Day 31

Mama Duck
Growing up, I was the oldest of six girls. During my sixth grade year, three of my sisters were attending the same school as I was. It was my job to walk them to school and see that they got to where they belonged safely. Now I didn't mind it, I loved being with my sisters. The only problem was that as I walked, my sisters would start to fall behind. By the time we got to school we looked like a little train of ducks. For most of that sixth grade year, I was nicknamed "Mama Duck."

Today, felt much the same way. And this is our typical morning:

G-man, our 11 year-old will run to get on the bus to go to his school. The dog will start howling and barking because he can hear the chaotic excitement in the air. JT, the middle one-9, will start running around trying to find his glasses or an assignment that he forgot but will still be missing his shoes or maybe hasn't gotten dressed at all. RJ, our wee one-6, will have been dressed and ready to go since birth and will be waiting at the door to leave. I start to put on my jogging shoes, which sends the dog into a hissy fit knowing that his dog sled pulling (me dragging) time is about to start. Dad leaves for work and the panic in the dog's bark is enough to sizzle your ear drums. Jax, the dog, starts jumping on everything: the table with his leash and harness, the kitchen island with my fanny pack and water bottles. "Let's go! What's taking so long?" is all we can imagine him saying.

JT jumps on his scooter and starts down the drive way. RJ puts on his helmet and begins to pedal, but hasn't really gotten the hang of pedaling up-hill so the frustration in his voice begins. I have to remind JT to put on his helmet and before I know it, both boys yelling at each other or crying because they can't get the helmet strapped on right or they're mad because their brother is beating them down the sidewalk.

I'm frantically trying to get my headphone cables untangled and push RJ up the 15 degree "steep" angle of our drive way. With RJ finally headed in the right direction and my CardioTracker app finally working, I look off in the distance and JT is already three houses ahead of us. The dog begins dragging me as fast as my legs can carry me and we're off.

Within five houses, RJ has gotten stuck on a downslopped driveway and is heading into the street or JT has zoomed passed me so quickly that I can barely see his silhouette in the gleaming morning light. The dog tries to trip me, oh and look at that. Now he's pooped.

As we cross the first of four streets on our morning commute, RJ begins to have a panic attack as he nears the mail box that he crashed into his second day on the bike. I calm him down and he rides next to me back pedaling and crying about how he can't do this, only to tell me he loves riding his bike when I threaten to take his riding privileges away the next morning.

We're not even half mile down the road and my shins are screaming at me from yesterday's walk of torture. The dog is pulling me, secretly believing that we're in some kind of Roman Chariot race and that he has to pull us there before we're executed.

By some sort of miracle, I make it to the crossing guard at our last street and the boys have slowed enough for me to catch up to them at a fast jog as they cross the street. They ride, I scramble, to get to the end of the next block with them and then they are forced to get off their bikes/scooters and walk them the rest of the way into the school. The tired mommy in me screams that I should just drop them off here, but my heart aches to stay with them a few more seconds. With my legs yelping all the way to the walkers' gate, I walk my boys to the bike rack and hope for one last kiss and one last wave before they leave me.

Left alone now with the dog, I strap on my water bottle pack a little tighter and I go off to torture myself with another course of wogging (walking and jogging) until I some how make it home to start the rest of my day.

Today is Day 31 and while I only did 2.21 miles this morning, I'll probably head back out into the cruel world for some fresh air and strength training this afternoon.

As for today's weigh in, the Wii scale says I'm 1.8lbs heavier than yesterday. I don't like scales.