Up and Down

I had wine this weekend, and a ridiculously good spiced Hot Toddy, and all kinds of sweets. I indulged. I also feel ok about it, and regret not one bite of the Snicker’s cheesecake. I regret no part of the rice stirfry for lunch, with the rice/pork eggplant moussaka for dinner (RICE! WHITE RICE!). I had some chocolate, I ate popcorn, I had lots of caffeine.

Whatev’s. Back to the smoothie this morning, and chugging water like I just spent a week in the Sahara with nothing but an empty bottle and a picture of Richard Armitage brooding. (Yes, this makes me uncharacteristically thirsty… I wonder why. *wink*)

We had some bad news about some friends that we really consider family come on Friday afternoon, but everyone is recovering, safe, and taken care of. It was stressful and extremely upsetting, and the McDonalds tasted extra comforting when we sat as a family for a treat meal before groceries. (Why yes, I abusefind comfort in carbs, hand over that loaf of Wonderbread and no one gets hurt.)

When we do groceries, we do them with the kids (My son loves helping, and my daughter is following in that), and we eat before we shop (we usually do not go home, and go straight from day care pickup to food). Believe it or not, if I insist on eating before, we spend less on groceries as a whole. Yes, it was Golden Arches this time, but you know what? I am ok with it. Besides, the Hex Bug that came with my son’s Happy meal was really neat, and he absolutely enjoyed playing with it once his meal was done. I just wish they would make the girl toys more like toys and less useless stuff that gets tossed the moment we can. The past three girl toys have been keychains… Keychains? WTF is my two-year old going to do with a keychain? It is disappointing for her. I should have just asked for a boy toy for her as well.

Not that we seek out McD’s for toys… It is a lovely bonus. They become great toys to keep in the car as emergency placation.

While my husband was off completing round 2 of his 13.2 Open WOD (Crossfit, yo) on Saturday, I did some core work, and some squats. Did you know that you can do plank with a child crawling all over you? Crunches are extra oomphy when you have a small 2-year old run and flop across your abs just as you are flexing up. Also? It is so easy for wee kids to do Paleo chair. Adorable, but frustraing as *$%#, because my Paleo chair is as thus: squat down, hold onto edge of couch to get into position. Let go of couch, count to three and fall over. Repeat. Meanwhile, she is sitting in a deep Paleo chair, clapping her hands and singing.

She can also still touch her toes to her forehead. ‘Nuff said.

I logged 10k on Sunday with a friend, and it was *$%#ing awesome. The endorphins raging through my system when we got back made me want to go bite the head off a chicken (nugget) and jump around (while taking off my running tights). I fell asleep cuddling the kids while watching Team UmiZoomi not twenty minutes later. AROOOO… ZZZzzz…

This was my first 10k since Resolution Run, and I felt happy with my effort. Some walking, a quick stop break halfway through (at the top of Heart Attack Hill), and we did some lovely inclines. We ran up Heart Attack Hill, which I had severe doubts I could do without walking. I chose to attempt it, I said “let’s do that”. Why? I have no idea. I like to torture myself. I was also thinking about Tough Mudder, and the mountain I have to climb several times over. That is more of a motivating factor to my fitness ramp up than the obstacles (more on this later). I really, really, really want to be able to get up those ski slopes without shredding myself. It is 16k, whether walking or running the in-betweens, and I have to have the leg strength to git’erdone.

Squats every day from now to Mudder. I declare it a Squat-a-thon! Anyone got a good app for daily squat challenges? What am I getting myself into?

But… By the time I got to the top of that wicked, awesome, hateful, spiteful, mean slope, I was wheezing like a half-broken accordion. My lungs had given me the heave-ho. My legs were fine, my body felt great, but my damned lungs said “%&$* you, lady, we don’t like this.” The phlegm was epic, the grape Amino Energy water tasted amazing. It could be the %$&#ing cold I still have hanging around, making me stuffy and headachey and generally blech. Stupid cold. Give me my lungs back! I felt it during the run.

Then I looked down the hill. *^%$ yeah! We did that! I was pleased. I hope my friend was too. She’s much better at hills than me.

I ended the weekend asleep on the couch, drooling on my tablet. Up and Down indeed, it was eventful. Today is a yoga day… I need some re-centreing, and a chance to reflect on the up and down of the past couple of days, both mental and physical. Namaste, dammit.