fat genes

my cousin has me hooked on running at Town...er...Lady Bird Lake.

i like running with him - (did i just say "i like" and "running" in the same sentence?  my we've come a long way haven't we) we make each other laugh...i run like a turtle with asthma and he air drums solos.  i'm going to really miss him when he's on tour.

i think i broke my foot.

my left foot started hurting last weekend when i was wearing heels...shooting pains in my arch.  They were intense when I wore heels but subsided when I wore flats.  Tonight after running 4 miles I went dancing and in the middle of a salsa WHAM pain shot through my foot.  Should I go to the doctor?  Probably...

meeeelllltiiiiiiinnnnng

triathlon behind me (and I think I mentioned this in a previous post) my new goal is to become a stronger runner.  I'm starting from scratch, as per a borrowed book about marathon training for the non runner.  I ran Monday and Tuesday this week at Lady Bird Lake right after work. That's right.  5:30pm.  I've always been a super wuss about doing ANYTHING in the heat (except swimming) until I did a couple Bikram Yoga classes last month.  I figure that if I can do THAT in the heat, I can work out.  Also, it's not like races are held at 2am just so I can be cool and crisp as I cross the finish line.  In fact, the oppressive heat was a big motivator for me to get the heck off that triathlon coarse before I heatstroked.  So anyway, running when it's hot as balls outside is no fun, and I've given up drinking pretty much anything but water and tea during the day, with the occasional glass of wine at dinner just because I need to stay hydrated throughout the day.  I ran today too, just got back from it (BLEGH) and I am SUPER stinky.  I thought about maybe NOT showering because I'm going to go salsa dancing tonight but for the sake of my dance partners my stanky self needs a shower.

about that triathlon...

Part of me still cannot believe that I woke up at 5:30am to drive out to East Austin with Kate and swim/bike/run my Sunday morning away, but that's what I did on June 8th.  Thankfully, K was in town, which was a great big motivator for me :)  Somehow with both of us there we still managed to *not* remember the camera, so I'll try to paint pictures with my words.

When Kate and I drove up it was still dark, and we loaded up busses that would take us out to the tri staging area.  We got our stuff laid out for the tri (we had racked our bikes the night before) and headed over to watch the swimmer start, which is about when the nervous giggles began.  No, "giggles" is not at all the right word - I would burst into laughter every couple minutes or so because part of my brain kept nudging me in the ribs and saying, "dude.  you're seriously doing this?" and I would crack up at the absurdity. The butterflies in my stomach were quiet until about the time that Kate and I made it down to the water, when they started stretching their wings.

We spent a lot of time watching Sally Edwards motivate colour groups and give them an adjective to insert into mantras like "I am a lightning fast swimmer/biker/runner." Every colour group got their own adjective.  I was going for "bitchin'" but doubted that would be the word of our day and I laughed when Sally asked the crowd, "What kind of swimmer are you?!" and the lady next to me yelled, "SLOW!"  Kate and I did some warming up in the lake and then headed over to watch a swim exit, which was pretty uneventful until there was a huddle on the beach.  A girl clearly needed help getting out of the water and Kate and I both gasped when someone had to carry her out of the water.  We thought maybe she had hurt herself because her legs were limp as she was carried out of the water but someone turned around and said, "She's in a wheelchair."  I looked over at Kate and we both burst into tears simultaneously.  That shut the butterflies up - if she could do it, then certainly I could.

As we lined up behind the group preparing to depart, the butterflies had turned from itty bitty sluggish not-awake-yet creatures into giant, vibrant things, smashing their wings against each other as I inched closer to the water.  Our colour groups word ended up being powerful which would throughout the race prove to be the most inspiring thing I could say to myself.  It really was incredibly helpful to say to myself "I am a powerful biker...heck...I am a powerful woman!" in my moments of weakness throughout the race.

Kate and I had decided (stupidly) to start out at the front to get away from everyone at the start.  I quickly realized that there were lots of 25-30 year-olds who were MUCH faster swimmers than me.  I then also quickly realized that I was hyperventilating because I was so freaked out by the bodies churning the water beside me. I did some breast stroke and took some deep breaths and scooted over to the left side of the pack where there was much more room for me to swim.  Looking back on my time I was only in the water for 24 minutes, which was far shorter than my training swims, which surprised me.  The most difficult part of the swim was that the wind was blowing water into my mouth and I therefore ended up feeling nauseous as I ran from the lake to the transition area.  About the last buoy (i had to look that stupid word up.  booey?  boie? buyie?) I discovered that if I turned almost all the way over to breathe I had a much better time, but of course that was too late. I loved when upon clambering out of the water I grabbed the hand of a volunteer and he asked my name and then announced to the crowd, "CHRISTINA EVERYBODY!" and the crowd cheered for me :)

The transition from swim to bike was not too difficult...I tried to get most of the dirt and grass off my feet (I had a towel near my bike) before I put my socks and shoes on to not much of an avail. I had pre-pinned my number to the shirt Danskin gave us so in about 5 minutes I was ready to go.  The ride was pretty uneventful...I saw Sarah and K walking to the tri site as I headed out on my bike.  There was a fantastic tail wind on the first long stretch and I rode easily, burping lake water the whole way.

Then, I came to my first hill, who I lovingly refer to as "Sneaky Bastard" because you come to a sharp right and BAM there's a hill - pretty much straight up.  I giggled to myself as I heard fellow women turn the corner and mutter expletives that were not-so-ladylike as they came to grips with what was before them.  I made it halfway up and walked when I could shift no lower.  Thankfully a guy at the top had some yummy Clif goo for me to down which gloriously masked the lake water taste in my mouth.  That was the first of two hills I walked the last bit of.  Things that helped me get through the bike were singing Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" to myself and my meandering mind.  I tried to make sense of why so many women (approximately 3,000 at this race) would be so insane to spend money to do this to ourselves.  I thought about what we as women go through and how good I felt on the bike after warming up on the swim and my will to continue was bolstered by the fact that a trying event had made me stronger and better on the current one.

But enough of the sappy allegories.

The transition from bike to run was a completely different story - by the time I got to my towel and changed shoes I could no longer feel my legs.  I was also ticked because I couldn't find a bobby pin to control my bangs so had to furiously gather my hair into a bun on top of my head.  Sarah and Kyle were there cheering me on and I grabbed Kyle and gave him what he describes as the most disgusting smooch of his life.  I grabbed some yummy Sport Beans which are also, by the way better than burping lake water, and trotted off 'til I was sure K and Sarah could no longer see me, then I walked.  I did SOME running - mostly interval stuff.  I was shocked that the course was cross-country, and tried to run as much as I could.  I was so FLIPPING exhausted at this point that all I wanted to do was stop but then women would run by and encourage me and I would start running again. 

The Danskin folks have a really sick sense of humor because there is a pretty massive hill right before the end of the race.  A woman I walked up next to said that she didn't think she could finish and I spent a good 10 minutes letting her know that if I didn't see her at the finish line I would carry her across myself.  Someone else then came to her side and I trotted off a bit and ended up walking with another woman who was in a red tri suit.  I don't even remember her name, but we started chatting and as other women would run past us and say "You guys are AWESOME!" we would turn to each other and say, "We ARE awesome!" and high five.  We were delirious at this point so we started fantasizing about strawberry margaritas and joking about how super hot we would look crossing the finish line.  About 200 yards from the finish she looked over at me and said, "How ya feeling?" and I replied, "Like running, you?" 

Now, at this point I feel like I should pause and say how uniMAGINABLY exhausted I was.  I mean, I had swam half a mile, biked 12, and nearly run a 5k, I could barely feel my legs and my brain was screaming, "You want to WHAT the last 200 yards?!?!" But we kicked it up and started running.  The announcers turned on some Salsa music (just for me, of course) and Kate, who had finished about 15 minutes ahead of me, came to run across the line. The photos of this are fantastic - we were all 3 laughing and high-fiving each other the whole way :)

I hugged Kate and then I hugged K and immediately burst into big wet weepy tears - I'm even getting a little misty-eyed thinking about it.  I had freaking done it.  I was officially a triathlete.  Get me some pasta. We were handed snacky bags but I got 3/4 of the way through a banana and nearly threw it up. The four of us packed up and headed out of the tri area, and K kept beaming at me and telling me how proud of me he was.  I was still kind of in shock that I had actually made it through.  Maybe I was stronger than I thought I was.  That's what I liked about the tri - that the whole thing was something that no one else could do for me, that it was something I had to do all by myself...and I MADE it!  I confessed to K that I was really glad I wasn't last (Sally Edwards is always the last woman across the finish line...she is awesome)...I finished way ahead of many folks, the whole thing done in about 2.5 hours.  

I went home and showered and we went to a friends house for a cookout, and I ate way more than I thought was humanly possible...then I drove home and passed out.  I slept very VERY well that night, of course I woke up and went to a free Austin Symphony concert out at the Long Center before seriously crashing out.  Kate and I went to Central Market and got lots of yummies and ended up slightly tipsy on 6oz of canned champagne that evening.

A million pounds of love go out to the wonderful Miss Kate for being my training buddy, for leading the way, and for always believing in me.  I wouldn't have been able to complete it nor would I have had nearly as much fun with out her.

So...that's it.  There's a tri on labor day that I'm thinking about either actually doing or training for.  For now I'm just working on running a few days a week and getting on my bike as much as possible.  If anyone out there wants to do the Danskin next year, I will happily train with you. Kate and I decided loosely that we're going to work toward a 5 year plan of doing an Ironman.  I'll be 30. That'll be a good enough excuse and I can do little races along the way.

Bring it.

starting over

my running totally blows, so I borrowed a book from Kate called Marathon Training for Non-Runners and am going way back and starting from scratch.  Tonight I jogged 5 minutes, walked 5 minutes x3, and will probably again tomorrow.  Next week is jogging 10 minutes, walk 5 minutes x 2.  I don't know that I'll ever do a marathon (unless I do an Ironman, more on that later) but from what I hear training is much better than actually doing it.

I'll actually update soon - I'm still kind of processing the whole triathlon thing.

In other news, I biked to and from work yesterday and need to take a pic of my bruise before it fades because it is MASSIVE!  I kept forgetting to clip out of my pedals and when I did would bonk into the side of the pedal.  The bruise is all kinds of impressive.

brick

I can't decide what is causing my funk today, whether it's because I'm coming down off such a ridiculous high of a weekend that included Alamo Drafthouse, Taco Shack, grilling out with friends, getting an Epiphone mandolin for our upcoming anniversary, and kicking ass at a triathlon and a free night of swing on the lawn of the Long Center courtesy of the Austin Symphony with the lovely Kate (nearly) ALL with my husband in tow (and Jake to be all jumpy and excited every time we took him out to run around) or that when I walked in to my room after dropping the wonderful husband off on Sunday afternoon before the Symphony concert I was struck with how sad and quiet my room was without him and the dog in it.  

I decided to try and cheer myself up with some dark chocolate and some big happy sunflowers from Central Market.

biking.

I just Google-mapsed (I love that verbing) it and it's only 8 miles from where I live to work.  EIGHT MILES and it takes me at least half an hour to get to work.  I could do that on my bike.  I think I will.  Tomorrow.

I've had enough of being a hermit and am hungry and left my leftovers at work today...and it's First Thursday so...off to SoCo!  I am going to get some cupcakes from that Airstream I see parked there every day :)

24 hours 'til I see my love!  YES!

shout out

the background is courtesy of cutest blog on the block 

here's why I'm exhausted and going to bed at 10pm tonight:

Thursday: moved, painted, organized, went to Kenichi for sushi

Friday: ran errands, bought stuff to decorate, drove to NB

Saturday: went tubing, got sunburned

Sunday: went to an AWESOME (awesomely FREE) Bob Schneider concert at Lakeway Resort 

Monday: went running with the Danger folks

Tuesday: biked, ate dinner, went to the Dog and Duck for pint night, tried to retrieve my wallet at Lucky Lounge, stayed for a few songs

I think I jumped a little too quickly back into the Austin scene, and this weekend is going to be jammie packed so I'm going to take the next few days to regroup, maybe sew some stuff :)

Wel...come...to...the...Danger Zone

That's the name our little Austin fit club has come up with because, obviously, we have a built-in theme song.  And yes we're probably going to make shirts.  Anyway, it's this little group of folks who's committed to working out together - Monday we ran (in like 100+ degree weather, blegh) and today (Tuesday) we biked Shoal Creek. Tomorrow is swimming in Barton Springs and then tomorrow by golly I think I'm going to need a break.  I can feel the introvert in me struggling toward the surface because let's face it: I've been busily reacquainting myself with all things Austin and old friends, and it's kind of time to spend some quiet time alone.  

Internship training is going quite well - I'm in with the new hires so it's a lot of "don't lick the patients, don't share needles etc. etc." but the coolest things by far have been today's extinguishing of fires (literal fires) and the lady who came and spoke of her "recovery" (and by recovery I mean "management") of her schizophrenia.  I take lots of naps during break times, usually not because I am tired but because it is so dang difficult to sit in that dang room all day. I think tomorrow there will be a bit of variation in my schedule, which I'm excited about. 

What I'm also excited about is first and foremost snuggling all weekend with the hubs (ONLY THREE MORE DAYS!!  LESS THAN THAT EVEN!) and seeing the Wallners, and the Danskin Triathlon!  I've learned over the last couple days that I am NOT a fast runner or biker, but I'm totally sure I'll make it through.  On the bike ride, a guy asked if we were training for the Danskin and wished us luck - it was a total confidence booster :)  Today I need to get my back tire checked out 'cos it keeps going flat, and get my clips/pedals put in place...THEN I need to practice to make sure I don't tump over on Sunday :)

Day 1.5

This morning was rather hectic - I freaked out because I had lost my keys and was supposed to run errands and drop off some books and things in Lewisville but after losing my car keys for a good hour (they were on the kitchen table under some napkins - doh) I just stayed home and waited for K to get home/have lunch/help me pack and decided it would be okay for me to send the books back tomorrow in the mail.

I made it to Austin around 4pm and set to work painting my room and getting everything put together - it took about five and a half hours to get the room painted, all my stuff moved in, the light switch and one outlet replaced (there are more to do but those two took too long, but I still feel like wonder woman 'cos I did those two ;op) I have a closet but no rod for my clothes so I'm living out of about four suitcases right now.

Carlos went running at Zilker and upon arriving back home informed me we had reservations at Kenichi at 10:30pm.  Why eat so late? I live with musicians, and the unfortunate thing for my upcoming eight-to-fiver is that we are ALL night owls.  We hopped on Carlos's motorcycle and all I could think of at first was all the statistics of head injuries and a client-to-be of mine at my internship that oops fell off the back of a truck one night and hit his head and now he's a not at all walking, barely talking individual because no I wasn't wearing a helmet.  But when we came over the hill on South 1st and the skyline stretched before us, I forgot everything except the exhilarating love I have for this city, for the opportunity to be here. I even for half a second forgot about how bummed I am that K isn't here with me, but it all rushed back rather quickly. Dinner was of course incredible, and then we walked down and had a double espresso at Halcyon.  After all that I have a hard time believing that things are going to be any more awesome.  I told C that us living together is going to be way more fun than it would've been when I was in college because I've grown up a lot.  I'm excited about being roomies with C and F - I've never lived with boys (except K) and have also never lived so closely with musicians.  It was cool earlier because I got to hear them rehearse and write music...it was a cool insight to the whole process. 

So tomorrow - C leaves on a trip and I'm going to hopefully get my room/the bathroom more up to working order.  I have dreams of running at Zilker and getting my bike fixed but seeing as it's 3:14 am it's looking less and less likely.  Saturday I'll be tubing it up with my NB boys and Sunday there may be a Bob Schneider show in the works.  Who knows.  Then I start my job MONDAY!  Crazy.

i FOUND it!

After doing some research, K decided to use Benjamin Moore paint or more specifically, the Eco-Spec variety. Because I painted and re-painted several rooms, I was thankful that this stuff was so low odor. I mean like, freakishly low-odor. Also, the paint is fantastic. The Eco-Spec only comes in gallons and cannot be used for really saturated colours, but it's definitely worth a consideration.

Blessed

I think Sarah has me scheduled for something fun every day this weekend just so I won't get lonely my first weekend in Austin. I forgot to mention this in the last post but the other reason I picked Austin is because I knew being away from K and the kind of work I would be doing, I would need a tremendous support group. I am continually awed and humbled by my awesome friends :)

Accountability

Sunday (sick)

Monday (sick)

Tuesday AM - ran .84 miles, PM - planning on one more bikram session w/Candace :)

I hate that I got sick and had to not work out those days. Grrr...

3 Days

I am moving to Austin on Thursday. Packing commences tomorrow because today I am recovering from a Memorial Day/Weekend camping trip that was LOTS of fun, but I drank beer and ate meat in the same day and it's wreaking unholy havoc on my intestines. Lesson learned.

K and I went to Ikea and got me something to sleep on...I've gotta sew up a cover for the little futon (which will by the way be on sale in 6 months) but my machine is still packed up, so I'll wait 'til I get stuff set up and can make a run to the fabric store. I'm taking a very minimalist approach to this living situation - the room is not all that large and quite frankly all I need besides somewhere to sleep is a dresser, a closet, and maybe a lamp or two. I get to paint it, too, so I have to decide on that colour. Hm.

Anyway, I cried for the first time last night about not being able to vent and cuddle with the hubs every night...sometimes I think I'm totally insane for doing this. Then I think "Hey - I've never lived on my own before, this'll be a grand adventure." Something somewhere in between is where I'm sure I will land. I decided on Austin because well, I love Austin, duh. It will be so interesting to get to experience the city not as a student with band and class obligations. There are some other really important things to remember. First, I have little to no experience in the psychiatric arena. This setting will have me way outside my comfort zone and hopefully will provide me with opportunities to grow. Speaking of growing, I will be by myself, yes, but I have to finish my thesis, study up for my orals, and also study for my music therapy board certification. This will give me the opportunity to develop professionally and personally and not have to worry about all the little things that go along with having a house, a dog, a husband - cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, taking care of the dog, picking up after myself and someone else. Do not misunderstand me...I thoroughly enjoy being married and all the little things it entails...I am just...easily distracted :) and if I don't have a house to futs with, I'll get much more done in terms of schoolwork. Especially because 9 times out of 10 if I have something to do and K says "Hey let's watch a movie/go eat somewhere/work on stuff in the garden" I'm going to do that and procrastinate on school stuff. Finally, I'll be done in December. That right there is motivating me in so many ways it's almost difficult for me to endure these three days and just get started already.

So yeah - working at the nut house. I'm sure I'll have lots of great stories.

Accountability

5/23 - Rested
5/24 - AM Bikram, sweated more than the first time...seriously. Niagra-like sweating. I think my cold is gone, though, and I can sure breathe more easily. Totally rad.

I have a 5 days for $5 thing at the yoga place, so that'll be my workout for the next couple days. Much needed. I did research on Christianity and yoga, because it's taboo for lots of folks. One side of the argument says that the poses are inseparable from Hindu faith practice, which I understand. However, how can I commune with Krishna during those poses? I do not worship Krishna, don't even know him/her. I do know Jesus, and pray during yoga - I breathe out negativity and breathe in Peace, Grace, and Understanding. I don't say Namaste, do not bow at the end, I just give thanks to God for the hour of peace and quiet I've just enjoyed.

Thoughts?

hear that?

it's the sound of my ovaries. screaming.

maybe because i've made thousands of trips up and down the stairs to my apartment carrying loaded boxes today and am finally coming to grips with the fact that we have a HOUSE and it's totally awesome and cozy and totally us...but, I was sent a link to one of my best friend's newborn baby daughter's first photo shoot and i cried.

Accountability

Monday: AM - Ran .5 miles, PM - walked 30 minutes
Tuesday: AM - Walked 3 miles, PM - Biked 13 miles
Wednesday: AM - Ran .67 miles
Thursday: AM - Walked 2.2 miles, PM - hot yoga for an hour

still doing that triathlon thing

between the last weeks of school, moving, being sick, and grandpa passing away my triathlon training routine has completely gone to crap. I am confident enough in my swimming and biking to know that I can make it through those two portions of the race. It's just the running that's been tough. The loss of my beloved iPod was also a setback because I pretty much can't run or bike without music. Anyhow, I ran a little more than half a mile yesterday morning and walked for 30 minutes last night. This morning, I walked my dog 3 miles and plan to either do the same this evening or do a swim or bike session. I plan to keep the following workout schedule: run/swim/run/bike/run/swim/run/bike etc. because I need to work up my running slowly so I don't hurt myself but also get back into the biking/swimming thing. I hope I make it through this thing with a smile on my face...

whirlwind

So last week we got everything moved in on the same day that my grandfather-in-law passed away so it was kind of a scramble to get things taken care of before we had to leave town for 5 days.

Anyone who's been married knows that it takes a few years to get really comfy with the in-laws and I felt like this trip, perhaps because the nature of it, I was just another one of the crowd. It was nice because my mom even flew up for the wake & the funeral. I played my first funeral at the request of grandma K - "Jesus Loves Me" and "You Are My Sunshine" both of which are on the Music Therapy Top 10 List. One of the aunts even procured a guitar for me in St. Louis, which was a total blessing because the options for getting my guitar up there were a) Take it as a carryon, but it was outside the width/height requirement b) Check it (no way man) or c) BUY IT ITS OWN SEAT ON THE PLANE. Does anyone actually DO option c? Anyway, all the grandkids got up to sing during the funeral, which went pretty well until the last line of "You Are My Sunshine" where we all choked at the same time. I was told it was good and that we just kept singing but I don't remember any of that. Grandpa was in the Navy during WWII so they had the whole military ceremony for his burial which was absolutely beautiful.

So now we're back home - the hubs was sick yesterday but we got a considerable amount of stuff cleared away...I have a TON of pictures and such to post but I can't for the life of me find the cord that I need to do that ;op

sadness

Grandpa Kleisly passed away yesterday so we're going to St. Louis tomorrow evening. I'll write more later. Sorry, guys.