Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

That hopeful song of spring being just around the corner has been playing this week. Tuesday the sun was shining, giving off warmth though the wind was competing with it. I walked to Uptown to catch the bus, getting a mile and a half in before classes. Yesterday, more sun, so another walk to Uptown to catch the bus to work. Such a wonderful way to start the day. This morning, sunny, warming up nicely. Ado and I walked twice before 11 am. Both of us were very happy campers. I realized today I've not blogged much this month. It's already the 22nd and this will be blog post two for February. I've been working on the piece I started quite a while back, focusing on getting at least 1000 words a day. Seeing the wordcount increasing each day is incredibly exciting. Today I spent the afternoon printing out what I have so far . . . having a hard copy, feeling the weight of it in my hands, makes me want to do nothing but sit here and keep working. I'm resisting the urge to go...

Amongst all the reading I'm doing, one idea stuck with me and I'm trying it out. Chew each bite of food at least fifty times.   This is way more difficult than what it seems. I've made it to forty, most of the time only getting to twenty-seven or twenty-eight chews before I have to swallow, so fifty is most definitely a challenge. I am determined to continue trying, though, as I've realized just how mindless I have been about the actual act of eating. Trying to chew a bite fifty times has forced me to pay attention to what is happening with my mouth, my tongue, my teeth, and my throat. The reflex to swallow is something I simply don't think about. I just do it. In being more mindful about each bite that is in my mouth, I've noticed the impulse to swallow. The urge to swallow happens before I even reach the count of nine or ten. That's quite a ways from fifty, so I can't swallow, and I pull all the food back up, continue chewing. At first I tho...

Day 3 into a 30 day healthy eating challenge with a friend turned into an epic failure for me. I did really well right up until dinner. I stood up to join the family in the kitchen, and I made it as far as the table then had to hold onto one of the chairs while I waited for the grip of dizziness to pass. That bout of dizziness was the second time today that I about went down. The first time happened when I stood from sitting at my desk in the office. Thankfully Funny Delightful Son was standing next to the desk and wanted to give me a hug right then. I put my arms around him and used our hug to keep myself steady. After the second round of seeing major black spots and feeling that telltale weakness wash through my muscles, I succumbed to eating not just one grilled cheese sandwich but two. And some Greek yogurt. After watching an episode of our current Netflix choice, I stood and waited. Nothing. Thankfully. Going cold turkey on giving up sugar and processed carbs is tough. I know I...

Timothy Noakes' Law 12 in The Lore of Running suggests, "It may be that success in running is ultimately determined not so much by training the body as by training the mind." Speaking for myself, I truly believe this to be true. For nearly two years, I've been experiencing improvement in my overall fitness level. I started out barely making it through 10 minutes of a 45 minute workout DVD. At the end of my first 90 day period, that same DVD was cake. Then I started running. I worked my way to three miles and completed my first 5k. I wasn't in love with running, but I liked the health improvements I was experiencing because of it. After the 5k, I turned to training for a sprint tri. While training, I realized I absolutely love cycling and began cycling as many days a week as I could, racking up the miles. It didn't take long for me to dream of finishing a century ride. For some reason, though, I still want to be a runner, and running continues to torment me ...