The shallow end of the gene pool

Last night I sat down and made out a schedule of when I'm going to do which workout. I haven't been doing enough of any of them, and have been meaning to double up some of them, but just haven't figured out what, when, and how long. Today I walked 5 miles, and tomorrow I will be biking and running.

I subscribe to Runner's World Magazine, which I enjoy, it has lots of great information. But the last couple issues have also had some depressing profiles of runners. They're people who were overweight, but they started walking (and started losing weight), then gradually started running a little (lost more weight), started running longer distances (got down to their goal weight), and ran their first marathon in 3:30 (or less). And it took less than a year for all of this to happen. I walked 6 miles a day, 3 days a week, pushing DD in her jogging stroller, for more than a year, and never lost weight. I added in running several times a week when I was training for the half marathon I did last fall. I still didn't lose anything, and it took me 3 hours to do a half marathon. I took a couple months off because of the move and the weather, but have been walking, running, biking and swimming for about 3 months, and still haven't lost anything! Ok, I am building muscle right now, but that's not the point. And it's not like I'm eating whatever I want, I try to be real careful about what I eat and how much. Not that it seems to make much of a difference. Sometimes it's really depressing coming from the shallow end of the gene pool.

However, I've decided I like the way I feel in my bike shorts. I don't know how I actually look (the mirror is blocked by remodeling stuff right now), but I doubt I look as good as I feel. There's just something about the stretchy fabric that hugs your body and somehow, against all odds, makes you feel thin (well, thinner than your normal clothes make you feel, anyway). Maybe this is why so many larger people wear spandex shorts. Though in my defense, I only wear my bike shorts when exercising, never to the grocery store or the post office. Something to ponder....

Today my dad and I went to Lowe's to get more stuff for the remodels while the 10% military discount was still in effect. We took my car because I thought we wouldn't have any problems fitting everything in (I'm a master packer, and we have hauled all sorts of things, including a monstrous roll of carpet that should not have fit, but did). Unfortunately, the bead board panels were a lot longer than would fit in my car. So we tossed a blanket on the roof and tied the panels to the roof. Some key ideas to keep in mind when tying large sheets of wood to the roof of a vehicle: 1. Make sure you tie all the sides down, so that when you stop they don't slide forward down your hood and onto the street. In my defense, I didn't tie them down, my dad did. He remembered the back, but didn't think about the front. 2. Make sure there is no breeze at all. We went 30 mph the whole way home, and still had problems with the wind picking up the panels. 3. Make sure you have long arms for reaching out the window to hold onto the panels so you know when to slow down even more. I don't have long arms and it was awkward and painful. As I told my dad when we finally made it home: not an adventure I want to repeat.

The bathroom is going way slower than I had hoped, but dad's still not far enough along for me to help move things along. He did get the shower pan and drain in, as well as the backer board on the floor. Hopefully we can get lots done tomorrow, though I think we'll end up spending more time outside than in. My parents ordered a big roll-away dumpster for all the remodeling refuse, and it's being delivered tomorrow. So we'll have to load it up with the pile that's currently behind the house, and then we have to go around the yard and look for anything else that's just sitting around, taking up space, needing to be thrown out.

I did finally make dentist appointments for DD and myself, something I've been meaning to do for the last 3 months. Mine is this week, DD's isn't till August. Most regular dental clinics won't see kids under 4 years old, so I had to call around till I found a pediatric clinic that takes our insurance. It was a pain, as is the fact that the closest one I could find is twice as far away as the clinic I can go to. I guess I'm just peeved because the pediatric dental clinic we took DD to last fall, before we moved, was closer than the clinic I went to, and neither one was very far away.

Hissy fits, hill running, and book swiping

I had planned on going for a run after breakfast, before it got too hot. However, while we were eating, dad came in and said he wanted to go to Home Depot as soon as possible so he could get going on stuff in the bathroom. We had decided to go today and get the expensive stuff for the downstairs bathroom because they're offering a 10% discount to the military this weekend. Gotta save money wherever I can... So we ended up getting the tub (a deep jetted tub that still fits in the space of a normal tub- not a necessity, but it will be nice to have), the toilet and the sink and vanity, as well as some miscellaneous things like light switches and electrical outlets and some wood to frame in the windows (which is what dad wanted to get working on today). There's a few more things we need, like faucets, but we'll have to go to Lowe's on Monday for those; their 10% discount goes through Monday, Home Depot only goes through Sunday.

I decided to go for a run after DD got up from her nap. I thought about going during her nap, but decided it was too hot. I knew I had to do it today, though, since I've wussed out the last two days and haven't done squat. And I was doing so good... The break was nice, though. Anyway, I was getting ready to put DD in the jogging stroller and she started pitching a screaming hissy fit because my mom told her no (don't remember what for, but it wasn't something to cry about), and wouldn't calm down. I told her if she kept screaming, she'd be going back to bed. This usually calms her down pretty quick, but it didn't this time, so I put her in her bed, where she continued to scream for another 10 minutes or so before finally calming down. She had plenty of books, her water bottle, her lambie, and her blankie, so I wasn't too worried about her. Mom said she'd keep an eye out for her, so I went on my run- alone.

It's been quite some time since I've gone on a run by myself, I'm usually pushing DD in the jogging stroller. It was quite enjoyable to be able to move both arms at the same time! I had to concentrate on it a bit, though. I'm so used to the one-armed thing. It was a good run: the weather had cooled off, there was a bit of a breeze, my shins didn't give me too many problems, and I managed to run almost 4 miles. I did stop and walk periodically for a minute or two, so I didn't run the whole thing, but it's more than I've done in awhile, and I managed to keep a good pace. I still need to speed up, but at this point my main focus is just getting the miles in so I'm prepared for the half marathon and full marathon. I have no illusions about actually being able to run the whole race either time, but I would like to finish in a decent time and as prepared as possible. I do like the run for 20 minutes, walk for 2 method, though it usually degenerates to much shorter run periods. It worked quite well during the half marathon I did last fall, and it allows you a chance to breathe and regroup a bit. The hardest part is trying to start running again when you're halfway up a hill. That sucks.

I started my pinata for the reunion on Thursday, but when I looked at it yesterday, it was a dry, shriveled up prune.

Not sure what happened, but now I have to start another one. So I did that tonight and will hopefully have better luck with this one. I don't really have time to start another one.

I also started reading 'Freakonomics', the book my sister wants us to read for the book club thing she's doing. I've only made it about 30 pages in, though. I made the mistake of telling dad that it was already quite interesting, and he swiped it while I was giving DD her bath. Luckily he's a fast reader (most of us are), so I'll have it back soon.

A good hard run

DD woke up at a normal time this morning, no crazy sleeping in till all hours of the afternoon. We went for a run that felt really good. I did the five mile loop and ran about 3.5 miles and walked the other 1.5 miles. If it wasn't so hilly I think I could have run the whole five miles. My shins were feeling good, and my breathing wasn't too bad (I have had some issues adjusting to the altitude and dealing with pollen and stuff in the air). Unfortunately, I'm not quite strong enough to push DD in her stroller up all the hills, especially when I've already run 3 miles of rolling hills. But that will come. I wasn't always able to bike up those same hills with DD in tow, but now I can. I just need to be patient and work on gradually increasing my mileage so I don't get injured.

After DD's nap we made cookies to send to DH. Last time I sent cookies he and the guys he works with inhaled them in 30 seconds. I was going to send more this time, but those stupid flat rate boxes just aren't very big. I could use a bigger box, but it would cost a lot more. So I think I'll just send packages a couple times a month, instead of just once a month.

I was researching ideas for FHE with a toddler last night and came up with a couple good ideas. One was to use the nursery manual and talk about the same lesson that was taught on Sunday. This would be very easy, since half the time I'm the one who taught the lesson. The other idea I liked was to take a picture from the Gospel Art Picture kit and talk about it, using the info printed on the back. This is the one I think I'll actually try first, as soon as I get said picture kit (a couple weeks from now). We'll see which works best with DD.

So the other day DD and I went to Babies R Us to look at car seats. While there, I looked around, and noticed just how many of the women there were pregnant. At a guess, I'd say 90% of them were. It was rather depressing. I'm ok with not currently being pregnant (we were hoping I would be, but it didn't work out that way), but sometimes I still get that feeling of jealousy. I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that we'll probably only end up with 2 or 3 kids, and at least one of those will be adopted. But part of me really wants to get pregnant (and stay pregnant) one more time. I want a better pregnancy than with DD (I was in a lot of pain and could barely walk the last four months or so) and I want a better delivery (quite frankly, it was horrible). On the other hand, things still aren't back to normal down there (the result of said horrible delivery), and if I have another bad delivery who knows how long it'll take to heal. Despite that, I do still want to get pregnant again. I'm just glad that there's not twenty zillion pregnant women at church (I've been in wards where that was the case). And I'm working hard at trying to get in shape and lose weight so I have the best chance of getting pregnant and staying pregnant when I see DH when he has R&R. DH has an aunt who lives in Hawaii, so we're meeting him there and spending two weeks seeing the sights and spending time together. Luckily it's not till the last half of November, so I still have time to lose weight and get in shape.