Pre-Race Sleep (or lack thereof)

A quick share... Runner's World magazine has a great article up - Why You Shouldn't Freak Out About Bad Pre-Race Sleep.  And I love the video of several elite marathoners discussing their pre-race sleep plan, "which in many cases includes, yes, not panicking about bad sleep."

Is it Me or is it Hot in Here?

I have to warn you, I've eaten about 50 dozen handfuls of tortilla chips prior to writing this post and my daughter is currently fighting sleep, screaming in her bedroom while I pray to the toddler sleep gods that she falls asleep soon.  Soooo, this may be a slightly snarky, sarcastic, bitter post.  But hopefully not. 

So I got home from the backpacking trip on Saturday.  I had an internal debate with myself about exercise on Sunday, "maybe I should get some rest."  But I knew the hike down wasn't really all that much work and that I had no reason to skip exercise altogether.  So I compromised on a 3 mile run.  Any day now I plan to start training for the Santa Cruz Olympic triathlon (not to mention the Nike half), which means 3 mile runs will soon be a luxury I can't afford.  Better get it while I can!

The run was great, a relatively flat out-and-back route from home.  Miles 1 and 2 included some very mild inclines and were around 9:45 pace.  But Mile 3 was mostly mild decline so I pushed it for a time of 9:17...cool!

The rest of the day I felt happy I'd gone on a run, as usual.  So I took the kids to a birthday party.  They were serving grilled hot dogs, the big fatty kind but thankfully had a few tofu hot dogs for vegetarians.  I'm not a veg as you know but I checked out the nutrition stats and they were much better than the others so I opted for that, figuring you hardly taste the hot dog anyway, it's mostly a vehicle for the condiments right?  The hot dog was good and I had that with cut up fresh fruit and a small serving of Chinese chicken salad.  Later I indulged in an ice cream cone, sugar cone and all (as if the other cones aren't also sugar cones, eh?).

Miguel had some friends over after his soccer game to watch sports.  They'd grilled carne asada and whatnot so I ended up basically snacking on that for dinner.  Up bright and early Monday to start the new week.  Too bright and early given I've been going to bed much later than I should be and I've had to get my workouts in first thing in the morning the past two days because of after work commitments. 

So yesterday morning I was up early and hit the gym.  20 minutes on the upright bike followed by a fast 5 minute treadmill run with chest/triceps for strength training.  The local fire station is being demolished so the firefighters are in a temporary shelter thingy.  What does that have to do with anything, you ask?  Well, well - on Monday morning there were no less than three of our local firefighters exercising in my gym.  Needless to say I was slightly more entertained than usual.  I swear, appearance must be factored in when hiring because more often than not, firefighters are easy on the eyes, at least in my neck of the woods. 

Anyway, I finished up my routine and went about my day.  The only cool thing about the morning workout is how good it feels all day knowing it's done.  But after work I was seriously dragging.  Normally after work I exercise and get a sort of second-wind boost from that, and it carries me through the evening.  But an AM workout doesn't have that advantage and I was dragging come sunset.

I also had PT on Monday and Kate said something interesting.  My range of motion was much better and she commented, "So a few days with much less sitting than usual and you're doing better."  I'm starting to think the sitting is a bigger part of the back problem than I ever imagined.  Where's that "stand up and move" app I need to remind me to get off my tuchis at least every hour?

Anyway...During the day I'd cooked red beans in the slow cooker so dinner was that with some rice, avocado, pico de gallo - you know the drill.  And, like a dork, I again stayed up too late.  Up (late) for another AM gym visit.  This time I ran outside, doing a little route I have tracked in the past so I know it's 3 miles.  I ran it in 28:47 and was happy with that.  Back in the gym for legs/shoulders/PT exercises.  I think my back is slowly getting better, I did my whole routine with nary a twinge of back pain.   

I also made it to part of a WW meeting today, except I was so late I missed almost all of it.  And I can't find my weight log/notebook anywhere!  The last time I remember having it was a different WW meeting 1.5 weeks ago.  It has all my little mental notes in it and if I've lost it I'll be so bummed out.  Of course I'll have to get over it and start a new one but still, it's a bummer if it's gone. 

Ok, well, kid #2 is now crying for some mysterious reason so I'm off to investigate that and put myself to bed shortly after. 

Backpacking in the Desolation Wilderness 2013

Thursday morning I was up at 5am to make final preparations for the annual trek with the lady friends.  One of my favorite things about this annual outing is that I don't have to do anything other than show up with my pack and my food.  The other more experienced trekkers do all the planning and permit gathering and just tell the rest of us where to be.  They also tell us lies like, "should be an easy 4 miles in."  But I'm ok with lies, keeps me from getting scared off.

I showered and packed my breakfast and coffee for the road (it felt a bit too early to eat) and luckily I was ready to go come 6am. Gwen, er, I mean, Geri (sorry for the inside joke) and Heidi (or is it Heather?) picked me up and away we went.  I was quickly brought up to speed on the status of the trip so far.   See, three of the members of our group hiked in the day prior, on Wednesday...I'll call them Group I.  Wednesday evening (the evening before we left), Geri had received a disturbing series of texts from Group I - "The hike in was terrible, took us over 7 hours to get here, trail is like a maze, we tried to leave you notes and signs, look for them, and follow true north."

True north?  We're not professional navigators here people.  We don't even have a compass (note to self, buy a compass - and carry a map - both of which Group I had).  These texts almost caused Geri to bail.  What should have been a three to four hour hike took seven?!  Anyway, we were going for it, no turning back now. We are not the type of women to be turned back by a challenge.

Neither Geri or Heidi were on the Yosemite backpacking trip last year so we spent the rest of the drive catching up on, well, everything.  I had my cereal and coffee on the drive and got the scoop on the ladies - Geri just graduated from nursing school and Heidi is becoming a Yoga guru.  All three of us are launching in our own way so it was fun to share mutual excitement about the future. They also shared some funny stories from backpacking trips that took place before my time. 

Of course I told them about my weight loss journey and shocked the heck out of them.  Geri in particular made me laugh out loud, "When I saw you I was all, 'great, here's another hard body, look at those legs. I guess I'll still give her a ride anyway'."  Of course she tells me this after I told her I haven't always looked like this.  We all had a good laugh about that, "I guess I'll still give her a ride."  Ha!

Anyway, it must have been around 9am when we arrived at Wright's Lake in the El Dorado National Forest, our jumping off point.  The area is just gorgeous and the weather was great, a bit on the warm side with a whisper of a breeze.

We made some final adjustment to our gear, which thankfully resulted in me shaving 5-10 pounds off my pack (which was a whopping 47 pounds when I weighed it the night before) and then hit the trail a few minutes after 10am.  (note: Heidi is wearing an SF Nike Marathon shirt - she's done the full marathon four times!)

Geri, Heidi and myself

We quickly made (and recovered from) a navigational error.  Apparently Group I made the same error but instead of recovering after a half-mile in the wrong direction like we did, they went 1.5 miles.  Oops.  But they'd left us a note on the sign telling us to go the other way.  Whew!  About a mile or so later we got lucky and noticed another note they'd left for us, this one just sitting on the ground at a fork in the road.  The wooden sign post had been knocked down and if we hadn't seen their note we'd have gone straight, instead of left.

Apparently they'd put a stick on it to hold it down but the stick was gone.  They also formed a letter G out of some sticks and somehow thought we'd notice that?!  Thank goodness they also opted for a bright orange sticky note.  When I asked them how in the heck we were supposed to notice stick-formed letters on the ground their response was, "we told you to look for signs." I couldn't get over how funny that was. 

Anyway, I was just happy we saw their notes and we carried on in the right direction.  I munched along the way on my trail mix.  Trader Joe's has quite the selection of trail mixes but in the end I went with Rainbow's End, a mix of raisins, roasted peanuts, roasted almonds and m&m looking chocolates. Yum.  I marveled at how I ate the trail mix as needed, when I felt hunger, and didn't feel any urge to eat more than I needed.  

Rainbow's End Trail Mix

We hiked through just gorgeous terrain, shifting at times from marshy meadows with ponds to being surrounded by pines and manzanitas to barren outcrops of granite as far as the eye could see.  

Along the way we ran into a trail volunteer...John.  We picked his brain about the route for a few minutes and he gave us some good tips, "you'll think you're going the wrong way, you'll think you're climbing a drainage area, but keep going" and "the trail will look like a dead-end but keep going anyway."   John is 74 years old and has been volunteering out here for 6 years.  What a dream to be so active and involved at that stage of life.  I had to take a picture with him because I found him so inspiring.

John was out for a six or so night trek all by himself (plus a walkie-talkie thingy).  After our chat with John, we carried on and before too long we entered the Desolation Wilderness. 

Geri, Heidi and I - still smiling!

The hike from here was challenging, both because of elevation gain and technical trails - narrow, rocky, steep - but we were up for the challenge.  

Heidi and Geri reaching the top of a tough climb

We had a rough idea of how far we had to go since I was wearing my Garmin, but weren't 100% sure because of our slight detour at the start.  But taking a look back at Wright's Lake, where we started, sure made us feel we'd come a long way.

Wright's Lake off in the distance

It was getting close to noon when we came to a large outcropping of granite with what seemed like peaks on all sides of us.  We knew we had to climb up but we couldn't see an obvious trail.  I trekked up the most obvious path to check it out but it got super steep and narrow and seemed like a drainage rather than a trail.  Plus is was getting so narrow it was practically unpassable so didn't seem like it could be the way.  I climbed back down and we decided to sit down for lunch.  I'd packed a PB&J sandwich for lunch and had that with some trail mix and water.  After a bit of time in the shade (which was not easy to come by amongst all that granite) we searched for the trail.

We were looking hard for trail cairns and using Geri's phone to identify true north.  After about a half-hour of searching, and finding no trail cairns or obvious trails, Geri became convinced that what I thought was a drainage must be the trail.  So up we went and sure enough, it was the right way.  It got quite narrow but was never altogether unpassable (why John's advice hadn't clicked - "the trail will look like a dead-end but keep going anyway" - I don't know).  Come to find out, Group I spent one and a half hours at this same spot trying to figure out the way.  That made us feel better about our half-hour.  The rest of the trek was almost all climbing.

Geri and Heidi cresting after another tough climb

Geri and I rocking the backpacker look

 

Desolation Wilderness is appropriately named.

It wasn't long before we were hoping to find Lake Gertrude every time we came over a hill.  And finally, just before my Garmin struck mile five, bam - there was the lake.  I let out a big Woo-hoo! And heard a trio of Woo-hoos in return from Group I.  They were SO happy to see us because they'd been worried we'd get lost.  Fortunately between the notes and tip to stay north and the tips from John, we avoided the seven-hour nightmare they experienced.  We made it in a total of 4 hours, 21 minutes - including all stops and lunch.

My Garmin route - you can see where we made a wrong turn near the start, and where we walked around a lot around the middle.

 And here's the elevation profile from our trek in.  Looks like fun doesn't it?

Elevation profile, Wright's Lake to Gertrude Lake - Desolation Wilderness

Full Garmin stats here.

The Ringleader (aka Karen) and I - boy was she happy to see us!

Angie, Heidi, Erin and I

Karen and Geri reviewing where we were.

Let the fun begin!  Actually, we needed to relax so after setting up our tents the next order of business for Group II was a siesta.  I was happy to rest my head for a while.  It was a warm afternoon so napping wasn't easy but I'm pretty sure I drifted in and out of sleep.  We got up a couple hours later and had dinner.  I'd packed Trader Joe's Indian Fare for my dinners, Madras Lentils for the first night, Punjab Eggplant for the second.  I mixed ready-made brown rice in with the meals for an easy hot, yummy, and filling instant dinner.  After dinner we watched the moon rise and the sun set and goofed around taking group pictures.

Geri and Erin under the moon

The Whole Crew:  Heidi, Geri, Angie, Me, Karen and Erin

Fires are not allowed in Desolation Wilderness (which is so sad because Angie is a master fire builder) and the mosquitoes were pretty brutal being we were right next to the lake so we packed it in early.  Up bright and early and making coffee and oatmeal for breakfast.  We made a plan to check out Tyler Lake, which was just over the hill according to the map.  Angie had an allergic reaction to something so she had to stay at camp.  The rest of us packed some snacks and hit the granite.

You can see Wright's in the bottom left, Gertrude near the top just right of center and Tyler next to that.

Tyler lake is a bit larger than Gertrude.  We all took a dip to cool off.

Erin, Heidi, Karen and Geri next to Tyler Lake

Karen scoping out Tyler

Karen and Erin taking a dip in Tyler lake

Me and Heidi - happy campers!

Garlic Naan, Swiss cheese, salami, avocado and hummus- YUM!

After lunch we spent some time exploring around our lake.  Karen and I ended up swimming across Gertrude, so refreshing!

Camping next to Lake Gertrude.  Can you spot our three tents?

Turns out Heidi is a heart lover just like me.  I told her about the nature-carved heart I found on the Yosemite trip last year.  So when we spotted a heart shaped cloud we whipped out our cameras!

Love is in the air

After that we all sat around playing a new-to-me card game, Golf, which was super fun.  And then we coaxed Heidi, a serious Yoga girl, into some impromptu Yoga.

Warrior Pose

Mountain Yoga!  (L to R) Karen, Me, Geri and Heidi

Geri, me, Karen and Heidi

It just doesn't get better than this.

And before too long...we cross paths with another heart, which I have to share.

Follow the signs.

After all that work it was time for dinner!  My appetite was kind of low during the whole trip, I packed way more food than I needed.  Here I am preparing my Punjab Eggplant with brown rice mixed in.

Karen popping in for a taste.

After dinner we put on some music and danced for a bit before taking a walk to watch the sunset.  The sky was lit up with beautiful orange and yellows.

A sunset chat in Desolation Wilderness

I'm all bundled up but it never got really cold at night.

Karen and I spent a few minutes chatting about how beautiful the area is and how few people get out and explore such areas.  Moments like this fill me with gratitude that I made that decision to change, and that I keep making that decision every day to stay the course.  As has been said before, it's not always easy, but it's worth it.

We hit our tents by about 10pm with a plan to rise early and pack up to avoid trekking out in the heat of the day.  Unfortunately I'd got a bit sunburned on my back and whatnot which made sleeping a bit tough.  Up around 5:45am making coffee and breakfast and then packing up.  Here's one last picture of my wee tent (it's a two-man and my buddy Joy and I slept in it all across Europe in the mid-90's, love this tent), which is perfect for me.

My home away from home.

The group just before heading out around 7:45am.

(L to R) - Karen (who didn't quite beat the camera timer), Erin, Geri, Me, Heidi and Angie

Although we were moving at a pretty quick pace I was still able to take in the beauty of it all.

And Heidi spotted another heart in the granite!

Follow your heart.

And then, before you know it, we're seeing people again as we approach civilization. The entire time we were out there we only saw two other people who came in the middle of the night Thursday night and left early Friday morning.  Other than that, we had the whole place to ourselves.  We made the hike down in 2 hours and 12 minutes!  Back at the cars and off with the packs and the boots and a quick dip in Wright's Lake to freshen ourselves for the drive home.  Whew, what a morning!  I felt so good that I'm pretty sure I was ODing on endorphins.

We caravanned into Placerville to stop at Mel's Diner for lunch.  During the drive to lunch I got a little overwhelmed with the beauty of the trip and I actually got teary.  The warm air was blowing my hair, Jack Johnson was singing to me and I just felt so full of life and love and gratitude for all the beauty in the world, for my family and kids, for my body and nature and music and food and, and, and - just everything, up to and including the wonderful women I'd been lucky to trek with.  I used to carry an extra 90+ pounds everywhere I went, now I'm fortunate enough to temporarily manage 40 or so just for fun.

I'm feeling the need to get up on my soapbox for a minute so bear with me.  This is your life, live it.  You give up a day of your life in exchange for each 24 hours, make them meaningful, live them fully.  Stop putting off your dreams and goals, start grabbing them, start reaching out and taking the future you desire. Don't wait until Monday, start today, now. It's all up to you, don't let bad habits and lack of faith stand in your way, you don't have to see how you'll get there to start, just take the first step and keep taking steps and soon you'll find the journey is the way.  Life is rich, nature is free, get out there and soak it in.  Thank you for listening.

The beautiful trip was winding down but before that, food!  At Mel's we all shared a couple orders of onion rings and I split a veggie burger with Heidi.  Delicious.  Oh, and I had a small Oreo shake because it sounded like a great treat after all the sweat and hard work.  I had to beg the waitress to let me order a kid-sized shake, how sad is that?  I told her I'd pay for the adult size but bring me the kid size.  In the end she charged me the kid size, which of course was still huge.

Sweet!

Angie and I sharing a smile.

And that was it.  We all shared hugs and a few more laughs and then hit the road for home.  I think I fell asleep for a bit in the backseat.  I got home to find Miguel had taken the kids to the Russian River with some friends for the day so I had the whole place to myself.  I unpacked, started laundry, did a little grocery shopping (and bought a compass!) and started writing this post.  What a fun few days.  I can't wait for next year.  Between now and then I hope to learn more about topo map reading so I can put that compass to good use next year.

p.s.  If you have any questions about backpacking or this trip feel free to send me a message either through my FB page or email (at the bottom of my FAQ page).

Physical Therapy: If it's easy, you're not doing it right.

Oh the joys of physical therapy (PT).  All the stretches and exercises look so darn easy, and seem like they should be, but when you follow all their directions - keep your shoulders down, tighten your core, lift with your glutes, don't engage your back...whoops, your shoulders are inching up, keep them down - I mean, really, with doing all that, it's a miracle I can even move.  But, I'm not a total dud patient, I did do my exercises yesterday.

I went to the gym after work.  Work has been crazy, because I was off half of last week (in Philly) and I'll be off half of this week (more on that in a second), so by the time I got to the gym I had less than an hour to do my thing.  So I decided to cut my 25 minute run down to an intense 10 minutes.  I ran at 6.5 and 7.5mph, switching each minute.  The last few minutes were pretty tough, I had to dig a bit to keep going, reminding myself, "you're only running for 10 minutes, just keep going, it's only 10 minutes."  In the end I ran 1.15 miles and got off the treadmill satisfied with my performance.

Oh, that reminds me, Kate suggested I do a "dynamic" warmup before my runs, instead of the couple/few minutes of walking I normally do. Something about it doing a better job of priming the muscles (and loosening the ligaments?) for running.  So I did about 10 each of the following things at a fairly quick pace.

Pre-run dynamic warmup:
Walking lunges
Soldiers
Butt kicks
Hacky Sack
Side Kick

I've never done a video post but I might have to do one to demonstrate this warmup because I can't find anything online that shows them all.  So yesterday I ran through these before I started running.  It only takes about a minute though and I'm used to walking for about 3 minutes so I still walked a bit before I started running. 

After my run I did back/biceps/PT exercises - moving through things pretty quick being pressed for time.  Then I hustled to get home and put some food on the table.  I had a bowl of pasta with chicken breast and zucchini drizzled with olive oil.

Medium pasta shells, chicken breast, zucchini, olive oil and a bit of parmesan cheese

Those are cumin seeds on the zucchini, I'm afraid to tell you how long the zucchini was in my fridge.  But there was no mold on it and, well, I'm a bit extreme when it comes to eating "old" food.  If it doesn't look bad and it doesn't smell bad, I'll probably give it a try.  And if doesn't taste bad - well then, I'm eatin' it.  Though I am a tiny bit more conservative with meats.  A tiny bit. 

Oh, I forgot about lunch!  I ate at a Mexican restaurant and ordered a grilled fish taco with black beans on the side (no rice).  I told myself I could have 5 chips with salsa while waiting for my food, and I tried to be mindful so I'd notice that I was eating them.  I ate my lunch, which was yummy, and then had 2-3 more chips after.  With all that, plus a large glass of water, I felt very satisfied.  And since I'm being über detailed in reporting my food intake yesterday I'll add that for my morning snack I had 6oz of FF greek yogurt (Trader Joe's brand.  Don't do it.  Just don't.) with a cup of sliced peaches in lite syrup and my afternoon snack was 1/3 of a Clif Bar and a banana.

A few hours after dinner I got hungry so I had a 1/2 serving of Kashi GoLean with cinnamon sprinkled on it (the cinnamon is ABSOLUTELY MANDATORY) and almond milk for a snack.  I call this a routine eating day, nothing particularly indulgent, pretty clean, balanced, etc.  Eating like this as a routine allows me to indulge a couple times during the week and still maintain.  Though I am technically wanting to "lose" right now, I'm not trying, I'll continue eating my standard healthy diet and I know my weight will probably settle back where it was.  It's not about the number, it's about how I feel, and eating this way feels great.  The number will take care of itself.

So...the big thing going on this week is that tomorrow morning I'll be on the road at oh-six-hundred hours headed toward the Desolation Wilderness for the annual girls' backpacking trip.  From Wikipedia:

The Desolation Wilderness is a 63,690-acre federally protected wilderness area located along the crest of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, just southwest of Lake Tahoe in El Dorado County, California. It is a popular backpacking destination, with much barren rocky terrain at the edge of the tree line: it has extensive areas of bare granite.

If you recall, last years' trip was to the Ten Lakes area in Yosemite, and was an amazingly fun time. This years' plan is to hike to Tyler Lake or Gertrude Lake from Wrights Lake. And, like last year, I have gotten so lucky as to have started my period.  Oh the luck. I get it maybe twice a year these days and it happens to fall during the backpacking trip two years in a row...can you believe that?  SO irritating.

Anyway, food went pretty good today. Shopping for the camping trip was tough because I was hungry for dinner.  But I managed to pick something good to eat for dinner, a Shrimp vegetable stir-fry from Trader Joes.

I added some soy sauce and Sriacha and it was very yummy.  I ate the whole bag.

And I got some yummy food for trek.  All sorts of treats I don't normally eat - salami, cheese, garlic naan, trail mix, etc.  Well, it's late and 5am will come early so I'm wrapping this up.  Night.

Running, Eating and Momentum

I am on a roll.  And that's a good thing.  In the past I've written about things being so much easier when your motivation is high, how it's almost like riding a bike downhill. Well, I'm riding that bike and the wind is in my hair and I'm entirely feeling the wheeeeeee!!

Saturday evening we decided to go out for dinner.  We went to a cafe that serves California type foods.  We were seated next to where the servers pick up the food and I eyeballed a plate of fried chicken coming out of the kitchen.  Yum, I love fried chicken.  But I remembered how restaurant fried chicken often disappoints me, unless they really know what they're doing it's often dry and lacking in flavor.  That memory was enough to move me on to other ideas.  Part of this journey is identifying that not all foods - even one you might call a favorite - are good all the time.  There is such a thing as bad fried chicken.  Plus I had an 8 mile run planned for the morning so something a bit more carby seemed like a good idea.

So I settled on the angel hair pasta with shrimp and tomato.  I ordered it with a request for light use of oil.  And I ordered a side of sauteed veggies, also asking for light oil.  While I was eating my meal I realized the two would go lovely together so I tossed the veggies in with the pasta and voila - a good dish just became great.  This also reminded me of something I've done a tiny bit of reading on, the concept of Volumetrics, which is based on the knowledge that we tend to eat the same volume of food throughout the day, even if the calorie count, the density, etc, varies quite a bit.  Turns out, the amount of food we eat has a greater impact on how full we feel than the number of calories in the food.  So Volumetrics has you bulk up the volume with veggies, broth based soups, etc.  It's not really anything new, right?  Eat more healthy foods, but it's a good reminder to fill up our plate with fruits, veggies, etc.

Reminds me of a study that showed if people ate a broth based soup before their meal they ate less during their meal.  I could have told them that but a study is always nice to reinforce it.  The take away on that is if you show up to a restaurant starving try to start with a broth based soup if it sounds healthy.  Anyway, back to my eating.  Here's a picture of my pasta dish - doesn't it look yummy?

I ate the whole thing and then we went to frozen yogurt.  What with my planned 8 mile run I decided it was a good time to indulge.  Sunday morning came bright and early, I was up at 6:30am and on the road toward Cavallo Point - a picturesque spot near the north end of the Golden Gate bridge - by 7:15am.  I met up with a group of folks that organize runs for both fun and exercise/training. I decided to try this run with NO energy supplements to see if it improved my GI issues.

This was my view from the parking lot.  It was a chilly morning, probably in the mid-50's.  Ok, chilly by my California standards.  I know my readers in the east are laughing at my definition of "chilly".  We ran a route that took us up and over the bridge.  Some people were running 6 miles, some 10, and we ran at various paces so it wasn't long before I was running solo, which I expected.  It's easier actually.  I took in the tourist watching, the view and enjoyed the fog clearing a bit as the morning went on.  Here's my route:

Golden Gate Bridge Route, Full Garmin Stats here

I ran the 8 miles in 1:26:55 for a 10:52 pace.  I felt great, even with the hill up to the bridge just about doing me in on the first mile.  After the run I picked the kids up from the soccer field where they'd been playing with Miguel and took them home.  Unfortunately the run caused my memory to glitch and I totally forgot to take them to a birthday party at noon.  But the good thing is they got invited to a late afternoon birthday party at the last minute so we went to that.  They had a great time playing in the sand and kicking around the soccer ball.  I spent a good amount of time just watching them play.  As well as having a few handfuls of chips and guacamole.  I passed on the beer though, I think it would have put me to sleep.  Here's my angel covered in sand.  We took her shirt off to clean her up but she just dove back into the sandbox!

With all the chips and guac I tried to go a bit light on dinner, having some red beans, avocado and pico de gallo.  But that left me feeling unsatisfied, physically but mostly psychologically.  I just felt that it wasn't enough food, especially given the running, so I started trying to talk myself into eating and ended up piling a plate full of leftover chow mein.  I was about to eat it when the kids distracted me.  Thank goodness, it gave me pause - "Why are you eating that crap?  You know it's not what you need.  It's fine if you're hungry but make a better choice than chow mein." - so before I had a chance to regret it I scurried back into the kitchen and put it down the garbage disposal.  Whew!  In the end I had a bowl of Kashi GoLean with cinnamon and Almond milk.  MUCH better choice and one I felt good about.

Monday morning and I'm back at it.  I had a physical therapy appointment...took a picture for you guys!  This is Kate helping me do the Bird Dog.  She's helping me to focus on building up those stabilizer muscles, keeping my core tight, etc. 

After meeting with Kate I spent some time with the trainer doing the rest of my exercises.  She asked me about my other stuff I do at the gym.  I'll spare you the details but in summary she said I need to cut back on more than just my ab stuff.  A lot of my other weight training exercises are too much for my back right now.  I have to "go back to basics".  You could have heard me whining and whimpering from the parking lot I bet.  But I just have to remember this is to get me well, and I really want my back to stop hurting, so I agreed to cut back more on some other stuff too (like dumbbell flies, I am going down to five pounds).

Lunch was a salmon cobb salad with the dressing on the side (hold the cheese).  It was super yummy and with a big glass of water I felt very satisfied. After work I hit the gym and did 25 minutes on the upright bike, Level 8, and legs/shoulders/core after.  I don't mind saying I rocked the gym - well, as best I can given all my back stuff. 

In the evening I had dinner plans to go over mother's club business.  My mother's club volunteer duties are almost over.  I'll still be volunteering but I won't be a co-director anymore.  So we were meeting to make next year's budget.  I'll miss the social aspect but I won't miss all the meetings, emails and phone calls.  At the restaurant I debated on ordering a glass of wine but in the end decided I'd rather have dessert.  I had a steamed clams app and then a chop chicken salad for my entree.  I asked for the dressing on the side as well as some balsamic vinegar. I drizzled the vinegar on the salad and dipped a few bites in the dressing. Another satisfying salad.  Nothing on the dessert menu was calling out to me, plus I didn't want to dampen my good-eatin' momentum so I had a scoop of raspberry sorbet for desert.  Very good.

I have a few very exciting things happening with both my private practice and this blog.  I'm going to wait to announce them until it's more of a done deal but ohmygosh - we're going places people!  And I couldn't be more excited at the prospect of reaching more people, maybe inspiring someone to see that it CAN BE DONE if you want it and don't give up. 

Good restaurant choices, salads with dressing on the side.  Desert was raspberry sorbet, no alcohol.