Stronger, Better, Faster, Happier page 30

[Kakes]

I should check in or something. Things are good. Still primal. Still rocking the healthy body- yoga now and then (not often enough at the moment), handstand practice, PEMs, running occasionally. Looking forward to Thursday's 5k. Even more so looking forward to watching my kids in their first "official" race (they get their own t-shirts!). They'll be running a whopping 1k along with cousins. 4 year old girl child is especially enthusiastic. She's more excited about the race than about the feast! It's adorable.
The other day, I finally met my casually spoken goal of seeing a number below 150 on the new scale. It now reads 149. The old scale puts me at 145. Considering I haven't been doing any real purposeful weight-lossy things, I'll take it.
Today I started out with some handstand practice during my laundry folding sanity breaks. Then the girls begged me to take them on a walk. I thought, "Sure! Short walk down the street and back, a mile tops!" The girls had other ideas as soon as we walked out the door. 4 year old was under her own leg power with the tiny wolf in tow, and 2 year old was in the umbrella stroller. They wanted to RUN! So we ran. Up up up the neighborhood hills to the park. Once there, we played crazy games and ran all over the place. Then we took the trail to the far end of the park and looped back around and down through a different neighborhood street to eventually make it home. 2 and 1/4 miles total. During that time there were many tradings of stroller turns and piggy back rides. I did a lot of single-armed stroller steering and single-armed piggy back hitching. I didn't know my girls knew how to shout "RUN!" and "Jump!" in Spanish, but that's what we did for the entire "walk". Then as we played around as a family later this evening, I did planks with one child crawling on my back, and another underneath me (there's incentive to stay up!). Then I laid on the couch with my legs hanging over the couch arm and ended up with kids hanging from my feet wanting rides. I took the opportunity to get my quads good and shredded. Everything is tired and sore right now. My legs, my back, my arms, even my abs. As they say, parenthood ain't for sissies.
I'm looking forward to making primal pumpkin bread, Pumpkin pie with walnut crust, and Chocolate Pie with coconut crust for various Thanksgiving get togethers. Tomorrow will be baking day!

[Kakes]

What a Thanksgiving weekend! We rocked the Turkey Leg 5k. I PR'd it at 30 minutes even. (I am not fast, this is a big deal for me!) The 3 older kids ran the 1k with their cousins. I ended up running it with Girl child #1. It was hilarious. About as much drama, tears and excitement as you could ask for in one loop of a park trail. Talk about an emotional roller coaster! Once she saw the finish line and realized everyone was cheering for her, she was on cloud nine. She's already asking when her next race can be. Our brunch afterward at WLB's brother's house was scrumptious. I took Pumpkin bread made with almond butter and coconut orange bread. They were both delicious. Add to that crestless quiche with spinach, mushroom and cheese, ham, and fruit salad and the spread was awesome. We stopped at home to shower and change and went to my parents house for the afternoon feast. My parents did a gluten-free spread. It was mostly awesome. The turkey... oh the poor turkey. My dad likes to carve early and then stick the platter back in the oven to keep warm.... which turns the whole shebang a into dried out chewy mess with requires smothering in either gravy or cran sauce. I didn't care that much. My attention was stolen by the incredible greek salad my sis in law made. My pies were so yummy- the chocolate pie was super dark, and wasn't as well received by my family. But the 2nd chocolate pie which we took to WLB's fam for dessert was slightly less thick and dark and was so perfect! They LOVED it.
Friday WLB went for a crazy run with Matt and running buddies while I finally introduced Alicia to yoga. There were kids everywhere, so it wasn't the centered oasis I wanted it to be, but it was still good. I helped her decorate for Christmas and arrived home late with no decorating mojo left to spare on my own digs. Today we went to our nieces baptism and family lunch. I took the same Greek salad that I mooned over before and passed the recipe around as others mooned over it too. I could live off of it. Mmmmm...
Greek Salad

2 heads of Romaine lettuce
¼ lb. bacon-crumbled
¼ lb. feta cheese
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
2/3 cup slivered almonds (browning is optional)
1 package of sliced mushrooms
2-3 avocados
3-4 roma tomatoes

Dressing:
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
¾ cup light olive oil
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 garlic cloves (minced)

*Note: wait to add the dressing until ready to serve

I haven't been careful enough about what I've eaten. Nothing horrible, just a bite here and there out of courtesy or curiosity that I should have skipped. At one point my intestines were having muscle spasms (weird feeling- like regular baby kicks, but I'm not preg!). Mostly I've just been super bloated and uncomfortable in the evenings. I'm glad to be getting back to our normal food routines.

[Kakes]

It's official!! I met my goal of finishing my 5k in under 30 minutes! They just posted official times for the Turkey Leg 5k we did on Thanksgiving and mine is 29:40!! STOKED!
It's been great running weather lately. A little cold, but as long as it's light once you get moving it feels awesome. Gotta get out there soon. We changed Tuesday family running night to Saturday morning run and brunch. So far, we love it.

Over the last couple of weeks I've had chiropractic adjustments twice. Once by my dad, once by my fresh-out-of-internship-and-graduation little brother. They both commented on the loss of curvature in my neck and upper back. It's a genetic propensity that I am lucky enough to inherit from both mom and dad's sides. I had my fingers crossed that I wouldn't have to deal with it, but alas...
At least I'm in good shape, catching it early, and there are ways of reversing and preventing it. Just more daily exercises and body awareness to keep up on. In the mean time, my neck and upper back are sore, burning and achy a lot of the time, and I'm prone to headaches. Hopefully I make quick progress with my self-therapy. Yoga seems to help- I just need to have my practice more regular, which should happen in January when I start training. I am making efforts before then as well.

[namelesswonder]

I read about a crossfit person who prevented paralysis after breaking their neck because their neck muscles were strong enough to hold the break in a safe way. If they'd been weaker, they would've been paralyzed. I'm sure you'll be able to help your neck

You are crazy for running in the cold! I hate the feeling of cold air in my lungs when I'm trying to move quickly.

[Kakes]

RIDICULOUSLY BUSY!! Holy crap. Or as my two year old says, "Foley Crack!"
First of all, my cold resistance has come up about 10 degrees due to insulation loss. Used to be able to barefoot it down to 18-20 F and I hardly ever wore long sleeves indoors. Now I love my sweaters and I need slippers around 30 F! Losing 30 lbs does have a down side! Totally worth it though. Grateful that the weather has been very cooperative so far. Running still generally happens at least weekly. Though we skipped last week, so that sucked. Sis-in-law Alicia and I have been doing yoga together twice a week and it has been awesome!! WLB has joined his bro Matt and buddies in their trail running/ peak bagging adventures, so he's loving that. I must admit that I'm jealous. I'd be out with them, but babysitters for 4 kids are not easy to find and I'm wearing out friends and fam as is.
The kids are official home schoolers! We turned in the affidavit yesterday. I must admit, I'm still nervous. But I think we'll do well.
I should not be typing here. I have gifts to finish making and I need a shower.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[namelesswonder]

Congrats on the home-schooling stuff. Sounds like you are busy, but doing well.

Merry Christmas!

[Kakes]

Thanks wonder! The homeschooling thing still isn't very real because we're on winter break, but I think it will be great.

I have not been running for a couple of weeks. I'm bummed about it. But I have done a good amount of yoga, so that's great. WLB gave me a Manduka yoga mat for Christmas, which made me whisper in wonder and go all giddy. I've been practicing on a $10 Target mat, so this is definitely a step up with a lifetime warranty. I got him a slackline. We're excited for the snow to melt so we can play on that! I definitely feel the need to run though. I just need grippy enough shoes to handle a snowy trail. We don't have cash for those or snowshoes at the moment, so who knows when that will happen.
My eating habits have been a roller coaster with the holidays. Some days are great- especially when I'm busy. But there have been far too many not great food days lately. There's been way too much stress on top of the holiday stuff, and not nearly enough sleep. The scale is reflecting the changes, but only a bit. My skin is showing it too just a bit- break outs are lame. Gotta get back to routine.The kids have been gorging on treats and we ran out of our D supplements, which is a recipe for sickness! We've dealt with a stomach bug and a throat/fever virus in the past two weeks. No fun. Huzzah for essential oils so that we can get over the sickies quickly.
WLB also got me some calipers for Christmas. It reads me somewhere around 15-16% BF which is where I thought I was, so yay!

[namelesswonder]

Slacklines are so cool! I wish I had one so I could practice. I had fun using the one my friend had in college. Just a couple feet off the ground to be safe. I never was able to walk more than a few feet on it.

[honeybuns]

Oh, I miss your updates.

[Kakes]

What have I been up to?
~Homeschooling the kids for real. It. is. AWESOME. We love it! We've been free styling without set curriculum and just going where our curiosity takes us. We've done science experiments and art projects, dance parties, and watched a bunch of Magic School Bus episodes which then expound into discussions and learning games. It's been a little bit tough that they've been sick and thus they can't play with friends and go to social activities. It's also been hard that temps have been single digit and the inversion is awful. It makes sending them out to play no bueno. We just got in a shipment of vitamin D and fish oil. One day later and everyone is already feeling a ton better.
~YOGA! It's official. My tuition is paid the papers are signed. I have reserved my spot for Yoga Teacher Certification Training and I start March 6th. I'm so excited that I get a shot of adrenaline every time I think about it!
~Running around in the crazy-a cold!
As I yelled to Alicia and the crystal glittery snow mountains today, "I'm in love! I'm in love! And I don't care who knows it!" Mountain running/hiking in the snow is incredible. The first time I went with Alicia in the knee deep snow, I laughed the entire time! It's an adventure in wonderland every time! I adore it!



Today we ran up to Patsy's Mine in 12˚F. That felt downright balmy compared to the 3˚ it was earlier in the morn. It was magical. When we got there we found that the constant water seepage had formed amazing ice and crystal formations inside the cave of the mine. The snow was soft, dry and crystalline the entire way. It didn't even seem real! I kept tossing it in the air to watch it glitter back to the ground in the sunlight.

Here is how I felt when we hit the mine...


Here are some pics of the awesomeness of nature.



To be continued...