Facie’s Ramblings

When I turned 40, I don't recall feeling older. I was in pretty good shape; I ran semi-regularly (I think!). I was still swimming and doing Zumba. But I was not working full time then, so I could be at the top of my physical game. I gave up my pool membership and Zumba mid-afternoon class once I went back to work, and I run only sporadically now, mostly because I am lazy but partially because my body fights me more often than not when I attempt to. Ah, that body of mine. As I sit here and type this, I am feeling a slight pain in my left heel. It started over the weekend, and has caused me to limp since then. Today I finally called a podiatrist. But unfortunately they can't see me for 2 weeks. Back in October I had a similar pain in my right foot. By the time my appointment rolled around (actually about 2 weeks prior), the pain went away, so I canceled. Why spend the $40 specialist copay? The hub blames it on running. I don't know. I was never a hard-core runner. At the he...

Well, maybe my title is not entirely accurate. I mean, I can find joy in little things. I don't need to be part of something that is big and spectacular. But yet I sometimes (maybe closer to often) find myself becoming sad because those little moments are going to end, and I focus more on the loss (and trying to capture the moments). A few hours ago, we returned home from a week at OC MD. When we went last year, we stayed only four nights, and I honestly thought we would not be back for years. But one year later, there we were, and staying longer to boot. Yet during the last couple of days, which would be more days than we had last year, I found myself almost panicking. I felt as if I had to grab a hold of the final days and fill them with as much beach and ocean as I could. I kept worrying that we were not doing enough things or that I was going to regret doing nothing. Thursday was the first bad weather day we had. Before the storm came, I managed to get a run in on the bea...

I started running again about five months ago, somewhat sporadically. But about two months ago, I decided that maybe, just maybe, I could run in a 5k again. So I figured I had better start running once a week, if I had any hope of running the entire thing. Once you are fully entrenched in your 40s, it is a little more difficult to just run a few times over the course of a couple of months and go out and do a 5k. Or so I would imagine. The 5k I am running in next week is the Race for Pace. This year, they are having a super hero theme. Me being me (well, I being I) embraced that wholeheartedly and decided to wear something super hero-ish. At first, I thought I could go as the Flash. I figured it would be ironic because I was probably going to finish in the bottom 25 percent (maybe worse, but let's not think about that). People would see this middle-aged woman panting and barely jogging as she was halfway through the race, and they would laugh. I am always happy to provide a few la...

Those of you who read this blog and who are not one of my Facebook "friends" missed out on a good bus story. This is for you! So last Wednesday afternoon, we get an early (noonish) release from work. (Worth noting is the boss came in with her kid in the morning, so I spent some time at the beginning of the work day hanging out with her toddler. Best workday almost ever!) Anyway, after those grueling couple of hours of work, a few coworkers and I went to lunch. I had nachos and a beer. Yep, pretty darn good lunch. As we were finishing up, I checked the bus schedule and realized the next bus was coming in about five minutes. The walk was short, just up the hill, and knowing the bus is almost always late in the afternoon, I figured I could make that walk easy-peezy, with a minute to spare. So I walked slowly. Then, about a minute before the bus was due and when I was about 100 paces away from the stop, the bus drove by. What the what?! Knowing the next bus was not coming f...

But this post is not going to be about my regrets; I will save those for another blog post (or maybe never). Instead, I want to come up with a list of things, on the fly, that I do not regret! Here goes, in no particularly order (because, again, these are just popping into my head): Moving to Pittsburgh. I have blogged about my love for the city (and I have complained about a number of things as well). But I am glad I live here and hope to for as long as possible.  Having a child. I debated about this for years. And I almost did not have J. But I thank God and whoever and whatever else is responsible for that (including the hubby!). Getting married. I am not going to pretend it has been easy. And there are times I just do not want to be married. But there is something about making a commitment and sharing the journey with someone else. Loving and losing in love. Heartbreak sucks, but I think it is important to go through it. Whatever doesn't kill you... Being close to my f...

I spent chunks of time today writing a post on this morning's Race for Pace. I would add more details and then take something way. Ultimately, I ended up boring myself, which means I would probably put most of you to sleep. So here is an abbreviated post, in a list. It was probably about 35-degrees at race time, but sunny (it was 29 degrees when I got there 45 minutes earlier). My attire of a long-sleeved t-shirt, a windbreaker, yoga pants, socks as gloves, and a knee brace (one of those flexible-stretchy things) from early this century turned out to be the right wardrobe. I was relatively pain-free the entire time (knee brace was a good call); even my feet hurt very little (though during the first mile, two of my toes were numb from the cold!) I started off strong, kept a pretty steady pace, struggled a bit near the end up the last hill, but "kicked it in" as best as I could the last tenth of a mile. Having my friend Diane there cheering me on really helped. As I ...

On Saturday, God willin' and the creek don't rise, I will be running in my first 5K in two years. I started slacking off on my running last year, pretty much all the way through the beginning of this school year. But when school started back up this year, I rededicated myself to running at least once a week, and I have done that, for the most part. So I decided to turn this running into something that "counts" at least once this year. And since I have done the Race for Pace before, and it is only a few miles from my house, it seemed like a good race to do. New for me this year is the age group I will be in: 40 to 44, which apparently qualifies me as a master. Huh?! What the what? Whatcha you talkin' 'bout Willis?! To me, 40 is not old to be a runner. I see runners of all ages. Granted there are many more younger than older runners, but just looking at the results from last year's race, I noticed that 42 out of 135 males and 32 out of 100 females were...

Right now I am watching the Olympics, as I have done late every night since Friday. I don't know about you, but my favorite sports are, in no particular order, swimming, diving, gymnastics, beach volleyball, and some track and field events. I am a pretty good swimmer. I may not be the most graceful (my butterfly is more like the baboon), but I have endurance and a fair amount of speed. I am not even ashamed to admit that after a particularly good day of swimming last year, I actually looked up some Olympic records to see if I came close. Spoiler alert: I did not. Unfortunately, that is about as athletic as I get. I can dive the most basic dive; everything else scares me (not that too many pools in this sue-happy era have diving boards). But seeing the twists and turns these divers do leaves me almost breathless. In a good way. I am absolutely lousy at gymnastics. I cannot do a cartwheel, handstand, or split, which makes what these gymnasts do all the more amazing to me. Ser...

A blog I visit from time to time recently had a post about free-writing. Well, that was the part of the post that most intrigued me: Kristen explained how she responded to a simple prompt of "I" and went on to write about herself uncensored for five minutes. As my 40th birthday looms ahead (just over two months), I decided to try this free-write myself. So here goes nothing, off the cuff, from the heart. I... I worry a lot, about more things than I should. I love my kid and my husband more than anything else. I love my kid more than my husband, and I know I probably should not. I like football and hockey, to watch. I am a Steelers fan first and a Penn State fan second. Once I had a kid, I decided it was okay not to watch too many PSU games, but I do my best to watch all the Steelers games. I don't think you should leave sporting events early unless you have an emergency or some pressing concern; whether it is a blowout or a close game, I want to ...

Last week, on the last day of school, Jordan got into the car with some certificates from awards day. She handed me the one she was "most proud of"--a certificate for athletics. I scanned it as I came to a stop sign, and I at first thought she had won an award for being the most athletic. This immediately caused flashbacks to childhood, during which I was pretty much the slowest and most non-athletic kid in the class. I was in slightly better shape as I entered high school, but mostly still just skinny and completely devoid of grace. And pretty much almost always picked last for gym class. (See an old blog pos t about that.) Because of these unpleasant memories, I decided right then and there a photo of Jordan's certificate would be going up on Facebook, so all my former classmates could see that my kid was nothing like I was. She had hope! As I came to a stoplight, I read the certificate more closely and realized that she had actually ran the mile in gym class in just ...

In less than an hour, I will be 39. I have no bad feelings about this. No feelings of impending doom because I will be 40 next year (God willin' and the creek don't rise, as dad always said). No feelings of sadness because I have not yet accomplished a lot of great or impressive things. I just want to be glad that I have made it this far. Proud because I am in pretty darn good shape, thanks to running, swimming, and just keeping active in general. Thankful that I have a roof over my head, food in the house, a healthy family, and a still-working husband. Grateful that I get called in to substitute (even if it is not as often as I would like, considering the day I had on Wednesday, I should probably be glad). Lucky and blessed that I have been able to spend the amount of time I have been with my kid over the past 1.5-plus years. Fortunate that I live in the US, where we have freedom of speech and religion and the right to vote. And happy that I am able to write this blog (and f...

I am guessing that in years past, I have listed things for which I am thankful. Might as well continue down the path. So here goes my list. I hope every single one of you can find something, even many things, for which to be thankful. Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving, Toforkey, and Slapsgiving! Family (especially Jordan and Brian), friends, and Sadie too Roof over my head and food in the fridge and cupboards Health Football and hockey, particularly winning seasons for the Steelers, PSU, and Pitt football teams (as well as my fantasy football team) and the Pens Running and my improved times Pittsburgh Freedom of speech and religion and the right to vote Tenacity That Jordan likes school The most wonderful time of the year That I actually have my Christmas cards ready to go (just waiting to mail them so people don't receive them in November) Funny things Food (I kind of already said this, but I just love food, particularly on this most special food day of the year) H...

I try to keep my running blog (that one over there to the right below some stuff) separate from this one. Why? Well, for a few reasons, thanks for asking. As you have probably noticed, this blog is typically all over the place in subjects, and many of my posts are long-winded (hence the second half of the name). On the other hand, my running blog, get this, is all about running. And, believe it or not, most of those posts are short. Brief. To the point.** In fact, if you read both of my blogs, you might find yourself wondering, "How can these two blogs be written by the same person?" Which brings me to my second reason. Sort of. This blog is called "Facie's ramblings" (the "r" in "ramblings" left intentionally lowercase, FYI), Facie being a childhood nickname. I don't refer to myself as Facie in my running blog; I instead go with, more or less, my "real" name (real is in quotes because of my various first, middle, last name ...

This weekend I am running in the Regent Run Around the Square, my first 5k race since 2006 and my first Run Around the Square since 2002. The last time I ran in that race, I entered the "heavyweight" division. If you know me, you know that although I am not skinny, I am certainly not a heavyweight. And even if I were, isn't it more important to be healthy and in shape? Which I am. How else could I run 3 to 4 miles on a regular basis? (Okay, I have not run 4 miles since the beginning of June, and I sometimes let two weeks go by before I run again. But during the school year, I was a regular runner, and trust me, I am doing just fine now.) Who thinks up these things? Don't enough women have self-image problems without being made to feel fat when they are not (and even if they are overweight, why make a big deal about it)? Luckily for me, I think fairly highly of my physical self; at the very least, I (mostly) accept what I have, try to work on it somewhat, and just b...

For many years, I had several best friends. A bit of a contradiction, I realize, since there really should be only one "best." But mostly I just considered myself fortunate to have different people I could talk to. When Brian and I dated, I did not consider him my best friend in the way many people in relationships do. In fact, sadly, I was closer to a few of my guy friends. But when Brian and I got back together again in the later '90s after a three- or four-month hiatus, I realized one should not be closer to her male friends than her actual guy. Fortunately, our relationship evolved to the point where I did consider him my best friend. As time has gone on, I discovered that by being so involved in/with my husband and child, I no longer have many close friends, let alone a best friend. I get that your family should be your top priority; I got a taste of this when many friends started having kids before I, and we pretty much stopped going out. I swore I would never d...

Yesterday after a nice, long run for me (30 minutes, plus five minutes off and on of sprints), I was stretching near the upper gym entrance at Jordan's school. One of the teachers saw me and came out to talk about her daughter running a marathon and how her entire family went to PSU. Then another teacher commented on how she saw me last week doing the same thing. It was a nice few minutes, and then I went to my car to wait for my kid, thinking I should be teaching with them. Even while volunteering for lunch duty yesterday, several kids ran up to me and asked me if I was substitute teaching. I am at the school so much anymore, between volunteering and subbing, that I really do feel as if I work there. I said to my mom a few days ago that I just think I am going to get a job teaching at J's school. The chances are so small (though greater, I am sure, than winning the Powerball), considering the student body has been shrinking over the past few years thanks to charter schools. Y...

Well, more akin to running like a gentle breeze. Jordan is done with school at 2:30 p.m. The pick-up process involves parents backing into spaces and waiting for the children. Once every car has a child(ren), the teacher on duty dismisses the cars one at a time. There are about 40 to 50 spaces for cars; however, there are always more cars than that. If you don't make the first cut, you have to wait for the entire, one-by-one dismissal process before you get to back into a space. Most parents are not fond of the second wave, so people start arriving before 2 p.m. to ensure a space. Once I arrived at 1:52 and I was the fifth car. Crazy. But I have decided to make good use of my time, thanks to the great weather we have been having. At first, I started walking around the neighborhood for up to 30 minutes. Last week, I decided to try running again, something I had not really done since I ran the Steelers 5k three years ago. The first day went well. I managed to run (and by run, I reall...

I don't know if it is more age (almost 37.5) or that I am not as physically active as I used to be, but lately I have had aches and pains that I thought were reserved for people in their 60s and older. Just this weekend, while at Mom's, my left calf really bothered me. I walked alongside a bike-riding Jordan and winced with almost every step. I bowed out of a walk the next day as well. Oddly enough, while at a park, the pain went away after awhile. I have no idea where it came from and why it left. This came on the heels of my sore butt and thighs after walking in my hilly neighborhood one day last week. I finished the jaunt with a little run up my steep hill. I still would like to start running again. Of course, I have been saying this for over a year now, ever since I bought new running shoes, shoes that I took out of the box for the first time last fall, I think, just to make sure they were still there. I keep thinking back to the senior citizen I saw on TV last year who was...

This is what Jordan has said a few times, after having watched several Olympic events. She asked us if she was going to be in the Olympics when she got older, and I said probably not, but if she ended up being really good at a sport because she practiced, it was possible. At her birthday party last week while swimming, she kept telling people, "I am the Olympics," or "I want to be the Olympics." I tried to tell her she cannot be the Olympics, but we won't have to talk about this again for another four years (well, I guess two), so might as well let that go. After all, I never corrected Jordan when she called an umbrella a rainbrella. I thought it was cute and could not bear to see that go away, and she probably does not even remember ever having said rainbrella. She might still say upslide down, but whatever. Who knows what Jordan will be when she grows up, but now that she has started kindergarten, there is no turning back now. Lord knows I have not figured it...