Love the gluttony....

The holiday onion dip, pie & butter butter butter. I also love the greens after the gluttony & shopping/picking out of my own front yard.

Cheers to the season! Hoping to balance butter & kale and lounging & fitness.

It's All Good

Every day I usually do two fitness actives: walk, run, swim, bike. Every day I move & sweat.

Not concerned at all about the gluttonous holidaze weight gain. I'd be a lot more concerned about why I wasn't moving my body (which equals weight gain). So I'm excited about stuffing my face with all my holiday favorites (Buds Egg Nog), moving my bod & being happy. Cheers!

A few ideas tinkering in my brain for 2013...weight lifting, crossfit, more UJam/dancing, maybe that ribbon climbing circus class. Of course also, duathlons, centuries and half & full marathons to fill up my life!

Candle Love

Totally me...sometimes

Not as much lately...but still, sometimes.

Although I've changed it around in my enlightened old age. Not so much Anxiety Girl as 'Cautious, Prepared & Caring enough to be concerned about the outcome' woman :-). Think positive, prepare for the negative!

Bowl of Awesome

In college my roommate and I were quirky and we would always eat out of serving bowls.  Not the bowl you would use to serve people (I'm not gross;-) but we would USE serving bowls as bowls/plates.  Over the years the spouse and I registered for matching dishes etc but I still sometimes used large bowls as my plate.  Saw this set of 4 oblong serving bowls called 'Sides' and bought them...with every intention of never using them as serving bowls but to use them as my everyday plate/bowl.  LOVE them.  Might go get 4 more. Bringing the quirky back.

I Love to run, swim and bike every day.  Every day.  I wake up and I want to run bike or swim... usually I want to do all three that day.  I get irritated and grouchy if I know it's a day that I might be able to only do one activity.  A good day is doing two and a RAD day is doing all three.  A perfect day for me would be: 

Morning walk at dawn (hasn't happened regularly since kiddo but that's ok, I know it will again at some point)

A Run

A Ride

A Swim

Evening Walk

A weekend day would include a few hours hike on top of all that.  I was not born as an active person, I actually managed to be quite sedentary my entire 0-30 yrs with the HUGE exception of Jr Jazzercise which was the highlight of my entire childhood.  High school I did a few sports teams but I was terrified of team sports/pressure, so I sucked at it and was anxious about it, horrible combo.  In college I exercised because I felt like I had to, everyone was doing it but I didn't really love it and I would often tell my boyfriend I was going to the gym and I would go and read magazines in the lobby.  Adventure Outings did begin my passion for rafting, hiking, backpacking~what a great organization, hot college leaders and the outdoors...win/win.  I started running at the end of my 20's and loved the 5k & 10k races I did with a friend but still...something was missing. 

After I hit my dark days & lows as a new mama, nothing really excited me.  Husband and I had ran together early on in our relationship but running after having a baby was not high on my list of priorities, a daily shower wasn't on my list of priorities, so how could running be?  I did run and sometimes swim after having kiddo but all of it was because 'I had to, or I should."  

The past two years have really centered me & filled me with an awesome sense of calm in relation to run swim bike.  I love doing them all.  Each for their own benefit.  Running is loud thumping music where I feel like a dancer or rock star or cross country running star, I feel awesome, lean & fluid when I run, even during bad runs it's all good.  Cycling is for soul chatting with friends or pushing myself solo, I love being a cyclist, getting back on the bike was SO far out of my comfort zone it was laughable at first.  Now I use it to define myself.  Swimming is my meditation, it is slow, methodical and relaxing, a true familiar love.  I am not a triathlete, yes I have done all three together but that type of energy does not do it for me.  I like to run swim bike but not as an event and that's Ok.  

A huge perk to loving fitness as a lifestyle is that I have not been down on my body for about 2 yrs.  I used to be like all the women I know, judging my worth by the size of my ass or the jiggle of my thighs.  Just doesn't happen anymore.  Of course I look in the mirror and think about how I wish my hair was not springing up with gray and how I would prefer that the age freckles and wrinkles wouldn't start for another 20 yrs, aside from that...zero self-doubt.  I love my body and I am proud of her.  The size of rmy ass or my thighs has zilch to do with the time I spend in the saddle or pounding the pavement.  If I can't fit in a size 6, it's not because I am sitting on my ass...I am moving my body.  Do I wish I was 22yrs old and had not one ounce of cellulite & high perky breasts?  OMG yes! Do I also wish I was an olympic runner who did ultras in Africa & Alaska, OMG yes!  Alas, neither is going to happen (much more likely to run ultras in Alaska though over anything in the previous paragraph).  I am not going to spend my time wishing for the past or hoping away my present on skinny jeans and a good fleeting silhouette.  I love my body in workout gear and I love my body in my every day clothes...Being active has brought more to me emotionally & mentally than it ever could physically.

I get irked by people who have an opinion of what is best for others "Oh running is boring, I only bike.  Wow cycling is so dangerous, as a parent I would never do that to my family.  Swimming is a chore, I hate it, why do people like swimming Boring!'  To each her own.  I have friends who zumba, karate, paddle board, yoga, water aerobics, rock climb, sprint cycle, triathlons..and I would never judge what I think the most fun or most cool workout is, whatever people do to move their bodies & soul and whatever fills them with a sense of awe & calm...wow. Rock on in whatever you do peeps.

I am so incredibly thrilled that I have three (five if you include walking and hiking, six if you include canoe/kayak) activities that I lust after, that I crave, that I plan my day and my life around.  I love it.  I think back to my sedentary pre-run swim bike lifestyle and I just feel kinda bummed for myself.  I wouldn't change anything since the experiences I had led me here to where I am today but I can say with complete honesty that I would be very sad indeed if I was not running swimming and biking into my twilight years and beyond.  I am not sorry that fitness wasn't a huge part of my past but it IS my present and I will make it my future.  That thought thrills me daily.  

2013 Goals List (more to come)

Kaiser Half~February 6

Presidio 10 miler~April 21

Cinderella Ride Century~April 6

Mermaid Duathlon Alameda~June 9 

Mermaid Sirena 18 miler~May 11
IronGirl Tahoe Tri~Fall
IronGirl Seattle & Del Mar Tri~TBA

A Marathon...

A few Full Centuries...

A 3 day cycling destination trek with the ladies...

Looking into fitness careers or volunteer~races, events, health, parks, activities....

Backpack Patch

"LIFE.... If you're not REALLY living it, what the hell are you doing with your time?!?!?"

Love my home