little happy

post-run smoothie

I'm finding that eating to lose inches and eating to run are very different. It's a tricky game to do both. We try to keep a low-carb diet around here most of the time (for the carb-loving turned carb-nazi husband of mine) but come Saturday morning, I need the ready sugars to power my run. This is the recovery drink of choice--and if I call it Orange Sunrise, the boys think it's heaven and gobble it up. Anything leftover goes in popsicle molds.

1 cup mango juice (love the V8 Fusion Lite)

1 whole orange, peeled

1 container high protein yogurt

couple handfuls of baby carrots

1/8 wedge of cabbage (very anti-cancer and the orange covers the taste)

handful of ice

(maybe 1/2 a banana, a couple strawberries, pineapple spear if I've got it--not too much or it overpowers the orange-carroty goodness.)

I blend it into oblivion and down as much as I can. It's high vitamin, high carb and still under 300 calories for the whole pitcher-ful--perfect for when I've just run a long Saturday stretch and I need to make sure that I don't fall asleep in the post-run shower.

the running thing

I've dropped the long legging tights and running skirts that encouraged much laughter from other runners (read: my friend and neighbor who thought I looked frumpy) trading for running capris and tank tops. I was worried about my shins being exposed--the compression of the tights was soothing--but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. The shins are gonna do what they're gonna do.

I'm doing the exercises, using the ultrasound massager, rubbing in the wolf's bane (which makes it sound like I saw a witch doctor, and I kinda dig that) and enduring the ice packs. Some days it works, other days I'm sore. That's probably just how it's going to be.

I've also got the new shoes. Elephant grey and orange dream bar--not exactly my color combo of choice for speed. But when the other neighbor and I hit the running store to get new shoes, these felt best. When I quietly confessed to my friend that, sadly, I was leaning towards the neon nightmares, she immediately turned to the sales guy and said, "hey, my friend thinks these are really ugly--do they come in another color?" I laughed and bought them anyway and they're working just fine. (As a bonus, I can find them in the dark when I wake up for early runs.)

But the real shift between last year's training and my current approach is the attitude. I know I can do it. And I can do it well. I'm cross training and hill training, rather then just trying to not die. I'm speeding up and recovering faster. I'm more diliberate in what I eat and paying attention to how it fuels me. And I'm enjoying the athletic process, as well as the good sleep and leveled moods it brings, even if the actual running isn't always easy or pleasant.

Then this last week, something changed. We headed up the canyon--my canyon--to try some of the downhill terrain we'll be facing in the half next month and I'm not exaggerating when I say that it was completely exhilirating. I found myself wishing that the run was longer. Tall trees, rushing water, cool breezes at my back--loved every minute of it. Two days of stiff legs from using the new muscles was only a steady reminder that my canyon and I were meant to be.

Come morning, I've got a ride to the canyon and ten miles to get back home. And a big part of me can't wait.

the 4th quilt, aka the july holiday quilt . . . you know, in my spare time

Always loving the reds, but recently I've been pulling the deep dark blues and pale grays to go with them. Apparently I'm very patriotic. I've had this floating around in my head for a few months--long enough to get it finished up and off to the quilters, for sure.

But then I get all up in my head and toss it around and hide it under the bed and mess with my own mind until I'm not truly sure I do love the reds and I definitely don't like the blues and maybe that pinwheel thing is way to old for this and maybe those overlayed pinwheels will be too much work and maybe you want to do something else entirely and maybe you shouldn't be quilting at your age, lest folks start to call you Betsy.

And then my new motto comes along and reminds all parties that we aren't going down this road again, and she pulls out the rotary cutter and gets down to business.

I usually have a better plan of attack (due to my impressive over-thinking) and so the whole process usually goes faster. But just hacking into the fabric and tossing stuff on the board--it's takes a bit longer to make it work. But I don't mind the slow, keeping my focus on one or two squares at a time, alternating between making snappy arrangements and sewing and ironing and stepping back to look again. I like it. When I get stuck, I remind myself how much better I like finished quilts than unfinished piles of wanna-be quilt and that's generally good enough to get me moving again. And it's all displayed right there on the wall, so when it's time to make dinner (or apply a bandaid or break up a fight or make another sandwich) I'm good to walk away.

In my mind I was calling it The 4th Quilt, certain it would be ready by next week. I'm ever so grateful we've got Pioneer Day a few weeks after that (with friends coming in to celebrate, no less) so that I haven't blown my deadline completely. Me thinks this quilt screams to be broken in at a rodeo, don'tcha think?

a good enough place to start

Through a spring that overstayed it's welcome by months, I dreamed of a lovely summer. School-free, care-free boys. long warm days the started early and dwindled past bedtimes. It's been all that and more.

I want to keep track of our adventures, but it's hard to know where to start, being a chronological girl and all. But in following with my do-the-opposite-of-what-you-usually-do motto for the summer, I'm just going to start here, for no other reason than I really like this memory.

We're biking. It's just over two miles to our city center, which means library and splash pad and Wendy's and grocery and, most importantly, Hawaiian shave ice. But it's too hot to ride during the day, especially considering that I've got The Bee trailing me on a third-wheel. But in the evenings, it's awesome. The kids are slow and intentional, looking at the flowers and horses and terrain. Sometimes Jack's meandering is a little hard to follow--I've got a blossoming bruise on my leg to prove that he might need brake lights--but he can't be beat for company. That's a snatched wildflower for me that he's got trailing in his left hand.

It took us a while to get up and running for the summer--new brakes and handles for Jack, a ksl-classified trail-a-bike for Bee, some tooling work on my birthday bike so I can fulfill my role as pack mule--but we're outfitted. And we're on the move.

Just one way we're gobbling up these swiftly moving summer days.

restart

Last day of school was yesterday, so that makes today summer. But I'm still in bed, coughing and sputtering with some germ that Ian coughed onto me last week and it's been draining my energy ever since.

And I was trying to be on top of it, but when I called to confirm details about that Super Important Meeting that I was supposed to attend on the first Wednesday of the month, I discovered that it had recently changed to the first Friday of the month. Which is obviously today, and you probably aren't going to make it, lady, as it's just getting started, so you'll just have to wait until next month.

Seventeen years ago today, I was supposed to be getting married. To someone who wasn't Craig. I can't imagine my life being anything other than what it is right now, but I'm certain that my life would have been completely different had I been married on the first of June seventeen years ago, rather than two years later on the first of July. And I always remember this non-anniversary as the day that my life could have gone one way and went another instead.

I'm sure that there are lots of days like that, but this one stands out. And the things that happen on this day seem just a little more weighty and pointed.

So, I ask myself, what am I going to do today to make my life better, more exciting, more rich than that other path that I won't be following? With a whole big summer out if front of me, there's not too much holding me back.

I best down some honey lemon tea and get on with it. And I'm not certain, but some cookies might be called for.