Checking In

Hi! It's been a while since I've checked in here.

For a while I was trying to go to 3 classes per week at the gym. That was working fairly well for a while, and then some other stuff came up. One of the things that came up was my trip to the Grand Canyon!

Yes! I did it! Starting on the north rim, we did a loop down to the Colorado River, along the river a way, and then back up to the north rim. It was challenging but doable. It was strenuous, yet relaxing. Pushing myself to go, go, go, (slow and steady) every day was not so hard without the mental burdens of kids, house, phone, computer, etc. I could just let my mind go, enjoy the scenery, and will my feet to keep moving! I will be posting some pics and/or a video on my other blog shortly.

Next up are the 2 sprint triathlons that I've signed up for this summer. Today I went to the pool for the first time. I'll never be a strong swimmer, but hopefully I'll get into a swimming groove that will get me through the 1/2 mile in a reasonable time. I need to do a little maintenance on the bike, but hopefully my spinning classes will have paid off once I do get on the bike. (I need to keep going to those classes.) I have some training routes planned out for the bike -- I just need to put some dates on my calendar to do them. I've been running. Not enough, but some. I still maintain my 11+ min mile, but that's just my pace. I'm able to keep going for a whole 3 miles. My next step with the running is to do some slightly longer distances so that 3 miles seems like cake. Next Monday I'm going with one of my Tri buddies to do the run route from one of the races. It has a large section off-road that is rumored to be challenging because of rocks and roots. We'd like to have done it once.

If I could just watch my eating more, perhaps I would lose weight. Even though I'm definitely stronger, I'm really not losing my big bowl-of-jello belly. Sigh. Will-power. I need some.

Finally, I've got to start thinking about a goal to put on the schedule after my races. Historically, once my event is over, I give myself permission to relax a bit, and then I never get back to the workouts. I will be a member at the gym until next January, so I at least need to keep the classes on my schedule. If you have any ideas for goals, let me know!

Official

Well, it's official. I had my post-partum appointment yesterday. And while I've lost an amazing amount of the weight (only about 8 pounds to go) thanks to Breastfeeding, I'd like to lose the additional 10-20 lbs I wanted to lose before I got pregnant. I'm counting on nursing to make it easier since I've always struggled to lose weight normally unless I got sick. Since I'd rather not get sick anyway, I'm back to walking to start with. I started walking about two weeks after Matt was born, but it's been very irregular since I've been tired (imagine that!) and his schedule adds one more thing to work around. But, hopefully that will all get easier sooner and we can get out and a about as things get more predictable. I need to get work scheduled in all this (I've unofficially started working again, but am a little lazy about it since I'm so tired).
At least the weather has been better and that should help us get out as lon gas it doesn't get too hot. Wish me luck!

One Week!

In a week, I'm headed off on a 5-day backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon!! I'm a bit nervous about it, but mostly just excited.

Yesterday, as a sort of warm-up, I went by myself to hike up Mt. Monadnock in NH. The interesting thing about trails in NH is that you can always find one that goes straight up from the parking lot to the top. So it was 2 miles in each direction, steep, and rocky. My heels were getting pretty hot, threatening to blister up, so I need to figure out how to best lace my boots. I appear to not have blisters, so that's good.

Anyway, I felt pretty good about the hike. I was slow and steady. I never got so tired or winded that I couldn't keep going. My knees feel it this morning, but not too badly. In all, I'm feeling ok about the trip next week. I know I could be (should be!) in better shape, but I'm fairly confident that I can get through the whole trip. I'm really excited about my week away and seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time!!

dragged kicking and screaming

So, my awesome office mate has been dragging me (not really kicking and screaming) running at lunch on Tuesdays. We ran a 5K both last Tuesday and today. Last week the run kicked my butt. This week, I managed to make it to the end without keeling, but didn't have enough oomph to run run at the end. I'm hoping that soon, I'll be able to not only complete the run, but also have enough to sprint a bit at the end. Am I asking for too much? We'll see if my knees and feet hold out.

But, I've managed to lose NO weight. blah.

Committed

Well, not only am I signed up for two triathlons in July, but I'm also signed up for a 5-day guided backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon in May. That's less than two months away! Talk about motivation! I've never been to the Grand Canyon, and I'm really looking forward to it. It will prove to be very challenging, I'm sure, but I'm certain that I can make it through the trip in one piece. I wish I could have found a friend to join me, but it will be a fun adventure on my own. Right now there's a father-daughter pair also signed up for the trip (I believe a college-aged girl) and there's two openings left. The guide is apparently a long, long time veteran of the Canyon, so I'm confident it will be a good group and well-run. I'm particularly looking forward to the food, as they bring all fresh, (as fresh as you can get backpacking, I guess) and not the freeze-dried stuff that I'm used to.

If you're interested in reading about the trip, look here: Wildland Trekking, Wonders of the Grand Canyon Hike

Wish me luck! (Or, perhaps just have me committed!)

Update

Hey...it's been awhile. I haven't specifically been losing weight....at least off my body. I did today work hard and get pretty much all of the stuff that had been sitting around waiting to be donated out of the house. I have a couple of items that I need to find parts for and then at some point I need to go through books from my classroom, but we took a huge carload today and I have already loaded the car for what can go to the church rummage sale. It does make me "feel lighter" even if, as I told Jim, it feels sort of anti-climatic after all the work in cataloging what is going and getting it together and loading it that it only takes a couple of minutes to get it out of the car.

In the process of working in the workroom I spotted my jewelry box in a box and found my promise ring that my husband gave me the first year we dated. It looks a little tight but I can actually get it on.

Moving Forward

So, we had the baby shower yesterday. Now it's time to find out what we're missing and start filling things in. I'm feeling better then I have off and on since we've actually been sleeping. John's sick unfortunately so I keep hoping he'll feel better. I'm a little overwhelmed with some of my commitments. I keep having customers that want me to have quilts done and I'm more then booked till baby gets here in 5 weeks. It's frustrating that some people don't seem to care that I have a schedule and am planning to have a baby. Of course, I have the same problem with the quilt guild I'll be chair of next month (long story and bad timing). I can't seem to get volunteers to help with the raffle quilt. Yet, even if I don't end up on bed rest I can't be the only one working booths and selling tickets for multiple days on end at different venues. Let alone I'm due in the middle of the last month of ticket sales...
Here's hoping that I can guilt some people into helping at Tuesdays guild meeting... I think I'll have to play the bed rest card even if I don't want to share that much personal info with the entire guild.
I am getting excited to meet the little one though. And really, I'm not going to worry in the long run about this extra stuff because baby comes first and I've more then given the guild the chance to step up and help out.