Getting Antsy

I've hit that point with my back where I'm pretty much back to normal but every once and a while, I move a certain way and the spot twinges a little. Nothing serious, nothing last, but just enough to remind me that I recently injured it enough to require the heating pad. It's that annoying part of injury recovery: I feel like I should be able to do everything I did before the injury, but I'm terrified I'm going to aggravate it like I did last Sunday.

What's a girl to do?

Well, if you're me, you debate about making a low impact workout plan for this week and then decide 'to heck with it; I'll plan next week because I've got coffee dates with friends from Switzerland this week!' So, instead, you take the longest route possible from Fernwood to Cook St Village and back again. Granted, I broke the walk up with a two hour coffee stop, but that's not the point!

I've been really good about making sure I get out for a walk every day even when my back is sore. I can only think of five days since I hurt it where I didn't get at least 20 minutes in so I'm pretty happy with myself about that. It would have been so easy just to say 'injured, sitting on the couch, thanks' but I didn't. (I may have treated myself to some 'injured, need chocolate, thanks' on one or two occasions, but that's also not the point!)

While I'm still not really to jump back into high impact exercise at the moment, I'm definitely ready to ramp up the intensity of some low to medium impact exercises.

But next week, when I don't have coffee plans with friends from Switzerland.

Summer Weekends and Belated FMM

I had a wonderful summer weekend. A day spent up island and Shawnigan Lake and another day spent lazing in my friend’s sunny backyard while we celebrated her 30th. As much as spring and fall are my favourite seasons, summer definitely does have its moments.

I made sure to go for a swim while up at Shawnigan (in amongst drinking the incredibly strong drinks our family friend poured. I don’t think the man knows what a short glass is) and it reminded me that a) swimming really is an awesome workout and b) I really love lake swimming. There’s not much left of summer but I’m motivated to try and make it out to Thetis for a few morning swims. (Early is the key for Thetis before the crowds descend on it.)

I was back to my scheduled workouts this morning and got a rude reminder halfway through my run why you should always make sure you're well hydrated. Both my calves cramped up and felt like they had turned into rocks. I stretched them out by walking the second run section but let this be a reminder to you: as much as you feel like hitting snooze, get up and drink that pint of water you planned on before going for a run!

Yesterday was Friend Makin’ Monday (guidelines here).

The theme was letter to your future self and as much as it made me giggle to contemplate leaving:
Dear Future Self,
I hope you got your shit together.
Sincerely,
Me
I figured a proper response with some thought behind it was the appropriate thing to do (no matter how much I like to giggle). As a result, I’m a day late but some thought actually went into this so I guess it was worth the wait.

Dear Me-Sometime-In-the-Future (let’s say 10 years),

I’m not going to lie, I’m struggling to be the person I know you deserve me to have been but I hope that you’re happy with where we ended up. Remember that 10 years ago from when I write this, this is not where I thought I would be either but the journey’s been awesome so I’m happy with it.

I hope the adoption went relatively smoothly. What country did we end up deciding upon? I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a West African Country to open up their adoption laws so you can keep the child immersed in their culture through Mohammed, Manimou, N’nato, Abouboucar and the extended MoonDance family. How about the possible plans for a second adoption? Yeah? Nay? Still debating?

I hope you’re the regular multi-day hiker that I want you to become. That’s something I always assumed I would become as a child, and it’s a dream that I don’t want to give up on. Not yet. Not until my knees give in. Or my back. Or some other required body part. And have we climbed Meru yet? Or at least made plans to head back that way?

Did we ever run that marathon? Even more important, did we travel somewhere for a really awesome marathon? I'm keeping my fingers cross that we've done the Drei Laender marathon. I mean, come on. Three countries in one race? Kind of awesome! Built in excuse to hangout with the Hostettlers, Fuchs and Villigers? All awesome!

This is Bodensee (or Lake Constance) that you run part way around for the Three Country Marathon.

My friend's adorable boys are not included in the race package.

And you know how much I love the apartment I’m in right now but please, please tell me you’ve got yourself sorted and have a house (rented or otherwise) with a yard and that you’ve gotten a chocolate lab from the SPCA and named him (or her) Murphy. Because Murphy is just the perfect name for a chocolate lab and beer drinkers will get the joke. Scratch him behind the ears for me. Oh, and maybe make some of those treats that Ian said Thompson loved so much. Don’t argue with me, just do it. And don’t let him terrorize the cats too much (if they’re still around in 10 years).

Doesn't the Chocolate Lab look like a tall pint of Murphy's?

Please don’t have lost your amazement at the wonders of the natural world. Does thunder still make you smile? Do pictures of lava flows still excite you? Does a starry night still take your breath away? Please say they do.

And please tell me that you still sing to yourself when you think no one can hear you and that you bust out the dance moves when the feeling strikes you. Don’t worry about embarrassing your children when you do this in front of their friends. You grew up with your dad doing that and you survived. So will they. In fact, it might even help to make them even more awesome.

Also, have you single-handily negotiated peace in the Middle East yet? No? You should get on that. I’m too busy to deal with it right now.

Sincerely,
Me (from 10 years ago, which is really right now when I write this, but not when you read it, you know what? I’m just going to assume that we’re all on the same page with this and close these parentheses.)

If My Unmarried Biological Mother Hadn't Gotten Knocked Up...

I've just returned from my completely unplanned over-a-week-long non-blogging holiday. In short, oops! I'd love to say that the lack of blogging was due to being insanely busy and always on the go and just not having enough time to sit down and put pen fingers to paper keyboard, but I've already admitted elsewhere that this is not the case.

I even missed this week's Friend Makin' Monday... which is okay because the question was about your fourth of July plans and I'm Canadian, so... my plan was to spend it like any other Monday (crying in a corner wishing I was 20 years younger and had no responsibilities).

I did, however, keep up with running. It's been nice to have a running partner again, both for the social aspect and the accountability. (Speaking of social, I should probably get her a blog name... I know tonight's topic of discussion!) During Monday's run she mentioned that she never would have believed a year ago that she'd be running. This got me thinking about the decisions I've made which have landed me at this point in my life.

(I'd like to say 'great minds think alike' but really, coincidences occur in the blogging world. Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point wrote about this same idea this morning.)

Eventually, it became a fun game for me and I've started going back to look at some of the larger decisions in my life and things they have yielded which I may never would have otherwise discovered.

For example:
If I didn't decided to move to Tanzania four years ago then
I wouldn't have looked for an African community in Victoria to be apart of when I returned then
I wouldn't have found MoonDance then
I wouldn't have learned about Matoto then
I wouldn't have met AC then
I wouldn't be going to a baby shower in two weeks.

If I didn't accept an invitation to meet a guy in Switzerland (who ended up being my first real love) then
I wouldn't have studied German in university then
I wouldn't have met E then
I wouldn't have had someone to hike around Thetis with two weeks ago.

If I hadn't decided to blog then... well, the unknown results of that are still being discovered :)

How about you? What unexpected or interesting end results have your decisions brought you?

What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Sore

Monday was my first foray back into running. It was sunny and clear and just a little bit crisp which made for beautiful vistas but slightly icy sidewalks. I headed out as late as I could but even at noon patches of ice persisted to hang around in the shade.

Almost took a spill on this patch as I walked home with coffee at the end of my run. Oops!

It felt great to run again.  I followed the run-walk pattern set out for me and although I could have run further, I was happy not to push it too hard the first time back. Still, I needed a little challenge so I ran up the stairs at Craigdarroch (Not Really A) Castle twice. They're not overly long or difficult but it was enough of an added challenge to get me huffing and puffing that little bit more.

See? Not really a castle, just a big ass house made of stone.

I felt a bit sore this morning (because I somehow forgot to stretch my quads after the run. Seriously, how did I miss those?!? I got everything else.) but it was a minor ache and so I pushed on with today's plan: an at-home work out. Instead of trying to come up with a workout on my own as I did in the past, I trolled the healthy living blogs I frequent and found Susan's At Home Workout she had designed for her sister.

I was familiar with most of the moves and I liked that no actual equipment was required, so I made a few adjustments (squats instead of squat jumps), blasted my workout mix (as Susan suggests), and started with the jumping jacks. It quickly became apparent, however, that I had overlooked one very vital piece of information: exactly how much Susan hates her sister.*

The workout was brutal. I'm not in great shape so that plays a part in this, but I did each section three times through like I was supposed to and when it got to the 'now repeat again from the beginning' I collapsed on the floor in a heap and decided that I'd had enough for today.

It occurred to me that I knew all these moves but the names I use all have expletives in them. The lack of those vital words lulled me into a false sense that this was some how easier. Doesn't 'mountain climbers' sound less intimidating than 'f*#&ing mountain climbers'?

This is my preferred method of mountain climbing. Männlichen, Switzerland.

As I lay crumpled on the floor quoting Shakespeare** and preparing for my inevitable demise, it dawned on me that I hadn't watched the new Hawaii Five-O episode from the night before. What if there was a gratuitous shirtless scene with Alex O'Loughlin which I was missing because I was slowly turning into cat food on my floor?*** That one little thought got me off the floor, stretched and showered. Thank goodness for the life-saving properties of a hot man's abs.

*Disclaimer: I'm sure she doesn't really hate her sister. Well, maybe a little.
**Just humour the crazy lady and smile; physical pain (good or bad) makes me quote the first four lines of Sonnet 29 and I don't actually know why. I've been doing it since high school.
***There was not, alas, a gratuitous shirtless scene in this week's episode. *Sigh* Fingers crossed for next week!

Fröhliche Am 1. August!

Today is the national day for Switzerland, my lovely adopted country of cheese and chocolate. I am always a little sad when I can't be in Switzerland for the holiday but I couldn't be in Ireland for St. Patrick's Day either. Sometimes you just have to accept that until you hack Bill Gates' bank account and steal a few million that he'll never notice, you won't be able to just jet off for Rösti, village bonfires and fireworks. C'est la vie. The whole past week, actually, has been one big long trip down memory lane which some how ended up with me watching Swahili music videos on YouTube at 11:00pm on Friday night. I'm living the life, I can tell you that!

What I wouldn't give to walk across this bridge again...

The running hit a bit of a snag on Friday night when both THR and I ended up nursing sore joints/muscles so our run turned into our recovery walk which is scheduled to happen on Sunday. "We'll run on Sunday instead," we decided. Well, today's Sunday and we didn't even walk. Of course, our completely legitimate reason for this is because we attended a friend's birthday BBQ the night before and one Palm Bay led to another and before you know it, THR and I were staggering home at 1:00am. I haven't done that in years! I also have to take a moment to say how much I love my friends. Drunk-me thinks she's funny but really she's just very, very inappropriate. My friends, however, not only still love me but they take me out in public and let me interact with other people who may potentially become very important to them. It takes a certain type of friend to be willing to do that, so I just wanted to say 'thank you' and that I love you guys.

Susan over at The Great Balancing Act wrote a fabulous blog entry about living the life you want. I thought it was great and I wanted to share it with everyone. As much as this blog is about getting healthy, it's also about setting a goal and going after it, engaging myself in my life so that I make it happen and not just let it happen to me. In the words of Danny Kaye (known to most people as 'Bing Crosby's sidekick in White Christmas but an amazing actor/dancer/singer/comedian in his own right) "Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint you can at it."

Ein Royal mit Käse

Someone in my apartment building had McDonald's tonight. I know because that's all I could smell in the elevator as I headed out for my run. The few times I've had McDonald's in the past year (usually a good 4-5 months apart) I always end up feeling sluggish and sick but I keep going back. There is something in their food which holds slightly addictive qualities; perhaps it's the 5000:1 ratio of fat/sodium:actual food, perhaps it's the fries with the sprinkling of what I can only assume is sodium crack, perhaps it's the fact that I have no willpower and it still smells good although it makes me feel like ass, perhaps it's that Ronald McDonald secretly sneaks into my bedroom every couple of months and plants subliminal messages in my head. I may never know why I always feel this need to return to McDonald's. I stood in the elevator straining my mind to think I had forgotten anything so I could ride back up to my apartment, but I had everything so I stepped off the elevator, and headed out to meet THR for my run... or rather walk. I'm still not totally better so I'm slowing down the running for just a little bit.

Despite the fact that I'm not feeling well, there was a couple of times on the walk today when I wanted to break into a run and that made me feel good. The more I run, the more I like it. I'm seeing results; my body is changing, my cardio is improving (although right now it pretty much sucks because I can only breath through 1/4 of my nose), my distances are increasing... it's a great feeling. I have decided that I want to set myself a goal for running. I have the 10K coming up which I plan to "run" (read=run as much as I can) but that's very soon so I can't really train for it beyond what I'm doing, so I've decided that if I feel good running the 10K then my next goal is the Royal Victoria Half Marathon in October. It's scary saying that because I look in the mirror right now and I don't see a runner: I see me, my mouth and a (despite shrinking) large butt. I can't, unfortunately, sass my way through a half marathon so I need to find that runner in there. I know she's in there, lost in one of the rolls of fat and probably slowly suffocating.

I really didn't think I would enjoy running when I first decided to actually give it a try. A random conversation with a friend about the Antarctic Marathon in 2013 and this little idea started to take root. Delays thanks to my severly sprained ankle almost seemed like some sort of warning sign, but here I am and I'm loving it. I want to become a runner and that's more than I ever thought possible. I always imagined that I'd run because it was a good way to get and stay fit not because I wanted to do it. With this world of running opened the world of travelling to run. I loved this idea of centering travel plans around a race. I started searching for races in parts of the world I want to travel to (or back to in many cases) and as a result, I've set another goal for myself: if I ever run a marathon, I want to pop my proverbial marathon cherry with the Three Country Marathon in Europe. I debated about the Jungfrau Marathon but it has a scary altitude change and there's a lovely cog-wheel train all the way up there so really, why run it?

I miss Switzerland. The view from Sami and Susi's front steps.