Racing and Toiletries Talk

First of all there was this:



I wasn't trained.  I finished in one of my slower times ever, but had a good event experience and did not hurt myself, so...that was actually what I was going for.  I wish I were in a place where I could push myself athletically, but that is not where I am right now, so not backsliding is a huge accomplishment in its weird way.  At the same time, this was my 5^th year in a row doing this particular race, my 15^th half marathon in that time period.

While I am proud of this, I also feel that I have possibly done as much as I care to in this department.  I have been faster.  I am now slower (and not really running) and I’ve done this half marathon course enough that the magic is kind of gone.  The fear of the distance is obviously largely gone.  The challenge that it felt like when I took it on (It seriously sounded near-impossible when I first decided in 2007 that I wanted to do the 2009 WDW Half Marathon), well, now it feels a lot more like “no big deal” even though I know intellectually that a half marathon is still as big a deal as it was when I first started training for it.  After 15 of them, though, I know I can do it, even under whatever less than ideal circumstances you might throw at me.  Hot, sunny and hilly?  That was Minneapolis.  Freezing and snow on the course?  Well, there was the Hypothermic Half as well as 2010 in Florida.  Brain injury?  Done.  Knee, hip, foot problems?  Still done.  Full marathon the next day?  Done.  Take ALL the pictures?  Done.  PR?  Done several times.  I enjoy racing with friends now but I am not likely to get that sub 2 hour race, and…you know, I got to 2:10.  It doesn’t really bother me.

This was probably the most restful, relaxing trip to Disney I have ever had.  I didn't tour any parks, I didn't ride a single ride.  I have been spending so much time at home getting things done, checking things off the list, it was nice to just be able to take it easier, not have access to things I needed to achieve and, well, still have a good time but not really stress or make my feet more tired than they were from the race.  I had a wonderful time with friends and especially friends that feel like family.  I had the awesome experience of a friend showing me a picture of her newly cleaned-out pantry (inspired, at least in part, by this blog, she said!).  I loved cheering for the Full in really unpleasantly warm conditions.  I loved the team dinners and ice cream meets and going on a mission for a Skylander character with Jen.  It was ALL good.

I am sending out a Big Thanks to The Dads for covering all the bases without me while I was gone and to The Kids for not resenting my going off to Florida without them.  A race weekend is not the most fun time for the kids to go to Disney with me, and my boys understand that.  They have been along for a race weekend before and know it's a lot of meets and late starts and moving more slowly, but it's not exactly the most self-evident thing upon first hearing about it.

Now on to the Toiletries:
Upon returning home, I decided it was high time I cleared out some toiletries from the old house.  First things first, I decided:  I need to sort out what I've got.  So I made some piles.  Shampoo.  Conditioner.  Lotion.  Hair accessories.  Styling products. Skin care and make-up.  Cleaning supplies.  Office supplies.  Soap.  Dental.  Did I mention this was a bit of another disaster area?

Wait - office supplies?  Yes.  A surprising number of pens, school scissors, desk "toys" and tape have made it into my bathroom.  There is a logical explanation for this.  Well, for the scissors anyway.  The pens and the tape must just have been in my pockets. Additionally, there were a few items that expired in....and this is not the earliest date any of us have seen on a product in the past few months, but still....2004.

It turns out I should never be allowed to buy any more toiletries, ever, without written permission from someone with some sense.  I posted about this on facebook and got the question of "Why change products?"  Well, there are a couple of reasons.  1.  My hair care needs have shifted over the past few years.  I am now, as  everyone knows, a full time consumer of hair color of various types.  When it's kind of blondie like it is right now, I don't worry too much about washing the color out, but when it's bold, darker colors, that color protecting shampoo is important.  2. If you use the same hair products all the time, you can get kind of...build up and they stop seeming to work so well.  Or maybe I'm just buying into the hype.  My hair seems happier if I mix things up sometimes, and so am I.  Because, like my hairstyle, I always wonder if something else is better than what I am currently going with.  Sometimes it is better, sometimes it isn't.  And sometimes I just get distracted.  So I end up with some underfinished bottles.  And they pile up.  It's unconscious behavior but I need to make it conscious and work on getting these bottles out and not letting products I'm not liking linger on.

The fascinating thing I learned today is:  we always have more conditioner than shampoo at my house.  It turns out (via facebook and a real live conversation with my chiropractor's daughter) that other people have the opposite problem!  I could speculate on why but...well, the point is, there is a shampoo/conditioner differential and everyone's is different.  We have 4 full bottles of a kind of conditioner that goes with a kind of shampoo that Andrew used for a long time.  Except after a while, it made my scalp itchy, so I stopped using it.  And as little as I may condition, Andrew apparently conditions less.

I think one factor is that I have very fine hair.  If I use too much conditioner, it gets really weighted down.  For people with thick hair that tends toward frizziness, conditioner may be more beneficial.  The shorter the hair, the less conditioner people probably use as well.  It's a theory.

I have more to do in this toiletries clearing department.  There's a whole dissertation to be written about my deodorant stockpile as well.  I am extra flummoxed because the new house does not have cabinet space for storing multiples of things the way the old house does.  Which is good and bad.  Good because...it doesn't all become easily, invisibly dysfunctional again in the new house.  Bad because...what do I do with all these things?  I am going to have to continue to ponder and think on what sort of cabinet, shelving, etc. I want to incorporate into the vast (and yet somewhat underappreciated) master bathroom.  And then I get to sit back and not shop for toiletries for a very long time.

Just for fun, here is a bear soap-on-a-rope that I got for Bailey...approximately 12 years ago.  It's had a rough time but strangely in 12 years did not manage to get used up.

And here's a little "Hey, check it out - I am not completely dysfuctional" moment.  Being tired of having school things from 4 kids scattered throughout the kitchen and study (yes, we're going with study...cause that's where they study) I found this storage bench that fits perfectly between a counter and the pantry in the kitchen.  It has room for 3 backpacks underneath and 2 on top with a space to sit and put on shoes even.  Now if we can just get the backpacks and computer bags into or onto the cubbies after the homework is complete...