Traditions

I've done some thinking lately about what makes a tradition.  More specifically, what, in a child's mind, constitutes a tradition.  Helene (aged 9) was very upset this winter when she found out we were going to spend Christmas at our new cabin in the mountains, instead of at our home.  I can understand that.  She had spent the last 5 Christmases, at least (pretty much all she can remember), waking up in her own bed Christmas morning.  (I understand, but tough cookies . . . we are starting a new tradition.  Christmas at the cabin was so peaceful and perfect!)

On March 14 (3.14), it was brought to my attention on Facebook that it was Pi Day.  The previous year, I had thought about this ahead of time and made a big deal of it.  We had pies for dinner in celebration.  This year, I would have forgotten about it, if it were not for FB.  So, I remembered in time to go to the grocery store and get ingredients and make pies (Chicken Pot Pie for dinner and Cherry Pie for dessert).

If I had not overheard Helene talking on the phone to a grandparent that evening (while the pot pie was already in the oven), though, I would have forgotten the most important part.  I heard this:

"Yes, and every year, on Pi Day, my mom makes pies . . . "
(Really?  I did this once, and that is "every year"??)
"...and it's our tradition to put a Pi symbol on the top of the pie."
(Oh, $#!%, the pi symbol!  Quick . . . what do I have?  Oh, these green beans will work nicely...)


So, apparently, it only takes once to make a tradition.  Or maybe I've done this more than once, and I just don't remember because it wasn't a big deal to me.  I have no idea.  I think it's sweet that it's a tradition in my daughter's eyes.  I'll try to remember next year and be a little more prepared!

Austin Half Marathon

On Sunday, I ran the Livestrong Austin Half Marathon.  It was the second half marathon I've ever done, and it was a great experience.

I trained for this for over 4 months - almost 5, I think, so I was definitely prepared.  But the last two weeks I took almost completely off, for various reasons.  So, on race day, I really wasn't even sure if I would be able to complete the distance.  Other issues were so much more demanding on my emotions, though, that I really didn't care.  Perhaps that was a good attitude to approach it with.  I was not nervous.  I placed no pressure on myself to finish within a certain time or achieve any particular goal.  I just set out like it was any other Sunday morning long run.

There were 12,000 people running the half and about 5,000 running the full.  We all ran the first 10 miles of the course together, so needless to say, it was crowded.  That gave me plenty to look at, and the first few miles just flew by.  There were bands of all varieties along the course - Japanese drums, Mexican mariachi, solo guitarist, teenager garage bands in their front yards, etc. - which also provided entertainment.  I'm glad I didn't bother bringing my iPod; I did not miss it in the least.

I saw one blind runner, two different one-legged runners (you can see one of them behind me in one of the Brightroom photos - he ended up beating me), one Teletubby, several fairy princesses, and lots of people out to have a good time.

I don't know how long these shots will be available on Brightroom, but here's a link, while it lasts: Brightroom Videos and Photos

After the first 5 miles, I was distracted by seeking a portapotty and envying the guys who kept running off to the sidelines to relieve themselves in the bushes.  My next diversion was knowing my mom would join me after mile 7.  She and my dad both ran with me for a bit, then my dad took my jacket (I think it had warmed up to about 46 - perfect running weather), and my mom stayed with me for a couple of miles.  My brother joined us at mile 9 and he ran all the way to 13 with me.  Having distractions and company made the whole race fly by.  Maybe because I did all of my training alone this time around, this felt like it went by more quickly than any of my long training runs.

My dad took this picture.  I'm on the left, in the great Skirt Sports outfit.  My brother is on the right, keeping me company:

Speaking of the outfit, I had at least 5 runners come up to me (mid-race) to ask where I got it.  Even one man commented, "Nice coordination!"  Thank you, Skirt Sports, for the great race day attire.  You got some advertising in return!

I'll try to come back and add a link to my Garmin page after I'm home and can upload that.  Basically, I believe I started out at about an 8:30 pace, slowed down after a couple of miles, slowed down significantly on some of the hills, and averaged out to 8:59 for the race.

John ran much faster than I did (around a 7:40 pace) and was waiting for me at the finish line.

John and I post-race:

I love that post-race glow!  All in all, it was a very good experience.  The humidity and hills were balanced out by the lower altitude.  I was able to chat with my mom and Chad when they were running with me (I can never talk while running in CO).  And having to weave my way through the masses at times was balanced out by the entertainment value the crowds of people provided.  My legs are sore, but I am not injured.  And NO, I am not going to train for a full marathon now!

Helene's 9th Birthday

For Helene's birthday, I took her and three of her friends (Megan, Sydney & Becca) to the American Girl Doll Store.

 The girls shopped with their own money, while

 their dolls got new hairdos at the salon.

 And took a little break after shopping.

 On Friday night (as a birthday gift), Helene got her ears pierced.  Today, she used some of her birthday money to get her dolls' ears pierced, too.

 We went to the Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner after shopping.

 The restaurant is "doll friendly", so each doll got her own high chair that clips to the table.

Then we drove back home for some Nyan Cat cake.

A Month Without

I've been eating "Paleo" for  an entire month now.  That means water, coffee, meat, fish, poultry, eggs, fruits, vegetables and nuts only (no grains, dairy, legumes, added sugar, or anything processed).  I stuck to it strictly for an entire month!  I've never done anything like this before, so I'm kinda proud of myself. :)  

To make it more clear, that means for 28 days, I have had no cereal, no oatmeal, no bagels, no muffins, no yogurt, no scones, no lattes, no sandwiches, no tortilla or corn chips, no toast, no Dr Pepper (NO DR PEPPER!!), no cookies, no cake, no french bread, no salad dressings with added sugar, no Reese's peanut butter cups, no beer, no butter, no Power Bars.  Those are just some of the things that I used to eat on a somewhat regular basis that I have done without.  I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting.

I HAVE been eating the colorful foods pictured below!

Sweet Potato Chips (this is before I tossed and baked them)

Tilapia with roasted vegetables

Chicken with mushrooms, pine nuts, basil, etc.

Leftover chicken with avocado slices and picante sauce

(makes a good lunch when you can't have sandwiches)

Stuffed Bell Pepper, Salad, Roasted Green Beans

Now that I have lived this way for a month and given my body a chance to adjust, I am going to lighten up a bit.  I thought I would slowly add things in to see what bothered me and work my way back up to my old "normal" diet, but I am modifying that plan slightly.  I have had so much energy eating this way.  I don't want to ruin it.  So, I'm going to allow myself occasional "cheats".  95% Paleo and 5% Other.  But for the most part, I'm going to continue this way of life.  I feel leaner and stronger and have a more consistent energy level throughout the day.

Care to guess what my first non-Paleo "cheat" was?

A Post A Week (maybe)

I have a friend who is trying to post a photo every day this year and blog about it.  The pressure of that would just stress me out, but I do think I will make it more of a goal to post something weekly.

Today's theme: sunsets and sunrises

This is the view from my family room this evening:

When I see this much orange and purple through the windows, I run for my camera.  I was without a camera for a couple of months this fall, and it killed me to see this beauty and not be able to capture it.  Not that a photo truly does it justice; the colors here are exquisite, but at least now, with a new camera, I can capture some small part of it to look back on later.

Two more of tonight's sunset:

And yesterday's sunrise:

Looks like the sky is fire, doesn't it?


I've had thoughts lately of wanting another house.  A smaller house, closer to my son's school, and perhaps with an HOA that allows chickens.  This large house out in the boonies (okay, 10 minutes from town) was great over the winter break, but as the kids started back to school today, I had thoughts of moving again.  It sure would be convenient to be closer.

These photos remind me of why we bought this house in the first place.  The views.  When we walked in here with the realtor 6 years ago, the blinds were all open, the house was empty, and my eyes were immediately drawn outwards.  I gasped and said, "John!  This is the place!"  He shushed me and told me to keep a poker face in front of the realtor. :)  There are many places closer in to town that do not have a view of the mountains at all.  I love the mountains.  Always have.  And living here, I realize how volatile they are.  They change every day . . . in amazing and awe-inspiring ways.  This is why we live here.

DIET is a 4-letter word

Most people associate the word "diet" with an attempt to lose weight.  In a more general sense, "diet" means "the foods eaten by a particular person or group."  It is simply a way of describing one's way of eating.  I have never been on a weight-loss diet in my life.  In fact, the only time I've tried to stick to any kind of diet is when my husband and I decided to be vegetarian for a few months.  That got old fast.  I've always believed in eating healthy and have lived by the philosophy "everything in moderation".  That + good genes + exercise have worked for me.  I have a little fat on my thighs and perhaps some tiny love handles, but nothing I'm concerned about or ever spent much energy trying to get rid of.  Okay, by now, all my girlfriends have decided they hate me and have gone to find something else to read.  But WAIT!  Count your blessings . . .

I have had troublesome digestive/GI issues for at least 5 years now.  It started shortly after we moved to Colorado, so I thought maybe it had something to do with altitude.  It got particularly bad one day after a bowl of homemade ice cream, so I thought perhaps dairy was the culprit.  I went lactose-free for a while, and that really helped.  I slowly added back in skim milk and the occasional bit of cheese, and things seemed fine, so I went with that.  But the past 2 years, things have been on the decline.  Since I have taken up running, it has become more important to me to find a solution.  It's really annoying trying to plan running routes around which parks have restrooms that are not locked for the winter!

I have thought about going gluten-free to see if that helps, but that seems so complicated . . . and flavorless.  This past Saturday, I had decided that was the route I needed to go, though - a last-ditch effort before paying for another doctor's visit.  Fortune/Fate/God had it that I ran into a friend that morning who, out of the blue, started telling me about this diet he just started.  The Paleo Solution.  In short, no dairy, no legumes, no grains - just eat meat, fish, poultry, vegetables and fruit.  The basic theory behind it is that for most of human history, we were hunters and gatherers.  It's only in the past tiny fraction of time that we have become agricultural.  As John pointed out, we are omnivores, and that is one of the reasons why mankind has survived so long.  Yes, I agree.  I'm not going to get all fanatical about this and say that the rise of agriculture is killing us.  I'm just relating the basic theory behind this caveman diet.  (You can read more at this site or buy Robb Wolf's book.)  Anyway, when I started reading the prologue of the book and discovered Robb's theory that our bodies are not really meant to digest grains of any sort and that they just inflame the intestines and make your immune system work overtime, I was intrigued.  This was the first diet that had ever resonated with me in any way.  It seemed worth a shot.

I'm going to try it for 30 days.  I don't think it could hurt, and hopefully it will help!  So far (I've only done this for 2 days), I've had meals like this: ostrich steak wrapped in bacon and fried in a skillet with green beans, mushrooms and a side salad; salmon with rosemary and pecans; poached eggs and almonds and berries for breakfast, and so on.  Everything is absolutely delicious.  If nothing else, this will get me to give up Dr Pepper and sugar for a month.

I'll keep you updated.

Quitters Never Win, and Winners Never Quit . . .

Except when they do. For their own sanity.

Usually, my blog is more family oriented - a photo journal of what we've been up to and our travels. But today, I am feeling the urge to write something more personal.

I quit two major commitments (things I've done for years) this past week, both of which I love, and I would like to try to explain why I quit. I have been on the board of the Longmont Council for the Arts for 3 years. I enjoy art and believe it is important to enhance culture by supporting and promoting the arts. For three years, I have had a great time organizing the Art, Wine & Jazz annual fund raiser. This past year, however, I felt like I was just going through the motions. My heart was not completely in it. The event did well, but I still feel that it suffered because of my apathy. And I skipped the past two monthly board meetings because I felt stressed. My to do list was so long that I couldn't imagine sitting through a meeting for an hour and a half without being restless and projecting a negative attitude and being worthless to the organization.

The other thing I quit is the Tae Kwon Do program at my current dojo. I know. Huge. I won't even talk about how much I love TKD or how long I've done martial arts because I've done that in other posts (and because I don't want to cry).

I'll just try to explain why (this is as much for me to figure it all out myself as it is to explain it to anyone else).

I often take on too much. My "problem" is that I have a variety of interests, and I like to pursue all of them to the fullest. If I were single and childless and rich, I imagine I would still be in college, taking every possible class available. I love to learn new things. And I would volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and three or four other organizations in my free time. At my first high school teaching job, the principal had to call me in to his office and ask me to give up some of the clubs I sponsored. I guess most teachers sponsor one club, if any. I had German club, German Honor Society, Table Tennis, Swing Dancing, and Martial Arts. I think that's it. Part of it is that I have a hard time saying no, but much of it is also self-induced. All of those clubs represented either things I was already passionate about or things I wanted to learn more about. All of that is to say that I have gone through this same cycle many times in my life: taking on more and more and more until eventually I get overwhelmed and have to drop some things.

Like I said, "If I were single and childless . . ." but I'm not. So I can't act like it. My family comes first. I don't think I was putting them last when I was busy, but I was being drained of energy and time trying to put them at the top AND do everything else I wanted to do. Before John started taking TKD, he could pick up some of the slack. But now that he is taking it (and loving it), I felt like we were dragging the kids to the studio constantly (they are not doing TKD anymore, either; they were just there hanging out while we did our classes) and we were going out to eat a lot. Now I can keep them at home and cook healthy dinners more often. My son has also had a lot of stress in his life this school year. I'm not sure what it's all about (neither is he), but I'm hoping with more time at home in the evenings, he will feel less stressed, and we can work this out as a family.

Someone said to me the other day, "But you have to do something for yourself!" I do. I am. I don't want to mislead anyone into thinking that I am a martyr, giving up everything for my family. Far from it. I LOVE to teach. Always have. And with Fox Creek Fitness, I still get to teach lots of my Tiny Tigers classes and a few kickboxing classes. I also run and attend some KB classes for myself. I often treat myself to Starbucks or a new book. I go on Girls' Nights Out and Cousins' Weekends. I do plenty for myself. And being so busy was putting stress on me, personally, as well - not just on the other members of my family. I've only been a "quitter" for a few days now, but I can already feel the stress melting away.

And I have to write this, to remind myself: my Sensei said I can come join in on a class whenever I want. And I know I can practice forms and combos and techniques on my own whenever I want. I even have friends who will let me beat up on them from time to time to keep up my sparring. :) So, it's not like I'm giving up martial arts; I'm just not going to be a part of the program and feel like I need to go to class three times a week and push myself to constantly improve.

I have a friend who has been through a lot (hard times) this last year, and her blog is called Ctrl+Alt+Del because in many ways she is starting over. I'm not having to do a full reboot of my life's computer. I'm just moving a few files to the Archive folder, storing them there to reduce the clutter on my desktop (because clutter drives me insane). I can come back and retrieve them anytime.

Ah. Deep breath.