comments the last couple days. You bloggers are such nice people!

My back is feeling loads better this morning but walking Felix to school I could still feel I need to listen to my osteopath and indeed be careful today. So that is what I plan to do, and get the boys to help me this afternoon with the heavier tasks.

I am also keeping my fingers crossed that the latest Icelandic volcanic outburst doesn't throw a wrench in my parents' travel plans and that they arrive safely tomorrow morning.

As always, I tell myself that "things will work out just fine". And mostly, they do.

Lucky Me

On the off chance she might have a last minute opening, I called my osteopath this morning. She is normally fully booked, but you never know, right? She said she would see if she could get me in by the weekend. So I was trying to get some stuff done around the house when she called and said she had a cancellation and I could come at 4 today! Halleluja!

I was so glad I could go and now, even though she wants me to take it easy the next few days (including no running), I feel much more positive and confident that I will be feeling good for the party. The house might not be as clean as I want it to, but I am glad to have gotten some immediate relief.

Ikea Injury

Last Wednesday I went to Ikea to pick up some things for our living room and one of them was the low cupboard our big TV is now sitting on...it was a struggle to lift the box into the car, but what choice did I have, so I got it in. At home, my oldest son helped me to get it out and then I spent 3 hours putting it together. After that my lower back was killing me!

Thursday my back was still sore when I got up, and I thought maybe my run would help but Friday the pain was even worse so I took painkillers and tried to stretch it out. This weekend it slowly seemed to get better, but it still meant my run on Sunday was rather uncomfortable. But since I have to get my weekend run in for my own sanity, I did it anyway! Just slower and with less joy than usual...

Now it's Monday morning, and the back is still nagging at me. I walked Felix to school and I am planning to go to the gym - I still think that keeping active is helpful as long as I am careful not to overdo it. But I am not sure if I am doing the right thing. **Sigh**

It bums me out because I have a lot to do this week (my parents arrive Thursday morning and we have my youngest son's confirmation + party on Sunday). Hopefully things will improve by the end of the week...

Pics!

We are finally able to "live" in our living room again...here are some pictures of what it looks like now:

First up is the piano room, and my little "office space" and the comfy chair where I sit with my laptop:

Then the front part of the living room, where the new couch and ginormous TV (the boys have been begging us for ages to update our ancient and tiny old one - teenagers are so persuasive)!

I still have some work to do on the back section of the living room. But for right now, I am just happy I can sit down and relax properly on my new comfy couch.

The Perfect Quote

"The best day of running is not the day you start yourself,

but the day you get someone else to join you."

- Marc Parent, The Newbie Chronicles, in Runner's World (June 2011)

So true! I am so excited because not one, but two women I recently met will be joining me at the Ladies Run in Kortrijk this year, and for both of them, it will be their first race. This course was my very first race, it is a nice all downhill race, all women, some local celebrities participate every year (one year I did it, Princess Astrid of Belgium ran it, too!) And it will be so cool to be there for someone else's first time. Yay!

Today I had a lot to do and one of my errands was going to the bank. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and run to the bank. I took a longer loop out - nearly 5 km to get there - and then took a more direct way back home. It went really well (except for being really sweaty while waiting at the bank) and I ended up clocking in at 51 minutes for 7.7 km total. Sweet! The funnest part was weaving past the pedestrians on our busiest shopping street and feeling like I was just flying. What a joy!

Waiting for my couch...

This afternoon I will be at home waiting for the couch guy to come...

This morning I had an appointment at 8:50 to take our car in for its annual inspection. So I packed my gym bag and put my running things on because my plan was to go to the gym on the way home from the inspection place and get my run in.

The inspection guy gave me a funny look when I got out of the car with my flashy Paris Marathon Asics on! So glad I got those shoes... ;-)

Anyway, the inspection was very speedy and I was at the gym by 9:15. It's been a long time, actually, since I got a run in on the treadmill and it felt kind of strange at first. But I quickly got into a rhythm and (I just love numbers) ran 7 km in 47 minutes and burned 480 calories. Woo hoo!