Stronger, Better, Faster, Happier page 8

[Kakes]

Yesterday was WLB's birthday! He took the day off work and just hung out. One of his gifts was a 35 lb kettlebell, so we played around with some practice swings for a bit. I dabbled in cleaning, dishes and laundry and got Primal German Chocolate Cake and dinner ready for our family run night. I got a couple of calls that our numbers would be expanding for the night, so it was more to prepare for, but so worth it. We had 3 of WLB's sibs with spouses and siblets in tow. Our ladies run is always first. That included 2 sisters in law and 2 nieces (age 11 and 7), and of course me. We all knew trail training would do us more good than anything, so we drove up to the trail head (about 0.8 mile from home) and headed up the mountain in our Altras and Minimus (the girls were in water socks). It was in the mid-80s, so we got our sweat on pretty quickly. By the time we hit the major switchbacks, I thought I'd just end up hiking the whole thing, but once I was really warmed up, it was on! There was intermittent walking, but every time we hit the "top" and stopped to wait for the rest, we found another bit of trail to run and dug up the juice to run it! We ended up on some pretty steep and rocky trails and finally decided to turn around. Once we got down the steepest and rockiest section, I set it on cruise and just flew. It was AWESOME! By the time we coasted in to the parking lot, the littlest niece had oompa loompa face, so we got some water into her pretty quick. I couldn't believe those girls! They rocked that run! The sil's climbed in the car and I couldn't shake the feeling that I wasn't done. I jokingly asked the littles if they wanted to run home and to my surprise their faces lit up! We shed our shoes and sent them home in the car and took off down the road. I kept expecting to turn and see them walking, but they kept up with me every step! The soft pitter of little feet on the road behind me was the sweetest sound! (Someday I'll get my kids to actually run and not have to drag them whining behind me.) I'm pretty sure by that point I was on a major runners high that I haven't come down from since. I had put whole chickens in to roast while we were gone and we made salad and sides while the boys hit the trails and the kids played on the tires out back. When the boys got back, we feasted on roasted chicken, colorful salad, spaghetti squash with alfredo sauce, and braised butter cabbage. It was all capped off with a birthday song and primal German Chocolate Cake topped with maple whipped cream and 80% dark ganache with strawberries and bananas on the side. As we wound things down in the yard with the kiddos, my girl child #1 (who is 4) came to me with arms outstretched. As I lifted her into a hug and she wrapped her little legs around my waist I said, "Someday when you are a little bigger, you can come on the girls run with me!" The reaction was priceless. Her eyes got huge and she gasped, then she broke into a jubilant smile, threw her arms wide to the sky and said, "YESSSSSSSSSS!"

[Kakes]

Body fat at 20%. BAM. I never thought I'd care for it to go lower than that, but 18 is looking pretty inviting. I'm very happy with my body currently, though there are still a few lumps I'd like to smooth out. I'm having fun, loving being strong and active, and LOVING the food and just eating WHEN. I'll just ride it out and see where the Primal magic takes me! To hotness and beyond!

[Kakes]

I took my boys to the dentist yesterday. 6 months ago Boy #2 had a bunch of cavities that had to be filled and Boy #1 had some "spots to watch". Not this time baby! Their cleanings and checkups took about 15 minutes. Boy 2 got sealants put on his permanent molars, but NO CAVITIES for anyone! Thank you healthy diet!! My appointment is next week and WLB and Girl #1 have appointments coming up as well. They have genetically not-awesome teeth, so I'm a little nervous. Hopefully ours will be as easy and positive!

[honeybuns]

Dental cleanings are a big fat cake walk since we started eating this way. I remember previous cleanings being an ordeal of scraping etc. No longer!!!
Positive thoughts for your appointments!

[Kakes]

My body has gotten pretty used to 14 hour fasts. They are practically a no-brainer now and I do them at least 2-3 days a week. I try to pay attention to stressors and implement fasts on days when they are lower. If I've gone for crazy hard runs or had a super-busy stressful day, I try to be gentle with my body the day after. It's all about how I'm feeling. Yesterday I had a good long fast. I took in plenty of water, but didn't snack or eat. Our neighborhood was holding a special fast day on behalf of a sweet 14 year old girl in our church group that was just diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, so I decided it was a good day to go all out in behalf of another. I usually don't even feel hungry until at least 14 hours, but my body wanted me to feel it this time I guess! I was hungry from the moment I woke up. Hungry, but not dying. I ended up making it (slightly lightheaded and quite famished, but no energy drop) until dinner and prayer meeting. 21+ hours. It was empowering and connective. Dinner was delicious. Prayer meeting was spiritual and humbling. We live in an awesome community. There is hope for successful treatment for her. It's hard to have helpful information and to know that it isn't your place or the right time to share it. Her mom is a devout long time weight watchers follower. I don't know details about the girls diet, but I'm positive it's pretty carb heavy and low fat. It makes me sad to see their family suffer. I pray for their peace, strength and guidance.

On another note, I seem to have done something strange to my hip and ankle. The morning after our awesome flying trail run, I woke up with a swollen ankle. Not painful at all, just fat. My hip was a little sore, but mostly just tingly all the way down the back and outside of my right leg. Something is irritating my sciatic nerve. It's not painful, just weird! It's slowly getting better. I had WLB mobilize my ankle joint and that helped some. I just wish it would quit it! I'm hoping to go for a run today or tomorrow. I need it. I'm getting a lot better and handstands and I'm having fun learning to use WLBs kettlebell effectively. Hopefully this weekend we can get more work done on the back yard pull up station.
Oh- I found free range local eggs just 10 minutes away for $1.50 a dozen! Woot! I need to call and see if they have enough to meet our 6-7 dozen/week needs, but I'm excited.

[WarlordBlade]

We need to go try handstands somewhere without our wall!

[Kakes]

Dental cleanings are a big fat cake walk since we started eating this way. I remember previous cleanings being an ordeal of scraping etc. No longer!!!
Positive thoughts for your appointments!

That's what I'm hoping for honeybuns! Even though I have faith in the science of PB it feels just a little "too good to be true" until the tests and appointments prove otherwise. I think I really screwed us up for a while with our 2 years of grain-heavy veg lifestyle and we're still recovering.

[Kakes]

We need to go try handstands somewhere without our wall!

Yes! I was going to have you spot me last night away from the wall, but then I was sleepy, so I slept instead. :P

[Kakes]

Yes. Excellent dental health. *fist pump*
Now we just have to pass the test for the two sets of troublesome teeth in our family. Girl child #1 (who's already got caps on her molars because they started disintegrating when she was 3), and WLB (who had 17 fillings at once 2 weeks before our wedding). WLB's teeth have definitely gotten better as of late, but sadly they are mostly fillings and crowns now.

Yesterday we rolled out a 3 mile trail run. It was just the right amount of technical without too much vert (few hundred feet versus the 1000ish we did Saturday). WLBs sis watched the kids while he and I, and his bro (M) and wife (A) hit the trails. A and I are pretty new to this trail running game, so while it was cake for the boys, it was great practice for us. I'm feeling like I might finally start to look like I belong in workout clothes. Ha!



I'm pretty proud of that muscle line down my calf. I earned that! (Isn't WLB hot? Mmm. Sexy man.)

WLBs sister didn't have the energy to run with us yesterday after a late and stressful night, so in the midst of trying to accommodate her (Monday night, or Tuesday night?), we ended up deciding to do both! So tonight we'll be out running again. I'm a firm believer in mixing it up and having rest days, so I don't love the idea of doing two running days in a row (after having only a one day break since our last hard run). But I'm telling myself that I'm going to have to bend the rule if I'm training for Ragnar- where I'll be running three very difficult relay legs within 24 hrs. Something tells me this years Ragnar experience is going to leave last years in the dust. Last year I was one of the least experienced runners in our van and while my distance was decent, the difficulty was... well... not that technically difficult (relatively speaking). This year I'm in the top half of the team as far as experience and skill goes. This is mostly due to the default of getting bumped up in the ranks when normally non-runner family members joined the team. I have about 6 weeks to up my game big time.

[namelesswonder]

What do you mean, "starting to belong in work out clothes"? It's all in your head, darling, you look great!