Day 275-276: This Cup is Half-Full

It’s been a rough week.

We got a puppy on Saturday, so sleeping has been difficult. He has cropped ears because he will be a show dog and those require a lot of attention and care. Plus, potty training. And Mr. T had some training of his own this week at work, which meant he couldn’t drop T Junior off at day care. Which meant I had to do it and be a little late for work. Oh, and I had to drive home at lunch on Tuesday to care for the puppy (except it takes 25-30 minutes to get home, so I had about 5 minutes to feed, potty and clean puppy ears). On Wednesday, I brought him with me instead and he hung out in his crate in the back of the Odyssey. At lunch, we walked, he pooped, he didn’t eat or drink, and I cleaned his ears…again.

Then Wednesday, T Junior got sick — or continued to get sick — I wish day care would’ve called me to come pick him up. That evening (while Mr. T was at band practice), T Junior just whined and sobbed and screamed at the puppy, who just peed and pooped and barked.

When Mr. T called well after 9 p.m. (after T Junior was in bed and the puppy was worn out), I sobbed into the phone. I was exhausted, stressed, sad.

But then he brought me a chocolate-dipped cone from McDonald’s and that made it a little better. And then the puppy did more sleeping and less barking during the night and that helped, too.

But Thursday morning, I was concerned about T Junior and so off to the doctor we went to find out that, yes, he has a contagious stomach virus.

Awesome.

Things just kept getting worse, but I decided it was time to fill my cup half full instead of leaving it half empty.

Half Empty: T Junior is scared of the puppy. He screams and falls down like a victim in a horror-film when the puppy comes near him. It’s really difficult keeping them apart. And the noise level etches itself on each one of my nerves.

Half Full: There’s really no reason for T Junior to be scared. The puppy (who has been renamed Ben because of “crazy dog show people” stuff), is actually a really good boy. He really wants T Junior to play with him. It’s just a matter of T Junior getting comfortable with Ben’s energy level. I know this will change with time.

Half Empty: Changing T Junior’s diaper or giving him a bath right now is horrible due to rash due to diarrhea. It brings me to tears because it makes him scream in pain.

Half Full: I’m letting him streak around the house more than normal, which he loves, and using the hand shower, which he’s not afraid of anymore, to rinse him off in the tub. Last night, while being hosed off, he told me he had to poop. So, he sat on his potty and went pee! Yay! That’s our second successful potty-sit.

Half Empty: Last night, T Junior had diarrhea in his sleep and I had to wake him to change his diaper/torture him with a wet wipe and some bag balm.

Half Full: Ben is actually pretty smart and is adapting to the nighttime routine faster than I thought he would. In between trips outside to go potty, he did not wake us up.

Okay, now for the running stuff!

Even though I sort of pulled myself out of the half-empty state of mind, by Thursday evening, I had to get out of the house. (Half full: a gym membership!)

I hit the gym for a 6-mile treadmill run. I was supposed to do 8, but knew my body was too tired for it. I decided 6 would be challenging enough and would allow me to run for at least an hour.

But, oh boy, just getting to two was difficult! And I was going at my easy pace. Okay, I’ll get to three then walk to four.

I walked for about a minute, but it didn’t seem easier, so I decided to run again. Just make it to four, then you can walk to five.

Again, walking was not as easy as I had hoped. I sped back up and ran till 5. Then started walking. At 5.5 miles, the clock got to 60 minutes and then started a 5-minute cool down. Five minutes? I can run a half a mile in 5 minutes! I cranked that sucker up and ran hard (9:12 pace), trying to focus on using my stomach muscles, instead of my tight calves, to drive my legs. It was a race against the clock and I made it!

Half Empty: Only ran six instead of eight.

Half Full: Good to know I can crank out an hour of running even when I’m not feeling it.

Special Thanks: The Real Housewives of NYC rerun — for keeping my mind off of that last mile.

4/22/10 – 6 Miles – 65 minutes
Average pace: 10:50