Graduation Day

Today was kindergarten graduation day for DS#2.  I realize that “graduation day” for a kindergartner is questionable, but as a proud mom, I personally don’t argue with another reason to celebrate my kid. 😉

I got my kids up at their usual time (6:15am) and prepared to put them on the bus at 7:05 for a start time of 8:15am.  The graduation ceremony was to begin with normal Wednesday Mass at 8:30am.  As he was eating breakfast, DS#1, who is quite a smart kid when he wants to be, said to me, “Mom, why are we riding the bus for an hour when you could just bring us to school with you when you come for the graduation?”  In the face of such a direct question, I couldn’t lie: “Because I want to go for a run before I go to the school, and I can’t do it if you two are still at home.” 😛 Luckily for me, he was a good sport about it. 😉

I am doing a new training program, which called for only a 2-mile run today.  Even with a short run, though, I knew I had only a little over an hour to do a run and then get myself ready, so I really pushed myself for this one.

My fastest pace to date, and an actual sub-10 minute mile–a full mile!  Woo hoo!  And this was after only five and a half hours of sleep! 😛 I definitely worked hard this morning, but it didn’t feel any harder than my first two-miler, to be honest.  Here is my timing:

I’m kind of bummed about that early dip in my pace–not sure what happened!  I know that’s what kept me from doing a sub-10 pace overall. 😛

I really do think my endurance is increasing with each run.  I was tired when I was done, of course, but I also felt really good for having pushed myself so hard.  And, just like after all my morning runs, I went into the rest of my day still feeling the high of knowing I had done something to better myself before my day had even really begun. 😀

At school, my little guy did a wonderful job at graduation–he is an extrovert like his mom, and he sings all the little songs and does all the hand movements with gusto.  I love him for that. 😉  Here he is during the graduation march.

Here we are after graduation.

It’s hard for me to believe he’s already six years old!

After the ceremony, we had a small reception in the classroom, and then one of the class mom’s had a gathering at her house.  I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to go, since I was feeling the effects from a lack of sleep the night before, but I knew DS#2 would be bummed if we missed it, so we went.  I’m glad we did, because it was a really enjoyable time.  There was lots of food around, of course, but I just had a small amount of pasta salad, and then I just munched on the carrots and fruit that I had brought. Oh, and I did have one cookie, but that was enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.  I am learning to stop and think about my eating choices at social functions much better these days, and to remember to enjoy the company of friends, rather than the food, because the people is what it’s really all about! 🙂

After the party…I came home and took a nap. 😉  It was only an hour, though, and I really did need it.  I didn’t waste the whole afternoon, though!  Part of my new training program includes cross-training and strength training, and today I was scheduled to not only do the run, but also add in some strength training.

I am actually no stranger to strength training. Back when I lost the first 50 pounds (described in this post), I did a lot of strength training.  My husband was once quite the athlete, and we have a very good (albeit very old) weight set.  Back when I first did it, we lived in a house with a basement, and I did all my training in the basement while catching up on old episodes of Quantum Leap on TVLand. (Am I the only one who remembers that show?)

Now, unfortunately, we don’t have a basement, so all the stuff is out in the (extremely crowded) barn.  My husband, God love him, likes to collect crap stuff, and our barn, though very big, doesn’t have much wiggle room.  Here is what I found when I went out to find the weight set today.

It’s in there somewhere. 😛 Luckily, I had come prepared with a towel to wipe most of the dust off.

I wasn’t sure what exercises I wanted to do initially.  I’d done some research online, but I didn’t like any the running exercises I found.  I looked more closely at what my training program recommended, and it was very general–it didn’t mention specific running exercises; it just suggested doing whatever strength training you felt comfortable doing. So I started hunting through all the old boxes, and I was delighted to find this:

Yep, that is Arnold Schwarzenneger Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding (modeled by DS#2). LOL!  This book was bought back when Ah-nold was still cool. 😉  I know it seems kind of silly, but it really does have lots of great instruction, complete with pictures, and it helped me tremendously all those years ago, because I was such a novice.

After that, my only trouble was that I couldn’t remember what exercises I used to do.  Then, I looked back in that same old box, and I couldn’t believe what I found…

That is page number one of my original weight training log.  I had totally forgotten that, at my husband’s suggestion, I had tracked every rep and every weight I’d ever done!!  And when I say “every,” I mean it…

Those are all the sheets of paper that are filled with my training log! I was amazed to see that I logged every workout for 13 months (until I got pregnant with DS#1), and then I saw a few stretches in 2003 and 2004 where I had tried to start it up again.  I am so glad I tracked it all…it made it so much easier to start right where I left off.  I just did four exercises today, without any weights to start, but I was amazed at how easy it was to get back in that old, familiar routine.  (Well, except for the part where I was trying to dodge all the crap that surrounded the weight set; at one point, while bending over to move something, I hit myself in the side of the face with the weight bar–I came perilously close to losing an eye!)

I’m going to talk to my husband about clearing out the area for me, and I am really, really hopeful I can keep up this training routine.  The strength training is only 2 days a week, and I’m hoping that I can keep my enthusiasm going.  Sometimes, I worry about that…I worry about how long I can keep up my running program before it “gets old” and I get bored. 🙁 I do not have the best track record for stuff like this.

And yet, I just realized last night that Monday the 21st marked exactly six months since I began my re-commitment to my health.  One of my WW friends made a comment on my blog yesterday that made me realize it (thanks, Betsy!)–she asked if I had ever thought, back when I started my walking journey in November, that I would be where I am now.  I absolutely, positively had no idea back then that I could not only become a dedicated fitness walker, but now a runner (me! yes, me! a runner!!).  And, in addition to the exercise part, I am also amazed and so very proud of myself for staying completely committed to my weight loss program–I have tracked my food every day for twenty-seven weeks!  Wow!! In that time I have lost 30 pounds and went from a size 14/16 to a size 6/8.  Wow again!!  But truly, the most important thing is that I feel great–great about my health, great about how I look, and great about what I have done for me. 🙂

Thanks for reading!