Quiet

I love to be the first one up in the house in the morning…the peace is immeasurable. I let Tate stay up late on the weekends to ensure that I have this time…is that awful of me? Don’t care…truly I don’t.

So several big things went down this week. We finally got snow..as in like 8 inches of it. Skip was in D.C. this week and of course…that’s when it happens. We’ve had some amazing weather in Wisconsin late into the winter so I imagine we’re going to pay for it now. But we got it cleared out and it was business as usual. I told Skip when he came back that I want to move…HA! I always love the first snow of the year…if I have nowhere to go. After that it’s all downhill till spring. Why do we live here? Why does ANYONE live here?


The second thing was that Dominic had his longest run to date. Tuesday we were running in tee shirts and shorts..*see how messed up our weather is? Two days later we’re buried in snow*. Anyways…we planned on 5 but looped a little farther than I thought and ended up with 6.2. He felt solid and actually wanted to go farther. But I’m trying to build a runner for life here..not one plagued with injuries who hates running as often as not. And although he won’t admit it yet…he’s starting to crave the run…isn’t that incredible?


I am about to finish my second week of Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 series. This time I’ve included diet modification and have been logging my food on Sparkspeople. The workouts are just sick…much harder than the Shred but I’m feeling awesome. My official weigh day is Monday but as of last Monday I still have not lost any weight. I’m around 1500 calories a day which I feel is rock bottom for as much as I workout…and still nothing. I am pretty frustrated with this. I am fairly happy with my weight…but it makes me mad when I feel not in control of my body. I have to weigh in with my surgeon at the end of the month and I would have liked to have been down a bit…doesn’t look like that’s going to happen…go me.


Speaking of weighing in with my surgeon…my 4th and final post-gastric bypass surgery followup is happening on the 26th of this month. I had my lab work done and everything was good. I had cut my thyroid medication in half about 6 months ago and was curious about my TSH which came back fine. So after this final appoint I am done with him…the man that changed my life for a mere 30 grand. I am in the wrong business.


Off to the library…hope everyone had a wonderful week!

Brian~Big Baller

So the number of coyote sightings in Racine and Racine county have been on the rise…they’re always on the rise. A couple of weeks before Christmas one snatched a small dog right in front of the owner in their own back yard. These nasty critters are not afraid of people and they’ll come right to your back door. Now I live west of the city….thank god…but that also puts me in a more rural area. I know they’re around…in the summer you can often hear them at night and when I used to run in the mornings, I would see them occasionally. I run trails that are along the railroad tracks behind Vincent’s high school. There are also a few ponds back there…farmland…and some woods. It’s the only place I can take Brian and run him off the leash….as in…I run 6 miles…he probably runs closer to 8 with all the cruising around he does.



So today….I took the long way to the trails…around a mile. Once we got on it I took Brian off his leash as I always do. He’s usually pretty good about it…always comes back when I call him…and I’ve yet to ever see another soul back there although I’ve seen footprints so I know other runners use it. About a quarter mile down the trail there’s a bridge that runs over a stream. As we’re approaching it….Brian freakin BOLTS. A coyote had emerged from under the bridge right onto the path in front of us. Brian takes off like a bat outta hell after this thing. I start screaming and screaming because these things EAT little dogs. He doesn’t even turn his rotten little head and chases that coyote probably half a mile. All I can think is that he’s gone…my running buddy…my baby…is going to be taken at the throat…because that’s what coyotes do…and dragged off to be eaten alive….also what they do.


I call Skip..I am hysterical…still screaming for Brian..I can barely see them now. He chases the thing into the woods…turns around and runs back to me….all happy with himself. If he hadn’t scared me to death I would have booted him off the bridge.

Things I realized today-


~Running 5 miles after Jillian kicks my trash is a rough thing.
~Coyotes CAN be chased off….good to know.
~Watching something you love chase certain death does crazy things to your heart rate.
~By taking Brians balls…he grew an invisible set that are 14 times their original size.


Happy Thursday!

Ripped in 30…Day 1

Yikes! This makes the Shred look like childs play. Take level one of the Shred…douple the output….and tack some minutes on and you have Ripped in 30 week 1. Holy crap. Starts with push-ups…NOTHING good starts with push-ups. And then there’s the cardio intervals. I pride myself on having a pretty good cardiac base due to running…but I was dripping and breathless by the time I was done. Good stuff. I also printed out the meal plan that goes along with it…which I’ll take what I want from and supplement the rest. It offers a couple of vegetarian options but not much. I have my baseline measurements from the end of the Shred so I’ll use those.


Anyways…the kids go back to school tomorrow and I’m sort of sorry to see them go…but will be happy to have my house back to normal again. It’s strange not running on my days off because I have to wait for Dominic to get home. We had a solid 5 miler again on the last day of the year. He’s getting better..that 5 miles isn’t killing him anymore and by the time we start actual training he’ll have a pretty decent base. My goal is to get him to the start line injury free and feeling strong. I want to supplement his running with strength training but don’t want to work him more than 5 days a week….he’s only 14 and I want this to be a very positive experience for him. I want to build a runner for life…not someone who hates it. I want to follow an actual training plan for beginners so he knows exactly what he’ll be doing each week. It’s a bit difficult for me to run with him. He’s very slow and I guess I’m just not used to company. I’ve been a pretty solitary runner and I hate to admit that I kinda like it that way. But I know how good this will be for him..how positive…and that outweighs everything else.


Happy Monday!

30 Day Shred Final Results and Christmas

So today I completed the 30 day shred…it took more like 45 days with me going to New York and all but I don’t imagine the results would be very different. Let me just say this is an incredible program. And if I’d done any diet modification the results would be greater. I am very pleased. It was simple, easy to follow with plenty of modifications and less than 30 minutes a day. With my running less mileage with Dominic in tow..this program was perfect for this time in my life.



Total inches lost- 14 inches…over a freakin foot.


Total weight lost- none. After the initial 3 pound loss which came back..I hung steady at my normal weight.


How do you manage to not lose any weight when you’ve lost over a foot of body size you ask? It’s easy….be Claire. Bear in mind that I am hypothyroid and had to have gastric bypass in order to lose significant weight. She has a newer program called Ripped in 30 which I plan on buying today and including diet modification, see what happens.


Onwards!

Christmas was wonderful! The kids were happy…we were all together…and for the first time in years Skip and I exchanged gifts. We usually donate the money we would spend on each other but for whatever reason…this year we didn’t. And on Christmas Eve..unable to contain their excitement..my family gave me my heart’s desire.


I call him Blu.


I cried…told them that they couldn’t buy me a kayak…and parked my ass right in it. I am SO happy and excited. Although it’s kind of like getting a bike for Christmas….here’s your present…you can use it in 6 months…HA! We have big plans Blu and I. I’ve wanted one since we rented them on vacation two years ago…and knowing I would never spend the money on myself…Skip did it for me…I love that man. I was so completely touched and amazed that the kids were able to keep it a secret.

Christmas Eve

She was part of the multitude..kind of ironic.

My boys :)

Christmas morning..rocking her new hat.

Grandma is boozing...again!

Brian in his present....gotta rest from all that running.

Mug shot of a future half marathoner....ready, set...GO!

Happy New Year everyone!!

New York New York

Yeah..I pretty much never want to see that place again. It was better this time…without my parents or a funeral going on…but still very difficult. Through various forms of miscommunication…we were under the impression that we didn’t have to empty the entire house. This was quickly changed when I talked to the realtor myself and realized that the entire place needed to be gutted. Added to this the fact that when we got to the airport I was informed by my older brother that he did not take Monday off so we needed to be back on Sunday…this became a big ass job with one day less than we thought we would have for a pretty big ass job. Enter a 30 yard dumpster and a 4 day mad freakin dash….ugg. Imagine dumping 90 plus years of shit in 4 days…and putting a bunch of stuff in a 16 foot POD to be trucked across the country for my parents so that when they’re gone….I get to do this again…lucky me.

There were good parts…lots of laughs and joking. Skip set 4 different alarm clocks and put them around my little brothers room set to go off anywhere from 3 to 5 AM. I bought Skip a Perry the Platypus hat that we couldn’t get off him for two days. I got to run in that beautiful Muttontown Preserve again which was stunning and beautiful…and let me keep my sanity and not kill anyone. We spent time with Alana and Brian who were Johns neighbors and my newest set of favorite people. It was good to spend some time again…with the only two people in the world who share the exact same blood as me. And Skip got to see his best friend from California who had moved to New York and they had not seen each other in over 8 years. I was also able to take Christmas wreaths for my grandparents and John out to the cemetery…Bruce took me….it was nice….but sad. I don’t think I’ll ever do it again.
The bad parts were as I expected. You can’t have that much ego in that small of a space and there not be some power struggle and childhood bullshit come up. My older brother and I have never been tight…and in a lesser way..he is every bit as lame and hording as my Dad which I HATE! And of course it pissed me off that TONS of this could have been done the last time we were there if my father had not been with us and Bruce had buckled down and realized that he couldn’t bring everything back. I mean…why bring shit back that you already have? Why transport things that you don’t need? Give it away..you don’t need it…and someone else could use it. Bullshit…blah.

Bruce getting his sweep on.

Good Stuff
I am still doing the Shred. I took 5 days off while we were out there because dude didn’t have a DVD player and the TV’s went in the dumpster the first day. So I finished day 10 of level two but am going to stay on it for a few more days before progressing due to my missing days. So I figure I’m about 13 days from finishing the thing. I will wait to do measurements again till the end and post them. Dom is still running…we’re going to do our second 5 miler tonight. I bought him new running shoes because his ghetto Vibriams just won’t cut it in the Wisconsin winter. We ended up getting Reebok's version of the Nike Frees…I can’t remember what they’re called. But we ran 4 miles Tuesday night and he liked them…but said they were heavy…lol. I need to piece together some winter gear for him and we need to start looking at training plans…I’m excited…excited to see him commit to something….he’s going to be a hell of a half marathoner.

Trail at Muttontown Preserve

Walled garden...a bit overgrown.

Mansion Ruins~stairs

I think I would run there every day.

Hope everyone is well!

30 Day Shred Week 1..and Thanksgiving

So I have completed my first week of being on the 30 Day Shred. I did the workout 6 of the 7 days of the week. You are supposed to do it every day but I don’t buy into that. You need at least one day of rest…if you’re me anyways. I did very light mileage as in like 3 mile runs and the other days I did yoga. I didn’t do beginning measurements and I kind of wish I had…maybe I will today…but I can say that my scrubs are looser and I’ve dropped 3 pounds with no real diet modification and Thanksgiving thrown in. So I have 3 more days on level one and then I move to level two. The workout is only 25 minutes but it TUFF! I’ve progressed to using only the 5 pound weights and am pleased so far….will keep updating as we go along.


Thanksgiving-

I think this just may have been my favorite Thanksgiving to date. We ended up with 15 people and it was fantastic! Here’s what was different this year.

-I cooked my turkey in a Nesco…this is amazing and left my oven free for everything else.
-It was my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian…and it was awesome.
-My ex-husband and his three boys joined us this year…and it was crazy and wonderful.
-I made the pumpkin pies from real pumpkins…not a can. They came from my parents garden.

If every Thanksgiving from here on out was half as good…I’d be thrilled. Usually I end up stressed out and wanting to choke someone by the end…but this year was just right…with the exception of WAY to much food…but better too much then not enough.

Now with Christmas less than a month away I can sort of relax. We leave for New York a week from Wednesday and it will be good to finally put that place in order and be done with it. I don’t suppose I’ll ever go back after this but who knows..I’ve also said I’ll never run another marathon….HA!

The Prodigal Runner..Sort Of

I hate when I do this…neglect this thing for so long I don’t even know where to begin to catch up. I look at it and think..why don’t you just pitch it…we will call it your ‘blog’ period….and be done….but somehow I just can’t.


New York was trying. Very hard to revert back to a life you haven’t lived in 15 or so years. To be under the same roof as both my parents and my brothers…nothing good can come of that…and nothing good did. I pulled almost 30 giant trash bags of mostly paper while I was there. The man kept everything…very meticulous and most often….not in good ways. Here are a couple of interesting highlights. When I first got there…..I immediately went to his room to strip the bed and flip the mattress so my Dad could lay down. As I was flipping…I noticed a long row of writing on the upper left hand side of the box spring. I went across the bed and saw that he had wrote down every time he flipped the mattress in marker at the top of the bed.

I also discovered similar documentation in other parts of the house. Like during the spur of the moment tag sale we had on Sunday before we left. I moved an antique clock into the bedroom because people kept trying to buy it and discovered multiple pieces of paper under it dating when he would wined it….dating back to the 60’s.

It was sad…and hard…to pitch away this mans life..things that he obviously found important. I did manage to give a pickup truck load of magazines to a steamboat enthusiast and also had the Oyster Bay Historian at the house and he had a wonderful time and took tons of things. And we sold a number of things in the sale that made people VERY happy to find….so there were good points.

The two best parts of the trip where the windmill and the wheelchair races. The windmill..pictured in the post below…was a prize in Johns life from early on. He built it when he was 15 years old…a fully functioning, badass windmill. Now the neighbors behind John have a 41 year old son that lives somewhere on the island and while we were talking with them one evening…they told us how much he had always loved the windmill….since he was a little boy. After talking with my parents…we decided to give it to the guy. We went over…told the parents who in turn called their boy and MADE HIS LIFE. So completely happy…and according to the neighbors to the north of John…who were extremely good to him and whom I have kept in contact with…told us that he came with a flatbed the week after we left and took it to his property. He sent my parents a note of extreme thanks. Good stuff there.

Now for some reason..John had 3 wheelchairs at the house. One we learned belonged to the church…and we returned it. The other two we put in the garage. And on the day we had the sale..Paul and I participated in wheelchair races in the driveway. I kicked his big ripped muscle ass there and back…and although he demanded a rematch after dark on the streets which never ended up happening…it was good…good to play in a sad time.

On the running front…things are going well. I’ve rebuilt my long run back up to 10 miles and have had a few solid ones. After the marathon…I was so completely burnt..most running I did was bad running…except barefoot. Through this fall I have been doing tons of trail running and was seriously considering a series of progressively longer trail runs put on in Illinois. Perfect to get away from normal racing and training. And then Dominic started running with me. And told me he wanted to run the half marathon of the full I ran last May. And I heard angels sing…lol. He ran his first 5 miler last week and I decided he not only could do it…but has both the dedication and heart to do so. Lofty for a 14 year old…but I am thrilled. But this changes my winter plans..because I can’t train with him for a half and do this trail series..no freakin way. So instead……I will train with my son through the winter…do speed training when he’s not with me…..run the half with him…and make Lighthouse 10 miler my A race for the year. Finally bury my hatchet with that damn race. Everyone wins.

So basically I’ve switched from base building for trail runs or running a solid half myself…and switched to Dominic running his first half without injury…and me getting ready to make Lighthouse the bitch she is to me.

I am also on day 2 of Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. Which is what I’ll do along with running with Dominic until we start training in January. This will be interrupted by another trip to New York in early December to finish emptying out the house and bringing his car back to Wisconsin.

There’s more…boatloads really. But I have my second date with Jillian and 3 or 4 miles with Brian to hammer out. Have a great day everyone and I hope everyone is well.