Day 4,358—Race Decisions and Watch the Thunder Kiss Race Video II—

 

     I did not wake up filled with energy today. If anything, each day this week, I have felt sicker. I think a lot of it has to do with these constant changes in the weather. Today it was in the 70s and windy, while every other day this week I was cold enough to wear leggings and long-sleeved shirts in the morning, and tomorrow morning it looks like it will be cold again. April isn’t going to be an easy month for me with both work and finishing up school stuff, but I am so pumped to be almost done! “It won’t be long now.” That's what a guy I used to work with would say all the time, and it became a kind of mantra at school when we got frustrated with one spiraling problem after another.

     Last night, on top of my usual problem of going to bed late, my son was having a rough time and was just upset, and as soon as he calmed down, he would start crying again. He wandered to the basement when I tried to put him back to bed, so I lay down next to him on the floor in the basement for a while before I was able to get back to bed. I started flipping out for a moment, wondering how I was going to get through today, but then I slowed down so I could be present for him we both made it back to bed before 1.

     But a great thing happened yesterday when I took my kids to the park: my daughter finally climbed to the top of the playground! She had had such a hard time doing it before and would give up. Yesterday was the same for a while, but after her 3rd attempt, she made it, and then she started climbing another area she didn’t think she could do before. She was so happy walking home, telling me about things she was going to try at school, and no matter how many times I have told her things like, “We might not be good at something now, but we can improve at anything with effort and practice.” It wasn’t getting through, but yesterday she said it with a smile, and we talked about some other goals we have developed, and she believed in it after seeing evidence to support the theory. I cannot express how meaningful that breakthrough was after years of trying to emphasize the importance of effort in improving skills, but you never know what’s getting through to kids and when they will have a breakthrough, so I think I needed the reminder just as much as she did.

   I got to get ready for work and didn’t write about the races again, but I will tomorrow! Basically, I am doing the Mohican 100 now in May, but I wanted to write more about it, so I will do a part III tomorrow. Thanks, everyone, for watching my race video and leaving me some comments. If you haven’t, I would love it if you watch it and give me some feedback here or on YouTube.  

Read the Whole Race Report with all the pictures!

https://tinyurl.com/5xk2tyjm

Watch the Video

https://youtu.be/7QPB5anNpQY