I ordered a pair of Kigo Flits. They are minimalist Mary Janes. I hope they fit! My true size is 8.5, so it’s always frustrating when a company says a shoe runs “true to size,” but only offers whole sizes. I ordered 9s, so I hope they’re not too big. They look very promising. Reading alignment and foot health information over the past few days has made me even happier that I hate shoes. I have a long way to go to stretch everything out and get it all aligned, but not as far as people who wear heels or wear shoes all the time have.

My hooping challenge is going great. 30 minutes in the hoop every day. I’ve done 15 so far today, and will do another 15 after I post this. I also did five minutes of Xbox Kinect Zumba. I would have done more, but I didn’t know the steps! Need to take some time to learn the steps. I’ve also practiced squatting for at least 15 minutes today.

I’m doing a 30 minutes of hooping for 30 days challenge. Technically, it’s with the website hooping.org, but the website is way too slow so I’m not actually socializing. I’ve been doing pretty well with setting up a 30-min playlist on iTunes and just hooping until it’s done. Trying to master chest hooping and thigh hooping right now. I switch back and forth between them.

I’m also working on the exercises on Katy Bowman’s “You Don’t Know Squat” page. Since living in Korea, one of my goals (on and off) has been to be able to squat comfortably for long periods of time like it seems every Korean can do. I just can’t get my heels on the ground! The squatting page helps explain what I need to work on to be able to squat like a Korean. I worked on it for 15 minutes already today and I can feel it in my lower back! (I have uneven flexibility and I think learning and practicing the squat will help a LOT.) Her page is full of other great info, too.

Running is on hold right now for various reasons. I miss it, but I’m a mess right now. I’ve been having digestive issues that have been extremely painful. I’m not going to blame it on the fruit diet I was trying for about two months (which also made me gain 5 pounds), but the timing seems suspicious. I’m temporarily doing a juice fast with veggie juices, while cutting way back on coffee (trying to limit it to two cups a day, with chamomile tea as my hot drink for the rest of the day.) I’m also trying to cut back on white sugar without replacing it with an equal amount of agave nectar.

I’m still walking every day with my dogs. I’ve been wearing my Invisible Shoes, which are great except the knot under the toes is driving me crazy. I have to get a rotary hole punch so I can move the knot away. Once I get that sorted and my body feels better, I’m going to start running short distances in them. I think they’ll work, even for my extremely sensitive skin. I was skeptical, but they’re very comfortable.

I’m hoping next time I post will be even better! I’m off to Orlando next week for a work trip. Going to try to bring a travel hoop so I can keep hooping.

The diet is going great. As usual, I struggle to get enough calories, but thank goodness for bananas and dates! The proponents of the diet suggest 2500-3000 calories a day for women, and I’m still closer to about 1500. But I’m learning.

I’m going to do things differently this year. This year, I’m going to put actual thought and effort into getting in a proper base of slow miles. I’m going to do heart rate training at about 140 bpm (can’t find the link, but that was the suggested bpm for a woman my age) for about three months. (I’ll have to work out the time/ distance, but I know I’m starting out at about half an hour this coming week, probably every other day.)

On the days I’m not running (during the base time,) I’ll be working on foundational strength and flexibility.

I plan to hoop a half an hour every day.

Food wise, I’m testing out a transition to a mostly raw fruitarian diet. I’m going to see how it makes me feel and whether it helps my running.

I have not been able to run very much in the past three months, because of the excruciating hip pain I felt in November and again in January. I’ve been keeping somewhat fit with hooping and dance class, but not fit enough to avoid gaining four pounds. However, I went into yesterday’s half with the hope that I at least had enough fitness to finish! I worried that my hip would act up or that I would have trouble with my lungs because I just got over a bad cold. The night before, I was very careful and ate dinner at Chipotle, since I knew that was safe running food for me. I went to bed early, but was awoken by driving bass from outside the hotel window. That went on from 11pm to 2am. I gave up on sleep and chatted with my husband on Skype. I finally got back to sleep around 2:30.

Up at 5am to bundle up in my warm running tights, a long sleeve shirt under a short sleeve shirt, and two jackets. I went to get my coffee and wandered toward the start area. It didn’t take me long to realize I was overdressed. Back to the room to change to my running skirt and Air Force t-shirt. Back to the start line, where I got a text from my husband and sent him a picture of me.

I started behind the 5 hour folks. If I had trained, my hopes were to start closer to the 4 hour folks, but I knew there was no chance of that now. Start was as expected… took 17 minutes to cross the start line. I took the first five minutes slow to warm up, then settled in to an 11:15 pace. That pace felt really good, except my stomach started acting up within the first mile. Porta-potty lines were VERY long (there were only about four or five porta potties every two miles or so.) I spent a total of about 15 minutes in two lines, but finally got my gastro issues sorted and was able to run. I walked the hills (see above re: detrained) which I would have run if I had not been detrained (the hills in my subdivision put Austin to shame.)

There were some very interesting runners in my area of the run. Two women were ruck-sacking it in their Army boots. One woman was wearing full firefighting gear and a tank. An engaged couple ran together in sashes, the woman in a veil and white tutu.

It was a nice run. Green Bay is still my favorite, but I would come back and do this one again. I particularly liked the “water monsters” at the aid stations– I carry my own bottle when I run, so it was nice to be able to refill it and waste one (or five) fewer paper cups. I hope to see more races adopt that. Aid stations are still awesome, and if I ever try to run less than 2 or less than 4 for a marathon, I will probably not carry a bottle, but it’s nice to have the more sustainable options for those of us who can lose a minute or two.

Lessons learned: you can never predict which part of your body will fail on the run. I guess that’s part of the fun of it! It was also nice to know I could finish a half on last year’s training. Not as fast as I would have liked, but I finished.

I don’t have another run lined up. I need to take the time to work on my base. You could say 2012 will be my base year (I’m also doing foundational work for my dancing and hooping.) I really need to work on losing that 20-30 pounds and balancing my muscles in the lower body. I’m also working on flexibility in my lower body (more for dancing and hooping, but that can’t hurt my running!) I’m going to try to do the local running club’s monthly run (choices of a mile, 5K, and 10K.) I might take on the local half in October, but more as a long run than as a race.

I know I need to figure out how to lose this weight. I don’t mind the slow and steady loss, but I’m very aware that my potential for speed is declining now (I’m 40.) I think that one key will be eating more regularly. I still have all those challenges with food (including the worry that in addition to wheat, I can’t eat oats.) It’s too much work to think about, so I don’t. But I know that if I ate three to six small meals a day, I would probably see results. (Also, a recent blood test showed low blood sugar, so my doctor advises eating three meals a day.) I’ve already failed at that today. It’s 11am and I’m still working on a medium soy latte. But I am going to lunch with Candi in an hour (after she walks her five miles.) I really don’t know how to get myself on track with the food thing. I know that would be the best thing for me, though.

Oh, my race times:
Clock: 3:17-ish
Chip: 3:01-ish
Actual non-porta-potty time: 2:47-ish

I’ll upload my Garmin map when I get my new cradle (managed to lose my old one.)

I’m not prepared for my half in February. I had to stop running because of my sore hips. The good thing about the half is that I can walk as much of it as I need to. I think I’m going to do a 9/1 run/ walk. I’m also going to do most of my training on the treadmill up until then because of the brutal hills where I am. No time to both adjust to the hills and adjust to running again! I’m just going to do one or two runs a week outside.

Diet-wise, I’m doing very well with the no pop and kind of well with the no potato chips/ French fries. I’m going to extend that until after the half. I wouldn’t mind losing five pounds, but I’m not expecting it. Because of my issues getting enough calories when I’m not eating junk, I’m going to make a special effort to do one or two juices a day plus a green smoothie on days when I don’t have Chipotle.

Now, too, the home workouts I’ve been following have taken an unfortunate turn. They used to be about striving to be your best, but lately, they’ve become focused on disordered eating and criticizing those who are less fit or those who have fallen off the new year’s fitness bandwagon. I feel like this is the wrong message to send. I don’t do this so I can feel superior to other people. I also don’t want to be extremely skinny or have a very low body fat percentage. I also don’t want to look at peanut butter as a once-a-week splurge. That’s not a path to health or a healthy relationship with food.

There is a need for a kinder, gentler movement and I would like to be part of it. I want to be part of a movement for everyone to enjoy exercise. I want to be part of a movement that says exercise is for everyone, not just those currently considered aesthetically pleasing (which, as we all know changes…)

I have a new project. A project and a goal. My project is to document my learning journey with my hula hoop. I just cleared and cleaned an area of my living room (which has awesome high ceilings) for the taping space. My goal is to decide which certification to take and become a certified hooping instructor. Everyone needs a hoop in his or her life! I probably wouldn’t have time to teach on an ongoing basis, but I would love to get good enough to do weekend hoop-ins or workshops. One of the reasons I’m documenting is so that I don’t forget what it’s like to be a beginner, so I can help figure out why people can’t get the hoop going. (I also want to make my very own montage. Everyone needs a montage!)

Right now I’m working on chest hooping. I hope to have chest and shoulder hooping mastered before I get my LED hoop from Astral Hoops (link opens in this window.) It should be another three weeks.

Tomorrow, I’m running the 5K associated with the Houston Marathon, and then I’m cheering Terzah on as she BQs! And I’m bringing hula hoops!

As I said before, I’m avoiding French fries, potato chips, and cola this month and it’s turning out to be a little harder than I expected. Especially potato chips. I really was eating them every day. Now I have to find real food to replace them! I’m about to run out of my frozen vegan gluten-free mac and cheeze, so I have to start making food! I need to just plan a boring breakfast, boring lunch, and boring dinner, just so I have SOMETHING available, since I don’t normally plan for food until I’m STARVING.

I still haven’t run this year, which means Sunday’s 5K will be interesting. I am doing Bodyrock, dancing, and hula hooping, so I’m not completely unfit. Should probably plan to train for next month’s half, though.

I’m very happy about how I felt for the first two miles, but I’m not sure what happened on the third. I’m not sure if I lost my energy or lost my concentration, or what. I guess I was scared that I would get nauseated again (I didn’t.) The next 5K is a fun run on the same course as the September fun run I did. I’ll be able to see what improvements come from my half-marathon training and diet changes.

I’m also wrestling with the realization that I really am allergic to wheat. This weekend was a veg fest (all the food was vegan) and I had cupcakes and donuts and corn dogs and a meatball sub and now I have itchies and my rosacea is angry. I will also have the digestive issues. I hate this. I’ve been debating with myself over whether I am actually allergic or whether I’m one of those bandwagon-jumpers. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good bandwagon, but this is real.

I think instead of going the wheat substitute route, I’m going to try to work up to a 60-70% raw diet (with room for beans and occasional wheat-free baked goods, of course.) I do actually really like fruit, so that should satisfy my taste buds. I should also give up sugar, but I think I will see if that evolves naturally as I go more raw with my eating.

Note that while I am an ethical vegan and don’t compromise on that, I am going more raw for health reasons and don’t plan to be all evangelical about it. Unless, of course, it truly makes me feel as awesome as people claim it will.