Home and already overwhelmed....

It's 5:30am and I can't go back to sleep. Partly jet lag? Maybe. Mostly stress? Definitely. We got home yesterday shortly before noon, and this is what we walked into:
It was not quite that bad before we left on our trip two weeks ago. We had put a hold on our mail while we were away, but thankfully K also realized that we should have someone come by the house to check for any packages that may still arrive via UPS or FedEx. And, boy, did they arrive apparently. The first plan of attack was to quickly open all of the wedding gifts to catalog them in order to write thank-you cards in the upcoming weeks then we moved all the gifts to the spare bedroom so that we could actually have a livable living room again. It was the first time in months that our living room didn't look like "Wedding Central." That was an accomplishment.

After a lunch break to Rudy's (our last meal before we left on our honeymoon and our first meal back!), it was back home to unpack, wash/fold/put away 4 loads of laundry, catch up on email/blogs and make plans for some of our upcoming race trips, and just try to get our lives reorganized. K also had to watch the OSU-USC football game that he had recorded from last weekend.

While K went to buy groceries last night, I went out for a 4-mile run to remind myself that I'm still a runner. A runner who is going to run 31 miles in less than a month nonetheless. Unfortunately, we didn't run as much as I had hoped while we were gone (too many other things going on or not good running conditions - very hilly, winding roads with barely enough room for cars in Mykonos). This week and next week are our final two intense weeks before a short taper then the race, so I'll be busy getting my mileage in this week/weekend. In fact, I'm considering going for a 7-mile run right now - I don't think I'm going to be able to go back to sleep.

Then, there's the teaching thing. Since my class didn't meet while I was away, I have to catch up on several chapters of reading that were assigned and prepare lecture notes for the next two weeks before their exam the following week. It's Monday, and class is on Wednesday. I have my trail running group workout tomorrow night. So, it's hard to see where I'm going to have the time to get prepared.

Which brings me to this weekend...ACL is this weekend. But, I am also scheduled to run 22 miles on Saturday and 15 miles on Sunday. Out at Bandera and Lost Maples no less. AND, as I said, catch up on 7 chapters of reading and prepare lecture notes. How it's all going to happen is beyond me. The reality that I am slowly accepting is that ACL just might not happen for me this year. :(

And, this doesn't even count what's in store for me at work in a few hours...

Nothing like a dose of reality to start the day.