Amateur Parenting – Page 4 – Just Admit It: You Have No Idea What You're Doing Either

Day 17: I Vastly Underestimated the Impact

Kristen King November 17, 2014 No Comments

#day17 of #30days of #radicalaccountability complete.

I still keep expecting to wake up and realize that yesterday was a dream, that I didn’t really complete an entire half-marathon. And then I move, and my legs remind me that it definitely happened, and that this is actually, totally, really my very real life. How weird is this?

I am a bit stunned still. Which I guess makes sense since it’s barely been 24 hours. But I have the sneaking suspicion that parts of my brain — the ones that try to tell me I can’t do things and are afraid of failure — are subtly rewiring in important ways. No wonder I feel not myself. I am not who I was two days ago. Not by a long shot. Continue reading →

Day 16: I Did It!

Kristen King November 16, 2014 No Comments

Start time: 8:00 a.m.

Duration: 2:57:28

Overall average: 13:33

Fastest mile: 10:47

I still can’t believe this is real. I keep thinking I will wake up and find it was all a dream. But then I feel the weight of this gorgeous thing in my hands, and I know it really happened.

x-country half-marathon medal, tampa, florida, run, race

#day16 of #30days of #radicalaccountabiilty complete. On a scale of 1-10, I’d say today was a 13.1.

I really did it. I really finished a half-marathon, my first half and my first cross-country trail run, in under 3 hours. Wow.

Follow my #30day journey of #radicalaccountability here at Amateur Parenting and through my nutrition and lifestyle journal on Instagram. Want to join me? Add these hashtags — #30days #radicalaccountability #coachkristen #dayX – to your social media posts and let’s do this together.

Follow me on Instagram as @FLFitMom

Day 15: Three… Two… One… BLASTOFF

Kristen King November 15, 2014 No Comments

#day15 of #30days of #radicalaccountability complete. Next time you see me, I’ll be a half-marathoner!

It is less than 12 hours until my half-marathon and I am slightly freaking out. I can’t stop thinking about all the water I didn’t drink, all the sleep I didn’t get, all the miles I didn’t push myself — and I can’t find my GU packets that I bought specifically for the race and put Somewhere I Can’t Possible Lose or Forget Them. Like, seriously? Ugh. I need to designate a spot for that kind of stuff because I tend to lose Things I Must Not Lose.

And I’m obsessing over small details, things that don’t matter, and stuff I can’t control because I’m about to completely blow out of the water my self-concept as A Person Who Doesn’t Do Things by running a flipping 13.1-mile race tomorrow morning. In like 8 hours from now.

And being all whiny about unimportant flaky stuff is somehow way less scary than just owning that tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. ET I’m going to do something that most people simply don’t do because WOW. That is slightly terrifying.

It feels like standing on the edge of the high dive with everyone watching. You can’t turn back. You know you just need to leap and take a breath and in a moment you will have DONE IT instead of being waiting to do it. But it’s somehow heart-stoppingly terrifying.

AHHHHHHHH!

Okay. Okay. I’m breathing. I’m going to eat my sixth or so meal for the day, have a few minutes of quality time with my foam roller, and try to fall asleep. We roll out tomorrow morning at 4:45 and in less than 12 hours from now I will be a half-marathon finisher. WOW.

Today’s Stats:

I can’t even think about this right now! It was fine. I ate a lot. And drank like four shakes. And took my tabs. And holy crap, why am I still awake right now?

Wish me luck.

Day 14: “I’m a BIIIIG Pony!”

Kristen King November 15, 2014 No Comments

#day14 of #30days of #radicalaccountability complete. it did not involve purchasing more index cards.

I love that my long-haired beach babies not only allow us to put their hair in ponytails, but actually request it. Miles in particular loves when we pull his hair back. “Make me a pony!” he requests. And then when you do it, he screeches, “I a PONY!” and runs around to show everyone his hair before promptly wrecking it while loving it.

These are the things I try to remind myself to focus on when I’m ready to throttle my kids. Like this morning. You know how your kids are like, “Mom! Mommy! Mom! Mama! MAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Mommy!” or that plus asking for the same thing you just said you’d do in a minute and somehow in less than 60 seconds they manage to ask about eleventybillion times? OH MY GOD WHY WON’T YOU PLEASE SHUT UP. This is probably one of my biggest triggers. It drives my anxiety through the ROOF and makes me feel like a cornered animal. I almost lost it this morning.

Miles asked me, “Mommy, can I have a shake?” which is a normal morning request, and I said, “Sure! I just need to finish cleaning up brother’s pee.” Which apparently was the WRONG RESPONSE.

“Mommy! I need a shake!”

“Buddy, I will get it in a minute.”

“Mommy! Make my SHAAAAAAKE.”

“Miles. I am cleaning up pee. As soon as I’m done, I will make you a shake.”

“I need a shake.”

[no response]

“I need a SHAAAAAAAKE.”

[no response]

“MOMMY! MAAAAAAAAAAAAA-MEEEEEEEEEEEE! I need you to make me a SHAAAAAAAAAAAAKE.”

“Miles. I already told you I will make you a shake. I can’t do it until I’m done with this. Please stop asking me.”

“MOMMY! I NEED A SHAKE.”

And….repeat. For what feels like forever.

When you’re elbow deep in a potty chair full of pee that was sitting in a puddle of pee on the plastic splashmat that you located and spread out under the potty chair just the night before, the last thing you want is a little person screaming in your ear and jiggling your elbow.

Mornings are not my best time. If you’ve ever met me, this is obvious. On my good days, I’m barely coherent. On my bad days, I am That Mom you swear you’ll never be. We’ve talked about her before, many times.

I seriously do not know how I did not flip out. But, I didn’t flip out.

I cleaned up the pee. I didn’t scream. I made the shakes. And then this cuteness happened so it was like instant reward for not losing my flipping mind at 7:30 a.m.

I count this a win.

My first half-marathon is in less than 48 hours. My cold is on the way out, thanks to awesome immune support that allowed me to kick it’s butt. And I have an amazing husband who made us a delicious dinner and rented a movie and poured me some delicious wine as a treat to celebrate getting through a long week for both of us. I’m looking forward to sleeping exceptionally well tonight.

Today’s stats:

Shakes: One, and lots of solid, nurient-dense foods to make sure I’m prepped for Sunday
Tablets: Yeahhhh…about that… I slacked on everything but immunity today.
Tea: Not quite as tea crazy today, but still a lot.
Protein: On target.
Carbs: What up, whole grains and veggies!
Water: Not much plain water, but a lot of non-caffeinated fluids. Tomorrow is all about concentrated hydration.
Workouts: Pre-race rest day
Chores: I unloaded the dishwasher after not screaming at the kiddos. Because I’m awesome like that.
Sleep: It’s a work in progress

Follow me on Instagram as @FLFitMom

Day 13: I Forgot to Mention the Bribery

Kristen King November 13, 2014 No Comments

#day13 of #30days of #radicalaccountability complete.

Jake and the minions are holding up well, in large part because we’re bribing our children with chocolate chips (aka, “tock tips!”) to use the potty. Because we are awesome parents who resort to cheap bribery. It seems to be working, so we’ll go with it. I told Jesse that we need to start doing intermittent reinforcement very soon because Miles is already obsessed with needing more TOCK TIPS because his butt touched the potty for a millisecond. I keep trying to explain that he gets it only if pee actually comes out, but we’ll get there.

All I know is that while I’m sitting at my desk, I keep hearing them say, “I think I have to pee!” and then a minute or two later there’s a flush and cheering. This is a good sign.

I stayed up WAY too late last night, was awakened multiple times overnight by kids and dogs, and then decided to blow off my run this morning because I was feeling too tired and stuffy to make the trek over to the park. I feel like a slacker, but I also feel like it was the right way to go because I feel MUCH better tonight than I did this morning, and with my half-marathon coming up ON SUNDAY, I’m trying not to push too hard. I’m about 6 miles behind where I wanted to be at this point in the week, but I figure even with that adrenaline will push me along on Sunday so I’ll be fine. I think. I hope. Right?

Right. Because I’ve been training for this and my body is conditioned and I know what to do and I will be FINE. I just need to focus on hydrating, feeding my body, and resting enough so I can do what I need to do.

Which really, one could say about anything in life, right? Enough water, enough food, and enough rest can solve just about anything. I got this. I can do this. I might be in maintenance mode for a few days, but I’m getting in the basics (even if I fail at Instagramming them for the second day in a row).

Today’s stats:

Shakes: One down, one to go
Tablets: Two sets down, one to go, more immunity stuff
Tea: All. The. Tea.
Protein: A little low but not bad.
Carbs: Too. Much. Toast.
Water: I was too busy guzzling hot tea to drink enough water today. I’m okay with that
Workouts: Skipped my run, but co-taught an hour-long FitDance class at the park
Chores: Laundry really is the never-ending story, but otherwise we’re in good shape.
Sleep: As soon as I take a bath, I am going to BED. And it’s gonna be awesome.

This is the spot where I would put my day’s Instagram collage…if I had instagramed anything today. Check tomorrow’s post for some latergrams. And you can follow it in real time by visiting me at @FLFitMom.