Have I Mentioned how much I Love Beach Running?

Though nothing but rain and wind were predicted for the Oregon Coast last week, we took our RV over there and parked it where we could enjoy the view of the Yaquina Bay Bridge and be cozy inside. Just as predicted, it was a stormy weekend with plenty of rain and wind, but on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, there were also periods of sunshine. I love the Oregon Coast so much. I just have to share some pictures I took on my runs, which were carefully timed during sunny periods!

Thursday was the only day it didn't start out raining, so I took a morning run. It was windy but so beautiful with a little blue sky giving me hope as I headed up the bridge in the raised sidewalk.

 From the top, you can see a trail running along the edge. That is where I will run the next day, all the way out that sandy strip.

 This day, I cross the bridge and head over to the State Park on the other side. From the parking lot at the park, it doesn't look quite as lovely looking back where I came from!

 I took a trail down to the beach and ran down there awhile, then took a rough steep trail back up to the parking lot. Oh ouch, as I was scrambling up the trail, I stood up and banged my head on a branch. Lucky it didn't knock me right back down. I still have a sore bump!

 I headed back over the bridge and just as I got to the stairs at the other side, the rain came dumping down. I sprinted for the RV park, and who should I see but this man wearing the world's best rain gear and his very wet and handsome chocolate lab.

Bless his heart, this kind man keeps offering to buy me some really good rain gear like he has. With his excellent rainwear, pouring rain and driving winds do not deter him from long morning walks with the good Zeek dog. It would take more than fabulous rain clothes to get me out in weather like that. Lucky for me, in the less than five minutes it took to get to the RV, the rain stopped and we took a cool down walk along the marina.

Day 2, Friday, we went down to the bay front in the afternoon, walked around and enjoyed some ice cream. Since it wasn't raining, I decided to get my run in on the way back.  I found the entrance to that lower trail.

 Pretty cool looking up from beneath the bridge.

This is after crossing it, looking back at the trail, which was a bit wet right there. Just past this point was a homeless camp in the trees, but no one was home.

The trail turned into a bunch of big rocks and boulders that I had to slow down to navigate, then came the fun sandy part, which I followed til it reached a gate blocking entrance on the jetty.

Then I ran on the beach out as far as I could to the ocean. 

Here's looking back.

And just to prove the sun really was shining for awhile, here's me and my shadow.

 Such joy to run on this rolling path, with the beach grass and seagulls and water and wind and beautiful patches of blue sky and clouds and amazingly fresh air.

This was a dry run, no raindrops at all!

Day 3, Saturday, we were once again out and about, doing a little shopping and out for lunch. We stopped at Agate Beach. A gentleman was playing a flute in the underpass walkway, and the acoustics were amazing! But oops, beach access was blocked by this stream.

I had to go to the road and walk down a bit to this lovely pallet bridge to cross to the beach!

 Beautiful.

 The clouds change so quickly, the view is ever changing.

 Then it was back to the very special bridge once again, as the clouds have rolled in and a gentle mist started to fall.

I had hoped to cross the road and run along the south jetty on the other side of the bridge this morning, but I confess when I woke up and heard rain pattering on the roof, I stayed in bed and skipped the run.

When we got back home, I was jogging down the sidewalk to help Will, thinking how good it feels to run, when suddenly I tripped on an uneven piece of concrete and went sprawling. Oh ouch ouch ouch. When my old body was finally able to get up, I was amazed and thankful to discover nothing but one skinned palm and one skinned knee. Once again, I realize how fortunate and blessed I am to be uninjured and able to run, and how quickly one mis-step can change that.  I thank God for every day that I can enjoy this blessing and his great creation.

Exercise: Delight or Dread Part 2: Resist Robbing Your Running Partner

Here I am again, with more helpful pointers on how to make exercise a happy habit in your life if you are not currently habitual about it, or to encourage you to keep it up if you are.

Planning a fun future event that demands physical conditioning is a great way to motivate your rear end off the couch to engage in pulse-raising activity.  Especially if the event involves people who are near and dear to you. If that's not possible, at least find some people who are fun to hang out with. Your goal is to be in slightly better shape than the others, so that you don't have to kill yourself trying to keep up with the rest of the gang. That might demand hard work, unless all the people who are near and dear to you are old couch potatoes!

So as I mentioned before, the near and dear people who were my fellow cruise travelers agreed that a trip up the South Sister would be a great motivator to be in shape by August. Since two of those people are under the age of 25 and are avid CrossFit workout fans, well, we just won't be able to allow them to set the pace or they will kill the rest of us old folks. But this activity is a great motivator to get out six days a week to either take exercise classes, run, climb the stairs at the stadium next to my school, Zumba, and find some hills to hike on weekends. The South Sister hike is only a 12 mile round trip, but with a 4900 feet elevation gain.

Another fun thing is to schedule some 5ks or 10ks or whatever distance you are comfortable with. It's really fun to walk and talk with friends and get some exercise with no worries about speed. It's also fun to set a goals for a time you'd like to beat and get out and compete.

Last year a couple of co-workers and I enjoyed walking the 5k "iRun for Kids", which is sponsored by an organization that provides classroom grants for our school district. Those co-workers didn't sign up this year, but a couple of teachers invited me to run with them. We got separated at the bottleneck going over the bridge, and I fell in behind someone who seemed to be running at a good pace for me. I soon realized she was someone I knew and hadn't seen in ages, so we ran together and visited. Time flew by as we talked. She placed second in our age group last year, and wanted to be one of the top three this year, so she was on the lookout to pass other women who looked to be our age! As we neared the finish line, I said I would fall back so she could cross the finish line first because I didn't care about placing. She said no, let's cross at the same time and see what happens. So we synchronized our steps and crossed together. After we got our drinks and bananas, we got our results. Much to my dismay, I placed 3rd and she got 4th. I felt like such a swindler! My time was 10:17, and hers was 10:23. The timing chip was on the bib, so I must have been leaning forward just a bit more!

These are my co-workers, Katie and Kerrie.

Well, let's set the robbery aside and talk about something else. (Oh the guilt!) Want to see my medal?

I put this on today and circled my living room serving cookies and fruit, trying to get my guests (my boys, their girls and my brother Doug and his wife, 7 people in all) to notice. I had to ostentatiously circle the room twice before anyone noticed it. I might have even flung it around a bit. But I still feel guilty. (I'm sorry Liz, I really hope you're not mad! You were so gracious!)

This was the first time I have actually run side by side with someone. My running has always been solo, and I thought I preferred it that way, enjoying the time to myself to think, pray, listen to music or an audiobook. To my surprise, I found that time went even faster while visiting with someone, and I went faster also.

It made me realize what a lazy slug I have have been lately because my running time has really slowed down, and I haven't been pushing myself. So I would probably improve my fitness by running with someone who is slightly faster than me so that I would push myself a little more. So message me if you're a runner who would like to torture me into going a little faster!

So, are you going to grab some friends and sign up for a 5k or 10k together soon? Or is there a challenging hike you'd like to do this summer? How fast would you like to be able to run a mile? What other goals do you have that inspire you to work out?

Exercise: Delight or Dread? Part 1: ZUMBA!!!

It's just plain hard to get into the habit of consistent regular exercise, isn't it? I am currently enjoying the longest stretch (about 2 1/2 years) of regular and consistently fun exercise that I have ever experienced in my long 55 years of life. Why is it different this time? I ponder this occasionally, and I decided to write a blog giving my vast audience of readers all of my accumulated wisdom on how to make exercise a habit. I started a blog about it last night after a particularly exhilarating Zumba class. (That would be Wednesday, Feb. 19)

Then tonight I looked at Facebook before I started this, and what did my disbelieving eyes see? A post from one of my favorite blogs,  "Organize Yourself Skinny" " titled, "How I finally made exercise a habit?"  What? Is she reading my mind? I dare not read her blog now, lest I completely lose my ideas and copy hers. (Or realize how lame mine is in comparison.) So I have to hurry up and finish this so I can read how she did finally did it. Then again, if my goal is truly to help my dear fellow strugglers finally make exercise a habit, I could just tell you, "Read her blog, my work here is done."

So now the truth must come out. This topic is possibly just an excuse for me to tell you how much fun Zumba is. If Zumba had been around when I was 18, I believe my life would have taken a dramatically different turn. Exercise would have been a lifelong habit instead of an off again, on again activity, because Zumba is just so darn fun. Yes, I would have dragged my three boys to Zumba classes with me and they would have danced beside me or played with the other children in daycare at the gym. I would have maintained my nonfat weight forever and would have never outgrown any of my cool 80s clothing, because Zumba is just so fun. And my boys, oh, how different their lives would be if they had gotten into Zumba instead of skateboarding and baseball. They would likely be teaching Zumba classes all over town. It would be so amazingly fun.

Why is Zumba so fun, you ask? And if it's really that fun, why do you just keep saying how fun it is? Just how limited is your vocabulary? (Excuse me while I check the Thesaurus for "fun" synonyms.)

There are few things in my weekly routine more enjoyable than joining a lively, convivial group of boisterous women who take delight in vigorous jumping, jiggling, swiveling, bouncing, waving, and yes, even shimmying to upbeat music. And the lyrics are so encouraging. " "Work that body, work those hips. Work that body, work those hips. Come on, let's go let's go. Work. Work…." Then there are the oldies, "You ain't nothing but a hound dog", "Cruising for a bruisin'", "Thriller", "Rollin' on the River". I have uploaded some Zumba videos so you can check them out at the end of this.

Another reason Zumba is so pleasurable is because Zumba instructors are always happy perky energetic people who make you smile. There's just something amusing about watching someone so merrily bobbing her head and shaking her booty and smiling and whooping it up while she's working up a sweat. She devotes herself to not only give you a good workout but to put a smile on your face and send you away happy!

And then, of course, there is the entertainment of standing in the back row and being able to see the whole roomful of (mostly) women in the mirror as they follow the leader with varying degrees of expertise and coordination. I am among the least coordinated and of course I blame it on my Mennonite heritage. We are genetically programmed with hips that are far to modest to swivel around with reckless abandon like some of those crazy dancing girls. I do move as energetically as I can, trying to stay behind the person in front of me and limit my visibility in the mirror. Energetic is the most polite word I can come up with to describe how I look doing Zumba.

However, there are the expert dancers who stand in the front row by the instructor and exaggerate the movements and laugh and make faces at themselves in the mirror as they gracefully move around. There is the sexy girl who makes every move look sensual, and people suspect that she is an exotic dancer and are very surprised to find out she's a married mom who goes to church. There's a lone male who shows up once in awhile, keeps his eyes decently averted to the floor and never swivels his hips but leaps and jumps around vigorously. There's the klutzy gals who are always moving the opposite direction of the crowd and bumping into those around them. (I try very hard to follow the crowd even though it often seems to me they're all going the wrong direction!)  There are the ones who are determined to always be in their spot even if someone else gets there first. There are all sizes and shapes of women, adapting the moves to what their bodies are capable of doing, and they keep coming back because it is just crazy fun!

(All characters mentioned so far in this blog are fictional and any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental.)

I enjoy Zumba two days a week at Fitness Experience, where classes are free with membership. Another place that I absolutely love Zumba is Caliente Fitness at Heritage Mall. They have a variety of instructors and lots of different classes.  The two whose classes I have attended are both awesome and fun (Mindy Droke and Karie Cordle) and I hear great things about the other instructors also. It's only $3 a class! I always leave Zumba feeling invigorated even if exhausted! Time goes fast and I'm always glad I went. If I'm stressed when I get there, I generally forget my problems and just enjoy myself!

You can watch the videos below to get an idea of just how invigorating and fun it is to do Zumba. You will not want to sit and watch it, you will be propelled out of your chair to join the fun! If you want to do Zumba at home, just google "ReFitRev", pick a video you like and go for it! At work, we occasionally take a break in the office with our three 8th grade office aides and do a 3-minute Zumba from YouTube. They absolutely love it and of course, you will too!

To summarize, one way to make exercise a habit is to find something you really enjoy, like Zumba!
Yep, fun fun fun!!! Let's Zumba, baby!

Cruising Fitness

The ultimate challenge to healthy eating:  a tempting variety of abundant, bountiful, delicious, beautiful food that you already paid for; breakfast, lunch, dinner and anytime between, on a cruise ship for a week. I started off thinking I would try lots of things but not eat the entire serving of anything. Well, as the week went on, it got easier to eat the whole thing! I thoroughly enjoyed so much amazing food, some healthy and some not so much. But I don't regret it. A week of indulgence on a cruise isn't totally unacceptable to me!

I did better with the exercise part of the trip, starting with running stairs at 11 p.m. at the Denver airport on Friday night at our three-hour layover (or was it four?)  on our way to Houston via Miami. Oh yes, we took the long route. Something about maintenance delaying our flight, causing us to miss the connection in Denver. So lucky we were, not needing to pay for a night at a hotel in Houston because instead we were not sleeping much on a plane from Denver to Miami between midnight and 5 a.m. We made it to the cruise ship on time, that's the important part.

The other important part is that I was able to get in some great exercise every day and loved it, except the last day when we got off the ship and hung out in Houston.  The first day I went to the fitness center with Venisa and Anthony (my niece and her husband who were traveling with us). We did a fun cross-fit workout together. After that I got up every morning and either went for a run around the promenade deck (2.7 times around equals one mile!) or went to the fitness center and used the rowing machine and treadmill. I tried to run the 15 flights of stairs each morning and evening as well and sometimes in between. We took the stairs instead of elevators every chance we could, unless we were wearing our fancy heels to dinner.

I also went to the Zumba class one day. Talk about entertaining. The instructor was perkier than any other Zumba teacher I've ever seen, and they're all the perkiest people in the world! She wanted everyone smiling and having fun every moment. Occasionally she would mimic our serious, boring looking faces.  People-watching was very amusing at this class, which was held by the pool and attended by varying skill levels of people, one of whom was wearing high-heel wedgie sandals.

 It was also kind of thrilling waiting to see if the instructor might fall off the platform and maybe into the pool. (Didn't happen.) See the man in black right in front of the instructor? In the picture below he's turning around. The choreography was very simple with no turns, but this guy was quite the salsa dancer and he kept throwing in spins and turns and extra fancy steps and loved all the wows he got from the instructor! Total show off! You can't see me so don't even try, I'm in the shadows in the back so that I can people watch and not be watched by the cruisers standing on the balcony! I wasn't there to wow anybody!

Oh look, class is over and here I come (still got my groove on) to join my loving fellow travelers at breakfast. (I debated long and hard about whether to crop the somewhat unflattering close-up of my brother eating. I was nice and cropped it. You're welcome.)

 Then through the buffet line, boy was I hungry. Oh look, not necessarily the best choices. If I didn't eat the crust of that delicious crab quiche, that helped though, right? I loved getting a different flavor of yogurt parfait every day, and I always took most of the granola off before I ate it. Yum.

I liked to watch the sunset with my husband and sometimes our other fellow travelers. A couple of times after it went down, I was able to run around the promenade deck a few times to watch the sea and sky continue to change colors as dusk turned into darkness.

I love it. It's impossible to capture the beauty with a mere photograph.

Yes, that's a ship. 

Then it would be time to shower and get dressed up for DINNER!

Prime rib the first night.

I got up to see the sunrise every morning after the first day (when I desperately needed my beauty rest after that harrowing cross-country trip spending the night in airports and airplanes). Sometimes the promenade deck would be closed at first so I would run up stairs to the top level and work out at the fitness center a bit before coming back down to run laps when the deck opened. 

A sunrise run.

Such a fabulous way to start the day.

I got in a late afternoon run or two also.

In Belize, we toured the Lamanai Ruins. This is the High Temple. It was quite a climb, to put it mildly.

 The steps were eroded, uneven and varied in height, but all at least a foot high. It felt so good to be in shape to effortlessly climb this, and I did not use the rope provided. The old heart rate was definitely up a bit by the time I got to the top though! Here's looking down from partway up. Taking pictures is always a great excuse to stop a catch your breath. (Try not to gasp and pant.)

At the top, great view of the New River beyond the jungle.

Below is my brother Galen and our guide, Elvis Usher. Yes, Elvis can sing, and he belted out a stirring a capella rendition of the Belize National Anthem on the return bus ride. He also ran up those steps and back down later like it was nothing. I asked him what he does to stay so fit and he looked at me like I was a stupid foreigner or something. He rides his bike everywhere (gas is $6.00/gallon) and he "just does all the things a man does". If he climbs those steps a couple times a week with his tour group, I imagine that helps too!

 We were given strict instructions to stay on the steps, which go around to the side at the top. We were chatting up there with Elvis when suddenly this young man was there, climbing free style up the limestone. Elvis nearly freaked out. "What are you doing, don't climb on the limestone, it could break off," as he reached out his hand to grab the kid (who went from carefree to terrified in 2 seconds!) lest he plummet below should the limestone suddenly give out just as he was nearly to safety. Another thrilling moment as the shaken young man was hauled to safety.

 Water was provided to us in plastic bags!

 Good times.

So the cruise is over. The  multi-course dinners topped off with creme brûlée or cheesecake or bananas flambé,  the amazing buffets, that International Cafe with it's fantastic pastries and desserts, etc. added three pounds to me in spite of my faithful exercise. But according to my Activity Tracker, my exercise averaged out to my usual daily 7 points while my food consumption was well above my average 33 points! (I admit I was not tracking it.)

Soon Monday, our first day back, we ate mostly just fruits and veggies, and for the next two weeks are sticking to the new Weight Watchers Simple Start, which is mainly eating "Power Foods" - lean protein, fruits and veggies, whole grains, fat-free dairy.  The cruise was fun for so many reasons, food being one, but the best part was sharing it with my brother Galen and his wife Carol and my niece Venisa and her husband Anthony.  And now we all have a common goal that will help motivate us to be as fit as we can by August: We want to climb the South Sister together, and hopefully more family and friends will join us. More good times!

Resolved

New Years Day 2014. The day that hopeful, optimistic people around the world make resolutions and goals in an ongoing effort to become the best that they can be. Are you making resolutions? How'd you do with last year's?

I am happy to reach the end of the year still fitting into my clothes and maintaining the Weight Watchers Lifetime status. That's definitely a goal for next year as well!

My fitness goal in 2013 was to run 700 miles. I was thrilled to reach that on my birthday, December 12. Every time I run since then, the Runkeeper app is bugging me to set another goal, but I haven't decided what that will be. Probably less than 700, since I don't plan to run another half marathon this year. Probably.

In 2014….

I am resolved to continue the goals and lifestyle on the sidebar of this blog. I realized this month when I was struggling with some outrageous compulsive eating that I had taken my eyes off the commitment and was focusing on the details. It's important to have a plan to accomplish the goals, but when I'm focusing on tracking or other food rules instead of the big picture, it's harder to make the right choices. Every day, and sometimes many times a day, I renew my commitment to making healthy choices for my body and to staying focused on giving "my utmost for His highest" in my daily life.

I am resolved to start my day by focusing on God, because without His strengthening love and grace, I can do nothing good. I love the One Thousand Gifts devotional by Ann Voskamp. It's always an inspiring way to start the day with the awareness of the constant presence of Jesus in my life, and the reminder to recognize and thank God for the many gifts of His love and grace that each day brings.

Resolved. Committed. Faithful. Determined. Persevering. Steadfast. Tenacious. Never give up! Enjoy the satisfaction that comes from accomplishment!

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, overflowing with thankfulness…and in Christ you have been brought to fullness." (Colossians 2:6-7, 10)

Happy 2014! May it be your healthiest and happiest year ever! What are you resolved to do?