Fabulous at 51 and Beyond !!!

[fab50]

So, LB just posted about her 5K which sounded great. Got me remembering things I've done in the past that were group physical activity and really special. I decided to write about them, both because they were really cool, and to remember the part of me that likes and participates in these kind of things. Maybe I can recapture this part of me a bit.

When I lived in Chicago, I did a late night bike ride through the city streets. It's an annual event, with thousands of people, riding 25 miles through the streets of the city....starting at midnight!!! It was so fun, with people coming out to cheer us on, lots of cameraderie, and a feeling that the city was ours!!!

When I was a kid, I remember hearing about an annual swim across the Sea of Galilee the weekend between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I remember telling myself that I was going to do it some day. I'm not sure I mentioned it to anyone, but the year I lived in Israel when I was 25, my cousin knew someone who was doing it, and he put the two of us in touch with eachother. So, I ended up doing the swim with this guy and his brother. It was actually a 4 km swim, not across the widest part of the sea by any stretch, and it was a blast!!! Thousands of people do it, from all over the country.

Here's a brief part of an article about it, from an article about open water swims:

"The annual "fun swim" in Israel's beautiful, historic Sea of Galilee (also known as Lake Kinneret) takes place during the month of October In years past, the swim attracted upwards of 15,000 participants, making it the world's biggest open water swim. (An equivalent number of participants for the U.S. would be over 675,000) But following a drought several years ago, the number has dwindled to "only" about 8,500. There are two non-competitive events: a 4K and a 2K swim Most swimmers do the longer swim. No prizes of any kind are awarded."

On a smaller scale, I've done lots of group hikes, cross country ski trips, and bike trips, and I used to do a lot of folk dancing, including going to week long dance camps in my 20's. Also, I swam on my college swim team (we were quite mediocre and I was one of the weaker swimmers, but it was a great experience) and did some synchronized swimming. I've never been an amazing athlete, but I have been healthy and active.

So, there is an athlete in here. Maybe I should think about more group activities and more outdoors activity, especially in the spring as the weather gets nicer. It's harder to figure out what works as a 50+ year old woman who's in less good shape and is married and raising a kid, than it was when I was single and in better shape.

[DiamondSpark]

I can think of lots of activities for you. How close are you to Boston? There's a 3.5 mile walk/run downtown in June that I ran last year and plan to do again. The course is nice and flat, and plenty of people walk it. Walking outdoors or hiking would also be fun. How about biking?

[LegalBeagle]

Fab, you can do it! If I can do it, you can, too! You have a lot more physical stuff in your background than I!

Loved reading your story about the ride and the swim!

You can do it, baby! Rooting for you!

[fab50]

Okay, here's the truth...my weight is way up. 209.8 this morning. I was holding steady at 206-208 for several weeks, and last week popped way up. Getting further away from my December low of 203...in the wrong direction

Heading to Springfield for a meeting at 10:00, then turning around and coming straight home, for a conference call at 1:30. I can do the call on the road, if I need to, but my plan is to be home at my desk for it.

Just had v-8, ww toast, 2 eggs. I have a yogurt for snack just before the meeting. Lunch on the road home is turkey breast in a ww tortilla, cut up red pepper and snap peas. Dinner is turkey chili that I made yesterday. I'll keep snacks moderate and beachy. Maybe I'll even get on my treadmill this afternoon or evening. Gotta get this thing back on track.

[fab50]

Back from Springfield. Meeting was okay, but lots of follow-up and too much driving. Kept to my food plan, plus some kumquats w/lunch.

Phone call at 1:30, then I'll figure out what to do from there.

[fab50]

Still working on this getting back on track thing. I have not been able to get my butt down to the treadmill. No good reason. I had plenty of time yesterday.

I'll see if I can do it today. And tomorrow it's back to Curves. Finally I have a Wednesday when I can easily do it.

Food today:

B: Grande NF latte, 1/2cup oatmeal w/ 1/2cup milk and strawberries
S: cottage cheese
L: salad w/chickpeas and salmon, persimmon
S: 1/2 larabar (I cut it in half and brought just half...this is a big step for me)
S: something beany or cheese stick
D: turkey chili, green beens
S; fudgicle, maybe a few bites of fruit if there's some out at condolence call I'm making tonight.

It's heavy on fruit, I know, but otherwise good. I don't usually have 3 in a day. I wonder if persimmons are high GI....even if they are, I'll have it, because I love them.

On to work....after maybe one or two more journals.

[LegalBeagle]

I like persimmons, too.

So, did you get my PM asking you about Savannah - where you went and how you liked it???

[anneg1116]

Hope you are keeping warm. I think the cold & such this time of year has a mental effect on our exercising too. Makes it that much harder to be determined to do it.

[fab50]

Bringing my journal up from the dark recesses of the back pages. Doing okay. Food's been a bit better this week, and I did get to Curves on Wednesday. I'm planning on getting on the treadmill this afternoon.

Food for the day is yummy:

B: oatmeal w/apple, splenda, cinnamon, some veggies while I was cutting
S: hummus w/ veggies
L: turkey chili, more veggies, persimmon
S: yogurt
S: cheese stick
D: roast chicken w/carrots, onions& turnips, steamed green beans, brown rice, glass of wine
D: not sure, but not big. Maybe fruit and almonds

[anneg1116]

The mercury might hit 30 tomorrow - heat wave!

Glad to hear that it's been a good week.

[fab50]

I don't even know how to explain how this happened, but right now 12 year old DSS's mother is telling him he can't come to California to be with her for February vacation. And, the next time he talks to her will be when he calls her, telling her he's ready to do a phone session with her and his therapist.

Can you imagine doing this to a 12 year old kid?

Okay, she wants to do a session. He even agrees that there are some issues to talk about, and that a session with his therapist would be a good thing to do. But, making doing a session next week a condition to him seeing her for February vacation did not work. He feels like you just don't do that to your child, and the therapist is supporting him. So, now she's not talking to him!

Poor kid. We'll have to wait and see how this plays out. He's had a couple of outbursts recently, and mostly seems to not be able to deal with the emotions directly (he is after all a 12 year old kid with ADHD and issues with regulating his emotions). When he talks about it, he's rational and strong, but he has to be very upset inside. If I'm shaken by this all, I can't imagine how he's really feeling.

Oh, and by the way, now it looks like we'll have him here for February vacation week with no planned activities or time off for me and DH. We'll do what we need to for him to have a reasonable week.

[fab50]

Another day in crazyland here.

Went to a Bar Mitzvah yesterday, with lunch after services and party last night...all three of us. The boy is a neighbor and classmate of DSS and we're friendly with the parents. It was nice, and we had a good time. Danced a lot last night....DH says we should take dancing lessons, because I always seem happy when I'm dancing. (I'll take a moment to remember that dancing is more fun now than it was 40 pounds ago) Ate fairly well....mostly but not perfectly beachy, in reasonable quantities, with a cosmo plus a glass of wine for drinks. My weight was 208.6 this morning, so I'm down a bit.

Everyone wanted pancakes this morning, so I made them...non-beachy mix (Maple Grove Farms-- the best!). I had one small one w/SF syrup, yogurt, 2 soy sausage links, v-8, and coffee with milk.

DSS is sick, so not going to his Bar Mitzvah lesson and Hebrew School today. I'm not sure what I'm doing, but I don't want to end the day feeling like I've wasted it. I think it's nice enough out to take the dog for a walk...then maybe the beginning of taxes, or some other organizing? Maybe I'll make some soup for dinner.

[fab50]

So, DSS's mom got a little sanity and acknowleged that her kid was upset that she was setting conditions on his going to be her for February vacation. She didn't quite apologize, but at least she told him she realized that was part of why he was upset.

So, he is going to California to be with his mother for school vacation. They'll do a phone session with his therapist together while he's out there. He told her he still isn't happy with how it all happened, but he'll go out there.

It's what's best for him. She may be a nut, but she's his nut. He's one of the many of us who have to deal with the legacy of being born to people who aren't alway rational.

It really is this crazy...

He's still sick today. I went into work late, and DH is home with him now.

I have this fairly big project I was supposed to be doing a lot of follow-up on, and it hasn't happened . Boss knows it and she's putting the screw on. Hopefully, our systems group can get me some of the data I need quickly enough to do some analysis before we have to meet about this. YUCK! It's not like I've been doing nothing...just not working on this one.

[fab50]

I'm staying home today, since DSS's fever spiked to 102 yesterday, so he'll be home again.

I'll do some work from home, not overeat, get on my treadmill, practice my torah and megillah readings, spend time with him, read, spend time here, and make some progress on Bar Mitzvah plannig. That's my plan, and I'm sticking with it.

My eating is really good and not hard until after dinner, when I have extra snacks. Often it involves nuts and cheese. Why, when I've taken the effort to have a dinner of 3 1/2 weighed out ounces of steak, 1/2 of a largish sweet potato and a lot of kale, do I then think it makes sense to grap a couple of large, unmeasured hands full of almonds???? That was last night.

[anneg1116]

Sorry to hear of the drama with DSS and his Mom, but glad that he is heading to be with her for vacation.

Hope you are well and having a good day. Ready for some snow?