Take It and Run Thursday-- Strength and Flexibility

This is my first post with the Runner's Lounge weekly "Take It and Run Thursday."

Last fall, when I started training for my first marathon, I was going to do everything right. I had a very detailed schedule, which included four days of running, two days of cross training, and two days of abs classes to help with my core. As soon as my kids went back to school, I showed up at the gym every Tuesday and Thursday to pretend that I could keep up in an abs class before I headed down to the spinning bikes. It was great. I noticed that my sloshy tummy was getting firmer, and I loved the challenge of the spinning classes.

Then life intervened. In October, my three-year-old had a health crisis, and suddenly, my goal for the marathon was not to get a qualifying time for Boston, but instead just to make it to the finish line. I still ran four days a week, but my cross-training and strength training went right out the window.

A few weeks later, I got injured. It was a strained hamstring-- nothing too serious. Nothing I couldn't run through, at least. Then I ran the marathon. As I predicted, I finished, but I didn't do as well as I had hoped back when I set my original goal. My parents met me at the finish line and drove me home. When I got there, I could hardly walk. Once the inital soreness that every first-time marathoner goes through wore off, I realized that I had hurt my knee. For a couple of weeks I babied it, then I decided it was time to get back to my schedule (I had a goal to reach, after all, which meant another marathon, post haste!).

I've never been much of a strength-trainer. If I'm going to be in the gym, I want to be doing cardio. I want to be burning those calories, dangit! And frankly, the thought of going into the weight room really scares me. All of those muscle-bound guys who know what they're doing, and me, who has no clue. I've done quite a bit of yoga, but the kind of yoga I've done has usually been of the prenatal variety, and the strength and flexibility benefit of prenatal yoga is probably roughly equivalent to touching your toes two or three times and taking a walk around the block.

And let's not even talk about my core. For years, my midsection was the part of my body that I pretended did not exist. I was always fairly broad through the rib cage, and having four babies in quick succession didn't help matters much. I usually did my best to hide it under lots of layers in slimming black.

Then, as I was recovering from my injury, the February issue of Runner's World arrived in my mailbox, with that beautiful picture of Josh Cox on the cover. I read the cover story, and this paragraph hit me like a ton of bricks:

"A strong core also helps address overuse issues. "If we don't have a strong center, other muscles have to stabilize us," says Toni Dauwalter, a physical therapist whose clients include 2004 Olympic 1500-meter specialist Carrie Tollefson. Over time, the extra work can lead to injury. Mahon cites a litany of problems relating to the lack of that steadying hand: patella tendinitis, piriformis syndrome, sciatica pain."

Overuse issues? That's exactly what I was suffering from (an IT band injury). The next morning, I was back at the gym, for the first time since October. Since that day, I've made it a priority to attend at least two abs classes a week. Some days, I can't get to the gym, and instead I'm doing pilates or yoga (not the goofy prenatal yoga) at home. Since I finally think I might be injury-free, it seems to be helping. And the side benefit? For the first time in memory, I have a decent-looking stomach. After years of hiding it under t-shirts at the beach, I think I might even show it off a little bit this summer.

Hear that?

Me neither. Doesn't it sound beautiful?

Last night, Eddie was subbing for a scout leader, and I, by some miracle, had all three of the younger kids in bed and asleep. I sat down on the couch with my book and a bowl of ice cream and realized that the house was totally and completely silent. Then I realized how rare and beautiful the sound of silence is for a stay-at-home mom like me.

Right now, at 9:17pm, I can hear the BYU basketball game playing on the computer in the family room, Bryce is talking to himself upstairs as he falls asleep, the dishwasher is running, and I'm typing. From the moment I wake up and flip on the news to check the weather report, to the moment I go to bed at night, to the sounds of Letterman or SportsCenter entertaining my hubby, it's never quiet. With four kids, someone is always talking/ laughing/ fighting/ crying/ squealing/taunting/ instructing/ lecturing/ whining. We tend to be overconsumers of media in all its forms, and I'll leave the radio on, tuned to NPR, all day long.

My brother and sister and I all grew up and moved away, my mom frequently complained to me that she found the house to be "too quiet." Right now, with lots of people constantly and loudly vying for my attention, I don't think there can be such a thing as too quiet.

Me: A to Z

A- Attached or Single? Very attached. As in five times over. A couple of months ago, a very sweet guy working a kiosk at the mall made a pass at me (probably trying to get me to buy his hand scrub) and I was thinking, "If you only knew, buddy, you'd stay far, far away."

B- Best Friend? smartmama, my mom and Eddie

C- Cake or Pie?

Most definitely cake. Preferably chocolate, made from scratch, with chocolate frosting and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

D- Day of Choice? Friday. I think I like the anticipation of the weekend more than the actual weekend.

E- Essential Item?

F- Favorite Color? Red

G- Gummy Bears or Worms? I don't waste my calories on gummies. I go for the good stuff (see letter "D" above)

H- Hometown? currently Deep in the Heart of Texas, but I'm a New Englander at heart

I- Favorite Indulgence? sitting in my soaker tub filled with warm water and bubbles, eating a hot fudge sundae and reading

J- January or July? Here in Texas it's definitely January, but I think that even when I lived in the temperate zone I preferred January. My birthday is in January, and I prefer sweaters to shorts.

K- Kids?

Two matched sets. It would be the perfect family if I weren't pining for another...

L- Life isn't complete without?

a baby in the house

M- Marriage date? I'll celebrate anniversary #11 in April. But if you want to know how the old married folks like us get their jollies-- we like to pick a restaurant where we've never been before (here in Houston there are plenty of great options).

N- Number of brothers and sisters?

one brother, one sister, I'm the oldest (as if you couldn't have guessed that).

O--Oranges or Apples? In their whole fruit form, I prefer apples, especially Honeycrisps (I hate the white stuff inside of oranges). But I can't stand apple juice. Drinking it makes me feel like I'm three.

P- Phobias and Fears? I'm deathly afraid of vomiting. I've gotten mostly over my fear of other people's vomit. Unless, of course, dealing with their vomit might infect me. I'm also terrified of driving over bridges with my kids strapped into their car seats.

Q- Quote? I really like this one (stolen from my friend and idol, Jenn): "If we did all the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." ~Thomas Edison

R- Reason to smile?

That I'll be here next week.

S- Season of choice? Fall and spring both feel like such a relief. I can't wait to get back to them!

T- Tag three people? If you've read this, consider yourself tagged.

U- Unknown fact about me?

I played Patty Simcox in Grease when I was in high school. Everyone said it was typecasting. For the record, I was not a cheerleader. Just annoying, I guess.

V- Vegetable? Sweet potatoes, because they're almost like dessert.

W- Worst Habit? Public flatulence. Just call me SBD.

Y- Your favorite food? If I could subsist on desserts alone, I think I would. I like other foods, but dessert makes the bran flakes worth eating.

Z- Zoo animal?

Mandrills. I love how colorful they are.

Book #16: The Audacity of Hope

Title: The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Author: Barack Obama

I'm about 50 pages from the end of this one, I'll update when I'm done.

Book #15: The Field Guide (Spiderwick Chronicles)

Title: The Field Guide (Spiderwick Chronicles)
Author: Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi

Mallory, Simon and Jared Grace move from their city apartment to an old house in the country inhabited by fairies.

My kids saw a bunch of previews for The Spiderwick Chronicles movie when they were at the theater over Christmas break. I told them that if they wanted to see the movie, they had to read the book first. So we read the first book in the series, finishing on Wednesday night. It became pretty evident in the waning chapters of the book that the movie would have to include more material than what was written in those 100 pages. I did some research and discovered that the movie is based on all five books in the series. But a promise is a promise, and we went to the movie on Saturday. The material in the first book was covered in about five minutes, and the remaining 92 minutes were a lot scarier than I had anticipated (I was glad I didn't have Isaac with me). Bryce and Annie (when they weren't hiding their eyes) loved the movie, and have been fighting over who gets to read book 2 at bedtime. For me, the first book was enough. It's very cute and magical and all that, but I'd rather read books for grownups.

Book #14: The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story

Title: The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story
Author: Diane Ackerman

The story of Antonina Zabinski and her husband Jan, director of the Warsaw Zoo just prior to World War II, and how they saved the lives of hundreds of Jews by hiding them in the zoo during the war.

Antonina Zabinski's story is remarkable. She was a fairly average upper-middle class wife and mother, going about her life on the grounds of the Warsaw Zoo, taking care of her son and her animals. When Warsaw was bombed, the majority of the surviving animals were appropriated by various German zoos. That left a lot of empty cages, and a lot of hidden corridors. Jan, a leader in the Polish resistance, risked his life and his family to help save hundreds of Jews, and Antonina kept the home fires burning and tried to maintain morale. Even though the story is amazing, It seemed that Ackerman felt the need to put every bit of her research into the book. It would have been better if it were tighter and about 100 pages shorter.

Book #13: Here if You Need Me

Title: Here if You Need Me
Author: Kate Braestrup

When Kate Braestrup's husband, a Maine State Trooper, died in an on-the-job car accident, she fulfilled his dream of becoming a Unitarian Universalist minister, eventually working as a chaplain for the game wardens.

I loved this book! It's short and easy to read, but it shows how a woman and a family who are mourning the man they love (she writes so beautifully and painfully about losing her husband and the first days after his death), turn to helping others, and in the process, heal themselves. It's not cheesy at all, and her story is tragic enough that it definitely could have disintegrated into Velveeta pretty easily. Instead, Braestrup writes frankly and self-deprecatingly and intelligently about her work, her family, and her own spiritual conversion process. It would be a great book group book. I found myself putting myself in her shoes (she had four kids ages 9,7,5 and 3 when her husband died, so it wasn't too much of a stretch) and hoping that I'd be able to handle my trials with as much humor and grace as she does.

Book #12: Interred With Their Bones

Title: Interred With Their Bones
Author: Jennifer Lee Carrell

Shakespeare scholar and director Kate Stanley finds herself on a hunt for Shakespeare's lost play, Cardenio, and trying to stay alive in the process.

I think I expected too much of Interred With Their Bones. Since it was written by a Harvard scholar and a woman, I expected it to be a thinking woman's version of The DaVinci Code. But better, because it would be about Shakespeare. I loved the subject matter. I loved that a large portion of the book took place in the American Southwest, particularly at the Utah Shakespearean Festival, a place dear to my heart. But maybe my expectations were a little bit too high. Kate was awesome, but she still depended on guys to rescue her. Didn't Dan Brown already take us to the Poet's Corner? And did we ever figure out who Pearl was and how he found Kate in the first place? It's as good a read as DaVinci, but definitely in the same model, which made it feel somewhat less. Others compared it to The Thirteenth Tale, but if you had to read just one, I'd definitely go for The Thirteenth Tale. If you see it on the bargain table at Barnes and Noble and need a quick, interesting read for a vacation, I think it's worth it, but don't expect anything too groundbreaking.

Out of shape!

Athletes often talk about how time away from training always affects performance. While I've known that to be true as a runner, I didn't realize until today that it also applies to the marathon of a Mormon 3-hour block. Since Isaac got sick, he has only been to church once or twice, and hasn't been to either nursery or primary at all. Consequently, either Eddie or I have taken turns staying at home or leaving after the first hour with the two little ones.

Today was the first day of the rest of our lives. I was back in my regular side pew, nonwalking preschooler on one side, running toddler on the other, two (relatively well-behaved, for once) big kids down on the end of the bench. Eddie was up playing the organ and avoiding making eye contact with me. Isaac was nervous. Maren was crazy-- throwing crayons, drawing on the big kids' drawings, tossing her baby over the back of the pew about a million times.

For the next two hours I walked the halls with Maren. We wanted to stay close in case Isaac's Primary teacher needed help (quite the opposite of his preschool teacher, who didn't want him back in class lest she break him, his Primary teacher didn't want us in class, lest we mess up her routine). Sunday is my rest day from running and all things exercise, but I didn't feel like I got much of a break today.

I'm sure that in a few weeks, I'll have my stamina back and will be able to handle three-hour church with four kids without breaking a sweat. After church today, I took a nap for two hours.

Wishful thinking

I know that it's never good to say, "my life will be better when..." For the last two months, I'll admit, I've been saying that line a lot, followed by "...Isaac gets out of his cast." Monday was our big day. After nine weeks in the mother of all spica casts, he was finally coming out. We took him to the hospital bright and early, and after some x-rays, he patiently held my hand as they spent the next 30 minutes sawing him out of his blue cocoon. He cried quietly, because he was scared, and then when they lifted him out, he cried louder, because it hurt.

Now I didn't think that after nine weeks on his back, he'd jump off the table, run down the hall, and we'd all live happily ever after. But I wasn't prepared for the fact that the first week out of the cast would be quite a bit harder than the last few weeks in the cast. He had adjusted pretty well to his limitations. He loved to spin, could crawl and do pushups, liked to pretend to be a dog or a caiman while eating his food, and had even figured out that he didn't need to be scared if he slept in a sleeping bag on the bedroom floor. I'd found him up as high as the third step on our staircase, and I'm pretty confident that he would have been scaling the stairs within another week. I was expecting that we'd bring him home, and within a week he'd be back at school and I could confidently leave him at the daycare at the gym. Not so, my friends, not so.

The day we brought him home, he didn't want us to touch either of his legs. Lifting him was excruciatingly painful. He was scared. We were scared that we were going to break him again. He had to start wearing clothes again, and it bugged him to take the clothes on and off to get him to the bathroom. The only good thing about the first cast-free day was his bath. Other than that, he was pretty darn miserable. Too scared to try to crawl. Too stiff to sit up. I think he felt like we had taken his security blanket away. For us as his parents, it was a pretty damn disheartening day.

Over the course of the week, things have slowly gotten better. By mid-week, he had learned to sit up again unassisted. On Thursday, he started crawling again (he's still not putting much weight on the broken leg, but it will get there). Yesterday we quit using the urinal and started forcing him to use the potty again. Today he was trying to climb down the stairs, working on that yoga pose (I think it's called the triangle), and crying while I forced him to sit by himself at the dinner table.

He still has a long way to go. We decided to pull him out of preschool for the rest of the year. The preschool made this an easy decision when we went in for a Valentine's Day party on Wednesday and asked when he could start again. They said they didn't want him back until he was walking without difficulty. Eddie and I are leaving a week from tomorrow for a long-anticipated, long-postponed tenth anniversary trip, and even though I'm leaving him with two people I trust completely and the two people who, aside from me and Eddie, probably know him best (my mom and my godmother), it's still really hard to leave him when he can't walk yet. The orthopedist said that we should expect it to take a month before he's ambulatory, and if he's not walking when we see him in March, we'll discuss physical therapy. I never imagined when he woke up with a sore leg on that October afternoon so many months ago that he still wouldn't be walking in March.

I'm sure that one day our lives will no longer revolve around Isaac's health. One day our prayers will not include the reflexive statments of "We're thankful for this day. We're thankful for our family. Please help Isaac's leg to get better." One day we'll look back on this time and realize it wasn't an eternity. But some days it feels like it. And the baby steps are so small, that it seems impossible that he'll ever be able to put one foot in front of the other again. We were watching a basketball game tonight and he said he wants to play basketball. Watching Bryce play soccer has always been just that-- watching him play soccer. When Isaac plays basketball, it will be watching a miracle.