Made it back to Dallas and already miss things I'd forgotten that I missed about home. The trip was so wonderful. I have several Reverb posts in the works and will probably just publish them as I finish them, like Bella does, instead of doing one long post with several. I'm hung up on the one doing a letter to myself in 5 years, which is fun but time-consuming!
I can't post much about running. I did 8 treadmill miles at my brother's gym on Monday last week. Then 9.3 at my folks' gym on Wed., then 8.1 at their gym on Thurs, and I got a blister on the arch of my right foot, and that put an end to the running (though I was going to take off on Fri and Sat anyway). But yesterday instead of running, I just did some biking and then some lazy exercises and weights over the course of a couple hours at the gym -- don't think I even broke a sweat.
The blister happened because I was wearing old shoes. Hubby and I decided at one point to leave older running shoes at houses that we frequently visit. The shoes I have up north are great for a few miles, but don't hold up well with some more miles over a few days. I could feel the blister starting to form on my foot, so I called it quits on Thursday on the treadmill. When I got home, I was afraid to look at it -- bigger than I expected, about nickel-sized. I put a blister band-aid on it and haven't taken it off yet. It's on my right foot at the part of the arch nearing my toes. It doesn't hurt anymore, but I've laid off the running just to be safe.
The work-out part of being home was fun. I was at the gym each of the four days I went for more than 2 hours each time. I'll admit that on two of the days, I spent an hour on the bike each day and that barely counted as working out. I had a book I was reading and wanted to finish it, so I just set the bike at level 6 and pedalled leisurely, usually my rpms seemed to be in the low 60s. But when I got timed out by the bike after an hour on Thursday, I had less than 3 pages left of my book, so I kind of stood by the bike, leaning over the book on the seat and stretching. Reading and working out was a very fun change of pace for me!
So I thought it might be fun to post about what I'm reading or just finished over break (one I had to read, two I choose to read):
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. Had to read for book club and found out on the plane that it was the second book in a trilogy, and of course I haven't read the first. The book is kind of teen-fiction style and it was a quick and interesting read, but I felt somewhat lost and then was disappointed by the ending (basically, if I want closure, I'll have to read the third book). It's set in the future and is the story about this young woman who has to fight in something like a survival Olympics to the death.
Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed. My choice and I'm only about 1/3 of the way into it. Very interesting! It's described as an economic history (non-fiction), so far largely about what led to the failures of the European central banking systems in the early 1900s and the perils of the gold standard. Pretty much can't wait to get back to reading it!
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall. Another fun non-fiction book. About the author's quest to resolve his own foot pain by studying the Tarahumara Indians and their ultra-running success. Includes some stories about races like the Leadville 100, where the Tarahumara competed, and then a race set up by the "Caballo Blanco" to pit the Tarahumara against elite ultra-runners on the Tarahumara's home turf.
So those are the pages I'm currently turning.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Growing Family
I want to shout it from the rooftops! Woot!!
This morning we all had an early lunch and then went on a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the woods. It was so beautiful. We got home and my brother told his girlfriend they were going down to the lake to check the augers (?? something about ice fishing). They came back soon after and he'd proposed!! I'm so happy for them!!! They've been dating about 8 years, so it was about time, but I really believe it's better not to rush into anything. I adore her, and my other brother is getting married this summer, so we'll have a lot of weddings this summer and I completely love both of my new sisters. Here they are a few minutes ago. I'm so happy, I'm crying!!!
This morning we all had an early lunch and then went on a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the woods. It was so beautiful. We got home and my brother told his girlfriend they were going down to the lake to check the augers (?? something about ice fishing). They came back soon after and he'd proposed!! I'm so happy for them!!! They've been dating about 8 years, so it was about time, but I really believe it's better not to rush into anything. I adore her, and my other brother is getting married this summer, so we'll have a lot of weddings this summer and I completely love both of my new sisters. Here they are a few minutes ago. I'm so happy, I'm crying!!!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Dreadmill
I wish I had my camera nearby or knew how to upload photos to this computer, I'll have to share some when I get back to Texas, but it's gorgeous here. My folks live in the middle of nowhere basically and it's a winter wonderland. Almost 1.5 feet of snow on the ground and I'm having the best time.
Update: Here's one from today!
I went to the gym again this morning, my second time this week! And it was better. I was wearing different shoes. Hubby has large feet and we made the decision a couple years ago to leave older pairs of running shoes with several family members in different cities that we visit regularly, that way we never have to pack shoes. Well, the shoes I wore to the gym in Milwaukee tend to give me blisters on my arch. I'd forgotten all about that. They're probably fine for a few miles, but they were bothering me by the end of an hour on Monday.
Today was a different old pair of shoes in a different gym and it worked much better. My mom was there too for the first hour of my workout, but again, since I'm on vacation, I decided to drive separately to the gym so I could stay as long as I wanted. It was awesome!
I did about an hour on the treadmill (it times you out automatically after 63 minutes, wtf?), and then did some weights, then an hour on the bike (again, it times you out automatically after 60 minutes, but I didn't care, I was just pedaling easily and reading my book), then back to the treadmill for a little while. The most fun thing I did though was the punching bag. I took off my rings and just swung at it for a few minutes, trying to make sure I was doing some ab twisting, and it was fun. But most of all, I liked just being able to do what I wanted at the gym and stay as long as I liked. It makes me feel like I'm really on vacation, though when we actually go on a "real" vacation, we pretty much never go to a gym (though I got hubby to join me at a Zumba class in Stockholm this past year!). But whenever we're visiting his parents, we go to their gym. And when we visit my folks and it's not the dead of winter, we usually workout there too. And when people come visit us, if they're interested we bring them along with us to boot camp or for runs. Either way, long periods of time in the gym with no schedule forcing me to hurry on my way makes it feel like the day is my own and it's really vacation time.
Not much else to report. Eating tons but mostly healthy stuff. It's strange, I can make some of the exact same things my mom makes, but it always tastes better when she makes it! I also got to eat a few Christmas cookies today, which is a rare treat in our family (though I break the rule in Dallas all the time!). Generally, my mom makes us wait until Xmas Eve to eat them. But today after my three hour visit to the gym, I came home, hung out with my pa for a while, then went to meet my mom at her office for their holiday party where she'd brought cookies. Yum!
Hubby is hopefully in the air right now, on his way to boys' night in Chicago with two of my bros. Then they'll bring him here tomorrow when they come. Oh, I can't wait. It's just getting better and better!
And the one thing I don't like about being here usually, freezing all the time, isn't so bad. My folks gave me permission to use the electric heater last night in our room, which made it so nice! Now I'm about to go outside and help him shovel, so that will warm me up a bit too!
Saving the reverb posts for another day. There's a quick fun one about travel I could do now, but the one before that is about looking 5-10 years ahead, and that will take considerably more thought, and I don't want Mr. Snowblower to have to do my promised shoveling too, so I need to get out there subito (Italian for at once, or right away, see I'm making progress on my transition to Italian for 2011!).
Update: Here's one from today!
I went to the gym again this morning, my second time this week! And it was better. I was wearing different shoes. Hubby has large feet and we made the decision a couple years ago to leave older pairs of running shoes with several family members in different cities that we visit regularly, that way we never have to pack shoes. Well, the shoes I wore to the gym in Milwaukee tend to give me blisters on my arch. I'd forgotten all about that. They're probably fine for a few miles, but they were bothering me by the end of an hour on Monday.
Today was a different old pair of shoes in a different gym and it worked much better. My mom was there too for the first hour of my workout, but again, since I'm on vacation, I decided to drive separately to the gym so I could stay as long as I wanted. It was awesome!
I did about an hour on the treadmill (it times you out automatically after 63 minutes, wtf?), and then did some weights, then an hour on the bike (again, it times you out automatically after 60 minutes, but I didn't care, I was just pedaling easily and reading my book), then back to the treadmill for a little while. The most fun thing I did though was the punching bag. I took off my rings and just swung at it for a few minutes, trying to make sure I was doing some ab twisting, and it was fun. But most of all, I liked just being able to do what I wanted at the gym and stay as long as I liked. It makes me feel like I'm really on vacation, though when we actually go on a "real" vacation, we pretty much never go to a gym (though I got hubby to join me at a Zumba class in Stockholm this past year!). But whenever we're visiting his parents, we go to their gym. And when we visit my folks and it's not the dead of winter, we usually workout there too. And when people come visit us, if they're interested we bring them along with us to boot camp or for runs. Either way, long periods of time in the gym with no schedule forcing me to hurry on my way makes it feel like the day is my own and it's really vacation time.
Not much else to report. Eating tons but mostly healthy stuff. It's strange, I can make some of the exact same things my mom makes, but it always tastes better when she makes it! I also got to eat a few Christmas cookies today, which is a rare treat in our family (though I break the rule in Dallas all the time!). Generally, my mom makes us wait until Xmas Eve to eat them. But today after my three hour visit to the gym, I came home, hung out with my pa for a while, then went to meet my mom at her office for their holiday party where she'd brought cookies. Yum!
Hubby is hopefully in the air right now, on his way to boys' night in Chicago with two of my bros. Then they'll bring him here tomorrow when they come. Oh, I can't wait. It's just getting better and better!
And the one thing I don't like about being here usually, freezing all the time, isn't so bad. My folks gave me permission to use the electric heater last night in our room, which made it so nice! Now I'm about to go outside and help him shovel, so that will warm me up a bit too!
Saving the reverb posts for another day. There's a quick fun one about travel I could do now, but the one before that is about looking 5-10 years ahead, and that will take considerably more thought, and I don't want Mr. Snowblower to have to do my promised shoveling too, so I need to get out there subito (Italian for at once, or right away, see I'm making progress on my transition to Italian for 2011!).
Monday, December 20, 2010
Home!
I'm home! Got here yesterday. There's snow, but it's melting a little, but I actually complete the trek tomorrow and the snow up north isn't going anywhere. So it's guaranteed I'll get my white Christmas -- whew!
Since I've been here I've spent a lot of time with my nieces and nephew. My youngest niece is almost 1.5 and she's a cuddler. She loves to be held, so I've spent lots of time doing that. Her older siblings are 5 and 6 and somehow, incomprehensibly, they think I'm great! They have tons of hugs for me and love to ask me things and show me things and have me do things. It's so much fun being with them. I have no idea how my brother ended up with such cute kids! Haha, that's not very nice. Both he and his wife are very nice looking, he just used to be mean to me when we were kids so I still reflexively say mean jokes like that.
My nipoti (is there a word in English for nieces and nephews combined?) and I made ornaments for their Christmas tree. A tree, a cat, and a stocking (glued shredded toilet paper to it to make the top fluffy, I couldn't find any cotton balls in their house). And today I went to my niece's Christmas program where they sang and danced. The most surprising thing to me is that when it was over, we all went to the back to link up with the kids, my niece saw us and came running up and I was the first one she hugged! How is it that they like me so much? I'm so lucky. I mean, I think of them so much, but we just don't get to see them very often, so I love that somehow they like me (especially since they were afraid of me for years and I was basically a stranger).
Not much else to report, just enjoying the family time. My brother and his wife gave me a guest pass to their gym, SCORE!, so I'm going to hopefully run 10-15 miles this afternoon on a treadmill. Sounds miserable, but given the crap that I've been eating and the alternative of running outside, it sounds like heaven to me! Anyway, I want to stay kind of up on my Reverb posts, so here goes.
I'm participating in Reverb 10 for the month of December. Each day has a new prompt to encourage participants to reflect on 2010 and manifest what’s next in 2011.
The thing I tried in 2010 that comes to mind is running related. It was my first year to make a serious attempt at qualifying for Boston and really trying to hammer down my 5k time. I qualified for Boston on the first shot (whereas it took me several tries to go under 4 hours), and I tried and failed at getting my 5k time where I wanted. Oh well.
Honestly, try as I might, I really can't think of much healing that's happened. For the most part, I don't have anything that needs to be healed. As I said above, my brother and I didn't get along well all the time (or even most of the time) while growing up, but in the last 5 or so years, basically since he's had kids, we seem to get along much better. So I guess that's healed? And I've worried before that his wife didn't like me (or others in our family) very much, but we really get along fine. I'm glad no healing is required! I don't feel like I've been particularly hurt in the past. Even ex-boyfriend hurts seem to have faded away in the last couple years, whether through the passage of time or getting married. And right now, I'm happy enough I'm not even so disturbed that my back-up prince got engaged to Kate Middleton. No healing needed there either!
Since I've been here I've spent a lot of time with my nieces and nephew. My youngest niece is almost 1.5 and she's a cuddler. She loves to be held, so I've spent lots of time doing that. Her older siblings are 5 and 6 and somehow, incomprehensibly, they think I'm great! They have tons of hugs for me and love to ask me things and show me things and have me do things. It's so much fun being with them. I have no idea how my brother ended up with such cute kids! Haha, that's not very nice. Both he and his wife are very nice looking, he just used to be mean to me when we were kids so I still reflexively say mean jokes like that.
My nipoti (is there a word in English for nieces and nephews combined?) and I made ornaments for their Christmas tree. A tree, a cat, and a stocking (glued shredded toilet paper to it to make the top fluffy, I couldn't find any cotton balls in their house). And today I went to my niece's Christmas program where they sang and danced. The most surprising thing to me is that when it was over, we all went to the back to link up with the kids, my niece saw us and came running up and I was the first one she hugged! How is it that they like me so much? I'm so lucky. I mean, I think of them so much, but we just don't get to see them very often, so I love that somehow they like me (especially since they were afraid of me for years and I was basically a stranger).
Not much else to report, just enjoying the family time. My brother and his wife gave me a guest pass to their gym, SCORE!, so I'm going to hopefully run 10-15 miles this afternoon on a treadmill. Sounds miserable, but given the crap that I've been eating and the alternative of running outside, it sounds like heaven to me! Anyway, I want to stay kind of up on my Reverb posts, so here goes.
I'm participating in Reverb 10 for the month of December. Each day has a new prompt to encourage participants to reflect on 2010 and manifest what’s next in 2011.
December 18 – Try. What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it? (Author: Kaileen Elise)Right now the thing that comes to mind first is trying to spend more time with my family. Of course, I know that's not likely. Hubby and I are going to use a lot of our vacation time in the spring for the Boston/Italy trip. But seeing my family over the summer at my brother's wedding will count for something. But I'd like to watch those short-term weekend flight deals and see if I can't manage to get up here to visit a bit more frequently.
The thing I tried in 2010 that comes to mind is running related. It was my first year to make a serious attempt at qualifying for Boston and really trying to hammer down my 5k time. I qualified for Boston on the first shot (whereas it took me several tries to go under 4 hours), and I tried and failed at getting my 5k time where I wanted. Oh well.
December 19 – Healing. What healed you this year? Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip evolution? How would you like to be healed in 2011? (Author: Leonie Allan)Hmm, this should be deeper but I don't feel like I had any deep healing in 2010. I think of my massive foot pain (plantar fasciitis) that is gradually, drip-by-drip, subsiding. I'd like to just not get injured in 2011 so there's no need for any healing.
Honestly, try as I might, I really can't think of much healing that's happened. For the most part, I don't have anything that needs to be healed. As I said above, my brother and I didn't get along well all the time (or even most of the time) while growing up, but in the last 5 or so years, basically since he's had kids, we seem to get along much better. So I guess that's healed? And I've worried before that his wife didn't like me (or others in our family) very much, but we really get along fine. I'm glad no healing is required! I don't feel like I've been particularly hurt in the past. Even ex-boyfriend hurts seem to have faded away in the last couple years, whether through the passage of time or getting married. And right now, I'm happy enough I'm not even so disturbed that my back-up prince got engaged to Kate Middleton. No healing needed there either!
December 20 – Beyond Avoidance. What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?) (Author: Jake Nickell)This is hard to answer for a different reason. An answer quickly jumps to mind, but it's work related, so I don't really want to write about that. Maybe I'll do it in 2011. Maybe not. I guess I should have tried to make a better effort to watch what I ate, but I kind of avoided thinking about it. Marathon training gave me a ready excuse when I made bad eating choices, which sometimes leave me feeling poorly for days. But it all balances out I guess. I thought I'd lost a bit of weight this year, but according to the scale where I'm staying, not so much... Oh well. I'm not sure if I didn't worry about it for fear, worry, uncertainty, being busy, or other deterrence, I just can't say I really made it a priority. I'd like to change that in 2011.
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