Goodbye Summer, Helloooo the Rest of the Year!

Another labour day has passed. Another first day of school has arrived.  Another summer of long days, sunny bbqs and ice cream cones is wrapping up.

Summer fun with the boys

Oh, how I miss you already, summer.  The following list is of the things (in no particular order) that I will really, really miss about summer:

- aforementioned ice cream. I am not a dairy-eater.  I avoid it in most of its forms, including ice cream normally, but there is something about enjoying a sweet cone of black cherry while watching the "double chocolate" drip all over my two-year-old that makes me happy (even if it's just one scoop)!

- the heat!  Oh, the warm cozy sunshine!  I will longingly dream of that sticky, humid warmth when it is January once again.

- the lonnnng days. How amazing is it to wake up to sunshine (a miracle when you have children that awaken with the roosters) in the morning?  Today, a fellow runner and I were pouting a bit about the inevitable darkness that comes with th fall. How unfair to cut out the sunshine at both ends of the day!

- all of those open-water swims. I really got into a lake-groove this summer, and I still cannot believe I was swimming all the way over to the Island at Guelph lake by the latter half of the season. I really did not know I had it in me, and I can't wait to see how far I can go next year in the lake. *never THIS far though. Swimming from Cuba to Florida.  Woah.

- cuddle time. My little Milo (the cuddler) would spend loads of time catering to his mama's cuddling needs this summer. We do cuddle in the other 3 seasons of the year, but we just seem to have more time to hang out in the summer and I miss it already.

- sitting in the shade. There is so little shade other seasons of the year, and, frankly, we just don't need it that much in December, what with it being dark all the time, and so so cold.

- lemonade and other cold drinks. Mmmmm. I would like to say I sit in the shade and sip a cold drink and relax, but I prefer to have a cold drink post-run so it is too sweat-filled of an event to be relaxing. But nice nonetheless.

- shorts. Getting back into real clothes for school is making my brain hurt a little.

- biking. I was just getting the hang of those clip less pedals, and now the season is coming to an end. Sure, sure, lots of people (real cyclists, probably) bike well into the fall, but I would hardly call myself a "real cyclist" yet. I sure hope I can convince myself to use a bike trainer this winter (and purchasing one is not the same as actually using one, so I am going to need to create some sort of accountability for myself)!

- family time. Spending time with our families and friends over the summer takes the cake. I love having more time to fit in special visits with loved ones.

I could probably go on and on and on about the amazing greatness that we all know summer is. But, as luck would have it, I do like lots of things about the fall too (and spring, but I really have to think optimistically to get along with winter sometimes).

I enjoyed a wonderful run this evening of 5 miles...a warm up (8:00/mile) then 3 tempo miles (7:20/mile) then a little cool down mile of (8:00/mile). I am in full-blown taper mode for my marathon this Sunday (double gulp!) so tonight was my last (big) run. A recovery run tomorrow, a refresher run on Friday, then (literally) off to the races for Sunday!

look at me, all in black on an evening run!  not too long from now I will be wearing the obnoxious glow-in the dark clothing :(

I do have (lofty) race goals, but I will commit to those later in the week when I am fully ready to divulge how optimistic I am when it comes to running and keeping my act together over the entire 26.2 miles!



Happy first-day-ing, running, etc!