Sitting on Ice!

There are times when being driven is good and times when it can hurt.  Today was one of those days!  I recently read in a swimming magazine the difference between a sprinter and a distance swimmer.  Sprinters want to have fun and they only want to do the minimal work necessary to get the job done.  Distance swimmers (or any sport, I think), love practice for the sake of practice.  They will do whatever work-out is put before them, feel longer is better, and will push through the pain to finish the work-out.  I am not a sprinter.  I'm a distance athlete and I enjoy practice just for the sake of practice.  Today I had to remind myself that the means are a means to an end, and in the end, I won't miss 1.5 miles one Sunday.

I was out for a 9 mile run on a gorgeous, albeit freezing, day in DC.  On a pretty trail next to the Potomac River on which the hotel staff swear I won;t likely be murdered.  Anyway, 3rd grade math tells you that's 4.5 out and 4.5 back.  Well. at about 2.75 miles, I tripped and REALLY hurt my right hamstring.  It hurt a lot!  I've had kind of a chronic hamstring thing going on for a couple of yrs and it was getting better over the last couple of months.     So what did I do after I got hurt?  I kept going of course.  Because the specified distance was 4.5 before I could turn around.  And usually pains get better while I run.  If I stopped everyting something hurt, I'd never get anywhere.  For instance, at the beginning of this run, I jumped off a low wall onto the trail and my foot hurt.  I was seriously considering for about a half mile whether I should stop, but it got better.  See?  It usually works.  Well, after I fell, I kept going for about another mile, and then started thinking about my ultimate goal.  The goal is a Half Ironman in May.  If I rip my hamstring and spend weeks off of running and biking, my race will be in jeopardy.  If I turn around, I miss 1.5 miles of my workout, but will I notice 3 months from now?  I decided caution was in order.  I hated it because it feels like giving up.  But in reality, it's smart training,  So I turned around.  Stopped near the hotel for a sandwich and  discovered a pizza sandwich- oh my, it was yummy!!  And I ate it while sitting on an ice pack.  I have tomorrow off, then a swim on Tuesday.  Then a bike and run on Wednesday.  I'll ice the heck out of it between now and then.  the good news it that it was actually feeling better by the time I got home.  See?!

The Difference Between Chinese Mothers and Western Mothers

This is a brilliant article by a Yale professor about the difference in parenting styles of Western mothers and Chinese mothers.  She outlines three fundamental differences such as the fact that Western mothers are so concerned about their child's self esteem, while Chinese mothers know that self esteem comes from accomplishment and drive their children to perfection.
Read it- you will like it!

Hope

Awesome church service today about hope.  It really spoke to me because I tend to be optimistic and hopeful and it takes a lot to crush my hope.  But I don't do disappointment well.  When I get my hopes up and then they get dashed, I get really bummed out and then sad.  I get over it relatively quickly, but I hate it.  I always hope that things will get better. I end every hard day hoping that tomorrow will be better.  If I mess up, I make a plan to learn from my mistakes and then hope that I do better next time.

The preacher gave an example of an experiment done with rats where one rat was dropped into a vat of water in the complete dark to see how long it would swim.  It lasted 3 minutes.  Then they did the same thing with another rat, but this time, they let a crack of light into the room that the rat could see.  Guess how long it lasted.  36...............................
HOURS!!!!!!!!
That is amazing to me.  One little ray of light gave that rat the hope to keep swimming until he was exhausted.  Or maybe the first rat was just a crappy swimmer.  But I doubt it.  I really believe in the power of hope.

Hopelessness is the worst prognostic factor for someone who is depressed.  Once they get to the point where they have no hope, they are in grave danger of committing suicide.  Why would someone continue life if they thought there was no way it would ever get better?  I can't even imagine being that low, but I can imagine what I would do if I were.

Romans 15:13 (New International Version, ©2010)

 ¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

wonderful Holidays!

I know I have been a lazy turd lately and not updating the way I should.  I have been super busy and there's no excuse except that I have not had much time to actually think.  And when I don;t think, I don;t blog!
I have spent the last 4 days doing nothing but laying around.  We drove down to the parents' house on Friday and then spent Saturday opening gifts and playing with our new toys.  My brother is here as well and we are just enjoying doing absolutely nothing.  Sometimes I feel like I ought to be doing something, but then I remember that I do something all the time.  Well, I am determined to remember how to relax.  It is so wonderful to just hang out, watch movies, talk and be together.  I'll have a few days at home when we get there to do more of the same.  Will have to take down the Christmas decorations and put the house back together, but that will be OK.

We are also enjoying eating all our favorites- toll house cookies, pumpkin pie, mince meat pie, pecan pie, brownies, fudge, ham, sweet potatoes, dressing and all kinds of yummy stuff!!!!   I've also been keeping up with my training so hopefully the pounds will not pack on too badly.  The nutrition portion will have to have to wait until January!

Thanksgiving

Wow!  i can;t believe it's been a month since I posted.  A lot has happened in the last month.  I can't bore you to death with the details of the tour of the correctional facility and the fire department, except that I got to climb the hook and ladder- that was way cool!  The firefighter following me up was huffing and puffing- I thought I might have to catch HIM!  Work has been crazy busy.  I seem to be almost caught up at work- we'll see how much farther I can get this week.
I have my PT test on Tuesday.  My first haircut in 9 months is tomorrow as well.  I got it cut pretty short before I deployed and it has taken this long to get back to a normal length.  Plus, I just haven't had time to get to it!
Thanksgiving was a welcome break from the hecticness of life lately.  On Friday before the holiday, my parents arrived from FL.  We had gotten a futon the was special extra long so normal people can fit on it, but apparently, I didn;t think about the crease in the middle.  If made my dad crazy and he couldn't sleep on it.  So they moved upstairs to the game room on the air mattress.  Saturday I had a jewelry party.  I had gone to a jewelry party a couple of weeks ago and I agreed to do a party so my hostess could get some extra free jewelry and so I could get a lot of free stuff!  I ended up being able to get about $700 worth of free stuff- awesome.  Our school had their state championship game that day and we won, so that was pretty awesome.  Sunday was a day of relaxation.  I had to go to work Monday and Tuesday, but I took the afternoon off on Wednesday.  It felt weird!  Like I was playing hooky!  Even though I put in 7 hours by 1:30! We spent the afternoon cooking in preparation for Thanksgiving.  Jack's family arrived on Tuesday and that was the day my parents went to their hotel.  Jack's dad and his wife stayed at the hotel, as did his sister and her husband.  Their three kids stayed at our house, along with Jack's mom and her husband,  During the day, we all hung at the house, in the evenings the others went to their hotel.  The kids had a great time hanging together.
Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful.  The cooking was low stress.  The food turned out wonderful!  I made the best mashed potatoes I have ever had in my whole life!!!!  I hope I can recreate them again some day.   We ate at about 230 and then laid around the rest of the day.  Oh yeah!  I had a great bike ride Thanksgiving morning after I got the turkey in the oven.  I was so full after eating our meal mid-afternoon that all I wanted for dinner was pie!  Yum!!!
We got up at 0300 on Black Friday and went to Kohls for shopping bargains.  I've done that once in my life and planned to never do it again.  not sure what got into me, but I did it again and it was great!  It was me, and Heather, and Jordan and Jason (niece and nephew) and I got clothes that fit!  Mostly.  I still have to take several pairs of pants to have the waist taken in and have them hemmed, as usual.  But they mostly fit.
Everyone left on Friday and Saturday.  Saturday night the Mullises got here and we had a great evening with them eating thanksgiving leftovers and had smores for dessert.  Plus wine and cigars.  Got up today (Sunday), went to church, looked at a couple of new cars on the way home (but the dealorships were closed) and then top the commissary to pick up a few things.  Made my salad for the week, chopped some fruit, and then hung up some artwork we bought on the cruise last year.  Lost my energy before I could decorate the tree!
it was great to have several days off and to have the whole family here.  It was great to be home from the desert and it was great to have Theresa home from the desert as well.  there's nothing like being gone for 6 months to make someone appreciate being home with the family.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and weeks like this remind me why.  I love my family and I love my life.  

Weekend with Mom!

Had a great weekend with my mom.  As I was laying in bed yesterday morning, I realized that this was the first weekend that I have been home since I got back from the dessert!  The first one was spent on a mini TDY.  The second was on a real TDY to Denver.  Next was the bike ride and then last weekend was the triathlon.  And when I was home during the week on my R&R I let Jack sleep in and got up with the kids.  So yesterday was my first sleep in in 5 weeks!  It was great!
My mom was in Maryland for three weeks helping out her aunt after she got sick.  She stopped in here on her way back to FL.  Yesterday she helped me lay out a couple of flower gardens and look for plants to fill them.  I wrote down tons of ideas and will go buy them next weekend and then plant them.  Today, we spent several hours buying curtains.  It took 3 different stores and there's one I still need to make a decision on and go back and get, but the downstairs is mostly done.  Or it will be after I buy the rods and Jack puts them up and then I actually hang the curtains on them!  Which will not happen until the gardens are done.
Oh well.... work is good for the soul.

Thanks, mom!!!!!!

Century Ride- 100 miles in the saddle!

So as I was writing about the triathlon, I realized I never told you the story of the 100 mile bike ride last week.

I was going to go by myself, but jack decided to come up with me, so we left the kids home under the supervision of our neighbor.  We drove up together and he dropped me off in Salisbury and then he kept going on up to Ed's house where he was going to spend some time while I did my thing.  I had gotten a hotel for 2 nights and was prepared to stay by myself, but I managed to get a friend and her friend to sign up with me.  But at the last minute, the friend cancelled because she could not get back from Hawaii in time and at a reasonable cost.  So it was me and the lady I never met.  Her name is Jamie and she's a Navy nurse and it turns out we got along great!  The longest ride she had ever done as 34 miles and she was planning on doing 100.  On a new bike she had ridden once..  It was a hybrid, not even a road bike built for distance.

We went to the expo Friday night and I bought some bike stuff- some I needed and some I didn't!  Of course.  Jamie did the same thing.

Then the morning of the race came.  We were up bright and early and ate a nice big breakfast.  Then we were off.  We started at a bout 0745.  She is a slower rider and I tried to stay with her, but she told me repeatedly to go on if I needed to.  Well, eventually I needed to because my butt was killing me!  Turns out, that when you ride too slow, the feet don't put enough pressure on the peddles and the butt and arms take all the force.  I had to go and when I did, I felt much better.  There were rest stops about every 20-25 miles and I waited for her at the first one.  She got in about 25 minutes after I did.  After that, we agreed to just ride separate.  Good thing, too! The half way point was Assateague Island and that's where she decided she was done.  It was actually about 66 miles and she took the sag wagon (sometimes known as the loser cruiser!) back to the campus.  Oh yeah- the race started from and was hosted by Salisbury University- my alma mater.  I have not been back since I graduated in 1990- wow, it has changed!  More buildings and dorms.  Amazing. Anyway, she had given me the truck key, assuming I would finish before her, so she had to wait for me to get there.  The good new is that I was way ahead of her and it only took me an hour to get back after she arrived.

The ride was absolutely beautiful- we traveled on these back roads through small towns, woods, and fields.  Just gorgeous scenery.  I started to get a bit tired at about mile 70, but the good news is that I didn't feel any worse at mile 100 than I did at mile 70.  And I wasn't sore at all.  Even the next day!  This was my first century ride and it was great. I'm looking forward to doing another one.  Next year, I want to do the RAGBRAI- it's about 450 miles across Iowa and you do it in one week.  the Air Force has a team every year of over 100 people and I can get permissive TDY to do it (instead of taking leave, they let me go, but on my own dime.) We get an Air Force cycling uniform and it's a recruiting mission-we talk to people and hand out stuff.  That would be a blast!  To ride a bike for a week and talk about the Air Force- who could have a better job?!?!?!?

I met several people on the Salisbury ride.  It was a great atmosphere. We'd ride and talk and whatnot.  At Assateague, we saw some wild ponies- 2 adults and a baby.  I got pics.  We stopped for about 30 minutes there and I walked around in the ocean, sat on the sand, ate some food, and then we took off again.  The next pit stop had pie and ice cream for snacks- yum!  I burned about 5000 calories that day, so I was not concerned with what I ate!

We came home and went out for crabs- YUM!  I ate about 14 or so and drank a few beers, then crashed in bed.  Got up the next day and Jack picked me up and we headed off to Rachel's house.  Stayed with her on Sunday and then headed home Monday morning.  It was a wonderful weekend.

So far since I got back, I have been busy every weekend and all week.  Mom is coming next week and we may go to the fair, but other than that, we are staying home!