Just a Rainy Friday...

Running is hard!

I've only gone a couple days in the past two weeks because of the holiday and rainy weather, so I can't complain. I am still not nearly in shape for running. But I'm making progress. I started going to a park near my house and running on a soft track rather than running on the street/pavement. It was much easier on my knees, and I noticed I was able to run twice as far as I was able to run on pavement before getting winded and having to walk again. I think it will help to look into getting actual running sneakers. Having the foot support is so important, I don't want to damage anything!

Easter was very nice. I went home with The Boy to his parents house and we spent the weekend with his family. We were able to stop in at the Dude's Sunday evening to see them, and we stopped at my parent's house on Monday to check on the dog. It was a really nice, relaxing weekend.

We've started looking for an apartment! There isn't much yet in the way of availability for the date we'll be moving, but it's nice to be looking and checking out different areas we might like to live. We'd both prefer to live closer to work, obviously it would save us a ton in gas and we would have more time at home or to ourselves rather than sitting in traffic. I'm so excited to begin this part of our life together!

American Idol Thoughts for the Week: I adore David Cook. He is the winner in my book. He's so incredibly talented, plays the guitar, great voice, he's the only one I could picture being able to carry off his own, original concert. The rest have great voices, but it's not clear to me who they are as musicians, and it's hard to picture them not singing covers. David, however, has 3 weeks in a row taken well known songs and made them his own.

David Archuleta, the young kid who never stops smiling? Yes, there's no doubt he's great. But he's great in a way that Miley Cyrus is great. He can sing, he's cute and appeals to girls and women of all ages, and he's a genuinely nice person. Give him a tv show on Disney.

This is the most talented batch of contestants, by far. I'm thoroughly enjoying this season, and hopefully they'll come to my area next summer so I can audition!

Tomorrow I'm going hiking with my friend from work. Not sure what else is going on, but hopefully the weather will hold up, as I really just want to open the windows in the house and give it a good long cleaning. Isn't my life exciting?!

Running Log Week 1

Yesterday I started training to run. It kicked my bum! I did lots of reading and research on tips for beginning runners. Like most people who don't consider themselves "runners", you can't just go out the door and run a mile, you need to work up to it.

As predicted by every article I read, I tried to do too much too quick. Running outside is incredibly different from running on a treadmill. The pavement doesn't give at all. The cold air is more difficult to breathe. Breathing while running in and of itself is something you need to train to do. There are distractions; cars, kids playing in their yards, other runners. It almost shocked me how hard it was. I only jogged for 3 minutes and I was winded. I walked 5 more minutes and then tried to jog again and couldn't. It also didn't help that I got a little lost around the back end of my neighborhood. That was another distraction.

As a beginner, you are supposed to start off very slow. Walk 1 minute, jog 1 1/2 minutes, alternating for 30 minutes. Do that 3 or 4 days your first week. You need to give your body rest. I'll go back out again, maybe tomorrow, and stick to that regimen. I think I also need to start off at the high school track, away from traffic and hard street pavement, until I am a bit more conditioned. You're supposed to run on softer ground like trails and paths so you don't kill your knees and joints.

So this is week 1 of me trying to start running. The goal is to be able to run a 5K (3 miles) this summer. I don't know if there are any road races around here that are 5K, but I'd love to challenge myself to that. It's just so nice to be outside and be moving. I have definitely had a lazy, cooped up winter and I'm ready to be outside and get healthy! The thing I keep telling myself as it is so hard right now, is that it will get easier. I will get healthier, I'll feel better, and I'll be able to run longer distances without getting winded. Right now is the hardest part.

I Can't Believe a Year Went By So Fast!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE BEAN!!

Last Thursday, the 6th, my littlest nephew turned 1! We went up to my sister's house on Saturday to celebrate with family and feed the kiddo his first chocolate cake, which he thoroughly enjoyed (as shown above).

It was a nice trip and great to see fam, although Dad, Dude (brother), and GG (sister-in-law) were missed. I can't believe how quickly the boys grow...Every time I see them they are different, smarter, doing new things. And they just crack me up.

Sadly, after such a fun weekend I got my bumper dented in yesterday in the grocery store parking lot during lunch. Me and another car were both backing out at the same time, and she had to have been in a blind spot or backed up quickly because I didn't see her at all, even with checking my mirrors. Her car escaped with not a scratch, and my bumper now has an innie-bellybutton type cave in. Just what I need. The car is fine though, no mechanical damage, purely superficial. I'll get it fixed at some point. A guy I work with claims a plunger will do the trick. I don't know about that...

Something to be thankful for though is Daylight Savings Time. It's now still light enough when I get home from work to go for a walk around the neighborhood. When it gets a bit warmer and staying light even later, I'll start packing walking clothes and shoes and head straight to the local hiking trails near my house. I'm so glad winter's almost over!

Time to head home...American Idol is doing Beatles night tonight!

It's All Coming Back To Me...

While walking around my neighborhood, I went past this house where the sidewalk got a bit bumpy and there was an old pine tree with saggy boughs hanging pretty low over the sidewalk. In the shade of the tree, the sidewalk had more slush and snow than the rest of the street, and the house has smoke billowing out the chimney. The smell of the smoke and melty snow brought me back to the dirt road at 825, on an early spring afternoon when you could smell the snow melting on the first relatively warm day. And someone always had a fire going...The melting snow and chimney smoke and pine tree just brought me right back to those early spring days growing up.

There are days when it's hard being away from home and family. But I take comfort in moments like that which seem to transport me back to familiarity and comfort.

I'm Through Accepting Limits

I just got back from a walk around my neighborhood, the first outdoors walk of the year for me. It was invigorating and refreshing and everything I have been looking forward to. Not only is Spring near, but today really felt like Spring. It snowed last night, first of all, and I went to bed with the vision of my car covered in snow. I went to bed fairly late and since I didn't have any immediate plans today, I turned off my cell phone and alarm and allowed myself to sleep in. Well, I woke up at 11:30, a bit later than I expected (but I guess I needed the rest!) and had some breakfast and made coffee. As I was eating my breakfast, I looked outside the kitchen window and saw that it was a drizzly day, but felt incredibly motivated to do something active. Well, I got busy cleaning the kitchen and bathroom, and when I was done, the sun was out and the forecast said a high of 51 today. I quickly changed into sweatpants and a windbreaker, dusted off my Ipod, and set out down the street.

I turned the corner about half a mile down the street onto a road that cuts through a country club. This road is all uphill. It's about a consistent 45 degree climb for at least a half a mile. As soon as I started up the hill, "Defying Gravity" from Wicked came on the Ipod. I haven't listened to this song since the summer, and I felt energized right away. Then it came to the lyric:

"I'm through accepting limits
'Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change,
But till I try I'll never know"

I took those words and pushed myself for the rest of the walk. My mind became clear. I have been holding myself back from being healthy, telling myself that no matter how hard I try, I can't change. I'm not incredibly overweight, but I do have some "excess baggage", and my family's health history has Type II Diabetes in it. I have gained significant weight in the past 5 years for someone of my height and stature. And I was warned by my physician last year that I need to take action now while I'm young to prevent trouble later on.

I resolved on my walk to not limit myself mentally or physically. I can get healthy and have the body and strength that I want. I'm tired of making excuses as to why I can't lose weight or be healthier. I can. Just like it was effortless today to go out and walk, I need to just make it my lifestyle to go out and be active, to cook healthier, and turn decline offers of chocolate and sweets and lunches of pizza or Wendy's at the office. It's incredibly empowering having this mindset, that I truly am in control of my health and my body. I need to take care of what I have been given.

I was thinking during my walk...I watched the first half of My Fair Lady last night, starring the impeccable Audrey Hepburn. I would have watched the entire thing had I not kept dozing off. Anyways, Julie Andrews did the singing for the part of Eliza Doolittle. It was amusing watching Audrey obviously lipsynching, but it's really a charming movie. I was listening to Julie Andrews voice and thinking of how she really just can't sing anymore. She tried in The Princess Diaries II, but it sounded strained and lacking, the complete opposite of what you imagine when you hear The Sound of Music or Mary Poppins or anything she has brilliantly done...It's incredibly sad, and frightening, to think that something that defines you can be taken away. I was thinking about what my life would be like if I couldn't sing. I honestly don't know what my life would be like, if I had grown up tonedeaf...I would not be the same person. Would I have the same friends? I can't even begin to imagine.

So I thought a lot today on this walk about taking care of myself, and protecting the gifts I have been given. I have legs that move, healthy lungs and breathing, a sharp mind, and thank God I can sing. I cannot stress how important it is to respect and protect the gifts you have been given. You never know when they can be taken away.