First week of school and first week of insanity

Nothing can get my world in a tizzy quite like the first week of school. The easy schedule that I had during the summer is quickly thrown out of the window and I'm immediately thrust into a tornado of organized chaos. Those early morning runs where I was able to chit chat a bit longer or take it easy are gone and they won't be back for another ten months. Fortunately this is the last year that I have to drive my oldest daughter to and from school because next year she'll have her license and she can drive herself.

To make matters a bit more complex my youngest daughter was noticing that her sister was missing in action, so that meant that I had create distractions and diversions so that she wouldn't get upset (or at least too upset because every morning she asked for her sister). Each day was filled with activities and adventures and when I put her down for a nap I would, without fail, take a nap myself. Here was our insane schedule.

Monday we spent the day hiking trails and doing some animal exploration. We checked out two parks and got to see turtles, butterflies, lizards, frogs, and at least five different species of birds.

Tuesday morning was my five mile run and later on the little one and I went to the zoo and splashed around in the fountains. Every week they have water activities for toddlers to cool down in the summer heat. After the fountain she wanted to run around and look at all of the animals.

Wednesday we explored yet another trail with my mom friends and their kids and got to see some more Florida wildlife. 

Can you see the alligator tail?

I think the snake was posing for the picture

Then Wednesday evening I went to my speed session. This past week was tempo, the bane of my existence. 

Thursday we went to the science museum and aquarium. My little one could spend the entire day in here looking at the fish and exploring all of the hands on exhibits. 

Where was this lite-bright when I was a kid?

Can you guess where we went at the end of the week? If you said a trail you would be correct! The trail had a very nice nature center with some aquariums. 

The park is also on the beach so after we walked the trail and walked around the nature center we changed our clothes and headed for the beach.

I was supposed to run early Friday morning but I knew that I was going to be out later that evening. So I skipped out on the run and gave my friend/running partner a heads up.

And although I was a bit down about skipping out on my Friday run I made up for it today with my long run.

A moderate 18 mile run in 90 degree heat. From this point on my long run mileage will go up and down with the longest distance reaching 22 miles twice. So the fact that I'm able to write this post and refrain from passing out means that I've done pretty well this week. I can't say much about next week though.