wiaw: wishing for more

Sometimes being a working AND coaching mom can be difficult.  I thankfully only coach in the fall, but I conduct conditioning and open gyms in the off-season.  Now, I have been given a new hat to wear:  helping coordinate a youth volleyball league for the city.  Again, thankfully it is not going to be nearly as time consuming as I was expecting, but it is still going to cut into time at home with my family.  Especially days like yesterday, where I left at 6:30 AM and didn't get home until after 9 PM.  It also makes meal planning that much harder, but I am somewhat of a planner and was still able to get some healthy-ish meals in.  

(Edited to add:  At the time I wrote this, I was supposed to have a youth volleyball clinic from 6-8:15.  At 5 until 6, when there was not a single youth player or volunteer coach there, I started to get worried.  No one showed up.  Since I am doing this to help the city, apparently info wasn't relayed around either to me or the coaches.  Hopefully I will find out today what the deal is, but at least I got to go home early!)Goodness, I hate 4 AM alarms.  I decided to cut my workout a little short because I knew I would have 2 hours at school in the evening where I could sneak in the rest of my run.  So, after fueling up with a banana and peanut butter, I did an easy 4-miler on the treadmill.

Breakfast was the standard smoothie and coffee in the car, as always.  Such a time saver for me, even though I would rather be able to sit down and eat with MacKenna every morning.

I have started getting hunger pangs around 9 AM every day, so I've added in an mid-morning snack.  Typically, it's an apple since it's an easy grab and eat between classes snack, but I went for some higher protein nuts today.  They held me over for a little while at least.

Lunch was also another standard - a salad with romaine, tomatoes, broccoli, avocado, cheddar, sunflower seeds, hummus, and creamy balsamic, with some grapes, Greek yogurt, and the rest of my peanuts on the side.  Lunch is becoming one of my favorite meals because it's my time to decompress from the morning and mentally prepare myself for my hardest class of the day (my 5th hour right after lunch).  What is it with 8th graders that they decide they just don't care about the last quarter of school?  I'm sure my high school teaching friends can relate with seniors...

I got hungry extra early and ended up eating my Clif Builder Bar before my last class of the day and apparently I was so hungry, I totally forgot to take a picture.  Tasted like a candy bar - without the chocolate, of course.  Is it Sunday yet?!  I'm ready for some M&Ms...My afternoon and evening was spent coaching and playing volleyball.  We have open gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school and now I'm helping sort of organize a youth volleyball league and we had a youth "clinic" last night.  So, after open gym, I headed out on a quick 2 mile run, totally shattering my expectations!  I felt great!  The run felt easy and it made me almost miss when I was in high school and would be satisfied with just going on a 1 or 2 mile run.

The high school days, I would probably do a run like that and then go stuff my face with 10 Jack in the Box tacos (not kidding) and a concrete from Fritz's.  Now, 10+ years later, I go out and get a Wendy's (not many choices in a small town) salad and baked potato.  Oh, the sacrifices you make for good health...

Unfortunately, no one showed up for my volleyball clinic, so I got to play some volleyball with some of my players for about a half hour.  Gosh, I miss playing so much!  I'm a much better player now just because I know so much about the sport from coaching.  The good news was that I got home just in time to read a book to MacKenna and put her to bed.  Made my day!I was starving (again) and needed something sweet.  Reese's Pieces are my new favorite candy (until Sunday when M&Ms will take the #1 spot again), but the Reese's Pieces Eggs are absolutely the best thing EVER!  I will be going back before Sunday to buy more!  Too bad they don't make them in a big ol' bag. Of course, I'd probably eat the whole thing in a day.  I have a problem.

So, my day wasn't nearly as busy or jam packed as I expected, but I still spent 13 hours away from home, which just makes for a long day.  I absolutely love my job as a coach, so it's totally worth the time away from my family, but I will always long for the time where I can spend more time with my daughter.