The past month or so has been rough, as we've worked through the aftermath of Sean's decision to stop taking the anti-depressants. One of the results has been our new eating plan, based on the Dysglycemia Diet for those with unregulated blood sugar (recommended by Linda's homeopathic doctor). It's been surprisingly easy to transition away from eating so many grains and into more fruits and vegetables (legumes have been a bit harder to incorporate on a daily basis, unless it's in hummus). If I went back in time and told myself a couple of years ago or even a few months ago that I'd have given up Cheerios, granola bars, sandwich bread, and pasta...I'm not sure I'd have believed myself.
There was a high note on the exercise front a couple of weekends ago, when Sean and I went to Sleeping Giant and I bravely agreed to take the blue trail, the most difficult and dangerous, all the way up the quarry.
It wasn't like anything I'd ever climbed before; not only was it really fucking steep, on the highest points you're not even on a trail, per se, but rather you're hauling yourself up exposed rock faces at 45 degrees or so. This isn't my picture (I fear breaking my camera took much to ever bring it), but it gives the idea:
Believe it or not, I actually preferred this kind of climbing to the a steep dirt trail where little rocks are flying out from under your feet; at least you know the cliff face isn't going anywhere! Real rock climbers would undoubtedly roll their eyes, but for the complete novice it's really exciting to find handholds and footholds and pull/push yourself up! It showed me how much stronger I've gotten in the past couple of years. Mind you, I could barely bring myself to look out at the incredible view once we'd made it to the summit. Or rather, I could look out, but not down. Jesus Christ. We passed some people who were headed down that way, and I couldn't figure out how you'd possibly shimmy down those rocks. I sure as hell couldn't. That I did the blue trail in spite of my enduring fear of heights made me prouder of myself, but don't they say that exposure to your fear should lessen them?? Because that has not been my experience.
The lower note in exercise terms has been my continued struggle to do the Couch to 5k program. As I've learned, you can't skip even two days of jogging without seeing your stamina plunge, which is so ridiculous! Sean told me this like it was obvious, and I'm like, wait, you mean even if I do make it to being able to run 30 minutes, I'll have to keep doing it every other day for the rest of my LIFE to keep it up? Ugh. I'm still doing it, though I have yet to complete the last run of week 6, which is a full 25 minutes. This morning I set my alarm, got up and ran at 7am (not the nicest weather; the combination of humidity and low temp, plus the dark clouds over the water, reminded me unpleasantly of my Venice runs). I'm going to try this and see if I have more energy running in the morning than in the evening--even though jogging through Lighthouse Park and looking at the sun set over Long Island Sound is so beautiful.
When I started the program I had the rough idea that I'd be in shape enough to go running with Carla when we got to Rome, at least a little bit...I'm not so sure anymore, though I plan to go jogging on my own. It's not every day you can jog across the Tiber and through St. Peter's Square!
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