It's oh so quiet...

The girls are in camp.  All day.  All week.  Holy shit.  We're talking 40 hours of being able to focus on one thing at a time, like wandering around Target for an hour and a half this morning, without having to say "no, we cannot get that" every 26 seconds.  I can have uninterrupted adult conversations if I feel so inclined.  Or I can spend the day in absolute solitary silence if I want to.  I can buy and eat candy without sharing (wouldn't be the first time).  I do miss my children and wonder how they're enjoying their camp, but I am really enjoying having a little room to breathe (and blog) right now.  

We were back down in the Outer Banks last week for another one of the monthly long weekends Ryan took off of work this summer.  Things were a little up in the air the week before we went because our beloved spot on the sound was working around the clock to clean up after Hurricane Arthur barreled through, but they were able to reopen right in time for our scheduled visit.  Those Outer Banks folks are some of the toughest and most resilient people on the planet...the campground was under almost four feet of water a week before we got there, but we arrived to find it just the way we left it last month, only with fresh sod down in every campsite.  After seeing what a weak hurricane can do down there, I feel like we need to treat every trip down NC-12 like it could be our last, which is exactly what we did last week.  

We didn't do anything earth shattering, but here are some pics of this month's adventures in Rodanthe:

A few more shots to add to my overflowing "Sunsets on the Sound" photo album 

 Not a bad place to call home for a few days

Brynn's toy snake accompanied us on all of our paddle board adventures 

 Beachy version of Pennycan

These girls surfed and surfed and surfed.  I love how Camryn sticks out her tongue when she's concentrating.

Like a boss.

We visited the Cape Hatteras lighthouse one day while we were down there, and I just couldn't get enough of that place.  The lighthouse has such a fascinating history, and I love that my girls and I got to climb to the top for the first time together.  

 The owner of the campground was so kind to the kids, especially Brynn, who honestly believed she was an employee.  She didn't even get fired for sleeping on the job.

Camryn learned how to play War with cards.  Now she thinks a deck of cards is simply called War.

 Our last full day there was insanely windy.  Winds were out of the south, so the entire right side of my body was completely sandblasted after a few hours on the beach.  Really made me look forward to my shower with a view:

I completed one out of my three 20 minute runs while we were on vacation, and enjoyed it without the fuss of carrying my phone with me.  I didn't care about pace and just soaked up every bit of heat and humidity Hatteras Island had to offer.  It was kind of nuts seeing the piles of debris and seaweed that Hurricane Arthur deposited anywhere and everywhere he felt like it.  This was my first outing with no walk breaks, and I'm really pleased with how it went.  Without the walking, I feel like I'm finally started to shed the "injured runner" status and go back to being just a runner.  

My second 20 minute run was when we got home from vacation.  I needed some time alone after all that family fun, and I didn't think I had it in me to get up for a sunrise session the next day, so I laced up despite the rain showers that were moving through.  See???  I'm still a runner!!!  That run felt incredible, with splits of 8:06 and 7:39 for the first two miles, and 7:06 for the last 0.6.  Seeing low 8s was really exciting at first, but I can hardly contain my glee seeing low 7s, even if it's not very far.  

Low 7s were nowhere in sight for my third and final 20 minute run, as I was tasked with pushing the equivalent of about 90% of my body weight in the form of two little blondes and their teddies:

Ridiculous.  My BOB is the model with the fixed front wheel, meaning you have to push down on the handle bar and tilt it back to get the front wheel up to make turns.  And since I'm too short to get any sort of leverage using just my arms, I found myself  practically in a full front support on the handle bar just to lift the dang thing.  A 20 minute run turned into a total body workout, and that was fine by me.  It could very well have been the girls' last voyage in the BOB together, as my plan is to convince them to ride bikes alongside me when I run now.  

This week calls for a 25 minute run, and I love that I'm inching ever closer to 30 straight minutes of running.  I feel like getting to 30 and then going beyond will be such a huge turning point in this process.  I continue to work on strengthening my hips, and I frequently pamper my lower body with the foam roller.  Having to do all of this extra work is time consuming and irritating, but it's a necessary evil if I plan to keep this running thing in my life for the next few decades.  25 minutes or bust!