Still Working at It!

How is it February already?  The new year is flying by and has started off with a bang!

Joe spent almost three weeks helping out with fires in LA in January.  I was home working really hard at keeping all my new mini goals going.  It certainly helped that while the weather here was super cold, it was beautiful blue sky and sunny.  I loved every moment of sunshine I could soak up!!

I was able to keep my mini goals up well overall.  

Last year between January 1 and February 10 I walked or ran 13.53 miles total.  

This year between January 1 and Febuary 9 I have walked or hiked 33.34 miles.  

Last year I walked, ran or hiked a grand total of 85.46 miles.  

I'm thinking if I keep going like I have been I will be crushing that total soon.  

That feels good.  

I have gone on walks after work and done strength training in my garage.  I have had friends reach out and hit me up for getting out and moving (Thank you Holly!). I have worked at getting lots of steps in at work.  Having a big sprawling open campus does have it's perks.  

But I have a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).  Talked it over with Joe and our friends and we all decided to go for it.  Next summer we are going to hike to the summit of South Sister.  It's about 11.6 miles to the top with just shy of 5,000 feet of elevation gain.  So we are hiking every weekend and making sure that our hikes have some elevation to them.  

We have been staying local.  It's hard to get motivated to adventure far and wide in the winter and the days are shorter.  Luckily we have some great spots near Corvallis that make us work hard to keep us going while we start getting in shape for this new adventure.  

We have started at the "Saddle" and done the Nettleson/Davies Loop a couple of times (we call it the Vineyard Loop, I don't know why lol).  

It was foggy in the valley but sunshine up above!

Fog again in the valley.

Amazing blue sky above the fog!

We have hiked up to Dimple Hill.  

Sisters in the distance, the picture never does the view justice. 

View from Dimple Hill

Today we started at Peavy Arboretum and hiked up the Powderhouse Trail. Four miles total with 833 feet of elevation.  I didn't take any pictures today, I was very busy working on using my glutes as I hiked and breathing.  

The last couple of weeks work has kicked my ass.  I got sick last weekend and just had to stay home and sleep the day away.  So getting my mini goals done haven't been happening.  I'm working on cutting myself slack when things are hard or out of my control.  But I still have to balance that with not letting myself be okay with not doing anything.  

It's a fine line to walk.  Am I honestly too tired and worn out or sick to do my workout?  Or am I just not motivated and have a case of the "don't want to"?  

Today was good.  I definitely didn't want to but I am so glad that I went.  Those are always the extra good days.  

Today I signed Joe and I up for a couple of adventures.  We will be participating at Best in the West again.  Truthfully one of our favorite events of the year and we can't imagine not being there!  Joe will be doing the Olympic Triathlon and I signed up for the Sprint Aqua Bike (Swim and Bike only).  Of course this is to hopefully motivate me to get back in the pool and get out on my bike. Cross training is a good thing!  

If you are interested in seeing what might be fun for you to do at Best in the West, check out this link: Best in the West

They have something for everyone!  Running only races, variations of triathlons with swim, bike or run.  Try a Tri events, events with paddle boards or kayaks.  Literally something for everyone and EVERYONE is celebrated no matter ability or size!!!  Seriously!  If you are just dipping your toe into participating in an event, this is a great place to do that!  You will be encouraged, supported and cheered on from start to finish.  

Next I signed us up for the Big Butte Challenge put on by Cascade Lakes Relays.  You have from Memorial Day to October 1 to climb 10 Buttes in Central Oregon.  Total of 36.2 miles.  We figured it would be a good motivation to get some good hikes at elevation while getting ready for our South Sister hike.  You can check out all the details here: Big Butte Challenge-Cascade Lakes Relays

I'm excited to have some new goals and adventures on the books.  

I have a long way to go to get back to being a healthier version of me. 

But for the first time in a really long time I feel like I'm heading in the right direction.  

How cool is that?

Letting Go...

It's been a busy year and I haven't posted since we got back from our National Parks trip last June.  But we have been busy as always with lots of new adventures and some repeats of old ones.  

In July Joe was supposed to participate in the Salem 1/2 Ironman.  Unfortunately he was out and about in Eastern Oregon fighting wildland fires.  I was able to go and pick up his backpack and t-shirt, which they very graciously let me have even though I wasn't Joe.  Then I emailed Ironman to explain the situation and ask for a deferral to race next year because of the extenuating circumstances.  In order to defer you usually have to ask 90 days in advance.  Which is a little hard to do when we don't know when wildland fires will happen or when Joe will be asked to go.  Ironman very graciously extended the deferral to Joe, all he needed was a letter from his chief with the dates he was working the fire to prove he actually couldn't race this year.  So big shout out to Ironman for actually understanding that life doesn't always work the way we think it should and letting us work it out to race next year. (These races aren't cheap so I figured it didn't hurt to ask.)  Salem Half Ironman

Wendie and I decided to go and cheer at the bike turn around even though Joe wasn't there.  We had so much fun ringing cow bell and cheering for all the racers getting to the half way point of the bike ride!!

In August we did the Bridge of the Gods run.  Wendie and I did the 10k and Josh and Joe did the Half Marathon.  (Joe thought he was doing the 10k....surprise!  Oops)  This race starts on the Washington side of the Columbia River, goes over the bridge to the Oregon side and then takes the trail heading west along the river.  It was a beautiful day and we had a blast doing a new to us race.  We had a lovely cabin on the river in Stevenson, WA and enjoyed sitting in our floaties on the river just hanging out after the race.  Bridge of the Gods Half Marathon and 10k Run

I'm not the best speller, but something doesn't seem right with this sign. 😄

10K Finishers

Half Marathon Finishers!

In September we did the inagural Crystal Creek 10k out in Eddyville, Oregon.  It was a fundraiser for the local track team.  They did such a great job organizing the race!  There was raffle prizes, the course was clearly marked, lots of porta pots and lots of supper friendly volunteers.  We had a lot of fun!

We also did the inaugural Mission Possible Walk/Run at Willamette Mission State Park.  This race was for all different levels of abilities and the course was on the paved trails so that people with disabilities could participate easily.  We had the best time and loved seeing so many of our old friends from when we attended church in Salem.  It was like a mini reunion with a nice walk thrown in.  

November we did our annual Silver Falls race weekend.  The campground is being upgraded so we didn't take the trailer this year and instead stayed in cabins we rented through the lodge.  They were in the middle of transitioning who was in charge of handling those rentals so there was a bit of stress with communication and being sure we actually did have a place to stay for the weekend.  But it all turned out okay and a fun time was had by all as usual.  Wendie and I did the 5k on Friday, Josh, Wendie and Joe did the 7 Miler on Saturday and we all volunteered on Sunday.  We always have a blast this weekend and the race is organized so well!  There are lots of distances to pick from, so if you are interested in doing something in November, check it out.  Registration opens on August 1st each year.  Don't wait to register as it fills up fast!! Silver Falls Trail Runs 

South Falls

Joe is very excited to start the 7 Miler

Which brings us to January.  

Despite all the different activities this year I have struggled hugely with my weight, my motivation and my fitness.  

I am currently right back to where I was when I first started this blog 12 years ago. 

That's so discouraging!

I gave up.....again.  

Sigh.

I have had a lot of "starting over" moments over the years.  But this is harder because now I have all the memories popping up proving that I have done better and was active and fit.  

Entering the lovely time of life with menopause hasn't helped at all!

My hubby and I went away for a few days for the end of my winter break to celebrate our anniversary.  One of the places we went was the Crane Hot Springs in eastern Oregon.  The first day we were there we sat in the hot springs for a couple of hours.  People watching and talking about anything and everything.  

I had been thinking about my weight and struggles a lot over the holidays so it was good to have the time to talk it out with Joe and speak my fears and frustrations out loud.  

I'm disappointed in myself for being here AGAIN. 

I'm frustrated that I can't seem to find the motivation to just get moving. 

I'm remembering that becoming active when you are overweight means things hurt.  It's hard to push through that pain and keep going.  Our natural response to pain is to stop doing the thing that hurts, duh.  

I have been annoyed with Joe for bugging me about working out and then hurt when he stopped asking me to work out with him.  Totally not fair to him and I 100% knew it.  But emotions can be dumb and I'm owning the extreme stupidity of this one.  But it was good to tell Joe what I was thinking and feeling.  Big advantage of being married 35 years is that he knows to listen and love me in spite of my stupidity. 

I have set some new goals for myself for January.  (Taking small steps and small goals to start.)

I made a tracker to put in my planner and I'm hoping to get at least one, hopefully two bubbles filled in every day of the tracker for January.  Here are the categories I make:

Drink 8 glasses of water a day. (Hard as a teacher but I'm going to try).

• 30 minute walk.
• 30 minute swim.
• Bike Ride.
• 10,000 Steps.
• Strength Training

I did give myself a little slack for the first five days since we were on a vacation. So I haven't done accomplished one every day since the first but I've already done more than in December so I'm okay with that.  

Joe and I explored a new trail on our way back to Sisters from the hot springs.  It was called the Flatiron trail and is just east of Bend on Hwy 20.  We just did a little over three miles but could see on the map that there are lots of ways to extend the hike and possibly get some great mountain views along the way.  I'm excited to go back!

The Juniper smelled SO good!

💜💜💜

The house we were staying at in Sisters had a great view of the mountains.  Unfortunately the rain clouds covered them up almost the entire time we were in Sisters.  We did get a peak at one for a while in the late afternoon and the sunrise was beautiful, even without the mountains showing.  

Sunrise

Sunset

The locals joined us for breakfast.

Today I did a bunch of meal planning and made all my lunches for the week at school.  I also set alarms on my phone in order to remind myself to have my snacks to keep my blood sugar and protein steady throughout the day.  

I'm having to let go of where I was versus where I am now. 

I'm having to let go of goals I had for where I would be at this point in my life.  

I'm having to let go of beating myself up for "failing"....again.  

Basically, I'm letting go of all the yuck and working on getting back to the good stuff.  

Writing this blog was one of the good things that helped me in the past.  Writing it today and adding all the pictures reminded me that I haven't been a complete slug.  Just sluggish in between adventures.  

I will enjoy the adventures if I am a little less sluggish in between.  

I have some goals I'm percolating on but haven't decided on yet. 

So that means you all get to follow along on my journey, once again, in becoming a healthier more active version of myself.  

Lucky you!  😂