As I have written before, our family has been embarking on the adventure of Truck Camping. We have taken the camper overnight a few times now and have really enjoyed it. That is my husband (A), my youngest daughter (N) and I have really enjoyed it, but this weekend my oldest daughter (S) expressed how much she really did not enjoy it. Which in turn ruined the whole trip for the rest of us. The weekend went something like this: We got up to the ski area on Friday afternoon, there was no school, and A had the day off from work so why not go skiing? The sun was shining, we had visitors, uncle A & Aunt A with Baby O came to visit and we had a great time, the mountain was empty we zoomed into each chair lift it was great. After our visitors left we made a yummy dinner, took some night time runs and went to the lodge for a little after dinner drink and got to watch some ski racing on our walk home across the ski slopes. It really was a great way to spend an evening and a weekend. We all went to bed and fell asleep quickly because we had a busy day. Although, S did express a concern that she does not care to sleep in the camper, its not the same as at home, she is sharing a bed with her sister, etc, etc. The usual complaints from a 9 year old that is not interested in trying something new, she still fell asleep quickly and got up happy. On Saturday, we woke up at a reasonable time, had our breakfast in the camper, the girls played in the snow and took a run before the lessons. I relaxed, did the dishes and had some tea before I headed out to the slopes, so civilized!

After a long day of skiing with cousins and friends we all ended up in the camper, it was a great day, we all enjoyed the sun and snow, but by the end we were all tired. Our plan was to rest and then go to the Ski Patrol Spaghetti Feed, see the girls instructors, socialize with other camper folks, come back to the camper get into our pj’s and snuggle up and watch a movie. Well, S had some other plans, after we had told her we wanted her to stay with us, she continually asked to go home with her cousins, and although it really would have been okay, we really just wanted to have a family night together. So, instead of having a fun family bonding night we had a cry, fight, yelling night that eventually ended up with everyone angry and upset and the family going home early (all because we wanted to spend more time together… how ironic!).  In her defense, I will admit that my parenting skills were not the best in the moment, I am trying to relive the experience and figure out what I could have done differently, I know that I did try to start with a calm voice and explain how much we wanted her to stay with us, but she wouldn’t give up. She was tired and hungry and she was mad. She was angry and she was not going to move or budge on her stance. So, the yelling and fighting continued – which didn’t really work. In the end, we were all so angry and mad and frustrated, we just packed up and went home. A very quiet and tense ride home. S ended up being grounded, no play dates, no screens, nothing for a week. Now we are working on our listening skills, when we say No that means NO. How hard is that to accept. The next day, S missed out on a playing with her friends, which may have helped her realize we were serious. We have never grounded her before and no screen time for a week is really going to be tough on everyone, but hopefully, it will help her to remember that throwing a fit and fighting with the parents is not the way to go.  We will see how the week goes, hoping for the best. Until next time.

My family and I have recently discovered the joys of Winter Camping. I will admit Winter Camping will not be for everyone. My husband and I are avid skiers, he enjoys a lot of the back country and touring ski trips, while I have tried this a few times I am still learning, but I do love and enjoy skiing inbounds at the wonderful ski areas here in the Northwest, specifically Snoqualmie Pass and Alpental.

This fall we made a huge leap and purchased a Ford F350 Truck and with it a Wolf Creek 850 Truck Camper (the camper that sits in the bed of the truck, see below for a photo of the set up). This little camper is just about 105 square feet inside, it sleeps four people fairly comfortably and could possibly push it to five people, although the top bunk only holds 125 pounds, so that spot is reserved for small people. So far it has just been our family sleeping in it, 2 adults and our 2 girls (ages 6 and 9). And yes it is cozy, but what we have also found is that it forces us to get out in nature even if its snowing and blowing, we bundle up and hit the slopes or take a walk in the snow or do some sledding outside the back of the camper.

This small space living is also helping us in other ways too, we are ALL learning to use our words, so that we don’t get on each others nerves, telling people what we need instead of screaming (since we are in a small space, that would be a bit too loud), we are learning that everything needs a spot, since space is tight we need to put our clothes back in our bags or closets and we need to do the dishes after we are done and clean up our messes quickly. These are all great rules and should really be translated in our real home too, but for some reason its not as easy or natural at home.

Although we have only explored a few ski areas specifically Alpental at Snoqulamie Pass which does not have RV power (so your RV or camper would have to be self sufficient), we are looking forward to exploring the camping areas near Stevens Pass and Crystal Mountain. Both of which have hooks ups on a first come first serve basis (with the exception of certain holidays where you can reserve your spots).

The idea of camping in the snow and rain might not be for everyone, but it is something different and with our beautiful and wet Northwest winters you could stay inside all season long if you wait for the perfect day to get out or you could bundle up, put on your coat and hat and get out there enjoy nature as it comes to you rain, wind, snow and all.

Over the last month or so I have been experimenting with going gluten free (GF). It started because I wasn’t feeling well. I had a lot going on in my belly. I felt sick a lot after eating (usually I just thought I had too much), I also had symptoms of what I thought was the start of a YI (sorry for the gory details, but it might be helpful to others out there with similar problems). In any case, in one of the articles I read it said to cut down on wheat and sugar, so I gave it a try and the symptoms went away! Wow! I thought – I really am in charge of my own body!

After a month of this, although I have not been super strict, when I am eating GF, my belly feels better, I have more energy and I feel better overall. Fast forward to tonight, and I take my girls out to sushi since the husband is out for the night.  We order like usual and when we were getting ready to leave I felt full but not great, once we got home it hit me, I started having the same belly trouble as before. But I thought I was in the clear with the rice? Not the case, after googling “is there gluten in rice” (I do love the internet) I found out that apparently a lot of Japanese restaurants make their rice with a grain-based vinegar. Who knew? Probably a lot of people, but not me.

I also found out with this research that some of the other problems I was having (specifically, joint pain and numbness in extremities) might also be a result of a gluten intolerance. Which is really great to learn since I went to my doctor complaining about numbness and joint pain, she took some tests and basically said nothing was wrong. I figured I was just a hypochondriac. I do realized that  I still have more research to do, these issues I am having could be completely unrelated to gluten, but I will be interested in getting more specific testing and I should probably talk to real a doctor not just the internet doctors.

Bottom line, I realized that it is vital as I am getting older that I really need to focus on my eating habits and figure out what makes me feel good and what does not. I will say that I very am fortunate that my problems are really not big problems at all, these are just things I am discovering and learning in order to help me feel better.  I am also happy I don’t have a life threatening nut allergy like other folks, namely my daughter – whose allergy is probably not life threatening, but is certainly something we are cautious of. Now we will be the nut free/gluten free table – I admit its high maintenance and a bit annoying, but we’ll do what we need to do to feel good and I will be flexible when necessary and deal with the consequences when they come. I will also be doing more research and experimenting to see what comes up. I know this might be TMI for some people, so I apologize for that, but this is a new topic for me so we will see where it takes me. More on this until next time.

This blog post was started back in September, and finished after the race in October.

Marathon #3 – A major. Not sure how major it will be for me. Training is slow, but I am feeling good. I ran 14.70 miles on Sunday, stretched and took a cool shower to semi-ice the legs and overall I am good, the soreness is not as bad anymore.

Why a major everyone asks, why Chicago? I have decided that marathons are really just a good way to see new cities. We get an excuse to travel and have a weekend away, and then we feel great because we completed a major accomplishment. My goal is to beat my last marathon time, I would love to get between 4:20-4:30 but as I have realized on my long runs, I take breaks and my pace slows after about mile 10, so this is something I need to work on.  I am continuing the training and will run my only long run of 20 miles in 2 weeks, then start tapering. Only about 4 weeks until the race. Here we go!

Well, here I am a week after the race. I got in all my long runs, got through all the training, but in the end, no PR, but definitely a marathon that will go down as one of my favorites. The city of Chicago is awesome, so much to see and learn and wonderful food to eat. The race itself was super packed. There were a total of 45,000 runners registered for the race, which means there is no stretching out, there are no long open spots, its people, people and then some more people all around you. Which is really fun, the energy is high and the support was amazing, people on every corner lined up 3-4 lines deep. But because of all this support, so much to see, lots of water to drink, and lots of potty stops. That’s my main problem on the marathon distance runs, I see the stop every 2-3 miles and well, if I have to go I usually stop. Luckily, I felt great the whole time I was running, sure my back ached and my feet were tired but I  did not kill myself, I felt like I could keep going, I had energy left in my tank to pick up the speed at the end and run that first, last and final hill that they place the finish line on top of.

Overall, the race was a lot of fun and even though I had my pre-race jitters (as I  always do) and I although during training and while I was getting up at 5am to get ready, I thought maybe this would be my last race, when I finally got running I had a great time and I also realized I am not giving up marathons.  I will do more, but I think one a year is probably a good number for me.

In the end my time was not in that 4:20-4:30 range, but actually ended up being 4:51, which is not horrible, but its not a PR and with the course the way it is, nice and flat, it would be a race you could do quickly if you didn’t stop. I imagine the guy that won the race, in 2:05 didn’t stop to pee.

The idea of running a 50k was never something that I ever thought I would do. Running a marathon had always been on my bucket list, but I guess after running two marathons and getting ready for the third this coming October, I felt like I was ready to start a new adventure. Also, my friend Sabrina (she also tweeted from the race!) wanted to run 30 miles during her 30th year. So, when my husband signed up for Evergreen Trail Runs, Soaring Eagle 50k, we said, “heck, we can do that!”, we have run marathons before, no sweat! You can walk up the hills, you can walk a lot. You get pizza and soup at the rest stops. I admit I was a bit relaxed about, I did also prepare myself for being dead last or not finishing. We figured all we needed to do was keep a 17 minute pace and we would finish before the course was closed up. I really did think it was all mental, and I still do think going the distance is all mental. We knew we could finish the distance, it would just take positive attitude and mental focus and a lot of time. What we didn’t think about was our pace and how it changes over 10, 15, 20 miles. When you are not fully trained for a race like this (which we were not – my average was about 15 miles A WEEK – not enough to keep up the pace), your pace seems to slow way down and that walking starts to sound better and better all the time. Not to mention the concern for running all over the branches and roots sticking out. As you get closer to the finish, you get a lot more clumsy.

After about 6 hours of run/walking, when we came in for our second 10 mile lap (just finishing 21 miles – we did a 1 mile loop at the start so finishers got the complete 31.1m or 50k distance), the race director kindly let us know we were moving way to slow to actually finish in time for the race volunteers to pack up the flags on time. But, luckily if we really started moving we could have finished the last 5 miles to finish the 26.2 marathon race, instead of getting a DNF (did not finish) next to our name. We contemplated this and headed out to start our last 5 miles and as our legs felt like lead and we finished our energy drinks we realized we might be okay with the DNF, stretching out in the sunshine and just relaxing after a long 6 hour/21 mile hike/run/walk. That seemed like enough for the day, we weren’t sprinting off the line to get those last 5 miles in and we felt our bodies would thank us if we just called it a day. So that is what we did. It is not my favorite to get a DNF next to my name, but I was not the only one that did not finish and 21 miles is really nothing to sneeze at. Running through the woods and on the trails was a lovely way to spend a gorgeous, sunny, Northwest day. I truly admire all those that finished the race, including my awesome husband! Now, I have to debate whether I want to try this ultra marathon distance again. I do think I will, I will make sure that I get A LOT more training in and really focus on picking up my pace so that I can finish with the flags still up!

At the end of yoga this morning the instructor played The Beatles Let It Be. It was the perfect end to yoga and I felt the perfect start to my day. This week has been pretty stressful, I won’t go into the details, but I will say I am happy for my health, family and those around me. I will be thinking continual good thoughts for more health, happiness, family and love. I have a lot to be thankful for and a lot of life to live. My mind today is going to be focused on the future and I plan to take what comes to me and let it be. I will deal with it when it comes and no matter how dark or bright, my goal will to be present where I am at and just let it be.

I decided that February 11th is the day this cleanse is going to end. I have been pretty vigilant about sticking to it. Only a sip or two of wine (not one full glass), maybe a bite of birthday cake to celebrate my friend’s 30th birthday and the occasional slip up of a white flour or sugar snack during some mindless eating during the Superbowl or while tailgating on ski days. But when a friend asked to go out for a night on the town, February 11th was the day she suggested, I felt since I was just shy of 4 days of making it a full month, that was a good ending point. What I have learned with this little exercise is that, for me, it is important to be conscience of what I am putting in my mouth – so by eliminating types of foods, etc. I try to really think about what I am eating. I also have realized that some types of foods are not settling with me as well others. Next on my list is to investigate nutritionists and see what types of food are right for me. I am a little nervous about not having ANY rules attached to my eating, drinking and other behaviours, but in the same sense having a ton of rules is not always the best way to move through life. My new way of thinking is to try to take everything in moderation and to be conscience of what I put in my body and how it makes me feel. These are not super bold ideas, but for me it will help me to stay in control and feel good for the most part. I figure if I can be good 80% of the time 20% of the time I can let loose and not really feel deprived. It’s really just about learning what works for me, at 37 I am not getting any younger, it is really time to figure out what makes my body work right and how I can get the most energy out of each day. Sadly, my goal of de-cluttering each day did not make it either. It didn’t really make it past day one of the program. Again, when there are too many rules it is really tough to stick to them all. As a mother of 2 young girls, working every day, after school activities and just the general every day life stuff, adding another project into each day I realized I didn’t have time, not even 10 minutes for the de-cluttering projects. It is not lost or forgotten though. It will be revived, every week I do try to make a trip to Goodwill and once the after school activities and weekend ski lessons calm down we will have more time to pick up other projects. Overall, I think I did okay. I kept with the important goal and I am learning a lot about myself, which is helpful. Again, at my age I should be figuring out what works for me and what doesn’t. And now I can move on to other topics for my blog :-). For those that are just coming into the middle of this train of thought, here is a recap of my self made cleansing program.  Thanks for reading and letting me open up my head to the world…

Until Next Time — kg