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Monday, 10 August 2009

3 Miles Again!

I ran three miles again today! I'm learning a couple things, mainly that running is about changing your mind. All through highschool - even playing soccer - I thought I couldn't be a runner. When they'd assign 12 laps around the soccer field, I'd groan, knowing each step would be torture. And while I might have been a decent sprinter, it was so discouraging to make a great sprint in a game, get to the ball first, and then not have enough energy and endurance to run back down the field when the opposing team retrieved the ball. I never seemed to have the endurance that my teammates did.
But then I met a wonderful young lady who ran track in high school and while I could barely run 1/10 of a mile, I could do crunches until the cows came home (crunches and core strengthening were big with my JV soccer coach). But while she could run with glorious abandon, crunches were not her thing!
So lesson #1: You have to develop the muscle base for the exercise you wish to engage in ... and sometimes that is a slow, painful process but once the muscles are built, the body remembers how do do the exercise even if it's been a while.
Lesson #2: There are times to listen to your body's limits and many, many more times to tell it that it's not that important.
Lesson #3: Fast is fun but I'd rather go slow and be able to meet my goal than go fast and have to stop.
Lesson #4: You can actually rest while running downhill.
Lesson #6: I have lungs in parts of my body that I never knew I had lungs!
Now my goal is to get fairly comfortable running 3 miles so that next summer my goal can be 5-8 miles! (I am somewhat limited as to amount of time I have available!)

Wednesday, 22 July 2009

I've been watching the Tour de France thinking how beautiful the scenery and how wonderful it must be to bike through it. I actually caught myself thinking what if someday I could go on vacation and slowly bike through some of the stages - and realized that if I could bike five miles on flat land, I'd think I was doing well! So I was admiring the discipline it must take - since these men aren't even biking for pleasure, they're racing. How much discipline would it take to allow someone to simply bike through the stages for the fun of it? Realizing that discipline makes some things possible that might not otherwise be possible - opens certain doors of opportunity and possibly closes other doors, limits options in other areas.
And what would my Christian life be like if I saw discipline not as an avenue to prove myself or to earn something, but simply as a means to make possible some things that might not otherwise be?
Went running again this morning - in the rain. Second time since before Jayden was born if you don't count the 2 random attempts since he's been born. Didn't really want to try since I remember what it was like when I was trying to learn how to run before Jayden was born. It was so much work and huffing and puffing and very little to show for it. I could run, maybe a minute or two before having to stop and walk. I did gradually get better but it was baby steps to the extreme. But it's been awhile and other than regular motherly (of two) duties I haven't had much discipline in my life. After awhile I start to crave some measure of self-denial, even if in some small, insignificant way. So my first time out I ran half a mile, in two segments, walking in between and thought it was better than expected and that you have to start somewhere. And since I was practically hyperventilating, I thought it was't bad for me. But today, surprise myself, I ran a little over a mile - in three segments but at least 6/10 of it all together! I know for any seasoned runner, that's peanuts, but I'm pretty proud of myself!

Wednesday, 01 July 2009

Laundry

I hung my laundry out on the line for the 2nd time since moving in. I was in love with the idea of having a clothesline so my wonderful husband quickly went to town [last] summer to make sure one was available to me. And did I use it? Not once! This year I was determined to at least try, even if my clothes were stiffer than they would be from the drier ... being the selfless, loving person I am, I tried it out on the kids clothes first! And I fell in love with having a clothesline and with using a clothesline!

I have learned some lessons, though:
1. Wooden clothespins are easy to use but break just as easily!

2. When taking clothes off the line, watch out you don't drop them in muddy puddles left over from the children watering the flowers ... and the lawn ... and each other!

Close up of my muddy puddle ...

Lastly, one can camoflauge boy's underwear by folding it in half sideways when it is hanging outside. Unfortunately, my picture doesn't seem to want to upload properly, so I'll leave that to the imagination!

Wednesday, 15 April 2009

Diaries of a Painter

:: My husband has always said, "Prime twice, paint once - if you can get away with it." Being the wonderful, loving wife that I am, I completely ignored his suggestion and did it my way on the first three rooms we've painted in the house ... noticing that I'd have to paint 3-4 coats of white on the woodwork to fully cover it up. So this time, I said, "What the hey - why not?" as I remembered that Primer must be thicker than paint for some reason and primed twice. And goodness me, would you believe, the wood practically looks painted and I haven't even gotten to that step yet!

:: As I'm applying the primer to the walls (after 2 coats on the woodwork), I'm wondering if it's possible to cut the green while still painting the woodwork white ... and how much of the wall could be painted green if the woodwork is taking too long. I'm noticing a tendency when I paint to skip steps in order to get results ... (Yes, Lisa, I know what you would say!)

:: I've realized that paint can be scratched off almost anything you didn't want it on in the first place - metal hardware, finished wood floor ... and I'd rather go back and scratch it off as it bugs me than take the time to remove the doors to begin with (the floors there's not much I can do about). But this boils down to having 2 small children and wanting to minimize the disruption painting the hallway (with its nine hundred doorways) causes in our lives.

:: It's true, paint covers a multitude of sins! On the negative, my woodwork has more than a multitude of sins. On the positive, subtracting a multitude is still a much better look than before it was painted!

Monday, 13 April 2009

Todays Realizations ...

1) Kids just want to be allowed to help ... for about 20 seconds! My boys favorite line is, "Can I help, Mommy?" (from Jayden) and "Uhhhhnnnhhhh" and pointing (from Jonas). If I'm washing dishes, they help by filling up a plastic glass and dumping it in the sink over and over and over (but they think they're helping) and if it's sanding or sweeping or vacuuming, the interval of helpfulness depends on the interesticity of the job. Sanding - 20-30 sec. Vacuuming - quite awhile if we're playing bumper vacuumes. I'm begining to think they just want to hear me say, "Oh yes, I definitely need your help!"

2) While thinking things over in my head, I realized there are so many things that are better modeled than spoken of - talk about something and you know people fit what you're saying into their existing constructs rather than your constructs - model something and maybe you can impart the spirit of the thing. My husband does this rather well. Yes, yes, he models it for me! And maybe after 8 years of marriage I'm finally getting it!

3) The length of your to-do list positively corresponds with the amount of energy you have. Meaning: Little energy, little to-do list. Lots of energy, long to-do list. Somehow it never ends up all getting done!

4) I don't want to make fear-based decisions.

5) I'd really like a piece of chocolate cake.