The most important thing you need to know about my absence is...

...it was my birthday somewhere in there.

Yup.

Fifty is nifty.  (insert cheesy-yet-sincere smile)

 

Officially 50, taken just after midnight...

it was even scarier with the flash

Once again I've allowed 6 weeks to pass between postings...or has it been seven? Whatever. I've missed you. You've missed me. Now we're reunited, and it feels so good.

Tonight's not the night to share the ins and outs of my absence, just know that it's a challenge to write a semi-fitness blog when you aren't doing squat in the way of fitness activities and that I've been spending a ton of time with my family.

Back to my birthday...

My present to myself was to take my kids camping.

I've only been camping one time since I was eight years old. ONE TIME. My husband is an Eagle Scout, but he was not coming with us. I was undaunted. He had some valid concerns...

Him (super skeptically): Do you even know how to pitch a tent?
Me (incredibly upbeat):  Ummm....nope! But there are probably instructions, right?

*he hesitantly nodded, indicating that, yes, there probably were*

Him (super skeptically):  Do you even know how to build a fire?
Me (incredibly upbeat):  Wood...paper...matches...what's there to know?
Him (totally exasperated):  You can't just light some paper on fire and HOPE that the wood catches, too! You have to BUILD a fire!
Me (incredibly upbeat):  Yes! Yes!...the whole oxygen thing...right...gotcha!

*he rolled his eyes not imperceptibly, totally unconvinced I was capable*

Him (with great certainty):  You're bringing the stove, right?
Me (with equally great certainty...and incredibly upbeat): Nope!
Him (utterly incredulous):  What! Why not!
Me (incredibly upbeat):  Ehhh, I don't want to hassle with the fuel part and if it still works and how to work it since I've never used it...I figured we'll just eat cereal and sandwiches and maybe jam some hot dogs on sticks and roast them in the fire I'm going to "build."
Him (UTTERLY INCREDULOUS): You are KIDDING?!!!  You can't just stick hot dogs into an open flame and expect them to cook! Jeeeeezus! You need coals and embers...it takes skill and know-how...Jesus...
Me (incredibly upbeat...especially now that he had called upon Jesus to help me):  Ehhh, we'll figure it out...it'll be fun!

So yeah...I totally figured it all out. Did the tent thing. Did the fire thing. Totally rocked it. Didn't do the hot dogs the first night...instead picked up the worst pizza ever to contaminate our lovely planet on the way in. Did successfully toast marshmallows to perfection.

We were having a mini heat wave and Miss C insisted on wearing her new swimsuit all day...which included to camping.

Ballerina swimsuit + mismatched shoes = cutest camper ever.

Stumpfighters. 

These giant eucalyptus stumps were very cool. There were three of them on our campsite. We were the only campsite that had them. Sounds lucky, right? It wasn't. More on that later.

Sleeping in the tent was uneventful the first night. Thankfully.

We awoke the next day and decided to go for a hike. "Hike" is stretching the truth a little, though. The map showed a one mile loop around the camping area and called it "easy"...which was totally the truth.

 

The hike started off really well. Everyone was in high spirits!

We saw wild turkeys...which I must note for Jillsmo because I'm her Top Turkey-Sighting Blog.

No lie...about one half of a mile into the hike, the whining started. It was cool, though. I was all about it being fun...no pressure to complete...a DNF was totally fine. We found a place on the map where the trail appeared to come really close to the road about 100 yds from our campsite. We scrambled up the poison oak-infested hillside (the kids screamed about the poison oak the ENTIRE time) and emerged into a loving couple's morning tête-à-tête over their breakfast. Ooops.

Once back at our campsite, it was high noon and the awesome stumps proved to be the Ghosts of Shady Pasts. Yep. We had zero shade and temps were in the 80's. So being the resourceful life forms that we are, we dragged a blanket over to a shady spot in the middle of all the campsites and .... camped out there all day :)

Miss C brought an ungodly amount of tiny, lose-able toys in her little Dora backpack.

Her favorite part of the trip was the PBJ-on-hot-dog-bun sandwiches. Here she has one jammed on her finger.

We hung out in that shade all day...until we couldn't take it anymore...we needed ice cream.

Grossest ice cream ever...bubble gum. X started to cry. She had been so looking forward to yummy, cold ice cream and hers was disgusting. I was not a mean mom. I didn't make her eat it. I didn't tell her "well, suck it up, buttercup." Nope. I said "yeah! Looks totally gross! what kind do you want? Let's just get you something different." Easiest solution ever, right?

We did cook hot dogs in our second stellarly-built fire. And they were perfect. As was the fire. Again. I am like a pro camper...or a natural camper...or just really damn lucky...or something. Or it was my husband having called out to Jesus on my behalf.

Then the kids played cards and read Harry Potter number-I-have-no-idea with flashlights in the tent.

SO FUN!!!!!

...until it was so NOT. Time for bed, right? yeah, I thought so, too.

They slept well.

Last picture of me being 49...important to take that in the camping place bathroom.

It started to rain as we pulled the tent down and packed up our stuff. That just made it more exciting :) It was an easy 40-minute drive home. The campground is not the most wilderness-y...being just 30 minutes from downtown Oakland! The unpacking was pretty easy...probably felt that way because all the sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses are still in my car three weeks later! I should do something about that...

The next day was my actual birthday.

The sun came up.

My little girl and I went to the local rose garden where everything was in full bloom. She ran, of course. I didn't, of course.

We walked down magical paths.

We stopped to smell roses as big as her head.

She created the most wonderful photo opportunities.

All before 10 a.m.

I am truly blessed to have this life.

I am so grateful for everything (yes, everything) these fifty years have brought me.

Here's to the next fifty!

Sending my very best thoughts and wishes out to all of you :)

Coming up on six weeks...

That's how long it's been since I've checked in over here.

I'm chagrined.

Two words that have taken on markedly less importance in my world of late would be "blogging" and "workout".

But it's time for both to return...not with a vengeance, though. With thought and care.

I know everyone who used to read Taking It On has probably been quite curious about my injection schedule and how my hip is doing, so that will be the first order of biz.

MY HIP

I had my second PRP injection on March 20th. It was amazing. No singing, sadly. But cute, nice doctor same as the first time. Nice, big needle again, too.

 

Unfortunately, that alcohol bottle is not the drinking kind.

Might've helped had it been.

Recovery seemed faster than the first time. While there is still some soreness and inflammation, that is deemed normal as the injection causes an inflammatory healing response. The truly remarkable thing is the ease and smoothness of movement, especially when not bearing weight. The range of motion and increased flexibility is arresting. And I have been cleared to start working on the elliptical...as long as it doesn't hurt. You bet your ass I'll be paying close attention and safe-guarding my investment and progress. The instant it hurts in that not good way, I am off the machine. Interestingly, I'm not feeling driven to jump back on. It's Spring Break over here...the kids are all home...I've got things to do and people to play with. I'll probably get back to things of a workout nature in a week or so. Injection #3 is slated for sometime before the end of the month...no set date yet.

WORKING OUT

None. Nada. Zip. And totally NOT stressed about it. I have so much on my plate right now. While working out might help decrease some of the stress, making it happen might increase it. I look at it as a wash and have let go. It'll all come back when it's time. For now, I'm focusing on feeling healthy and happy and spending a ton of time with my kids :)

Which brings us to...

MY KIDS

My oldest just got accepted to an amazing local high school. I am so proud of him. Of course, it wasn't his first choice and so he's having a hard time getting excited about it. I do wish we could skip this phase, but we can't.

 

Photo taken two days after he received 

the first-choice school's wait list letter...hence the attitude.

Who'm I kidding? He'd have the attitude no matter what.

My big girl is just a joy. Doing great in school. Helpful wherever she is. Lots of harp playing and reading books. Lots of creating cool stuff like wallets made out of found materials and earrings made out of safety pins and writing books and drawing involved fashion pictures. She is really just the coolest of the cool.

 

I convinced her to go on the Ferris wheel at the local boardwalk.

We got stuck at the top...and I took this picture.

My little boy turned 8 since the last time I posted. Still non-stop, he had a bounce-house extravaganza for a party and a cake topped with General Grievous.

And my baby turned 4! She was super duper sick on her actual birthday but did get to share the bounce madness party with her big bro.

I've missed you all. Sounds corny, but it's true.

It's very likely that I'll be around a little more, but no guarantees.

Hope all o' y'all's worlds are treating you well :)

September So Far...

Since I returned from my Nuun Hood to Coast Relay adventure (you can find the postings here), life has been very full. Not that it isn't usually rather full, but with a brief family vacation (to be blogged about at a not-too-distant future date) sandwiched directly in between the Nuun trip and my husband going out of town for a bit ...and then school starting for all four of my kids within days of his return... see what I mean? Oh, right...and my oldest child became a teenager!

Here is a bulleted summary of September so far...

• Big G became a teenager on Labor Day. The weekend was fraught with him pissing and moaning about not having his birthday party right then...he likes things the way he likes them and when he likes them. But his friends all had plans that weekend, so he had to wait. We celebrated as a family with an egg-free, gluten-free, dairy-free cake that I nicknamed "Leadbelly" because the thing was so freakin' heavy...and flat. It did not rise one millimeter. It tasted good, though...sort of like solid vanilla pudding. We had to improvise with the candles... 8 plus (fire hydrant) 5 = 13. Thank goodness we had that fire hydrant or you might've thought the poor kid was turning 85.

• The following weekend I hosted a sleepover party for five 13-year old boys. They ate pizza and played Munchkin (yeah, better click that link because it's probably not what you're thinking). Then they ate "Son of Leadbelly" cake and watched Zoolander (they went to our local video rental place and selected this one...so interesting seeing the variations in tastes amongst 13-year old boys...one wanted to get Tomb Raider but another said, "No...they're not big enough," a comment that was lost on my innocent and somewhat immature son). I am kind of a bitch-mom when it comes to sleepovers...I enforce a bedtime. For these guys it was midnight. At 11:30, I told them it was time for lights out, cell phones away, and voices lowered. They didn't really follow that directive until I announced it was 11:50 and started singing "Kumbaya". For real, I did. This led to a chill moment in which a brain among them had the opportunity to come up with a brilliant idea...

Hey, guys!!! Let's go run around the block in our underwear...at midnight!!!!

Genius.

Did I let them? You betcha. Our neighborhood is very safe (remember: The Gate) and the block is very small (4 houses on a side). They were instructed to be quiet(ish) and to wear shoes. It took them all of 3 minutes. Big G did not participate. He gave the whole idea the stink-eye. And as the other boys ran out the door, G exclaimed...

Where's the camera?  

And yes, he got it all on video. Including a mooning. And no, the video will not ever be published. Unless one of the boys decides to run for office as an adult ;-)

The good news: they were exhausted by the excitement and rigorous exercise and fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

• Working out...

Running 3 days a week... short/short/long...2.25 mi/2.25 mi/6 mi the first week and 4.2 Moeser miles/2.25 mi/8.64 hilly trail miles (with the lovely Roserunner) the second week. I have done nothing this week. Nada.

Elliptical happened 4 times in those two weeks and not at all this week. Between 30 and 50 minutes at HR z2 for the longer sessions and z3-4 for the short ones. 

Climbing was extra special :)  I had the opportunity to go into the climbing gym before hours with my instructor/friend and we were the only ones there. It was so fun to just take our time and climb without ever waiting for a route to free up. All was quiet except for our personal conversation...without wondering if anyone was eavesdropping ;-) I had taken a break from climbing leading up to Hood to Coast because sometimes it tweaks my alignment and I didn't want to risk anything before the relay. Starting back up has been challenging due to the busyness of life the past two to three weeks, but finding the school-starting-again groove will definitely get it happening again...and I can't wait.

A killer two-and-a-half-day migraine has put a little damper on exercise things this week. It's almost over so hopefully tomorrow will see some sweaty action. 

• I posted a giveaway. I love my Endorphin Warrior bracelet and am fortunate enough to be able to offer one to a lucky winner of a random drawing. Enter here to win your very own with a keyword or phrase that speaks to you.

And that concludes the initial September So Far summation.

Stay tuned for more random bullets in addition to a post on what I found to be a successful nutrition/fueling plan for the relay, a compilation and review of the products I received and used during the relay, and a post giving more details on my elliptical training. Who knows when I'll get around to any of it...but it is coming. 

Prepping for my new plan...

It's been an XL Cardio Extravaganza over here lately.

And I just realized that I feel like I did in the old days. Just this very minute I realized that. I wrote this whole post and have come back to the beginning to add this. I've been lying on the sofa nearly comatose since 9 a.m. this morning (it's now almost 2 p.m.) and not because I feel sick. It might have a little to do with getting up at the butt-crack of dawn to take Big G to the airport for his school field trip to DC...but this feels differently than just lack of sleep for one night. Poor little Miss C has watched the same Shaun the Sheep DVD no less than 6 consecutive times while I have been crashed out. Bad mommy.

Of course, she did her crashing on the floor at the airport this morning...

but only for about 10 minutes...not 5 hours!

Here's what I've been up to...

After getting some solid cardio in 5 times the previous week for a total of a bit over 5 hours, the training goal this past week was to get something in every day...hopefully for at least an hour. I managed 7 cardio workouts for a total of just under 8 hours. It looked something like this...

• Monday: 55 min. on the elliptical trainer henceforth referred to as ET (followed by 90 min. of rock climbing, not counted toward workout time total)
• Tuesday: 40 min. bike ride + 20 min. easy run = 60 min.
• Wednesday: 90 min. cardio extravaganza! 20 min ET/10 min StairMaster (SM) X 3
• Thursday: 40 min. ET (followed by 2 hrs of climbing, not counted toward workout time total)
• Friday: 60 min. cardio... 20 min ET/10 min SM X 2
• Saturday: 95 min. cardio extravaganza! 25 min ET/10 min SM X 2 + 20 min ET/5 min stair climber thing (different from SM...this one is those weirdly rolling stairs)
• Sunday: 74 min. easy run

Increasing my volume did come with a price. My Thursday workout felt super blah or even blech. I was tired and sluggish. Usually on the machines I am revved and excited and hit my HR targets cleanly and consistently while maintaining a very even (or often slightly increasing) pace. But Thursday I was struggling. My legs just didn't really want to turn over with any alacrity. My mind was wandering all over the place, and little things started to annoy me...a sure sign that I am not doing so well. But it was short, and the climbing after it was great...so I'm not dwelling on one imperfect workout :)

I'm LOVING the longer sessions. There is something super satisfying about 90+ minutes of hard work.

This coming week will involve a bit more running. I miss being outside. And my run Sunday told me that I do need a little more pounding of the pavement. I think had it not been a whole lot hotter than I am used to it would have felt like a great, chatty run with a great friend...or two :) All of the cardio work certainly helped, I didn't feel tired just hot and distracted by being hot. Oh, and then we got lost on the return of our out-and-back! We were bringing up the rear of a whole lot of runners participating in the local Lululemon anniversary fun run and didn't see where everyone else had turned. Oops.

"Did we go through a tunnel on the way out?"
"I don't think so..."
"Me neither..."
"Where the F are we?"

...and that question hung in the air for quite a few minutes while we tried to figure it out....

We made it back to all of our friends at the meeting place after running an extra mile and went out to brunch with quite an awesome group...

top row: page, sima, kristin, aron, courtney, cate, A, beth

front row: katie a, SFMarathon, me, layla, jessica, karin

and forgive me if I screwed up any names or links...and sima, I couldn't find your info!

and you can see my Happy Birthday balloon from katie reflected in the mirror!

And because I was having a great time running and brunching with friends yesterday, I missed my joint birthday party with George Clooney. Yes, we were both celebrating our special day...sadly, not together...again.

It's hard to tell who was more bummed that I couldn't make it...

him or me?

Nah, he looks like he's doing alright...

But my family did make me a cake and brownies. And if he could see my cake...

I know it looks like I turned three hundred nineteen, but seeing as how we found ourselves 

once again lacking the proper candles, we needed to get creative...

3 + 1 = 4...that's the tens. And the 9 is the ones.

Put them together and you have...

49!!!

...you know George would be jealous.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and is looking forward to a fantastic week!

Counting down...

One month... I will have completed my next race and seen the nudie booties. The San Francisco Zazzle Bay to Breakers 12K takes place on Sunday, May 20. My A+ goal is to finish it while loving and enjoying the process. I've decided that is my new A+ goal in every race. Any sort of spectacular time in anything is just gravy :)

Two weeks... I will have celebrated the day of my birth. The one after this one has a zero at the end of it...so excited! I am going to take charge of the day and make myself a cake and give myself a present.

One day... I will announce the winner(s) of Taking It On's most recent giveaway! If you want to win it, you gotta be in it :) Click here to enter...you have until tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon!

One hour... Nuun will announce their 2012 Hood to Coast Relay team in less than an hour! Some people will be elated and others will be sad. I wonder in which category I will land? Did you see my application? It was killer!

**update:  I made the Nuun team...to see the full list and their official announcement, click HERE!


And go click on that pink badge in my sidebar and vote for this blog in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Outdoorsy Mom Blogs contest....'cuz I am waaaaayyyyyyy outdoorsy ;-)

X = 10 ...

My girl is X-ceptional. She is X-traordinary. She can be X-asperating, too.

And her name really does start with an 'X'.

Today, Baby X turns X.

10.

Double digits.

The big One-Oh.

We will celebrate with cake and climbing. She has requested a trip to the climbing gym as her special treat. My girl has a great sense of fun and adventure :)

I do feel kind of badly that this year is a 'lean' year. Last year we were off gallivanting around Europe...well, visiting friends in Paris anyway. And we got to go the the incroyable Parc Astérix actually on her birthday! This year it's just cake and climbing. I guess I shouldn't feel badly because that actually sounds kind of awesome.

Last year I wrote two posts in honor of her birthday. The second one contained the story of her birth day and all of the growing up pictures...click that if you'd like to see my lovely girl through the ages :) This year it's just the picture of her as the antelope ... and cake and climbing.

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl. You really are X-tra special :)


Addendum:

Dad got donuts for them for breakfast while I lay in a migraine-induced fetal position under my covers. They love donuts...a lot. Like me, they always think they can eat more donuts than they are really able...

This weasel-y looking thing is the remnants of Q-man's maple bar...

the custard grossed him out so he just skinned the chocolate off the top.

Also an addendum:

The joy of donuts was, unfortunately, overshadowed by a fight over a plate. A plate. A plain white plate. Screaming, shrieking, doors slamming...the works. Don't worry, though...everything's fine now :)

March is such a big month...

...so big, in fact, that I missed the first big-ticket item!

Today is our wedding anniversary. Fourteen. What is the gift theme for one's fourteenth anniversary? Probably something like patio furniture. It doesn't really matter because my husband and I never hardly ever get each other anything...ever. Birthdays, Christmas, Valentine's Day, wedding anniversary...just another day at the mill. Regarding the kids, it's a different story...but the two of us are content, nay, ecstatic to simply bask in our mutual loving glow :)

I'm so glad my mother called this morning to wish us a "Happy Anniversary" because I had completely forgotten! And so had my husband! So... Happy Anniversary to US :) I only hope I remember to reciprocate the reminding favor later in the month when her anniversary rolls around!

And March is Birthday Month here!

Q-man and Miss C have both been talking about their birthdays coming in the middle of next week, and my brother-in-law's birthday is at the end of the week.

Big G will get a re-do of his sucky birthday party next weekend as well. Here's hoping that it won't be as sucky! This time I will be farming out the younger sibs so that they do not provide continual annoyance for the duration of the party...which is what they did last time.

And High Birthday Season ends right after St. Patrick's Day when one of my stepsons turns 27!

Then at the end of the month, once the family birthdays are over...a little over 3 short weeks from right now...I'm running the second leg of the Oakland Marathon Relay. I ran the second leg last year, and it was damn hard. Well, they made it harder this year. Bastards. Fortunately, it's only 6+ miles and my team is all about fun, so maybe I'll do like Tricia and bring beer in my water bottle. I guess I might want to start running soon... It's so weird to open my calendar and look at my plan for the cast-aside Eugene Marathon...and to see that this weekend I would have had a 20-miler to run. Bailing on that puppy was the best decision ever. But I must admit, I really miss having a Big Goal out there...which probably means it's really good for me to sit with this uncomfortable feeling and be present in the moment :)

Do you forget 'important' dates?


Do you prefer having a Big (or little) Goal to fixate focus on? Or are you good with "one day at a time"?

Big G... my fellow 'rabbit'

Big G is the guy who made me a mommy.

Now...

and then...

Today he celebrated his birthday.

He told me at the end of the day that he felt like Eeyore... the depressed donkey from Winnie-the-Pooh.

"No presents... no cake... some birthday..."

Well, he did have a couple of presents. And he did have a little party (his two best buddies came to sleep over and go swimming twice). There was no cake but instead chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches with the edges rolled in mini chocolate chips. And there was coffee cake for breakfast. And singing.

I think his sadness is further compounded by the fact that it has taken the Tooth Fairy four days to find our house... and he keeps putting that tooth under the pillow... waiting... hoping...

He was born in the Year of the Rabbit according to Chinese astrological charts, as was I. We are very much alike. There are upsides to this and not-so-upsides to this :P I am not entirely sure about what it means to be a rabbit, and it's too late and I am too lazy tired to look it up for you right now. But I think being really smart must come into the description somewhere ;-) and probably something about being a little insecure...

this is a real MRI of Big G's brain...

I haven't always sucked at birthday preparations...

Back when Big G turned 10, he was picked up from school in a limo with a bunch of his friends. None of them knew this would be happening. It was a huge surprise and they all LOVED it!

He's a natural in that thing.

See how excited they all were?

Before he was a cool limo rider, he was just a regular kid who went on field trips to the local shipping port...

7 years old

But when he was 6 years old, he had many identities...

Yes, all from the same year... the Year of the Costume... don't think that one is covered in Chinese astrology ;-)

He has always been a lover of nature...

dolphins are nature and so are rocks... so a dolphin carved in stone is nature, right?

though this one might be molded concrete... hmmmm....

4 years old

And a world-traveler...

Tuscany

Berner Oberland

Lago di Como

3 years old

But no matter how old he is, what he is disguised as, or where in the world he roams...

He will always be my baby.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

BIG G!

(If you're looking for my Hood to Coast Relay recaps, check the tabbed page or click here).