Back at it!

I made the decision on Monday that I would start C25K (Couch to 5K) over again.  I have just lost so much endurance and stamina over the winter --- and motivation, to be perfectly honest!  I would have to back up a bit anyway, so I figured that I would start over, and this time PUSH myself on the speed end of it.  Monday was W1D1  (Week 1 Day 1), and it was great.  I pushed myself hard.  I was exhausted.  So much so that my calves were still tight TODAY.  I probably would have gone ahead with W1D2 if my shoulders weren't absolutely killing me from also starting the Hundred Push-Up plan.  Yes. Serious pain.  In fact I am supposed to do Day 2 of THAT tonight, as well... but... um... OW.

So anyway....  I am excited to have a plan again, and to be listening to the lovely voice on my "Get Running" app.  :)  Now all I need to do is trade in my phone for an ANDROID so I can get GPS enabled apps    get a Garmin Forerunner   replace the sensor for my Nike+ that must have stopped working in the months that I neglected it.

I am NOT going to mention the weather forecast. (I live in the most northeastern state in the country.)  I will be seriously TICKED OFF if the weather  messes with my running mojo again!   

Happy running, everyone!

Stuck in the past today....

To understand where my head and heart are today,  it may help to visit:  http://dukebabysaga.wordpress.com/2009/08/, my old blog.  It catalogs a very painful chapter in my life, that I unwillingly was forced to remember today.

I need a good cry and some aspirin.
And a few dozen hugs from my boys...

Special Day! (Tribute to my Daddy.)

The man that I have admired (and aspired to resemble in nature) for my whole life is celebrating a birthday today.  Well, in truth, he is just HAVING a birthday today.  The celebration will be TOMORROW!  :)

My father has shared with me his love of words, numbers and cribbage.  (My husband came along later and stole my joy of cribbage, making it his own, but that it is a story for another day!)   Oh - we must not forget about pistachios!

My father did NOT pass on his wealth of knowledge of sports -- he could EASILY be a sportcaster, play by play announcer.  Many times he has shared a tidbit that nobody on earth would have reason to know about the person at bat, or pitching, MOMENTS before the television announcer shared the same fact.
It is okay that I do not have this in common with my father.  Because it gives my husband, who DOES share this talent (to a lesser degree... sorry, hon), and my Dad something to talk about.  At length.

My father instilled in me something that is far more valuable than anything mentioned above. I know- it's hard to believe that anything would rank higher.  I knew without a doubt that he and Mom believed in me.  They could see beyond the emotional mess that I often was to my potential.  It wasn't just words.  It was words in action.   It wasn't just knowing that I had found something that I had a knack for (Thank you, Mrs. Vandeloski, for convincing the parents that were convinced that I had a terrible singing voice, and thought it was a shame that I loved music so much, that music might just be my THING),  it was finding an instrument and teacher, and driving to lessons, and starting the whole process over again with each new instrument that I found.  It was being part of parent groups and doing fundraiser (after fundraiser) and bake sale (after bake sale) and attending marching band competitions in pre-winter conditions for FIVE years.  (Just for the record, I did marching band as an 8th grader, it did not take me  years to complete high school.  College, yes.  High school? No.)  

Fast forward a few years.  I had just started student teaching in my final year of college.  I was walking behind my cooperating teacher, and I must have look like a tourist.  I had the same sense of awe and excitement that I am sure most people feel when they are walking on the street underneath the Empire State Building.  You see, I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to continue studying performance on my trombone at a graduate school, or if I was supposed to go out and educate.  My first day student teaching answered that question for me.  I was in love with the whole thing.  The only problem was that I hadn't yet stepped in front of a class to teach anything myself yet.  I was terrified that I wouldn't be very good at it!  My mother and father thrilled to hear my excitement, and they came to the concerts that I led pieces in during that semester of student teaching.

I graduated, and found my current position.  (I could talk about interview clothes shopping, but then it would more about Mom, and .... it's my DAD'S birthday.  So I guess we will have to review some of the other wonderful stories on Mother's Day, perhaps.)   It meant relocating, to a very touristy location, in the middle of the summer, which was legendarily very difficult.  My future colleagues sent along every listing for apartments they saw in the local paper, and I found a promising apartment.  The landlord and his wife were future band parents!  My mom and dad and I took the trip up to see the apartment, and put a hold on it right away.  They made sure that I had enough to live on until my first paycheck.  Dad drove the U-Haul truck both ways -- an hour and half (in that thing, anyway) each way.

Fast forward a few more years.  I have gotten married, and produced an heir.  I mean... a grandchild.
While I admit to being quite snarky in my teenage years, I have ALWAYS loved and appreciated my parents.  Nothing has changed there. Unless you count it all being multiplied when you become a parent yourself, and you realize the actual depth of the love from parent to child.  Watching my sons fall in love with my parents  (and vice versa, of course!) fills my heart with more joy than I thought it could hold.  Sometimes I am so overwhelmed at the beauty of my life, that I am in physical pain.

So, Dad...

Thank you.
Thank you for trusting me to learn things the hard way when I needed to.
Thank you for protecting me from things when I need to be protected.
Thank you for surprising me and coming to my concert last year.....  As if I need any more reasons to cry! I was a pregnant mess!
Thank you for making my husband part of your family.
Thank you for loving my children.
Thank you for loving me..... and thank you for the AMAZING LIFE that you gave me.

I love you and Mom the size of the ocean!!  (I don't think your grandson will mind if I use his phrase!)

Your daughter,

Meredith

My New Best Friend. (sorry, Sam....)

Round 2 of my sickness is well underway.

I had one week of feeling almost healthy, and then it came back.  Not the fever, thank goodness... but last night was NOT pretty.  I was coughing so hard that it made me sick.  I .....  um..... nevermind.  But any women who have been pregnant, might know where I started to go with that one....

It was awful.

So, I wasn't able to get an appointment with my primary care provider, so they gave me a referral to the school health center nurse.  Her last available appointment was right as my high school band rehearsal was starting, so we spent a few minutes doing a phone consultation, and she sent in a prescription for an inhaler and some cough medicine with codeine.

I might be nuts, but my coughs already feel less tight and "angstful."

Who knows.

All I know, is that I can breathe, for the most part, and that makes me happy.


And look how cute it is, with the two tone blue colors?




The jury is still out as to whether or not I will take the cough syrup with codeine tonight.  It can't hurt.  (Unless it makes me sick, in which case, that will not only hurt, but also score pretty high up there on the ick factor scale.)


On a happier note, yesterday my boys rode TOGETHER in the CAR CART for the first time ever.  Soccer Boy is the sweetest big brother ever.  He was SO excited that Cuddle Bug is finally old enough and strong enough.  He takes his role of protector very seriously.  He makes me so proud.  Cuddle Bug has the most adorable smile, and it is so contagious!  His laughter fills my heart, and I just adore him!!

I didn't let myself picture my life as an adult when I was growing up.  I never believed that I would actually find love,  and if I never found love, I wouldn't be a mother....  Yadda, yadda, yadda.   And I was big on dreams.... but knew the pain of dreams that don't come true.  I knew that because I was pursuing a career in music,  (not the glamorous side, mind you, the EDUCATION side) that my life would be moderate.  And that was okay with me.  But how do you dream of moderate??

Anyway...
My life now as a wife and a mom of two boys, and a teacher to many, is just about perfect.  I could never have pictured it.  I could never have imagined it.  The reality is SO MUCH BETTER!!!

(even during round 2 of the plague.)

:)
Still loving my life amidst the coughs and sniffles......

-Meredith

A Green Necklace, A Tender Heart

After Cuddle Bug was born, I received a giftcard to Kohl's.  I decided to get a long, fun necklace that would be interesting for Cuddle Bug to play with when I was holding him.  The very first time that I wore the necklace, it broke and beads spilled every where.  Seriously.  We are still finding them in corners and places upstairs.  This was in late April of last year.

Last night, my darling Soccer Boy, in the midst of using the two Leis and necklaces that we received at the Mom's Night of his preschool, he came over to me.

"Mom, do you remember a long, long time ago (everything is either yesterday or a long, long time ago, by the way... we are working on A WHILE ago.  He actually used that in the correct context this morning.  Woo-hoo!) when your necklace broke and the things went everywhere and made a mess?  And then you didn't have a necklace anymore?"

I said, "Yeah, I remember that.  It made a BIG mess, didn't it?"

He said, "Well, Mommy, since you don't have a necklace anymore, I want you to have THIS necklace," and he awkwardly placed the precious green necklace, a gift from his preschool teacher, over my head.   It got stuck on my ponytail, but that isn't the point.  The beads are plastic, and was probably purchased in bulk at the dollar store.  But that doesn't matter.  My sweet, tender hearted son remembered that I had lost something,  had the means to replace it, and chose to bless me.  I wore that necklace to church today, even though it clashed with my outfit.  I will wear it to the benefit concert my high school band is having on Thursday night.  To me, this necklace couldn't be more precious than pearls.

Of course,  after we got home from church, he decided that he wanted to use it to "decorate" his truck.  "After all, Mommy, it's still OURS, right?"

You bet, sweetie.  

I love you.

I'll Huff and I'll Puff and I'll........ (learn how to run again....)

It doesn't feel like starting over.

But I have definitely lost some endurance, and some confidence.  And that is okay.  I expected it.   And while it is warm-ER, it is still WINTER.  Yeah.

So I will keep plugging away, and keep getting out there when I can.

The one huge really big hooray??  It's LIGHT OUT for longer!!  And we are setting the clocks ahead this weekend, so it's going to lighter in the MORNING, too!  That's really cool!

-----
So I found a pair of Brooks Ariels online, and I bought them, fully expecting to fall in love with them.

Unfortunately, after my run yesterday, the jury is still out on these shoes. It's hard to tell whether my legs are tired and sore because they haven't been used in like for -ev-er, or because the the shoes are not the right ones, and  *gasp* perhaps not the magic cure-all that I had hoped they would be.

*sigh*

C'est la vie.

(You see that? That was me, attempting to be all multi-cultural and stuff.)

EAS Unstoppable Tour - Day 2

If you have NOT checked out the EAS Unstoppable Tour (videos are on YouTube, official Tour site is on facebook), then you have to start.  Sam Tickle is just out of the Navy, and is as conditioned and fit as you would expect a Navy man to be.   But 30 Sports, in 30 Cities, in 30 Days.  And the sports are not  ping pong and badminton.  It is fascinating to hear how his physical trainer is supplementing his diet with the EAS family of products to help his muscles stay strong, and recover faster.  The videos are excellent in quality of production, and I absolutely LOVE the music they use for them.

Enough talk.

Check out Day 2 in MY HOME TOWN!!!!

Yes!!

I am so happy. I was able to exercise! For the first time in three weeks, I was able to get a workout glow!

On my lunch break, I plugged in my skullcandy and set off for a 2 mile Leslie Sansone audio workout. When I was fully warmed up, I stopped listening to her cues and was simply running around my classroom. It felt so good!! I coughed a little bit, but nothing alarming.

It feels great!
My pedometer says 8561, and it is only 2:54 pm!

Oh--- I lost another pound, bringing my total to 11 pounds lost since I started using MyFitnessPal. I think that I am seeing the difference in my face already, and yesterday I swear I thought that my clothes were fitting differently.  Today too, actually.  :)

Unstoppable Tour - Day 1: Sea Kayaking

This is the first day of Sam Tickle's 30 day challenge.

Dude--- this was filmed in Eastport! I went there and conducted a festival in beautiful Eastport in November of 2009! It was awesome!

I am so excited to see the rest of Sam's awesome journey!

EAS Unstoppable Tour

Have you heard of Sam Tickle?

Have you heard of The Unstoppable Tour?

You HAVE to check this out.

Sam Tickle is taking on 30 different sports, in 30 days, in 30 different cities.

Watch the trailer. Prepare to be inspired, and feel the winter blahs melt away!




Amazing, right?
I am going to be showcasing his journey, because I need the inspiration!

Back in the Land of the Living

I have never in my life been as sick as I was for the last two and a half weeks.
I was out of school the ENTIRE week before vacation with a 101 (or higher) fever, that did not break until the Saturday before school vacation week.  While I was dealing with the fever, the chills (alternating with the sweats), I had horrendous headaches and racking coughs that caused lots of pain. My husband stayed home with me so that he could take care of the boys 2.5 days during that week.  I felt horribly guilty, and pathetically grateful.  Thank you Lord, for sick time.   The entire week of vacation I was still dealing with the cough and headaches, though thank goodness the fevers were gone.

I am back at work, but  I have coughing fits after taking the stairs, or crossing the room too quickly, or talking too much (or too loudly) or SINGING to help my drummers find their place in the song.

I am assuming that it is needless to say that exercising has not happened yet.  I really want it to, though.  The days are getting longer, and LONGER!!  I picked up the boys from daycare yesterday close to five o'clock and it was stilly daylight!  Beautiful daylight, not almost dusk daylight!

On my way home I see all of these clear, beautiful streets, and I am so angry at my lungs for making me unwell enough to run again, until I get onto my own road, and there is still an icy, slushy mess.  It is a bit ironic, don't you think, that the people the plow the streets of our little town live ON OUR ROAD?  Hmmm.

OH---
I have lost TEN POUNDS so far using MyFitnessPal.  I am absolutely loving the website.  And it is really helping me to plan, and stay accountable.  Even on the days when I go over, and I don't feel like seeing the red numbers, I still have a pretty accurate idea of the damage that I am doing.   Oh-- and they have THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE food database that I have ever seen ANYWHERE, and I have used many, many online fitness sites!

:)