Out With The Old, In With The New

2009 was an odd year.

Not all good, not all bad. Just.....odd.

We had a lot of fun in 2009. Found a great new spot for our boat, on which we spent hours of family fun. Saw my oldest daughter get her learners permit. My youngest daughter sing her first solo in the church choir. Our oldest son became a teenager. While our youngest son made leaps and bounds in his speech and language.

It was the year that saw me take on the challenge of competing in a triathalon. I joined a gym, re-awakened my passion for swimming, remembered how much I hate to run, lost 14 pounds and am feeling great.

The year had it's major challenges as well--we are headed in a new direction, on a new adventure, and looking forward to all that 2010 has to bring.

I hope your New Year is filled with joy, happiness and lots of laughter. And I hope you continue to follow along.

Next up on the exercise front--a 5K in February in Maine (file that one under "what was I thinking").

See you next year!

Defecting?

We have been members of one YMCA or another for a good long while.  Going on 7 years.  I relate to their mission, love their family friendly policies and their variety of offerings.   And they have always been convenient to where we lived.

Just one thing. Our local YMCA is lacking in…..how shall I say?  Cleanliness?

Yep, that’s the word.

Now I don’t gross out easily.  Sixteen years of raising 4 kids, a total of 5 dogs, 3 hamsters, 4 fish and 2 geckos—I have seen my share of bodily fluids and cleaned up more nasty messes than I could ever fathom counting.   Including a beta fish stuck to the wall like a huge booger.   I share this only to illustrate that it takes  a  LOT to give me the heebie jeebies.

The locker room at the Y gives me just that.  I shudder just thinking about it.  And I  have never considered myself high maintenance.  I don’t require spotless facilities or perpetually shining floors.  Before I was a lifeguard I was the cleaning girl at the local pool on Governors Island.   My job was to scrub toilets and hose out the concrete in the bathroom.

Nuf said.

But even I am given pause when entering the Family Locker room.  There was a hairball in the drain last week that rivaled Cousin It.  I think I even saw it move.

So, at my neat-freak daughter’s behest, I called another local gym.  I had assumed they didn’t have a pool.  Apparently I assumed wrong.  It is called Latitudes, and it’s website is heavenly.  Spotless floors.  Vacuumed rugs.  Amazing workout machines. Hairball-free drains. 

A juice bar.

Okay, I probably won’t ever spend the money to have someone make me a tofu-bran-mango-probiotic smoothie.   But it would be nice to not throw up in my mouth every time I go to take a shower.

The  locker room might be worth it all on it’s own. 

Merry Christmas To All

Just wanting to wish all my cyberfriends a Merry Christmas! Hope Santa was good to you, your stocking was overflowing with something other than coal and you spent the day with those that you love!!

Off to watch It's A Wonderful Life for the kabillionth time and plan out a week full of exercise (to counteract the effects of the 7 Peanut Butter Christmas Trees I ate for breakfast).

TTFN!

Swimming in the Bathtub

A few weeks ago my brother John got married. Woohoo! It was an awesome weekend, filled with a lot of laughs.

And a little bit of competition. I mean, when you get siblings together, there is always competition, no?

There was that weekend, no doubt.

My sister and her family stayed at a nearby hotel with a pool. Saturday morning we headed over for a little swim with the kids.

Or so we said.

The pool was slightly larger than a large bathtub, slightly smaller than....a small pool. Probably about 20 yards long. And filled with kids.

And adults who still act like them. Present company included.

I don't remember who's idea it was first. I believe it was Brendan's, but I can't be sure. I looked up at one point from taking a nice, relaxing dip to see Brendan and Leigh Mai churning up the entirely tiny pool in crazy wavy fashion to see who could beat whom to the other end.

I think it was a tie. Then it was game on.

Jeff took up the challenge and made it to the other end of the pool before his wife and my brother without using his arms. I think he might be part fish.

Mind you, we were not the only swimmers in the pool. There were other families there with their children, trying to enjoy nice, calm family time.

But we continued to get carried away.

I finally decided to give it a try. I lost to my brother. Nearly tied my sister. Then lost to my son, who I am told got a full body length head start. He doesn't like to lose, and is not above cheating apparently.

Next time, we are going to Google the nearest Olympic distance swimming pool, bring goggles and, of course, a stop watch.

I guess we just bring it out in each other. Which is not the worst thing in the world.

I have been remiss

Howdy blogland. Long time no talk.

I apologize for my absence. I am sure (wink, wink) that you have been hanging out there, waiting with baited breath for an update.

No?

Things are.....nuts. Exercise is going well. Spin, elliptical, swim, run.

Blah, blah, blah.

I went UA for a week after I bent over to unload the dishwasher and popped a disc in my lower back. I walked around like a 90-year old woman for about 4 days then slowly got back to upright. Now I am just takin' it easy with the elliptiswim thing. No running until that thing feels like it is totally back to normal. Or biking. If I bend over the bike too long I kinda get molded like that. Then it takes an hour to stand up straight again. A tad awkward.

I figured the back thingie was as good a reason as any to take a break from exercise. Besides I was waaaaay behind on my Christmas shopping.

But now I'm not :)

5K: Take Two

Today I ran in the Jolly Jaunt, a 5K here in Massachusetts that benefits the Special Olympics. Great cause. Fun race.

Or so I thought……

Last year, I grabbed a hot chocolate after seeing Adrienne take off at the starting line, waited in the heated tent for awhile, then watched her finish.

This year, I was right there with her. Well, not right there. Right behind her. A kind of long ways behind her. Like about 15 minutes.

And holy C**P that was a hilly race! You have no idea when you see the last 40 yard of a race what the course really looks like. I should have probably taken that into account, no?

The course started out very deceiving. Nice and flat. Downhill even.

Then it just went up, and up, and up. For a good long while. And I thought it might never stop climbing.

And it was cold. Blustery, windy, cold and slushy. Just like I like it.

Riiiiggghhht.

I did a run/walk for most of the way. MOST of the way. I did stop briefly to determine the cause of my iPod malfunction. Nothing exciting, just a dead battery. Which left me to the thoughts in my head. It was kinda quiet.

And I stopped more than once because some tendon or muscle or something or other next to my knee that I never knew I had, started hurting like mad. I thought it might give out on my 40-something body, causing me to take a header into the slush puddles all around me.

But, regardless, I did finish. But how did I do?

Hmmmmm. I will say that I did about the same as the Feaster Five. A tiny bit slower even. But not much slower. So I can’t blame it on the sea of strollers and the walkers that I had to dart around during the Thanksgiving Day Race.

I guess I just run that slow. And that’s okay.

I can sum it up by saying that I finished behind a 50-something lady dressed as a Christmas present.

Yep. That's about it.

First 5K : Check

So it is written.  The first 5K is out of the way.

Hey, that rhymes. 

I had hoped to run it in under 40 minutes.  I mean, some people can walk faster than that, right?

But I blame it on the sea of strollers and dogs in the back-of-the-pack place where I was hiding  waiting.  My final time? 40:43.

Here I am before the race:

(Note to self: jogging bra shows VERY much through those sweat-wicking shirts.  Good lesson for next time)

And here I am afterwards with my daughter.  Who by the way ran 5 miles in almost as much time as I ran 3.1.  But whatever.

I actually had way more fun than I thought I would.  The first mile was  a killer. All uphill.  But after that I started to enjoy myself.  When I rounded the last corner and this  song came on my iPod, I was sure I could conquer the world. 

Or at least finish the race.  Upright. 

Next up, a 5K in under 39 minutes.  What are the chances?