Day two of school for Gabe today, but the weather is still decidedly summer-like, and I'm really missing our carefree, unscheduled days. I generally do much better with schedules and routines, but we had such a blast this summer, I was so sad to see it end.
When Carmine was born in January, I never imagined we'd spend our summer doing so many fun activities, but we did more this summer than we've ever done, and somehow it seemed easy! I think just because we had so much fun, and enjoyed each other's company so much. Don't get me wrong - there was plenty of bickering and squabbling, and plenty of Mommy losing her patience, but above all, we just got out there and enjoyed ourselves.
Part of it, I think, is the boys' ages. As they get a little older, there are just so many more things that we can do together, and they have a greater appreciation for those things (museums, shows, etc.). And when they're not fighting with each other, they're really good company on car rides, as we can actually have conversations now - some of which are very interesting and/or hysterical, depending on the subject matter.
I love babies, but I am loving the ages Gabe and Dante are at now - so curious, so enthusiastic, so eager to get out and experience all that life has to offer.
And Carmine, thankfully, is a very easygoing little guy who is happy just to be out and about with his brothers, so he literally just went along for the ride this summer, and ended up doing more in the first 6 months of his life than Gabe or Dante did in probably the first 18 months of their lives!
It was just a fabulous summer, and like I said, I'm sad it's over. But I know I have a lot of wonderful memories of all our little adventures, and I sincerely hope that the boys will, too.
Now that summer is over and Gabe is back at school, we're working on getting back into the routine. Me and Dante and Carmine are still going to the gym all together this week, but then next week Carmine will be the only one I'll be dropping off at the daycare! It's going to feel so strange.
Next week is also my last week of no running. As I knew they would, the six weeks off have gone by very, very quickly. I've kept busy with all the above-mentioned activities with the boys, plus tons of biking and swimming and weight lifting.
I know it'll be a little tough to get my running fitness back, but I'm not anticipating that much of a struggle, because I have done a good job maintaining my overall fitness level. And I'm going to ease back into it with a walk/run program for the first few weeks anyway, so I think it'll feel fine.
The walk/run is probably going to be almost as frustrating as not running at all, but I know it's what I have to do in order to get back into this safely, so I just have to suck it up and do it.
Still getting out on the bike every weekend, but the past two weekends I've only ridden 20 miles. After my 50-mile ride a few weeks ago, I suddenly lost all enthusiasm for doing a century ride. I love biking, but it just doesn't motivate me the way running does.
But I feel like I would love to complete a century - check another item off the bucket list, ya know? - and this would be a great year to do it, since I won't be doing long runs for a while, so why not take advantage of that and devote the time to biking instead?
But then I also think - why not just enjoy my shorter bike rides and not pressure myself into doing something I'm not that excited to do?
I think I'll go for a longer ride this weekend and see how I feel. If I really don't feel like doing it, I'm not going to do it. But if I have a great ride, I might change my mind and go for it after all.
And in the meantime, only ELEVEN DAYS until I can run again - woohoo!!!!!