Flood!!

2024 Christmas lights

If you pay attention to national news, I'm told we were on it.  Last week we had record breaking floods here in western WA, and my house sits in a 100 year flood zone.  That means that the area in question floods about every 100 years.  The last major flood, that didn't affect my house was in 2021 (a year before I moved) and the last record breaking flood was in 1990, before my house was even built.  The river, Skagit River, has had a dike system for a long, long time, which has been very affective at holding the river back.  

Last week they were predicting the river to get to 42 feet deep. Action stage is 23 feet, minor stage is 28, moderate is 30 and major starts at 32 feet.  Last week I was under the impression that the dikes only held up to 37 feet, so I was a little freaked out. Especially since everyone was saying that once the dikes are breached, they are more likely to completely fail.  The river was supposed to crest at 4am on Friday morning. 

They sent out emergency alerts, culminating in Wednesday a "get out now" alert.  However, I knew that the worst wasn't supposed to happen until early Friday morning, so we decided to stay.  Plus, our house is built with the main floor on the second floor.  The downstairs was originally a large garage, but someone had renovated it to be half living space.  Which is where Damian and Asher live.

Thursday they lowered the peak of the river to 38 feet (better than 42) and that evening Damian went down to the boat launch and saw some "official" looking workers there.  So he asked them what they thought and they told them the dikes hold up to 40 feet and since they had lowered the peak to 38 we should be fine.  I was a lot less worried then and went to bed safe in the knowledge that the river would be held back. 

4am Friday morning, Chris is yelling at me to get up.  Apparently National Guard had come to the door and told him that the house was flooding and if we wanted to get out, we needed to now.  At that time, the water was up to their shins.  By the time I was awake enough to figure out what was happening and had changed and grabbed my bag (yes, we packed for just in case) and was taking it to my car, the water was higher.  I moved my car and started yelling at Chris and Damian to move theirs as they are much smaller than mine, and I can't afford to buy new cars. We got them all up the driveway a little, so they were out of the water and I kept wading back and forth taking things to the car . . . I forgot to mention, I was barefoot.  My feet were frozen, and I was walking on gravel.  It hurt.

By the time we all got in our cars, the water was above my knees.  We went, parade style, through town and I messaged my sister and her husband saying we were on our way.  Yes, I had talked to my sister prior, yes, she was aware it was a possibility.

This was my panic first picture

The dog park under water

As we were leaving, Maddox snapped a picture.

I wish I had taken a picture inside.  I was helping Damian grab stuff in his area, and the water was bubbling in.  It was definitely surreal.  When we left, the water was inches deep inside, the water got up to about a foot deep inside according to water marks when we got back.  

I was glued to facebook and the news all day Friday.  I wanted to see how bad it was.  I actually wish we had stayed, we could have saved more of Damian's stuff and I could have seen how bad it got.  We definitely needed to move our cars, but we could have parked them at the dog park.  Of course at the time we didn't know how deep it would get, and it did get to the street, but it didn't get deep that far up the driveway.  

I got a message from our neighbor at about 2pm showing that the waters had already receded a lot. 

Damian and I wanted to go home to check it out, so we went up and found that the water inside was mostly gone.  We set up some fans and left.  We ended up going home on Saturday and spent the rest of the weekend emptying out Damian's area.  I'm rather scared of the garage, that has a lot more stuff and we haven't even touched it yet.  The power is mostly not working downstairs and we're not sure what happened.  There were a lot of extension cords plugged in, I tried to get as many as I could unplugged and up, but I know I missed a few, and didn't even think about unplugging things in the garage.  I don't know if my treadmill works, I know the fridge and freezer keep turning off the GFCI outlet they are plugged into.  

Here's a few of the pictures I took of the inside after the water went down.

And the stuff we drug out of the house and had to figure out what to do with.

Poor Damian is stuck sleeping upstairs for now.

Turns out that the river didn't flood us. It was the slough (pronounced slew) that is right behind our house.  Almost everyone that lives along the slough was underwater, some worse than others.  We were not nearly as bad as some.  I have a coworker whose parents live in a completely different area that lost everything.  

These are some pictures from the news of my neighborhood.  This area is a few blocks away, I run by it all the time.  There is actually a road there in between the two houses, it's underwater. The press pretty much set up camp on the road that is not underwater.  There were so many reports from that area on Friday.  They also did a follow up on the family that lives in that house with the giant skeleton.  On Friday they had a 10 day old baby (well, they still have the baby, it's just not 10 days old anymore).  The water got up to 3 feet inside their house.

This is looking right at the slough, it has to be after the water was already going down.  Our house is not very far beyond those trees in the background.

I wrote this paragraph a week or more ago and never finished the post. I decided to include it, just to finish up the saga of the move with my sisters.  

My sisters finally swapped houses.  What a crazy ride that was!  It is very sad though, with the way my oldest sister is (and her boyfriend) I will never step foot on my parent's property again.  I did make (sorta) peace with it, and went over there at the end of summer to say goodbye.  I will say that I think emptying a house and then selling it, is way better than this crap that we've been going through for 4 years.  Even though it would be strangers living in the house, at least I could pretend that it was taken care of.  I cannot even pretend that my childhood home won't become a hoarders house, because it already is.

  

Happy Thanksgiving?

 After 6 posts in October, I have only had one post in November before this.

There has been some extremely crazy things going on with my family.  It is sooooo much drama that if I said everything, you'd think I was making it up. I'm going to sum it up, so I can come back eventually and read it.  

As you know, if you've been reading this for awhile, my parents are both gone.  My dad died 4 years ago, and at that point my oldest sister (OS) lived in, and had lived in a farm owned house in a small town named Hatton.  My youngest sister (YS) was living in a farm owned house and moved into my parents' house (which is also farm owned).  My dad, at the time of his death, was in charge of all things farm related.  Prior to that my uncle, who lived on the farm and died the same year as my Mom (2018), was the one in charge, he was the oldest sibling.  My family was/is strongly patriarchal, and women know nothing.

Anyway, when my dad died, my other uncle, who is the youngest male sibling, but second from the bottom (6 siblings, 3 males, 3 women), took over farm management, even though he lives in Portland, OR and has never had a lot to do with the farm.  (I have one uncle and 2 aunts still living, both my aunts are not really competent.)  My uncle wanted to start offloading property on the farm, since it is completely leased out now and not farmed by family anymore.  The plan is to sell the farm slowly to the family that is leasing the land.  Some of the property he wanted to sell is the house my parents lived in (now YS) and the house in Hatton that OS lives in.

OS decided to buy my parents' house where YS lives, and YS decided to buy the house OS lives in.  Those sales were finalized in September and October, with a "switch" date of Oct. 25th.  OS has postponed the move every weekend and Nov. 11 (Veteran's day), until yesterday when it got even more crazy.  OS said on Sunday that the move will have to be completed on Wednesday (yesterday) so YS went over to finish the move, and OS refused to answer the door.  At 7:30pm OS's boyfriend, who is very, very fit and around 6' tall, answered the door and pushed into YS's space, causing YS to put her hand up and boyfriend kept moving forward into YS's hand, and then told her to stop touching him.  

The police were called and OS and boyfriend claimed YS tried to break in to the house, and "put hands on" boyfriend. *By the way, small town county sheriffs (the town is so small it doesn't have a police force of it's own) are men who will believe another man, even though he is the aggressor.*  

OS has contacted Uncle multiple times, and then messaged YS's ex-husband, who lives in N. Carolina, they've been divorced at least 5 years.  It's crazy.  Oh, and YS has all the proof that OS is at fault for all the delays and aggressive behaviors (text messages and witnesses), but OS is blaming YS for all of it.  I can't even say how horrible it all is.  

This has been ongoing all of November, and is mind boggling.

 Anyway, on to happier news.  As of this week I've lost just over 11 lbs. Well, 12 if you count the naked weigh-in I did, or the one after my run.  But I always weigh in with my pjs on (shorts and a tshirt only, which add a pound) and I never count my after run weight, because that's just water that I've lost while running.  I was stuck around the 170 mark for about 3 weeks, and then last week I lost a couple more lbs and haven't seen the 170s since.  

I'd say the pills are working.  I am happy with it a lot.  I really think the trick is to keep up with the exercise while taking the pills.  I'm hoping when I stop taking them, I can maintain my weight with the exercise and food.

Although, my running has not gotten back to the "glory" of early October when I was running 4 (sometimes 3) days a week.  The last 2 weeks I've only ran 2 days, I currently have a hard time pushing myself to go run in the rain and the dark, and we have entered the dark, rainy days of western Washington.  (Did you know that they call it the "big dark" here?  I just heard it this year, and it cracks me up. But seriously, the sun rises right now just after 7:30pm and goes down before 4:30pm.  By Dec. 21st the sun will rise at about 8am and set about 4:20pm which is about 8 hours and 25 min of daylight.)  If I run everyday on this long weekend, I will get to 37 miles, October had 38 miles.  I wanted more, but when you're lazy, you really don't get more miles.

Maddox started swim team last week.  All of his swim team stuff is at the YMCA in Mount Vernon, I went for a run one day outside last week while he was there. which was okay, but the Y is in an area of town where going one way (my preferred way) is up a big hill, and going the other way is a gradual uphill on a really busy street.  There aren't great running routes, so I only did it once.  I did pay to use the treadmill another day, but that was horrible.  After only getting to 2 miles I decided I was done, but then ran on the indoor track for another mile.  The indoor track was better, but definitely would get boring if I did it all the time. Plus, it would get expensive to pay for it all the time.  $20 for about a half hour of running.  Definitely not worth it when I have a treadmill at home and can run outside.  (By the way, Maddox is such a natural swimmer, also 5 or 6 years of swim lessons helps.)

Sunday's run

I am doing good with yoga/pilates.  Nancy started going back to work when the gov't shutdown ended, but we have figured out how to continue doing it at 8am for 2 days, which means I only have 2 days of getting up and doing it around 6am, which has been my biggest struggle.  And, honestly, the 2 6am days are my fault.  I have 2 clients that I see at 8am on Mondays and Fridays.  Everyone I talk to says that pilates is excellent for you, and I agree.  If you're ever looking for someone to follow, BeachYogaGirl is amazing.  She has been doing it for a long time, but really took off during COVID (that's when Nancy and I subscribed to her and started doing it).  I followed her on instagram for a couple years before subscribing.  

Well, it's 11pm Thanksgiving night, and it really is time to go to bed.  I am watching Asher tomorrow, and he will be up at 630, so no sleeping in for me even though I stayed up late.  We went to Nancy's house for Thanksgiving dinner and it was really good.  I enjoyed visiting with her and her family.  Her stepson has a new girlfriend (he's in his 30s) and she was really nice.  I only see him about once a year, usually on Thanksgiving, but not always.  He's a good guy (I suppose I can't call him a kid anymore, since he's mid-30s or so.) (I'm so old!!)

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving (in the US).  Tomorrow Christmas starts!  😉

A little of everything

This first part of the post is super weird and maybe confusing, so I'm editing to make it read a little better.   

Running Routes:

At the end of 2014 we lost our home.  We bought our house in 2007 just before the economy tanked, actually, it was probably at the same time, but we didn't feel it right away.  (Wikipedia says it started late 2007, right when we bought our house.) Anyway, our house ended up being foreclosed in 2014 because we couldn't make the payments and got so far behind and the banks wouldn't work with us.  You can read about it here.

Anyway, the house we moved into we were only there for 6 months, which was really sad because we loved that house.  In my old posts, I talked initially about how much I loved the new area to run in, but then I found a post only 4 months after moving that talked about running in Burlington and how already sick of it.  Our current house was bought 3 years ago, and is about a mile and a half from where we used to live (which is now giant, low quality apartments, unlike the lovely old farmhouse we lived in).  

The "new trail" I found in 2015 is the dike along the river, and I have run it so many times now.  The roads I ran and were so new to me, are now part of my weekly running.  I can't seem to find a route that I love, that I don't dread doing when I go out.  I ran the same routes, or similar variations of them, for about 10 years in Mt. Vernon.  I loved those routes, I loved the houses, I loved running by them every season to see the changes.  In fact, I love them so much, now that I work in Mt. Vernon, only about a mile from my old house, I am back to running those routes when I can during lunch or after work.  

I truly think not liking where I run in Burlington is one of the biggest reasons I have been unmotivated to go run now.  My fitness has tanked so much.  It did start while I still lived in Mt. Vernon, in March of 2022 I only ran 33 miles (I moved in August), but it definitely hasn't helped me get in a groove again with my running.  

I realize that it may be hard to visualize how close Burlington and Mt. Vernon are, so I took a screenshot of the map and labeled them.  The only dividing factor between the two is the river.

Struggle bus:

I really struggle with motivation, although I'm not that crazy about that word.  I've written about motivation vs. determination, but I can't see to find the post, the first time I thought about it was in reading Runs for Cookies post about it.  I am not motivated, and I am definitely not determined right now.  It was a really nice day yesterday, it is supposed to rain the rest of the week.  I had time to go for a run.  I did not go.  I did run 4 miles on Sunday, which was a nice run, I did not run on Saturday.  I don't know if not liking my routes in Burlington is the reason I don't want to run. I was going to run in Mt. Vernon, which is where I enjoy my routes, but I still didn't go.

My last post talked about my stalling weight loss.  Well, not long after that post, I lost a little.  I am officially out of the 170s (again), although, just barely.  I am happy about that, I do wish it was faster.  The weight loss pills are supposed to be the magic pill, right?  I'm supposed to be at goal already. Afterall, I started them 2 months ago.  

The thing is, I've noticed, the pills are not the magic solution.  I still have to work on it.  I still have to be mindful of what I'm eating when I eat.  I still have to be active.  I am definitely eating better.  I am definitely not hungry hardly ever.  I am getting lots of protein, but I should work on vegetables, I am not eating many carbs, at least not like I was.  I have definitely cut back on snacking in the evenings.  I had gotten pretty bad about the chips in the evening.  For now, this combination of eating, the pills, and my sporadic exercise is doing good-ish.

Speaking of exercise, my sister works for the US government, and has I'm sure you know, they are currently shutdown and she is on furlough.  I have really enjoyed her being on furlough, because it means we can do pilates later in the morning.  I am not forcing myself out of bed at 6am to do it (which I was pretty unsuccessful at over the summer).  Now I am doing it at 8am.  I do it in my office at work because I take Maddox to school (can you believe he's in high school????) at 730, and I am at my office right before 8, but don't actually start work until 830.  So if we can avoid talking too much, we can get a workout in before 830.  We often go over, but it is not a big deal for me to start a few min late, my job is very flexible with the hours, although they really want us working when the doors are open.  

She is expecting to be back at work next week (I don't talk about politics here, but I am very unhappy with that, and not because of pilates).  (I don't know why I don't talk about politics, I guess I figure this is "supposed" to be about running and weight loss, so I don't.  I am very anti-Trump and all that he stands for. If you don't like it, that's fine.)  Anyway, I don't know how I will do with pilates at 6am again.  I was really, really struggling over the summer with it. (I know the gov't has only been shutdown for 40 something days, but Nancy was in Hawaii for a couple weeks before that, and I think Mexico before that.)  Her going back to work means I will have to get out of bed "on time" to do pilates with her.  I was really, really struggling with that.  Randomly pulling up a month, July, I only did 3 days of yoga or pilates for the entire month.  That's worse than my running.  I really need to figure out the waking up part of it.

Just a comparison of Maddox from start of this blog to now.

If we're doing comparisons . . . here's Damian

Weirdly, Damian's "before" picture is the same age as Maddox's "after" picture.  I've been blogging (and running) for almost 14 years, almost Maddox's entire life.

We've been doing these pictures since Maddox was born, maybe 2012 (the first picture below) was the first because he was only 4 months old in 2011. 

Well, this post ended up going all over the place. 

Happy Halloween

 I have never been much of a Halloween lover (if you are, please don't judge me).  I always hated that my birthday was in October, I wanted it in the spring.  But Maddox told me a few years ago it was his favorite holiday, so I bought a bunch of decorations for him.  He put up none of them this year, and I was too lazy to do it.  Plus, I kept thinking Halloween was a long ways out, it's not, it's today.  I will likely go trick or treating with Asher and Damian, with Maddox tagging along.  He's going to be a character from the video game Fall Guys.  

Working with kids, I've heard a lot of video game characters as Halloween costumes this year, most of which I don't know.

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I don't think I mentioned it, but I was looking at half marathons again a month or so ago, and found one in the Tri-Cities at the end of February.  That is where I ran my 2 marathons, and is close to where I grew up in eastern WA.  Anyway, this one goes past a winery that I really like (well, I've never been to the winery, just like their wines) and I thought that would be fun.  Chris could sit at the winery and then I could "steal" a drink from him as I ran by.  

Anyway, the training plan I was looking at was supposed to start this week . . . and of course I've run less the last two week than I have all month.  In fact, last week I only ran 3 miles, just one run.  This week I've run twice (both 3 miles).  Even with these last 2 weeks of low mileage, I have run more this month than I have since April.  If I had run my normal amount last week and this week, I would have been pushing 50 miles, which is the most I've run in a long time, October 2022 I ran 66 miles, after that it's been very few.  October 2024 I ran 9 miles, yes, 9 miles for the whole month.  I have definitely been in a running funk for a long time. Interestingly, October 2022 was the last month I did my run streak, but even before that, I wasn't running a lot, maybe it was every day, but it was often only 1 mile.  In February 2022 I ran more than 1 mile 5 days a week, March I ran only 1 time more than 1 mile, that month I got 33 miles.  

I don't know what shifted at that time. My Dad died in October of 2021, but maybe that was accumulated stress from going through my parents house and stuff.  

Back to the half marathon, this happened at the beginning of the summer, right when I was supposed to start training for the half marathon I had decided on this fall, I quit running as much.  Maybe I just need to not decide on a half marathon and just run.  

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The weight loss pills I am taking . . . in about 4 weeks, I lost 8 lbs.  🎉 I noticed my appetite went down, I am not snacking at night, in fact, there have been some nights where I am short of my protein goal, and I have to force myself to eat something to get to 100g of protein.  I am hitting 100g (or more) every day, with supplements, I have found a good brand of protein bars (Pure Protein, 20g per bar) and a good collogen/protein powder (Vital Proteins, also 20g per serving) and a good whey protein powder that tastes just like lemonade (Myprotein Clear Whey Protein Powder, another 20g).  If I do all that every day, I'm at 60g and only need another 40g.  I can tell you the protein in 3oz of chicken (about 30g), roast (about 30g), eggs (6g), string cheese (7g), and there's a good (I think) organic turkey meat (20g) and I found a lower suger (9g) yogurt that has 16g of protein (the other yogurt had a lot more sugar and less protein).

Anyway, I was doing great, feeling great, and losing weight.  I was seeing a loss every week, often several pounds.  And then 2 weeks ago I quit losing.  I have been at the same weight for 2 weeks, nothing has changed . . . well, I did stop eating 2 protein bars, and that is around the time I added the whey protein powder.  But that should not be what makes me plateau.  My appetite is still gone.  I am still getting 100g (or more) of  protein.  It's frustrating.  I'm not stopping, but I am frustrated.  

Remember the above paragraph . . . 2 weeks ago I quit running 4 days a week and went down to 1 or 2 days, maybe there's a correlation there . . . hmmmmmm.  

The lady I see that prescribed the pills only does virtual.  She does not live in WA. I would prefer to see someone in person, but these pills are affordable and she is easily accessible.  She has a chat thing that I message her in and she responds within the day, even on the weekend.  So that's nice.

I hope you all have a great Halloween and happy November tomorrow!

General Chris updates

 Because I have been reading old posts lately, I have realized I really like having a journal that I can go back to to look at my life.  I've remembered so many things reading my old posts.  Anyway, I realized today that I haven't updated on my general life for awhile.  

Sometime in the beginning of the year, Chris mentioned that he had lost a bunch of weight.  I didn't really notice because I see him every day.  I think when you see someone everyday, you don't always notice changes that happen over time, and weight can be one of those things.  

August 2024

February 2025

He said that he hadn't drank in 2 or 3 months and had lost a bunch of weight.  I thought that was amazing

And then, not long after that (I don't remember the exact time frame) he started talking about how much his hip hurt.  He didn't know what was going on, so he went to the dr.  He told me that his dr. told him he had arthritis in his hip.  He said one night he woke up needing to go to the bathroom and he couldn't walk, he had to crawl to the bathroom.  I thought he was exaggerating because I've had arthritis in one hip for 8 years or so, and it's not horrible.  For me, it tends to be an ache in my leg, in fact, when I found out it was arthritis, I had gone in because I had a constant ache in my thigh that wouldn't go away.  I got it x-rayed and found out I have arthritis in my hip . . .

*okay, remember, how I said 4 paragraphs up, that I like having this journal so I can go back and look at what happens in my life???  Well, I went back to find if I posted about my arthritis diagnosis, and I read this post where it does talk about my arthritis diagnosis, but I also had been diagnosed with "pars defect."  I explained it in that post, but that explains A LOT about my recent low back pain that won't go away.*

Okay, back to Chris.

I had a hard time believing that his hip pain was as bad as he said it was because of arthritis.  And then I got a call from his dr's office in March.  The nurse was frustrated because they had been calling him for months and he wouldn't answer or call back and he had labs that had been ordered in January that he had not done . . . in March.  Anyway, I started getting after him for not contacting his dr or doing his labs.  After all this, I got into his hospital digital records and found that he had been diagnosed with osteonecrosis in his hip.  Basically his hip joint (the ball) is deteriorating.  At the level of decay he has, the only solution is a hip replacement.  Both hips have decay, however, at the moment only the right hip is serious.

In order to get hip surgery he had to do a bunch of steps, which includes getting an echocardiogram because of his heart problems that were discovered when he had a stroke in 2017.  He needs to quit all nicotine.  And he needs to get his A1C down . . . this was news to us.  Apparently when he FINALLY did his labs, it was discovered that his A1C level was a 12%. Normal is under 5.7%, they want him at  under 7.

So, remember he lost a bunch of weight in January and February?  Well, it wasn't him stopping alcohol, it was actually diabetes.  He wasn't even diagnosed with "pre-diabetes" or early stages, or anything, it's straight up diabetes and they put him on a shot right away.  

My brother-in-law has had diabetes for well over 10 years (I don't remember how long, maybe over 15 years) and has not been put on a shot because he has worked to control it.  (He doesn't and is very against going on the shots, and has a dr that has allowed him to continue to try to manage it with pills and diet, even though that hasn't worked well.)  Honestly, I have wondered if they put Chris on the shot (he takes Mounjaro) right away because of his hip.  Chris has actually been doing very, very well with his diet.  Apparently his insurance won't approve a nutritionist (they also only approved the Mounjaro to be refilled every 6 months, but only gives him 3 weeks worth of shots, they fought that and he is thankfully able to get it refilled every month), so he has done  A LOT  of online research trying to figure out his diet.  He succeeded and got his A1C done to 6.5 (or something), so his hip surgeon called to schedule the surgery about a month ago.

Do you know what that man did?? He told the dr that he needed a few more months to get enough PTO . . . I got after him for that.  I told him he didn't need to schedule it for right now, but get the surgery on the books, so when he is ready, he doesn't have to wait.  He still hasn't called.  🙄

Anyway, he is currently walking around with a cane and he says it doesn't hurt as bad as it did.  I wonder if he's just gotten used to the pain, well, and also, his dr has him on prescription strength ibuprofen.  

Why do we have to have a title?

 My 2 followers (Love you! 💕) both asked about my run 2 weekends ago, so I decided I'd post.  I have thought about posting several times last week but I've posted a lot lately, so have refrained.  I have felt like posting more because I am reading my old blogs and it gets me thinking about it again.  

Anyway, I ended up running on my treadmill.  It was horrible.  I bought these earphones a while ago and mostly like them. (They are hard to hear when it's loud, like a busy street, or a loud treadmill.)  

Because my treadmill has developed a thumping noise in it (happened after we moved) it can be really loud, so I stopped my run for a bit to get my other ones that go in my ear and are mostly noise canceling.  Well, then I couldn't connect those to my Kindle to watch the show I had on, so I used my phone, however, because it took me so long to figure out my headphones the treadmill thought I was done running and turned off after a mile.  I just couldn't get into the run, I just didn't want to be there.  I kept stopping and fiddling with things, or just resting, or turning on the fan.   

On my treadmill if I hit stop it stops the belt but not the workout and then if you hit start you start back up at the same pace and all the stats are for one run, well, I accidentally hit stop twice, which stops the workout and you basically have to start over.  I did that not once, but twice (because I kept stopping because I didn't want to run on the treadmill).  Luckily I was able to capture the treadmill time because at one point I realized my Garmin was no longer calibrated to the treadmill.  I have to run a full mile, according to the Garmin, to calibrate, so the third mile I decided to calibrate the run.  I had to restart my Garmin to recalibrate, so I did that.  But then I had to run about a tenth of a mile more than 1 mile so that I could calibrate it. 

Anyway, at one point I looked outside, I had the garage doors open, and saw it wasn't raining, and then it was only drizzling and I figured I should have just gone for a run outside.  However, a few min later it was pouring.   My total mileage was 3.22 . . . but it took me (no joke) an hour to "run" those 3 miles.  When I told Chris that, he said that I could walk 3 miles in an hour, and I laughed and said "pretty much." And, he's right.  My sister and I walked 3.63 miles in August in exactly an hour.

Last Sunday I ran 4 miles and then barely ran all week.  I only logged 10 miles.  It feels disheartening, but also, I'm easily able to talk myself out of runs, I didn't run at all Sunday, which is supposed to be my long run day.

I'm not sure how much I've talked about my weight in the last couple years, but I've gained all the weight I lost 10 years ago back. It's been frustrating because I knew I was gaining weight and I would work on losing it. I would lose one or two (sometimes 5) lbs, and then be back up with another pound added on.  I would get disheartened and say f*ck it and then gain a little more, only to crack down again and try to lose it and be unsuccessful.  To say I've been frustrated and annoyed is an understatement. In case you didn't know, this is all part of perimenopause including the lack of motivation, and I know I'm in the middle of it.

With that said, my office manager, who is in her mid-50s has been struggling with the same issue, and she's consistently tried (way more than me) and been unsuccessful.  She knows an ARNP that does weight loss meds that are not very expensive.  I've been thinking about weight loss meds for a couple years, but they have been too expensive, and I don't necessarily trust the companies online that advertise them cheap.  Anyway, when my office manager had been on her pills a few months she came to me complaining that she "only" lost 10lbs in 6 weeks, and I was sold.  I told her 10lbs in 6 weeks is awesome.  At about the same time, I got some money from the farm so I decided to try it.  I'm doing Phentermine, which is not a shot, it is a pill and it boosts your metabolism and suppresses hunger.  It was one of the ingredients in Phen-Fen (or Fen-Phen whichever came first) but it is not the one that caused heart palpitations and death.

Anyway, I've been on the pills for 4 weeks and as of Friday, I've lost 8lbs.  Obviously, my weight fluctuates, and it's higher today than it was on Friday, but it's also lower than it was last Tuesday, so that is a win. 

If you're curious, I paid $225 for 2 months of pills.  She's got a $300 consultation fee on top of that, thankfully going forward it won't be $525, it will be $225-ish every 2 months, with monthly check-ins. I know some people feel this is cheating, but seriously, it's been a struggle for awhile now and I'm tired of it.  

I'm also hoping that these pills are unlike GLP-1 shots where I won't be dependent on them forever to keep the weight off.  I'm hoping to lose the weight and go off them and maintain.  Maybe I'll get out of this stupid perimenopause phase and it won't be so bad.  (I think once you've gone menopausal 😆things even out a little . . . I hope 🤞).

Tennis

 I posted a picture about 2 posts ago of Maddox playing tennis.  He told me last spring that he really wanted to play tennis this year.  He's been asking me for awhile to go play with him, and I didn't make the time, but I really need to go this coming spring.  He really, really enjoys it, and is surprisingly good at it for never playing before. (I don't think dragging a racket when he was one-ish counts.)

He's been playing doubles and really likes playing on the net, and is good at it.  He hasn't had a steady, regular partner, which is too bad because it's always better to play with the same person for awhile to learn each other.  He's had some good partners, but most of the time he's the better player.  He didn't start winning his matches until about a week ago, but it was a good boost for him because he was getting really discouraged and I was worried he would not want to play again.  

His last tennis match is Monday.  It's crazy that it's already almost over.  I think because you can't play tennis in the rain, they make it a short season with 3-4 games a week to get it done before the more consistent rains come.  Apparently, even though tennis is a spring sport, they have the boys play in the fall and the girls play in the spring because there aren't many courts.  

I've noticed that since I quit running so much I have gotten bad about not running in rainy, cold, too hot, overall not ideal, weather.  I need to go run 3 miles today.  That will put my mileage at 12 miles this week (don't get me started on how low 12 is, but honestly it's been awhile since I've gotten more than that in a week). It's raining pretty hard today and I don't want to run in the rain.  I've sorta talked myself into running on the treadmill.  I haven't run on the treadmill in a long while. December 2023 is the last time I ran on the treadmill.  I guess I just need to suck it up and do it. I've put it off for several hours.

more reminiscing and some guilt

 I've mentioned (multiple times now) that I'm reading old blog posts as I'm inputting old runs into the Garmin app.  Well, I stumbled (I guess that's not quite the right word) on this post about running in Kauai, from January of 2014.  I did not remember that we were planning on going to Kauai in 2015, I do know that in June of 2014 I was laid off due to the program I was working in being moved to a different agency.  I'm sure that's why I didn't go to Kauai in 2015.  We did go in 2019, and it was just as beautiful as I thought it would be.  I also think it's interesting that this picture that I posted in 2014

is the same beach as these pictures I took in 2019

It's hard to tell, but I'm pretty sure the top picture from 2019 is just the water to the right of the stock photo I posted in 2014. The second photo is the opposite side of the beach, I think. I still have not run a race in Kauai, but I have run many times, and it is just as beautiful as it looked in pictures in 2014.

I've also noticed that I was really selfish in my early years of running.  I forgot that my first half marathon was only because Damian, who was 14 years old at the time, volunteered to miss his gymnastics thing (being in a parade) to watch Maddox, who was 2, while I ran.  When I read that post I felt really bad that I did that.  I know at the time it was a big deal to me, but to put that onto my 14 year old.  I just feel bad.  I realize now that I treated Damian like a mini-adult instead of the teenager he was.  I have been paying attention to Maddox and his teenage years lately, and I've allowed him to be a kid a lot longer than Damian was allowed.  

There are differences, I was a single parent until Damian was 10, and I used him as an "emotional support person" a lot, which is also not good.  But then I threw him into a relationship (even if it was his Dad) that changed the dynamics of everything, and then had another baby, which really pushed him to the side.  I'm thinking I need to take him out and apologize for how I treated him when he was still just a kid (not that I was mean, but that I expected so much from him).  

Uphill both ways

 I mentioned in my last post that I am adding all my old runs to Garmin.  I started the last few days of February 2012 and I am currently in August 2013.  I was fast back then.  The (one and only) long run I did in August of 2013, I ran 8 miles at a 9 min/mile.  (Also, "one and only" is funny because all of my runs from back then are 4 miles or more, my current "long run" is 4 miles.)  

Also, I forgot how much I loved my treadmill when I first got it. I got it at the end of 2012 (maybe a Christmas present to myself?).  I remember how easy it was to run on it, I was doing 4 miles at close to an 8 min/mile.  I also remember when I moved it and suddenly it wasn't so easy.  I truly believe the treadmill was sitting on an incline, so it was like I was running downhill the whole time.  When I first got it, it sat in the carport of that home.  We moved in 2014 and it went to the garage in that house, and it was so much harder there.  We only lived in that house 6 months and then in the new, new house it was in the living room.  I liked it there because I could watch TV and still be "part of the family" while it was there.  It is back in my garage at my current house, and I don't care for it there and I rarely use it.  Since moving it out of the carport in the first house, it has never felt as easy, so I really do think it was on an incline.  

I forgot how active I got when I first started running.  In 2013 I had the goal of 100 miles a month.  I was not making that goal, so I switched to 1200 for the year.  Well, over the summer I got plantar faciitis and completely quit running for about a month (middle of Sept-middle of Oct.).  But I started going to a gym and was doing a row machine and elliptical.  In fact, I had a personal trainer assessment, and that was the person that told me to roll my foot with a lacrosse ball.  I did not remember that was who told me to do that.  As I'm reading old posts, I have started remembering things.  

Honestly, this is one of the biggest reasons I continue to write on here.  I have no followers (well, about 2 faithful ones) and like I said before, blogging is out of style now, but I can go back and read my thoughts from 13 years ago.  

Anyway, reading my old blog posts and looking at my old runs has made me want to run more.  I'm sure it won't last, but for now, I'm running.  Not farther, just more often, although, I'd like to run farther, I'm working on it. It's also made me appreciate hills a lot more, because I see how fast my times were, seriously, I was running 4+ miles at a 9 min/mile pace and sometimes under that.  After my month off of running in 2013, I came back and ran 4 miles at  a 8.26 min/mile.  I don't know if I'll ever get back to that, but I do want to go back to running hills, which means I have to do it during or after work (I work in the area I used to live in with all the hills).  

So yesterday I decided I was going to run at work, but then didn't have the time.  I was headed to Anacortes, a very cute town on the edge of the Sound about 30 min away, to see some clients so I decided I'd run that trail I last week and run the other part, the part that goes over the water.  However, it was really windy and I knew that the stretch over the water would just be horrible. I really struggled with just going home, and running there, but I really felt that I would not run if I did that.  I also had planned to run the hills at work, and Anacortes is very hilly, so I decided to just do it.  I stopped at a park that I knew had a bathroom to change in and then went for my run. 

I don't know Anacortes well, but I know a few streets so I planned to just do an out and back.  I started down one street and realized I was going downhill and really didn't want to run uphill on the way back, so I turned down a side street that went uphill. I started turning on random streets and it seemed that every street I turned down went uphill.  I had decided to only do 2 miles because I just didn't want to run, but then when I needed to turn back to the park, I just kept running into roads that turned and could not get back to the main road that I knew I needed to be on.  

The other issue I was running into was the really, really dark clouds that were fast approaching overhead.  It started raining, and I just couldn't get back to my car.  The run ended up not much farther than 2 miles, 2.6miles, but it felt forever because I just kept running into roads that turned instead of go straight, where I needed to go.  I also just kept going uphill.  I'd turn and go downhill for a block and then I was going back uphill but it really felt that there were waaaayyyy more uphills than downhills. I felt like the stories our parents used to say "I walked uphill both ways to school" were true and is really possible, meanwhile the clouds just kept getting darker.  Thankfully I made it back to my car before it started raining hard.  

On my drive home it really started pouring and about 10 min after leaving thunder and lightning started.  It really was a crazy run, and then a crazy drive home.  I was really glad I got done when I did.

I have no pictures, but here is a picture of Maddox hitting a tennis ball. 😀

Nostalgia

 I decided that I wanted to put all my old runs into the Garmin app because I was getting tired of "badges" saying things like "fastest mile" or "longest run."  Although, maybe the Garmin app has a short memory because it already has my 2017 marathon in it, so 4 miles is definitely not the longest run I've done.  

Anyway, it really is fascinating and kind of cool to look at my old runs and remember what I ran, or where I was.  I've been cross-referencing some of them with my old blog posts (for example, to see why I walked 4 miles one day instead of run . . . I hurt my calf turning to talk to some guy . . . which I had completely forgotten about).  

Also, I've noticed that I was not concerned in my beginning running year(s?) about hitting the mileage mark exactly.  I plotted a route and then ran it without making sure it was exactly on the mile mark, so there are a lot of random numbers, like 3.98 miles (who runs 3.98 miles without doing the extra 0.02 mile???) and 4.68 miles.  Very strange of me, but I think it was because I was just running.  I think I started making sure to hit the mileage mark after I had been reading blogs for awhile, although, bloggers helped me start and continue running in those early days.

I also noticed that I increased my mileage and pace a lot faster than I have this last year.  I'm still logging a lot of 2 milers, 9 months into talking about increasing my mileage.  In fact, last month I only had 22 miles total. Even in March 2012, the first full month of me running, I logged 61 miles, although I was running 5-6 days a week.  I remember feeling, at that time, that if I didn't run every day I'd quit, I forced myself to take rest days.  By the end of March 2012, I was running 3 miles every day (well, two of them were 4 miles).  This last Sunday was my first 4 miler since April.  My motivation has left, or determination? Whatever, I am not forcing myself to go run, and when I do force myself, I tell myself I only have to do 2 miles, although, I have done 3 miles after telling myself I only have to do 2.

The other difference in 2012 and now is that I now live in a flat area, whereas 2012-2022 I lived in a very hilly area.  I think hills really make a difference in pace.  I quickly moved from 11 min miles to 9 min miles.  I have stayed at over 11 min miles this time around, but I have also not been pushing myself.

I used to think that I had to run the entire time, my thinking has changed and I do a lot of walk breaks.  Probably even when I don't need them.  

I am looking at half marathons again.  I totally skipped even training for the one I was thinking of doing this fall (it happened last weekend).  I actually ran part of the route yesterday, and it was really pretty, so maybe I'll keep it in mind for next year.  There's a half marathon in eastern WA that looks interesting at the end of February, so maybe.  I do want to get back into that kind of shape.  Once upon a time I was always half marathon ready and I think it'd be nice to be back to that.

Anyway, the other day (Thursday) I ran in Anacortes along a trail I didn't know existed (I don't typically even go to Anacortes except for work).  But after I ran half the trail I looked it up and found that it was the "wrong" half.  I started in town and ran through industrial waterfront, which was not scenic.  The second half runs along the Sound and even over the water at one point.  I only wanted to run 3 miles, and the entire trail is a little over 3, but I did out and back.  I only ran a mile and a half one way and had just gotten to the prettier part of the trail whne I turned around.  Next time I'll start at the other end.

Below is the part of the trail I did not run. 

Oh well, I now have several clients in Anacortes, so I will run it another day.

The Runner's Commandments

 I found this on My First 5k and More... one of the new blogs I've been reading.  Darlene posted this in 2011 and I thought it was interesting. Some guy name Joe Kelly wrote them.  I don't know who he is, I googled the name and a baseball player popped up.  

The Runner's Commandments

1. Don’t be a whiner. Nobody likes a whiner, not even other whiners.

2. Walking out the door is often the toughest part of a run.

3. Don’t make running your life. Make it part of your life.

4. During group training runs, don’t let anyone run alone.

5. Keep promises, especially ones made to yourself.

6. When doing group runs, start on time no matter who’s missing.

7. The faster you are the less you should talk about your times.

8. Keep a quarter in your pocket. One day you’ll need to call for a ride. (I don't think this applies much anymore, I think most people run with their phones, and there are no payphones anywhere that I've seen.)

9. Don’t compare yourself to other runners.

10. All runners are equal, some are just faster than others.

11. Keep in mind that the later in the day it gets, the more likely it is that you won’t run.

12. For a change of pace, get driven out and then run back.

13. If it was easy, everybody would be a runner.

14. When standing in starting lines, remind yourself how fortunate you are to be there.

15. Getting out of shape is much easier than getting into shape.

16. A bad day of running still beats a good day at work.

17. Talk like a runner. “Singlets” are worn on warm days. “Tank tops” are worn to the beach.

18. Don’t talk about your running injuries. People don’t want to hear about your sore knee or black toe.

19. Don’t always run alone.

20. Don’t always run with people.

21. Approach running as if the quality of your life depended on it.

22. No matter how slow you run it is still faster than someone sitting on a couch.

23. Keep in mind that the harder you run during training, the luckier you’ll get during racing.

24. Races aren’t just for those who can run fast.

25. There are no shortcuts to running excellence.

26. The best runs sometimes come on days when you didn’t feel like running.

27. Be modest after a race, especially if you have reason to brag.

28. If you say, “Let’s run this race together,” then you must stay with that person no matter how slow.

29. Think twice before agreeing to run with someone during a race.

30. There is nothing boring about running. There are, however, boring people who run.

31. Look at hills as opportunities to pass people.

32. Distance running is like cod liver oil. At first it makes you feel awful, then it makes you feel better.

33. Never throw away the instructions to your running watch.

34. Don’t try to outrun dogs.

35. Don’t trust runners who show up at races claiming to be tired, out of share, or not feeling well.

36. Don’t wait for perfect weather. If you do, you won’t run very often.

37. When tempted to stop being a runner, make a list of the reasons you started.

38. Never run alongside very old or very young racers. They get all of the applause.

39. Without goals, training has no purpose.

40. During training runs, let the slowest runner in the group set the pace.

41. The first year in a new age group offers the best opportunity for trophies.

42. Go for broke, but be prepared to be broken.

43. Spend more time running on the roads than sitting on the couch.

44. Make progress in your training, but progress at your own rate.

45. “Winning” means different things to different people.

46. Unless you make your living as a runner, don’t take running too seriously.

47. Runners who never fail are runners who never try anything great.

48. Never tell a runner that he or she doesn’t look good in tights.

49. Never confuse the Ben-Gay tube with the toothpaste tube.

50. Never apologize for doing the best you can.

51. Preventing running injuries is easier than curing them.

52. Running is simple. Don’t make it complicated.

53. Running is always enjoyable. Sometimes, though, the joy doesn’t come until the end of the run.