Running in the rain

Finally... RAIN! I love running in the rain & Saturday morning was just perfect for a 14.5 mile run with Dave. It was a steady, cool rain, which nicely complimented the humid, mild temps we we have been having. We looped around the Fort for a while before heading out of the park, around Lawton Loop towards to back of the Fort, out Fall Creek Trail & back. We covered a broad range of topics & got completely caught up on whats been happening in our lives lately. It was very therapeutic dodging all those puddles.

Saturday evening we visited with Amber & Zach at Ashton & Holly's house. Holly cooked an awesome meal, including a homemade country peach pie with soy icecream. It was heavenly! We drank wine, chatted & laughed all night.

Sunday Keith had his final regular season baseball game. I stayed home to shampoo carpets & air out the house. It figures - the game I miss, he hit a home run!! He was so excited, especially since Ashton & Holly were there to cheer him on. We spent the afternoon watching the Blue Angels do maneuvers over our house while they performed at the air show. We also purged & recycled a ton of old college papers, books & supplies from the weight room closet.

This week, I have an hour long pedicure scheduled & am so excited to have it done. The extra running & workouts have reeked havoc on my feet & they need a little pampering. We are trying to plan some fun things to do for the Labor Day weekend & finalizing our Tennessee vacation plans for October.

Wellness

Wellness comes in many different forms. Do you ever sit back & evaluate the richness that friends bring to your life? Friends bring a feeling of wellness to me that is hard to explain. We have friends that we see a few times a year, & yet when we get together, its like time, schedules & distance were never a factor. There is something so soothing about picking up conversations right where we left off & knowing that being friends is as natural as cookies & milk. Saturday we were blessed to spend time with our friends Amber, Bill, Angela, Darren & their almost 2 year old daughter Hanna. We ate, laughed & drank wine like it was yesterday, even though it had been a year & a half since we had seen them, when they live only 10 mintes away.

Today Keith had a baseball game on the south side of Indy & we were honored to have Mike, Jamie, baby Dilyn & our new friends Brad & Janelle make up the cheering section for Keith. Even though he was playing a serious game, you could see him smile whenever we cheered & yelled for him - he was in 7th heaven & it meant the world to him. Even though the team lost, Keith played a fantastic game, hitting a double & a single, & making some great plays at first base. Dilyn's first baseball game was a good one, even though it was hot!

We have been members members at our church for about a year & I have yet to find a committee that I would like to dedicate my time & talents to. I didn't want to join a group that I wouldn't really enjoy. A few weeks ago, I opened our church bulletin & saw a full page flyer for a new committee they were forming & felt like it is what I was called to do. This week, I contacted the leader of the Wellness Committee to see if they were still taking volunteers & am pleased to say that I am super excited to volunteer with this group. It is through the Catholic School PFO, & even though I am not a parent, they are happy to have someone with my passion for healthy living & the outdoors thake an active interest. They have 3 areas of interest (1. special & recurring events, 2. research, communication & support and 3. teacher resources & support) & after doing some more research on where my talents can best be used, I will decide which one to focus on. I can't wait to meet with a group of people from church who have similar interests as me.

I am reading a very interesting book called "Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-deficit Disorder," by Richard Louv. One of Keith's hunting magazines recommended this book because it discusses how today's children are in a funk with all the technology they are immersed in, & parents tend to forget that nature is essential to healthy childhood development. I am hoping to lean a lot from this book & want to share it's ideas with the Wellness Committee.

I had some great runs this week! I ran with Jamie & Holly on the trails at Fort Ben again & the conversation always has a much greater affect on me than the actual run. There is a cleansing feeling that takes place when I run with my girlfriends. There are no secrets, we giggle & gossip & I always feel mentally well when we are done with our runs. Dave & I have had many runs like this over the years & I look forward to getting back to those runs now that he is training for a marathon. I also spent some solitary time on the trails Saturday, running a faster pace than usual in the cool weather, trying some new routes along the nature trail & ending up finishing 8.5 miles later. I enjoyed myself so much, I ran 3 miles longer than I planned. What a great week!!!

He's Baaaaaaack!

Keith was on vacation most of this last week, trout fishing in Tennessee with his brother Glenn, who is from Florida. They had a fantactic time & stayed in a rustic cabin in the middle of the Cherokee National Forest.
My week was pleasantly busy. I was able to visit & take dinner to Annemarie, Joe & Lily on Wednesday night. Thursday was a 3 mile trail run with Jamie & Holly on the trails at Ft. Ben. Even though it was 97 degrees outside, the shade & scenery of the trails was a welcome comfort. We followed the run by meeting Ashton for dinner at a new pub/restaurant in our area where we drank a few beers, had a great dinner & caught up with each other. Friday was a cookout at work, followed by another run on the Ft. Ben trails. Saturday I did some shopping & then drove to Hillsboro, IN to joining my mom & her friends for a mother-daughter evening out. We went to the Hillsboro Dinner Theatre for a showing of Once Upon a Mattress, a humorous spinoff of the Princess and the Pea. Mom came back to Indy with me to spend the night at my house & go to church on Sunday. This afternoon, we all gathered at Arni's restaurant to celebrate my Grandma Handy's 84th birthday. There were 14 family members in attendance & Grandma had a wonderful time being showered with gifts & attention.
In general, my healthy eating was a struggle with all the extracurricular activities this week, but I am not fretting about it. I will get back on track & start next week with a new attitude. Tonight I am decluttering my bedroom closet with the anticipation of Amvets coming to haul away all the outdated clother I have been hanging onto for too long. I feel better already!

Healthy week 1

My first week of going sugar-free had some ups & downs. I had a steady headache for the first 3 days & no amount of Tylenol or Advil helped it. I was exhausted during the day, wanting to sleep more than work. By Thursday, I felt like a new person - headache free, rested up & on a new schedule. I was able to complete a lot of things on my list for week one.
Jamie, baby Dilyn & I ran at Coxhall Gardens on Monday. I was the baby jogger pusher & I have to tell you, its not as easy as it seems. My arms were tensed the entire 3 mile run & they were sore the next day. Its a challenge to steer the stroller, keep it on the path, run & chat at the same time, but its worth every minute of it. Dilyn is an absolute angel & before Jamie knows it, she will be running next to her, instead of chilling in the jogger!!
Tuesday was an arm weight & ab workout, decluttered my fridge & pantry and did some sweeping. Thursday was 92 degrees & humid, so I ran on the Monon before attending a muscle toning class at So.Be.Fit, where Laura was a butt kicker. I am still sore. Ouch!
Saturday, I ran at the Fort while Keith fished. He is gearing up for his big fly fishing trip to Tennessee with his brother Glenn this week. The trails at the Fort were fun to run in the morning. I usually go out there in the evenings, but they were much less congested than usual. We ended the evening by attending the Collective Soul/Live/Counting Crows concert at Victory Field with Victor & Lisa. Live was incredible, & even though we were front row for the Crows, they were less than stellar. We got caught in a downpour with no umbrellas for the last hour of the concert, but stuck it out, walking to the truck in the rain.
Today, Keith had another baseball game, which they lost. I ran my new 5 mile route near my house & should have started earlier, as the route usually shaded, but at noon it was very hot & humid.
What have I learned so far? Well, I did cheat on Friday when I had a S'more made by Lisa's daughter, Alyssa. I felt ok about it because I had been strict all week by eating a lot of fruit & not snacking at night. I feel much better, mentally & physically, & look forward to seeing what the new few weeks bring.