The countdown until school starts and we become empty nesters is on! This time of year is always bittersweet and as much as I love a new fall routine, my kids moving off to college will be tough. My son made a big decision at the beginning of the summer when he decided he would try out for the Ohio State Marching Band. It involved a lot of practicing and several trips down to Columbus – a 2 1/2 hour trip from our house. But he made a bigger decision just this week when he decided he wasn’t going to try out after all. He still had a lot more work to do in order to be ready for tryouts, and at this point in his upcoming college career (a freshman) he really didn’t have the time to commit to it. It was bittersweet as I know he enjoyed it, but the pressure of being prepared was also stressful. He’ll be joining the concert band instead, and also the pep band in the spring. I’m very happy he made a choice that suited him and that he will still be in some form of band! He might try for marching band again next year. That also left us with more to enjoy his company this week. I ran 22 miles this week and also biked 22 miles so far.
Mon – 3.25 miles, run/walk. I can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve had the motivation, or the fitness to get up in the early morning to go for a run. Maybe June?? It looked so dark out at 6am that I grabbed my glo-vest, which actually wasn’t really needed for more than a few minutes. I’m still doing run/walk 4:1 mins, which seems to be working. I canceled my appointment with the sports doctor this week because I think all is headed in the right direction on it’s own (and I want to save the $80 co-pay!).


My kids wanted to go rock climbing again, so just two days after my last visit to Adventus, I went back again. Although I was feeling super accomplished when I finally made it up one of the climbing routes that I was stumped by last visit, I was also feeling like I had noodles for arms after 10 mins. I even tryied bouldering. Phew, that was a workout!


Tues – 5 miles run/walk. So nice to see the sunrise again on my run. That’s my morning happy place! It was also International Cat Day, so here is Zoe looking thrilled 😆


I convinced my family that we needed to go kayaking. I’m so glad we did because the river was like a sheet of glass and the sunset was beautiful. Ahhhhhh. I need to get all of the items on my Summer To Do list done in a week. haha!

Weds – Rest day! Family time at Cedar Point. I think this is the first trip we’ve taken all together this summer. Summer sure does speed by!!


Thurs – 5 miles run/walk. These runs aren’t getting much easier, but I was happy to see my pace was indeed improving. That is not the goal of my training right now, and I’m sure the lower temps (63) helped today, but I’ll take any win that I can get!

It was move day for our son at Ohio State. He was already set up for an early move in for the band tryouts, so we kept it. He’ll have more time to explore the campus. Everything fit in the car so it was an easy trip. His dorm turned out to be “spacious”, relatively speaking. It also has a killer view of the campus and Ohio Stadium. Go Buckeyes!!


Fri – 22 miles biking. My cross training was a bike ride today, but sitting on the seat started to get a bit uncomfortable with my glute/hamstring pain. I put a call in to my Dr for a PT referral to help with that. I stayed on our multi-use path. Our area has actually had *several* problems with cyclists being harassed by cars and people with road rage. It’s horrible – one driver actually had a car do a brake check in front of them and he was injured. What is wrong with people??


The rest of the afternoon was spent at Cedar Point again! It was a date day 🙂 We had failed to look at the weather forecast and got soaked right before we left for the day. Oops!


Sat – 10 miles, long run/walk. Thankful to have walk breaks today because it was brutal out there! High humidity and temps were not my friend and this was really just a matter of getting those miles done. It wasn’t pretty, but I did it!


Sun – Maybe kayaking? Maybe biking? Who knows! We will be enjoying some pool time and mojitos. Yum!
Need some more inspiration? I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Check out all of the fun blogs there!
Q: Does fall bring a new routine for you?
Welcome to empty nesting.
Lots more free time to do your workouts.
Your training seems to going well.
Walk breaks are our friends this humid summer.
I do have a long list of things I have been putting off, so I guess a lot of my new empty nest time will be spent “getting things done”!
Kayaking is fun! Sorry you are still having glute and hamstring pain. Seems like those are the spots for me too that like to come back for an appearance every once in a while. Walk breaks are good in the summer or anytime. Empty nesting is a transition for sure!
I think some of my glute issues have to do with some sort of imbalance. I wonder if it would be good to get some kind of adjustment periodically to put things back in the right place!
You really are packing a lot in to these last days of summer!
It sounds like your son made a good decision. It’s great there are other band options. Wow on the view from his room.
These days the only difference in my fall schedule is coping with or avoiding the higher volumes of traffic.
Ohio State has 11 different bands, so there is going to something for him! In the end I’m happy he still enjoys performing.
I agree – the increased road traffic will be here soon!! ugh
That’s a bummer on your son’s decision with the OSU marching band, but sounds like it was a good one for him regardless. Their marching band is incredible to watch! I’m glad to hear running is feeling better…hopefully that continues!
It was a tough decision for my son. The odds of freshmen getting into the band isn’t great, especially for the trumpets. We counted 96 kids playing trumpet at the summer practice and there are only 51 trumpets in the band. Highly competitive, which makes an amazing band! It was a bit sad to see the journey end, but his classes are going to be more important. Now he can enjoy the game with his friends!
My heart is hurting a little at the photo of your son in his dorm room- it’s so hard to say goodbye! I think his decision about marching band was a good one. It really does take a LOT of time. I’m glad he has other band options so he can keep playing this year.
You actually got in a nice amount of running this week. I wish your glute/hamstring felt a little better, but hopefully it will continue to improve as time goes on.
How did I miss International Cat Day???????
OSU does have an athletic band which plays at the sports which are not football, and you don’t have to audition to get into it, so he’ll probably do that in the Spring. It’s weird because he is the first guy in his suite (out of 10 people), so it’s a bit empty in the dorm right now. BUT, somehow, his girlfriend is on the same floor! I really don’t know how that happened because they both picked different buildings. She is there for an early program so he isn’t lonely at all 🙂
What a busy week. I love the view from the dorm room – does he have a room to himself but sharing in a flat? Not sure how it all works there these days. Hope the posterior chain resolves itself, I’ve been a bit bad with my physio exercises (I’ve had a huge bruise from having a fall trying to get on my (old!) office chair and was feeling wobbly for a week around a medical thing (all OK) so I have reasons but I need to get back on it now. Hope this week is a good one for you!
My son’s dorm is unique because it has 4 bedrooms with attached study rooms, and they all share a “living room” and bathrooms. I was told that the bedrooms used to hold 4 kids (two bunk beds) for a total of 16 in the suite, but this year they have three bedrooms with 2 kids and only 1 bedroom with 4 kids – so a total of 10 kids. My son’s room has one other kid, whom he met online. At least it won’t be a stranger, but I’m sure it will be a bit of an adjustment just living with that many people and having a lack of privacy! At least that would be my issue to adjust with. But I’ve heard that the kids who have lived there in the past have really enjoyed it, so here’s to new adventures for him and college life!!
And, I hope you are able to get back at your exercises to you can be strong 🙂 It’s always something, right?
Oh, gosh, that is hard still having to share – they’ve done away with that at our universities and everything is en suite rooms (however it means half the city seems to be covered in student accommodation and there are fewer cheaper options). Fun fact: two of my friends who I met on the first day of university were sharing a room – one right-wing, one very left-wing politically, we’re all still friends today!
And yes, there is indeed always something. But my physio appt got messed up so it’s next week rather than today and I can get in a week of exercises!
Aww a busy wweek for sure. We go back to school in a week and a half and I’m dreading the busy-ness. I love the quiet/relaxing of summer. Hopefully you feel better soon. Good luck with everyone out of the house!
My daughter will still be home for almost two weeks, so she will get smothered with our attention 😂. Then, the quietness begins!
The kayaking picture looks amazing. And well done with the wall climbing! I’ve been watching a climber on YouTube and it all looks so impressive.
I normally get into a new routine when autumn comes but don’t think it will happen this year because I’ll be doing the same things with work and rehab & training. Autumn will be quite busy. When .i can go for walks again there will certainly be a change in routine though.
I hope you get help with that glute/hamstring.
It was a beautiful night for the kayak, and perfect timing on the sunset!
I’m glad to see you are making progress with running. Being injured just sucks, doesn’t it? The drivers here are also very aggressive with the cyclists–I had a bike crash a few years ago due to an aggressive driver and now I’m a bit fearful of riding on the road.
It sounds like your son has his priorities in line for this year. He can try out next year if he wants to be a part of the marching band! At a Big 10 school, that is quite a commitment!
My son ended up getting an 8am honors class, so I think he will have his hands full just making it to class each day without the added exhaustion of the marching band practice 😂
A bike crash would definitely make me leery of being on the road with cars. That’s scary!
As the mornings get cooler we can walk Bandit later (except we’re not at that point yet).
I’m shuddering just thinking about how many mosquito bites I’d get kayaking — the ones from yesterday aren’t too bad but man the ones from last week were horrible!
Good luck to your son in all his endeavors!
We’ve lucked out with mosquitos around here this summer. I haven’t seen many of them! Our back yard is usually terrible.
Your son’s room does look quite spacious for a dorm. And that view!!! Here’s to a fabulous freshman year!
That’s horrible about the driving doing a “brake check” in front of the cyclist. I hope the cyclist wasn’t hurt too badly. We’ve had a few closer calls than I would have liked and one road rage situation where the driver slowed to our speed and screamed at us as he passed.
I heard there was some back and forth angry comments between the driver and the cyclist, but even so, absolutely no reason for a car to put anyone in danger like that. Last I heard the cyclist is OK, but did have to be readmitted to the hospital. I think he is out now. Very terrible situation!
The dorm room is spacious! He lucked out.
Lots of exciting things going on! And I love those cooler temps for you!
As a UMiami alum, I, of course, have to grumble a little at the Buckeyes, but their band is fantastic for sure. I hope your son has an amazing freshman year.
My son’s choice was confirmed as being the correct one when his friend didn’t make it into the band either, and my son considers him a great trombone player who practiced a lot for the tryouts! There will still be music, and lots of fun times ahead. Moving on to concert band!
Oh lots of changes on the horizon with your kids going to college… but wow, his room and view. Two thumbs up!
Love the photo of kayaking at sunset. That sounds like a great idea!