Here I am... scary that when I logged in, it said I hadn't blogged since November 10, 2010. Yowsers!
A lot has gone on since then... I officially joined a law firm - Englert Leite & Martin PL - and as of last Friday, made that my sole full-time enterprise. Many weeks of 90 hours/week made it difficult to exercise. For a week in there I tried to do 20 minutes of the 30 day shred. It did not last for 30 days. It was seriously amazing how getting up at 5 am to work everyday so you could do law firm work and then full time other work, then networking or working until the wee hours day after day left no time whatsoever for that.
In December, I had to have my gallbladder removed after a night that made my doctor wonder if I had had a heart attack or minor stroke. Turned out it was my gallbladder (and a sinus infection - great use of a brain scan). So 2 days before Christmas, out it came. Don't remember much of Christmas, but I do know the girls were happy with Santa.
HIP Kids was still going gang busters, although we did move locations to a center that LOVES having the program there and the kids were thrilled to see us. That has ended for the year as well.
And of course, you know me - I can't have enough on my plate, so I have been running for Woman of the Year for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Fundraising has been difficult in this economy, but I've really been giving my all. I can't tell total numbers (against the rules), but the two fundraisers I had this weekend (a band benefit at a club downtown and a Happy Hour with silent bucket auction) raised $914! I was thrilled!
I'm in the final push for that as well - donations shut off at noon on Friday, May 20th... if you'd like to donate to help find a cure for cancer, please do: www.ncfl.mwoy.llsevent.org/katemartin (I know - I just disclosed my "true" identity hahahaha).
I am so happy to have been fundraising for LLS, a cause near and dear to my heart, but quite honestly I am ready for this to be over. It's a little stressful wondering if you're raising enough and what else can you do and so on.
I started reading the Secret, so I'm envisioning checks or credit card charges being made to my LLS campaign as we speak (and I'm not joking). It makes a lot of sense. Just like I used to envision races or even long workouts, now I'm doing it for other parts of my life. So far, I'm really good at getting parking spots. : )
Anyway. So I started back to the workout today (I needed a recovery day from my Sunday fundraising event - 4 Sangrias later)... Mind you I haven't run or anything (other than flirting with The Shred) since October. I ran and walked 2.5 miles with a neighbor today. I was kind of happy when she told me about .15 in that we were doing a 9 minute mile pace because I was dying. Of course, the entire thing was super hard since I have not been using my body for such things in awhile. I plan on an hour of yoga in the morning tomorrow, and a 2 mile run on Thursday, followed by a jog with my neighbor from my house to the Y where we will do a spin class and then jog home.
The hardest part about getting back into exercising (and eventually triathlon) again is the fact that despite my brain knowing it's been forever since I worked out, I had thoughts like "holy sh#t - what is wrong with me? I used to be able to run forever and at a much faster pace without needing to walk like this!" But by the end of the 2.5 miles I was able to remind myself (although I had to use the "You've gone farther than this to get here, so you can run to the house for about a distance of at most a 0.25 mile) that the good news was that I was out there doing something again.
The goal for now is to get back to being able to run 3 days a week 3-4 miles each day. Yoga at least 2-3 days a week, and maybe throw the shred in on a running day as well. Then start mixing the bike in. Next thing you know I'll be either doing road races or triathlons again. Ladybug has inquired about when that next triathlon will be a few times over the last month and is still telling people that when she grows up she wants to be a veterinarian (no, she does not say animal doctor and corrects you if you do - and no, she's not 5 yet), a Mommy & a triathlete. My goal is to get her and her sister riding a bike by the end of the summer. : )
Speaking of the girls, they are about to graduate from Pre-K. I registered them for Kindergarten today after an excruciating (and yet looking back at it funny) visit to the pediatrician for their final shots and 5 year old check up so that we could get them registered at school. They love their doctor, who is working with a resident - whose 1st day was today and whose 1st appointment was you guessed it - Ladybug and Angelfish! It is always funny to me how my kids can sense when someone doesn't have a full handle on what they're doing... they were silly. When asked to sing the ABCs, part way through they purposefully started saying them out of order and singing "CAKE spells cake." I had to tell them that the doctor needed to make sure that they could go to Kindergarten so they needed to answer her the right way... they sang it right that time. Angelfish told the doctor she brushes her teeth 5 times a day and watches 10 hours of TV everyday, until I asked her if she was being silly. Ladybug said she brushes her teeth once a day - once in the mornning and once in the evening, then said 1+1 = 2, so I guess that's really 2 times. When the "regular" doctor came in, they were just fine. Reminds me of the movie Jerry Maguire - kids and dogs can smell fear.
Speaking of fear. Then it was time for shots. Hysteria. To the point that Ladybug was fighting and begging me not to let them give her shots, and then Angelfish had to be pulled out from underneath a table she was hiding under. Hysteria x 2 when it came to the finger prick for the annual bloodwork to check cholesterol and such. I asked Ladybug to tell Angelfish it really wasn't all that bad, and instead she said "Angelfish ball your fist up really hard - don't let them do it to you!" I had to get Ladybug to sit outside the room on a bench and explain that they were about to call for nurses to hold Angelfish down to get the blood drawn for Angelfish to relent and give them a finger to prick. And then she was fascinated by how they collected her blood in the tube for the test. And within 5 minutes they were both happy go lucky little kids again.
So in some ways, things have changed. And some ways things have stayed the same. 2.5 miles used to be a short easy run... but at least I'm doing it again! I loved running - need a new pair of shoes, but it felt great (despite being as hard as hades...) to be out there again.
I plan to keep it up. That full IM by 40 might still be in the action plan after all...
