Am I Leaning a Little to the Left?

No, I don't mean politically.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this on the blog, but Caroline's friend, Sarah, is participating in Girls on the Run, a wonderful after school program that helps girls in 3rd grade and up train for a 5k. Each girl needs a buddy to run the 5k with and I am Sarah's buddy. I'm so stoked to do this, because I don't have a whole lot of talent, but running in a straight line for 3.1 miles is something I can do with ease. The Girls on the Run 5k is on May 23, but our school's chapter of GOTR held a practice event yesterday after school.

It rained yesterday. The temperatures were in the 50s and it rained. On a side note, it's 80 degrees today. Tomorrow will be mid 60s and Friday, near 90. Odd.

Anyway, because of the rain and the wet field where we were to have conducted our practice 5k, we were forced to run in the gym. As you may know, elementary school gyms aren't very big. Because of its lack of spaciousness, we were made to run 70 laps around the gym to achieve the distance of 3.1 miles.

70 laps.

70 laps around four little orange cones. That's 280 turns to the left.
As you can see, I feel a little off center today, leaning slightly to the left.

It was fun, though. After each lap, we collected a large popsicle stick. After we earned 9 sticks and completed that lap, we traded the large sticks in for one small popsicle stick. The first girl to get 7 small sticks wins.
Only, it wasn't a win-lose thing. That's the beauty of running. Sure, there are speedy people who win the races, but unless you're a world class runner, you're pretty much running for yourself. For the time goal you've set for yourself. For personal satisfaction. For the post race snacks.

Priorities, people. Priorities.

The popsicle hand out section was often congested, which caused a few delays, so our time was pretty slow. Sarah is also not as conditioned in running as I am (or even Caroline) so we walked a bit. When she asked to walk, I felt bad because it didn't even occur to me that she might need to. I was a bad buddy. I let her dictate walking breaks, but at the end tried to encourage her to run the last 1o laps without walking. I think we ended up running the last 8 or so.

So we ran and talked and cheered on the other girls.

Then we ate orange slices and Fig Newtons.

Hooray for post race snacks!


Yesterday was exciting in other ways, as well. I used my new steam mop for the first time!
I know this sounds totally pathetic, but honestly, the whole steam mop experience was so very gratifying. I've struggled to achieve and maintain total (or even partial) floor cleanliness for, well, as long as I can remember. I'm happy to report that, thanks to the steam mop, my mission was accomplished. Of course, whether or not I'll be able to maintain absolute pristine floors (as if!) is yet to be determined. I have a feeling I won't, but I'll do my best.

Just keeping it real.

I didn't buy the super elite model, but I'm still happy with the results.




Because I'm totally shameless in the blogosphere (not so much in real life, I think), I took a picture of how dirty the cloth pad was after I finished mopping.



Sorry, that was gross.

But look how shiny the floors are!

Tuesday was a happy day in the Neurotic Household. A very happy day, indeed.