Former Single Mommy

Freelance and friendships…

Shannon — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 21:02:08 +0000

…are two things I miss about my writing life. So, I’m back to blogging and I now have free time and mobile apps that will make this process happen on a more weekly basis. How are all of you? I miss your comments, your insights and your blogs. So I’m off to review them and catch up.

Update, as for my freelancing, I’m now writing on Examiner.com…check my articles about parenting out here.

Hope to hear from all of you soon.

Minimalist running.

Shannon — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 17:21:31 +0000

You knew I’d get to this post right? It’s all the craze in the running world right now and being both a scientist and a runner, I had to come to this point eventually.

Before all the hype started, I read a paper, published by a reputable group of scientists on the biomechanics of running barefoot. I also read Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall, before it became so inspirational and hence encouraging of all these barefoot runners. Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a fantastic book, a brilliant story and there is definitely something to the idea that less cushioning will allow our feet to actually feel the ground and do what they were made to do. I’m always a proponent of the more “natural” way of doing things. However, barefoot running is not something one should just start on a whim. I occasionally run with a very flat trail/water shoe, when out on the lake for the weekend …on soft trails and it feels great! I don’t feel that on the sidewalks of my city for my distance runs that it would be a great plan. I need some cushioning. Correct shoe fit and the proper shoe choice for your usage are the sole solution here.

Never just assume that because something is published, that it is right. For many years, people believed the Earth was flat. For many years, we all believed that we needed extra cushioning and “sox” and all sorts of gels and bubbles and so forth, to help soften our pounding on the pavement. Now a book and a few radicals push this idea and we’re all on the wagon? Careful kids, everything in moderation. Every day in science, things that we previously thought were irrefutable, are proven wrong. The Nature paper, ’Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners” (Lieberman et. al, 2010) makes a wonderful scientific study of the benefits of barefoot running which goes along nicely with Born To Run.

I like the concept of rebelling against shoe companies who play off our fear of injury by developing shoes that hurt us more than help us, however…and this is a big BUT…isn’t it awfully ironic that in rebelling against shoe companies we are pushing people to buy Vibram Five Fingers and Nike Frees? In reality, couldn’t this be yet another marketing ploy?

The bottom line is that no matter who you are, you are an individual with individual needs. Only you can know what your particular foot, joints, legs and/or body will function best with. Always use your own discretion and choose what works for you-don’t waste needless piles of money on the latest gimmick. And in my opinion, running with a minimalist shoe, rather than completely Barefoot or with the lovely gimmick of Vibrams, can be much safer for most and much more affordable. There have been countless articles published about how the best running shoes, can be the least expensive, due to the lower level of cushioning and bells and whistles. So if you want to try this trend…look in your closet, you may already have some cheaper, minimalist shoes in there.

Either way, keep on running!

Ouch!

Shannon — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:00:16 +0000

Well here we go. My first injury in ages. I mean ages. I’m almost ashamed to mention it beause I’ve been so injury-free through my last couple half marathons and racing seasons…I just don’t know, why now?

Last night I iced them (did the whole RICE) thing, but I can still feel them throbbing and can barely walk. This happened once last summer too, but you all know how hard it is to take time off from running when you are in training! Ugh. Any input? I know I shouldn’t have trudged through my 35 minute tempo run last night but I can be a fiesty little brat sometimes. I also think I dropped a nasty word when I had to stop for a sec and make sure I could still stand when I stopped moving. For some reason the faster I ran, the pain seemed to lessen (maybe just numb). A little old man in his flower bed, doing some gardening sure got a suprise. I better take a different route for awhile.

On vacation this week with my precious daughter. We day tripped to Montreal and got some school shopping done, practiced diving, got her hair cut and spent loads of quality time together, biking and chatting and re-organizing her closet (her choice, she loves that stuff). And she got a new Shrek Opi nailpolish. Another variant of blue! I love staycations. Today is our loungy, rest day. Stepson is at his mom’s for two weeks and then he’ll be back with us. Our kids start school a couple days after Labor Day so it’s not all that far off now. Are you done your school shopping? My daughter isn’t so about it this year. She got a few things, but she wanted enough to start out and then buy more throughout the fall. Much different than kindergarten when she started with over 35 outfits. Oh those little Gymboree outfits with matching shoes and hair accessories. Those were the days. Cardigan, tights, skirt, sweater and headband…all matchy-matchy.

It’s getting hot in here…

Shannon — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:36:33 +0000

Really, really, really hot in here. Here in upstate NY, we consider 80 degrees Fahrenheit to be sweltering hot, since we often get below zero temperatures for a large amount of our winter. I run all winter long, outside. It has to be very frigid to keep me indoors on my treadmill. Sometimes in the winter, if I’m in training, I will do my speedwork or interval training on the treadmill, primarily because the track is stacked high with snow! This week it’s been 90 degrees at 7 pm when I go running. I still did my normally scheduled runs. I’m nothing if not determined. Once I’m in training, I just about never deviate from my schedule. It really helps to choose a training plan and adhere to it. Somehow it helps as a motivator. An additional motivator is all those nasty toxins I’m sweating out of my body on a run like that.

This all relates to stepparenting and single parenting for me in one very simple way. When you feel good about your body, you feel good about yourself and you are able to release all that stress that those two dynamics can build up. It’s the one good thing that is for ME and me alone, that schedules right into my life. It’s taken a long time, but everyone expects my running now. No one feels it takes time away from them, the whole family is proud and my daughter loves coming to the track to time my speed workouts. Before I remarried, I used to run on a treadmill almost all the time. I didn’t race as much back then, but I got my running in. It’s my sanity. And probably part of the reason I’m very laid back and less stressed than most of my friends. And when my daughter’s father manages to somehow get on my nerves (it happens occasionally, even now) running to some loud angry music really makes it all go away. Really.

Anybody interested in running? I’d love to help and give advice-I want to motivate all of you. :) And for my runner friends, especially those fast ones, help motivate me to bust out a great half-marathon in October!

Chanel nail polish.

Shannon — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:39:48 +0000

Found a great blog posting on my new favorite Chanel nailpolish. I’m a Chanel junkie anyway, but this one is so delightful and her pictures are great. It really looks different depending on lighting, clothing, etc, but it’s lovely all around.

Enjoy.

Training time again.

Shannon — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:32:21 +0000

I always forget how hard it is to get used to being in training again for a half-marathon. Although I love the schedule and predictability (it really gets you out the door, because you certainly don’t want to be regretting not training enough when you get to the day before the race), I also forget how tired my body is at first.
And I actually keep a base level of at least 6 miles all year long and during non-training I run about 4-5 days a week, mixed in with all my other biking, rollerblading, swimming, etc.
Last night I woke up with sore feet. I knew it would happen when I came back from my long run for the week…my 2nd toe on my left foot has been harboring a blister and as I ran, I felt it starting to become bothersome. I’m gonna have to tape that baby down this week.
However, YAY, my track workout is tomorrow. And those, I really do love. While they are happening I’m sweaty and exhausted, but that exhaustion is so rejuvenating. A whole separate entity from the exhaustion of a long run.
While on the lake all weekend on our boat, I read the new Tana French book (Faithful Place) on my iPad. I also found some pain in the a$$ things about the iPad. It overheats when it is too warm and it’s impossible to read in bright sunlight or on the deck of the boat. Nevertheless the book was good. And I normally like classics or non-ficiton so this is high praise indeed. (Kid free weekends usually mean I’m on the lake-missing my girl but enjoying the husband).
Anyone else in training right now? By the way, the lovely M and M ice cream cookie sandwich I had while watching True Blood was a lovely treat post-run.

Happy 11th Birthday Sweet Girl.

Shannon — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:31:12 +0000

This weekend we celebrated the 11th birthday of my baby girl with a fabulous trip to NYC. We stayed on the 40th floor of a hotel right in the middle of Times Square and took in an 8pm showing of Wicked on Saturday. If you haven’t seen it yet, you must. Such a dynamic and jaw-dropping performance-worth every penny. B and I spent the 5 hour commute home singing the soundtrack!

It made me even more aware how absolutely in sync we are. We slept in the same bed and spent not a moment apart for 3 days and I left that weekend just wanting more. What a joy that child is. So grateful and gracious. That being said, how she’s grown! We spent the weekend traipsing the city to find the make up stores she longed to visit. Now keep in mind, I don’t let her wear it really, outside of the house, but she’s got some sort of collection going on and it’s harmless. She fell in love with Sephora and a little less in love with M.A.C. .

She is still my entire world. Nothing has changed that. I still sneak into her room each night and breathe her air. She is deliciously young and an old soul at the very same time. She is brave and kind, beautiful and giddy, a pacifist and a determined dreamer. She is all of the best of me and none of the worst. She is the culmination of a love between a daydreaming musician and a literary, intensely passionate realist. How lucky are we to have been chosen as her parents?

I am brought to tears as I think of her growing up and away from me and pray ferociously that this never happens. I know there will be trying times, but my heart longs to keep her 11. Where she is forever mine and doesn’t give her heart away to someone that I know just isn’t worthy of such a luminous treasure. Yet, I’m happy that her dreams are big, enormous even, and that the world is open to her every desire and possibility. She has only to want something enough to make it her reality. And I will be here…always. For the days when she still needs to climb in bed and feel her mothers arms wrap around her in a forever, eternally soothing embrace. I love you, little girl.

Not talking about underwear here, folks.

Shannon — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:10:43 +0000

So on Monday, I finally succumbed to a temptation I’ve long harbored. I went with a boy cut. And my stylist said I’m her “most daring client”. Granted, I wore my hair in a bun or pony nearly every day, so I knew basically what it would look like. Needless to say it was heartwrenching to see my hair fall down and feel the lack of hair on the back of my head. It’s funky and cute and very carefree. I’ve done short hair before, but this is the shortest I’ve gone. I Googled Jessica Stroup’s hair debuted in May 2010 (not her bob, but her newer pixie style crop) and loved it. Brought the pic to my hairdresser and she worked her magic. People are raving, I mean seriously raving, over my hair. I like the way it makes my face look-but I’m still hesitant to say I’ll keep it. I think I’m going to grow it out to be a bit more like Jessica Stroup’s hair prior to this cut…just a more comfortable length for me. BUT, it was so cute in a wide cloth headband for my track workouts last night. Which is so when you want to look good, right? And I shaved a few seconds off my 400m intervals, on average. That hair must have been holding me back. I can tell myself that anyway.

My daughter really was not about my hair. She’s getting used to it, only by the consolation that I gave her “It’s only hair honey. Mine grows fast and I’ve always wanted to try this out…it’s just fun for a few months”. She’s such a Taylor Swift loving long hair advocate. And here, is a pic for you.

It looks different depending on what I do with it-that’s the neat part. It can be so varied. Today it’s girly and in a headband. And it’s super, super, super easy. Friends have mentioned how “brave” I am. Really? It grows. I don’t think this constitutes bravery really. It could be a bob by Christmas. What do you guys think? It’s lovely for running. And since I’m officially on my training program for a half marathon again-it’s nice. I love being in training…well at least the first 6-7 weeks of it.

11 is the new 15.

Shannon — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:25:39 +0000

My daughter is going to be 11 this month. However she both looks and acts 15. I blame much of this on the YouTube videos she is obsessed with. See for yourself at JuicyStar07 . Now these aren’t harmful by any stretch. They just involve make-up and a young fashionista. My daughter is not allowed to wear make-up out in public. It’s just something she is playing with and having fun doing in her spare time. But she spends a tremendous amount of time organizing her lovely new vanity and jewelry box. I will have to take photos of this and add them in later (since I am at work).

She is particulary obsessed with M.A.C. cosmetics. Something she will get to indulge a bit on our trip to NYC for her birthday. It is fun and I can understand the “collecting” aspect of this newfound fascination. And I will admit, I love that she’s so about organizing her room…so thank you to Blair Fowler (Miss JuicyStar07 herself) for that.

But I must admit, it makes me really happy when her friend comes over and they play with their dolls. After all, those American Girl dolls need some love too. And I need to see my baby acting like…well, like a little girl. At least once in awhile.

Book List-HELP!

Shannon — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:17:59 +0000

So a very dear friend and I are starting a book list. We have come to the conclusion that as bibliophiles, we have been unable to find a satisfactory “Top 100 Books You Must Read to Be Considered Well-Read” list. Some of the lists have most of the books we believe should be included and then fall by the wayside. So we are making our own. And then tackling all the books on it, that we haven’t yet read. Now keep in mind, it’s tough to not out all our personal favorites on there. But since mine would be loaded with Ayn Rand and his with Russian History, we’d bore the rest of the world. How about you, bloggers? What are your top 5 essential books? Help us out!