I MISS BLOGGING!

Ok, so I just realized I've kept a weblog since 2005. That's almost 6 years of writing!!! Over the last year my writing has been sporadic at best and filled with depression and frustration, which have been my two prevailing moods. Well, there's been a little bit of hope thrown in, but not much.

Well it's time to go back to what works. And if I've kept a blog since 2005, I'm thinking writing is something that works for me, right?

I'm spending the afternoon reviewing my parts for Girls on the Run and doing the Bodyrock "Get Up and Step Up" workout.

Sunshine

Living in California is a mixed bag, but all the bad seems a small price to pay for the SUNSHINE! In fact, think I'll turn on my Sunshine playlist, which includes these fabulous sunny tunes:


Nothing I Can Do, Ben Taylor

Here Comes The Sun, The Beatles

Miss Sun, Boz Scaggs

Mr. Blue Sky, Electric Light Orchestra

Running On Sunshine, Jesus Jackson

Everybody Got Their Something, Nikka Costa

Black Hole Sun, Soundgarden

Island in the Sun, Weezer

Seven Days In Sunny June, Jamiroquai

You Are the Sunshine of My Life, Stevie Wonder

Brighter Than Sunshine, Aqualung

Make it a beautiful Monday, peoples!

So sad

Austin competed in Pleasanton last weekend and took 4th place all around and 1st place in pommel horse. Wednesday night he had an accident at the gym and sprained his ankle. Badly. Like it's 4 days later and he can barely put weight on it. Gym meets? Out of the question for the near future. And I keep thinking "what if that panel mat hadn't been there?" and "why did this have to happen to him???" and stuff like that. Then I think about people who are having those same thoughts about a spinal cord injury or about accidents that people didn't survive. But my heart still hurts for my son. His dream is to do gymnastics in college and RIGHT NOW is when colleges are looking. And he sits with an ankle that doesn't work. If only I could give him one of mine...

Girls on the Run, puppies, and handstands and burpees

My friend Julia and I are coaching Girls on the Run and it starts tomorrow. I can't wait! We get to be with a group of 3rd to 5th grade girls for 12 weeks as we learn about respect for yourself and others, and train to run a 5K race!

Nerves are common when you're trying something new, right? I tend to see what could go wrong rather than what could go right and that tendency is something I've become aware of -- painfully aware of! For example, in 2 weeks we are getting a puppy. That should have an exclamation point, right? But boy can I tell you everything that's going to be tough about having a puppy. Mindfulness is what helps me to focus on the good stuff about puppies (they're fun, funny, warm, round, snugly, adorable) rather than the bad stuff (which I will not expand on here).

On a final unrelated note, I'm working (again) on handstands and burpees by doing 1 minute of handstands and 10 burpees per day. The handstands are practiced in my hallway, a la Nina Nina Nina's video:

Baby steps

Staying active is easier on Facebook, as I can just write a sentence or two there. Not that there's anything preventing me from doing the same thing here. (Might need to give this some thought, as that could be my answer to staying updated here. Hmmmmm.)

On the fitness front, I've been doing The Dailey Method several times a week and am getting a lot stronger. But boy oh boy do plies and thigh work HURT!!! I mean like hurt, burn, pain, yikes! Even though I'm getting stronger, I did a DVD on Wednesday (only 30 minutes of it!) and I have been crazy sore ever since. If you want to check out a really good instructor, Google Paul Katami. Or click here to see which specific DVD I did. OUCH!!!

Leaving for Southern CA in the morning to visit my mother (boy do I love her!) and attend The Women's Conference. Michelle Obama is the featured speaker on Tuesday morning, and there are many well-respected women presenting at this three-day event.

(I feel like this is really disjointed...)

Today Tim and I did 10 minutes of the Paul Katami Ab Lab DVD. Tim's had trouble finding ab exercises that don't get his hip flexors overinvolved and in pain, and the first 10 minutes are all standing ab stuff. He liked it (woo hoo)! And then we ran a hilly 4 miles in the rain. We both wear iPods when we run and I'm sure there are people who see us and think "they are out and not even talking? what's wrong with them?" But it works for us. It's just nice to be together, and of course, if we want to talk, we can.

Hoping for a GIANTS win tonight! Happy Saturday!!!

Looking up

Things are looking up. Well, nothing's changed except for my outlook and perspective. All I can way is WHEW!

Planning for afternoon clients right now but will write again later if time permits.

Today's plan

• Take recommended amount of anti-d (and consider switching meds as this one may not be working any more).
• Run.
• Dailey Method.
• Help a friend (doing a specific thing, not just a random "help a friend" task).
• Clean house (both literally and figuratively).
• Trust God!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming...

...for a brief kick in the teeth. Back shortly!

Shoot, shoot, shoot! Saturday night there was an incident that took me back down and sucked the hope all gone. Well, the truth is that I let this happen, darn it, but circumstances can certainly make life feel difficult, can't they?

So that's what was up with the silence. Thanks for the marvelous comments. They made my heart happy!

I think I'm ready...

...for a change.

From depression to hope.

From hiding to (what's the opposite of hiding?).

From unfocused to focused.

From living small to living large.

Stay tuned...

Learning

Went to bed sad.

Woke up sad.

Wanted to just go back to bed, but...

Met girlfriends to run.

Went to Dailey Method class.

Feel about 1000% better.

Lessons?

Feelings are not forever.

Endorphins are earned.

There is much to be grateful for.

Having teens makes me sad

It's midnight and I can't sleep. The sadness I feel from distant teenage sons is to blame. Someday I'm sure I'll look back and laugh. Right now it just hurts. :(

Elusive sleep

Sleep can be elusive. You'd think with how tired I feel and how active I am, it would be easy. Maybe it's changing hormones, a mind that doesn't want to stop thinking, or just it is how it is, right?

Running has felt fun again! Yesterday I ran 5 in the morning, then 5 more in the afternoon. The afternoon run was hot (90 degrees, I think) and draining, but in a very good way.

Still stretching. My gymnast son provides input from time to time, as he knows a lot about flexibility. Two nights ago I was stretching, and he decided he would stretch too. So while I'm working on getting my leg straight as I bend over it, he's in oversplits! I told him I felt dispired, which is when you're discouraged AND inspired at the same time. :)

So anyway, the next night (last night) I was stretching again and I showed him where I am in right leg splits. He of teenage sarcasm and irritation, said with genuine surprise "That's really good, Mom!" I'm nowhere near all the way down, but I'm getting closer, and it's progress, not perfection, right?

Big scary goal

I have a goal. It doesn't matter to anyone but me. But it's my goal and I'm setting my sights on it. Are you ready for it? Here it is:

I will have all 3 splits (right, left, center) down by my 50th birthday in January.

Did I really just say that? Yikes! It seems impossible when I think about it, but I'm gonna try. I do stretch every night in front of the TV for about 15 - 20 minutes. Sometimes we're watching a SF Giants game (go Giants!). Sometimes it's Sports Center. Sometimes it's one of our shows (Mad Men, The Closer (season finale tonight!)).

I'm not even close on any of the directions. But I'm gonna give it a shot.

Venice Beach fun

Dance-based workouts

I've been doing Dailey Method since March. Well that's not entirely accurate. I first tried DM in March right before running Big Sur. And I liked it, but not enough to do it more than once or twice a month.

I didn't like that it was taught at someone's house. Houses are fine. But I can't stand feeling like I'm in the way. And the room that comfortably held 6 people was regularly populated by 7 or 8 people, so guess who felt like she shouldn't be there? You're right -- ME!

The other thing I didn't like was that I'm not very flexible. And the workouts incorporate flexibility, not just as part of the cooldown, but throughout the class. And being with all the bendy young girls made me feel like the only man in class and that did not feel great.

In July DM opened at its real place of business. But I didn't start going regularly until last week. For the next month I'm taking 3 to 4 classes a week. Combined with consistent running and consistent healthy eating, this is my plan to shed the extra pounds I'm carrying.

So as a student of fitness I'm noticing that there are lots of DM-ish workout places opening up. All seem to be based on the Lotte Berke Method, which I first heard about maybe 25 years ago and could not WAIT to try it. (If dancers love it, count me in!) So this week I've checked out the websites for Fludity, Barre3 and Physique 57 and they all seem very similar to DM. All are based on Lotte Berke with some variations.

So that's all I've got to say about that. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Great weekend!

We had so much fun in Southern CA. If we're friends on Facebook you've already seen some of the pictures and video. I'll try to post them here too, but am writing without them hoping to keep some of the writing momentum going. So do I think it's best to post photos and video and other fun stuff? Absolutely! But I'm not gonna let it stop me.

So highlights of the weekend:

Giants vs. Dodgers at Dodgers Stadium -- fantastic park, and although we got a LOT of flak for wearing our Giants garb, we ended the evening with some new friends, even though we have to agree to disagree as to which team is the better team.

Touring a house in Beverly Hills -- a 1930s mansion was open for viewing. They wanted a mere $5.9 million for it (!). It was fascinating and strange and lovely.

Lunch in Hollywood -- wonderful French restaurant on Sunset Blvd. I've never seen so many expensive rare cars in my life!

Playing on Venice Beach -- rings, ropes, bars -- all over the sand. Who could ask for anything more?!?!

UCLA -- what a beautiful campus.

Marina del Rey -- this is where we stayed. Beautiful city. So great to experience the coastal mornings after too many 100+ degree days here at home.

That's it for now. Starting a month of Dailey Method as of today. Starting good eating as of today, as I've moved from fluffy to fleshy and right into downright flabby, which feels very very icky. So it's time to take action, right? Right!

So much better

It's amazing how therapeutic movement can be! Ran 4 with my friends, then did another 3 listening to Cardio Coach. Btw, I LOVE Cardio Coach but I don't use it as often as I should. If you haven't tried it, change that!

Anyway, I'm ready for my clients. Spent a little time stretching and doing some TRX moves (their muscle-up prep exercise works EVERYTHING!). And now I feel happy about trip to So Cal. Moral of this story? Feelings change, and movement works!

My get up and go...

...must've got up and went.

Feeling sad and wanting to go back to bed, despite not getting up until 6:30. (Past two days I've gotten up at 4:30 and 4:00 cuz my head started thinking and I could not go back to sleep.) We fly to So Cal today and (sad but true) I'm not looking forward to a weekend away. It just feels exhausting. (Well, anything that's NOT sleeping feels exhausting right now.)

So what will I do? Yes, we're right back to "put one foot in front of the other." Meeting friends at 8:00 to run. Do I want to run? No. Will I? Yes. Training clients this afternoon. Then heading to the airport. And I'm trusting that feelings change, cuz they always do.

So with that, have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Different kind of run

Went out to do 4 miles. Listened to a Motion Traxx (free on iTunes) podcast from 6/24/10, Run/Walk intervals with Jeff Galloway. Music was a little strange, but I'm sure I got a much better workout with the 1 min run intervals than I would have with a steady state run on my own.

Fun fact: I have a 4 mile loop where I run to Lake Tahoe (the Court, not the actual lake) and back. This makes me smile every time I do it.

Another smiley thing: I've been stretching nearly every day for the past couple of months. Nothing regimented, but usually about 10 to 15 minutes in front of the TV at night. Well today at Dailey Method, I was able to do the barre stretch with my hands on the bar! (Until today I've needed to use a strap.)

Not quite as fun: I've been eating a lot to counteract stress and I'm feeling really fleshy right now. So did everything jiggle as I ran my intervals? Yes it did. But do I care? Heck no, cuz I know why I'm out there. :)

smile, breathe & go slowly

READ THIS! Leo Babauta is a genius!