Bye Bye Summer...

....noooooo!

It's no secret I love summer. It's my favorite season. I mean cutoff shorts, sunshine, the beach, the smell of coconut, water and sand! What's not to love? While I say that summer is my favorite this past summer may have to go down as my lamest summer yet. Sure, I had some fun times, did some cool things, went to the beach....but it left me longing for more. More what? So let's just get on with it already....head into Fall, then Winter, then Spring....and that will bring us back to Summer!

Yesterday was the first day of Fall.  Insert sarcastic tone of voice here: Yay. I brought in Fall by going to the local county fair.  Highlights of the fair include:

A ginormous  human floatie:

I ridiculous trampoline contraption:

 And a helicopter ride!

Other than that is was your usual, normal county fair. I didn't eat a fried snickers...too bad. But I did gnaw on a turkey leg and after handing it to LB for a bite I had a weird visual of me and LB as cave people. I thought about how much better shape I'd be in if I had a carnivorous, or slightly omnivourous diet, truly Paleo, and how much simpler life would be as a cave person...then I remembered the Croods....Daaaan dann daaaaaaaaaan!

Saturday I had hoped to check out a brand new State Park that has opened up just minutes from my house but those plans fell through. I did do a drive-by on my way to yoga and the park looks really nice. Hopefully I'll get out there sometime this week to make my way around the .75 of a mile trail a time or two. Or three. With the Army 10 Miler in DC quickly approaching I need to hit the road more than I have been. I also got a message from a friend about the horrible 10 mile trail race I did attempted last November, the one I  DNF'd with a friend after having the flu. I'm not sure if I'm up for a rematch of the 10 mile option but I may go for the 5 miler.  On the other hand I'm just not sure if I care...Ugh.

So what are you most excited about with Fall here? And don't say the Spiced Pumpkin Latte....that is the easy answer.

The Dreaded Workout Weight Gain....

...you know, just like the Marathon Training Weight Gain, or the 70.3 Weight Gain. What's up with that? Seriously! Ok, ok...I know what's up with it, but still, it's punch-me-in-the-face annoying. Unlike when I was in full marathon training mode, in my current weights/yoga/fitness mode I'm not starving to death. I'm not finding myself constantly hungry and fueling for the long runs. I'm eating right with only a little bit of occasional splurging. Yet my scale is inching up....and my pants are inching down! So it's that number on the scale, the one that always creeps in and says "Not good enough!" "That's too high!" 

Well that number ruled my life for far too long. It feels good to look at it and know it's just a number. It doesn't really mean anything if I'm healthy, exercising and eating right (and my clothes are starting to fall off). So why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to keep that number down? Sure, I guess it's a good starting point but really what matters to me is fitness, the way I feel, the way my body feels (ie not squishy). Speaking of squishy, I was looking through a a book I got after I had LB. It is titled The Body Sculpting Bible and explains free-weight exercises and gives a 4 week workout routine (that I did and repeated a number of times). In the back of the book was a sticky note where I had done the math to calculate my BMI. WHOA! Can you say "Yikes!" Since having LB I have lost 26 pounds and about 19% body fat. Holy Moly! Yeah, sure that was 8 years ago but still...thinking back to that time and how I felt about myself was pretty rough. On the other hand I felt good looking at how far I had come and how I had came back, reclaimed myself, my body. And didn't just allow myself to stay there. I'm not done yet though. After all fitness is not a done and done deal, its a lifelong effort...

So a few exciting things happened over the weekend! I have been honing my soccer skills! I'm not good at soccer really, ok to be fair I never tried it, ever. But LB, his dad and I hit the soccer complex to practice some individual skills. I discovered I have some talent after all, or more like I have coordination, therefor I can connect my foot to the ball. Either way it was fun! And a good workout.

No, I didn't play in my bare feet...although that would have been fun. This was on the way to the car...



It is now Fall Soccer Season. This is LB's 5th season with the Stars and he is actually starting to catch on!

I also discovered that I am getting way, WAY stronger. In my Hot Yoga class I was able to do the side planks with less wobble! I even did the side plank with my top leg lifted and out in front and grabbed it! WHAT? Yeah, like below...that obviously is not me BTW.

My new membership at the NEW, close-by YMCA is working out great! My side of town has been lacking in any and all things convenient for the past 10 years (I haven't lived her the entire time but it didn't change much while I was out in the PNW). Recently things have begun to change! We now have a Starbucks! Hallelujah! A frozen yogurt store will be opening soon! A Pet Smart opened! A Japanese Sushi and Steakhouse will be opening soon! And the most amazing new thing is the YMCA! I joined as soon as I could and I have been going about 3-4 times a week! It is so nice to be able to hit up the gym without going 20-30 minutes out of my way! Convenience is worth 57 Million dollars. For real.

So with summer coming to a close my depression is in full swing. The summer was plagued with loads and inches and inches of rain. It wasn't the best summer weather-wise. But the beautiful fall weather has hit and I am embracing the change of the season. I'm ready.....I think.