Boundaries

Having grown up in an active Christian family, I have always been familiar with rules and boundaries. I've even come to believe that rules are generally a good thing; that we can actually be more free when we have boundaries to guide us. A favorite analogy is flying a kite. As long as you hold onto the string, the kite can soar to incredible heights. But the minute you let go of the thing that's "holding it back," it plummets to the ground. Boundaries are the same way - they tether us to the world so that we can soar to unbelievable heights.

Having learned and believed all of this, you'd think I'd be pretty good at following rules. Yeah...not so much. I was a senior in college before I realized that budgets work the same way. As restricting as a budget always sounded to me, I finally figured out that it was actually freeing to stick to one. I suddenly didn't have to worry about whether or not I had money to cover a certain expense or pay overdraft fees. What a concept!

So, I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that it's taken me this long to figure out that the same thing works with eating and exercise. Huh. Go figure.

Turns out, if you keep tabs on what you're eating and get exercise in, you actually start to feel better. Your cholesterol goes down, your metabolism goes up, you start sleeping better, and you can play with nieces and nephews without passing out from lack of oxygen. Weird, right?

I just can't wait to figure out what my next revelation is going to be. Maybe that if you get to work on time, you can actually leave on time. Or if you practice an instrument, you might get better on it.

Then again, could just be pipe dreams...

I did it!!

Okay, it was nearly two months ago, but I'm finally reporting on the triathlon. I did it! I completed the mini-tri in just short of an hour. Literally. As in, 59 minutes and 40 seconds. Go me!

My sister, Emily, and I headed down to St. George on Friday and stayed with our college roommate and her family. It was a blast to see them, and we stayed up way too late chatting, considering I was planning to kill myself the next day, but it was definitely worth it! Thanks again Sue & Marshall - you guys are awesome!

On the morning of the race, Emily and I went to the competition area and met up with Olga, who was responsible for getting me into this whole thing in the first place. We got signed in and set up. I was pretty nervous, especially for the swim. (Though my sister-in-law, Lori, had shown me how to get started and make better turns, I hadn't had a lot of practice in doing it.)

We lined up next to the pool where the race would start and tried not to look at the guys who decided to come in tiny speedos. Yick.

Finally, it was time to start. We wore anklets that would start the timing the minute we crossed over a certain spot, and keep track of our times for each portion of the race. When it was my turn, I made my way as quickly as possible down to the lane I was assigned to and jumped in.

It was about then that I realized I hadn't put my goggles on.

So, it turns out that all the practice with jumping in and getting a good start wasn't really applicable because, well, I had to pause to adjust my goggles...

The swim actually went much more quickly than I had expected (once I got started). Emily stood at one end of my lane and cheered for me when I got to the turns, which gave me a boost for each lap. And then, I was done. I got out and tried to catch my breath while running for the transition area.

It took me a while to transition to the bike. (Most of that time went to finding where I had set up my things. Yeah. Got a little disoriented there...) Once I found it, I had to dry off (an impossible feat, really), get my biking shorts and t-shirt on over my swimsuit, put my shoes and socks on, put my helmet on, and then take my bike off the rack and head to the start of the bike race.

The biking portion was hard. I thought I was going to die on some of the hills, and I was certain that I would never reach the turn-around point, but I kept going, and, believe it or not, I did reach it. I was determined to not get off and push my bike, and I made it without doing so. (I won't mention the fact that someone pushing her bike actually passed me...)

When I got back to the transition area, I met up with a friend, and we started the running portion together. It wasn't long before I told her to go ahead and leave me behind. I was pretty sure that a turtle could have passed me at that point... I had to walk several times on the way out, but once I reached the turn-around point, I was determined to run all the way back. (The word running here may be a misnomer... At that point, a dead cow could have moved faster than I was moving.)

When I was nearing the finish line, Olga and her husband met up with me - they had come back to run the end with me. It was quite a boost, and I was able to put on a burst of speed at the last moment.

And I did it!!

...I'm still pretty impressed with myself.

Triathlon Update

I made a couple of significant milestones this week, training for my mini-tri. First, on Wednesday, for the first time ever, I swam 4 laps without stopping. That's the full 200 meters that I need for the tri. Exactly one month before the race. Hallelujah!

Then, today, I did my own little mini-tri at the gym. 200-meter swim, 5-mile bike (on a stationary bike), and 1.5-mile run. It was very hard, but I did it! I was very proud of myself, and it's given me hope that I may actually be able to finish this race. :)

So, I have four weeks from today to prepare for my race, and I have a few goals in mind for the month...

First, I need to work on my start and turns in swimming. Although I did pretty well with my turns on Wednesday, I paused a bit too long each time this morning.

Second, I need to start training outside. As the weather is now nice for at least part of the time, I think that should actually work. I drove around today to see exactly how far I need to go to get in the 5-mile biking and 1.5-mile running.

Third, I need to work on my breathing in all three sports. This is more of a continuation of a goal, as I've been working on that since I started. In fact, I've really been working on my breathing since I was born, if I remember right...

Anyway, one month to go, and I'm starting to get excited for it! Now, we'll just see how sore I am tomorrow...

Snowed In

I spent last week staying with my nieces and nephews in Wisconsin while their parents went to Cancun. While I expected it to be cold (it is, after all, February... in Wisconsin...), I wasn't exactly expecting the biggest storm in who-knows-how-long.

The snow started on Tuesday. By the time I picked up my niece from school, it was hard to see more than a few feet ahead, and people were sliding off everywhere. The school district announced that Wednesday would be a snow day.

By that evening, the house was shaking with wind and the snow was getting into the vents and then melting into the basement. My oldest nephew went outside and nearly got frostbite trying to fix that little problem. Every time we opened the door, snow would blow all the way across the kitchen. He tried duct tape at first, but it froze the minute he pulled a piece out. Using my dad's all time favorite "old-lady-elastics," we were able to stop the leak eventually.

Then we noticed that there was actual snow coming into the basement from the wall. Weirdest thing I've ever seen.

By Wednesday, the storm was starting to peter out. And this is what we were left with.

It took until Thursday to dig out enough that we could actually get the car out of the garage.

We celebrated by leaving the minute the way was clear. We had lunch at Taco Bell, and quite enjoyed the sight of their drive through. Or the lack thereof...

Not exactly what I was expecting from last week, but all in all, it was quite an adventure!!

Tag-Team Clean

So, on Saturday, Emily texted me and asked if I'd want to tag-team our cleaning responsibilities. She came over and helped me clean my apartment, and then (after a lunchbreak), we went to her house and cleaned there. It was an excellent idea, for a couple of reasons.

First, my house is cleaner than it's been in....well, a long time. Christina and I own two vacuums, but neither of them work. (Though it's apparently important that we keep them around and try them again every once in a while - just in case they suddenly decide to start working.) So, in order to vacuum our floors, we have to borrow. It was nice that not only did Emily bring her vacuum, but she also brought a few other supplies we were low on.

B - Cleaning is always better with more people. It gets done faster, and it's more fun.

3) Cleaning someone else's house is easier than cleaning your own. Emily did most of the work at my house (thanks again!), and I like to think I put in quite a bit of work at hers.

I think one of the reasons behind this is that it's not so easy to get distracted. You know, the whole take-someting-into-another-room-and-forget-what-you're-doing syndrome. (Otherwise known as TSIARAFWYDS).

Probably another reason is that tasks in your own house start to overwhelm you until they're too daunting to consider, and then you get used to them looming over you in your subconscious mind until they just become a part of who you are. At that point, you know that actually doing the cleaning would destroy the character that you've built for yourself, so you avoid it completely. Until someone else comes along and reminds you that it only takes ten minutes to mop your bathroom floor.

IV: Cleaning is exercise, therefore, more is better. I didn't make it to the gym on Saturday, and yet I was sore that night. Booyah!

**The numbering in this blog is dedicated to Staci.

Walt Disney World in a Wheelchair

Every other year, my brother takes his family to Orlando for a week of Mickey Magic. And because I'm such an awesome aunt, they invite me to come along. About two weeks ago was our fourth time going, and, as usual, it was an absolute blast.

However, this time was a little different than usual. The first two days we were there, we were in the parks for half a day. I walked both days. By the second night, my ankle was the size of a small melon and my knee was protesting loudly. So, on the third day - our first full day in the park - I swallowed my pride and rented a wheelchair. I was hoping that one day in the chair would help my knee to feel better. I had the same hope on the second day in the chair. And the third. Finally, I figured I was in it for good. After all, my ankle was the size of a watermelon. I couldn't resist pictures...

Normal ankle:

Not-so-normal ankle (the bump that looks like my ankle bone? Not bone):

Yuck.

Anyway, it turns out Disney World is a somewhat different experience in a wheelchair. I learned a few things, which I've decided to list here...

1. An occupied wheelchair with its brakes on will slide backwards on an inclined moving walkway. And if the moving walkway isn't moving? Well, my nephew can attest to the fact that the incline is a bit too steep at the end of the Space Mountain exit.

2. A wheelchair will get you onto some rides faster than a Fast Pass. Most notably: Splash Mountain.

3. Kids can recover from having their feet run over by a wheelchair very quickly.

4. Surprisingly, Disney World can be exhausting even when you're sitting all day.

5. A wheelchair makes it take much longer to get onto some rides than a normal line. Most notably: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

6. People have no concern for the health of their ankles. This is obvious, because they will often step directly in front of a moving wheelchair and stop abruptly.

7. The best time to have a wheelchair in Disney World? When waiting for the fireworks. No sitting on the ground for an hour. Booyah.

8. Most rides have lines that are big enough for wheelchairs, which means you're not going to get through any faster or slower than you would if you didn't have a wheelchair.

9. Lowering your line of sight to a lower level makes it obvious that very few people look good in short shorts. Ew.

10. Baxter is the best 16-year old nephew in the world. Thanks for pushing me around!!

Triathlon, Part Two

Yep, I fell down the stairs. Cause I'm a big klutz. My right foot slipped out from underneath me, leaving my left foot behind. Because of how I landed, I hurt my knee. After a visit to the doctor, I found that I had torn my Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL). It's the muscle that runs along the inside of your knee to stabilize it. And, in case you're wondering - tearing a muscle hurts.

At any rate, after icing and nursing my injury for a week and a half, I saw a knee specialist, who told me that I shouldn't exercise or do any sports until I had no pain, which generally takes 2 to 4 weeks. Since that would take me up to about 2 weeks before the tri, I knew I wouldn't be able to do it.

I won't go into the frustration I felt about injuring myself just when I'd started to enjoy working out or about not being able to reach the goal I had set for myself. I will say, though, that it's been a lot harder not to exercise than I would have ever thought it could be. For someone who hadn't exercised in months before this whole thing, that's saying something! And, now that I've caught the tri-bug, I wasn't satisfied with just giving up.

I hit the four-week mark last night, and I am still experiencing some pain. I see the doctor on Thursday, and I'll hopefully find out if/when I can start exercising again. I suppose I should tell him that I started swimming again about a week ago...

So, once I get the all-clear from the doc, I will start training again. I've already researched other triathlons in my area, and I've decided to sign up for one in April. It's the same as the Turkey Tri, only it's not called the Turkey Tri, cause, well, a Turkey reference in April would just be weird.

Now I just have to decide if I'm going to try the mini or go for the sprint (which is double all the lengths). Hmm... I do have four months to train this time...