Another Mother’s Day has come and gone. I have a few more pieces of art to decorate our house with and had a wonderful snack of an apple, doughnut and boxed juice.

But I’m here to talk about dirt. Another Mother’s Day gift was a day away from the races. Mountain Papa took the two oldest kids to a race while the youngest kid stayed home with me.

We went to the farmers market and got some snapdragons, one of the kids favorite flowers. They are third on my list, behind tulips and daisies.

 
We planted them in a little makeshift garden  we created earlier this week. Our yard doesn’t get much sunlight, except for one little spot in the corner. So we sowed some seeds and put a fence up to keep the deer and cats out. Yes we live less than a quarter mile from downtown and we still have deer problems.

While digging out a space for the flowers, I encountered rocks, roots and the occasional grub. The soil is compact and kind of hard. 

We have another garden in another part of the state. There I separated some iris bulbs so we could have more plants throughout the yard.

While working this soil, I could tell the difference. It was dark brown, almost black, and smooth. As I rubbed it between my fingers it felt clean. The rocks were sparse. This was a great place to grow things.

Right now I am preparing the soil, my mileage base, for the Marine Corps Marathon.

I thought I’d use a half-marathon as a test to see what I need to work on for the Marine Corps Marathon. But the race isn’t to be. I have another obligation that is more important that weekend.

I’m still sticking with my half-marathon training plan. I’ve just made my goal to do well at my daughter’s Girls on the Run 5k race.

I hope that continuing to train will give me some clean dirt for my marathon training.

My training plan is a 20 week plan with a run of 22 miles. I plan to run at least 23. It starts in early June, a few days after my birthday.

My biggest challenge is trying to fit all of these runs into my schedule. I work the night shift and watch the kids during the day. That doesn’t give me much time to devote to running.

It will work out. It has to. I have a marathon to run for Team RWB. Hopefully as I do the training, I’ll make my personal journey through running grow.

I hope you have a good week. How do you fit your training into your busy schedule?