Health...

Gene and I have begun to really try to improve our health. We are eating better, and really enjoying doing some cooking together. We are getting pretty good at whipping up stir fry.

I am now seriously training to walk the Portland Marathon. This month I am walking for 1 hour and 45 minutes on Saturday at a pretty quick pace; a slow walk on Sunday; 32 minutes on the recumbent bike and 20 minutes weight training on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and a 50 minute walk at a fast pace on Tuesday and Thursday. I am pretty consistant about doing it, which makes me feel good. Why thirty-two minutes on the recumbent bike, you ask - because on the display there are 16 bars, so it moves to the next bar every 2 minutes, rather than every 1 minute and 50 seconds or whatever. So maybe Sharna got some of her obsessive-compulsive tendencies from me.

I took the dogs with me Saturday before last. They did well, but the last 45 minutes, Nicki kept looking back at me as if to ask, "Are we almost finished Crazy Lady?" The looks were even more frequent and questioning after it started raining on us. I have decided to take them on the faster paced walks on Tuesday and Thursday, rather than the Saturday and Sunday walks, as I need to be able to focus more on Saturday and I walk too slow on Sunday.

I am looking forward to doing some hiking. I am planning to go up the Table Rocks this spring. This summer, when the Saturday walks are supposed to be 5-6 hours, I am going to plan some hikes such as the Fish Lake to Lake of the Woods (18 miles round trip), or around Diamond Lake (11 miles). It will be cooler up there and provide better scenery than walking the Greenway or around subdivisions. Of course I will try to make sure I am well prepared - don't want another Blue Lake Canyon incident (sorry Kylie).

Sharna has been extremely busy, and has not yet begun to train for our Portland Marathon. Of course she can get in shape quicker than I can, but the clock is ticking!

I went and visited Chase in January. It was great. He is doing well and seems happy. Unfortuneately, he seems to be calling me less and less since my visit. It is hard for him to be away, I think, and he typically avoids things that bother him. I am going to have to let him know that this is not cool. This summer and every summer I am going to go visit him. I am not going to let another 2-1/2 years go by. I am looking forward to being able to do some hiking with him.

I was reading a book by Larry Winget - Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get a Life, and he wrote something that really resonated with me. "Your health is a temporary condition. It is on a sliding scale. It can and will change in either direction." I had never really thought of it in those terms. I always knew I could do more to improve my health, but had not really looked at the flip side - that if I did nothing, it would, most definitely decline. Everything good in life is better if I feel healthy and strong - and if I feel sick and listless, even the greatest things are not going to bring me much joy.