2007 Allison

There was a time, around the start of this blog, were I was that person. 

Hey Everybody, let’s go for a 20K run at six am on Saturday!

You know what would be fun?  Back to back 2 hour spin classes after work.

BodyPump and yoga?  Fuck yeah!

Yup, that person.  But that was a long time ago.  Now, I’m lucky if I can get myself up, find clean clothes, and feed myself something half-way nutritious, all while feeding, clothing and generally wrangling a toddler (not to mention a husband).

What the hell happened to that person?  I keep hearing/reading about these moms with multiple children, full time jobs and large athletic aspirations: marathons, iron mans, Olympic teams.  My husband even got me a book, “Run like a Mother”, with tips for how to juggle everything.  Tips like, get up while everyone is still sleeping to get your run in.  Just reading the book makes me tired.

I really wish that I could get a visit from 2007 self and go for a run with her.  She was really good at pumping me up back then.  She could even get me to run every day in Ottawa in the winter.  The only time we would skip was it if it was colder than -35^oC. 

MINUS 35^oC! What the hell?!

I wonder what she would think of me now.  She would probably say,

It’s ok if you can just run 5K – at least you got out to run!

She was a pretty positive and optimistic person. 

Now, it’s like the knowledge that at one time I could run so much longer and so much faster is stopping me from putting on the shoes.  My 2013 self is kind of a bitch.  She says helpful things like,

Why do you even bother?  You will probably walk most of the time.  You know, running will just ruin your knees and you will have to get surgery in your fifties.  And by the way, you are a mom now and having a muffin top is just a part of that.  No one is looking at your anyway because you are old.

Like I said, she’s a total bitch.  Luckily, I’m getting sick of her and her self-defeatist bullshit.  Today I’ve been telling myself that if I just put on the shoes I can run back through time and be 2007 Allison, even if it’s just for 5K and even if I walk most of the time.  

10 km Resolution Update

I heard somewhere that most resolutions take 6 weeks to be abandoned. I would theorize that this is because these resolutions try to tackle too large a change at once. Enter my anti-resolution. 6 weeks in and I have gone running exactly 4 times. This may seem discouraging for anyone else, but because I planned to take it slow my last run at 2 km puts me exactly where I planned to be. As well I have taken guilt out of the equation because I juggle a lot of priorities and making any progress in the exercise department is cause for celebration.

True confession: Through the magical powers of nursing a large-ish baby through the first four months of life, I have managed to get back into one of my skinnier pairs of jeans. However, with the focus being on health and wellness (skinny jeans are positive side-effect) there is still lots of room for improvement!

More than enough elbow room on Elbow Lake

With a rather blustery day behind us filled with warm temperatures, I caught myself dreaming of the colder days earlier in the week. Some kind ATV'er plowed a rink and a track on our local lake, Elbow Lake. We first went skating on Saturday and were the first to enjoy the new track. By Tuesday, I had been four times and could feel certain skating muscles you don't normally feel. I could tell the dogs were also tired of running around as they took to laying in the snow as opposed to running beside me. The weather is supposed to turn cold once once again and I, for one, cannot wait!

For fun, apparently, you can burn 475 ice skating for one hour.

Take it on Faith

My goal for 2013 is quite the opposite. In fact, I’m looking to fit into even bigger jeans, the kind with an elastic waist pouch that expands with a growing belly, then, hopefully, mom jeans. This is the year I’m going to breed (hopefully) my own batch of homebrew and finally bring home a baby. How can I say this after nearly four years of trying? Because Mother Nature can’t be that much of a jerk, right?

We learned that science failed us two weeks before Christmas after bad touching our wallet. Somehow we made it through the holiday season (drunkest Christmas ever) and have resolved ourselves to try, try again. While it’s been extremely difficult, we haven’t lost our faith that this will happen, that we are deserving people.

 

Take it on faith, my love

Baby just one time,
Bet your life on mine
Take it on faith, my love…
-Matt Mays 

In that spirit, I’m working towards slimming down a bit before throwing my body out of whack once again. The good news is I discovered a weight loss program that worked. I simply cut out alcohol for two+ months and pounds magically disappeared. So now every week, I have my own countdown to liquor day (night) and have been even more productive the other six nights. How have I been spending those six nights and very busy days? Glad you asked.

A New Way to Resolve

It's resolution time of year and predictably I find myself with a list of self improvements and goals for 2013. In theory I think resolutions are dumb because they are often too vague or overreaching and therefore get abandoned before the first flip of the calendar. However, I do like to use each New Year as a time for some reflection and motivation to accomplish those things that have been languishing on the to-do list for too long.

This year I did things a little differently. I started with my resolution to "be better with money." I sat down and brainstormed a bunch of specific things about our family finances that were bugging me and ended up with a list of about ten points. Each mini-resolution then became a monthly task, making the entire process a series of doable steps. For example, my January item is to make up a monthly budget. Meeting it will come later, but first things first, start with a budget. I realize this approach is Project Management 101 and how I get things done in my day job, but for some reason it never occurred to me to apply these principles to my personal life, too.

My 2013 exercise resolution is simple: To run 10 km. I did this once when I was 18 and unlike those who feel the pull to run half then full marathons (you know who you are!), I was quite satisfied with this distance. Since this is a new year's resolution I'm giving myself the whole year to be able to do it. I figure if I start with 1 km in January and add a kilometer every month, I should be on track to run my goal distance by November. It may not seem ambitious, but that's OK. I'm more interested in achievable.

As I look out upon the snow storm that just descended on Calgary, I'm already finding excuses not to leave the warm cozy of my house. Hopefully by reviving OSJ and making my declaration public I will be shamed into doing it. And maybe motivate some others along the way... 

View from my back window: NOT MOTIVATING!