Fall (Updated)

I went for a run this morning and it was great!  First the weather--it has turned beautiful this week. Temps in the high 70s, sunny and no humidity. Who could ask for anything more?  I wanted to get my run in, but also spend time with my brother, who is leaving tomorrow, so I limited my run to 60 minutes. With the temperate weather I was able to run much more easily. I still had some walking parts, but a lot fewer. I've always heard that interval training is good for runners, maybe my run/walk pattern might serve as some kind of an interval and, in fact makes me run better . . . . (you know I'm an optimistic glass half full kind of person!)

As I was coming to the end of my run, I happened to look down and saw these on the path.  I stopped to scoop up these few and brought them back to show you proof that fall is actually coming.  I also saw about 3 fuzzy/wooly caterpillars today--doesn't that mean that winter is going to be cold? 

My eating was a bit unusual (for me) today but falls within my WW Core guidelines.  Breakfast was my usual unfrosted mini wheats and half a peach.  For lunch I went out with my brother and his friend.  I ordered a cheese steak sandwich. I cut my sandwich in half and gave each of the guys a quarter piece.  I thoroughly enjoyed my half a sandwich and refuse to feel guilty.  So there! For dinner, we were 10 (we 3, brother & friend and son John's family + his SIL).  I made grilled sirloin/veggie skewers, apricot almond couscous, and broccolini with smoked paprika almonds and garlic. We had coffee and WW strawberry frozen yogurt bars for dessert. It was yummy.

broccolini with smoked paprika, almonds, and garlic

After dinner we went for an impromptu bike ride in the neighborhood. "We" is my bother, his friend and me. It was getting dark, so we stayed close to home.  My brother's friend was riding DH's bike (his first time with shoes & "snazzy pedals").  He fell, twice.  I fell once. Very embarrassing. It was not so much a matter of forgetting to unclip as it was trying to make too tight a turn. In any case, I got a skinned up elbow; not pretty, but it doesn't hurt--too much.  UPDATE:  It got achey after an hour or so, so I had to take some pain reliever to get comfortable sleeping.  I also have a lovely long bluish purple bruise and related tenderness on the side of my hip. Thanks Karen for the tip:  Unclip the shoe on the on the side of the tight turn so I can balance.  Sure hope I get this all down soon.  I'm a little old to keep diving toward the pavement elbow first.

Laura sent me a belated birthday present that arrived today--A Kettle bell plus a DVD set she says is very good.  Now I get to be one of the "cool kids!"  Thank you, beautiful daughter!  Yes, Laura has become a reader. She's on the other coast and is going great guns exercising, eating well and losing weight.  

I like trying new things. Chayote Squash was new yesterday. Broccolini was new to me tonight--it was deelish. Kettlebells are new to me. I'll try them out tomorrow and let you know. Falling with my new bike gear? It was new, but now it's old hat. I don't need to fall any more!

How about you?  Have you tried anything new lately??

Pride Goeth . . .

Granny on a Bike

After a good day's work on getting the house ready and a nice dinner out with DH we set out for a long ride--my inaugural ride with the new bike shoes and snazzy pedals. I was psyched to get the increased efficiency of movement, now using the upward pull of the circular pedal motion as well as the regular downward push.  I wanted to sail right over the Hill (the capital H is well deserved). I wanted to finish in our regular hour and realize that we'd gone a few extra miles. I very much wanted to get through the ride without falling.  In spite of the good advice I got from you all [I live in Virginia--we say "you all" lots around here]. In spite of that good advice, I decided to just learn how to clip on and off along the way.  DH gave me the briefest of demonstrations and off we went.

Our normal ride is through neighborhoods with just one or two crossings of major traffic roads.  DH had me kick out my heel to un-clip at about every other stop sign.  Lots.  As a precaution, I un-clipped before the three or four dicey spots (just before the major road crossings and when we went through a very narrow opening to the park that often brings us to a standstill).  I found it fairly easy to clip off and pretty easy to re-attach.  I chose the pedal style that has the plain pedal on one side and the clip pedal on the other side, so it took me a bit of time and sometimes a peek or two to see if I had the right side.  Things went well.  I felt good.  I tried to be aware of the mechanics of the pedal and to work at using the pull up motion.  I could do it for 10 or 12 turns in a row, but it doesn't come naturally yet.  I must say, I didn't sail right up the Hill.  I worked at it, like I usually do.  Maybe it was a smidgeon easier, but maybe not.  I definitely hope it will expect it to get easier as I get more and more used to effectively using the new set-up.

We went our usual route to start and then went a new way to join our alternate route.  We wanted to drive by our new house again.  The sign out front still reads "For Sale," but the agent is picking up our signed agreement dropping the inspection contingency tomorrow, so maybe we'll get a Sale Pending or Sold sign up next week.  All this time, I'm still releasing and re-attaching my bike shoes every other stop sign or so.  I felt a little like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, clicking her red shiny shoes.

I had wanted to go 15 or so miles tonight to stretch out the distance, but the days are getting shorter and, by the time we got back from our dinner date, we just had an hour before sunset.  We went about 13 miles.  As we reached the home stretch I started writing this post in my head.  Tell me I'm not the only one who composes posts in her head, trying to think of clever titles and thinking about how to tell you all  about my doings.  My title was going to be something about "it's not FALL yet," because I was going to make it.  Only a block and a half left.  DH reminded me not to forget to unclip as I turned into the driveway.  I was feeling confident.  I was excited.  I was going to do it.  I signaled the last turn, came down the hill, signaled the left turn into our driveway, smartly un-clipped my right foot, and . . .

a GNAT flew into my eye.

I thought it was funny and was trying to clear my vision, break brake (mmm, was that foreshadowing?) to a stop, and tell DH about it when I suddenly remembered that I hadn't un-clipped my left foot.  At this point I had no forward motion left and I gently fell to the left, my left foot still firmly attached to its pedal. Fortunately, I had pulled to the left edge of the driveway, and I fell onto the grass.  A much softer, less damaging landing than my last fall.  DH helped extricate me from the pedal and we were both still laughing when he finished putting the bikes away.

This makes a MUCH better post.  What I won't do for you guys!

3 Things Thursday

I thought that instead of trying to share my life story (as usual), I'd try to limit myself to just three things today.

1. Killing Time

I didn't intend to kill time when I went biking with DH last night. I meant to get some more exercise and spend a little quality time with my husband. In the end, though, I did kill time, or at least my watch. Here's what happened. We were at a 4-way stop in the neighborhood we ride through. I had entered the intersection with my left arm dutifully stretched out to signal my turn when I noticed a car with a pizza delivery sign on top fast approaching on the cross road. It didn't seem to be slowing for the stop sign at all. After an instantaneous calculation involving speed, relative bearing drift, and the known proclivities of pizza delivery guys to drive recklessly, I slammed on my brakes. A half a second later I was on the road, my bike having responded to my braking command so quickly, that I hadn't gone as much as a foot farther into the intersection. Long story short, the pizza car did stop (12 feet or so past the stop sign), DH came back and helped me (and my pride) up off the street, and we proceeded on our way. When we arrived home I took an inventory of my losses: 2 bruised and scuffed palms, 1 skinned knee, 1 skinned ankle, 1 skinned elbow, a nasty looking bruise in the 'under-the-bathing-suit area' at the top of my thigh, and an unblemished spot, inside, under my left breast that hurts a bit when I move/breathe/laugh. Oh, and yes, a cracked, scuffed crystal on my favorite red watch. My little granddaughter, E, thought I needed a band-aide and chose one of her Hello Kitty ones for me.

2. La Pasta Whole Wheat Roasted Vegetable Ravioli

We had this with dinner last night. I got it at Whole Foods because it was convenient, made with whole wheat pasta, and had just roasted veggies, no cheese. I didn't look up the nutritional information until this morning, but, having shared a package among the three of us, I was pleased with the results.

3. Portion Lesson

Baby J. is 10 months old and is just starting to eat "finger foods,"

beyond Cheerios. This morning I decided that for his fruit he could have some strawberries (his mom had suggested that he liked them). So I got out the box and choose a few to chop up. The first was a big one, but not humongous. I washed it, removed the top and started chopping it into cheerio-sized pieces. Incredibly, that one strawberry served up more than a quarter cup of pieces. I measured. One strawberry was plenty for him. Lesson learned: I need to clean the slate (in my head) and really look at my portions anew, forgetting old patterns of 'knowing' appropriate portions of things.