Vegan-ary Day 6 Super Bowl Edition

Yesterday was day 6. And I was worried about my willpower. Because I don't really have any. And it was the Super Bowl. I've always really loved the Super Bowl. Not because of the football, but because of the commercials and the food. In years past we could be found gorging ourselves on pizza, wings, cookies, brownies, chips and cheese dip, maybe some little meatballs or pigs-in-a-blanket. This year, we had to come up with a Vegan spread.

Now the goal wasn't necessarily to eat healthy, just to eat vegan. I still believe that by cutting out all animal fat we still had a pretty healthy day as compared to Super Bowls gone by.

Our menu:

Coca cola brownies (box of brownie mix, 2/3 can coca-cola, mix and bake according to pkg directions)
Ranch oyster crackers

Chips and nacho "cheese" sauce

Cookie dough balls

Spring Oreos
PB filled pretzels

We were sufficiently satisfied by all our choices. The brownies and cookie dough balls were amazing. I mean, if people and dessert could marry, I would live in polygamy with those 2 desserts. The oyster crackers were pretty good, but a little heavy on the onion powder for me. If I make them again, I will cut back on the onion powder and they will be perfect. The "cheese" sauce...well. It was fine. We ate it, and there have definitely been some things we have thrown away so the very fact that we ate it says something. However. Some vegans will say things like "so good even non-vegans will eat it" or "it tastes exactly like I remember cheese tasting". Ok. I will not lie. The people who say that must not have had cheese in a looooong time. This stuff was edible, I loved that it didn't give me a stomach ache, I loved that it didn't leave me feeling bloated, but it did not taste like cheese. It didn't. Now if I was desperate for football food I would probably make it again, but it wont be a weekly staple by any means. If you're thinking of trying it I recommend you use Fritos Scoops instead of plain tortilla chips. It tasted better on the Fritos.

Oreos and PB pretzels are accidentally vegan foods. I love accidentally vegan foods. They really help when I'm having major cravings and will power issues!!

Vegan-ary Day 6

We got a cold morning run in, thanks to having my mom as babysitter. We did 2.3 miles in 30 minutes. Slow. But that includes a couple walk breaks. We still havent come up to full running since doing the walk/run program at our last Half and then taking a nearly 2 month layoff after. Anyway, it felt fine and we were really glad when it was done. We decided that this week we are going to run 30 minutes continuously by the end of the week. It's time. We usually run a really hilly route, so this week we are going to the track. The nice flat surface will give us a chance to work on our time goal and get our running confidence back.

For lunch we decided to be brave and eat a couple new (to us) things. We tried Morningstar riblets and The Vegan Zombie Mac and Cheese.

Wow. Okay, the riblets actually tasted pretty good but I have a huge mental block when it comes to fake meat. The idea of it just grosses me out. Now, I think it's a fabulous tool to help someone transition. Like my husband. He has a hard time going without meat. It doesn't feel like a real meal to him without a meat and a couple sides. For him the fake meat is really helping. For me it's kind of creepy. On the plus side, it tasted (and actually kind of looked) like a McRib, which I always loved.  Maybe on a bun I could get past the creepy...anyway, it tasted okay and I ate it and moved on with my life.

Now...the Mac and cheese. Ok the prologue to the story is that I love the Vegan Zombie. His videos make me laugh and his recipes always look great and many taste great too. But I promised to give the good, the bad, AND the ugly so in the interest of full disclosure I did not dig the Mac and Cheese. I ate a few bites. I gagged. I gave it to the dog. Even the dog wouldn't eat it. True story. In 6 years my dog has never turned away food. Until today. Like I said, I am a huge an of the Vegan Zombie recipes, but this one just wasn't a match for me.

Ok, the Super Bowl deserves its own post. Stay tuned.



(not today, but isn't he cute?)



Vegan-ary Day 5

I'm still here, still going on the vegan-ish diet. Thursday I donated blood at the blood drive at work. The lady who I ended up with was the most polite phlebotomist ever. However, she also must have been brand new because she butchered me. She put the needle in and missed the vein or something so I ended up with THREE OTHER PEOPLE coming over and the needle never leaves my arm. They just dig it around and around until they get it where they want. It hurt SO bad! Anyway, civic duty done but it wore me out and left me woozy so our run was put off again.

Friday was my day off work. I did tons of laundry, washed some dishes, and watched some Gilmore Girls. Pretty good day off! Dave got home around 2 and we finally got a run in. And it was rough... Giving blood kicked our butts and we were s-l-o-w but another 30 minutes went in the books.

Yesterday we spent the day trying to rearrange the basement and failing miserably. So we will probably be back at that today. Apparently rearranging things the day before the Super Bowl is anxiety-producing for my husband. Whoops.

We also have a rainy run scheduled for this morning. I'm hoping to feel much much better than we did on Friday. My veins are feeling clean and my body feels good, so I'm counting on a good strong run. We shall see.

I am having one adverse effect that I blame on the diet. Pimples!! I have 2 new, painful ones that have broken out in the last day and a half. Dr. Google thinks it might be dairy detox?

Vegan-ary Day 2

I survived Day 2 of massive diet overhaul, although the cravings were pretty intense.  It wasn't really cravings for anything specifically, more like I just wanted to eat...and eat...and eat, all. day. long.  Just after lunch I started getting a migraine.  I medicated it, but it still hung on kind of dull and in the background for most of the rest of the day. 

Since we were rained out of our run Tuesday, we were supposed to run yesterday instead.  Well, my husband got trapped at work and couldn't get home in time to run before daycare closed.  I really didn't have it in me to tackle the treaddy, and he can't tackle it because his head bumps the ceiling, so we decided to run today instead.  I'm really anxious to see how it feels now that my body is already starting to feel more "cleaned out". 

The only other change I've really noticed so far is that this morning I only snoozed twice when my alarm off.  I always snooze 4-5 times because I'm so so tired in the mornings.  But this morning, just twice and then I was up and at it.  Maybe a coincidence, maybe a result of the dietary changes.  Only time will tell, but I liked it and I hope it's a habit that is here to stay.

Vegan-ary Day 1

This is my 100th blog post. For some reason I find that really exciting :-)

Today was a successful day by my standards. I didn't eat what most would call a "balanced" diet, but I expected that. The first few days are about breaking old habits and cravings and getting acclimated. Once that happens I'll start focusing more on variety and balance.

The last few days, we were well aware that Vegan-ary was approaching and so we wanted to eat any foods that we knew we were going to miss. This was an attempt to "get it out of our system" in hopes that these same foods wouldn't trigger us to cheat or want to cheat. So we have binged on down home southern comfort food, fast food breakfast sandwiches, Chinese buffet selections, BBQ, you get the idea. We were so miserable after last nights Mexican splurge. Bloated, heartburn, stomach cramps, diarrhea. Basically how we used to feel all the time. And we have been feeling like that for days, since our "cheat-proof binge-fest" started.

Well today, after one day of Vegan-ary, I am happy to report all the bloating, heartburn, and stomach issues GONE! I'm still really exhausted and feeling too lazy and tired to clean or do anything besides veg in front of the TV really, but I'm hoping those will improve with time.

My run today was cancelled due to rain...and I just didn't feel like running in the rain.  So I'll move that back to it's regularly scheduled Wednesday.

Basically, no drastic changes yet, just ridding myself of the heartburn and all. Thankfully no major cravings yet either.  I did have a mild headache all day and just SO tired.  I also realized that I bought myself a little miniature Ben and Jerry's ice cream cup so I could have one last ice cream splurge, but I forgot to eat it!!  Ugh.  Now it's mocking me.  I plan to feed it to the kids soon :-)

The Month Formerly Known as February

The hubby and I embarked on a non-New Year's Resolution on January 1st...but we are ready to grow the challenge.

We’ve decided to take on this 30 day challenge to eat mostly vegan, mostly unprocessed, mostly whole grain foods.  We will do this all of February, plus today to get our total 30 days.  We’re calling it Vegan-ary (ya know…instead of February).  No more “cheat days”, not for this month.  We’re going all in. The rules are pretty simple:

1.      Eat a mostly vegan diet eliminating ALL meat, eggs, and dairy.  We are making exceptions to a truly vegan diet by still allowing honey (as the FoK diet does) and gelatin.

2.      Eat only whole grains at home when cooking or eating bread or pasta.  If we go to a restaurant we may bypass the whole grains requirement, so long as what we are eating is still a vegan meal (with noted exceptions above).

3.      Reduce added oils and sodium when cooking at home.  Again, restaurant meals are an exception so long as we stick to #1.

4.      Eat primarily whole foods (grains, fruits, and vegetables) and cut out most processed foods (which we currently rely far too heavily on)

5.      Don’t break the rules for all of Vegan-ary!!!

I want to post regularly throughout Vegan-ary to document the improvements (or problems) that I’m noticing.  It’s not my intent to document exactly what I’m eating and turn this into a food blog, although I will talk about it some if anyone is interested.  I’m more interested in documenting how I’m feeling, changes I’m noticing, the way my runs are going/feeling/timing changes, etc.  I want to look back and have a record of how improvements in my diet are affecting me. 

When we had our first 8 day streak (January 1-8) we were feeling down because we didn’t notice any changes.  Or so we thought.  What really happened is that we had forgotten just that quickly how badly we had really been feeling before.  This time, I do not  want to forget.  I want it on here in all its glory…the clichéd good, bad, and ugly.  I am so beyond ready for Vegan-ary to begin!

Thoughts from January

My husband and I aren’t really New Year’s Resolutions kind of people.  I admire the people who are NYR kind of people.  If you can make a resolution and stick to it just because the calendar flips over to a new year then I think that’s great.  It takes amazing resolve.  Resolve that my husband and I don’t have.  We are not NYR kind of people.  We need a far greater catalyst for change than a calendar flip. 

This year on January 1^st we did make a change.  And it wasn’t a New Year’s Resolution, and it wasn’t because it was January 1^st.  It was because there was a catalyst for change and randomly that catalyst occurred just a few days before the New Year.  This happened:

We like to watch documentaries because we’re kind of nerdy like that.  We’re also aware that our four food groups are junk food, fast food, frozen food, and Paula Deen desserts.  We know those aren’t the healthiest food groups to build your day around.  We know it’s a horrible example for our children.  We know that it is shameful (yet oh so true) that days will pass without a single vegetable or fruit passing through our mouths.  For all of these reasons we were completely entranced by Forks Over Knives.  It really resonated with us.  In fact, it kind of terrified us.  But in a good way.  A way that inspired us to finally make some changes that we’ve been working towards for years.

We took a couple of days at the end of December to pig out on some of our favorite foods.  Then on January 1^st we completely cut out meat, eggs, cheese, and all dairy, and we switched to all whole grains for our breads and pastas.  We set out with a transition plan that allowed each of us in the house (including the 2 kiddos) 2 “cheat days” during the month.  This actually meant a cheat meal and not a whole day.  We figured 8 crappy meals during the month and 85 really healthy meals was a drastic and marked improvement.  And it would help us get through the cravings and rough times, knowing that we didn’t have to cut out some of our old favorites forever, but just for a little while.

We had an amazing January where we learned a lot about our bodies and our health.  We had an 8 day streak where we were questioning whether there was any difference at all in how we felt.  Then we had our first cheat dinner which instantly brought on all of the symptoms that we had already forgotten about: heartburn, stomach cramps, diarrhea, bloating, fatigue that made us completely worthless for the rest of the evening.  And then when we had our next streak of clean eating, we appreciated finally how much better we really felt.  It didn’t stop us from using all of the cheat days allotted to us, but it did make us wonder how we could feel if we cut out the cheat days.

Would our health improve?  Would our energy soar?  Would our running times go down and runs feel better?

So we decided to find out……stay tuned!

Reflections and Choices

We're approaching the end of the year and I've been feeling really reflective.  I think it happens to the best of us around this time.  It's hit me especially hard this year because 2011 has been what I would consider the worst of my life.  I've actually had a run of bad years as of late.  I could choose to let that get me down, but instead I'm choosing to use that as a stepping stone to make 2012 fantastic.

In November of 2009 my stepmother (of 25 years) passed away suddenly at the age of just 50.  That was extremely difficult to deal with.  My brother was in his early 20's but still lived at home, and he instantly became displaced.  My sister was only 20.  Neither of them could cope with much of the planning or decision-making, and as the oldest all of that naturally fell to me.  And it was hard.  And I'm not very good at mourning.  It was a rough time.

In April 2010 my grandpa passed away.  It was not sudden or unexpected, but he had been sick a very long time.  Every year at Christmas we all said "appreciate your time with him, this could be his last".  I think we had said that for at least the last 10 Christmases.  And he kept on hanging on.  And we all sort of stopped believing that "it might be his last" because he was so resilient.  But last April he finally lost the fight.  And I took that loss extremely hard.  Harder than I even expected I would.

My grandpa left behind his 96 year old mother.  We always said that she would hang on to take care of her sick son as long as he needed her around.  And she did.  But just a few months after he passed, so too did she.  Yes, 2010 was rough on me too.

In 2011, I haven't lost anyone I've loved and for that I am grateful.  But I almost lost everything else.  My husband and I have been married for over 7 years.  We have two beautiful little girls.  We have a life that I love.  But this year, we didn't take care of it and we almost lost it all.  We came to the very brink of divorce.  And it would have been justified, and no one would have blamed me for leaving, but it's not that easy.  I wasn't willing to throw away almost 9 years of history.  I wasn't willing to walk away from my partner, my best friend since we were 22 years old.  I wasn't willing to sacrifice my childrens' family or future. 

Together we have spent 6 months living in and going through hell, to fight for our family and our relationship.  We have kept our childrens' home together, and kept it running smoothly, and protected them from the hard work we were doing behind closed doors to keep it all together.  We have fought, and it seems we have won.  But it was a terrible year in the making, a terrible year to get to where we are today.

I know that there are still hard times ahead.  I know that my current situation is such that I will have to continue to choose my husband, even when some days I don't want to.  I know that I will still get down, feel sad, be exhausted from the weight of it all.  But I also know that I can choose how to respond.  I can choose to find happiness and joy in my life.  I can choose to make 2012 huge and wonderful and exhilirating.  I can choose to make 2012 different.  I can choose to really live in 2012.  I can choose.

Treadmill Shopping

Like I said yesterday, my treadmill has a GIANT hole in it and I'd rather put money into upgrading to a better one than sinking money into a repair that costs as much as the treaddy did in the first place.  I still have absolutely zero idea how the deck got a hole in it.  I don't run with weights or kettlebells that may have fallen through it.  The weight limit is 300 pounds and neither my husband or I come close to exceeding that.  We don't use it for hours of long running or crazy bouts of speed (although realistically it should even hold up to that).  Regardless, it's now a worthless piece of junk and I get to go treadmill shopping.

Here are the contenders (in no particular order):

1. Freemotion Xtr
2. Horizon Fitness T202
3. Horizon Fitness T203
4. Bowflex Series 7

Unfortunately I am not independently wealthy, so this purchase is kind of a big deal to me.  I'm feeling the pressure because I do not want to screw this up!  If I make the wrong decision I will be sad for years to come.  I'm going to continue scouring the interwebs for reviews of these models (and maybe others) and try to make a decision this week.  I need a way to run SOON.  Losing my stress relief has NOT been good for me!

Anybody have any opinions on these or other treadmills.  Any that you love?  Or hate?

I Haven't Been on a Run

I haven't run in awhile.  Despite proclaiming that I'm going to PR.  Which I'm still totally going to do.  But, Winter has set in hard and work has set in harder.  I've been getting home after dark every day.  And my treadmill has died it's last death I think.  I've run on it twice recently and it felt really bouncy and saggy.  I decided to investigate and found that (unbeknownst to me) it is made of really thin crappy MDF board inside the treadmill deck, and somehow that MDF now has a big hole in the middle of it.  It costs $129 for the materials to fix it, and the labor is probably astronomical.  And I only paid like $350 for it, so not sure I wanna go there.  So the bad news is that I haven't run.  The good news is that I've been treadmill shopping.  Soon I will have a newer, cooler treadmill and I'll be running again!

The other problem with running is that my husband had his tonsils removed on Thursday.  See pitiful man below:



I've been playing the good wife and taking excellent care of him willingly, HOWEVER:

1. I spent 7 hours in the waiting room on surgery day,
2. then another couple of hours making a pharmacy run and a grocery run for soft foods.
3. I don't mind doing either #1 or #2, BUT THEN
4. I pick my 2 kids up from daycare and my darling eldest eats dinner and then pukes it back up.
5. She puked all night long.
6. Including on the white carpet and several of her clothes.
7. I had to shampoo the carpet and wash laundry at 11 PM.
8. I normally go to bed at 9 PM.
9. Oh yeah, she also lost a tooth that day so I had to remember to play the tooth fairy.
10. And I'm basically a single parent through all this because my husband slept for about 48 straight hours after the surgery.
11. I don't begrudge anyone for any of the aforementioned things...but you can see why maybe I wasn't able to run over the weekend?



I AM GOING TO PR!

I'm claiming it, here and now!  When I run the Indy Mini in May I am going to beat my PR of 1:58:59.  I don't care if that means running it in 1:58:58...whatever the numbers, I plan to PR. 

The Mini and I have unfinished business since I fell during training this spring and had to downgrade to the 5K.  I had to come back from that fall slowly, doing a run-walk thing instead of just a run thing.  The marathon I was supposed to run on Nov. 6 was downgraded to a half.  A miserable, painful, depressing, 2:47:45 half.  It really wasn't depressing because of the time, but instead because of how awful I felt.  I was in pain nearly the whole time, and the mental aspect never kicked in for me.  I was down on myself the entire time.

Well, I've got big plans involving a sports doctor and a whole lot of ambition and I am going to nail a PR this spring! 

Ahem

I'm back.  I think.

I sort of disappeared on the internets when I had some bad, terrible, awful stuff go down at home.  I sort of disappeared on people in real life too.  I'm not really ready to talk about what happened, if ever.  But I am ready to engage with the world again! 

I've got some big goals set for my next half marathon and I'm ready to put them out there in Blogland and then make them happen!  More on that in my next post :)

Body Combat

Monday night I tried something new.  I went to a Women's Only Club (NOT the same as a gentlemen's club, fyi) and got a 3 month membership.  They don't have cardio equipment, except spin bikes, as it is a "class only" kind of place.  They offer Les Mills classes like Body Pump and Body Combat, a spin class, weight lifting classes, etc. 

Monday night I went to my first class, Body Combat.  It was fun, like Zumba, so you didn't really feel like you were quote-unquote working out.  BUT it was so much easier than Zumba because you didn't have to be a Dance Goddess to keep up.  It was a mix of different styles of martial arts moves set to music.  We did all sorts of combinations of punches, kicks, lunges, chops and so on.  We didn't stop moving the ENTIRE HOUR.  I was a sweaty, tired mess and could barely lift my arms by the end of the class.  And I loved it!

Every day since that class I have been so, so sore.  My abs feel like they've never even been used before Body Combat...like I only just discovered them.  I obviously got an amazing arm workout too, because OW. 

Anybody else ever try Body Combat??  Did you LOVE it?

Be Nice to Me. I Gave Blood Today.

Okay...giving blood is an excellent thing.  I feel like it is my civic duty, as a healthy and able-bodied person to donate blood while I can.  There is a critical shortage right now so it is especially important.  I give every 2 months, unless I have a race coming up within a couple weeks time.  Today at work we had a blood drive, and as usual I donated.

Tonight when I got home from work and church it was gorgeous outside.  It was about 88 degrees with a nice breeze.  Amazing considering the last two days topped out at 105 degrees.  So although I generally swear off running/exercising the day that I give blood, tonight I couldn't resist heading out for a short run.

Ummmmm....1.1 miles in 13:59.  In 13:59 I took no fewer than 3 walk breaks.  My chest hurt, my arm hurt, and my pride hurt.  There's a reason the Red Cross tells you not to do any strenuous exercise the day that you give blood.  Trust me.

Bike Shopping...Winning!

Is Charlie Sheen old news by now?  My apologies...

But I did it!  I bought a bike!!!  And she's a beauty...if I do say so myself.

A Diamondback Vital 2 Hybrid.  She rides like a dream!!  Here's my new baby:

I seriously love it!  I got it for sale at Dick's Sporting Goods.  I paid $278 plus tax.  And I feel really good about it!  I've ridden it 3 times (then left for two weeks on travel and had to leave her behind...frown) and it was so smooth and fast and a great workout and I just really love it!!!

And I can't believe I'm sharing this goofy picture with you all, but safety first :)  I even got a matching helmet:

And now I still have time for a run this fine evening.  Wonder if I'll find my motivation?

What I'm Reading

Right now I'm on travel for two weeks in the lovely state of Alabama.  Seriously, I do love it.  I love the way people talk here and I love that you can find sweet tea everywhere you go.  Actually, it would be faster to tell you what I don't love.  People don't seem to believe in turn signals here.  That's it.  Other than that, I'm happy as a clam here.

Anyway, two weeks travelling means two weeks of privacy, quiet evenings, working out whenever I want for however long I feel like...in other words, no kiddos running around.  Naturally I miss them dearly, but I do love being able to kick back and read for hours if that's what I want to do.  As a mom, I miss quiet reading time every once in a while!

So...in honor of my coveted reading time (and thanks to a very expensive trip to Books-A-Million), here's what I'm reading:

1.  Gossip Girl

Am I a teenager?  No.  Do I still love the guilty pleasure of Gossip Girl?  Absolutely.  I've just purchased books 3 and 4.  Quick, easy reads that will take you back to high school...without the horror of actually being there.

2.  Smokin' Seventeen

I am Stephanie Plum's biggest fan.  Seriously, all of the Stephanie Plum books are HILARIOUS and if you haven't read them, you MUST.  Now.  I wait anxiously on each new book and then I buy it in expensive hard back because no way am I going to wait until the paperback comes out.  And if she ever chooses between Ranger and Morelli I don't know what I'll do because I. love. them. both.

3.  If You Were Here

Jen Lancaster's first venture into the Fiction world.  I have read every one of her non-fiction books and follow her blog and she cracks me up.  I love when the written word is so good that you actually laugh aloud and people look at you like you're nuts.  Jen Lancaster always does that for me, and I have no doubt that her fiction book will be excellent as well.

4.  Working It Out

This was an impulse buy that I didn't know I was looking for.  It's written by Abby Rike who was a contestant on The Biggest Loser.  I LOVE that show, and Abby's story never ceased to amaze me.  Her husband, daughter, and very young (only weeks old) son were killed in a car accident.  She was supposed to be with them, but had stayed home sick at the last minute.  After the accident, she put on huge amounts of weight, which she subsequently lost on The Biggest Loser.  Now she's written a book all about her amazing story of living on after tragedy, and I can't wait to read all about it.

Now...where to start?

Breaking News! Breaking News!

I totally just registered for my first marathon.  I've been trying to get in a healthy and trained up place for 3 years, and I finally seem to be there.  I bit the bullet, paid the money, and will be running the Marshall University Marathon in November!!! 

Now I'm off to research some training plans that are friendly to injury prone runners like myself :)

Bike Shopping FAIL...The Saga Continues

I tried to buy a bike last night.  I wanted to.  I had my purse at the ready and I think I might have paid any price if I had found a bike that screamed This Is The One. 

But none of them really did.  I went to several stores.  I rode at least a dozen different bikes.  Around the store.  And I felt like a gigantic goob as people watched me pedal through the aisles.  But I was on a mission.

There were things I liked about each of the bikes.  Some of them even made me feel fast...  But I never got that special feeling.  None of the bikes gave me that comforting "oh, this is what the right bike feels like" vibe.  I'm still just as confused as ever.  Scratch that.  Now I'm more confused.

So, that does it.  I'm going to a specialty bike shop.  I know I can't possibly afford their bikes.  But I definitely need their help.

When I first went to a specialty running store I was intimidated.  I feel like that again now.  What if I don't speak the language right?  What if they laugh at me when I leave?  What if I can't afford anything in the store and they get mad and throw me out for wasting their time?

But really, what's the worst that can happen?  In the end, the specialty running store helped me immensely.  I found my first really great fitting pair of shoes.  And I was even able to afford them. 

Here's hoping my specialty bike shop experience goes the same way.  Wish me luck!

Couch to ???

Introducing...The Accidental Biker...maybe.

I've been toying around with the idea of biking for several weeks now.  I've been perusing Bicycling Magazine (it's no Runner's World, but it's a start), envying the Super Serious Bikers around town (and the neighborhood kids too...who am I kidding?), and trying out/lusting over/trying to understand the bicycles at every store in town.

I know nothing about biking.  Less than nothing.  I've spent very little time on a bike since I was a kid.  I especially don't know anything about bike types besides my purple mountain bike.  I picked it out back in the day because it was pretty.  I've never sported a bike helmet, or bought special shorts, or tracked my mileage or speed or "aero".  What on God's green earth is "aero"???  But I want to learn.

I'm not really sure what I plan to do with biking.  Are there races?  Is there a biking equivalent to the 5K?  Better yet...is there a couch to 5K plan in the biking world?  That's definitely what I need right now.

I think I'm ready to take the plunge and buy a bike.  Heaven help me, because I still don't know what kind to buy.  Mountain?  Cruiser?  Hybrid?  Comfort?  Whoa.  But I've perused and envied and lusted long enough.  Tonight I hope to stay at the store(s) until I make a selection and bring home a bike.  Even if it's just because it's pretty. 

And for now, I'm just going to ride.  At least until I figure out what else I'm supposed to be doing.

What a Long, Strange Spring It’s Been

 

I had a really great time working out in the morning, while it lasted.  Actually, I really do plan to keep up my morning workouts, maybe I’ll even work out this morning.  But I have been derailed a bit.

Wednesday I had a fantastic morning workout.  Then I came home from work where the girls and I literally walked in the door 2 seconds before a torrential down pour.  The tornado sirens started going off about 4:00 so we were hiding out in the basement closet and listening to the loud noise of something pelting our house.  After the sirens stopped we went upstairs to find this:

It’s hard to see but all those white flashes of light are hail.

The biggest hail we’ve ever had in this house, for sure.  It was bizarre because it only hailed in the back yard.  Out front (where our car was parked) had only a few pieces of hail.  Only one of them hit our car, so I counted us lucky.

When Dave got home we went out for dinner, and on our drive home got reports of more storms on the way.  So, we went home and turned on the TV where all programming had stopped in favor of covering the storms on the way.  They kept telling us that there was a storm headed for us, and that the radar showed clear rotation.  The weather forecasts were actually astonished at how clear the rotation was on the radar, apparently it was uncanny.  So naturally we were kind of freaking out (privately…didn’t want to freak out the kids!)

Around 8:00 the sirens sounded again and we were back in the closet, listening to hail pound our house, and debris crashing around.  This time the hail was baseball sized.  It was already dark, so I didn’t take any pictures.  Also, we glued ourselves to the TV because a) we thankfully still had power and b) they were reporting a tornado in my tiny town.  It had gotten dark, so news crews (who are stationed 2 hours from us) couldn’t make it in time to get pictures or aerial footage.

We were very lucky, we had no damage to our home.  The hail got our cars this time, so we have some good sized dents and dings in both cars, but other than that we were really lucky.

At 10:15 the sirens sounded yet again.  We were in the closet for an hour this time, and about 10:30 the power finally cut off so were in the dark except for the light of a flashlight.

It was a SCARY night, seriously.  We were up (kids and all) past midnight. 

Thursday we were still without power until about lunchtime.  There was definitely no morning treaddy time.  When I went in to work I was able to check out the news and see that there was a confirmed EF-2 tornado in our town, about 5 miles east of our neighborhood.  Thankfully, it was in a less populated area, so the destruction was minimized, but there were still several houses that were completely flattened and 12 injuries reported.  But, no casualties, which is a blessing.

The 10:15 tornado warning produced an EF-1 tornado north of us, which flattened a neighborhood, but thankfully only caused 8 injuries and again, no casualties. 

Driving past the devastation is heartbreaking.  But it is amazing to see huge cars and trucks, flipped on their sides, picked up and moved from their driveways, bent and broken…houses flattened to a pile of rubble…and yet to know that somehow the people inside were left mostly untouched.