My Morning Walk

Salsa is such a great little walking partner!  Besides being extremely adorable, she's also very enthusiastic and always excited to go.  That turns out to be just the motivation I need on mornings that I'm considering the lazy alternative of not going.  She gets into the habit of it very quickly and almost expects it.  If I say the word, "walk", she bounces up and down with happiness.  Or, if she thinks I'm wearing some sort of clothing that looks like "walking" clothes or shoes, she gets excited about that too.  How could I let that precious girl down?! 

The trees surrounding our neighborhood are currently in an extreme bloom!  They must be really happy with the weather or something because I've never seen them bloom quite this much!  The ground, sidewalks, and gutters are covered in tiny yellow blossoms and pollen.  And, the trees are buzzing with bees.  Oh, and the air is very fragrant!  Luckily, it doesn't seem to bother my allergies.  Whew!

Rockin' at the Gym

I've been a little lacking in the blog department lately.  But, life has just been so busy!  My daughter is still on break from college and I love spending as much time with her as I can when she's home.  We've been very busy!  Lots of shopping, cooking, this, that, and....climbing!

Hubby and I met in a rock climbing class in Joshua Tree National Park about 27 years ago.  We climbed a bit after that and a few years ago we got hooked on canyoneering...going down more than up.  Over the years we've done some indoor climbing here and there.  Our daughter bought a one month membership to an awesome local climbing gym to enjoy during her break.  We went one day and loved it so much that we also bought a month long memberships (yay for Groupon!).  We'll likely continue our membership after our initial month is over.  It's that fun!

They have a bouldering area where you can do shorter climbs without a rope.  That's done on the center structure.  There are big, poofy pads for if you fall.  I'm not into bouldering because I don't want to fall....poofy pads or not.  The perimeter walls have ropes with auto belay devices that catch you if you fall and let you down slowly.  And, they have other ropes to hook into to belay one another.  I stick to the perimeter routes.  That should keep me busy for quite a while as there are so many routes and even the simpler ones can be challenging....but oh so fun!

We even bought new climbing shoes as our old ones weren't in good shape after all these years.  The rubber on the bottoms had gotten hard and they just didn't feel good.  I think our feet have changed!  And, we don't like rental shoes!  I love our new shoes!  Aren't the colors great?!

We've already gone times enough to pay for our membership and it's barely been a week.  And, I can't believe how far I've come in just a week.  On our most recent visit, I conquered three climbs...making it all the way to the top and tapping the top of the wall before coming down.  And, I've made it just over the ledge on this challenging one.  It's a lot more work than it would seem.  Makes me breath hard and works just about every muscle in my body.  I was quite sore after the first couple of times!  I'm excited about how strong I can become and how it can even strengthen my hands for knitting!  ;-)

It's so cool to see how far my daughter has come!  She's amazing on these climbs!  She's also been working a lot on the slack line that they have at the gym.  It's like a tight rope.  She can walk all the way to the end and turn around.  She can even stand on one leg, crouch down slowly, and stand back up.  It's great for the core!  She said she feels so much stronger from climbing and the slack line and that it helps her have less pain when playing her harp for hours.  I'm not brave enough to try the slack line (or...uh...crazy enough....yet!).  

All of this is great exercise and it's really great for stress.  When climbing, the only thing you can think of is the next move....nothing else.  A nice vacation for the brain!  The best part is that it's so much fun that it doesn't feel like exercise!  I love that!

Ruffly Workout Reward

Remember the incentives I gave myself a few weeks ago to get back into a regular exercise routine?

The first reward was an exercise top for meeting my first week challenge.

For meeting my challenge the second week, I bought this pullover...

I couldn't resist the adorable ruffles on the front sides and on the back...

The sleeves are nice and long...just the way I like.  The back is a bit longer than the front.

That's really nice too.  And, it goes with my new exercise top!

Those challenges and rewards were a great way to get me going!

I didn't reward myself with anything this past week.  It felt so great just to meet my
challenges for three weeks in a row!  I ran/walked over 35 miles in those first three weeks.

My daughter came home from college over the weekend to teach music lessons and we went
for a trail run on Sunday to add a little extra fun to our workout routine.  It was great!

I'm on week four now and have two of my five day minimum workouts done!

I'm running more and more and walking less.  I give myself at least one longer distance day each week.  And, I'm hoping to bring my average pace time down.  My incentive now is a 5K in March!

Oh, yeah.....and, I still try to go to the gym at least twice a week with my hubby to lift weights.
Trying hard to keep it up!    Yeeeha!  :-D

Workout Challenge and Reward

I have such a hard time sticking to regular exercise!  It's so boring!

I'd much rather go hike up a mountain, ride my mountain bike, ski, or explore a canyon!

But, that's not something I can do everyday.

In an effort to try and get myself on track with regular and worthwhile exercise/running,

I'm giving myself small challenges.  They should be much easier to meet than something like a 5k in three months.  For my first challenge, I decided I needed to work out a minimum of five days

in the first week.  If I did that, I'd get to go buy a piece of workout clothing.

I already had my eye on something I'd recently seen but wouldn't let myself get.

I couldn't justify it if I really wasn't working out!

It worked!  I worked out five days in the first week and ran/walked a total of 11 miles.

Woot!  Here's my new workout top!  It's so cute!  And, such a deal at TJ Max!

Check out the adorable little ruffle and gather on the t-back...

The back is longer than the front and covers up my tush!

I had worn out running shoes and lucked out at REI this week on a new pair that was on clearance
I also picked up a set of six pairs of socks at TJ Max for only $5.99 (that's like $1 per pair!).

I've got Pandora on my phone for tunes to keep me going.  

And, Endomondo to keep track of miles and all that good stuff.  

I'm on track again this week...I've done four out of five days so far.  And, I'm up to almost twelve miles so far this week...almost 23 miles since I started my challenges!  This challenge will earn me a new pair of exercise pants/tights.  It may get a bit more challenging next week when my daughter moves back to go to school and I'll be working out on my own.  But, I CAN DO IT!  :-D

A New Angle

I've been meaning to post an update about what was going on in my last two posts but I just haven't been ready until now. The whole thing was such a surprise and gave us so much to think about. All of the supportive comments really helped us a lot...thank you. It was comforting to receive caring and encouraging words and stories from others who have experienced similar things. Taking a breath, a little time, and the help of others has caused us to step back and take a look at all of this from a different angle. We've done a ton of research since the doctor said she wanted to rush into surgery. Over and over we've read...and heard from others...that it's not only a good idea to wait, it's usually common practice. Surgery is a BIG deal! It's not something to rush into. The idea of it really upset us all. Cysts can change and often do. It only makes sense to wait and watch to see if it changes.

We've also learned that dietary/eating changes can make a big difference with this and thyroid (the other issue). We had already been making significant changes in our diet and this was the push we needed to take it to an even higher level and get more serious about it. We've been eating more veggies, whole grains, natural foods, no dairy and less meat. In fact, we're almost vegetarian. The only meat we've been eating is some fish and an occasional meal with organic, free range chicken. We're limiting ourselves with the red meat to verrrrrry seldom. We've read so much about how a more natural, plant strong diet can be life changing. And, so far, we all feel better from it. Although, I'm not sure I'll give up my Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch ice cream! Hubby and my daughter have found alternatives that they LOVE! They both love coconut ice cream...especially the cookie dough flavor. Hubby fell in love a few years ago with Trader Joe's soy ice cream with dark chocolate and cherries. I haven't found any alternatives that I like yet. So, an occasional tub of Ben and Jerry's just might be something I won't give up.  But, I rarely have it....so, that's ok. 

Exercise always seems to be one of the answers to just about every health issue. This is no exception. Talk about a kick in the butt to get to the gym more regularly! Hubby was already doing great. My daughter was doing ok. I had gotten a little lazy with it over the past few months. But, now, we're all going to the gym just about everyday. The hardest part is going but once we're there it feels great and I can't believe I put it off. It makes no sense to avoid something that can make us feel so good and improve our health and quality of living.

Another thing we've read and heard a LOT of good things about is acupuncture. It has a reputation of correcting these kinds of problems. We decided to go for it. My daughter had her first visit just a few days ago and is noticing changes already! The acupuncturist we're going to specializes in women's health. She also recommended Chinese medicine for the thyroid. We were ready to go for it with that too but when my daughter mentioned it to her OB/GYN, she said it can cause more problems. But, in the same email, she suggested giving my daughter injections of a hormone that we already told her my daughter had a problem with in the past. My daughter's immediate reaction to that hormone was, "no way!". We'll talk to the acupuncturist about the Chinese medicine some more tomorrow. In the meantime, she's going to stick with the acupuncture and see what happens.

It just seems to make the most sense to do healthy and non invasive things to try and correct this or any other health issue. I've read and heard countless stories about the success of such things. Cutting someone open and doing surgery should be a last resort and...hopefully...one we can avoid!