TJ North

I found an article about some research that says that to shrink you must exercise a minimum of 275 minutes a week. That’s a lot. Any less is ok to maintain health, but not to lose weight.

I posted the article with the others on the side there.

I am feeling very proud of myself. I have been ‘running’ every second day now for almost three weeks, and after my last July run (day after tomorrow) I will have covered somewhere around 63 km this month, at a pace of approx 9min 17 sec a km. Now I know that is slow. But for me it is a huge accomplishment. And starting this program has been a reality-check because I thought I was a lot stronger and that all that walking over the past couple of years had made more of an impact on my physical fitness than it apparently did.

Interestingly, my family has responded so negatively to this new activity that I find myself thinking of how I can sneak out when I am on the family vacation next week. I don’t want to miss a whole week of training because this is not a habit yet and I am afraid I will stop and not start it back up. But both my mother and my two sisters immediately started with all the reasons why I shouldn’t be running…all versions of ‘you’ll hurt yourself’…’running isn’t really good for you’…’women your age have to be careful’…etc. And I know they won’t stop - one sister especially will be relentless. Ironically, she has embraced exercise and has lost a lot of weight over the last few years.  However she is a controlling, competitive Taurus (I say that with love) and she will not listen to any opinion but her own. So I will have to pack my shoes and my ipod nike thingy and just go when I want to and figure out how to turn up the music real loud if the negativity starts.

Because this feels good.

I am very tired.I haven’t been sleeping well and it is catching up with me, I suppose. This weekend I am heading to my parents’ home for a quick visit - it’s about 4 1/2 hrs away, so this will be a full weekend. I am being a Good Daughter. I know that for the next 2 days I will be ‘off routine’ so I will try to remain aware and remember that it is the long term trends that matter. Two days does not a lifetime make.

I did 3k last night in the pouring rain. Lightning, the whole bit. Surprisingly, I didn’t mind it too much. It would have been much better though if my raincoat was actually waterproof.

My legs hurt when I got home and I thought I would be sore this morning, but it is not so bad. One day at a time, on my way to September 30.

Yesterday I did a 5k walk/run first thing in the morning; today I did not. My legs were so sore and stiff I needed the rest day! I did a few minutes of stretching instead. I’ll walk the dog tonight to keep the blood flowing, and plan for a morning run again tomorrow. I am feeling so-o-o-o-o virtuous. (Except for the mid-afternoon chocolate bar…oops)

Now going to cut the lawn and then relax.

This is my summer goal. I have slowly bounced down 5-6 lbs since June 1, which I am happy about, but I have a fantastic winter wardrobe that I cannot wear so this is my first phase. The big number is just so overwhelming I give up; this is not. So I will work on this.

Guess what I did today? I rode on a float in a parade….yep. danced, waved to the crowd…it was fun EXCEPT I had had no coffee, not a drop of caffeine, and couldn’t stop yawning…how embarrassing was that?

I did get up early and go for a walk/run - 30 minutes of my podrunner 5K training schedule. Exercising in the a.m. is not my favourite thing but I will admit that it created a lot of energy that got me through the morning.

After the parade I just hung out in my yard, fantasizing about landscaping designs.I really need to get out more.

Quick family visit went well, I got there about 11:30pm last night and got home just over 24 hours later. My grandmother  enjoyed the company, I think, and she knew us most of the time. She is seeing things and talking to people who aren’t there, which is hard to explain to the children, and hard for my sister and I to see. She is a strong woman who had an amazing life, and we spent a lot of time with our grandparents when we were younger. We were lucky that way. Plus my family seems to have a longevity gene - almost everyone lives well over 90, even the smokers! I remind myself of this when I am tempted to dip into the retirement savings.

A very chatty palliative care volunteer was there for a couple of hours so we took another aged aunt, my mother, and the girls to the beach. It was great! It was an inland lake so the water temp was reasonable, the girls and I played in the shallows, although their mother (my baby sister) kept reminding them to be nice to their ‘older auntie.’ I did get a bit too much sun on my back, to my chagrin as I am preaching sunscreen to all.  In my defense I did smear it all over but it must have washed off.

This evening I head our for an overnight family visit. My youngest sister, her 2 girls, and my mother and I are all meeting up at my grandmother’s house. Grandma is very ill and is being cared for at home by my Mom and a team of health workers, as she needs 24/7 care. My sister wants to say goodbye, I think, and support my Mom a bit in this. I am going mostly to help distract my nieces.

I am looking forward to my vacation next week, I will be off for almost 2 weeks. I am going to find a way to disappear for a while. I will take the dog and head off somewhere, I think. Pitch a tent on a beach and not talk to anyone for a couple of days.

My legs are a bit sore today. I pushed myself a little harder last night and I am being very careful of my knees - I am sure all this weight bouncing along puts tremendous stress on them. I only run on a dirt track and I have pretty good shoes and I slow down at the slightest twinge in the knees.

Chocolate bar again, but good on portion control and veggie and fruit portions. Cautious ‘yay me.’

Forgot my afternoon snack and had a chocolate bar instead, but except for that I managed reasonable portion control and all my fruits and veggies. I had a beet-carrot-spinach juice for breakfast that sounds horrid but tastes very fresh and garden-y. Last night I bbq’d a roast stuffed with fresh herbs from my garden. I have some amazing oregano growing out there, and several varieties of sage, three or four mints and whatever basils have escaped the earwigs. Also rosemary, thyme, parsley, lemon balm, lavender,  tarragon and chives. I mostly grow them for teas - there’s nothing nicer than a fresh herbal tea before bed. I don’t grow vegetables - I can’t stay interested in them long enough to remember to weed and then harvest them and it never feels like it is worth the work. But most herbs are easy, fragrant and the bees & butterflies like them.

I came back from my 5km walk/run tonight feeling very pleased with myself. Yay exercise endorphins.