Let's Dance!

The girls are getting ready for school; I can hear them in the kitchen getting their lunches ready. They're listening to David Bowie on Burgundy's cell phone, and Burgundy's singing along, "If you should fall. Into my arms. And tremble like a FLOW-WAH!"

I am pleased as punch to announce that Burgundy took 2nd place at the district science fair this year for 9th grade Medicine and Health. After talking about it, we all agreed that she will go on to the area competition in early March. This will be Burgundy's first time at area, and it was her first time to win at district, too. I think that a big part of her success is due to her very large sample size; she tested 103 people this year.

Meanwhile, both girls started getting sick at the end of last week. It's ranged from isolated sore throat to sinus crud that almost completely obstructs breathing. I've felt a bit under the weather, but not as bad as the girls.

Because of the crud, Burgundy and I haven't run since Friday. We talked about it, and I think we're going to pick back up today and start over with week 4. I'll let you know how that goes.

Right now Mark is inspecting the lunches, and I've been informed they are inadequate.

Running: Week 3

As posted last week, I really didn't think we were ready to handle week 3 of the couch to 5K. For one thing, week 2 involved 90 second runs with 2-minute walks.  We could barely complete the 90-second runs; Burgundy kept cramping up, and I checked the timer on the iPod more obsessively than a condemned man with a watch.

Week 3 called for 3-minute runs. Twice as long as week two. I didn't think we were ready.

Thursday after posting my concerns, we didn't seize what would turn out to be our only opportunity to run that day. I felt mildly guilty, not because I feel like our running is tied to a particular daily schedule, but because I feared that I would make excuses all week, and then it would be too late.

So Friday after school, I picked Burgundy up, and we changed and headed out the door immediately. During the warm-up walk, we talked about strategies to handle the intervals, which were thus: 90-second run, 90-second walk, 3-minute run, 3-minute walk; we were to repeat these once for a total of 4 running intervals: 2 at 90 seconds and 1 at 3 minutes. 

We talked about how we would regulate our breathing, not run too fast, and generally take special care not to exhaust ourselves in the first 30 seconds of the long intervals.

The first interval flew by, and as we finished the follow-on walk, we internalized our concerns and pep-talked ourselves. The three-minute run started. For my part, I noticed that it didn't start to truly hurt until the two-minute point. At the end of the following walk interval, we realized that we were halfway done. We stared at each other in amazement.

It felt easy. Energizing. The rest of the run flew by, and we felt good. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it. Day 2 (Saturday) also was easy even though we had to do it back-to-back with day 1. Skipping on Thursday really did throw off our whole rhythm, though. We have to run on Thursdays from now on. Thursday, Saturday, and Tuesday. We can do that.

We skipped Tuesday, too. A cold front blew in, we could hear the wind howling outside, and the thought of braving the elements for a run sounded almost as appealing as spending the night in a used iron maiden (photo courtesy of TravelJournals.net.

Yesterday I regretted that decision a little when we started our final run of the week after a three-day hiatus and enjoyed a light sprinkling of rain from start to finish in 50-degree temperatures. We did it, though. We finished week 3.

For what it's worth, I don't think I've lost so much as an ounce of weight since starting. I couldn't say for sure because I won't replace the batteries on my scale and haven't weighed myself since December.

I'm honestly relieved, because I feel such peace about loving my body just where it is, skinny or fat be damned. I feared that by taking up running, which I genuinely enjoy, I would start to lose weight, get excited about that, and lose this peace I feel. I'm also relieved to find that I don't feel any disappointment about the lack of weight loss since starting. 

Are the Zombies After Us?

Every day this week, I've told myself that I would make the time to update my blog. Every day at the end of the day, I've realized I'm tired and cranky and just not in the mood. Which is kinda dumb, when you think about it. There's very little as soothing or reassuring to me as blogging. Even though I've only been here for a few months, I've actually maintained a blog on Livejournal since 2002. Practically an eternity in internet years.

Of course, it's been sporadic there, too . . .

Anyway, a couple of updates. First, a word from Ms. G., Burgundy's  AP Human Geography Teacher, and beloved recipient of the RPatz Poster:

Burgundy's AP Human Geography teacher did in fact receive the surprise of a lifetime when Robert ended up on her wall of fame (formerly known as pictures of old men who talk about geography). As the day progressed, girls screams could be heard loud and clear as they noticed the new face on the wall.  To be sure, there were some who looked upon the poster with disdain but by and large the swooning won.

So, the dilemna became, what to do with the poster? One student suggested auctioning the poster for the Hope for Haiti Relief Drive the class was spearheading.  Truly a brilliant suggestion, therefore the poster is being auctioned next week with 100% of the proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders to aid in the relief efforts in Haiti. The starting bid was 10.00!  There is no telling how high Robert will go.

Meanwhile, Burgundy has been talking for a month or so about how she wanted to start running to try to maintain the fitness she gained during band marching season. It's a terribly grueling experience: For three weeks in Houston's August heat, they march outside getting ready for the start of the school year. Then they march every day after school three hours a day through November. Last year, Burgundy lost 6 pants sizes over the course of three months and started showing signs of real malnourishment (she's a vegetarian and really didn't have six sizes to lose to start with). We had to get creative to figure out how to maximize her caloric intake to counter all the activity.

So last November, I tore a ligament and popped a minor tendon in my leg and had to stop running for a while, and Bugundy's idea provided just the prompting I needed to start over.

Last Thursday, we decked ourselves out and ran Week 1, Day 1 of one of the ubiquitous couch to 5K programs out there. Today, we ran Week 2, Day 1, and while it challenged both of us,  I feel safe saying that we're both enjoying it.

I do feel awfully pretentious talking about running though, because we are not the runners you see in the movies, dead sexy in spandex, gliding effortlessly along some glorious, tree-lined path with ponytails swishing in tandem. No, we were wheezy, huffy, bow-legged and pasty. People leapt off the path when they saw us coming. Our dog trotted along behind us, occasionally making horking noises that effectively distanced us from anyone who might have been brave enough to get near us.

Oh, and we sweat and smell bad after running. Just sayin'. Nothing sexy or glamorous about it.