Monday Musings #7: Almost March



*  I had one day last week -- Friday -- when I woke up feeling rested.  It was an unfamiliar feeling, and it was wonderful.  I was able to use naptime to exercise and run on the treadmill instead of needing to lie down myself.  An extra two hours in my day?  Wow.  I would love it for that to continue.  I woke up tired again today, but at least there's an external cause -- Katie came crawling into bed with me at midnight and kicked me a good part of the night.  Maybe if my brain was functioning in the middle of the night, I might have been smart enough to walk her back to her bed?



* This little cutie turned one year old on Valentine's Day.  She delights us all with her quick smile and cheerful heart.  Everyone adores her.  There's something wonderful about the influence a baby has on her older siblings.  No matter how cranky or moody they might  be, she can always brighten their day. 

*  I've been doing fairly well with my goals for the year, particularly with the "learn to enjoy cooking" one.  Too bad my kids aren't doing so well in the "learn to enjoy eating mom's cooking" department.  Oh, most of them are fine.  It's just two who are extremely picky and refuse to try anything other than pizza, lasagne and peanut butter sandwiches.  We've been making them eat a small amount of everything anyway, in the hopes that a more balanced diet will allow them to live long enough to afford their therapy someday. 

*  Fridays, I've been making soup every week and I've found some really yummy soups.  One of our favorites is this Chicken and Dumpling soup.  It tastes divine, though the dumplings aren't as thick as I wish.  I tried a Lion House cookbook recipe for the same kind of soup last week and while also good, it wasn't quite as tasty and the dumplings weren't any better.

*  I've been making bread or rolls once or twice a week as well.  Even my picky eaters don't complain about that.  I made these bread bowls on Friday and they were fantastic, though if you make them, I recommend dividing them into 8 or 10 bowls.  I made six and they were way too big.

*  I've been frustrated and discouraged by my *very* slow progress in weight loss this time.  In the past eight weeks, I've lost 5.5 lbs.  This is the first time I've tried losing weight when I haven't been nursing and it is much harder.  And I think I'm just mentally having a harder time feeling motivated to watch everything I eat.  This is my third winter/spring in a row where I've hit it hard and I'm just tired of it.  I want the weight to just melt off this time without me having to do much more than run.  But that's not how my body and appetite works.  I am determined, however, to do much better in March. 

*  Though the weight isn't coming off like I want, I am making progress on the running.  I ran 32 miles in January and I'm on target to run over 50 for February.  I've found a wonderful running partner who influenced me to join her team for the Wasatch Back Ragnar this summer.  It's a 24-hour race from Logan to Park City.  I'll have three legs.  The first is a very tough, 6.5 mile jarring downhill run.  Then I have 8 miles straight up.  I finish out with an easy 3 mile run through the streets of Heber.  I'm excited for it, and especially to be training differently.  Instead of going for distance endurance, as I have in the past, I'm going to be adding lots of hills and other terrain.  I signed up for the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon on April 27th and after getting up to that distance, I'll focus the next two months on pushing up and down the hills.  It should make me an overall better runner.   I'm going to switch from the Utah Valley Marathon to the half distance so I can focus on running quality rather than quantity. 

*  I'm getting faster at running and it feels great.  Friday, I took to the treadmill for a mile to see if I could beat my fastest time, 10:03 from last summer.  My most recent fastest has been 10:34.  I got 9:30.  It about killed me, though, so I don't think I'll be running that fast over long distances any time soon.  Still, I've been doing more 11-minute miles instead of 11 and a half or 12 on my longer runs, and I love seeing the progress.






Comments

I love your posts! Thanks!!
Maryanne said…
Your running is awesome! it's great to have those races to look forward to. I need to set some up. And I can so understand your feeling of being tired every day (my Isaac has been waking up a lot) and each day I feel like I'm dragging around.
Catey said…
I can't believe your baby is a year old already. She is adorable!
I am doing Wasatch Back this year too-so excited! Yay for getting faster, that is always awesome!
So are you going to jump back on the 26.2 wagon later this year?