Just a quick post

The plan I chose for my marathon training is… ambitious. It wants me to run multiple 11 min miles. I can’t do that. Cuddler might. But Little Bear cannot. Our last run on Monday, Little Bear made a classic runner error. She is not for drinking from strange items so it’s hard to get her to drink water. So after pushing my pace by 30 seconds/mi for 4 miles, her tummy did not appreciate the water. It was a hard run for me to get into. I was going to the Bristol Renaissance Fair that day as well and running 4 miles seemed silly. Call me silly. I managed to get 30k steps in Monday and 43 “flights of stairs.” After I got going, though, my legs were moving even though my head was saying stop. The dogs were pulling and it is nice to have their added momentums. It did feel really good once I got out there.

Backing up a bit, I taught aerial yoga Saturday. I feel like I was a little mean, because I was awfully sore. The first class was about challenging ourselves. Challenge our brain that says nope, hanging upside down seems like a very bad idea. Everyone did really well. I appreciate how much effort they put into class. I don't care if you do it. I just want you to try. Lyra practice. Private with some fun giggly girls.

And then worked on my house. My house is nearly a 100 years old. And it's my first house so i have no idea where to start. That's why my family is awesome. They've been helping me with all the maintenance. We all like projects and this is definitely one. It makes me feel so loved to see something they worked on. I'm so fortunate to have them in my life.

 My plan to catch up to my marathon plan is to build my pace and base. This week my plan is to do 4 miles 3x. Comfy pace. Next week, 4 miles, 4x with one fartlek run. Week after, 2 fartlek, 1 4 mile, 1 5 mile. Then, I’ll try to start that plan. It will put off my schedule but that’s ok. I would rather take it slow for my body and my new dog.

 I’m a renfair goer. And our fair happens during the summer months. And I dress up. In many layers some of which are constricting. Bristol is the only renaissance fair I’ve been to but I’ve heard it’s one of the better ones. Why do I do it? Adventure, mystery, escape. After my husband died, I went to the fair. There I was anonymous and my difficulties didn’t follow me.

Sometimes, escape is necessary. It gives you distance to see what exactly is going on in your life that you cannot see when you’re in the midst of it all. I could talk to people and no one pitied me or coddled me or avoided me because what had happened. I was just me. Not a widow. And so I talked to people who needed directions, or had questions about the joust. I talked to my favorite knight and other photographers.

This year I had a season pass and took full advantage of it. I feel like I was crafting my accent and persona a bit. I’ve got some comfortable fair clothing. I’m scouting the places I like to shoot the joust. I need to find a good perch to people watch and shoot. Sometimes, I’ll bring my DSLR, sometimes I don’t. Pushing myself out of the comfort zone, I tried talking to people. This is not comfortable for me. But there is no better place. There is so little judgement and everyone just gets to be themselves or whoever they want to be. People started to recognize me which makes the experience easier.Bristol is my happy place.

Now I get to go in for a sleep study and narcolepsy test. I am not thrilled. I will miss my dogs while I sleeping in a strange place. Or try to sleep.