Friday, November 1, 2013

November

The first weekend in November brought one more trip.  My Uncle Ron had recently turned 70 and we were going to a party for him on the West side.  We stayed Chris and Carolyn. The highlight for me might have been getting to run. Pete, Chris, Carolyn and I braved the crazy wind and rain to run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute for 36 minutes.  That’s the kind of running I’d progressed to.  Chris and Carolyn are on-and-off again runner who are currently off so the run/walk method worked well and they thought they might even continue it. It was cool to think that I might have encouraged them to get out an exercise more often. 

 

Even though we were celebrating Ron’s birthday, it was actually my birthday and it was fun to get to celebrate it with family.  We stayed with my cousin Andrea and her family after the party.  The next morning Andrea went on a real run and Pete and I and Andrea’s husband Tim and their three boys all walked to the local coffee shop to meet Andrea for coffee after her run.  It gave me an idea of what it’s like to have kids. The jury is still out.

 

We met up with Chris, Carolyn, my mom and my sister Kelly at Portage Bay for brunch for my birthday before leaving town.  I went there with my friends Rachel and Michelle over the summer and I’ve been perseverating over it since.  It’s the best breakfast ever.  They have amazing gluten free French toast.  You wouldn’t know it’s gluten free; it’s so light and fluffy.  The best part is that they have a huge fruit buffet.  After your meal arrives you can go pile it high with berries.  It was a great way to celebrate my birthday. 

 

Portage Bay kicked off my month of Sunday morning breakfasts.  I’ve never really gotten into going out to breakfast.  I don’t like being full all day after a heavy meal.  Usually I have a couple workouts to do and I don’t want to have to do a long ride after a big breakfast.  But I have to admit, it’s starting to grow on me.  I can see how, if you really don’t have anything else to do, it’s a nice activity.  Unfortunately, that’s how my fall has felt, like I really don’t have anything to do.  So I eat.  Just kidding, I’m trying not to get out of shape as I rehab my hip, but I’m learning to enjoy simple pleasures like going out for Sunday brunch.

 

My running progressed in November to five minutes of running/one minute of walking for an hour.  With some changes to my gait I’m running faster than I used to and I don’t have any hip pain, so I’m hopeful that this long period of rehab is paying off.  I got to do ten minutes of one legged drills on the bike this week but it made my hip pretty sore, so it might have been too soon for that.  My swimming is back up to the volume it was before I broke my back and because my left side isn’t as tight from riding my bike, my stroke is improving.  So there are some encouraging things happening and I try to focus on those instead of the fact that I’m not training as I would like to be.  Hopefully December will bring more running and riding.