I could have sworn I was only 32...

When I was an athlete in high school (and even when I played intramurals in college), I never bothered with stretching or warm ups, and I never put much thought into cooling down either. I figured I felt great and that would never change. Stretching and all that other stuff was for old people, and I had better things to do. I also played sports for about two to four hours each day and never gave that a second thought either. I was young, in good shape, and felt great.

Fast forward to today - I'm only 32 and my body is falling apart! My right ankle is structurally unsound from all the sprains, and the tendon inside it is splitting. I demolished my right knee almost four years ago playing softball (tore the ACL, MCL, and both menisci), and that's never been the same. I had severe tendonitis in my right elbow during high school, and that still bothers me. My left elbow is super sore from - get this - carrying heavy bags on the train. How pathetic is that? And to top it all off, I'm pretty sure I have a pinched nerve in my lower back, as my back hurts and the pain runs down my left leg - a fiery sort of pain. My doctor wants me to have an MRI on my back, but I'm trying to save money for the house so that will probably have to wait a bit.

All these ailments make me look pretty funny from time to time. I have knee braces, elbow braces, and ankle braces. I have ice packs and heating pads, and lots of mineral ice. I wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and literally hobble to the bathroom, hunched over. Honestly, if someone didn't know better and couldn't see me, s/he might guess that I'm 82 rather than 32. Funny. Sad and funny. Good thing I at least have my youthful looks; no one ever guesses I'm even close to 30, let alone 32.

Anyway, looking back, I'm not sure if my lack of stretching and all the sports actually caused any of these ailments, but it's hard to imagine they didn't at least contribute to some of them. Overuse injuries in kids are becoming more and more common, and I was probably the queen of overuse when I was a kid. Overuse in combination with no stretching, etc. However, even if I could pinpoint all the childhood sports as the cause of my current condition, I'm not sure I would change a thing. I loved every moment of my athletic days! I guess my creaky old body is something I have to live with in exchange for the fun I had back then. Stretching once in a while probably wouldn't have hurt though - a lesson to pass on to my kids I suppose. As if they'll listen...and then the cycle will begin again! :)

In all seriousness though, I do recognize most of these things are not a laughing matter, especially my back. And I worry that I maybe inherited my mom's bones/joints, which means I will be in REALLY rough shape in 20 years (Mom - I mean that will all due respect. I hope you know that). I actually decided to really commit to losing weight via Weight Watchers because I recognized something had to change if I wanted to feel good in 10 years. My poor joints are in rough enough shape without all the extra weight to carry around. Plus, I figure being a lot lighter can help delay and decrease some of the genetic trouble I may encounter later. Even though the damage is already done, I don't have to worsen it by carrying extra pounds. Knowing the potential health consequences of being heavy makes my weight loss even that much sweeter - it's easier to stay on track when I have a concrete reason to do so. I hope I can keep that perspective as I continue on the journey, as it's a long one; a lifelong one really. I guess I have no choice but to stay the course, as I really want to be able to play catch with my kids in a few years or to walk when I'm 70. I don't want to feel like I'm 102 when I'm 52! I can only imagine what that might look like... :)

Thirty!

I've now lost 30 pounds on Weight Watchers! THIRTY, 3 - 0! Yeah! This week's loss was especially crazy, considering how I ate when I was in Neenah with B and her family. To really demonstrate how amazing 30 lbs is, here are a few examples of things that weigh 30 lbs:

• Matty's giant bag of dog food (that is an excellent visual)
• 6 bags of flour
• 30 boxes of butter
• 1 big bucket of kitty litter (yikes, I know how heavy those feel when I'm hauling them in from the car)
• 3 10 lb bowling balls
• 1.67 Tonys (my big orange cat)
• 1/2 of Matty the dog
• My lawschool backpack (okay, that's probably an exaggeration).

I think you get the point - 30 lbs is a significant amount of weight. My clothes are starting to be ridiculously big; I have to cinch all my pants, and I laugh at myself when I look in the mirror before work. I guess that's a good ridiculous though, right? Also, my knee feels a lot better, which is fantastic. My health, especially my knee, was my biggest reason for starting this journey, and I think my work is already paying off in that department.

In bad news, I haven't been to the gym in a LONG time. I also haven't played volleyball for over a month. Illness and work (and let's be honest, some laziness) have kept me from both activities. I was planning on going to the gym tonight, but I may go to bed instead. At 8 pm. Yes, I know I'm only 32 and not 82, but I'm tired. Work has been stressful as of late, and I still don't think I've completely recovered from the blackhole of sickness. So, the gym will have to wait yet another day. The personal trainer may kill me, as I haven't worked out once since we met last week. Oh well.

As I travel along this weight loss journey, I'm discovering there are a few food staples that I need to survive:

• Soup - I eat a lot of soup. Always have though, so this isn't that different
• 94% Fat Free Popcorn - this is a new one, as I used to hate popcorn. However, my weakness is salty, snacky type food (not sweets at all), and popcorn fulfills those cravings for me. I'm eating some as I write this!
• High fiber bread and lean lunch meat. I LOVE sandwiches, so I needed to find bread I can eat. I found bread that I enjoy, and it's only 1 point a slice (good, hearty bread)
• Fruit - bananas, clementines (tons of those), apples, pears, fruit cups, etc. I love fruit.
• Oatmeal - maple and brown sugar, lower sugar, almost every single morning
• Malt O'Meal - love it
• Eggs
  
• Smart Ones meals - I take one for lunch almost every single day
• Fat free Yogurt
• Babybel light cheese (LOVE this)
• Weight Watchers ice cream treats, especially the 1 point fudge bars
• Chicken breast
  
• Baked potatoes
• 100 calorie snack packs, especially the cheez it party mix. Yum!
• 60 calorie Jell-O pudding cups (70 calorie for Rice pudding)
  
• 10 calorie Jell-O cups
• Refried beans
• Canned green beans
• Diet coke (or other diet soda). I know, I know. I'm supposed to drink a lot of water. But I just like Diet Coke a lot more. I try to drink more water, but a girl can only change so much at once. :)
  

There you have it - my life in food for the last three months or so. I'm probaby forgetting a few things, but I think that at least provides a glimpse. Additionally, B often cooks for me, so I'm really blessed in that department. Her help is especially important right now, as I've sort of hit a motivational wall. To help me overcome that wall, she told me to pick five new recipes from the Weight Watchers cookbook for her to make. It doesn't get much better than that, right?

I know I always say this, but I hope I can find the willpower to continue on this journey. The first 30 pounds weren't easy per se, but they also weren't that hard. From past experience, I know the last 30 will be absolutely brutal. However, I might be getting a little too far ahead of myself here, as I have the middle 30 to lose before I even get to the last 30. Yikes - how did I let my weight get so out of control? That's simply mind boggling to me. Alas, it happened, and all I can do now is work on repairing the damage. So far, so good, right?

As usual, I'm open to tips/advice on new food, work out ideas, etc. Only you can help me prevent food boredom, friends and family. I need you! Here's to losing the "middle" 30!

I'm getting old

When I turned 32 this fall, I thought it sounded old. 31 didn't seem that bad, but 32...that felt different. Yesterday, I realized it IS different! I played in an all day volleyball tournament, and by the end of the day, I was pretty sore. Today, I can't really move around without stiffness. All of this is after taking a good amount of ibuprofen yesterday. Pretty funny. I can remember clearly being able to play volleyball, basketball, or softball games all day as a kid or a teenager without many consequences. I guess I can't blame it all on age, as there were women much older than me playing all day too (though, I have no idea how they feel today. ;) ). I'm sure it also doesn't help that I'm in terrible shape, but still I can't help thinking it has something to do with getting older. Sad, but true.

People always tell me that these days, 30 is young, blah blah blah. To those folks, my body begs to differ today - I'm certainly not over the hill, but 32 is NOT 16. I guess I need to add ibuprofen to the list of things for which I'm grateful this Thanksgiving. ;)

Fantasy Football Frustration

My fantasy football team sucks. I thought it might when I drafted it, and it turns out it does. My wide receivers are terrible and consistently underperform. My RBs were supposed to be decent, but I felt uneasy about them at draft time too. Turns out one is a total underperformer (Steven Jackson), and one can't stay out of trouble with the law (Larry Johnson). Johnson sucked even before he was avoiding jail. If I hadn't picked up Steve Slaton and Matt Forte, my season would be a total bust. I also have Kurt Warner, who has saved my ass at times.

I think what makes it even harder is that some weeks I do well. Really well actually. Then there are weeks like this, where I will lose even though Austin forgot to fill in a roster spot. Ouch.

Why do I care? Well, because I like to win. :) And, fantasy football actually is fun, but it's more fun when I do well. Just like everything else in life I suppose. Oh well - I might have to resign myself to mediocrity this year. As all good Minnesota sports fans say (and must embrace in order to live here), there's always next year!

Spring = Softball

Or at least it used to, before I tore my ACL playing in 2005. On a whim, I decided to try playing again this spring. So, I went to my first practice yesterday, and it was...interesting. I was able to field some soft grounders, missed one hard one, and chased down several fly balls. I stopped one fly ball with my foot, and one with my forearm. I managed to catch a few too, but really, my performance was ugly! Wearing cleats again also proved interesting, and I found myself not being able to stop quickly, which meant I actually overran some fly balls (I was scared to change direction quickly because I didn't want to get my cleat stuck). I didn't even hit well, which is something I'm usually good at. Alas, it could be a long season for me, but all I can do is my best! :)

Batting Cage Glory

I haven't played softball since I tore my ACL during a game in 2005. I have felt quite unsure about playing since then, as cleats still scare me a bit, but I decided to return to the field again this summer. It's supposed to be a pretty chill team, so I think that will help; if I screw up, hopefully it won't be a big deal. I'm really nervous to play, and part of me thinks it might be a bad decision, but I'm going to give it a shot regardless.

Anyway, as part of the process of returning to play, I decided I should go to the batting cages to practice. I went today, and it went surprisingly well! I hit the ball well, and my knee didn't bother me at all. My torso and arms will be sore tomorrow, but other than that, all went well. Yay!

Next steps - getting outside to throw the ball around, fielding grounders (never that easy, since I tend to be scared of the ball; I'm not sure why I play!), outfield practice, and live batting practice. Good times...if only it was as easy as Wii baseball...

Later skaters!

PS: Feel better soon, Amanda! Love you!

Random randomness - myspace blog post

For those of you who don't know, I play fantasy football every year with a group of friends and family. It's quite fun to play, and I'm doing well this year (currently tied for first, which is certain not to last so I should celebrate now). However, I tend to get a bit...let's just be honest and say obsessed. For instance, this Sunday I had three players in the Indy-Pats game and I needed them to do well so I could win. So instead of being completely dedicated to my homework, I was halfway glued to the television during the game. Now, I know that doesn't seem like a big deal. So I watched a little football. Whatever. But it gets worse. I was supposed to meet K and P for dinner and a movie at 6:30, so I had to leave before the game was over. Not to be deterred from following the game, I went down to my car and tuned in some old school AM station so I could listen as I drove. To a game that didn't have any MN teams in it. On a station that crackled and made weird high pitched sounds at times. For a FANTASY football game. Nuts.

Anyway, despite the craziness of that, I also very much felt like my dad as I drove along, listening and picturing the field and the plays unfolding, something he did and still does today (and which I grew up doing because of him. There is still something special about listening to a baseball game rather than watching it). Considering there is no one I admire more than him, I guess that's not a bad thing. So there you have it, a crazy, obsessed fantasy football player who is a mirror image of her dad. Who knew? Well, perhaps I did, and probably many of you too.

In other random news (hence the title people), I went to see Lars and the Real Girl on Sunday night (note the reference to dinner and a movie with K and P - I hope you are paying attention because there might be a quiz later). That movie totally cracked me up! I'm not sure it was supposed to, but how can one not laugh at lines like "Bianca was elected to the school board" and "Bianca's wheelchair was stolen?" They might not seem funny now, but I'm not going to wreck the movie for those of you who haven't seen it just so I can explain how truly funny they really were. You just have to trust me and go see the movie. Despite the hilarity, the movie was also quite poignant and touching at times. All around good flick. Go see it people. If we can drive all the way to Eden Prairie, you can too.

Further, I received Guitar Hero 3 as a belated birthday gift from Samantha (shout out). Being the stellar law student that I am, I beat the game on the medium level in less than 24 hours. Actually, probably more like less than 4 hours. Rock on. Perhaps it's time to move up to hard, but my fingers don't seem to work that way (get your mind out of the gutter people). Alas, I must be content with my medium GH glory. It's a bit insane how much I like that game. If only I could really play an actual instrument...

Finally, most of you probably know by now, but my dad recently won CFO of the year for the Twin Cities! I went to the awards luncheon at which they announced the winners, and when they called his name I almost cried because I was just so proud. I couldn't think of a more deserving person for such an award, not only because he's good at his work but because he's just an all around good person. I am truly blessed to have both him and my mom as parents. Life was truly terrific that day, filled with family, friends, laughter and joy. Yay!

That's all my randomness for now. Peace out peeps.

Boredom has set in...Indulge me here - myspace blog post

So today I feel a little...blah I guess. This caught me a bit off guard, as I was flying high after playing volleyball last night (sidenote: I am truly having a blast playing again! We won 2 out of 3 last night, and it was fantastic. I know I keep raving about it, but it makes me so happy that I can't shut up.). However, there it was: blah. I sat with it for most of the day, trying to figure out what my problem was...I didn't come up with much until I arrived at night class and Kari said, maybe you are just bored. Voila! That makes complete sense. Law school is old news (and also truly boring in itself), my dating life is in need of CPR or some other form of resuscitation, I don't have a lot of time to really see people, I miss Sarah and many of my other friends (note about not having time), and I lack motivation to do work. Thus, boredom and the subsequent blah feeling. Volleyball is fantastic, but that can't be the sole source of happiness for an entire week. It just doesn't last that long. Maybe I should find some other sports teams to join...that actually is a good idea!

Seriously though, besides more sports, I need to change things up...what to do about this...I need a game plan. Perhaps the first step should be to make plans with peeps. So peeps, let's do it. My lack of blah depends on you.

Over and out.

Fun fun fun (and a tiny bit of ouch)! - myspace blog post

Many of you know that I demolished my knee in May of 2005, and some of you probably know that before that, I spent a great deal of time playing sports (volleyball and basketball teams, two softball teams, and sometimes flag football). Since the injury, I really haven't played much of anything, except for tons of physical therapy and one volleyball match. The injury was devastating for many reasons, but mainly because I've loved sports my entire life and I'm truly an athlete in my heart and soul. The second I got hurt, I knew what I had done and what rehab would entail, and also that I might never be the same.

However, as noted above, I absolutely love playing sports, so I decided to get back into the game with my old volleyball team this season. I did this even though I still cannot forget the sound my knee made as I tore everything in it (it was seriously sick - at least one of my friends in the outfield heard it too!). Thinking about that sound and the way my leg bent makes me nervous to play again, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.

So, last night was the first game of the season, and despite some weakness/soreness, I had an absolute blast. We lost all three games, but the other team was very good and we hung in there quite well, considering most of us hadn't played in a long time. I really didn't care that we lost; it just felt terrific to be playing again! Who cares if I had to ice my knee twice and my ankle once (my ankle is a different story, let's just say it's not structurally sound according to my doctor)? And that I am quite stiff this morning (walking around like an 80 year old)? Not me. It was fantastic to be back...now if only I could remember how to pass/serve receive! Anyone want to take some time out of your day to hit serves at me? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Hope everyone is well!

Soggy Sunday - myspace blog post

So it's a soggy Sunday, sort of depressing honestly. I'm sick of rain. I need a nice sunny day so I can get outside and do something!

I went to watch my friend Steve play hockey last night and it was really fun. I got to see my friend Kevin too, and it was really nice to reconnect with both of them. Plus, the hockey was pretty decent. I never know what to expect when I go watch amateur sports. The level of play is often all over the map. Anyway, they were pretty good and Steve's team won. Steve even scored a goal-I think I was his good luck charm.

I'm going to the omnitheater tonight to see two movies. It's omnifest, which is the best because you can see 6 different omnifilms in a month period. If you go to more than one movie in a day, you get a discount on the second ticket. I'm seeing the Katrina film and the one about Australia. Both look amazing. Nice plug for the Science Museum huh?

It's spring break from teaching this week, which is quite nice. It means I get to sleep in tomorrow and I have NOTHING to do on Friday (Hamline is off for Good Friday too). That rarely happens, and I'm quite excited. Perhaps I will catch up on homework...odds aren't very good but a girl can hope.

I watched Borat last night before going to the hockey game (it started quite late). I have to say I didn't laugh all that much. I found the movie quite stupid honestly. And disgusting. I never need to see a fat, hairy naked man on top of another naked man in my entire life. Ick. Of course, the image is still stuck in my head. Anyway, I know tons of people found the movie hilarious. It just didn't do it for me.

Well, that's enough for now. I'm sure you are all dying to hear every detail of my life! ;)

Spring Break - myspace blog post

So, I'm on spring break from law school, which is quite nice. However, I am still teaching and also need to complete tons of internship hours this week (not to mention catch up in some classes), so it's not all that much of a break. At least I don't have class.

This weekend was Amanda's wedding, and it was absolutely fabulous. She looked beautiful, Blair looked great, and everything went smoothly-just about perfect really. I danced so much that my feet and calves actually hurt the next day. Insane, but really a terrific time. Congrats to Amanda and Blair, and all my love to you both! To everyone else, check out my pictures, as I posted a few from the wedding day (including me in the lovely green dress with my hair done).

In other excellent news, I played volleyball last night! It's the first time I really played a sport since I tore my ACL in the summer of 2005, and it felt absolutely terrific to play again. I hit well but passed terribly, but I really can't complain since I hadn't played in so long. Perhaps a softball comeback is in order for this summer...too bad cleats still scare me a bit. If only I could get the sound of the ACL tearing out of my head, and the realization that my leg was bending in a way that no leg should ever bend...maybe I'll start with the batting cages and see how that goes. I would love to play again. Stacey and I are also chatting about recreating the basketball team for next winter, so if anyone out there plays, let me know. We particularly need tall people that can play forward/post...but we would also take warm bodies. Finding basketball players is not easy.

I also went bowling at Park Tavern last night with some of my fabulous law school friends. A fun time was had by all, and you can't beat the deal we got-bowling is free after 9! You just have to pay for your shoes. Rock on!

Back to internship research...