Rest day (sort of)...

Sometimes I wonder what a true "rest day" feels like.  I mean, I don't run on rest days, and typically I don't do any true exercise.  But chasing after my five kiddos doesn't really ever feel like rest.  I know other moms will understand.  I was woken today at 5:31 AM by my 15-year-old son, Hunter.  He is a blog post in and of himself, so I won't go into too much detail, other than to say that he is severely autistic and nonverbal, and functions at the level of a 1-2 year old in most respects.  Anyway, he is an early riser, so I had to hit the ground running--figuratively, of course.  The others all came downstairs between 7:30-8:00 AM, and after breakfast and getting my 8 year old off to camp, we left Hunter with one of his caregivers and headed to a park.  The weather was amazing today.  After so many days of ultra-high humidity and pop-up thunderstorms, it was wonderful to have just a beautiful summer morning.  The three youngest kiddos (ages 6, 3, and 3) loved the park, and I got to chat with a friend who happened to be there with her two kiddos as well.  We were there for over two hours, until we had to pick up the 8 year old at camp.  Needless to say, the twins took good naps today!  Tonight, we went to our local library's annual ice cream social ($1 for a big sundae--can't beat it!).  I finally just now got the fourth kiddo down for the night (the fifth is out night-fishing with his daddy).  Thus, you can see why "rest" is a very relative term!

I did the second workout of the sit-up app that I downloaded.  It was a bit better than the first one--I actually felt a bit sore at the end of it (237 total sit-ups, broken into 8 sets varying from 26-35 sit-ups per set).  Then I took a short nap... it ended up being just under an hour, which is too short for me, but alas, it's all I had time for.

Legs update:  woke up very sore again.  Ibuprofen at 6 AM, followed by icing.  Compression socks worn from 6:30 AM-6:30 PM today.  I really do think they help.  Took ibuprofen again at 6:30 PM. I am trying to limit it to twice a day.  After reading up on shin splints last night, I am 99.9% positive that is what is going on.  If I knew that not running for a week would stop them, I would totally do it, but I am worried that they will just come right back.  So at this point, I am still planning on running on Saturday morning.  Tomorrow night I head back to the gym for some bike and weights time. 

One last thing:  Christmas in my mailbox today!  I recently subscribed to Running Times through a discount magazine website.  I will receive it for a year for less than $5!  Woo-hoo!  The July AND August issues came today.  Also I found a Facebook site for moms who are selling their (gently) used running attire.  Today two items that I bought came in: a pair of Nike running shorts, and a Champion running skirt.  I have never tried to run in a running skirt before, but some women love them, so I figured why not give it a shot?  I plan to run in it on Saturday!