Keeping Busy on my Vacation

Whew. My first week off (and last) is halfway over and I am soooo tired. Today was spent getting up extra early and dragging Cassie to San Jose to meet our attorney Laura at the court house to finalize papers that will give Cassie her settlement from our gravel truck car accident. The stupid thing is that the judge had to approve the orders from our insurance company which states that the money she gets goes into a blocked bank account till she is 18. That's not the stupid part. The stupid part is it is only $2700!! If it were 10K I could see. What good is all this for less than $3000? and the interest she will earn, at least at this point, is so minimal that by the time she is 18, what is this going to do for her? Ugh. Just so frustrated. Now we are waiting for our insurance company to settle on my case, which is not a lot more. So much for almost getting killed on the freeway - I wasn't looking for 100K, just justice from the idiot driver who caused my accident. 2 years later, and I barely get double what Cassie got. I'm just upset that I don't even get to pay off the van I had to buy when my car was totaled. Whatever. I am moving on, it's not about the money, it's about how Mercury insurance, my insurance company for over 20 years, has handled this case and a longtime client who had no fault in the accident.

Anyway, I am now stronger and healthier than I was at the time of the accident so it doesn't really matter. I am thankful to be here, be on the path that I am, and preparing for this 1/2.

Sunday, Stephanie was too sick to go run so I went to the picture at the top, Water Dog Lake park in Belmont. James and Bob were there and I met 5 more members of the Still Making Strides team, which I am now a part of! James is the captain and he had come the day before and chalk marked the trails so that we wouldn't get lost, and it was 6 miles, my goal for the day. Well, they all took off running, and me being the slowest, was left to fend for myself. While it was peaceful, it was also kinda creepy and I don't think I like running out there in the boonies with no one else, snakes and mountain lions. I did run from the beginning of the trail to the lake without stopping, and running on a trail is totally different than on pavement. I had to keep my eyes down to not trip on roots or rocks. I have NEW muscles that are sore today!! At the top of the hill, I took a few pictures and the one above is the second half, looking across at the trail that I ran down at the beginning. As I am running (and walking, especially up the steep narrow trails) I notice a fork where on the left it went up a steep hill and on the right, wider and going down. James had said if there were no chalk arrows, I could go either way, so I chose the wider trail. Mistake. That must have been a shortcut, because only 45 minutes after I started, I came back to the beginning, and there is  NO way that was 6 miles. I didn't know what to do, since I had beat the entire team back (another clue that I cut through) so I jogged back and forth up and down the trail, texted Steph to see if I should wait or leave, ran up and back the beginning trail, finally ran into  James and told him what had happened. He was apologetic, the chalk must have rubbed off, so I said goodbye and left.

I decided to go to Marlin Park, where Franklin was coaching a scrimmage, and run around there since it is where I run during the week. I tell ya, on my way down Ralston, I contemplated stopping at Starbucks and going to the field to watch the game, but I stopped myself and went straight to the field. I checked in with Franklin, ran around the park block, up and down the field, and got in another 45 minutes of running, for a total of about 1-1/2 hours. Pretty proud of myself that I did it with no one pushing me again. No clue how many miles I went. I need to get a Garmin 405 GPS watch like Stephanie has, so if I am running without her, I can track my miles. Hers is pretty cool, tracks miles, speed, pauses when you pause, heartrate, etc. About $275. When I get my settlement, before I bank it, I am getting one, plus an iPhone4. Those are my gifts for all the crap I went through!

Monday, after meeting with Laura to sign the papers, we went on an impromptu walk at Sawyer camp trail. Cassie had her bike, and we dragged Alexander kicking and screaming, practically. He moaned and groaned most of the way out and back! Don't let the photo above fool you. We did 3 miles, the whole family and Cassie was so happy to be riding her bike next to me as I jogged. She was a trooper, but fell off a couple of times. The second time she became a drama queen and had to be carried back part of the way by her brother, then her dad, then she rode the rest of the way.

Tuesday, Stephanie was still not 100% so we decided to walk instead of run. I was able to bring Cassie along, and we did 3 miles, with Cassie riding the ENTIRE way, non stop except for a 5 minute break at a playground! She was amazing. Last night, though, she complained that her legs hurt, so I used my new lovely Stick and rolled her muscles out. She laughed her head off, took some Motrin and was good to go. I love how I am modeling an active lifestyle for her.

Tomorrow, another busy day. Dentist appointment for me, Despicable Me with Cassie and daddy, Kindergarten shots for Cassie (notice we are doing this after the movie, probably should be the other way around!) then my Thursday run.

Friday Cassie and I are doing, as I promised her, a big girl mani/pedi + lunch with Janet. Can't wait to catch up with her. Seems like forever since I've seen her! Shop for school supplies, ATTEMPT to get her into some uniforms. Then an HOUR AND A HALF MASSAGE!!!! YAY!!! Hope it's better than the last one, requested a therapist that Mom had and she said she was strong. I need some serious deep tissue work.

What I wouldn't give for a week off with nothing planned. This is my curse, though. I chose to work all summer, so now I am doing things that I didn't have time to do. Oh well. Just REALLY not ready to start a whole new school year. Blah.