cha-cha-cha-cha-cha Changes

I've been blogger-absent for a while. Things have changed. MY HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED!!!

Priorities. Lifestyle. Interests and hobbies.

Running has come to a scrrrreeeeecching halt. Which in a way has opened up my life for more things. Like cooking and cleaning and evenings.

I guess I should get to the changes right away:

1. I'm pregnant. Thus the screeching halt to the running. My doctor told me not to. No - that's a lie. I always envisioned myself at the pinnacle of my running career, getting pregnant and then parlaying that into an awesome pregnant running career where I could brag to other runners as I passed by that there is a "Baby on Board" with a big old belly and a smile. But who am I kidding. I've never passed anyone. That's probably the biggest flaw in my dream. Seriously though, I was in no condition to start up running again after I hadn't been running before getting pregnant.

I ran the Lumberjack 5K in Stillwater on July 25th; I was 13 weeks. Busted my butt to finish in 39 minutes. It was pretty enjoyable though. Felt good to be running. Until the end when I thought I could make one last push to cross the finish line. I can't explain it but it's not the same. My "push" at the end took a lot out of me. It was all just a lot harder than I remember. I'm opting out of the Minneapolis Duathlon at the end of August. I can't remember the last time I worked out for 2+ hours. I don't think I will start now.

So running is on hold, but I'm enjoying walking, swimming laps and I even took a water aerobics class! It was a little strange that Louie the 85 yo water aerobic veteran was helping me out, but the folks are nice and I felt comfortable in the water and felt it was a good workout for me.

2. I'm taking piano lessons in September. This I am SUPER-DE-DUPER excited for. Going to start with 1/2 hour lessons once a week. I played for years until I graduated high school. Now that I'm an adult, and paying for my own lessons (sorry mom and dad) I feel more serious about it in a way; more focused.

3. I'm cooking more and more. I started getting into Indian dishes. This was my best creation. It was some kind of peanutty chicken with rice and lentils and chapati bread. Very good. For Christmas I got a subscription to Cook's Illustrated. I can't tell you how much I love this magazine. Each recipe is a 2 page spread that talks about how and why the recipe was developed to get it just perfect. It's all the mechanics of a recipe which I love because I am much more of a direction following, if this then that, in the box type chef. I'm not the creative one who just "knows" what happens when you beat an egg white before adding it to the recipe and maybe I'll throw this in to give a pop of texture. I like to read the science behind it all.

4. Now that I've been thinking baby, I'm thinking CLEAN HOUSE. I can't have a toddler looking like a French lady with hairy legs because they've been crawling around the house picking up all the dog hair. It's going to have to be an everyday process that I'm still trying to figure out how to fit it all in. I used to just do a vacuum on the weekends with every other weekend being a move-the-furniture vacuum. The Swiffer vacuum thing is my new best friend though as I'm using that daily and still vacuuming on the weekends. I'll probably go psycho on the cleaning in about 3 months when the "nesting" sets in. Who knows.

So it's on to new endeavors! I'm looking forward to blogging about fitness other than running, and hobbies other than dieting!