So I follow this blog written by a woman in California that has 4-year old triplets and a 1-year old singleton. She works part-time as an environmental compliance person for Exxon (I believe it's Exxon although she's never really said), has recently started home-schooling her kids, and is currently training for a marathon. Whenever I think that I can't conquer an almost 3-year old, I read this woman's blog and I know I can do anything. If nothing else, her posts are entertaining.
I couldn't help but copy a segment of one of her recent posts on here. She has a problem with her feet falling asleep while she's running. She's looked into tying her shoes "correctly", etc. She has recently gotten inserts that may help and then she will pursue nerve tests. Anyway, this part of her post is discussing her challenges with treadmills and her numb feet. I was laughing out loud and felt that I had to share. Enjoy!
I had only run on a treadmill two times, previously. The first time, I stumbled and inadvertently disconnected the magnetic safety piece that shuts the treadmill off. In doing so, the track came to an almost instant stop and I pitched forward and landed on my knees. The second time, I disconnected the magnetic safety piece five times and had to restart my run, losing all record of the total time, distance covered and calories burned.
Yesterday when I was running, I decided to not affix the leash for the magnetic safety piece to my body and instead, left it dangling over the back of the treadmill. Surely I wouldn't fall on the treadmill. And besides, I didn't want to run the risk of losing all my data should it become accidentally disconnected.
At some point around three miles, I could feel my feet start to go completely numb. And it seems that when your feet go numb on a treadmill you become a little unstable. I was about to slow my pace from 5.5 to 2.5 and step on to the side rails, when suddenly my numb feet which weren't being picked up high enough to take a step, snagged on the track.
If my magnetic safety piece had been intact, I would have just tripped and stopped.
But because the track was still moving at 5.5, I pitched forward before falling backwards and then was whipped off the treadmill. The rest is kind of a blur although I do remember seeing my feet at eye level as I flew through the air.
I landed on the ground with a THUD a solid seven feet behind the treadmill I had been on and the woman who was on the treadmill next to me, looked back with her mouth wide open and asked, "OH MY GOD! ARE YOU OK?!" The gym staff who were working in the glass enclosed office came running out and tried to help me up.
But I jumped up off the ground and feeling only slightly embarrassed quickly shot out, "OH YES! I'm sure I'm fine! I ... I ... I have a little problem with my feet. They like to take a nap whenever I run. But oh yeah, I'm totally good! I'm actually training for a marathon. And look at that, I made it three whole miles before getting hurled in to space!! WOO-HOO!!"
Webernj - Navigating the courses of life.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Friday, February 27, 2009
Childhood Carry-Overs
Do you ever do something or say something without thinking and then immediately catch yourself, knowing exactly where that came from? I've realized that several of my behaviors or responses to Katherine have come directly from childhood. Here are a few examples:
While driving to and fro, especially to the office in New Jersey, I instinctively play the "license plate game" in my head. It has amazed me how many people are driving through MD, DE, and NJ from other parts of the country. Some of this can probably be attributed to military personnel and their families, but I also wonder if people are driving more instead of flying because of the economy. Just this week (2 commuting days) I have seen cars from MD, DE, NJ, PA, VA, NY, MA, ME, VT, CT, NC, SC, FL, TN, CA, TX, WA, AK, OH, KY, SD, and LA. And why are there so many people from Quebec driving through this area?! Just yesterday, I saw no less than 15 cars from Quebec!
Trains - When I am stopped at a train crossing, I automatically start counting the number of cars on the train. Mom used to do this with me, probably so I'd be more patient with our delay.
Responses to Katherine - When we're getting ready to leave the house to go somewhere, we tell Katherine to go to the potty. Sometimes she says "but I don't have to go". My response is "TRY". (Thanks Dad) Sometimes Katherine asks "Why?" incessantly as most toddlers are known to do. After exhausting all of the real answers, I sometimes end up responding "Because I said so!" (Thanks Mom and Dad)
To this day, when I eat a ripe plum (one of my favorite summer-time treats!) I instinctively walk outside before biting into it. Apparently Mom used to send Scott and I outside to eat our plums so we wouldn't dribble the juice all over the house!
What habits do you attribute to your childhood?
While driving to and fro, especially to the office in New Jersey, I instinctively play the "license plate game" in my head. It has amazed me how many people are driving through MD, DE, and NJ from other parts of the country. Some of this can probably be attributed to military personnel and their families, but I also wonder if people are driving more instead of flying because of the economy. Just this week (2 commuting days) I have seen cars from MD, DE, NJ, PA, VA, NY, MA, ME, VT, CT, NC, SC, FL, TN, CA, TX, WA, AK, OH, KY, SD, and LA. And why are there so many people from Quebec driving through this area?! Just yesterday, I saw no less than 15 cars from Quebec!
Trains - When I am stopped at a train crossing, I automatically start counting the number of cars on the train. Mom used to do this with me, probably so I'd be more patient with our delay.
Responses to Katherine - When we're getting ready to leave the house to go somewhere, we tell Katherine to go to the potty. Sometimes she says "but I don't have to go". My response is "TRY". (Thanks Dad) Sometimes Katherine asks "Why?" incessantly as most toddlers are known to do. After exhausting all of the real answers, I sometimes end up responding "Because I said so!" (Thanks Mom and Dad)
To this day, when I eat a ripe plum (one of my favorite summer-time treats!) I instinctively walk outside before biting into it. Apparently Mom used to send Scott and I outside to eat our plums so we wouldn't dribble the juice all over the house!
What habits do you attribute to your childhood?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Florida Vacation
We took a vacation to Florida a few weeks ago to visit Aunt Jan and Uncle Paul. We were adventurous and decided to make a road trip of it. Rob C. was kind enough to let us crash at his place in Raleigh, NC on the way down and back up.
Jan and Paul showed us around Palm Coast, Flagler Beach, Ormond Beach, St. Augustine, and Daytona. We were lucky enough to see Right Whales migrating while we ate lunch one day. They were beautiful! It was great to visit with Jan and Paul, and great to relax for a while. We had a great time! We also enjoyed the semi-warm weather down south. (it was colder when we left NC for FL than when we set out on our adventure from MD!)
Katherine said that her favorite part was digging on the beach. (However, I think Daddy and Uncle Paul did most of the digging!) We can't wait to visit again!
Links
I added some links to the left side of the blog. One is for Victory Gardens and the other is for a blog about a family who is trying to live on $1500 for one year. I thought they would be of interest to everyone who may be trying to tighten their belt a little. ***The family living on $1500 a year has discontinued their blog for "personal reasons".
Snow
Katherine has enjoyed the snow we've had this year. She particularly enjoys "sleighing" (sledding) and "scraping" (shoveling). Her sledding involves us pulling her around the backyard in her sled. She's a pretty good scraper though! We're willing to hire her out to anyone that needs their snow cleared.
