Thunder Thighs

A few weeks ago, my friend Jess posted this awesome Nike ad on her Facebook page. (Please click on the picture, and it will blow up to be larger in a separate window so that you can read the text. Do it now, I'll wait.)

I loved it at the time, but wasn't really sure I could claim it.  I mean, yes, I do have thunder thighs, but I wasn't sure I could claim to be as strong as the person in the ad.  I mean, I'm not that great of a runner, and I've never done a marathon, right?

That was before last weekend when I ran my first triathlon.  My friend Amie was there and took several great pictures of me before, during and after the race, including this one.

My first thought when I saw it was "Look at those thunder thighs!"  My gut reaction was completely negative. I even said something out loud like "Ugh, look at my legs."  After hearing this reaction, Amie even cropped my legs out of the picture when she posted it on Facebook later.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized how proud I should be of these thunder thighs. They carried the brunt of the abuse during my tri. They helped me run up out of that beach, jump on a bike for 9.3 miles and then run/walk another 3.1.  They've carried me up mountains during hikes and helped me participate in many a jump picture. I'm proud of what they've accomplished for me.   Like the ad says, "I have thunder thighs, and that's a compliment because they are strong and toned and muscular."

Part of this journey is learning to love your body. What have your thunder thighs done for you lately?

Why I Love Hiking

This weekend I went hiking with friends to a most amazing summit that overlooked the Linville Gorge.

It made me realize that I've never posted about hiking.  I'm not a serious hiker, but I do go out on day hikes every couple of months.  I love it. It's a chance to get outside, see amazing things and spend time with friends.

It's really just a glorified walk in the woods that goes uphill.  The whole time I'm walking, I'm looking down and watching my step.  There are rocks and tree roots and mud in the path that you have to watch out for so you don't slip and fall.  I'm always very focused on the ground during a hike and often forget to look up and around to enjoy the scenery.

However, when we get to a summit, you can't miss the scenery. We always stop and spend time there, resting, eating, taking pictures and enjoying the views.  This place we visited over the weekend (see picture at right) was amazing, with 360 degree views of the North Carolina mountains.

It's funny how easy it is to become so focused on some things that you can completely miss amazing things happening right in front of you. Hiking is one of those great activities that remind me how grateful I am to be fit and healthy. I never could have done this climb two years ago (or I could've, but it would've taken me a million times longer because I would've had to stop so much.).

 Here's to keeping our eyes open to seeing all of the cool things around us!

First Bloom

Today I had my first bloom of day lily season.  If you do not know, I am quite proud of my day lilies. Many of these flowers were originally planted in my grandmother's yard in Illinois.  Over the years, as they multiplied, my dad took the new growth to his yard in South Carolina.  After I bought my house a few years ago, Dad divided the plants in his yard and helped me plant some in mine. I'm proud to say that my flowers were planted in both Granny's and Dad's yard before finding a home in mine.

First Bloom 2011!

Each year at the end of May and beginning of June, I am eager to take Bon outside each morning so I can see which day lilies are blooming.  Each day brings new flowers and new beauty to my yard.

This past fall, there was some neighborhood drama that caused me to move my day lilies to a newly created bed near the house. I wrote the post, Roots, about that difficult task. A few months later I spent another weekend working on the bed, and wrote the Everything and Nothing post about that.

In both of those posts I was angry, tired and bitter.  Moving the day lilies were a lot of hard work and not my ideal way of spending my Saturdays.  But today, when this beauty of a bloom showed up in my yard I was perhaps even more excited and grateful to see the bloom, precisely because of the hard work I had put in this winter. Hard work always comes before results.

Of course, I can apply this to my weight loss journey. It is hard. Eating right is no fun. Sometimes the weeds take over, and I make more poor choices than I do healthy ones.  In the end, though, the blooms that I see (blooms=results in this analogy) make it all worth it.

If you're trying to lose weight and you find yourself tired or discouraged, remember that if you stick with it, summer will come.  Think of the joy and excitement of the blooming lilies and just keep trying!


  "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant." -Anne Bradstreet

Delight in Weaknesses

Have you heard of Paul's thorn in the flesh?  If not, here is the passage from 2 Corinthians 12:


Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 


No one knows what Paul's thorn in the flesh was, and theologians have often speculated on what it could've been.  A vice?  A physical ailment?  No one knows, and I don't believe we need to know for this passage to be pertinent to our lives today.


During this season of my life where I am struggling so mightily against food and for weight loss/healthy eating habits, the "thorn in the flesh" resonates with me particularly.  The lure of food seems to be my thorn in the flesh, the thing that I wish more than anything the Lord would just remove. If he would just step in and fix me, I would live a happier, healthier life. Problem solved.


This week I was bemoaning my own thorn in the flesh when it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps I am not the only one who feels a connection to Paul in this passage. I bet many people feel like they have a thorn in the flesh; a problem or a temptation that haunts them. I'm not alone in this.


Are you struggling? Maybe with health issues or money issues or job issues or sin issues?  If you are, first let me say, I understand the struggle. But we should take hope in the words of Paul that follow his admission of his struggle:


⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.


It's hard to believe that we should delight in our own imperfections.  I want to believe it, I really do, but even as a  professing Christian it is hard to accept the words in this passage.  It's just the opposite of what comes natural, I guess.  What do you think?  Do you boast about your weaknesses? If you know the feeling of the thorn in the flesh, does the rest of this passage give you some peace?  We are not perfect, only Jesus was.

Farm Fresh Friday, week 5

People, I am trying to be an enthusiastic vegetable eater with my CSA Farm deliveries, but it is getting hard.  I received my week five deliveries today and these vegetables just keep coming.
This week I got:
Kale
Radishes
Potatoes
Squash
Zucchini
Cabbage
And drum roll, please....lima beans! (Drum roll because it's the only new veggie in this week's box, but I have had them before.)


I haven't even finished all of the veggies from last week. This is the fourth week I've been given an entire head of cabbage.  Today, though, I gave the whole head to my friend that I'm splitting the box with. I just couldn't deal with more cabbage.


I think I'm going to have to freeze some of last week's veggies before they go bad.  Anybody know any good recipes for squash?  So far I've just roasted them and grilled them, but I'd love to do something a bit more creative with them. Let me know!

Triathletes Run

Picking up from yesterday's Triathletes Bike post, Tuesday's Triathletes Swim post and the general overview post...

As soon as I racked my bike and tossed my helmet, I was running out of transition for the run portion or the race.  There's just something about the transition area that keeps the adrenalin running.  I had completely planned to walk the first five minutes of the race at least to allow my legs to adjust from being on the bike for so long.  So as I'm jogging along in the transition area I kept saying to myself, "Stop running, stop running, you should be walking." Finally about halfway through I did stop running and moved to a fast walk.

I kept up the fast walk for longer than I expected to.  I started thinking about how I walk almost as fast as I run, and it would be worth it to walk longer and be able to run more later. When I started running, I kept mostly to frequent, short bursts. I had no way to measure time, I'd forgotten to take my watch off my bike and I didn't have my headphones/iphone with me. In the end, I probably walked about 60 percent of the 3.1 mile  run.  I kept thinking, "Will I be disappointed in myself for not running more?" The answer was always no.  I was accomplishing enough by finishing the race.

This leg of the journey was crowded. We ran on a narrow path. It was an out and back course- we sprinters turned around after 1.5 miles, but the Olympic distance participants were on the same course. They had a 6.2 mile run, and they had to turn around at 3.1 miles.  There was constantly people passing you in both directions.  This is where I felt a lot of encouragement from my fellow triathletes.  A lot of them said, "Good job!" or "Keep going!" to me as we passed. I think this is because I was walking a lot and they felt sorry for me, but I did not feel sorry for myself. I was being smart. They all looked pretty miserable themselves, and I was chipper.

The path wound along the edge of the beach. It was beautiful to look out over the seagrass and see the ocean and the sun shining on it.  It was also hot. There was no shade and by this time it was 8:45 or 9 a.m.

As I neared the finish line, I again heard my friends cheering for me.  Right at the end, I was supposed to veer off the path, run through the grass and under the finish line banner.  I almost missed it!  Spectators standing there had to tell me to turn!  I was so focused on the path in front of me that I didn't see the turn. I yelled "Thank you!" over my shoulder and veered to the finish.

At first I was sad...the clock over the finish line said 2 hours and 15 minutes, and I was hoping for more like 1 hour and 30 minutes.  After awhile it dawned on me that the clock started from the very first wave of the race, which was approximately 42 minutes before I started. This made me feel much better.

When I saw the medals all lined up afterward, I got very jealous and hopeful that maybe I had possibly earned one? They had medals for the top 3 finishers in each division, and I eventually found out that I finished 8th in my division.  So no medal this year, but something to strive for in the future. Someday I will earn a medal for something I do. I promise.

At the finish line post race. :

In the transition area after...this is how my
bike was racked, except it was crowded
with a bunch of other bikes.

Triathletes Bike

Picking up from yesterday's Triathletes Swim post and the general overview post...

After throwing on a shirt, shoes, shorts and a helmet in transition, I walked my bike out of the transition area and mounted for the 9.3 mile ride.  The route took us around the top half of this beautiful island.  Most of the course was shaded by giant trees covered in hanging moss. It was beautiful and cool.

Right away, I saw one of the awesome signs made by my friends and it made me tear up.  I am so loved.

I began passing people at first, which made me feel good. I also got passed by quite a few people.  There were long stretches, though, without another biker in sight.  Nine miles is a long time to be riding by yourself with no headphones (No headphones is a USAT rule.)  I eventually started singing "Magic" by B.O.B. at the top of my lungs (the last song I heard before leaving my car that morning). Unfortunately I only know two lines, so I began to annoy even myself. Imagine this repeating over and over: "I've got the magic in me. Every time I touch a track it turns to gold. I've got the magic in me."

I also discovered that a course that is "flat and fast" is pretty boring and guarantees steady cycling.  My legs were pumping consistently the whole time. There is no place as flat as the beach here at home, so I had never trained for that. They held up pretty well.

There were cars allowed on the course. I thought that might be a problem since I've done all my training in city parks.  It turned out not to be a big deal. Except for one time where a car was going so slow I ended up passing it.  That was just annoying.  

I expected to bike a 5 minute mile, but I ended up closer to a 4 minute mile, which was surprising.  Almost halfway through, the Olympic distance athletes started coming back around from the opposite direction. They had started long before me, and had to loop the island twice.  These are serious competitors who have fancy bikes and fancy helmets.  I was glad we were moving in opposite directions so they weren't passing me and making me feel bad. 

Somewhere around mile six or seven, I saw my friends again. This was a surprise. I didn't expect them to have time to make it out on the course to see me.  They started screaming my name and all I said back to them was "I can't take my hands off the handlebars!"  (Because I felt like they'd want me to wave at them, but I'm not confident enough in my biking to wave and bike at the same time.*)

I finished the bike portion, re-racked my bicycle in transition, discarded my helmet and added a visor and headed out for a run. Stay tuned tomorrow for the final leg of the journey.

*Yes, I just admitted that to the world.

Triathletes Swim

I'm in the back, looking at the camera with the thumbs up.

The swim portion of the race was first and it was clearly the best. They started us in waves, meaning a group of about 50 would start and then three minutes later another group of 50 would start.  I was in the last wave, which left me extra time for floating in the water and watching the others.  It was really calming.  The water did not have much wave to it and it was the perfect temperature.

We bunched up at the water's edge. When the horn sounded, we all took off into the water at once.  You just ran until you were deep enough to dive in and start swimming.  We all started swimming in a pack and there was definitely some kicking and hitting of the the other bodies around you.  Not on purpose in a mean way,  but in a "the ocean water is murky brown and I can't see one foot in front of me way."

They wrote my race number
on each limb and gave us
timing chips for our ankles.

In the beginning I had trouble regulating my breathing. I think I may have just been so excited that I forgot to breathe.  But I quickly got that straightened out, before I even made it to the first buoy.   I just kept thinking, "It's just like in the pool. Strong, full-length strokes are what I need."  The swim course was a square. We swam out to one buoy, rounded it on the right, swam straight past another buoy on its right and then rounded the last buoy to come straight into shore.

Please note all of the people I had passed.

I had heard a man earlier explaining to someone that you do not want to stand up too soon. You can swim faster than you can battle the waves while running in. He said, "Don't stand up until your hand is hitting sand on your downstroke." So as I came into shore, that is what I was thinking.  As soon as my hand hit the sand, I popped up and started running in.  This was the single best moment of the entire race.  I felt like an amazing sea monster rising out of the deep. I also immediately heard my friends cheering for me.

Running up the beach to the bikes.
You can see the buoys in the distance.

 I started running in. I hadn't thought about this time between swimming and getting to the transition, but you had to run all the way up the beach, up the board walk and through a parking lot to get to transition.  I had opted to pull on shorts and a shirt in transition. Most people don't, but I wanted to be comfortable.  Plus, I had to wear a race bib (showing my race number) during the run portion and didn't have a way to attach it to my suit. So I pulled on shirt and shorts, dried my feet and put on socks and shoes.  I was ready to roll until it took me a solid 2 minutes to get my bike helmet fastened. My fingers just kept slipping!  While frustrating, it gave my friends time to run up from the beach to see me roll out on the bike.  Stay tuned for more info on the bike portion tomorrow.

Read about my general overview of the race here.

Abi cheering me on!

Emerging from the sea.

Triathlete

I've never considered myself an athlete, but now I can claim membership in the somewhat elite circle of triathletes.

The Turtle Crawl Triathlon on Saturday proved to be my favorite race to date.  It was at times challenging, overwhelming, awe-inspiring, empowering and satisfying.  It was also just over 12 miles swimming, biking and running on the most beautiful course I've ever been on. I'm so glad I pushed myself to do it.

I finished in 93 minutes and 25 seconds and 8th in my division.  I had estimated 90 minutes of racing time, but had forgotten to include the time for the transition - moving from swimming to biking and from biking to running, so I actually finished faster than I expected.

I was nervous before the race started, but I went out into the water to see how cold it was (it wasn't bad at all!) and floating out there made all of my nerves disappear.  I'm a lifelong swimmer and ocean lover. It just felt right to be out there.

The only bad thing is that of course now I want to do more triathlons, and after doing my first one at the ocean, I'm not sure I could ever do a pool or lake-based triathlon.  I love the ocean so much, but it really limits my options and increases my expenses/driving times.

One of the best things about the race was that my friends pretty sneakily created bunches of giant signs for me.  I went to bed early Friday night, and they went and placed them all along the bike and run courses after I was asleep.  I saw my first one when I was not far out of the parking lot on my bike, and it made me cry.

There's a lot more to say, but to keep this from being too long, stay tuned for more tomorrow.

Farm Fresh Friday!

Here's my haul this week:
Potatoes
Radishes
Squash (2 kinds! I learned the round one is called a pattypan squash)
Beans that are yellow
Collards
Cabbage
Broccoli


I'm taking the collards, cabbage and squashes (I don't care if that's not the correct pluralization. I like it) to the beach with me this weekend.  I need some advice on the radishes and any info you can provide on the yellow beans. They look just like green beans, but yellow.  I've never seen that before.  I've also never had a radish.  How should I cook it?

Have a great weekend!

Trying the Tri

My first triathlon is Saturday in Jekyll Island, Georgia.  At approximately 7:30 a.m. I will plunge into the still primarily frigid Atlantic Ocean to swim 1/4 of a mile along with a couple hundred other triathletes.

I'm not worried about the swim.  A quarter mile is nothing; hardly worth getting wet. I am slightly worried about the transition following the swim as I'm sure it will be slightly chaotic and very wet.

Following the swim is 9.3 miles on the bike, on a course described as "flat and fast."  I think I can hold my own on the bike, though I never did spring for a super expensive road bike. My sister's hand-me-down mountain bike with smooth road tires added may stand out like a sore thumb and possibly slow me down, but who're we kidding, I'm not going to set any records no matter what bike I ride.  The Judy (Trek named it, not I) will get me out, around the island, and back just fine.

The transition from bike to run will be easier logistically, but more difficult physically.  I've been practicing by doing bike/run brick workouts once a week for several weeks now, but my legs still feel like lead when I hop off the bike.  I plan to walk for a good five minutes or so at the beginning of the run portion, until my legs start feeling normal again.  Then I plan to run as much of the 5k as possible, although I don't expect to run the whole distance.  It's an out and back course and should be flat too.

All in all, I should be done in just a little over 90 minutes.  I'm nervous, but excited! Send good thoughts my way Saturday morning if you're up!

Today's Affirmations

I have not yet corrected my eating slide that I confessed to you on Monday.  I'm not depressed or exhausted or angry, and I have not weighed in about two weeks.  I'm enjoying favored foods, and I seem to be powerless at the thought of them.

So while sadness is not the cause of my poor food choices, I usually do end up sad after eating these high-calorie, high-fat treats, because I know I am just putting myself further from my goal. (Interesting how I can't remember that before I eat them.)  This weight loss thing is a never-ending battle and it's easy to get discouraged when I don't want to make good choices. I know with my brain that good food choices make me feel better physically and mentally than the bad choices.

Not to toot my own horn, but today I decided to make a list of why I'm awesome (so as to keep myself from becoming mired in the sadness.)

I'm a:

Delicious Dip Maker! Enthusiastic Karaoke Singer! Daring Triathlon Attempter! Authentic European Doppleganger! Awesome Driver! Ocean Wave Jumper! Bible Reader! Superb List Maker! Reluctant Yet Committed Runner! Consistent Blogger! Blue Sky Faller! Casual Hiker! Awkward Teenage Friender! Diligent Saver! Brilliant Baby Smile Bringer! Occasional Beer Drinker! Sweet Moves Dancer! Quality Hugger! Excellent Laugher! Green Grass Mower! Fresh Vegetable Cooker! 


Not to mention I'm also a crazy aunt, fun sister, good daughter and a friend of Jesus.


I'm so many things that I really shouldn't try to define myself with a list (even if I am pretty great at making them.).  I'm glad to be me, even on my bad days.


Maybe you should make a list of what makes you awesome today (and share a few things in the comments, if you want!)

The Swan Dive

Clearly, as I have had a generally positive tone to my blog for a couple of weeks, it is time for it to take a downward slope. I've not been on track now for awhile. The two meals I made for last week just didn't do it for me, so I ate out excessively. Today I had a delicious lunch that I brought from home, but I ate it at 10:15.  I was just really hungry, which I usually am at that time, and didn't want to stay hungry so I decided to eat my lunch instead of my snack.  Then, of course, when lunch time came, I was hungry again so I went to the student center for Popeye's chicken and snack food.

Funny, I've started reading some other healthy living blogs recently and these bloggers all seem to be all success all the time. I can't figure it out -  is it because they've just been doing it longer and have less drastic ups and downs? Is it because they just don't talk about the bad days?  Is it because I am crazy?

It's not easy to blog about my down days. I want to hide it from you and from me.  In the end, however, I usually end up telling you the truth, eventually.  Mostly, I don't want any of you to have me on some pedestal, thinking I'm some health and fitness supergirl because my blog makes it sound like I am. Dieting is hard, hard, hard.  It takes discipline, and it's much easier to roll over and give in to the temptation.

Lately, I've had this verse keep popping up in my head:

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. "  1 Cor 10:13.

It's just the first part of the verse that I keep hearing.  Nothing has "seized you except what is common to man."  Both because of this verse and because more and more people are sharing their struggles with me, I'm realizing that many people have a similar problem with food. That is comforting, even if it is hard.  I do wish, though, that I could remember and believe the second part of the verse about God providing a way out from the temptation.

Tomorrow is a new day.

How have you guys been doing lately with health and fitness?

Sweet Skydiving Video

It's been one week since my big skydiving adventure, and it's still all I really want to talk about.  I realized when talking to a friend on Friday that if you and I are not friends on facebook (and really, why aren't we?), then you haven't seen the sweet, sweet video of the freefall.  Here it is!



And here is my friend Amie's video. We both make cameos in each other's videos, so I thought it best if you saw both for the full picture.  I can't embed hers...so I hope this link works.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100160319784688.  I think you have to have a facebook to see it.


So in case we are unclear, I would definitely go again, with any of you who need a skydiving companion, the next time it comes on Groupon for a huge discount.  Keep your eyes peeled!

Farm Fresh Fridays (on Saturday)

I finally came up with a good alliterative name for my Friday posts: Farm Fresh Fridays.  I must apologize for not actually posting Farm Fresh Fridays on Friday this week, however. I always grocery shop Friday night or Saturday morning and I usually rush to get the Farm Fresh Friday (I really love the name, can you tell?) post online so that I can get responses from you about how to cook the stuff before I go to the store.

But can you believe it, I actually recognized all of the food in my box this week! (Actually, I had to have someone identify cabbage for me, even though it was the second week I've had it. Cabbage is tricky to me, it looks a lot like iceberg.)

Anyway, I was excited to see something big and yellow peeking through my box when I picked it up this week. It was a squash!  While it was shaped differently than any other squash I've ever seen, I'm sure it will be just as delicious.  Here's a pic or two. These squashes (is that the plural of squash?) were really fun. Also, sorry for the hair in these pics, I'd been driving round town with my windows rolled down and my hair blowin' all around. I'm a hot Southern Mess. (Thank you Cee Lo and Brad Paisley for the combined power of your lyrics to capture the situation accurately.)

I also got:

Green beens

Broccoli

Potatoes

Lettuce

Cabbage

Zucchini

Gosh, I think that's it. All stuff I've had before.  I whipped up a sausage, green been and potato dish last night, pre-chopped some zucchini and squash that I will hopefully get to grill today and sauteed some cabbage for a snack last night.  Also, it's all so much more manageable since I started splitting the box with a coworker and blog reader.

Hope you enjoy your Saturday! I hope to get a run in before the rain starts.

Triggers

For a long time I never gave much thought to why I eat.  Of course you're supposed to eat to fuel your body and give yourself energy, but a lot of us eat for other reasons. The last few months I've been thinking about this a lot, and I've identified some of my triggers that make me eat or overeat.

Exhaustion.
This is my number one trigger. Unfortunately, it happens a lot and it's the hardest to fight against. I have a tendency to go all out for several days, until I hit a wall and can do no more. Sometimes I go crazy with exercise and do two workouts a day for several days. Sometimes I over-commit and end up with too much stuff to do.  Whatever it is, when exhaustion hits, I have no defense against my cravings.

Anger.
Luckily, I don't get angry often.  But somehow, when I do, the anger makes me wants to eat.  Also luckily, this one is easy for me to recognize and halt before my eating choices get out of hand.

Sadness.
Sad happens.  While I'm generally a happy person, the sad times do come.

The Scale.
On days when I expect the scale to go down and it doesn't, it seriously affects my mood. It's easy to think that there's no point in eating healthy and denying my cravings if it's not going to give me results on the scale that I want to see.

Now that I've identified my triggers, what does that mean for my continuing healthy journey?  It means I'm more aware of what makes me a little food-crazy.  Being aware is the first step.  I've been trying to these last few months to fight against it and I've gotten better with anger and sadness.  The scale pretty much rules me and when I'm exhausted I just don't have the energy to fight for the healthy choices.

Do you guys know what I'm talking about? Do you have triggers?

My Next Adventure

Does it seem to anyone else that I suddenly live a very exciting life these days?  I mean, 2011 has been jam packed with adventures.

January and February were all about the arrival of my newest niece Natalie.

In March I went to England and France.

In April, I got to spend a week living and serving with 100 teenagers.

In May, I jumped out of plane at 14,000 feet.

May 21 is my first triathlon.  That's the last adventure (and last race) on my horizon. In June I will get to enjoy our (almost) annual family beach vacation, which is one of the best weeks of the year, just not exactly an adventure. After that I've got nothing planned and practically no more vacation time.

I've gotten used to the adventure life.  I like trying new things, I've discovered.  So I'm looking for other adventure ideas.  They don't have to be extreme sports or extravagant vacations, just something new, different and/or challenging (and preferably don't require huge expenses or vacation time). Anybody have any suggestions for me? 

Free Fallin'

Yesterday, I willingly paid money to get tossed out of a plane from 14,000 feet, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

First off, this blog will probably be way too long, and for that I apologize.

I was so nervous leading up to today. Not about skydiving, but about the weight limit.  I had been consistently weighing about 10 pounds under the weight limit, but I was just sure that something would happen, my weight would jump up, and they would not let me do it.  They said in the forms they sent me in advance, very specifically, that they were strict about the weight limit. I worried about this a lot.

I was so nervous about that I didn't have time to be nervous about skydiving, not until we got to the center. They did weigh me, but I was cleared to jump.  Then a few minutes later we were in a room with a pretty funny instructor who told us a lot, but it turns out I misunderstood most of what he said. 

He said we would fall for about 55 seconds at 110-120 miles per hour.  He said once we pulled the shoot, I should keep my eyes on our videographer.  He waits and pulls his shoot a few seconds later, and since he is still freefalling, he would drop out of sight so fast.  He said that is the only way I would be able to tell how fast I was going.   

Before we knew it we were meeting our tandem jump masters and suiting up. Mine's name was Gene, but when I told him my name was Jill, he said his name was Jack and I believed him. I said "For real?" and he said no, but I just called him Jack the whole time anyway, and it was our little joke.  He was very cute. Amie's was Sal from Morraco.  Jack was very funny; Sal was calm and quiet.  I think we were both perfectly matched.  It was Jack's 5618th jump, his 13th of the day. 

We did interviews on the ground with our videographer (I paid extra to have a videographer jump with me to get photos and video). Jack volunteered him and I to go first, and I was fine with that. Amie wanted to go after me anyway so she could watch me jump. There was a married couple who went after us.

Then we're in the plane and it is so loud.  And it's full of tandem masters and videographers and a few solo jumpers.  And they are all so cool.  Joking, having a great time. I loved those few minutes on the plane. Then  a guy doing a short jump (he was really experienced) opened the door and flew out.  That's when it got real.  We closed the door and went another 3,000 feet higher.

Then the solo jumpers went out in a group, but not before high fiving all of us newbie tandem jumpers.  Then I turned to ask Jack if I should start moving and all of a sudden he was moving me!  We scooted forward on the bench and then took two steps to the door.

Here's where I got confused.  I thought the videographer would jump out and then we would jump out right behind him.  Instead, he moved to one side of the door and we  moved to the other and we jumped out at the same time.  Except I kept waiting for the videographer guy to go first, so I didn't even realize we were jumping until suddenly we were pitching forward!

The freefall was intense. It was insanely loud. I felt like I couldn't breathe, but the instructor had specifically said that if we thought that, it was all in our minds.  So I kept thinking "I can't breathe!" and then I'd argue with myself "Yes, you can, it's all in your mind. JUST BREATHE". That is what I was thinking almost the whole free fall time (55 seconds).  The other thing I kept thinking was "Where is my videographer?" because they told us a bunch of times to always look for him and smile, but he kept whipping around us that I had trouble keeping my eye on him.  

The videographer waved at me, and I didn't realize but that was my cue that we were about to pull the parachute. I didn't even realize when it happened. Didn't feel it.  All of a sudden the videographer dropped out of sight, though, because he was still free falling and we were floating.  

The floating was the best thing ever.  It was beautiful and the sun was perfect and I could hear again.  Jack tried to point out Rock Hill to me, but I didn't recognize it.  He also pointed out the nuclear power plant on Lake Wylie.  He let me steer and we took some fun, swooping curves.

And then it was over too soon.  All of a sudden we were coming in for a landing. I guess I didn't fully understand the landing position, because my videographer (who was already on the ground to film our landing) started yelling, "Pull your legs up! Pull your legs up!"  But I got them up in time and we landed softly on our butts.  

I had time to stand up, talk to the videographer, and then watch Amie land.   

I would love to do this again.  Next time it's up on Groupon (the discounting service that I purchased my ticket for about 40% off), who wants to go with me?

 

Mama

I thought I would attempt to write a tribute to my mama today, in honor of Mothers' Day.  I've been thinking over the past few days about all of the things she's taught me. 

The more I thought about it, though, I realized most of the things I would write about didn't really matter. Yes, she taught me to drive and to cook and to wash my sheets on a weekly basis.  She taught me to love the water, along with dogs and babies.  She's always shared with me her love for reading, and she's the one I call when I'm having a bad day.  But more important than all of that and the hundreds of other things she's given me over the years, she taught me how to love.  

My mom can love better than anybody.  To her, love isn't a feeling, it's an action.  And I see it every time she listens, cares, serves, mends, buys, hugs, talks, cooks, or drives 6+hours to see me.  

I remember one time when I was 6 or 7, I told her "You're the best mom in the whole world. You're even better than Janet's mom."  (Janet's mom made the best chocolate chip cookies and mac and cheese you've ever had in your life.)  It was the biggest compliment I could think of to thank her for the way she loved me so completely.  Today, a high school diploma and two college degrees later, I can't say it much better. You're the best mom in the whole world, and I love you too.

Mom and Dad have been married
40 years.  This is from their
first date, the 8th grade dance.

She's responsible for this crew.

Our ever-expanding clan.  This was taken only a year ago,
 but it's missing our two youngest faces.  

 P.S. Mom, I'm sorry I chose to jump out of a plane on Mother's Day. Forgive me?

Collage

I finally got around to finishing my collage today.  Here's the finished product.

Happy Saturday!

Veggie Delivery Day

Potatoes, turnips collards, broccoli

It's another Friday, so it's another box-ful-of-veggies day!
Here's what I got:
Turnips (I think)
Potatoes
More kale
More collards (lots, but not quite as much as last time)
More broccoli
More peas
Cabbage (I think)
Romaine lettuce
Strawberries
one onion
My main question is, what do I do with the cabbage? I can handle the collards, the broccoli, peas, lettuce and onion.  I'm going to use the turnips to make mashed turnips (like mashed potatoes, but with turnips).

Kale, turnips, peas, potatoes, peas, cabbage (in the back right)

Matt used my cabbage for bowling practice.

Judy convinced me that raw turnips were good.
They were not.

Eight Months of Bloggin'

Today, to celebrate eight months of blogs, my 180th post and (hopefully) some new readers thanks to yesterday's profile, here's a round up of some key posts.  If you're relatively new to the blog, I hope this will bring you up to speed. They're listed roughly in date order.

1. The Journey Thus Far.- Or how I got from 0 to 70 pounds lost.
2. My Secrets Revealed! - How I lost the weight.
3. Thanks - Some gratitude.
4. His Compassions Never Fail - Each day is a new chance.
5. Acceptable - Coming to terms with the way I've changed.
6. Ab-ulous - The day I discovered I had abs.
7. Today's Stream of Conciousness
8. Pomegranate  - Discovering one of my favorite new fruits.
9. Time to Put Down the Peanut Butter- A difficult, but important decision
10. Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!
11. Sisyphus - This weight loss journey is not easy.
12. Tri-Training - Beginning my triathlon training!
13. Loved
14. Fear - The fear of trying and failing. Again.
15. Endorphins - Exercise really does make you feel better!
16. The Difference of a Few Pounds - Trying to not be ruled by the numbers.
17. Top Three Meals of Europe - My inadequate food review of my fabulous trip to Europe.
18. The Walking Club - The Walking Club is born!
19. This One's for the Girls - The reason why I work with middle and high school students.
20. It is My Birthday* - Where I'm going from here.

It's a bit humbling to see how many times I've had to restart this journey, but at the same time I am grateful that I've been able to restart again and again. That's the hardest part: perseverance.

A Little Press

Today I received some news coverage for my weight loss success.  The editors (and current blog readers) of our  bi-weekly faculty/staff newsletter at school chose to feature me in a profile.  My cubicle-mate Meredith wrote the story, which I think turned out fabulously. 

Check it out below.

(If you're having trouble reading it, I believe you can just click on it and it will open full-size.)

PS Welcome to any new readers.  Tomorrow I'll try to do a "best of" post round up to get you up to speed with us. :)

Motivation Discovered

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to work on some motivational stuff. Here's what I came up with.

1. I've switched my desktop wallpapers to this.
2. Motivational quotes I found that I will be displaying:
1. "Aim for progression, not perfection."
2. "A man who wants something will find a way; a man who doesn't will find an excuse."- Stephan Dolley Jr.
3. "Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still."- Chinese Proverb 
4. "The future comes one day at a time."
5. "We take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ."- Paul, found in 2 Corinthians 10:5b
6. "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect  the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." Paul, found in 2 Corinthians 3:18
3. I'm made a paper chain with a link for each of the 35 pounds.  Each time a pound is lost, a chain will be ripped off and thrown away, never to be seen again.  I want to stop this losing and regaining of the same pounds. Right now it stretches from one corner of my room's double window to the other.

4. Last week on 30 Rock, they made fun of the book "The Secret".  It made me curious so I looked it up.  It seems like a self-help book that encourages you to visualize your success in order to achieve it. I have not read the book, but it seems a little "hocus pocus-y." That being said, I do believe in the power of positive thinking. For the longest time, I never believed I would lose 100 pounds.  Now I find it hard to believe that I could lose 125 pounds and be a size 12.  But not believing in myself before I even begin is like trying to run a race with my legs tied together. I won't get very far.  I've got to start believing in myself.

5. I began work on a new motivational collage. Yes, like an arts and crafts, glue stick and poster board collage.  It's going to take a few days to finish, but I'll try to remember to post pics when I'm done.  I made two last spring when I needed a little extra inspiration. They hang in my bedroom. They included images of things I wanted to do and things I wanted to remember or people I was inspired by. Here's what they look like. 

What do you think? Anything to add? I'm always looking for more inspiration and motivation, so please share!

Itching for Inspiration

Tonight's a research night.  In yesterday's post I mentioned that I am refocusing my efforts so that I can lose 35 more pounds before I turn 32.  I'm feeling great about it, but I know this feeling doesn't last forever. So tonight I'm going to see what I can find on the interwebs and in fitness magazines to glean for inspiration. I'm looking for quotes, pictures, headlines, stories, anything that will get me fired up and focused on my goals.

I'll probably make a motivational poster to hang in my room with some of the stuff I find. I'll also write down any good quotes I find to put in my cubicle or in my kitchen pantry. I'll share whatever I come with you guys tomorrow.

In the mean time, if you have a favorite motivational quote, a blog or story, I'd love it if you'd share it with me.  Or if you have another way to get inspired for weight loss, let me know!

PS The Walking Club is on, this Wednesday at the RiverWalk. Let me know if you want to join!

It Is My Birthday*

Two years ago, I road to my birthday lunch with my boss.  We had a conversation about how birthdays are good times to evaluate your life, and set big goals for the future.  She encouraged me to think about it and see if there was anything I wanted to do or learn before my 30th birthday and then, to actually do it. Quite good advice, really.

At the time I mentioned that I wanted to learn to play the guitar and go skydiving.  Following that conversation I got a guitar on loan from my sister by way of my parents who were storing it and decided to try and use YouTube to teach myself how to play.  That lasted a few weeks, when I remembered that I have tried to play more than one instrument in the past, always to mediocre results.  My inability to learn to play instruments well is partially due to a lack of musical skill and partially due to an inherent laziness when it comes to practice. So I accepted the fact that I will never play the guitar, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

However, going skydiving was really tied to something bigger, because skydiving has a weight limit and I was over that weight limit by quite a lot.  I wanted to lose weight, to be a different person physically, but I was too scared to say that out loud. It was too big of a goal to accomplish by my 30th and I had tried and failed so many times in the past.  

I stewed over that conversation most of the summer, and by July, with the encouragement of my friend Abi, I decided to try again.  Now it's two years later. I am different physically. I can swim farther, jump higher, and bike and run period.  I've lost and never found again the first 90 pounds.  

So today, on my 31st birthday, I'm setting a goal to be done with my weight loss before I turn 32.  I'm readjusting my thinking after meeting with my doctor last week.  I'm no longer shooting for 100 pounds, but 125.  I think I'm about 30-35 pounds from that goal.  That doesn't sound like a lot after losing 90, but I know it will be a long, tough road. It seems to get harder, the more I lose.

So two years and 90 pounds later, I'm finally going skydiving. Next Sunday, me and my friend Cindy will jump out of a perfectly good aircraft, strapped to the front of seasoned experts (it's called tandem skydiving and is perfectly safe).  I had wanted to use skydiving as my big reward for reaching my big goal of 100 pounds lost, but I'm finally realizing that even without achieving that goal (yet), I've still achieved so much.  It's okay that I've stalled out a bit in the weight loss department, as long as I keep pressing on towards the goal.

PS I bought myself a cookie cake to celebrate with today. This is one of my all-time favorite desserts, but having a whole cookie cake in my house can be disastrous, so I'm taking it to lunch with friends. I made myself accountable by letting a friend know in advance that I had it and needed to bring it to lunch. It's good to celebrate, but there's no need to go overboard. :)


*It is a statement of fact. It's not like I cured cancer or anything. (This is a quote from the television show "The Office.")