Life Happens

While the rest of the world was at Camsur Marathon over the weekend, Hubby and I rushed Little Miss TBR into the E.R., watched a mascot go naked before our eyes, and showed up 30 minutes late for our regular Sunday long run with friends over the weekend.

SICK ON HER 6TH

Little Miss TBR counted the days until her 6th Birthday.  She was to have a Disney Princess Party at McDonalds with her friends.  On the first hour of her birthday, at exactly 1 a.m., she woke up in the middle of the night screaming in pain.  Her ear was hurting.

We rushed her to the E.R. to find out she had an ear infection brought about by her cough.  The doctor dropped antibiotics into her ear and advised us to stay longer at the hospital to observe our daughter.

We waited and waited and waited. At 5 a.m., as I leaned my head against the hospital wall trying to get some sleep, my cellphone alarm rang to wake me. Crap, there goes my Saturday run.

BDAY GIRL HAS A BLAST

We arrived home at 5 a.m. Caught some shut eye. Woke up at 9 a.m. and rushed off to celebrate the big day.

Little Miss TBR is such a fighter. She played and laughed, ate and ran at her Disney Princess McDonald’s Party.  It was as if nothing had happened just hours before. Everything went smoothly…well, except for Birdie, the mascot, and her suspenders falling apart during her dance number with Ronald and Grimace.  The kids, especially my little one, had a blast.

This was the reason why we passed up the chance to go to Camsur for the marathon. It was well worth it, if you ask me.

SUNDAY RUN

So, I missed my Saturday easy run, but I wasn’t hard on myself.  Anyway, I had a 32k long run on Sunday.  Thing is, the birthday girl suddenly had fever come night time.

Double crap. There goes my long run.  I told Hubby to push through with his plans to run with our friends.  After all, there only had to be one person to administer the paracetamol every 4 hours.

When hubby woke up for the run at 4 a.m., I checked on Li’l Miss TBR and discovered that she was completely fine.  Hallelujah. I asked hubby to wait for me and decided to push through with the run.

NOT QUITE 32K

We showed up 30 minutes late, which meant that I would be under the intense sun longer.  Could I finish the full 32k?  I was tired from the hectic Saturday too. I gave it a try, but I thought I wouldn’t push too hard. If my body couldn’t cope, then I still had a 32k the following week to make up for it.

I ran the first 16k with our run group.  As it is with friends, we run slow because we’re chatting.  We have a lot of walk breaks.  We enjoy each others’ company.  Time flies this way, but training isn’t as serious.  Our average pace was 6:40/km.

The next 9k I ran alone.  It was here that I felt I was really training. My average pace was 5:55/km yet I felt strong. Ironically, I thought that if I could run longer, I would be able to rid my body of all the stress and exhaustion the past week.  But, it was getting hot and it was getting late, I wanted to check on the little one at home.

IT’S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT THE NUMBERS

I quit at 25k.  At first I felt guilty about missing 7k. But, after a while, when I took a step back at my life that week, I said to myself “It’s just 7k. It’s not the end of the world.”

Running is a huge part of my life.  And, the New York Marathon is a goal I’m taking seriously.  But, it’s not everything in life.

And so, after my 25k, hubby and I called the house to learn that Little Miss TBR was up and about having donuts with her Kuya for breakfast.  With nothing to worry about, and a lot to be thankful for, we headed over to Sentro for a post-run breakfast of sinangag and bangus.  Aaah, that’s life.