Outdoor Running

This weather really makes me aware that running season is almost upon us. I am getting ready!


It is almost 50 today in MN. That is pretty crazy for February but we aren't complaining. The cold will return. It is only February.


I ran my neighborhood today. It was great in so many ways but hard in others. My knee hurt more than usual from all the hills and uneven pavement. That frustrates me. My mind felt alive.

As I ran I started making a few lists:


Here is what I love about being able to run outside in my neighborhood:

1. It is right out my front door.  No driving. 
2. If I go on a 30 minute run I will be home in 30 minutes not 45 or 60.
3. I love getting to know my neighborhood.  I know the cracks in the road, what houses are for sale, who is remodeling.  I watch the changes happen.  When I drive through my neighborhood I am not just passing through but I am on roads I feel like I really know and have a connection to.
4. Sometimes I run into friends.

Here is what I do not like about running in my neighborhood:

1. It is hilly.
2. Traffic.
3. The sidewalks are crooked so I am running at an angle half the time.
4. Knowing that I cannot decide to quit 2 miles from home, I must keep going. I like to have an out.

Here is what I like about treadmill running:

1. It is flat, unless I don't want it to be.
2. Climate control.
3. Childcare
4. constant speed.
5. instant statistics
6. control.

Here is what I hate about treadmill running at the Gym:

1. It is boring.
2. constant speed.
3. instant statistics
4. The feeling that I am a rat in a cage.
5. Going nowhere.
6. All the distractions.  My mind can never settle on a thought.

I am wondering if this is the year I need to start driving to some better outdoor running locations. There are a couple lovely 2 mile loops just a mile or two from our home. Both do have a couple hills but also have some nice flat even stretches as well. One is actually so close I have run to it, around it and back. Or do I venture even further to one of the nice flat beautiful former railroad bed bike paths where I could run for miles and miles with little incline. I have often wanted to jump off my bike and go for a run on them, maybe this year I will.

Forgetfulness and Frozen Parfaits

I am 36 years old and I had something happen to me that has never happened before.

I forgot to eat.

What's that, you say! Forgot to eat?! I do that all the time!

Well I don't. Oh, there have been times in my life where I have chosen not to eat. There's been times where I push it off. But I don't forget. I've always been keenly aware of my hunger. I can tell when it comes in waves, ebbing and flowing. I am acutely aware of it getting stronger and more demanding. It has always been a conscious choice and effort to skip breakfast, or wait till I got home to eat even though I would be "starving".

But the other day my 5 children and I had homeschool co-op. It's always crazy getting out the door and I hadn't had time to eat. But I made myself a Greek Yogurt Parfait that I thought I would eat in the car. Well in the car I decided that I would wait to eat until I got there because, lets face it, eating a parfait while driving is a little tricky and I didn't have that far to go.

So we get to co-op and I get immersed in handing out Valentines, stopping children from crying during devotions, nursing babies and finally giving up and taking everyone to the nursery. Then the nursery starts to fill up with Moms and babies and I'm chatting away... Then my friend Mary walks in about a half hour before lunch, munching on a sandwich and this wave a realization hits me! One - I have a, now probably frozen, parfait in the car, and two - I am REALLY hungry.

So I guess there are new experiences to be had, even at the ripe old age of 36.

Oh, and the parfait was only partially frozen and was quite yummy.

Iceman Out

Day in the life of a Rock Star

Some days it just comes together.  Today is that day.  So I thought I would share.

I got up, had breakfast with Isabelle, read her a devotion, read myself a devotion. Helped Isabelle make a Valentine bag and address all the Valentine's I had purchased for her class, put on my work-out clothes, made my bed and a short grocery list, put Isabelle on the bus and was out the door to my weight lifting class.

After the class I buzzed through the grocery store, had a quick chat with Goose on the way home, showered and was dressed with groceries put away and Isabelle's lunch waiting for her when she got off the bus.  Ate my own lunch, then made ahead several little things for easier future meals, sliced up the fresh pineapple I bought (before it went bad this time), cleaned up kitchen and then moved to my desk. Purged and organized coupons, balanced bank statement, updated personal notebook so all the pages weren't just hanging out, sent invoices to plow clients for last weeks snowstorm, called a delinquent client, signed up for some college organization web site the school insists we need, paid some bills, signed hubby up for a required continuing ed class he needs, put away some pictures.  All while Isabelle was entertaining herself with various crafts.

I am a rock star!

I share this here because I don't think that exercise and weight loss are the only keys to a healthy life.  I think being on top of your life and organization is also an important key to a healthy life.  I also share because I think that exercise and watching what I eat gave me the energy I needed to have a rock star day today.

I have a large glass of water and I know what I am making for dinner.  I am now going to read the magazine I bought at the grocery store and take a well deserved break.

Maverick Out

The Solitary Woman

Ok Let's face it.  Maintaining your health, at the end of the day, is a solitary sport.  I mean you may have people in your life supporting you, encouraging you or even doing the same thing as you but when it comes down to it, only you can do the work and achieve the results.  Loosing weight, getting in shape, training for an event, they all have to be about you and for you.

I always want someone to do something with me.  Someone to validate what I am doing, keep me accountable and maybe even tell me what to do so I don't have to figure it out myself.

All that is not to say it isn't fun to share the journey, to go on a run with a friend and exchange healthy recipes, I still love all that, but I as I have been wanting to loose weight for about a year I am realizing it is all up to ME.

I found a couple pictures recently from back in my glory days of weight.  I had been up to my heaviest weight and realized looking at a picture of myself and Goose after the birth of her second child that I looked more like I just had a baby than she did.  Serious changes began in our home a few months later and I got down to my lowest weight since I was in jr. high.  I knew I looked and felt great but I started telling myself I could never maintain the rest of my life, even though I did for over a year, and that was the trigger to let it all go.  So here I am nearly 10 years later 20 pounds heavier.

I was going through some pictures this week and found these from my glory days:

Check out my LEGS!  So skinny.  It wasn't a dream, I can have those legs.  I still have those shorts but they do not fit like that anymore.

A rare picture of me thinner than Goose.  In their defense, both recently had babies.

Looking at these pictures made me remember that time in my life.  When I was focused.  When I was doing it for me.  When I felt great and looked great.  And I didn't think it was so much work or any real sacrifice.  And I must confess I didn't not appreciate at the time how great I looked.

So I have decided to go forward in my health journey a little more quietly.  Don't worry I will still share, I still like validation, encouragement and an occasional running partner.  But I am realizing I need to stop thinking about and talking about my plans and instead quietly just start doing it.

I have 2 goals this time around, health and fitness.  I have lost the weight and I have been in great shape.  I have never done it together.  But it is time and I am ready.