Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Breathe

People drown because they freak out because they are drowning.  It's a natural response to drowning, but it's the worst one.  Relaxing and breathing sounds like yoga class, but they are the two most important skills to have to be able to swim and not drown.

A couple of weeks ago I got talked into swimming with a co-worker.  She's a real swimmer.  Swam for UCLA.  Thinks swimming is fun and she is endlessly cheerful and helpful about swimming.

I used to love swimming (my family is reading this and thinks of me as the 12 year who swam endless, easy laps) and I was good at it.  But seriously, that was more than twenty years ago.  I was pretty terrified to try swimming laps.  Half a mile of side stroke and breast stroke later, I grinned and agreed that heck yeah, let's do a triathalon!  So now I am committed to improving my swimming.  I knew that I needed to swim freestyle, but I was terrified.  My brain and body would just seize up.  And like someone on a bike after an accident, I knew that I first needed to relax and breathe.  So I have been doing easy laps and doing some relaxation exercises that I found on the internet - literally just blowing bubbles and practicing sinking in the pool.  This morning I went to the pool before work and after my sinking exercises, I warmed up with the breaststroke.

I pushed off from the wall for the 4th or 5th time and as I glided out blowing bubbles over the line at the bottom of the pool, I felt empowered gliding through the water and I felt the incredible feeling of being relaxed in an environment that won't allow me to breathe in.  And instead of bringing both hands out to cut through the water for a breast stroke I felt my right arm cut down and up in a crawl and my left arm came up in a crawl.  And when I came up on the side for air, I was smiling.  And when I got to the other side of the pool I was grinning.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Auntie Lea





Photo: IMG_3383

I'm in love and his name is Max!

I really was not prepared for how much I would immediately love him.  Parenthood is like that.  They hand you the baby after child birth and immediately you are overwhelmed with love and the desire to protect and nurture.  This was really similar for me.

When I figured out I was going to be in Chicago I immediately calculated how old he would be on my visit.  I think four months is my favorite baby age.  He was smiley and interacted with me and let me love up his perfect toes and fingers.  He is really beautiful with his huge eyes and beautiful smile.  He smells wonderful and his skin is soft and smooth.

I grew up with lots of aunts, uncles and cousins.  My parents both came from large families where nearly everyone got married and had more than one kid.  My children have a very different experience of family.  And I have been niece-less and nephew-less.  Until Max.

I think this is like grandparenthood a bit.  I get to love him up and think of him and buy him things and send him mail and I don't have to pay for him or change him or take care of him when he is screaming.  This works out well for me.  I am older and my kids will be adults soon, so it's not as if I am a mother-figure to him.  So that also lets me be the slightly crazy, eccentric aunt.  I'm aiming for an Auntie Mame persona.

Aw, Max.  I love you, man.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Warrior Dash








I am a big believer that it is important to challenge yourself and try new things.  As I move into my 40s I realize that I have some physical limitations (One of my attempts to get back into shape included basketball - hey, Lea, you used to like playing basketball, why not play basketball now? Except all I could think about when I was playing is that 41 year old knees really aren't meant to move laterally so much and then I realized that basketball players who use terms like "lateral movement" probably should not be playing.).

I love fitness classes that have a boot camp style - push ups, cardio, burpees, cardio, and I like the funny games that trainers come up with to keep people motivated (and I know this annoys some people, but I like it).  I've been running again and I've been lifting weights, which is new for me.  In some ways I am in better shape than when I was running marathons because I am regularly lifting weights.  And when I heard about the Warrior Dash - 5k (good, short distance) with obstacles, I knew I had found a race.

The running portion was actually pretty rigorous - hills and heat sapped my energy, but when we started getting to the obstacles I felt invigorated.  I pulled myself up a wall with a rope and climbed down the ladder on the other side.  I ran through tires and crawled under barbed wire.  I jumped over fire and yes, I swam through mud.  I don't think I have ever had this much fun in a race.

A couple of practical pointers (these races are becoming really popular, so you may be thinking about competing in one or supporting someone who is) - I think upper body strength is essential for these races.  I did not have any problem with the obstacles strength wise with the exception of the walls that we had to boost ourselves over with arms only (but I did them all on the first try!) but I was pushing myself to my limit as far as my upper body strength goes.  As I was getting ready for the race I was most freaked out by the prospect of the ropes and the fire, but the rope obstacles were fun and you could use your legs on the walls as you were going up.  I was not prepared for how scared I would be when I had to turn around at the top of the wall and go down the other side.  I've never done anything like that before and I was pretty freaked out (but I did it!).  Jumping over fire turned out to be nothing but awesome.

And for spectators - don't go.  Seriously.  If you're not competing just stay home and wish your warrior well and grill them a dead animal when they get home.  Bill, Mary and Frank went with me and we all regretted it.  We were not prepared for the rock festival like atmosphere ("I feel like we're at Lollapalooza!") - parking is a nightmare, it's hot (90 degrees in our case), drinks and food are expensive, there is nowhere to sit, there is little shade, and you can't see the race but for the start and finish.  (This is all specific to the race we went to, but I would guess it is similar at others.)  I was having serious second thoughts about the whole thing until I actually raced and then I had an absolutely fantastic time and can't wait to do this again.  But I will leave my family at home.)