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Things My Mom Taught Me

My mom passed away last year in the early morning hours of April 24, 2014. I won’t ever forget the day she quietly stepped out of this world as it was also my daughters 16th birthday.

I miss her.

I miss her sometimes in ways that crush my chest and leave me feeling breathless. There are moments I still can’t believe she isn’t with me. Grief is a weird animal and yet, another blog I have yet to write on. I think perhaps, in a way, I’m still kind of afraid to sit down and write about it. I don’t like pain but I also understand there is healing in pain too.

Ah well dear reader in another moment I will feel up to tackling that topic because I know there isn’t a person on this big planet who won’t walk through the avenue of grief at some point in time.

But for now… for this post… I’m reflecting on things my Mom taught me. Maybe in a way, some type of tribute to her for what she invested into me and my life.

Her first born and only daughter ( my brother would come along 15 months later) we shared a close bond and enjoyed many similar things. She was always proud of me and supported me in everything I did. I can’t tell you the times I’d show up at the hospital and some member of the hospital staff (whom I’d never met) would see me and say… “you’re that marathon runner, aren’t you?” My mom had pics of me running hanging in her room and she took every opportunity to tell a new ~~victim~~ person about my activities.

Marathon running ( and training) of course requires a tremendous amount of strength, physically and mentally. I learned a lot about being strong from my mom. I am grateful in the last few months of her life I was able to recognize that strength in her in a new way and see how I had been blessed to have that as a part of my makeup. I don’t mean strong physically, although I am, I mean the deep strength of a woman who goes through difficulties and can stand under them. One who learns to move through the storm and grow in the process. A woman who chooses to keep seeing good and joy even in the face of hardship and difficulties.

A woman who makes a choice to fight back and not curl up and die. Strength. My mom embodied that and I’m grateful to be molded in a similar way.

Moving into fall and the approaching holidays makes me miss her more acutely ( I encountered this last year) the changing of seasons and upcoming festivities reminds me how much she loved and embraced all activities from now through New Years.

I’ve missed her enthusiasm and planning of dinners and activities. The plotting of menus. The brainstorming over gift ideas. She approached the “holiday season” with a childlike enthusiasm.

So I’ll start with this… she put a love in me for all things holiday. With the first crisp of fall air pumpkins, scarecrows and her homemade pumpkin bread showed up. Thanksgiving was always accompanied with some new recipe she wanted to try and her “gifting” was to deliver pies to suit every tastes for each person who would be there. When I say they dragged like, 12 homemade pies over to my home, I’m not exaggerating. Last year her gifting was sorely missed. I bake but don’t put the spread of pies out like she loved to do.

Christmas? Oh my goodness. It was a time to bless not only her family, but anyone in need she could find. Christmas was (is) about giving, sharing and family. She baked goodies to share with everyone she had connections with. Our home was always decked out ( no wonder I’ve grown up and my home is always all dressed up. Imagine my shock when I learned not everyone went through such effort to celebrate)

Special cookies. Stockings gently used from years of being hung with care. The anticipation of Santa’s arrival. Putting cookies out. Late night Christmas eve service. The picking of just the “perfect” tree. ( to this day… I want a big one. I have 12ft ceilings so why not ??) The lights. Evergreen. The Nativity set carefully arranged honoring Christ’s birth. The old cardboard village with the ( lead!) Barclay Santa and skaters nestled around it (this is my FAVORITE Christmas display which I’ll share in another post) Every area with something tucked into it.

20150927_192826 — Mom and I our last Christmas together December 2013

My kids have grown up loving it and their friends have viewed it as going to a Christmas shop at times 😉 It makes the work all worth while. There’s something magical…. and that is the thing I guess my mom ( and grandmother) gave to me and I’m glad to give it to others.

I do so many similar things… traditions. Traditions that now my grown children want to do… there is something satisfying in that. Traditions involve family and a sharing of events that have been passed along from each generation.

She taught me how to invest into my family, my husband, to cook, bake, sew, keep a home, artfully arrange flowers, and make beautiful things. To be a cheerleader and encourager. I learned a Mom keeps things spinning.

20140428_150911 — My wedding, 31 years ago. Can I mention, she made my amazing dress? And did my flowers ?

Random things were meant to be celebrated. A good report card? It was Friday? Nailed a new job ? Successful on a test or something challenging? Whatever… there were simple moments that were worth something celebratory.

She modeled loving sacrificially in marriage. She went through many difficult things with my dad, one of the biggest was his diagnosis of Alzheimer’s a few years ago. She would share some things with me about dealing with him but as a mom, I know, sheltered me. Since I’ve had the responsibility of caring for him in this last year I see some of what she dealt with and feel bad I didn’t really understand to offer her more support in the difficulty of what she dealt with.

She taught me as a mom, that a mothers love is bottomless and that no matter what she was always there. Even in her last days she was concerned about some difficulties I was currently going through and insisted I talk about it. I miss being able to share those things with her.

She taught me how to love and be loving. How to give freely and from whatever I have. To be generous and selfless. To be kind to others. I learned to be content with what I have because if you aren’t content, then you are ungrateful for all you do have. I learned about working hard for what you want and not having an attitude of expecting to have things handed to you.

She told me about God and faithfully took me to church. She put me in a place that in the years to come would allow me to move into my own relationship with Him. She taught me how to love and trust Him.

She taught me to embrace life and that every single day we are given is a pure, sweet gift. She encouraged me to see the beauty of the world around me and always pointed me to the fact we had a Creator who had fashioned all we see.

On being a woman… she taught me things that I value so much now….

How to be a lady. To act classy. To stand up straight ( in my …younger years… I hadn’t embraced or become confident in my 6’0 frame and sometimes tended to…slouch) I’m grateful I learned how to carry myself with confidence thanks to her “encouragement” 😉

She taught me to be proud of myself and my accomplishments and to always keep trying no matter what.

I was raised to be polite, courteous, and respectful. On the flip side, I was also taught to stand up for myself and take nothing off of anyone.

I learned how to use makeup so I enhanced my looks without ( in her words) “looking like a clown”. I was schooled in the wearing of high heels so I didn’t “clop along like a girl who fell off a tractor” haha (My mom always had some lovely visual illustration to use)

let me tell you… today….I can rock a pair of high heels like no ones business… thanks mom…..

She often reminded me that being a woman, wife, and mother required some time to step away for myself and that was an ok thing to do.

20140428_213809 — A Sunday afternoon hanging out. Me most definitely pre-transformation days…

My mom was an amazing,strong, passionate, loving, generous and giving woman. I’m so blessed to have had her and her influence for almost 50 years of my life.

I do miss her tremendously. However, if somehow, I can carry on and share the things she taught me, her life will continue to live on as well.

And hey… if you still have your mom.. right now… call and tell her you love her and thank her for what she’s taught you.

Blogging, Words, And All Things Writing

I read in an article a month or so back how women use more words in their day than men. There were varying “tests” done, but overall showing females did use more words in a day than the guys.

Ok, I might buy into that, after all, I rarely find myself without words 😛

In fact one day I decided I’d try and text and talk like a guy… using less words… did I say a day ? I barely made it through a couple hours haha

Words. I love words.

They abound in my head, ideas leaping around and thoughts clamoring for attention and to be set free. Sometimes those words and ideas bug me during the night. Other times I’m out doing my daily schlepping through life and I get this great idea and I’m digging for something to throw it down on lest I forget later ( hey, I’m older! My brain is often scratched out on a legal note pad 😉 what’s worse is if I’m out running… I almost turn the idea into a chant to keep it in my head. Truly, it’s when I do some of my best thinking.

I get inspired from so much of the world I operate in.

People. Situations. Observations. My own thoughts ( scary, I know) Sometimes, even laughing at myself 😛

Words paint wonderful pictures. I love how you can take an idea in your head and shape it into something that people can see and “get”. Or when you have something you feel passionately about, write it, and it resonates with the people who read it.

Nothing…is more satisfying.

So imagine my frustration? Perplexity ? Shock ? When I contemplated a few weeks ago what I was going to write on and…..

Silence. Crickets chirping. Nothing. It was hard to even come up with ideas. I didn’t come up with ideas.

Well, let’s not overlook my son was getting married (that happened Sept 12 and you’ll be hearing about that 😉 and really my mind was on that constantly. Not to mention juggling some family things and life well, I guess it just left me feeling, blank.

I was semi-horrified. How does this happen?

I’m a woman. I’m loaded with words. A plethora of words on any given day. What. the. heck.

So I did what any smart woman would do. I hit up a friend of mine who is a published author ( her third book just released… look her up… Jolene Navarro)

Anyway, I asked her as an author if she ever got “empty” “wordless” left holding the bag basically. She laughed and assured me she was currently 5,000 words behind in her writing.

Ah, sympathy. Just what I needed.

I told her I loved writing on health, fitness and of course all things running, but I had all these other ideas tripping through my head and those words had stories to tell, because they’re the stories of …. life……

She nicely reminded me that my life is what makes me real and 3-D ( I kinda like that illustration) and not just flat and focused on one area. Sharing life and things that happen make me real and people can relate to that.

Ok… that all sounded good.

She then put me on mission to write a “100 idea” list of all kinds of things about me… likes, interests, thoughts, passions, whatever.

I knocked out 50 at one sitting. I tackled more today. It’s getting harder… much harder.

Almost like… “hey, I’m Cathie, I like peanut butter” haha I’m not giving up though…..

The idea being if I hit a spell where nothing is firing in my head, I go to my list to (hopefully) propel ~~insanity~~ creativity 😉

So I guess I’m telling you all of this to say I will be bringing you “life” things from time to time. Sometimes hard topics. Others whimsical or funny. Maybe thought provoking. If I’m successful, entertaining or inspiring.

Not for one second is my focus of bringing you health, fitness and all things running on the backburner, I just want you to experience ALL of life with me.

It’s a heck of a journey.

Get on with me and let’s go for a crazy ride.

Water 101

Summer has totally arrived here in south Texas… but then it’s July and we’re probably due for some weather that feels like summer.

Hotter weather definitely means making sure you stay well hydrated. Whether or not you are physically active getting in adequate amounts of water in your day is essential for your overall well being and health.

I often hear from people “I’m not a water drinker”. Actually, we all are, but we’ve conditioned ourselves to other beverages that are (unfortunately) often sweetened.

Water is not only essential for life, but it also has many other benefits to it.

Consider this, water is the second most consumed beverage, after soft drinks. This is a disturbing stat considering soda is a huge health hazard upping the risk of obesity, stroke, and other health problems.

Roughly 60% of your body is made of water. Drinking adequate amounts helps transport nutrients, helps digestion, regulates body temp and more.

Drinking water can help with weight loss, it helps you to feel full making you eat less ( don’t use this as a substitute to NOT eat)

Water is also muscle fuel. Sweating out at the gym or in your workout cause muscles to lose water. When muscles don’t have enough water they get tired. Adequate water ensures smooth muscle function. Staying well hydrated helps you in those final miles running or the last set you are doing in the gym.

Drinking water also helps you have clearer skin, it flushes toxins from the body, helping reduce pimples and break outs.

It helps with kidney function. Our kidneys process 200 quarts of blood daily sifting our waste and transporting urine to our bladder. Kidneys need enough to clear away what we don’t need in our body. Yet another reason to drink up!

Water can also help boost our productivity boosting our concentration.

Feeling tired ? Dehydration is often the reason beyond that dragging feeling.

It can help with pain prevention…. aching joints and muscle cramps can occur if you’re dehydrated.

It helps with digestion and can prevent constipation.

Water may help with decongestion and dehydration helping it to bounce back when under the weather ( ok I personally swear by this… when I start feeling a little off… I up my water intake)

Of course, if you workout, it’s crucial you stay on top of your water intake and make sure you’re adequately hydrated before your workouts and replenish appropriately afterwards. A good rule of thumb is to weigh in (naked) before a hard workout, then after. For each pound lost, replenish with 16oz.water.

There is some debate on exactly how much water you need each day. Studies suggest adults need 9-16 cups per day.

Other things do contribute to your water intake (note … these don’t take the place of water…but do supplement) coffee, tea and water-rich fruits and veggies.

How to get more water in….

Start when you wake up in the morning. I always need a big glass after I hit the floor.

Try drinking a good size glass 30 minutes before a meal.

Make it a habit to take water everywhere with you. I never leave without my big water glass loaded with water and ice… I will even go back and get it if I forget it. I drink on it constantly while I’m out.

If it’s “bland” to you in the beginning ( a common complaint… in time… you won’t need anything) try adding lemon or lime to it.

Our bodies really do have a natural thirst. It’s often been suppressed. Consistent drinking of water will cause this natural thirst to return.

Water has so many health benefits, it’s a zero calorie drink, and perfectly replenishes what your body needs. Get started and in time, you’ll be drinking it all the time =)

50Something

So in earth shattering world news, I turned 51 on Saturday. You know what that means ? I survived a year of being 50 and am now officially “50something” 😉

I can tell you…. being 50 was pretty darn ok so I’m kinda geared towards 51 being rockin’ too.

Last year saw me hitting some of the biggest goals and challenges of my life.

Athletically, I ran my second marathon knocking 33 minutes off my previous years time. I attribute that to harder training and getting my nutrition even tighter.

I moved from that, into training for a 50K (31.7 miles) in March, doing that a little over 6 hours. I also did two half marathons in March.

By that time I had reached a point of being in the best physical condition of my life… at 50.

I had also increased time on my bike for cross training as well as challenging myself more with weights to build more muscle and make me an overall stronger runner.

Getting older ( I’ve learned) also means just getting down right comfy in your own skin and embracing who you are. I’ve allowed myself to pursue and do what I want to and not be hampered by the rules of others or the secret unwritten code of society that seeks to put women to sleep after they reach a certain age.

Shhh… and ladies… it’s ok to keep your edge… really 😉

And the other thing I’ve learned (really in the past couple years) if you wanna do something…do it. What are you waiting for ? It’s your life…live it…do those things you think about… do something that’s been hanging out in your mind… dare to be different.

And in saying that…. I just got my second tattoo on Thursday and I’m totally in love with it. I’ve had the idea cooking for awhile in my head. When I contacted my artist and told him what I wanted I sat back to eagerly await what his rendition would look like. So when he contacted me for a Thursday appt and shot me the design to approve, it seemed like a perfect birthday present for me (there’s a good way to kick off birthday weekend )

I’ve had a few people tell me that it fits me perfectly…like it belongs there….and it does. …

My explanation? It’s like an inner piece of me revealed. It’s been a part of me for awhile… now it’s just visible.

I’ll share with you what’s behind it…. life… has been teaching me.

In the past year or so I’ve learned it takes a lot of courage to live… not just exist…but to live. To stand when you don’t think you can stand… to see beauty in life when the storms are crashing in. To have courage when you feel like hiding or running away.

The rose represents the beauty and fragility of life. The sword piercing the rose is a reminder that although life is beautiful, it’s often harsh and not always a bed of roses.
The sword is a powerful weapon, one that is taken up to stand and fight, to stand against the trials and difficulties that come. The sword represents a warrior spirit, courage, and a never say die attitude towards life. It represents the strength to endure. Spiritually it’s a reminder of the One who’s strength, courage and power rest in me.

Together, it all tells such a beautiful story.

You see, even though I had some amazing personal triumphs in my 50th year, I had some painful losses and life things that brought grief and struggle. Life takes courage to live.

I lost my mom in April and had to face my first birthday without her… a milestone birthday she should’ve been here to share with me. This year… as loved and surrounded as I have been by family and friends I’m aware of her presence not with me. Losing her meant taking over with my dad who has Alzheimers and maintaining his home and trying to make the best choices for him. His condition has rapidly declined with mom’s passing.

My husband parted ways from his company after 23 years to take a new job that involved traveling and being gone from home all week, and sometimes two weeks at a time. I learned to step up even more handling and dealing with everything on the home front and then.. there’s just all the life stuff in general.

And of course, let’s not forget, our most recent adventure with his thyroid cancer.

I don’t tell you these things to whine. Or to feel sorry for me.

I won’t negate my feelings though… it has been hard at various times… sometimes… crushing.

that’s when I started thinking about how life demands so much courage for us to keep living and finding beauty and laughter and joy in the dark places.

Courage demands I take a stand and fight back to live and appreciate life, even in the hard times.

So it was with an overflowing heart and fresh awareness through out my birthday weekend at how blessed I am.

To have an evening celebrating with all my kids, niece and nephew and their kids and other family… was wonderful. On the day of my birthday, just time being home and later dinner out with hubby for some one on one time was nice. I wrapped up the weekend on Sunday by picking up my gift I had asked for….. a new little road bike. Nothing fancy at all, but I’ve almost worn the wheels off the mountain bike I got a couple years ago. ( I’m slowly creeping along to becoming a cyclist… eek… THAT is a pricey hobby) but you know what? My body doesn’t know if it’s on a pricey bike or not… it’s just out there working hard 😉

So yeah, I’m grateful. Another year. New challenges and goals to tackle. New opportunities for growth.

Who wouldn’t be excited?

That Stupid Cancer

Hello blog world. Yes, I’m still here…and alive….but boy has life been going down hard and fast in my world the past few weeks.

I’ve missed all of you, my 1.5 readers. I’ve thought about what to write and how to write it. The words piled up in my head among other thoughts waiting to be put into organized, readable context.

And somehow…. weirdly… I’ve struggled with sitting down and getting it done.

This is a post on life.

I promise to resume my health/athletic(y) blogs soon. But even as we do things to maintain a healthy body and mind, there is this big thing going on around us called life…

And you know what? There are times life is just freaking…. hard…brutal, take no prisoners, hard.

So where I’ve been the last couple weeks in life…..

to start with, my son unexpectedly lost a close friend in a tragic car accident. This friend was also to have been one of his groomsmen in his September wedding. He has lost many friends in the past few years of his young life. Once again my heart ached for him, his friends, and the young mans family at his swift removal from this world. As I sat at his memorial service and saw his beautiful face, my heart was pierced at how wrong it felt that this 22 year old young man was gone.

No words… simply no words… could make this right…or take away the pain from his family. Nor could I as a mother, absorb it for my son.

During this time, my husband had gone in for his yearly check up. He mentioned to the doctor he had a lump on the side of his neck and thought it was a swollen lymph node. Doctor sent him for a sonogram that day. A few days later they called wanting him to have a CT done (this was on a Friday) Monday we saw the doctor who told us the report indicated possible malignancy, but without a needle biopsy they can’t officially confirm. Somehow, they got us in that afternoon. He returned to Houston afterwards where he had been working. We could only wait now for the biopsy results which they have promised to have for us by Wed. ( amazing and fast indeed, right?)

Both of us were positive and upbeat knowing we had to take these steps to rule out the dreaded “C” word.

Cancer.

I mean, it wouldn’t be, right? Why would it?

Wed afternoon I got the call from him. Results were in.

Tests confirmed he had thyroid cancer.

How does one respond? How does one act? I felt semi-numb and felt myself immediately kick into the zone I go to when difficult things come. Stay focused. Keep on task. Think about what I can do or what needs to be done.

Cry or freak out later if need be. That serves me no purpose when I need my head about me.

Meanwhile, hubby had immediately ended his contract where he was working, closed out of his apartment and was headed home. I felt helpless not being able to be there and help him after getting that news or knowing he’d have hours to drive home thinking about it.

Things were already unfolding though as we had an appt. the next day with the surgeon to discuss everything and surgery was set for Friday.

When I say things moved with lightening speed and were all beautifully orchestrated is putting it mildly. We know and personally believe God’s hands were all over this. No one gets the diagnosis and then two days later is having surgery to remove it. I can’t tell you how unheard of this is.

Thyroid cancer as we’ve been told is highly curable and treatable. But whoa… still… you have…. cancer.

The surgery went well, doctor felt he got all cancerous tissue and removed thyroid as well as the tumor. A short hospital stay and we had him home. The next step now is a one time radiation treatment that will literally kill any thyroid cells left in his body, but only those cells. How cool is that ?

Of course, we’ve made all kinds of jokes teasing him about being radioactive and glowing. Or with his neck wound if it had been Halloween he would’ve made an awesome Frankenstein 😉

You must… need to…..find humor… and moments to laugh… when you are feeling scared, anxious or worried. Laughter relieves and relaxes tense moments.

We met with surgeon on Thursday to remove sutures and discuss the next step. Right now, that’s what it’s about, the next step to crush this thing, get him better, but most of all, to keep living life.

That’s been my goal as we’ve moved through this. To not let it define our lives or be the “thing” that has center stage.

Beautiful, glorious life is still going on.

Things to be celebrated. Moments to be shared. Laughter to partake in. Tears to cry. Family to be loved on. Friends to be appreciated. Feeling your partner nestled next to you during the night. Normal days to be embraced. Sunrises to be seen. A full, bright moon hanging in the dark night sky. The sounds of your kids voices to be treasured. The smell of your grandson. A hot shower. A good meal. The smell of coffee brewing. Waking up and knowing you’ve been blessed… entrusted… with another day.

Another day…. a pure, precious, breathtaking gift so often taken for granted.

Do you ever just wish, you could wrap your arms around it ???

So yes, we are looking forward to many more days. His prognosis is very good. We are doing all things necessary to ensure his complete health and removal of all cancer cells. His attitude has been good and he’s strong and determined…. um….stubborn…. to use his word….well… he was under the influence of drugs after surgery when he said that… does that still count ??

Like, he admitted that to his nurse… I think that counts… don’t you ? 😉

It’s ok… stubbornness can be quite useful in life .. ask me… I might know a lil about that haha

So as we’ve moved through these past 2 weeks of difficulties in losses of loved ones and treasured friends, and dealt with the unexpected, dreaded “cancer”, and contended with other life issues going on I’ll tell you what we have been confident of….

God has been with us. He has been our Strength and Peace and I know He is our Provider. I don’t understand a lot of what happens in this world or life… I’m merely human with a very limited, short perspective in this vast world and universe… but by faith I rest and trust in One who is bigger than I am.

I just want to encourage you, who are reading this right now. Life might be smooth sailing and you have no current issues…. they will come…. or you might have just gotten out of difficulties….Or you could be having a life like I’ve dealt with recently.

Stay strong. Know this will pass. Breathe. Live and deal with only the moment you are in, running to far ahead can only offer fear and worries that might not ever even happen and only steal the joy from your current day. Appreciate random moments. Stop and smell the flowers. Value small things. Wear the fun dress. Get out the “special” dishes… use them for all their worth. Turn up the music and sing loud. Do that thing you want to do.

Most of all…. live…. embrace your life… and don’t let your circumstances define you.

Weight Loss 101

It happens.

You get on the scale and the numbers start spinning like a slot machine in Vegas.

You wait for the final tally to show up. If only it would spit money out at you when it finally stopped.

Ugh… why is there this huge distance between where you are now… and where you want to be ?

And worse… how did you get to this point ?

You feel defeated before you get started.

I remember. I relate. It seemed so very far away to get to where I wanted to be.

That’s what we all struggle with isn’t it ?

I hear from so many of you. You want to get lose weight and get healthy but you aren’t sure where to start…it’s overwhelming! Overwhelming ’cause we just want to get to our destination over night and that won’t happen… we have to get back the same way we got where we are now…. slowly and steadily… just in reverse now.

I’ll throw out a few little tips that helped me… maybe it will be helpful to you too.

First, getting your nutrition under wraps is the most important thing. Know what you eat and how much you are eating.

It’s easy to think you ” don’t eat that much” when in reality, you could be eating more than you realize. Those calories ( liquid and food) add up. Or in a reverse way, maybe you’re restricting your calories to much making it harder to lose. This is also where it’s so crucial to understand the calorie needs your body has each day.

Logging your food and drink for a week or so will give you a visual idea of what your daily intake looks like. You can do it the old fashioned way by writing it down or use several of the current apps that are available to track your food and exercise.

I have used an app called Lose it! and others use one called My Fitness Pal. Both can keep track of your foods and how many calories you are consuming in a day. You won’t need to do this forever but do it long enough to understand your food consumption and see your eating patterns. Make sure you log everything you eat and drink.

Good nutrition is really key to long term weight loss. Exercise is important but if you don’t have a good base with healthy nutrition it won’t matter how much exercise you do for long term benefits.

Also, consider what you buy at the store and bring home. If you have trigger foods, and they aren’t there, you can’t get them if you have a craving. Buy healthy foods, you’ll eat healthy foods and so will your family.

I have a huge weakness for salt and pepper kettle potato chips. I know if they come home, it’s all over. My husband teases me that once in awhile won’t hurt me. Perhaps, that’s true. But do I need them ?

Seriously, once that bag is open…. I’m like an addict.

So yeah, think about what you buy and the impact it will have on you at home. Get serious with what you buy and consider the value of it for you and your family.

Eating well is your first line of defense to losing weight successfully and you will see the best results when you shape up your nutrition. Not only that, but your overall health will benefit too.

Another thing I found helpful was only setting 5 lb. goals for myself at a time. I turned it into a game… I can do anything if I can make it a game or make it playful. So I would just tell myself… “ok, just focus on moving from the “0” to the “5”…. and I moved along in those 5 lb. increments till it really started to add up.

Focusing on 5 lbs. at a time was totally manageable. I could handle that. It takes that huge daunting goal and makes it easier to achieve.

Try it…. It builds your confidence that you can accomplish what you set out to do.

As you bring your nutrition in line, it will be important for you to consider what exercises you can do to support your weight loss goals.

Keep in mind, our bodies need movement for wellness, not just to help with weight loss. Purposeful exercise also helps us mentally, emotionally and spiritually, in addition to physically.

Decide what you can do. What works for you. I will encourage you to look at a variety of activities, first, to prevent boredom. Second, a variety of activities can work all muscle groups overall shaping and building your body to be more defined and strong. I honestly think I’ve stayed with working out because I found things I could be passionate about and because I had different activities it allowed me to mix things up when I wanted to.

If you are self motivated you might find working out at home fits your needs. I love not having to go somewhere to workout… my time is important so to just go for a run, pedal off some miles, or out to my building for strength days is a huge bonus to me.

However, you might need the motivation of being in a gym setting, or having a workout partner ( iron sharpens iron kinda thing 😉 Perhaps a personal trainer might be what gets you on track.

Know your needs and what will help you be most successful to stick with it.

In summary….

Log your food/drink intake for a week or two until you have a good idea of your food patterns (the how, what, and when of your eating )

Make healthy food choices that you keep in your kitchen.

Set 5 lb. goals at a time.

Select a physical activity that you can be passionate about and look forward to doing.

Remember, slow and steady will reap long term lifestyle changes =)

Not Running Sucks.

20150617_224350 — Let me tell you how I really feel….. #nofilters

The shirt says it all.

I recently picked it up ’cause I had really scaled my miles down to almost nothing and was totally … hating it…..

After todays doctor appt. it reflects how I’m going to be feeling for awhile.

At some point it was bound to happen…. work hard… play hard… play harder…. injuries become a possibility. Or a reality. You can get hurt doing stuff you really love that you throw yourself into with abandon.

It sucks ’cause this is my first running injury.

Oh, I got sidelined a few years ago for like… 6 weeks… when I took the motorcycle down learning to ride….. that’s when I learned big bikes and gravel aren’t a good combo. I hurt my knee which knocked me out of running.

I literally cried the first time I was back out for a run. I had been so afraid the time away would make me not want to do it anymore. Nothing, was farther from the truth. I embraced that run back out celebrating my freedom and my restored health.

So I’ve been babying my heel for a month or two. I’ve intentionally brought my miles down hoping and allowing it would give my foot a break to heal.

In the last couple weeks I’ve scraped running and just focused on cycling and other stuff… still… it remains..

Which pushed me to an official appointment.

In a nutshell…. foot doctor confirmed what I knew…. Achilles tendonitis.

No running…at all.

No impact sports at all.

No movements that put strain on the tendons which rules out strength training moves with my lower body like squats, deadlifts etc. Cycling if questionable.

I left thinking… I’m going to go stir crazy…. almost all active movement has been axed.

Please hear me… I get it. Once again, I’m crazy, but not stupid. My health and getting 100% again is my most important goal now so I can get back out on the road.

But…..still…. no… running ??

I actually found a sports med doctor I’ll be seeing in a few weeks. I want someone who understands athletically where I am and how to treat me. And a second opinion is never bad. He does triathlons so I feel like he’ll “get it”.

Meanwhile, I am being a good girl. Ice several times a day, no running around barefoot (this kills me too, I’m a barefoot girl! ) I have discontinued all activities that would possibly strain or further irritate my injuries.

Swimming appears to be the most recommended and supported activity for this kind of injury. How ironic that I am constantly telling people how weak I am with swimming that this will now be my main form of cardio for awhile. Hmmm maybe when I go through this time I’ll come out a stronger and better swimmer.

Is this the silver lining in having my wings clipped ?

I will confess to tears… and frustration… and pain… and wondering how this will impact the goals I had set for myself in the remainder of the year. I have worries of “what if”.

Serious marathon training is set to start in August… at this point I don’t know if I’ll be healthy to do that yet. My marathon in December… will it happen ? The goal of finding a duathlon to train for ?

I just don’t know.

This I do know.

I miss being on the road. I miss the feeling my body gets from running long and hard. I want to plan a long run and be out early and see the sunrise while I’m doing it. I want to be drenched in sweat and feel like a million bucks from challenging myself to do more. I want to tear up hills and feel my body respond to the challenge. I’m jealous when I read running posts or see someone running.

I want to stop and say… “don’t EVER take for granted what you’re doing right now… it’s a pure, sweet gift.. value it”.

Ok… this post… is really letting me process and get this outta my head. I know what I have to do and will do it… I promise to keep you updated and make my whining… minimal…..

You just don’t take a woman who’s been running and active and clip her wings without ~~a lot~~ a few tears and angry stomping of her feet.

I will regroup and look at what I can do, implement, and improvise. I might come out of this a better swimmer, which means, maybe a tri wouldn’t be out of my realm of possibility at some point. I will learn to do more activities that work my body while protecting the hurt parts. I will add more boxing with swimming to get in some good cardio..

Basically, I will develop a new game plan and bounce back while I “recover”.

I’m wired like that….get pushed down… and figure out how to get up and fight again.

But for the love of all things running… I really…. hate… this.

Talk to me…tell me… have you dealt with an injury that sidelined you ? How did you handle it? This is my first serious one so …do you have words of encouragement ? What helped you through it ?

3 Days, 3 Quotes Challenge

Emmanuel Muema has nominated me for the 3 days, 3 quotes challenge. Thank you for the award =)

I’ll do my best to deliver the goods.

The rules of the challenge : 1. Thank the person who nominated you. 2. Post a quote a day for 3 days. 3. Each day, nominate 3 new bloggers to take part in the challenge.

My quote :

” You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I lived through this horror.” I can take the next thing that comes along.

~Eleanor Roosevelt

My nominees:

1. Movin’ it with Michelle

2. Peeled Wellness

3. Bubbles and Booyah

Simple Steps To Weight Loss And Fitness

I’m gonna try and keep this short and sweet. No. This isn’t a post about all my amazing short and sweet friends… and I have a lot of them… I mean when you rock 6’0 I have LOTS that fall into that category 😉

I going to post some tips I hope are helpful and easy to follow on a daily basis because a lifestyle change is made by things we do consistently day after day. Building new healthy habits and actions leads to long term success.

Not crazy shenanigans for a few weeks then with a deep sigh it’s back to what’s normal and comfy for us.

Ready?

** Avoid extreme restrictions. This is the fastest way to derail yourself back to “Go”. Take away everything good and fun and tasty and make it life sucking and you won’t be going anywhere fast.

** Do work on making small healthy swaps every day. If chips and a soda are your go to snack maybe work on dropping the soda and going with water, eventually getting rid of the chips too. Your goal should be eating healthy snacks the majority of the time. Add in an extra veggie with your meal and cut pasta/potatoes whatever in half. When you reach for something, take a moment to assess it’s value for you.

** Do use small amounts of time for exercise. I shared in another post how much I worked into a 30 minute block of time one morning. Even if you have 10 minutes… Knock out pushups…. you’ll be sweating like crazy at the end. Look for ways to build movement into your day. Take stairs, go for a short walk, park farther back at store, do squats, push ups or lunges waiting for your shower water to heat, use a push mower to cut grass ( my fav gravy activity) garden or work in your yard, all these things in a day add up and develop an active lifestyle. Note: this doesn’t take place of your purposeful exercise you should be doing.

**Set specific goals. Don’t just say “I want to lose weight”. Target a day to have realistically dropped a certain number of pounds. Hang a fav item of clothing in your way that you might want to get back into to silently challenge you. Select an event you want to train for. Maybe it’s to improve your lab numbers at the doctors office when you go back. Whatever you do, write it down, make it real and then go for it. It doesn’t hurt to share those goals with others for accountability 😉

**Strive to eat well the majority of the time. I shared in another post on eating that you can follow an 80/20 rule. Eat well 80% of the time, allowing a 20% allowance for occasional treats and special occasions. As I’ve gotten more fit and my views on nutrition have changed I find myself in more of a 90/10. I just feel better when I eat well. You will too, trust me =)

** Finally know that change takes time. Change that is, that will last and result in a lifestyle difference. Changes in the scale, changes in your body, changes in how you see yourself all take time. Settle in and work slowly and steadily one day at a time, results will come.

Share with me if you have simple tips and ideas that have helped you be successful =)

I’m An Athlete

So I’ll confess I had a different title for this blog… then I saw this statement on a t-shirt a friend was wearing… and decided it would be my new title.

I told him I needed that shirt… he said he could get me one… I think… that would be wicked cool.

I guess that statement resonated with me ’cause I haven’t always thought of myself as an athlete.

For years I was this middle aged woman out for walks to help knock some weight off. Even as I eased into running and picked up working with weights a little, I was still just a middle aged woman doing some exercise.

And that’s fine… I mean really… I didn’t give it a thought. I just did my thing.

Besides, weren’t athletes professionals who made a lot of money for their sport and were on cereal boxes ?

I cooked along in my own little happy exercise zone until one day, about a year or two back, someone asked me if I had run that morning.

I told him yes, yes I did, just 5 miles.

His response? “You eat 5 miles for breakfast. You run before some people are out of bed. You run more miles at once than most people ever will. You are the only athlete I know !”

That kinda brought me up short. I mean in the last couple years my running has certainly geared up a lot, my cross training has deepened and I’ve tried to add more cycling in. My nutrition has definitely come into line with my athletic endeavors…. my training more dialed in to what I was doing… but it all just felt normal to me.

Like… you know… a middle aged woman starting to get some things… right…..

Yet he referred to me as an athlete.

I'm an athlete — I don’t currently rock a mustache 😉

It was the first time someone had specifically referred to me that way and when I shared that with others their response was… “of course you are!”

I guess I was slow accepting something I thought was only set aside for the elite….. the famous….those….were athletes.

However, in these last couple years, I’ve allowed that description to settle on me… to define me somewhat.

Why? Because I got that I was, that I am.

Perhaps I began to understand that being an athlete in it’s truest sense is a lifestyle, a way of living, covering everything from physical activity, to nutrition, rest, recovery and caring for your body in a very intentional way. You think like one which carries over into actions and attitudes in ALL of your life.

eat and train — When you begin to think like this… you’re moving that way to getting it.

It’s taking on a sport and learning all you can and striving to be the best you can be in it, regardless if you get paid or if you’re ever really known for anything.

After this past year with some amazing new personal goals conquered, I’m ok with wearing that statement on my chest.

As an athlete, I’m learning to deal with my body during peak training, and off season. Running a zillion miles a week keeps me super lean, off season as I’m finding out this year, I’m adding more muscle ( now all those calories can go to muscle building and not just getting burned off as fuel 😉

It is a change I have to be able to roll with. A change that is relatively new to me. I physically can’t train at a high level year round, no one can. I probably need to enjoy it ’cause once I start back to serious training in a few months, my body will once again, go through a changing process.

This is what it is to be an athlete. Hard work…discipline…..change. Repeat.

A lifestyle. A choice to pursue your athletic goals with passion. Learning to embrace every aspect of what you do.

I’ve also found the same dedication, focus, perseverance, strength, sacrifice, mental strength, and commitment needed as an athlete carries over into all aspects of my life and that’s not a bad thing.

So, I’ll just remind you, as you pursue your passion and learn to live, train, and breathe what you do, you too are an athlete.

How do you view your physical activities? Is it a hobby to you? Just some exercise? Or do you consider yourself an athlete?