Surprised by Success

So, the dating blog went over well yesterday. Yes, it's true, I've had enough dating experience in the last several months to last me a lifetime. That's why I got offline, and I'm just waiting for the right person to come and find me. Honestly, yesterday's post was just the tip of the iceberg, so stay tuned for upcoming posts if you enjoy a good laugh at my expense. In posting my blog last night, though, I found that I'm not the only one who's had dating nightmares. An old high school friend reached out to me, and told me that he'd had a similar experience. One woman he dated even faked a pregnancy! I guess it goes to show that you never know what you're going to get, when you date online!

Anyway, writing yesterday's post was fun, but today I'm going to focus on the true love of my life, and some of my Tough Mudder obstacles. The true love of my life, is of course, Charley. Since the day she was born, we've been a team, and I'm going to hang onto that as long as I can. We went and got pedicures today with my friend Kim. Yes, it's true, I took my two year old to get her toes painted. She certainly was the entertainment for everyone in the nail salon, as she walked from one end of the building to the other asking everyone their names, and saying, "Nice to meet you." Yes, it's cute, but it drives me crazy because she doesn't get that everybody on the face of the earth does not want to talk to her, on her command. Anyway, her toes look cute, and we made it out of the salon without any major incidents.

Raising a child on your own is difficult, but I think that difficulty is compounded when they are very young. She constantly wants to be the center of attention, which is fun, but the occasional, uninterrupted adult conversation would be nice every once in awhile. Anyway, as a parent, single or not, when you find a method of keeping your kids entertained for awhile, you run with it. What has been my solution to entertaining my little diva? One Direction. I know, a two year old listening to a boy band. I truly have my hands full, and she's nowhere near her teenage years. I attached a video that my friend Gretchen thought was "Youtube worthy," but instead of Youtube, I thought I would just share it with you all. This is what I will have to look forward to for the next decade or so.

I love my kid. This video explains why. Not only does she love boy bands and country music, she also has a ton of personality, and keeps life interesting. Sometimes she gets into trouble, but she is so much fun.

I'm not planning to ramble on about how great my kid is (although she is awesome), so I thought I would share some of my Tough Mudder training news. If you don't know what a Tough Mudder is, it's a 10-12 mile obstacle course that I'm training for in July. I'm in decent shape, but endurance has never been my thing. There's a reason I was good at gymnastics...I can work my butt off, and go super hard for like 2 minutes. Then I need a break! So, this is going to be the ultimate challenge for me and my short legs.

Anyway, I started training a couple of weeks ago, and I've been proud of myself for going to the gym. Part of my motivation is giving Charley a chance to go to the kids area, and getting a guaranteed hour and a half break every time I go. It's totally a win-win, situation. My biggest issue with training so far has been injuries. I have a stress fracture in my wrist from doing who-knows-what a couple of months ago, and it makes training for the obstacles difficult. I'm working on it, though and hoping to have my wrist back to normal within a week. So, I don't have any funny stories to explain my wrist injury, but that's not my only current ailment. I hurt my knee just over a week ago, and you might find this one entertaining.

So, my co-workers have been trying to get me to come to adult gymnastics for the longest time. I love tumbling, I love gymnastics, but the class is 7:30-9p.m. and I have a toddler. Not exactly the best timing, when there's nobody at home to put her to sleep. But last week, I got my little sister to babysit, and finally went to gymnastics. Before I left, my step-dad warned me, "Be careful! I need you in tip-top shape to watch the dogs next week." Side note: I'm house sitting this week. Anyway, I was like, sure, I have a splint on my wrist, but I was confident I could still do some hands-free tumbling, like aerials (no-handed cartwheels), back tucks, front tucks...The things I've done for years. So, here we are stretching, and everybody starts to warm up tumbling. Handstands, cartwheels, back handsprings. Of course, everything that uses hands.

I didn't just want to stand around, so I went over to the Tumble Track, and started some aerial cartwheels. I landed 10 or so, with no issues whatsoever. "I've totally got this," I thought to myself. I went over to the floor, ready to do my amazing aerial. I was nervous, and the thought that MAYBE I shouldn't do this on my first night back definitely crossed my mind. But I'm an "I can do it" kind of person, and went for it. Big mistake. Big. Huge. Did I land the aerial? Yup! I sure did. Did my back leg come down so hard that I thought I blew out my knee? Yup! Sure did. Of course everyone was watching, so I just stood there like a deer in headlights, like, "I'm fine!" Internally, though, I was screaming, "Crap! I'm such an idiot. I hope I can walk away without anybody noticing my limp and fake smile." Well, I stretched it out a little bit and it definitely hurt, but I didn't want anyone to know I'd hurt myself, so I went over to the trampoline, and did some front tucks, back tucks...anything where I didn't have to straighten my leg. I knew it was stupid, and did it anyway. The next day I could hardly walk.

It felt a lot better a couple days later, with my traditional "RICE" remedy, so I didn't go to the doctor. Then, I went back to the gym, and I'm paying for it now. Yikes. Oh well, it will heal, but I hate to get out of my gym routine...A mom needs her alone time!  Here's the best part, though...Prior to writing this blog, I've only told two people, and that is just because they saw me immediately afterwards. My friend Sean told me I was an idiot, and I knew he was right. Now I'm the girl with a bum wrist and a bum knee...oddly enough, unlike any injuries I'd ever had while I was competing. It's embarrassing, so feel free to laugh at my expense. It has put a kink in my training, but it won't stop me. I must continue on...