Swimming

Joseph plays disc golf about twice a week. Sometimes he travels to a new course (there are about 25 to choose from in a 60 mile radius, it's more popular than you think) but usually he goes to the rec center in Burnet, which is about 20 minutes from our house. The disc golf course is spread out and interwoven around a forest, baseball diamond, creek and a running trail. It works out really well for us, I run, he plays, then we meet for a picnic before I go to work. We used to go out for lunch whenever we were out and about during the week, but I started packing "picnics" recently as a way to use more leftovers and save money. And thank God I did, how could I not have known that a picnic I made under a tree with Joseph would be way better than any crappy restaurant in Marble Falls? It is, way better, that is! Anyway, on Mondays since we are both off, we either go to Austin or we go to Burnet to exercise all day. I also recently realized that there was a swimming pool inside the rec center. So now, we go about an hour earlier and run and then swim.

It has been three weeks since I added swimming to my exercise routine. It's going really well and I am so happy that I decided to start swimming again. I swam for several years when I was a kid. I was really good, and would have been so much better if I had actually worked a little at it. But with almost everything in my youth, I didn't give a shit and did the minimum requirement, so my swimming career stalled out shortly after highschool started. Don't get my mom started, I can't bear to think of her reliving the "you've got more athletic talent in your thumb than I do in my whole body and you're wasting it!" saga that plagued my childhood. Anyway, all that half ass swimming has made actually swimming in adulthood much easier. So, at least it isn't going completely to waste. And thanks for all the early rides to the pool, Mom.

Yesterday, I was especially pleased. We had Cooper with us because Joseph is trying to train him to be a disc golf dog. He's a spaz about the disc when we first get there, so I make him run with me before I turn him over to Joseph, tired and more able to concentrate. He was mad yesterday because he could see Joseph playing but I was dragging him the other way trying to make him run. I took a quick 30 minute jog (Coop finally won and got to go play with Joseph after only 15 minutes) and then went in for the most bad ass workout in the pool. I swam 80 laps, 2000 yards in under and hour. I'm pretty out of touch with swimming routines and training but I have come up with a nice way to get in there and really pile up the laps. I use a kickboard for part of the laps, which I look at like walking during a run. A good pace for me is to kick 200yds (8 laps) and then swim three 100s (4 laps) with 15 seconds between them. After the third 100 I am out of breath and need the 200 of kicking to rest. Kicking is rest, but still crazy exercise that burns my thigh muscles and all the way up into my back and belly. I did 200 kick/300 swim four times and felt so great when I was done. I was starving (the lifeguard was eating tacos (weird, huh?) at the end of my lane and I stared at her while kicking and though so hard about the chicken I was going to eat later!) and my body felt like it would collapse into a puddle if I let it. I took a quick shower and then met Joseph and Cooper for lunch. After lunch, Joseph played one more round while Cooper and I read People magazine under a tree. Then we went home and made the best chicken dinner ever. A nice day indeed.

I won a 15 minute back massage on a bet earlier in the day. My back and shoulders are pretty sore, so I was looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I fell asleep 2 minutes into it and I question whether I actually received the whole 15 minutes. Hmm.

I still haven't really lost much weight, according to the scale. But changes are very apparent physically. My legs are great, seriously. I have slowly watched them morph from round and flabby to slender and defined. There is still fat on my thighs and butt, but remarkably less than a year ago. I have gone from a size 12, to an 8. I can still wear some pants that are 10s and even a pair of 12s, but the way they fit is incredible. My butt is so much smaller and it is actually a round, semi-tight ass, which is separate from my lower back, which is also sporting some new spine and muscle definition. I think before it just all blended together. I have enjoyed watching my body slowly change over the last 9 months, and look forward to seeing how much better I can make it. In January I will post some before and after pictures in a, Amy Becomes a Runner: One year later blog. Because I'm not on a diet, I eat whatever I want and there is no stress about it. I am very in tune with my body though and it's easier for me to decipher what my body wants and needs to eat and drink, not what I want to eat, which keeps over-eating under control. I try to eat only nuts, fruits, salads and small sandwiches during the day for energy. Dinner is a free-for-all, but I don't like to feel full when I go to bed, so I don't eat too much. I also only drink water, diet coke, coffee with skim milk, wine or beer on my days off and juice occasionally. I didn't set out to change my whole mindset when I started running. Maybe I did, but didn't know it and certainly didn't know how.

There was no way for me to know that this "diet" (that I started in January) would be the one that stuck for me. I like to think that I was finally in a place where I could focus on growth, as opposed to survival. Once the pressure secure myself to something stable had passed, I was able to thrive. This life I lead with Joseph is remarkable. Physical fitness is the first of the many aspects of life that we will master together.