Something New

So last week, I finally had my first bonafide mountain bike ride! Kevin waited for me as I slowly made my way up the trail and I went together. Kevin has been mountain biking since he was a teenager, so he is waaaaaay better than me. (Not to mention his endless stamina, super-quick metabolism and superman strength, the man is an animal. Truly.)
We went out to the North Fruita Desert (at the end of 18 Road for you locals.) Rode up a lovely and slow-climbing (thank you Lord for your Mercy!) trail, and then down a really fun winding trail. I thought for sure my legs were going to be worthless the next day, but thanks to my last 4 months of working out- they weren’t! Yahoo! I was pretty worried about falling, and so have been fairly timid in my approach to mountain biking. (Hey, I had a friend who took a spill and half of his face was one big scab. No joke.) I did fall once on the downhill. I hit some sand, felt the bike going over and hopped off before I could hit the ground. I was relieved to get that out of the way, and to gain a little more confidence in my “bailing” skills. I still plan on taking it easy and being cautious. Thoughts of trying to take care of my household of 6 people with a broken leg or something will definitely keep me in check, but I can’t wait to get back out there and do it again!

Little Singers

Sarah Maria a video by sarahgrace on Flickr.

The girls have been taught many songs recently by both my mom and Kevin’s mom. I managed to get this little ditty recorded the other day, a song my mom and dad used to sing together before they had me. (And yes, the song was an inspiration for my name. My middle name was almost Maria… almost.)

From One Little Plant

Looks like I’ll be making jalapeño poppers at least one more time. These babies have been spicy, spicy, spicy!

On Working Out

After working out, the end of June.

I have been working-out for about 4 months straight now. I get up every morning (and depending on what is going on) I drink a glass of water and then I try to just crank out my workout first thing. If I give myself a chance to think about it, I’m pretty good at talking myself out of it. (In case you’re wondering, I generally don’t like to eat before I workout, because it often makes me feel like I will have to vomit. Sorry if that’s too much info!) I am still following along with several different Jillian Michaels workouts, and then go for a three-mile trail run with Kevin once a week. With that schedule I’ve managed to crank out between 4 and 5 workouts a week. I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to actually see progress, which is huge for me and has helped encourage me to keep going. As far as weight goes, I’ve only been able to keep off 5 pounds. The other 5 kind of fluctuate back and forth depending on how my eating was that week (I think.) I am definitely looking a little thinner and more toned, and feeling much better about my body. Better than I’ve felt in a long long time. Which, in my mind, is far more important than looking the part or weighing the part anyway. The other thing I’ve noticed, that I didn’t expect, is that I just feel all around stronger, and I don’t tire quite as easily as I used too. And of course, my mood is improved every day that I work out. Unfortunately, on the days I don’t work out, I notice myself struggling to not feel depressed. But… I know how important it is to rest those muscles every week. I’m just going to have to get better at keeping myself busy on the “resting” days.

I’ve had a few “setbacks” with my working-out, in the form of minor injuries. (And boy, are they frustrating!) One week I pulled a muscle in my shoulder pretty badly, and then a few weeks later I rolled my ankle while jogging on the trail. Fortunately, both of those have healed pretty quickly, and I’ve learned to be a little more careful and pro-active to prevent things from happening. Recently I seem to be dealing with shin-splints a little bit. Either that or it’s just muscle pain from stress… who knows? Thank goodness for ankle-braces! They have enabled me to keep moving! And if my legs are hurting particularly badly on any given day, I just try to focus more on abs that day. If this doesn’t work out, I will find some way to become a swimmer. 😉

I just know that this is something I want to keep doing for the rest of my life. If I could have told my 16 year old self anything (well, there are a FEW things I’d say), I would have told her how important it is to work-out regularly and stay active all the time. Part of me can’t help but think how much further along I’d be if I’d never stopped being active.

So that is where I’m at with the working-out and all. Maybe someday I’ll be brave enough to post my before and after pics… 😉

Swingin’

Gotta love Rory’s face on this one. It’s definitely pushin’ it to have all of them swinging at the same time, but they sure are enjoying each others company.