Gettin' Down & Dirty

Last fall my running pal, Heather, and I drug our men to a little event called The Warrior Dash.  We had all kinds of dirty fun and left feeling really badass.

This year those crazy lovebirds are already signed up to do it again, this time in our home state, but I waited too long to decide and now it's full on the day they're doing it.  I procrastinated because the race is the weekend after my 40th birthday and I am thinking about throwing myself a birthday bash that weekend.  And since the race is a couple hours away from home, I wasn't sure it would work.  So basically the fates decided for me.

This year, via the ol' Facebook, I learned of a different dirty race.  And since my mud buddies are already signed up for it, there was no way I was gonna miss out.  This one is the Survivor Mud Run and it is the weekend before the Seattle Rock 'n Roll 1/2 marathon.  Unfortunately, there is no fire to jump over at this race, but there appears to be a heckuva lot more mud.

Can I tell you how much I love that since mentioning this on Facebook I've had multiple friends grab me and say "I wanna do that mud race!  Can I come too??"   Seriously, I have the raddest friends.  And we're all gonna get down and dirty together.

Food is My Friend

So yet again, concern has been raised about whether I'm eating enough.  Let me say right off the bat - I EAT ENOUGH.  Food is my friend.  Yes, there are days I get so busy that I forget to eat three actual meals, but I'm not starving myself and trust me, when I forget to eat and I am suddenly reminded of that fact by my stomach gnawing on my backbone, I start stuffing whatever is closest into my pie-hole regardless of its nutritional value.   But when I have the time (which is almost always), I eat a healthy and balanced diet.

Lately I have been salad crazed.  I recently discovered that, unbeknownst to me, I actually DO like spinach - baby spinach, that is.  Here I've lived almost 40 years believing that I didn't like spinach when lo and behold, I DO.  'Tis nummy.  And this discovery I believe has re-fueled my salad-crazedness.  (Is too a word.)   I have been inhaling a large bowl of salad almost every night for dinner, especially at work.  Like, such a big bowl it would normally serve a family of four.

Today I went for a nice run at the gym and came home hungry so I built myself the following masterpiece:

Ingredients as follows:

2 handfuls of organic baby lettuce
1 handful of organic baby spinach
1/3 cup (or so) of shredded carrots
Almost half a red bell pepper, diced
Half an avocado
1/4 of an English cucumber
1/4 cup of crumbled blue cheese
About 2 Tbsp of dried cranberries
About 1/4 cup unsalted toasted almond slices

Dressing:  1 tsp dijon mustard, 1 1/2 Tbsp muscat orange champagne vinegar, 1 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, fresh ground pepper.

According to this site the total calories in this salad were 809 calories.  That's a little on the high side for a bowl of rabbit food, but take into account the high fat content of the avocado, nuts, blue cheese and olive oil.  Now, except for the blue cheese, all those things are high in GOOD FATS.  So frankly, I consider this salad a success.  And having had my lipids all checked last week and finding out they are AWESOME, I'm not real concerned.

As I get to where I'm doing longer runs and more training, I am VERY aware of how much I eat.  Not just because I'm hungry all the time, but because I make sure to give myself enough of what I need.  At almost 5'9" and around 130 lbs, I know I don't have a lot of wiggle room for weight loss.  That's never been my goal.  I use an online site to track my daily calories, adding back in those I've burned on workouts.  I eat even when I'm not hungry.  I eat when I get home from work at midnight if I haven't had enough calories during the day or if I'm just plain hungry, even though that goes again everything we've ever heard ("Don't eat after 7pm").

I know I'm questioned and criticized out of concern (mostly) but it frustrates me that when you are thin, the world thinks it's okay to share their opinions about your body, something most people would never do to someone on the other end of the spectrum.  I mean seriously, would you ever say to an overweight person "I'm just really worried that you're eating too much.  Maybe you should lay off."  I'm much happier with the body I have now then when I weighed the same but was three sizes bigger.  I obviously had some extra padding if, when getting serious about exercise and diet, it melted away. 

I'm hurtling toward my 40th birthday and I'm actually excited about it, to be honest.  I'm proud to be heading into a new decade of my life, being fit and feeling fierce.

Bring it on.

Time Flies

Holy Crap!  It's 2011!  And I have a blog!  Where have I been?!!

Oh yah.  BUSY.

Anyway, the thought has been running through my mind more frequently that I should update this thing.  Not that anybody reads, but that's not really why I need to update it.  I want to record these moments in time so that I can look back and remember. 

So quick trip down recent memory lane...

Homeschooling:  Going WELL.  OMG, I am totally loving it (most days).  I alternately feel like I'm not doing enough for/with Sam and like I'm doing way better than the public school.  But reports from his teacher/counselor at school indicate that we're doing fine.  In his teacher's words he's BRIGHT, friendly, making friends, interacting and a real pleasure.  Active in the classroom but not naughty.  Such a different report and view than what we got from public school.  So.  I'm totally happy with that situation and looking forward to schooling Zoe next year too.  I love the little school we are part of and have made some great friends there.  I suspect we're never gonna want to leave it.

Running/Health:  I'm getting back into the swing of things, forcing myself to make time to run and get to the gym.  I'd like to do a 1/2 on Mothers' Day in preparation for the Seattle 1/2 in June.  I maintained my weight/size over the winter in spite of not exercising much or with any regularity and now I'm ready to ramp it back up.  I can tell I've lost muscle definition and I want it back.  I've had NO ITB pain.  We bought a 1/2 a beef this winter from J's uncle, so it was raised in a pasture and we know what it ate, and how it was treated and butchered.  It's damn good meat.  I've been really good with my diet (not "diet" as in losing weight, but as in the choices I'm making).  I'm eating a ton of vegetables and whole grain foods, although I'll admit an addiction to a particular brand of tortilla chips that I'm powerless to resist.  I maybe will have one drink every week or two, but otherwise am sticking to coffee and water.  LOTS of coffee.

Family:  Everyone's good.  We celebrated my dad's 70th birthday with a dinner out and a nice evening back at their house.  We're so blessed to still have him and he's doing great.  J hasn't been working much, which has been stressful, but at the moment he's got a little work.  I do alot of praying these days in regards to his employment.  I have moments of extreme terror knowing the possibilities that lurk just around the corner if work doesn't pick up.  Fortunately, he's branching his job search out instead of just focusing on electrical work.  And I do ALOT of praying.

Kids:  Zoe is Zoe.  She's silly, sweet, incredibly clever and funny, well-mannered, so loving and just a totally nice little girl.  She's my little shadow, preferring to spend her time with me to practically anything else.  She's lost the clinginess of her younger years, but now I think just loves to be with me.  There's not much I do that I don't have my helper with me, chores included.  She's loves school and is looking forward to kindergarten next year.  Sam is growing up, at 8.5 now.  In January I started taking him to a play therapist to see if it would help him sort out some of his frustrations and whatever else may be bugging him.  We have been INCREDIBLY pleased with this form of therapy, and it's been wildly successful for him.  The combination of homeschool and therapy have really been working wonders on him.  He's so much happier, content, affectionate and communicative.  There are still things we are working on (things I didn't even know were bugging him), but I totally believe he'll continue to improve and evolve into an incredible young man.  He's so intelligent and creative, curious and witty, and has such a sweet heart that I just watch him in awe and can't believe he's mine.  That boy is so special.

I still have too many books to read, too many projects I want to start/finish, too many races I want to run, and too many friends that I never get to spend time with.  It's still a crazy life.  And I still love it.