Inspiring

Love this woman blogger....and her mama abs!
Read her posts here....
Bouncing Back

Being

All week had three migraines in as many days. Ugh. Still I ran swam biked walked dog was a full time mommy. Funny how you don't know how much you can do till you do it.

Gotta get on acupuncture wagon again.

Yesterday ran miles & swam with no migraine. Reminded me how awesome life is not in queasy eye squinting pain. Gotta harness that goodness when I feel like cow dung & motivate through the muck.

It always gets better, always...that's not Yoda or Ghandi... I think it's the unicorn way. Life is very precious & special & fleeting, live it that way~Anya

Doing Kaiser 13.1 next Sunday. So not trained. Doing it on grit & happiness. Even if I crawl!

Possibilities

Feeling great.....

Runswimbike daily.

I Never feel guilty about what I eat...and I eat a lot!

My body is what she is...I daydream about legs up to my chin or a flat belly but I work out every day: sweat, stretch, move & strengthen and my body is STRONG and healthy but it's not skinny or flat.

Unless I'm willing to cut some of it off (no), or suck some of it out (no), or lift it (maybe... someday) I need to be ok with what I've got. That means wearing spanx under skirts or wraps over my thighs when in a swimsuit, so be it. When I'm working out i feel amazing but when I see my body in a reflection or picture, not so much and that feels awkward. I haven't been unhappy with my body in years....I don't have the time & if I did I wouldn't waste it wishing away things I can't change without money & invasive surgery.

In my next life I would like to request Jolie miles-long legs, Aniston buffed out arms & an underwear models high ass & tight tummy and to be a pediatric heart surgeon in a 3rd world country but...till that next life, being where I am is oh so good. C'est si Bon! C'est si Bon!

PS: I need to work on
My arms, I can change those. Just lazy!!!

Randoms.....

Heads up, random, reflective & wordy post ahead: I have a friend heading to a funeral today for a beloved Uncle & another friend planning the funeral for her cherished grandma. I know people who are in physical &/or emotional pain, dealing with slight colds or heavier life/health issues that would make one wish it were a simple cold instead. Dear friends are snuggling precious newborns and others are pulling their hair out because after 2 weeks of vacation they are SO ready for school to start again for their kiddos, while others are desperate to get some little sign from the universe as to when it will be their turn to expand their family in some way & be blessed with sleeping babies and chaotic sticky kiddos. I know people tightening their financial belts & preparing for a skinny year while others celebrate their good luck and/or very hardwork with a boon to their bank account. I don't mean for this post to sound sad or down or depressing. I am actually quite happy, at ease & excited for life in general. Just feeling reflective. After a holiday of wonderful excess (gifts & food) I am feeling very fortunate. After a short day of no heat I am acutely aware of just how insanely good we have it, not only to have a warm home but have the means (at the moment!) to write a check to fix the home when it's needed but there were times and will be other times when we just can't. After warm & wonderful visits with family from SF, Switzerland and Oregon, I am reminded of how important family is to me & how even though far away, I can keep these relationships close & current with a bit more intention. I think my theme for this year will be awareness, hopefully action too but overall it will be awareness. I am always sensitive to my surroundings to the point at times I need to turn off my head/bleeding heart but in this case I think there is a difference between being aware and being sensitive and I want to be AWARE. Also to speak my mind or if not spoken, at least know in my bones how I feel about things relating to poverty, guns, mental illness, health & exercise, basic human needs, parenting, etcetera etcetera and not apologize for or explain away my position on such issues, feelings, experiences when asked for my opinion or insight......Over the break I got to experiment with cooking/shopping while thinking about how to create things that were 'clean, free of processed sugars, whole foods'. It was really a challenge and eye opening and so incredibly tasty. Using simple ingredients like butter, sour cream, honey, maple syrup, herbs herbs herbs. Our wonderful holiday with family & new adventures in cooking/eating has stuck with me and I am committed to providing for my family a more balanced & abundant whole foods lifestyle that is SIMPLY delicious, healthy, creative, tasty, real and nourishing. I know this post has veered from one place to another, from poverty to the use of more sour cream but the overall tone for me is to bring things back to the good SIMPLE truth....of being happy, helping others, doing what is right not what is easy, to nourish myself & my family in so many ways, to enjoy life while I am here & hope that I stay as blessed or can view myself as blessed as I am right now, for a long time to come.

Cheers 2013...oh how I love you already pretty lady

Running it out

Running out 2012 and running into 2013.... Love it.

Took 4 days off over holidaze from run bike swim & nearly went ape crazy. When I don't get that endorphin rush or sweat on, I get a bit wicked crabby. Took a hearty swim a few days ago and AHHHHHHH all better. Big run today also felt righteous. Lacing up tomorrow too.

Free Fall

Sooooooo excited to enjoy the exhilarating free fall into turning 39.....going to be flipping righteous.

Good health, love, compassion, laughter, mystery, prosperity, commitment, magic, quiet, chaos, mothering, caring, beauty, strength, endurance, fulfilling, challenges, follow through, goals, unknown, delicious, friendship, mellow, partnership, enveloping goodness....creating space for all of these things {and more! The unexpected, so thrilling} in my life this year.

Riding

Today is why I ride...sunny but so chilly. Clear, gorgeous roads. AAA's all together, geared up, wonderful cardio, scenery, conversation. Big steak sandwich in Valley Ford, more riding & chatting. Love it. Always will.

Biker Babes

Light

Pool Time

I usually only have 20-30 min for laps because I'm terrible at time management & always do chores then am racing the clock to sneak in laps before kid pick up or pool closes.

Today I had an hour. I could only swim 45 minutes and now I am toast. Turns out I had it easy with 20-30 min.... 45 min of straight laps is exhausting. Yet awesome. Pool was so warm and quiet. Best. Four times a week is all I ask!

Accountability

6 miler

The good:
Chilly brilliant sunshine
Had oodles of time
Great tunes
Ate oatmeal
Pearl Jam, tribe of zebras, Shins, Adele, dance~100% Pure Love refrain "don't cha want it?" over & over

The Bad:
Lead feet
Ripping side ache
Peed my pants entire time
Back shoulder tightness
Time crawled by....

DONE!

So glad I used RunKeeper. On my own I would have stopped at 1 hr....only 5.60 miles at my 12 m pace.

Need a new flat long route.

Biker Babe

This pic makes me laugh and feel good at the same time. This is what I'd look like on a bike in a bikini bottom & that's cool with me. If life isn't fun some of the time, then what's it all for?

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