My Almost-Ban From Public Swimming Pools

I have the worst luck at Public Swimming Pools.  The worst.  For example, after I had A. I would take her to the pool and sit her in her carseat by the side and swim laps while she slept and J was at preschool.  However, it was during Geriatric Hour, where I was the youngest person by at least 50 years.  Overall, it was perfect.  But, my swimsuit was not.  One fateful day, I was swimming back towards the shallow end when I mentally made the note that swimming seemed suddenly so freeing.  Much more free than it had, say, the lap before.

Luckily, I realized before I stood up that the tie holding my swimsuit top up had come undone and I was literally free.

Other bad swimsuit moments include showing up in the same swimsuit as a 60 year old.

Twice.

But two weeks ago might have been the worst.  To this day, I'm still not sure what I would have done if things would have gone differently.

I was in a hurry to get to the pool because I wanted to get my workout done before Wade needed to leave for work and then I wouldn't have to worry about bringing A in.  I grabbed an old swimsuit bottom and noted that it had been stretched out from use (NOT because I'm shrinking at an alarming rate), but didn't really comprehend what this would mean when I started swimming laps.

I jumped into the pool and started off to the deep end--the deep end that is 10 feet deep.  As I neared the wall, I dove a little under the water and turned so I could kick off the wall and return to the other side.  As I made the kick off the wall, I could feel my swimsuit bottoms start to fall off.

By pure luck and probably divine intervention, I was able to catch them before they got too far and before they left for the bottom of the pool.

Eek.  Can you imagine having to spend your workout time trying to reach your swimsuit bottoms under 10 feet of water?

My normal workout took forever because at each turn I would have to hold on to the edge of the swimsuit bottoms.  I threw them away the minute I got home.

Seriously, they're going to throw me out.

What Was I Thinking...

Practically every morning, my alarm will go off and I see the moonlight streaming in through the slats of the blinds on the windows and I think to myself:

"What was I thinking?"

And I have no good answers except for I wasn't thinking.  But, I've been here before.  I felt this way before I ran my first marathon.  And I made it through that relatively unscathed.

But this feels...bigger.  And it's a new event so I'm nervous about that.  Also, I knew that thousands of people run the marathon every year, so the chances of me coming in dead last were relatively low.  However, the Half Ironman had 18 women last year.

18.

And I'm a little worried about being dead last.  I know I'll survive.  Someone has to be last.  But dead last??

Add to the plate an Olympic Tri I'm doing in July (1 mile swim, 30 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) that had 13 TOTAL participants last year...

13...

And this swim isn't in a river with the benefit of the current.  This is in a reservoir.  With no current.  But, luckily, my chances of getting kicked in the face is low considering there are only 13 people, right?

But I'm still a little nervous about swimming 1.2 miles, then riding my bike for 56 miles and THEN running 13.1 miles.  I mean, only crazy people would do something like this, right?

You can kind of see why, with all this anxiety taking up so much head space and energy, I haven't had the energy to pour into this here blog.  I even have good stories--like how I locked the neighbor's kid inside my house and how I almost lost my swimsuit bottoms at the pool and how one of my closest friends moved across country and now I won't get free food when we go out.

This week.  Most likely.

I wonder if I can get a Xanax prescription for the next few months...

What's For Dinner Wednesday--Chicken Philly Sandwiches

Geez, it's been a while, huh?  


We actually ate this last Wednesday for dinner but I forgot to post it.  Sorry.

Or maybe I'm not all that sorry.

I found this recipe in the Taste of Home magazine.

Ingredients
Chicken, cut in strips
Green Pepper, cut in strips (you can use red and/or yellow if you want)
Onion, halved and sliced
Provolone Cheese, cut in strips

Saute chicken in 2 tsp olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Set aside.  In same pan, saute onion and peppers until crisp-tender.  Return chicken to pan and turn burner down to medium.  Add cheese and cook 1-2 minutes until cheese is melted.  Serve on buns.

SO good and SO easy.  Perfect weekday meal.

Calories (with wheat bun): 467
Fat: 17 g
Carbohydrate: 55 g
Protein: 28 g

Tiny Frames and Misperceptions

The other day I went out looking for a nice Easter skirt to wear.  Much of my Sunday clothes are rather dark and dreary and I was eager to have something light and frilly to wear for spring.

I stopped in at Kohl's and started meandering around the store.  I was with my mom, who is not known for (a) her love for shopping and (b) her patience so she stopped a salesperson and asked her where we could find a nice skirt for me.  To which the saleslady responded, while looking me over, "you have a tiny frame.  I would suggest the Juniors Department."

I was shocked.  I have never been told I have a tiny frame and I wanted to stand there and let the saleslady bestow other wonderful things upon me.  But it did get me to thinking:

When I look in the mirror, I see an athlete.  Sometimes, I look more athletic than other times, but for the most part, I see an athlete.  I see a muscular build that for a long time in Jr. High and High School I shied away from.

(I want to make it clear that I don't look in the mirror and find myself to be fat.  Nor do I look in the mirror and pinch parts of myself and wish them away.  I'm not that kind of gal.)

When I got to be in my mid-20's, I realized that I wasn't ever going to fit in a size 4 pair of jeans.  Ever.  And I didn't want to.  But, more importantly, I accepted this part of me and moved past this "ideal".  Since then, I've worked hard at just being in shape.  In shape for me may be different than in shape for other people, but it involves all the same kinds of things: exercise and healthy foods.  I think we all struggle with one or both of these to some degree and it would serve us all well to remember that little point: we all struggle.

I've been accused at times of using endurance sports as a way to stay skinny.  I don't use endurance sports to do that.  I do endurance sports because I enjoy the challenge.  I enjoy working towards a goal and beating it. I like the number crunching of pacing and setting time goals.  I really like training and trying new things.  Sometimes, I'll research certain things--thoughts and attitudes about weight and their effect on your racing--and I'll incorporate it into my training for a time being to see if really does matter.  But I'm smart about it.  I'm not eating a 500 calorie diet and trying to run 20 miles on it.  I do try to maintain a healthy diet about 80% of the time.  Some weeks are better than other weeks.  I try not to beat myself up about it.  Healthy isn't a number on a scale.

Sometimes, I think, it seems like we get so use to what we see in the mirror that we are sidelined by a comment from a stranger.  In my case, it was a positive one.  But I know a lot of the times, that's not the case.  And I have been on the wrong side of well-meaning comments.

Take the comment at lunch the very same day as my Kohl's experience.  I had ordered a meal off of the "healthy" menu not because I wanted to count my calories but because I didn't want to eat so much that I felt sick afterwards.  It was the same meal as the regular menu, but smaller.  I appreciate restaurants who give people an option because one of my "things" is that I will continue to eat well after I feel full.  Just because it's there.  And then a great lunch  morphs into a bad lunch because I'm sick for the rest of the day.

So I order this sandwich and it came with a salad.  When I got the salad, it looked like it was a dry salad with no dressing.  So I asked the waitress if there was dressing on it.  She replied there was just a tad bit so that it would stay within the calorie allotments for the meal and then she leaned in and said "I can bring out more.  It won't kill you to have extra."

I almost gasped out loud.  How incredibly rude!  It just goes to prove that you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I know that I don't have anything close to a "weight problem" and some people feel like you can't talk about these things if you haven't been there.  But, the pendulum swings both ways.  I have had my share of rude comments too.  I just think the world would be a much better place if we could accept everyone for who they are, regardless of their size, and just try to live healthier lives.

Amen.

What's For Dinner Wednesday--Taco Salad

Wade's aunt and uncle bring the best taco salad to every family get together.  And so I copied this sorta from them.  However, the bowl they bring is ENORMOUS.  And since I'm the only one who eats salad, I've had to pare it down.  I usually use leftover taco meat and make it for lunch, but tonight, the rest of the fam ate tacos and I ate taco salad.

Taco meat of your liking
Lettuce (usually I'm too lazy to actually chop up lettuce so I use the bagged salad from the store.  Tonight it was Very Veggie)
Handful of kidney beans (for one serving, the whole can if you're making it for everyone)
Nacho Cheese Doritos, crushed (for crunchiness)
Catalina dressing (I used Light)

Combine everything and drizzle with the salad dressing.  Enjoy.

Easy Peasy and gets me going between family parties.  I know the dressing Wade's aunt and uncle use isn't catalina and their salad tastes better if that's possible, but this is a nice simple substitute.