Summing Up 2008

My dear hubby commented the other day how this year started going downhill mid-June. How true! Here's hoping for a healthy, happy, friendly, and positive 2009.

• January - "took the plunge" and decided to start training all-out for Xterra with a goal of Nationals and Hawaii
• Mid-June - crashed in Richmond, VA at the Xterra Regional Championship -- ended up with a brain trauma and quit racing for the year.
• Mid-July - Rick's 90-year old mother moved into the Assisted Living Center
• July - December - Rick and Jill spent just about every weekend cleaning out that 90-year old's home.
• October - Jill's mom had a mild heart attack and ended up with open-heart-surgery getting a triple bypass.
• October - early December - Jill helped her dear old mother recuperate
• December - started thinking about the year-in-review and goals for 2009.

And what's in store for 2009?

• Jill has to learn to roll her kayak and USE that roll in the river.
• Jill will race maybe 3 races -- all Adventure races with a team mate so she doesn't do anything stupid and crash.
• Jill turns 50!
• The organic garden will be bigger and better than ever.
• Jill will drop 6 pounds, Rick will drop 10 pounds (I promised him I'd learn to roll the kayak and keep rolling if he lost the weight and he's doing it 'cause he REALLY wants me to roll my boat! Hey, I just realized he didn't promise ME anything if I lost the weight!)

And what goals do YOU have for 2009?

Its been 70 Days

October 19 was the last time I was on a bike outside. Jake (Jake the Snake my cross bike) had cobwebs on his spokes! But I dusted them off, and took him for a spin on Saturday. 18 miles, 12mph avg (now that's some average, huh!), and I was wobbly only for a little. Donna, I'm not so sure if you know what you're getting yourself into racing with a near-half-century old, menopausal, retiree. Can't wait until I try to climb a mountain or two. That should be fun. (?!) Oh the joys of losing fitness. Maybe a cookie or chocolate bar will help?

Cookie Withdrawal

Oh the torture.....Rick nor I ever expected withdrawal symptoms after all the cookie and sweet-eating came to a close. We both ate the last of the cheesecake, rice pudding, and cookies this morning and are showing signs of the inevitable illness -- irritability, anger, the shakes, argumentive, searching the cupboards and frig for a leftover tidbit of sweets --- anything. We even put cinnamon and sugar on buttered toast to try to satisfy the taste buds. Didn't work. Is there a Cookie Eaters Anonymous?

(pssst... he doesn't know I have a stash in the freezer... and I'm not telling him where I hid the organic, raw vegan chocolate either! Ha!).

Getting Back Into the Groove

It's all Donna's fault! Well, I can't totally blame Donna -- The Fine Art of Cookie Consumption certainly played its part too. Dang cookies. The weight gain was minimal, so it shouldn't be a problem to drop it. (Ha... who am I kidding?!) The motivation has (finally!) returned and I got my groove back. Training Peaks had an interesting blurb on new year's resolutions and losing weight, and how most folks don't stick to it, and how its important to pick the right goals. I especially liked Resolution #3: Pick an event as your long-term goal Since Donna and me agreed to sign up for the Savage Adventure Race, the arse is finally moving again. But this time will be a little different - no training plans, training logs, or heart rate monitors - just getting the heck out and enjoying it. Oh, and maybe getting in shape and dropping some cookie pounds in the process.

All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

Merry Christmas everyone!

Everybody pauses and stares at me

These two teeth are gone as you can see

I don't know just who to blame for this catastrophe!

But my one wish on Christmas Eve is as plain as it can be!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth,

my two front teeth,

see my two front teeth!

Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth,

then I could wish you"Merry Christmas."

It seems so long since I could say,"Sister Susie sitting on a thistle!"

Gosh oh gee, how happy I'd be,

if I could only whistle (thhhh, thhhh)

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth,

my two front teeth,

see my two front teeth.

Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth,

then I could wish you"Merry Christmas!"

The Fine Art of Cookie Consumption

There are actually two methods of consuming cookies – both focuses on athletic performance. Throughout the racing and training year, refined sugars and sweets are replaced with gels, energy bars, and drinks. At the onset of the holiday season, the mere scent of sweetness missing all year is intoxicating. Will I OD? Will my system crash? Will I gain an ounce? Because deprivation of refined sugars are dominant 363 days of the year, when that single day (or two) of sweetness arrives, the moment must be savored and treasured. First, is the choice of cookies – Chocolate Chip with Raw Cocao Beans? Pecan Tassies? Or maybe the family recipe of Banichas (walnut rolls)? Once the decision is made, tiny crumbs are then broken off and eaten one at a time taking at least an hour, melting each morsel in your mouth and savoring the flavorful delight. The taste buds start to OD. Shit… will have to take a break until the next one. 4 total cookies are the max – one of each flavor – spread out over a two-day period. The end of the 2nd day is bittersweet - the enjoyment of holiday cookies is undeniable, but so are those 2 ounces (not one this time). Time to crack down - big time.

And the second type of cookie consumption?

Make a glutton of yourself and eat as many as you can as quickly as you can in a two-day period since you know you’ll be deprived again for another 363 days of the year. Call your friends and neighbors – did they bake? How ‘bout your mom and dad… make them bring any cookies they made along to the Christmas luncheon so you can eat theirs too. How ‘bout your 90 year-old mother-in –law. Did she get any cookies as gifts from the church at the assisted-living center? Excellent… eat them – she doesn’t really need them since she gets three cooked meals a day AND coffe, tea, juice anytime she wants! Raid your co-workers cookie trays too – make sure you track down the leftovers from the holiday gathering. Eat them all – hoard them for the day after Christmas. 10 pounds isn’t THAT bad to take back off.

Doin' the Chilli on the Half Century Mark?

I told Rick earlier this week, I think I'd like to do a race ON the day of my 50th birthday in 2009. And he said, "yeh, right...what are the chances there's a race ON your birthday." Well guess what Ricky, one of my favorite races is on my 50th! The Chilli Challenge. The Chilli Challenge is very fun Adventure Triathlon only 45 minutes from home -- biking 20 miles (back roads - some dirt road), kayak 2 miles (flatwater), and a lovely trail run around a lake for 5.25 miles. I might do the Red Mo Downriver Kayak race too the end of March -- that's a bunch of fun. Gonna plan some races to motivate me -- its working!

Musterin' Up Some Mojo to do One Race in April!

Guess what? There's one single race on my schedule next year!! How 'bout that! I'm going to attempt to do the Savage, a short adventure race put on by GOALS-ARA. This race was near the top of my favorite and best races list. Problem is, I haven't been riding, or training, or doing a whole lot of anything for the past few months related to the muscle and endurance power needed to get through one of these races! Crap! Hopefully, once the next two weeks are over, I can muster up some mojo to start focusing on getting in semi-shape again to do this. My team-mate Miss DW, a.k.a. (Donna Weiser for those that didn't figure it out) always makes it fun -- even when she starts cussing and bitching and whining and moaning -- that's what makes it funner! " I got F____ Perpetual all over the place !!!!" Damn that was funny last year girl (not at the time). So give me thoughts on getting motivated to train. Miss D has her dear hubby to get her movtivated, and of course having Michaux State Forest surrounding you certainly helps. No driving anywhere, no gas, no thinking too much about it -- just put on the lights and head out the front door. I'm so jealous. Last evening was beautiful and I really wanted to do a nighttime thing but was scared! Of what? S.K.U.N.K.S. Yup, they're scary enough to keep us indoors at night. Seems my little neck of the woods is being over run by skunks and they LOVE raising their tails and squirting a little at whatever may scare them. ARGH!

Counting Carbs - For My Mom

My mother met with a dietician and diabetes educator yesterday. Since her open-heart surgery, her diabetes and her sugar levels have changed; thus, she now needs to take insulin with every meal to counteract the sugar levels. The interesting part of the trip is something near and dear to all of us crazy, active people - counting carbs. Her carb counting will differ greatly from ours though -- she needs to count them to adjust her insulin injections. I can tell you, a 71-year old diabetic doesn't get excited about having to look up carbs in a book and write them down. I tried to settle her a little and advise that eventually, she'll memorize them and she can easily "guess" at many of the things she eats since her menus are fairly simple (meat and potatoes, maybe some spaghetti every now and then). Poor thing, she never, never thought about food like this before -- she didn't even know that meat has no carbs. As easy as it is for us, that's how hard it is for her. Puts a new perspective on "counting carbs."

See You in the Backyard

Since a whole lot isn't happening on the exercise/fitness front of late, and the routine has become rather boring with trips to the YMCA and trainer workouts, there won't be many posts over the winter on this blog. BUT - be sure to visit my almost daily posts at www.backyardchilibloggin.com Seems my focus and priorities have shifted a bit, and I keep coming up with things to write about on the green scene. So visit me there for the latest on book reviews, the garden (planning right now), my views on the issues surrounding the enviornment, food, organics, etc.

Its Getting Harder and Harder and I'm Doing It Less and Less

Funny how that happens...you do less and less, the weight goes on more and more, and you continue to do less and less and the weight continues to go on more and more. Its a friggin vicious circle! Yup - me and Arnold. Of course I don't have the excuse of being Governor to blame my weight gain and lack of physique I used to have. Darn. Ok, I may be exaggerating just a tad, but I am doing much less than in the past and I have gained about 7 pounds now. Life took on a different direction the past few months since the big bike crash. Shortly after that crash in June, my 90 year-old mother in law moved into an assisted living center and Rick and I have been cleaning her home out ever since, little by little every weekend. We're happy to know the light at the end of that tunnel is growing very bright and we expect to have an empty house by New Years. So if you know anyone that wants a cheap ($60,000 range), cape-cod style house in Millersburg, look us up. And then my dear mother had open-heart surgery the end of October and lately I've been spending some time with her. Please read my other blog post on eating from a diabetic's perspective. Wow... we don't know how lucky we really are to just eat and not think too much about it. So that brings us up to today. Now that its cold, Rick and I have been spending time at the YMCA and I've also been chuggin' away on the trainer a little bit. We both aren't into the cold scene anymore unless there's snow on the ground. Rick's already been checking out WHITEGRASS in West Virginia who already had over 40 inches of snow this year! Why can't that be us. Rick DID make a New Year's resolution though... to lose 10 pounds BY New Year. I'd like to say the same, but I tried for one week and wasn't very good at it -- in fact I gained another pound. Geez.