Monday, August 28, 2006

After a whole week off, I finally got back to working out on Sunday. I went for a nice morning master's swim. It was long course. Lot's of people dread long course but I love it – I totally prefer it. There's less flip turning and bouncing off the walls. I feel like I get more of a chance to really work on my technique and get into a rhythm. Besides, I'll probably never participate in a short course swim meet; I most likely will only do open water racing and tris.

During my swim I had a stroke epiphany. My right side was not working as well or as hard as my left. I could totally feel the water and catch and pull a big stroke with my left, but then my right was sweeping through the water. So I put all of my attention on to my right side, slowing down my stroke and feeling the water – making sure I was grabbing on to it with every stroke. My speed improved noticeably, immediately! I wonder for how long I've been swimming "crooked."

The rest of the day was unremarkable, but wonderful. The girls had their usual midday nap. Little N woke up early and got to play alone with mommy and daddy in the living room. She rolled around with us, got tickled and giggled and laughed. It was great because she doesn't get to be all alone with us that much. Then when the M Monster woke up we did a little shopping trip to Target and Petco – where the girls got to see a variety of critters. M Monster really dug the birds, snakes, fish, rabbits and kitties that she saw. Little N just took it all in. We had a busy weekend (Saturday there was a big trip to the Big Park) so the girls hit the sack early. DH and I got to eat dinner in peace with some margaritas. A good end to a nice weekend.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

There shall be no running until this virus passes....

I still have a sore throat. And I'm achy. So I'm on imposed rest. Lest you think I'm lounging comforatbly at home - no way. I'm at work again. Being at work is almost a vacation from the fussy rantings of The Little Terror, henceforth to be known as N. N kept me up almost all night last night. N had a Yobaby at 2:30am. Said Yobaby was spooned by me into her mouth since N is two days shy of her 14 month b-day and thus incapable of procuring her own Yobaby at - and I'll repeat it again for dramatic effect - 2:30am. I haven't seen 2:30am since my partying days years ago. It hurts a lot at my age and condition. All I really wanted was a good night's sleep.

The virus is making it's rounds through my family unit and at my work. Half my team has this miserable disease. That's good because then everyone will know that I'm not lying.

I'm counting the minutes until I can go home....

Monday, August 21, 2006

A sick day is a perfect day to start my new blog. I can't run, or swim, so I might as well not go to work either. Why add to the misery. And I can finally start the blog that I've promised myself and other bloggers to start!

Since I am a professional writer by trade, I really should be blogging, shouldn't I?

But being a professional copywriter is only a very, very small part of my life. The real stuff of my existance is my two little girls, my DH and my passion for running and swimming. I've been running since I was 15, sometimes very well and sometimes not much at all. I have a PB of 17:06 for the 5K (road) and 36:30 for the 10K (very hilly road). A few years ago I broke my leg on a fall trail running, and I really haven't been back to full strength since, partly because I had my two girls not too long after that. And running when you have toddlers isn't easy!

I'm a steadily improving swimmer. I learned how to swim as an adult, so I'm not great but getting better. I loooove the way swimming feels and the total body workout it gives you. It's also a great balance to the pounding, weightbearing excercise of running.

Oh, I also used to be a competitive cyclist and triathlete. I think competitive cycling took a few years off of my life, but I do really enjoy triathlons. When the girls are older I'll do some tri's again for sure. I also want them to see their mom as a strong, powerful woman, to encourage them to be the same.

Well, back to napping and recouperating. No running or swimming until this virus passes!