half marathon training

hi there!

| cheriarmour

Are you wondering where I went?  Are you wondering if I gave up on writing?  I didn’t.  I just took a little break while work got nuts, motherhood got nuts, and while I started working on a few things.

Here’s what I’ve been up to.

Running

I’ve been running for some time, but I took the plunge and signed up for the Richmond Half Marathon.  I decided on it after my old boss’s boss moved there to take a job.  I saw an ad for the half, and kind of fell in love with the finisher’s blanket.  (I’m a cheap sell.)  I signed up with a friend of mine, and we got an Air BnB for that weekend.  In prep, I’m running long at least once a week, and maintenance running when I can during the week as well.  It’s surprisingly like riding a bike – I’m just really frustrated with how slow I am.

Momming

I am a mom to a one-year-old.  It is so very cool.  He’s walking.  We’re still nursing.  He’s sleeping (okay).  And I swear, he’s the most active kid on the planet.  I’m struggling a bit with daycare – I feel like our transition to the toddler room from the infant room took longer than I cared for, and I struggle with feeling like I made the right decision to return to work.  I’m not sure that any of us have the answers, but I will say that outsourcing things that are really beyond your scope and abilities (if you can) is the total way to go.  We recently started having someone come in to clean the house one day a month, and I promise you, with everything in me, that that is the best investment of money (and in my marriage) that I’ve made in some time.

Finally putting my house together after having lived there for three years. 

This is so embarrassing to me.  We moved into our house about (okay, over) three years ago and I never really decorated or designed.  Our couch is a biohazard, a relic from graduate school.  We have no rug.  Our coffee table was a donation from a friend.  It’s simply awful.  So we’re fixing that.  A few weekends ago we took a full Saturday and went furniture shopping.  I made a decision on a huge sectional, and I’m acquiring pieces that fit, and purging things that don’t make sense.  Bonus points for Scotch Guard and those ottoman coffee tables so my kid doesn’t put an eye out.

Podcasting 

I have sworn up and down and up and down and up again, for years, that I wanted to do radio.  I am totally dating myself by saying radio, but in college, I used to fantasize about doing college radio, but never really made the steps to make it happen (which I totally kick myself for now).  After watching enough Insecure, and getting inspired, I finally decided to put myself out there, get a cohost, and start a podcast, the Pop Tea Podcast.  It has been fun.  It has been so much work.  But darn, I think we’re kind of onto something here.  I will definitely post more about how all that works (if you guys are curious).

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Our 5th episode celebration!

The podcast is a pop culture discussion (one of my favorite things), so if you’re into that, give us a listen, follow us, and post a review on iTunes so we’ll be poppin’ and I can make some money.

Anyways, what have you guys been up to?  

Blogging from the Westin Lobby!

| cheriarmour

Not even kidding.

I’m staying at the nicest hotel ever ever ever, and WiFi isn’t free in the room, so I grabbed a glass of overpriced white wine, and I popped a squat in the lobby to read some blogs, do some commenting, and observe all the drunky monkies as they come in from their nights out.  I’m not judging them.  That hard.  ::evil laughter::

Okay, so I’m staying in the hotel, by my lonesome, taking a much needed “break”.

And by break, I really mean that I’m blogging a bunch, catching up on some wedding stuff, and running a half marathon.  But I get to do it all while sleeping in a very very comfortable bed and watching Bravo without any cats parking on my face like one of them did last night.  Anyone want a free cat, I’m bout sick of that little orange one I adopted last year….(JK freaks!)

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So first thing I did, after I wrangled my bags into my room, was to do a super fast run down to Niketown to check out the name wall that they do.  Last year, my friggin name was on this split, so I was Cherisse no-last-name-til-the-next-line, and this year, by the grace of God, I’m Cheri full-last-name!  Eep!  The run felt good, was really short, and was flat.  I plan to do the same tomorrow morning, wake up really really early and get down there to get my packet, then return here to do a little more work.  I love it here.  🙂

What are you doing on this gorgeous Saturday?  

I don’t know what to say.

| cheriarmour

The race was awesome.  The course was hot and hilly, and I was a little scared going in because of how ill I had been with my allergies all week, but I crushed it.  It was no PR, but the race was crushed.

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Pre Race Photo

And then after the race, a cloud kind of drifted over our post-race celebrations, after we’d grabbed our free beer and headed out to a local bar (with terrible service) to grab some more non-free beers. After checking Twitter, our friend Jess found out that WRAL, the presenting sponsor, was reporting that two people had died at the race.

I don’t want to be funny, or silly, or crazy right now – I want to extend my deepest and most sincere condolences to the families of the two men who lost their lives today. I will catch you all soon ❤

Calling all my social workers! A post on self-care.

| cheriarmour

imageSelf-care is a big buzzword in social work land.  (For those of you just kinda tuning in, I’m a runner, a Zumba instructor, a blogger, and a social worker, all usually within the same week).  Anyhoo, like I was saying, self-care is a big word in social work land, mainly because burnout in social work is really prevalent.  We work really really hard with very little pay, all because we love people, and we love to serve people.  If HIPAA wasn’t a thing, I’d talk to you all day and all night about my clients, and how phenomenal they are, but I guess I have to respect their right to privacy, right?

But it’s hard.  There were two weeks last month that I truly thought I wasn’t cut out for the work, after some clients were especially horrible to me, that after viewing the puffy stress eyes, that I was ready to quit the job, and blog full time.  But here I am, and I’m starting to recognize that self-care is really important, and not just something that we should be joking about in the office.

Self-care means….

  • Going for my runs.  And I make sure I do it 5-6 times a week, but sometimes, I don’t bathe myself in the runs like I should.  I shouldn’t be thinking about notes, about deadlines, about my to-do list.  I need to do my runs, and be present for the runs.
  • Not mindlessly scrolling through my phone.  I’ve found myself, before bed, mindlessly scrolling through my phone before bed.  I don’t need to do that.  I need to actually sleep when I’m in bed.
  • Throwing myself into the things I enjoy.  I enjoy teaching, dancing, planning my wedding, reading, blogging, running, going to yoga, and I need to quit doing that thing where I divide my mind time.  If I’m running, I need to be present.  If I’m teaching, my mind is only there.  If I’m planning, my mind is all on me and what my future husband are doing.  Blogging? I’m all yours.
  • Recognizing when I’m tired.  There’s a difference between sleep and tired.  And sometimes I have troubles recognizing when I’m exhausted, tired, and when I just need to slow things down.  This weekend, when I opened my eyes on Sunday morning on Fripp, I was so happy, so in love with life, so in love with the beach, and I recognized that not only did I sleep like a rock, that I am tired.
  • Booking a room for myself at the Westin in Georgetown to run the Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Half Marathon.  I’m checking into a hotel in a beautiful part of DC, and I will be ghost, snuggling in a king-sized bed by myself, taking a bath, reading a book, and thinking about why my life is so beautiful! 

What are you doing to care for yourself, beautiful readers?