Bike Rides

The last couple of months, we've gone on a few long bike rides.

We live near an entrance to a bike trail that parallels the river. It's a nice paved flat trail where you don't have to worry about cars, or traffic, crossing busy intersection, or noise! The bike trail is great, you only have occasional bike riders that pass you. This bike trail is secluded really, not near any streets, highways, etc.

We went on a bike ride Monday evening after dinner. We hoped on the bike trail and went the opposite direction in which we've gone before. We rode to a little rest stop where there was a few picnic tables and a restroom. It was 4.90 miles there. Once there we debated on making the 2 mile trek up to my parents house, knowing that the ride home from there would be down hill all the way home. But we decided to turn around and go the way we'd came as we would have have had to have made it up a hill in order to get to my parents.

Bike rides are a great way to get in extra exercise that isn't weight bearing on my bummed foot. It's also something fun we can do together as a family. We recently got Hannah's bike all tuned up and adjusted, which was most needed after her bike accident two years ago. And I got my first helmet! We've always been a family that promoted helmets when bike riding, scooter riding, even rollar skating at the local rink, and up until recently, I'd never had a helmet. Not any more. Our entire family now has helmets!

We'll be getting a hitch put on the new car in the next two weeks and then we can take our bikes with us when we go camping at the beach for a week next month! And I'm very much looking forward to that!

Walking

I knew I had to get back on track with getting some exercise in. My foot has been feeling much better, and as much as I miss walking, I don't miss the excruciating pain I'd have in my foot when I get up in the  night to go to the bathroom, or first thing in the morning, or any time I get up after having sat for an extended amount of time.

We walked last Saturday, up Mt Rubidoux. It'd been the first time I'd walked in two weeks. Let's just say it was a BIG MISTAKE. My foot had been feeling really good, and then we walked up the mountain and I could hardly walk by the time we got home. Someone suggested that all the incline wasn't a good idea on my feet that hadn't walked in two weeks. So for the time being, I've sworn off walking Mt. Rubidoux.

But this morning, I got up, got going, dawned my walking shoes and grabbed my ear buds and walked. I'm starting off easy. I only walked 1.6 miles and I'm thinking maybe I should try every other day for a while. I didn't walk very fast, but I did get out there and walk. My foot did hurt/ache with just about every step the first half of my walking. But I came home and stretched and hopefully it'll be good to go walking again in another day.

I looked at Runkeeper this afternoon at my records for the last six months. June has been by far the worst month of my walking! I've only walked 12 miles this month! I'm trying not to get too depressed about that as I really was needing to rest my foot. On a more positive uplook, I've walked 348 miles since January 2nd! That's way more miles than I walked (for exercise) last year!

Exercise: It's Dangerous for Your Heath!

Exercise, it's dangerous for your health!!!

If you read my prior post about the weight loss and exercise kick I'm on, then you're up to speed as to how I've been exercising. But I'm tellin ya, it's given me problems! LOL.

So I've dropped a good amount of weight. I've got some weight off my knees, and my feet, but for the last 2-3 months I've had this horrible pain in my heel. I thought it was heel spurs, but after inquiring as to what it could be as a post on my Facebook page, and then researching it on the internet, I'm pretty sure, I have plantar fasciitis. It's horribly painful and is only in my right foot. I've been  doing some stretching exercises I found online and have absolutely not been going around the house barefoot, in addition to taking some time off from my excessive walking, as a result it's starting to feel a lot better this week!!

But,  as if that wasn't enough! Two weeks ago, I spent almost three hours in Urgent Care as a result of finding excessive blood in my urine. My history was taken, as was some blood work, and an Xray to rule out a possible kidney stone. The diagnosis: the blood was a result of an excessive exercise session the night before in the form of an eleven mile bike ride! Turns out that excessive exercise in a single session can cause blood in your urine! Google it, then you'll really believe me!

See, they say exercise is good for you, but I have proof it's harmful! LOL.

A Goal for 2013

This October, I will celebrate a milestone of a birthday. I'll be turning 40!!!When 2013 started, I set a goal for myself to loose a certain amount of weight by my birthday.

Therefore, on January 2, I started counting calories with the help of Sparkpeople.com. In this day and age of technology and smart phones, counting calories has never been easier, with convenient Apps on the smart phone, and restaurant websites at your fingertips for looking up nutritional values.

In addition to counting calories, I also started exercising in the form of walking. My goal was to walk three days a week at the track, and then some sort of exercise on the weekend as a family, whether it be a bike ride, or walk up Mt. Rubidoux, etc. But I exceeded that goal and was walking 6-7 days a week, my minimum was 2 miles every time I walked, but rarely did I walk just 2 miles. I was walking 20+ miles a week! It wasn't long before I hit 100 miles walked, then 200 miles, then 300 miles!   I found that I'd become 'addicted' to walking. I had to get my walk in everyday, at some point. I've had many a stressful situations over the last few months and I always felt much better after dawning my walking shoes and hitting the neighborhood or track for 3+ miles. In March, Steven and I went away for our anniversary for a few days to Coronado, and we even packed our walking shoes and workout clothes and wound up PAYING to use the hotel's gym one day so we could use the treadmill and elliptical! Exercising, let alone paying for it, while on vacation was something I'd NEVER ever done before, but I was proud that I'd come that far! Same held true for me last month when we camped over Memorial Day weekend. I walked the campground, walked the beach, and climbed the 100+ stairs that led from the sandy beaches up to various spots of the campground. I'm proud of how far I've come in the exercise department. 

The last two months have been rather slow for me in the loosing department. I'm playing around with the same 5 lbs over and over. A couple people have suggested I've hit a plateau and that my body may not remember being below the weight I am right now and is holding on to where it's at. At any rate, I need to figure out how to break this plateau and get back to loosing some pounds!!!!

Alive and Well

I am alive and well, and life is slowing waaaaay down for me. I really want to try to get back into blogging. My three blogs are so neglected, there's no way I can make up for a year of not blogging. So I'm just going to start afresh at this point.

The 2012-2013 school year officially ended on May 30th and it's been a great two and a half weeks of sleeping in, lounging about, reading for pleasure, Disneyland trips, and doing lots of fun things with my girls. 

The end of the school year was a huge relief for me as I completed my two year stent as PTA President at our Elementary School. The final weeks of the school year were especially busy and stressful for me.    Being PTA President wasn't an easy job. I loved the organizing and administration part of it all, as I do feel that's one of my God given gifts, but there was a lot of stress that comes with such a position. I had  never ever been called to the Principals office more times than I have had in the last two years! All I will say is the difference I was trying to make, wasn't sitting well with some of the teachers at the school. But enough of that, needless to say, I am happy to have the last two years behind me...