New Shoes

For the last six months, I’ve been huffing about on roads and trails in Merrill Foot Gloves, which are also known as awesome barefoot running shoes. That means that they have absolutely no spring or other hoity toity cushioning for your feet and allow your feet to act as though you strapped gladiator sandals on and started running down the Via Appia. I’ve loved the feeling of myself becoming one with the elements, as well as the feeling that it’s my resolve moving me forward, no footgear spring action.

I have run every casual jog, every race, every everything in these shoes. They’ve been fantastic and have imbued a sense of wonder in me – both for running and for my body’s ability to perform.

Unfortunately, they’re a bit too breathable for inclement weather and they offer no added insulation from the cold. While this works well in the summer and early autumn, rain, puddles, snow and sleet seeping into footwear can quickly become frostbite. When the mercury plunges below 40 degrees, I look for any added insulation from the cold.

My quest for “regular” running shoes began in earnest the week following Thanksgiving, when morning temps routinely hit 35 and below. My tootsies were chilly.

My approach was pretty methodical in my free time. First I asked runners I knew online. No one had much information about why they chose Nike, New Balance, Asics or others, they’d simply used them forever and they liked them.  One experienced runner suggested I visit Westchester Road Runner (WRR) in White Plains to get fitted. That seemed like a great idea, so I googled them and started to read Runners World and other website for suggested shoes and reviews. That was like falling through the rabbit hole.

I’d honestly had never heard of certain shoe companies before, nor did I know whether my feet are pronated, whether I have a high arch, where my foot strikes and so many other questions.

So I carved out some time and drove my butt to WRR to figure it all out, because I needed to figure out the new shoes soon – at least so that the request could go on my Christmas wish list. ;)

The folks at WRR were awesome. Turns out I have white average runner feet. My feet are normal in that they neither pronate (roll out significantly and pushing off with one’s little toes) nor overpronate (roll inward significantly and pushing off with one’s big toes); I use all my toes to push off and my foot is generally squared to the ground when it hits. I also have average arches, with neither a wide nor narrow foot. Finally, I seem to have developed the coveted mid-foot strike, which means that I neither hit the ground initially with my heal nor toes, but my foot pad and just behind. That’s evidently the most efficient and safest stride for one’s body. It doesn’t have me running as quickly as some heel strike friends, but it should lower my injuries over the long run.  

Most running shoes are presently built to target and correct for one or more of the issues listed in the preceding paragraph. Entire companies have built up around one specific aspect of a bad foot or foot fall. It was a little of a letdown for me to realize, sitting in the middle of an amazing footgear emporium that most of them were unnecessary. No wonder the Merrells worked so well for me!

The next step was to strap on some shoes and try them out. Unlike trying on Louboutins, where standing still can be the sole purpose, these shoes are meant to be taken for a spin.

I pretty much spent the next couple of hours jogging up, down and around with different shoes (and different generations of them) on each foot, slowly narrowing down the pack until finally deciding that Nike Vomeros+6 are the shoes for me for now.  They are gender specific in their construction, which rocks. They’re light with responsive cushioning. I love how flexible they are. And, coming from a barefoot running background, I adore the wide toe box. I feel like I’m running barefoot on a cloud.

So they did go on my Christmas list, and Santa was nice enough to deliver them to me. Today was my first spin in them with some friends on some local mountain dirt roads. They were deceptively fabulous. I felt stronger out of the gate, but it lulled me into a place of jabbering for the first mile at a crisp pace while chugging up the side of a mountain. Silly me. The rest of the run was much slower for me, because I’d over extended with the chatting. I’m hoping to be quieter my next time out, allowing myself to assess the shoes more. But if today is any indication, it’s the beginning of an enchanting relationship.

Jacket: SportHill Symmetry II

It’s cold out here. In fact, as I sit at my computer, gazing past my computer screen to the “artic tundra” outside the house, it registers as 24 degrees on the thermometer we’ve stuck outside my office window for exactly this purpose.

Twenty-four frickin degrees.

I was not anticipating this when I first strapped on my Merrell barefoot running gloves and took my first run in many years down the dirt road a few months ago. Way back then, running in eighty degree heat seemed comfortable and a lark. Now, temps are falling in the frozen zone and the road still calls.

Until recently, I’ve been ignoring the falling temperatures. Chilly fifty degree runs called for a ratty sweatshirt over my t-shirt. Of course, me being me, I didn’t want to wear my nicer sweatshirts while running and get them all sweaty. Generally I looked like a female version of Rocky hitting the local roads, pulling the hood on if it began to rain.

Since running is one of my prime times to defrag, I haven’t been generally concerned with appearance or the way in which one’s clothing affects one’s performance. I’d simply throw on something ratty, hit the roads and let my brain wander.

All that changed as the mercury dropped. My feet got cold and wet, my hands got cold, my head got cold and my trunk…well, it was cold too.

Something needed to change if I was going to continue running into the winter. I researched local health clubs for the bare minimum buy-ins. Since I’m not one to generally take exercise classes, or care if I have exercise partners, I only wanted to find someplace where I could wear my ratties and hit the treadmills for ever longer runs. While there are a few good options locally, the local roads still call, which means I actually have to outfit myself to use them.

As I’m not one to take any new endeavor lightly, I began to ask other more experienced runners what they use, what brands they were wearing, and why they liked them. The gathered information led me to purchase a few items, but I have to admit that the stuff is so darn cute it seems too cute for me to wear on the road. I’ve resisted wearing them down by wearing them out. Instead, I’ve been using them around the house and to exergame.

My reading of Runners World cover to cover began to yield other information as well. I am a target marketer’s dream. Being an early forties married mommy female, who has come to running later in life, I’m looking for their pitches to try out new items. Which brings me to SportHill.

I’d seen the SportHill ads in Runners World and ripped them out to research more online. The more I read, the more excited I got. Wow, a company that makes exactly the items I’m looking for! They can save me from frostbite and hypothermia! Fabulous!

Had to try at least one item, but which one first? I settled on the Symmetry II jacket,  as it claims to keep one warm down to 0 degrees, looks awesome, comfortable and has a fleece lined collar. Hmm…So I got it after much hemming and hawing.

It couldn’t have come sooner, as the 35-45 degree weather had kept me exergaming and homebound for a few days straight. The jacket was so cute and comfy inside that I wore it around the house feeling my mood elevate with it on. My daughter loved it too, and begged it off me and then wore it around the house the rest of the day.

The next day, it was 39 degrees out, and I was ready to go go go. I layered one t-shirt with one long sleeved t-shirt, and then put the jacket on over the two. Everything else remained the same. I must admit that when I first started the run, I was a bit frightened. I’m quite sensitive to the cold, and was fearful that I was doing something dangerous to myself.

It was chilly out, don’t get me wrong. But after the first few yards, something amazing began to happen: I warmed up. Not just my muscles in the running, my trunk became nice and toasty. This jacket was making me feel like it was fifty-five or so outside and I relaxed into the run.

The run was in fact so nice and toasty that the next time I ran, I only wore a short sleeved t-shirt under the jacket. The same effect happened. Amazing.

While SportHill is kind of on the expensive side (for me), I look forward to trying out more of their cold weather items and discussing here through the winter.

Have you tried SportHill? If so, what are your thoughts? What should I try next?

Inside Slump

This is a whine post to a certain extent. I recognize that and own it. You don’t want to read it? Ok, move along to other peppy posts.

I’m not blah about working out, as it’s become an integral part of my life again. I’m not concerned about the eating, as it’s generally healthy and in check. The running is back on track, as outlined yesterday, now that I have a way to shower and get warmed up afterward. It’s an exercise video game thing.

Today is Zumba Fitness day. I put in my requisite time. But I’ve got to admit, just as we’re hitting weather that encourages inside video game exercising, I’m hitting a boredom blah place with the games. I like everything I’ve used thus far, but I need a new challenge. I’ve gone online looking for it, that magic game that’ll get me going again…I just can’t find it. Could it be that I’m missing some other kick butt workout? Is the magic sparkly game waiting to be discovered and used? If so, please PM me and let me know so that I can try it.

I had thought that I’d try another EASA2 21-day workout. But, ya know, they don’t feel challenging anymore. Perhaps their football series will work. Has anyone tried it? Is it as tough as or tougher than EASA2?

Image via WikipediaIn times like these, I generally go back to old faithful – Gamercize stepper with Lego Star Wars. This combo always works for me. And Star Wars keeps me entertained. My issue is that I’m into doing the sport, and want to pretend to be doing sport with the games. I guess I could play a sports game, like Madden, with the stepper, but that’d be playing SOMEONE ELSE playing a game.

I wonder if I’m missing something. Thoughts and suggestions?

I'm Back Up!

So, my friends, directly after claiming that I would be recommitting to blogging I go MIA for a couple of weeks – what the heck, right?!?!

Well, we had a pretty major storm – another one – which knocked out our power AND internet for a week. That was sandwiched between two hugely popular party weekends of back to back family activities AND I was feeling a bit run down (wonder why?). SO, without further ado, I’m back!

Yesterday was really my first day back in action and there was quite a bit of catching up to do, so today I hit the local mountain dirt roads with T, who was back from running a 10K in MAINE in like 30 degree weather. She did awesome with a pace of just over 10 minutes a mile. Maybe she was running to a warm cup of cocoa at the finish line…in any case – T, YOU ROCK! But back to today. It was perfect weather. 65 and sunny. The dust had been washed away by last week’s storm and clean up, so the road was just nice packed dirt. We finished our 4.15 route in a pace of about 10.5 minutes a mile while chattering away, catching up and clearing out our heads.

Tomorrow is a Zumba Fitness day. It’s been a couple of weeks, so my presumption is that it will be a sweat fest. I’m thinking soon I want to do another 21 day challenge on EA Sports Active II just to change things up a bit. If anyone knows when EASAIII is going to be released please PM me, as I can’t wait to try it!

The couple of weeks forced exercise lay off served well to give me a period to re-examine what I was doing, why, and where I’m going.

I decided that a January half marathon is insane for me – not because of the distance, but because it’s routinely 15 degrees.  Rather, some friends and I are going to try to register for the More half marathon in April, when it’s routinely 50+ degrees. I’m also signing up for NY Road Runners in January, which will be the subject of another post.

I also have a hard weight loss challenge deadline not affixed to end of year, but rather to an event that routinely happens in late March/early April. I’m hoping to be down another 20 pounds by then. We’ll see. Regardless, we have a lot of forward positive momentum. More soon!

Physical Possibility

Ok, so while doing much soul searching, hand wringing and rumpledoodle baking, I’ve come to a moment of (perhaps) insanityclarity. Actually, it was a friend, D, who pointed out today that I might be ready for my next distance challenge. That perhaps what I’m feeling is the nip at one’s heels need to train for a longer distance than a 10K. When she said it, it felt right.

What will it mean to me? Basically, I’ll have to drag my ass out of bed earlier.

If one wants to train for distance, not speed, one needs to be practical and use one’s slowest pace. My pace is quite slow. This new challenge will require running regularly (read: multiple times a week) for 1.5-2.5 hours. That is definitely something new to get my head around on a lot of levels, and to discuss with Dear Husband.

It will also require me to buy a good pair of regular running shoes. Don't get me wrong: I love my Merrell Pace Gloves. They rock. But with the amount of mileage I’m racking up, I need something with a little more cushion, as well as weatherproofing for the impending winter runs. Any runners (or running shoe companies) out there with suggestions, please let me know asap!

Cross training is no problem, as the exergames fill that slot nicely already.

The final question in this mental exercise is: what will that longer distance goal be?

So this evening, I took an Advil for my aching knee and pulled up the New York Road Runner Club site online. And that’s when I saw it: the JANUARY 22^nd 2011 Manhattan Half Marathon (it’ll probably be the 23^rd in 2012). 13.1 miles of running bliss.

I have my next physical challenge.  What's yours?

Day Off

Even though it’s a gorgeous day for a run, and Zumba Fitness can be pulled up on a moment’s notice, rest is just as important as exercise in a healthy lifestyle.  So, with my muscles aching, I decided to take a pre-planned day off from working out today.

There isn’t much that changes when I don’t work out. It’s not like I work out five hours a day. It’s generally between an hour and an hour and a half that now fits in around most other activities, like, say WORK and FAMILY plans.

So one might ask, when one doesn’t work out ON PURPOSE (pre-planned that is), what does one DO with that, say, hour or hour and a half? I give you…..

….RUMPLEDOODLES!

My Dear Child has a “minor” thing for Pooh. And the minor thing has turned into a major thing for Pooh’s entire cast of characters, especially Lumpy (the heffalump) from Pooh’s Heffalump Movie. Our evening plans presently look like PHM for 30 minutes before Dear Child goes to sleep. And “to mix things up,” we now have The Heffalump Halloween Movie to alternate viewing pleasure.

Cover of Pooh's Heffalump MovieWhich brings me to rumpledoodles. As anyone who has watched PHM more than once knows, Lumpy loves rumpledoodles. I’m sure every parent is asked what they are, where can we get them and when can we have them. Hopefully Dear Child will have them as a surprise snack later this afternoon.

They’re actually a made up thing. A new recipe, if you will. The DVD has the recipe in its additional features section. They include baking must haves like salt, flour, coconut and sugar, among many other scrumptious ingredients. Upon making a batch, one finds that the basic recipe is a wee bit runny and tastes a bit odd. The addition of vanilla, chilling the dough before the great bake and allowing them to sit for a couple of minutes before taking them off the baking sheet correct for any inadequacies.

So what do they taste like? Upon biting into a hopped up version (see below), one is reminded of English toffee, but somewhat different and, is it possible, better? And with the inclusion of raisins, they seem somewhat healthy if one is fantasizing in the hazy sort of way.

Hopefully they hold up for the post-afternoon nap and don’t seize up and become too hard. But then, that might be a great reason to dunk them in an ice cold glass of milk.

Lumpy’s mummy would be proud.

***

Hopped Up Rumpledoodle Recipe

1/2 cup rolled oats (ie oatmeal)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 heaping tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp molasses
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

½ tsp vanilla

1 tbsp boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare cookie sheets. I fit about a dozen cookies on a regular sized sheet. This recipe makes about two dozen cookies.

Mix the oats, sugar, flour, coconut, raisins, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Combine butter, molasses, vanilla and water separately. Then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until well-mixed.

You can chill the dough for 10-30 minutes before using if you’d like, but it’s not necessary.

Drop teaspoon-sized amounts of dough onto the cookie sheets. I use a teaspoon sized measuring spoon to portion out the cookies. Use it like a melon baller, but level the scoop before putting onto the cookie sheet. I find that larger amounts of dough make for much too large cookies, as these cookies spread; they do not rise.

Bake for 12 minutes.

Allow the cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing them to a plate.

Enjoy! 

Exhaustion

Image via Wikipedia

For the last week or so, my body has been telling me that it seems to have reached the edge of physical exhaustion. Or something like that.

I think the final straw was a 10K off-road race that me and a few friends ran last Sunday. Tons of people ran, I just didn’t know most of them.

The race became a turning point of sorts for me that has me going through some sort of deep tissue and emotional reevaluation of this campaign and my own motivation.

Upon starting the race, I started with the pack of all other runners going the 10K distance and realized very quickly that they were going much quicker than my normal pace. Considering that the race was about to go vertically up a mountain to the top, I pulled myself back down to my normal pace and settled in for the trudge. It wasn’t bad, especially since my normal runs now a days are on local mountain dirt roads. We passed through some mud flats, which was fun, and began the ascent. Quite a number of folks had misjudged their ability to keep their pace up the side of a mountain, and I passed them on the ascent simply by retaining my normal pace. I wasn’t trying to catch up with anyone, simply trying to make it through and finish the race. By keeping my own pace, I was able to objectively watch what was happening with other runners, which was interesting to me on a number of levels.

At the top of the mountain, I caught up with a new-runner friend, T. We settled into a companionable run together and joked and talked as we ran along. Some people passed us. We rounded on a lose rock bit and some woman with a Corgy came up from behind us, as others had, except she told us to follow her as she knew the course well. We made the mistake of doing so. What the day of the race we thought was a lame-ass 1+ mile detour, I’m relatively certain was a 1.5+ detour. Ultimately, once T realized she was literally leading us down the garden path, we turned around to retrace our steps. We began calling out for help, knowing we were lost. All of the people stationed to help runners in the race had left and we were left to figure it out on our own. By this point, T and I were exhausted, confused, freaked out, a bit scared and angry.

At this point, another man who knew the race happened by walking his dog. He led us to the point we needed to get back on the race route and touched base with race officials to make sure someone was watching out for us. T and I dealt with another point where the race officials were there, but ignored us, so we ran up and down a road for a bit before we realized we needed to cross at some point and we got them to turn around to give us directions.

By this point nearly the entire field of runners was waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ahead of us. Our pace was blown and at this point we were simply trying to stay upright. T threw out the idea of truncating our run before we collapsed. We agreed to finish it together and no matter what the actual time was, because we did the race for ourselves, not for the race officials who were timing us. At this point, the aim was simply to legitimately cross the finish line.

We ultimately found out that one other runner came in behind us – an 83 year old man. Upon seeing the times, someone joked that the only person behind us was a man of such an advanced age.

Since then, I’ve done Zumba Fitness twice and run a couple of times. None of the workouts has been good. I’ve listened to talk during the runs, and become increasingly dejected.

Then, this morning, I went on my normal four mile Sunday run with a few friends. Most of them are fantastic runners. Of course, they’d never say that; but they are and they really impress me. T just started running after I did. And she’s just quitting smoking. She’s really doing well, and I’m really impressed by her on a number of levels, as I am of all of these amazing local runners.  I get a kick out of seeing their progress and cheering them on.

So we were all running along today and of course everyone passed me. Everyone. I started thinking about my barefoot running shoes and how they have no forward bounce (they’re barefoot for goodness sake), how T is 5 inches shorter than me or some such and really outdistances me, how folks talk about time and pace, and I generally slog along at my own pace and might as well be called the caboose.

Then I started thinking about why I’m running and what I’m trying to accomplish: how I want my daughter to see and feel her mommy incorporating fitness into her everyday life and thus teach her that she should too; how I want to lose more weight, but have already lost so much and so many inches that some of my old clothes are lose or too baggy to wear; how with the running I’m amazed at the distances I can go; how it’s never been about time for me, but rather to see how long I can make my body move; how I started this entire adventure with exergaming 10 months ago to see whether one could get fit simply by exergaming and have accomplished that goal by proving that one can and does.

During the run today, my body ached for the first time - really ached. One of my knees gave me a slight limp and my legs felt pain. Normally my legs don’t feel any pain during or after my runs. All day, my gluts, hips and leg muscles have felt…well, I’ve felt all of them. It seems like mentally and physically, my mind and body are going through a self assessment and reconsolidation of effort regarding working out as though I’m about to move into a new mental and physical space. We’ll see.

One thing that’s certain, I’m not competing with anyone else or the clock; this campaign continues to be about pushing myself through known and artificial limits toward personal achievement.

Time Management

Image by Jeff Hester via Flickr

Professionally, I’ve worked well, and tried to surround myself, with people who multi-task well and get the job done. With such people, I feel a commonality of purpose and intention, as though we’re a team throwing a rugby ball to each other to get it down the field, regardless of weather, opposing force, state of general health and level of mud. This sort of group effort allows for much satisfaction and camaraderie upon completion.

This exergaming experience, and blogging about it, on the other hand, is generally a solo act. While I have a fantastic support network professionally and personally, I am the only one who can and must put in my hours of exergaming and other exercise; I’m also the only one who can write about my thoughts and experiences, because I’m the one living them. This personal effort has forced me to experience something that all people with active lives also experience – the time life crunch.

We all have things going on in our lives. I’m a wife and mother. I work, clean, do laundry, deal with my toddler’s active life and schedule (as well as a few tantrums) and my husband’s intense schedule; and I try to make some time for friends. I also, perhaps insanely, try to read and knit. Oh, and exercise and blog about it.

The exergaming and other exercise continue. I generally work out 60-90 minutes four to five times per week. My present exergame of choice continues to be Zumba Fitness. I hope to start a new 21 day challenge on EA Sports Active within the next couple of weeks, but don’t feel pressure to make a change too quickly.

Working out at the same time every day seems to help people keep at it. For me, the exercise is such a habit at this point, and I enjoy it so much, that I can and do work out happily at all times through the day. Depending on the day I’ll run in the early morning, or exergame in the morning or afternoon. It really depends what else is going on that particular day and when I can carve out a block of “me” time. A side note is that most of my daytime “me” time is generally handed over to exercise, with any evening “me” time revolving around knitting and reading.

Recently, as a few of you have noted, my blogging has fallen off a bit. It takes me 30-60 minutes to write a new blog piece. In a perfect world, I’d carve out that time every day on top of everything else. In my world, that time has moved over to other work most of the time. But now that I’m recognizing this lapse, and the cause, I can accommodate to it and make sure the blogging happens more often (again).

Presently, I have a bunch of backlogged ideas, but if you want to hear about anything in particular, feel free to email me, and I’ll be happy to write about that.

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Zumba Fitness Program

Many people have been asking me exactly what Zumba is like since I mentioned that I’d started using Zumba Fitness.  As I’ve mentioned before, it’s somewhat difficult to describe, as it offers dance moves I’ve never seen before. But that’s somewhat of a cop out.

At the end of a Sunday run recently, some friends asked me to show them one of the moves. The dance step I most often use for illustrative purposes I generally call “the Opah!” Anyone who’s been to a Greek, Jewish or Middle Eastern wedding knows this step. In fact, anyone who’s ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding knows it as well. Stand up straight. Put your arms in the air with your upper arms at a right angle to your body and with your forearms sticking straight up. Rotate your hands in to face your head and hold your fingers up. Now grapevine sideways slowly. That, my friends, is what I call “the Opah!”

I’m not sure what it’s actually called, and whether it has an official name in one or more languages. For purposes of Zumba and Zumba Fitness, it’s one of the dance moves used in every program. In Zumba, it’s generally done pretty quickly with a hip rotation pulling the entire body around in a circle at each end of the grapevine. But that is not all, my friends; oh no, that is not all.

I decided to describe how to get to my favorite workouts for you, as well as to give some idea of what awaits when you get there.

The Zumba Fitness disc opens like most with a Welcome splash page. Next you go to the Play page. You decide whether you want to join a party or do a class. I like the class. They then confirm your profile name. Then you choose which class you’d like to take. Options include 20 and 45 minute beginning, intermediate or advanced class. I always choose the 45 minute intermediate. At this point, the advanced Zumba classes intimidate me. Once you decide on what class you’d like to take, you then get to choose your program. The 45 minute intermediate class has many options. I generally use the first three. Once you’ve decided on the actual class, they ask what type of action, and I choose night club.

I thought about going through every dance unit with you, describing all of the dances in order, but realized that it might be overly comprehensive for a blog post. For our purposes, I’ll simply outline the slide warm up. It’s the first workout unit, is about four minutes long and includes rapid repeats of dance moves such as salsa, hip swivels, squats, charlie horses, grapevines and reaches during all of them.  By the end of this set, your body should be warmed up, you’ll most probably be sweating (profusely), and you’ll only feel acclimated if you’ve done the set before a number of times.

As I’ve said before, there’s something about Zumba that confuses the body and mind.  It is quite difficult to describe without showing the other person, and doing Zumba without music is a bit odd and ungainly outside of Brazil. That being said, it’s a heck of a lot of fun and worth the money and effort of doing it.

It’s bizarre and funny and a great workout and I highly recommend that you check out Zumba and Zumba Fitness.

Are you doing Zumba or Zumba Fitness? How do you find them?

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Toddler Style

I know; it’s been a while, blog peeps. I really don’t have much of an excuse. Basically, even after Irene hit, we’d mostly recovered, and I got back to working out, I still couldn’t bring myself to write any blog posts. Perhaps our bridge still being out has something to do with it. We do have a temporary foot bridge, but not a bridge we, or an oil truck, can drive over. Mind you, our biggest issue with this is heat and hot water. Basically, once we draw down all of the heat and hot water supplied by the oil presently in our tank, we’re out of both indefinitely until the new bridge is in and an oil truck can restock us. But to get back to the blog post at hand…

Over the last couple of days, a friend and I have been talking about discussing style and “prettiness” with our daughters. We’ve actually also been talking about how to discuss praise on action and in general as well, but for purposes of this blog post, I’m only discussing the style discussion presently.

Over the last year, a couple of articles have come out claiming that we, societally, must not praise our daughters’ looks, outfit coordination, etc. The articles aver that saying something as toxic as “you look pretty” can ruin a girl’s ability to attain any level of success in her future life. A number of folks I know have essentially said “hell yeah” in posting the article on Facebook and Twitter. I tend to disagree.

I’ve only begun thinking about the prettiness debate recently. As a mother of a toddler who likes to play dress up, and who thinks certain outfits and hair styles are prettier than others, I’ve hit the moral dilemma head on. Is it morally correct to buoy her emerging style by agreeing that something is pretty? Or is it possible that by doing so, I am relegating her to menial jobs, or lack thereof, for her entire life?

Okay, perhaps I’m over thinking this. It is a possibility. But if not, then it’s something that needs to be settled for my household. And I cannot believe that empowering her emerging sense of style can be anything other than positive and enriching for her.

I’m not saying that we should raise our daughters to be vain or in pageants. Rather, I’m simply saying that should be okay to embrace and extol a child’s femininity. A girl can play with trucks if she wants to, and she should also be allowed to play with dolls. As she finds her voice, it should be okay to tell her she looks pretty, even if it’s only to you.

I’m also not saying that she should solely be praised for her looks, so that she learns that she’ll be judged mostly for her looks throughout her life. Rather, I’m saying that it should be okay to praise her style right along with her deeds, manners and everything else she does, says and is. Women’s  empowerment does not have to be forcing success through one’s perception of a male molded world. Rather, one could argue that true women’s empowerment emboldens all of the pieces that make up that woman – including her personal style.

Hurricane Irene

Image by NASA Goddard Photo and Video via Flickr

Sometimes Mother Nature puts a crimp in even the best intentions.

We, like so many people on the East coast, have been a wee bit set back by Irene. So many have it worse than we do, so we count ourselves lucky and pray for the people who have been harder hit.

Our power and bridge are out again, and we’re not certain when either will be back. This time the bridge was actually entirely washed away down river by a flash flood of epic proportions that rose approximately eight feet in thirty minutes. That was on top of the elevated river level (approximately ten feet above normal) and whitewater conditions. Due to the quick onset, we surmise that a lake upstream breached its bank like a dam breaking.

We’re all together and we have our health, water from the river to flush the toilets, bottled water to drink, a generator to run some urgent electrical units like the refrigerator, and emergency supplies, so it could be a lot worse and we’re hopeful that it will get a lot better very soon.

That being said, all of our time is presently consumed by caring for our toddler, and keeping us all safe and healthy. The only exercise I’ve gotten since Saturday is toting buckets of water, chasing our toddler, trying to keep myself and the foresaid toddler clean, and hiking along a relative cliff for purposes those who know us understand. Our previous mountaineering skills are coming to good use.

I’ll update you once our bridge is fixed and our electricity is back on, so that I can get back to my Losing Gamer campaign. Until then, stay safe!

Acorns

Image by clocker via FlickrThere are many subtle differences between running inside versus outside; the most obvious to me is the engagement of the senses.

Inside treadmill running can be an intense workout. It’s relatively direct in that one may program in hill intervals, varying courses and intense pace. Basically, one can push oneself as hard as one wants via buttons on the machine itself.

It’s also diverting. Now-a-days most people run toward an enormous flat screened TV bracketed to the wall directly ahead of the machine, so one may watch music videos, DVDs or regular programming. Ear pods and headphones allow the runner to listen to what’s on the screen or something completely different. I’m actually surprised that no one has developed a way to play video games while one is on a treadmill, sort of like Gamercize’s step and cycle machines. If someone out there develops the technology, please let me know, as I’d like to try it!

Outside, one must deal with the course that actually exists. The runner has the ability to vary her pace and the route taken depending her fitness level and the level of workout desired. Once you’re on the road, though, it’s much easier to settle into the workout and allow your mind and senses to wander.

I do not run with music. It’s not a hard core thing with me, as I understand it is with others, but more because I like to hear the wind in the leaves, the birds chirping, the deer squealing, etc. One can hear cars approaching and their general speed, so that one can move aside.

Mostly I like the ability to think that running without music gives me. Loud songs with intense bass battle my mind wandering. The quietude that my own breathing and footsteps give me allows me the space to defrag my consciousness like I defrag my desktop once a week. My mind moves through my various To Do lists and I can make mental notes of what goes where, what needs immediate action and what can be put aside for a wee bit.

Image by joshme17 via FlickrToday, as the wind blew across my face, leaves rustled and a rabbit hopped into a bush ahead of me, I dissected an insurance clause of a contract. As that box got moved to its defragged space, I noticed that the air spelled a little less lush and a bit more dry-rustley, like autumn. Looking down, I realized that I was running among the first fallen acorns of the season and thought about the intensity of the impending cooler months. Not only was my entire body occupied in the running experience, but all five senses and my mind were engaged as well. For as long as possible, I look forward to running outside.

Mid-August Malaise

Image via WikipediaAlthough writers' block doesn't hit me often, it does seem to have hit this week.

Everything is going along as planned. Work outs are going well. Weight stays lower than the weeks before. A couple of friends and I have signed up for another 10K in early October, which should be fun.

We're all enjoying the lovely summer with loads of fun outside activities and healthy eating.


Is there anything in particular you'd like me to discuss at this point in August? Email me and let me know.

***

Check back tomorrow for this week's guest blogger: friend and author, Sarena Straus!

Author Interview: Shoshanna Evers!

I’m quite excited to introduce our second guest to the blog by way of this interview: author and my friend, Shoshanna Evers. Multi-published erotic romance author Shoshanna Evers is published with Ellora's Cave, The Wild Rose Press, Cleis Press (Best Bondage Erotica 2012) and Berkley Heat (Agony/Ecstasy). She’s the editor of the upcoming How to Write Hot Sex: Tips from Multi-Published Erotic Romance Authors. She’s truly an inspiration to me and our mutual friends. Somehow she manages to successfully juggle family life, caring for an active toddler, writing her syndicated advice column, working as a registered nurse and polishing multiple writing projects simultaneously. I always wonder how she does it all, and does it so well. Read on, and let’s find out!

What do you write?

I write romance that tends to lean toward graphic and erotic. The focus is always on the love story, and sex is part of it.

Is it easy? Do you like writing? Do the words fly from your pen?

I love writing, I’ve been doing it since I was a child. And yes, sometimes it feels easy and I’m thinking so fast my fingers can’t keep up—and I’m a pretty fast typist J But sometimes it’s work, when I have a deadline or edits to do and I’m exhausted from chasing my toddler all day. I still sit down and put my hands on the keyboard, which is how I’ve been able to write so many books. You can fix a crappy rough draft, but you can’t revise a blank page.

And what’s the deal with your writing blogs? You also have blogs about writing as a craft, right?

I have a blog for writers called www.TheWritersChallenge.com. It started in 2009 when I decided to get serious about becoming an author and chronicle my journey. I was so very honest and open back then, posting every rejection letter and every story idea. I’m more reserved now that I’m published, because I know people are actually reading the things I blog about. Now I do a lot more in the way of author interviews.

I also do occasional writing challenges (such as #May50K and #Aug40K) and create blogs just for those events so my regular blog doesn’t get overwhelmed. The writing challenges are my way of having accountability when I need to get a certain amount of writing done. Other authors and aspiring writers join in and post their daily word counts so we can cheer each other on. Oh, and I do a group blog called Flirty Author Bitches.

How do you find time?

I make time. The main way is I don’t watch TV, and I stay up late. That’s the main way I find time. One of my friends gets up early before anyone else in her house does so she can sit and work for a bit. I’m a night owl, so I wait for my son to go to sleep and then I hit the computer.

How do you find balance in your life between writing, working, family, chores, son, etc?

There’s no perfect balance, honestly. I wish I could say I’ve found the secret to balancing it all. Everything gets done imperfectly, as far as I’m concerned. When I’m working as an RN, I’m not playing with my son or writing. When I’m writing, I’m not cleaning the house or hanging out with my husband. When I’m with my family and I have a deadline or a story idea I’m excited about, sometimes it’s hard for me to be completely in the moment because a part of me wishes I could be writing. It’s hard. So I just have to accept that nothing is going to be perfect, and that’s okay. That’s the balance, I guess.

Do you feel more fulfilled now than before your wrote professionally – ie, now that you have better balance in your life?

I feel more fulfilled now that I’m getting paid to write professionally because it validates all the time I spend writing. A huge amount of my life is spent in a chair, staring at a computer screen, imagining things, LOL.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed? If so, how do you work through it? Ie, how to you stay balanced in a sometimes unbalanced world?

I’m often overwhelmed because I give myself a lot of projects, but I think I like it that way because I do it to myself all the time. Writing books isn’t just about finding the time to write them, it’s about submitting the manuscripts to my editors or my agent, writing synopses and queries, revising manuscripts, going over contracts, editing a book for content and then doing copy-edits, etcetera. Oh, and promotion. Blog posts, interviews, Twitter, Facebook, conferences, that sort of thing.

I was feeling a bit underworked in July so I created the #Aug40k challenge, to write 40,000 words in August. Then all at once I had major revisions on a book to do, minor revisions on another, copy-edits on another, and submissions from an anthology I’m editing all coming in at once. And I still want to write 40K. There’s no balance there, just a lot of late hours, LOL. You have to love what you do, and then it’s all fun.

Other thoughts?

Thanks for having me on your blog, Jenn! I love to hear from readers and writers. My email is shoshanna.evers @ yahoo. com (no spaces).

Sexily *Evers* After... ShoshannaEvers.com
Titles at Ellora's Cave
Titles at The Wild Rose Press
Agony/Ecstasy, Dec 2011, Berkley Heat
Best Bondage Erotica 2012 , Dec 2011 Cleis Press
Titles on Amazon

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