I’m so sleepy it hurts… and I have miles to go before I sleep

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

I can’t get enough sleep lately. I’m exhausted beyond my normal limit of exhaustion. Why? I don’t know. Everynight by 8pm I am so tired my body is aching from head to toe and I start getting a headache. I have been in bed before 10:30 everynight this week – that’s really good for me. Then when I start thinking about how tired I am, I stop for a moment and think about how tired Bethany must be. Every single morning she wakes up by 5 or before (and has no choice to hit the snooze button), gets herself ready, gets a 4 month old baby ready, dressed & fed. Off to the babysitter in the boro about the time the sun rises, works a full 8 hour day, picks baby EJ up at the babysitter, drives 30 minutes back home and immediately begins preparing for the next day to do it all over again. Even at that… I am simplifying it. She’s got diapers to change, bottles to make, baths to give, clothes to wash, supper to prepare, & diaper bags to pack. Wanna hear the best part of it? She’s starting a new journey separate from all the rest. She’s running. She’s biking. She’s loading up her bike and getting in a good workout during her lunch break. I’m sure she’d rather run to McDonald’s, grab something quick and take a quick power nap instead. In the evenings on top of everything else, she’s taking time for herself and kicking her heels. I am impressed. I am motivated and inspired! What a great example! Bethany, you rock!

My week seems easy compared to hers, so I have no excuse. Monday evening I went for a short 3 mile run after work. I just wasn’t feeling it :-/ I felt like a bum since I only went 3 miles so I planned to do my first brick of the year Tuesday morning. I rode the Staggerwing Duathlon course, which is a 19 mile out and back and finished up with a 2 mile run on legs that felt like jelly. Wednesday I got up and did a refreshing 6 mile run through town. I’m thinking this took me like – 53:51. 8:58 – overall pace.

So, this morning when my alarm went off at 5:20am, I hit the snooze button. POP! It went off again at 5:29am, grrrrrrr…. I peep out my window hoping for rain. No rain. I look at the sky in hopes of dark clouds, no dark clouds. I lay back down and snooze attacks again. Ok, that settles it. I let Hattie out to do her business and I get dressed and brush my teeth and pop in my contacts. I parked at the rec center and did an 8 mile loop. It was all I wanted!!! I started off by leaving the rec parking lot and ran to hwy 53 to interstate drive – Beep! 1 mile. I made it to the end of interstate drive – Beep! 2 miles. I made it to Waite St, where the greenway merges – Beep! 3 miles. Trotted onto the main intersection and took a left on Hwy 41 all the way to American City Bank – Beep! 4 miles. I meandered over through Oak Drive, McCord & Belmont to finish up the 5th & 6th miles & proceeded back down hwy 55, back through the greenway to get an even 8 miles in 1:11:20, which was an 8:55 overall pace. Man… I was winded really bad and had to stop on the way home and grab a Gatorade!!! I took a shower & headed to work.

Hopefully it’s going to be a nice, relaxing and fun weekend…. Even if it does rain. Sometimes I am all about some rain. It’s comforting to me and it’s an excellent opportunity to be lazy. It does the soul good!

Goodluck to Tim, Chris P, Michele, Don & anyone else who’s doing the McMinville City triathlon this wknd!!!