Running, birds, and Matty

Yesterday my ego took a HUGE hit. I'm trying to brush it off but man alive why are teenagers so rude and disrespectful? I wish I could remember if I was ever that way. I want to say there is no way I would have ever called a lady out running a lard-o. But who knows, maybe I did? Yep, that's what happened last night. I needed to get a run in, I left my house at 10:30ish and set out around our neighborhood, because it was dark I wore a headlamp, I hate wearing anything that calls attention to me so I was already feeling uncomfortable, but felt great and was pacing pretty well. I got up on the frontage road and gave it all I had when I got to the end of my kick I saw a group of boys and didn't think much of it, I didn't hear everything they said to me because I had my headphones in, but the phrase, "what a lard-o" made it to my ears. SO I turned up my music and finished strong. It wasn't until I got home and jumped in the shower and the water hit all my chaffing that I just cried. I also cried because I had my tracker set to road cycling and not running and it kept pausing for some reason so I have no idea how far I actually went, I have a pretty good idea, but no idea what my splits were for said run....

Generally other runners and adults are very supportive of runners. No I'm not the fastest person out there, but I get it done, but most importantly I feel awesome after I get a run done. I know I have a LONG way to go with my weight, it's been a huge struggle the last 4ish years, but I realized I've been too focused on the end result which overwhelms me. 75 pounds is a small human, bigger than my 8 year old, and that seems to be all that my brain can focus on, what I have to do to get to the end of my journey, not what I am doing....

On a lighter note, I feel like the birds around my house and neighborhood are plotting to gouge my eyes out and display them as a reminder to the rest of the human race of what they are capable of. We've had a birds nest in the corner of our rain gutter and front door for the past several years and we always plan to take it down after the babies leave the nest, this year on the 4th of July we came home to the empty nest hanging off the edge, so the next day I took it down and put two big rocks on the gutter so they can't build another nest. The mom and dad this summer were really aggressive and would flap their wings right in your face every time you came out the door or looked like you were going to go in the door. My neighbors felt the same way whenever they'd come to borrow a cup of whatever or just to talk. However the birds didn't bother Andy for some reason? Maybe he's the one helping them know whose eyes need gauging, just kidding. Even though my neighbor across the street feared for her life every time she came to my house this didn't stop her from putting a few bird houses in her trees. Yesterday I was doing yard work in our back yard and side yard, our one really great tree is on that side of our yard. I noticed HUGE birds hanging out in the branches, I continued my work and when I came back up by the tree 1358 million birds flew out of the tree and were swooping all around me! All of them were moving together and flying between my tree and my neighbor's.... I felt like Tippi Hedren and wondered if Alfred Hitchcock was filming me. Seriously, what the heck??? 

Wednesday we went on a beautiful hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon, it was a lot of fun and everything was going great until it was time to hike back down from Lake Mary. Matty and I got caught behind a big youth group and I was panicking a little that my sister-in-law had to deal with AJ and her youngest on her own so I was encouraging Matthew to run whenever we were on level, less-rocky ground, I would hold his hand when we ran, I let go to adjust the backpack and he tripped. He skinned his knees really bad and I felt like a horrible mom. We finally caught up with Audrey, AJ and Tate; she came prepared with band-aids and fixed Matty up as well as she could and we started again. He was whining and holding my hand, I let go, again to adjust and he face planted!! I was shocked that it happened again, I couldn't say anything for fear of losing it laughing or hysterically crying for him, neither option would have helped him. Matthew can be the easiest child 99.9% of the time, but if he gets hurt or doesn't feel good, all bets are off. So he got a piggy-back ride the rest of the way down. AJ decided he needed one too so awesome Aunt Audrey gave him one. 

That's been my week thus far. Up for today: more yard work, then Matthew, AJ, Cho and I are heading to grandma's to have a sleep over so I can help with my grandpa's 80th birthday plans and they can watch the boys while I go for a long run on Saturday. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly. And there won't be any haters out and about.