a mixed bag

June was a lot of things at once: some planned, some spontaneous, none of them related. Hence the name.

foster kittens

A few weeks ago my fiancée and I took in two foster kittens from the shelter. We have two cats and have fostered before so I thought it’d be a similar experience, but I was wrong. This was my first time with spirit kittens, basically ones they identified as needing more socialization with people. They hissed at us a lot and I tried not to take it personally.

Unfortunately the second day after bringing them home I noticed the smaller of the two (Fudge) was getting sick a lot and having litter box issues. I called it in to the emergency line and brought them in the next morning where they confirmed it was panleuk. They had to be kept at the shelter, quarantined and monitored until clear, and I had to thoroughly disinfect the spare bathroom we had kept them in.

The shelter staff told us a case of panleuk usually disqulifies you from fostering for at least 6 months which is really depressing, but we could still foster adults or post-quarantine panleuk kittens. We were able to take Fudge and Coco back in after their quarantine. We never grew quite as close as our first batch of fosters, but it was still a rewarding experience trying to socialize a kitten that hadn’t already been.

Would we do it again? Probably, but I’m a little paranoid for now — so until next kitten season!

engagement photos

My fiance and I also got our (formal) engagement photos taken. I’m not the photogenic one, but my partner is a natural. I’ve always been the picture taker and still am, and I’m just an awkward goof in front of the camera.

The photos came back much quicker than we thought, and I’m glad that they turned out (relatively) great! Or at least, enough are passable to be shared with friends and family.

The fun part for me was that it also gave me a reason to work on my home-grown planner again. Once again annoyed that some customization was missing from the brand name sites, I built my own, pared-down version with the extras that I wanted. And it looks good! Good enough that it got the go-ahead to actually share.

leveling up the plan

Since my last ramble I did some reading online and decided to move up from the Novice 2 plan to Intermediate 1. The mileage is higher and there’s one less rest day per week, which my legs definitely noticed (ending week 2). It feels like the right call if I actually want to PR in December, and even then I debate with myself to find another plan with more speedwork. But one thing at a time.

I’ve thrown my running data at AI to try to get some signals on how I can expect to perform by December, but it said the best way to narrow down the range is to do some high-effort runs as I go (which makes sense). So I signed up for a half marathon at the end of September, and I got my dad to sign up too. He hasn’t run a race in years, and we haven’t run together since our first half marathon in 2017, so I’m excited for it (and the recovery meal we’ll have after).

I’ve been very consistent with updating run.jtapostol.com and have been happy with my progress and consistency so far! I have a short trip at the end of the month, so hoping I can find an easy way to get my miles in.