Note to Self: When trying out a new running technique, please start slow. Okay, now a little slower than you thought. And then slow that down. Okay, perfect.

So, as I posted before, I am trying out a new running technique (well, it's sort of a mesh of several--POSE, ChiRunning, and BareFoot running).  The bottom line is I am teaching myself to safely strike on the mid to front part of my foot instead of my heels.

So, I have been doing that for, what, 2 weeks now?  It's been fantastic.  Absolutely no pain in my hips.  None.  I have had more energy and not to mention the toning in my legs and butt.  Yah!  Awesome.  Then, late last week I started to get some soreness in the arches of my feet.  I wore heels all day Sunday and it made matters worse!  I then got up to do my regular exercise yesterday and my feet and lower calf/ankle muscles were telling me "No way, girl, try again later."  But, of course, I went anyway.  My feet wouldn't even cooperate!  I literally could not "bounce" on the balls of my feet because my arches just collapsed with fatigue.  What the??  So, I tried running around the block the "old" style with heel striking and all (figuring it'd require different muscles and I could still get my heart pumpin').  And yes, I was right on both accounts.  But halfway around that block my hips pinched with pain and screamed at me to walk.  So I did.  Completely dejected.  Curse you weak feet!

So, here I sit, icing my arches and dreaming of the day when I will be able to run around my block again. Pathetic.

FRANCE (European Tour 1998)

Strasbourg, France.

Nous avons traversé le pont de l'Allemagne et dîné dans un petit restaurant appelé, Le Gruber. Nous n'avons pas passer la nuit à Strasbourg, mais c'était une ville charmante.  [For those who don't speak French: We crossed the bridge from Germany and ate dinner at a little restaurant called, Le Gruber. We didn't stay the night in Strasbourg, but it was a charming city.]

 

Notre musicien douce. [Our sweet musician.]

 

Moi, sans chichis. [Love the word chichi.]

Popsicle love

My children love popsicles. Especially the baby. Oops.

If you can't hear the music, make up your own

ITALY (European Tour 1998)

As a little girl, growing up in some pretty provincial small towns in Oregon, I'd always dreamed of going to far off places (who didn't, right??).  I would plan these mini trips to grand places like Portland or Sacramento.  I'd work like crazy babysitting, washing cars, whatever I could do. Then I would go!

After moving to Arizona my freshman year of high school, I still had that same traveling itch, so I just had to scratch it with excursions to California or the border towns of Mexico and "Rocky Point".  I'd dreamed of places farther away, but let's be honest, my family was always scraping the bottom of the barrel, and all my minimum wage jobs were not going to get me anywhere close.

Then, an opportunity--and a blessing--presented itself the summer before my senior year.  My best friend's dad and his wife wanted to take her on a tour of Europe, and he told her she could bring a friend.  So guess who go to go?  Me!!  I was practically bursting at the seems!

We traveled to 7 different countries during our 3 1/2 week trek and I had the time of my life.  The only bad thing that came of the trip was that I now had something so wonderful to compare my future trips to, that I just had to keep traveling to continue to "Wow" myself.  An addiction of sorts, I suppose.  So, this post is going to be one of many Flash Back Friday posts on my travels around the world--which aren't as comprehensive as I'd like, of course. (Let's keep in mind here that I got married, went on a fabulous honeymoon, and then got pregnant. Three kids later, and I am still making plans, but let's just say my priorities have shifted slightly, shall we?)

Enough rambling, here are the pics:

Think you know where this is?  Hmm??  If you said Rome, you are..... WRONG!  This is Verona.  Apparently, Romeo and Juliet hung out here and that's all anyone ever talks about with reference to this city. They forgot about this AMAZING amphitheater!  We did pay our respects to Shakespeare's famous couple, though. They have a balcony said to be the inspiration for the story--why don't I have a pic of it?  I don't know.  But, look at those amazingly clean and pretty streets, eh??

For a good portion of our stay in Europe, we stayed in Croatia (a post for another day), so to get to Venice, we took this fantastic ship across the Adriatic Sea.  It only took a few hours to get there as I recall--much faster than trying to drive.

Piazza San Marco (aka St. Mark's Square).  Beyond the gondolas, this is probably the most popular thing to see in Venice. It is the center of everything, and an amazing site to see!  My beautiful friend, Emily, is modeling a favorite tourist shot. No, it's not the basilica in the background, (although that is nice), it's the famous pigeons!!

There are, quite literally, no real streets in the downtown area of Venice.  It's all gondolas and boat taxis!  As you can imagine, with the Adriatic Sea lapping their porches, the city is incredibly humid. 

 We took a quick trip to the Island of Lido right next to Venice.  It was quaint, and we got some beach strolling in...

Man, I wish this had been focused, but actually, I kind of like it blurred.












And that sums up our quick life in Italy.  We drove through some gorgeous areas, but didn't stay too long anywhere but these places.  I am most definitely coming back here someday.  Italy was an extremely romantic, lively, colorful place.

POSE Running

So, long story short, at some point during my first two pregnancies I injured the muscles in my hips (hip flexors, etc...) to the point where I could barely walk without getting pinching pains.  About a year and a half ago I started getting physical therapy for it.  I spent about 6 months there and got up to walking 15 minutes without pain!! Yahoo!  But then I got too prego to continue PT, so I stopped. 

Now, that I've had my babes, I've been slowly working my way into running again.  I am doing many of the same exercises I did in PT, just at home on my own.  I can see improvement!  It's awesome the way that a body can recover and get stronger.  I actually look forward to my exercise time these days. I am up to 3x/wk with biking, strength training, and .33 miles of running. (Yes there is a decimal BEFORE the 33 there.  I can run around my block and then I start getting pinching.)

But, anyway, the reason for this post is to remark on the new style of running I am trying.  See, I figure I must've been running wrong if I jacked up my hips so bad.  I am naturally a heel striker and I've heard from just about everywhere NOT to heel strike.   So, I started looking into POSE running.  I have yet to do a full research and analysis of the style, but basically the technique teaches you to align your body so that when you strike, you are doing so underneath your center of gravity instead of in front.  This puts less strain on your knees, hips, lower back, etc...  It also sort of forces you to strike on the balls of your feet as well.  Your cadence is quicker (and I'd imagine your strides are short--which is good for me).

So this morning, after getting all jazzed about it, I decided to integrate it in to my usual run around the block.  Um, can I just say, "Wow!!"  It felt awesome!!  I was able to go the full distance with very little, if any, discomfort in my hips, my feet and legs. My body felt bouncy and energetic.   The method makes you lean slightly forward so that contributes to a little faster pace than I am used to, so the only thing that really hurt when I was finished were my LUNGS!  Apparently, I have been jogging my entire life and this is how it feels to run! I am so not used to this, but if it feels this good, BRING IT ON!!

Creating something Beautiful for a Friend

A couple days ago I decided to paint a picture for my friend who is having a birthday.  I got the idea from Modern Bird Studios.  I felt really excited about it.  And after, conversing a little with her husband, we decided on this picture:

 

I cropped and then contrasted the picture 7 or 8 times until it was down to a very raw black and white photo:

I decided it should be acrylic instead of my usual preference, oil, because I was short on time and couldn't wait the 3-5 days it takes for oils to dry. 

The creative process was incredibly enjoyable.   I can't quite explain the joy and peace I felt as I created something so beautiful.  The attention to the details of drawing the picture first satisfied my logical, structured side, while the abstraction of the original picture and modern final product satisfied my artistic side. It sounds corny and dramatic, but it felt like I was meant to create this painting and perhaps others like it. What's more than that, the subject matter (the little girl) is very sensitive to me. In fact, I nearly cried giving her the painting, and am about to cry now just thinking about it.  The little girl is about to embark on a very trying time...

Anyway, here is the finished product.  The first picture is closer to the right color background (it's sort of a creamy, light tan color). And the second picture captured the "midnight blue" darker tone.