Hiatus

I've been lazy with my blog as of late. As I looked at my stat site recently, I saw that I have a large amount of new lurkers, many coming from Running Ahead. Just wanted to thank you all for checking out the site and please feel free to comment if you have something to say.

One of the reasons I have been out of commission for the last month or so is because I have started running again- really running, seriously this time. I posted about it earlier and am glad to say that it is going really well, even though I have started slowly. I am running my first five miler in a LONG time Saturday and I am actually looking forward to it. I plan to write more about my running on this blog, make it more of a focus. I still want to write my happy little entries as before, just maybe an additional running update as well.

Also, I promise to be better at writing. I'll be on vacation next week so I'm SURE I will have something fun to report after that.

Under the Fig Tree

When I was a little girl my parents used to fly me down to my grandparent's house in Louisiana every summer (I started at age 6). I would meet my cousins there (see post "Family Matters") and we would spend two wonderful weeks swimming every day, eating snow cones in a thousand different flavors (Grandma called them sippy-owls), and being pampered by our grandparents. Those were some of the best days of my life.

My grandparents had many fruit trees and my grandfather had a garden from which, one year, he grew one of the biggest cucumbers the world has ever seen! It was so exciting to cut into that amazing vegetable (fruit?), so sweet and clean tasting. He saved it just for us and we loved it. I think it lasted us the entire two weeks and the salads my grandmother made with it were divine.

One fruit tree that always sticks out in my mind and reminds me of those days as kids was the fig tree. I didn't like figs, I don't think I had a legitimate reason; I just didn't like the sound of them. We did make it a hobby of picking them regularly when they were at their peak. Now that they both of my grandparents are gone and I don't get back to Louisiana quite as often, I regret not taking advantage of this sweet, juicy, fruit that you can pick right off the tree.

The pictures shown are from last summer. I had a wedding shower there thrown by my southern family. My uncle owns the house now but only stays there when he is in the area on business. The tree grew to enormous proportions and the figs were just about ready to pop. The skies were growing dark and stormy so just after this picture was taken, we worked hard and fast to gather up as many as we could before the rain caused them to burst and be inedible. Last summer I finally got over my fear of figs and ate one, savoring every last bite. I'm hoping that this is not the last time I get to eat a fresh fig off my grandparent's tree. Now that they are gone, I feel that my magical life there is fading away.

These Shoes Were Made for Running

I am really trying hard not to write about the stuff that I rehash over and over in my head and to others on a regular basis (i.e. work, living in the boonies, etc). Unfortunately for you, this post is about just such a subject- running. If you know my anxiety with running, please stop reading this post straight away, I really don't want you to have to suffer through this again. If not, here's the deal.

I started running in 2003 after eating my way through college, gaining weight for the first time in my life and struggle to get back into a normal eating routine for years after. In 2003, I started dating Le Mari. I have no idea if this has anything to do with me finally forcing myself to commit to a healthier lifestyle or meeting him, but he would like to think the latter! I went from walk/running a mile to being able to run thirteen miles and actually enjoying it! YES! You can enjoy running! I was fully committed. I ran five to six days a week before work and would wake up early to run on weekends. I was in the best shape of my life and loved every minute of it!

In the fall of 2005, I was chosen to be a part of a special team at work. Before, I was working 11AM-7PM giving me ample time to ease into my day, run, eat breakfast, etc. When this went into effect, I had to get into work at 8AM and wasn't getting home until 7PM. My running slowed significantly. After that, I was promoted and put on a 6AM-2PM shift. Trying to convert from an AM runner to a PM runner is not at easy as you think. By the time I got home from work, I was (and am) exhausted. I just want to go home and take a nice long nap, which I was (and still am) doing every day. My running went from sporadic to nonexistent. I was going off and on, taking weeks off at a time then running a day or two, which was doing nothing for me. I tried and retried to get back into it but just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Last week, I decided that it was time to get off my lazy back end and commit for real this time. I discovered a running store in the same complex as my grocery store so Le Mari and I went yesterday to check it out. What better way to start a new routine than to buy a new pair of shoes!

Fleet Feet is a chain but run by a family. The wife, husband and 16-year-old daughter were there at 10AM getting ready for the day. It reminded me so much of growing up with my parents owning their own business, going to work with them, helping out when I was forced. It was great.

I got my feet analyzed. I ran on a treadmill and was recorded by a video camera so the lady that was helping me could decide what shoes I needed to try. Apparently I overpronate, but that is a whole other story. She brought me several pairs of shoes and had me walk in all of them, and then we tried insoles. $135 later, I was ready to run!

I'm happy to say that I ran a sad two miles yesterday and two miles today. I really need to work my way back up. I feel great. I have tomorrow off but Tuesday will be the real test when I will have to come home and run after work. I need lots of support (AKA someone to force me) but I think I can do it. I know I can!

By the way, Le Mari decided that I looked so cute in my running gear that he wanted to take a picture. After I saw it, I decided it would be my before of a before and after. Not flattering at all! Let me tell you one thing, Ladies, if you are any bigger than 5’10”, 110lbs, don’t EVER get your picture taken in spandex. It’s not worth the pain and frustration.

Family Matters

I am terrible with the phone. E-mail is one of my main forms of communication to most of my loved ones and it is getting really bad. I am trying to get better.

As a kick-start to my goal of calling people more often, I phoned my cousin, Kiki, last night just to say hi and see how she was doing. I very rarely do this even though I love her like a sister. I am an only child but my parents made sure I was very close to my extended family. Many of my cousins, second cousins, and second cousins once removed, etc. flew up from Texas, Louisiana, and Virginia for the wedding. It meant more to me than they will ever know.

As we chatted about work, kids, husbands and life, I realized (as I do every time I see or talk to her) how much I love having her in my world, no matter how infrequently we get to spend time together. All of my cousins touch my life in a different way and I wish more than anything that I could be with them more often.

Now that our grandmother has died, we don't have as many excuses to get together and it scares me. We had always made the effort before and hopefully we will now. Soon we will all be starting families, if we haven't already, which will just make things harder. I hope we have the strength to keep this close-nit family going, no matter how far apart we are or how complicated things get. We need each other.

In this picture, my three closest cousins and I are with my great Aunt Rosemary, back when we were young and sweet. I am the blonde, Kiki is the brunette.