Not At The Kid's Table Anymore

Traditions are an important part of life. In my family, we hold several traditions. One of these occurs at every family gathering and holiday. My cousins refer to this tradition as "sitting at the Kid's Table". My grandparents on my dad's side have 12 grandchildren. My aunt's kids are in their late 20's/early 30's and the rest of us are 24-years-of-age and younger. Because our family is so big, we set up multiple tables at family gatherings; there is the kid's table and the grown-up table. Even when these two tables are pushed together or when there are only four cousins present, we still huddle at "the Kid's Table". This last Christmas, there were three tables. One for the great-grandchildren and my older cousins, one for the adults and one for my cousins. We could easily mix it up, but we don't. Mixing it up would mean challenging ourselves to be more mature, more adult-like or taking it down to our adolescent years. Even though my cousin Rynny is pregnant and my cousin Jack Coleman brought his fiance, we all still sat at the kids table and we agreed this Christmas that we will always stay at the kid's table, even after we all grow up.

This morning I started Drea's Running Strong clinic. I teach Pilatess and strength classes on a regular basis. In fact, I teach 36 classes a week; however, I was nowhere near prepared for what Drea had in store for me. Let me tell you, folks, I was no longer at the Kid's Table. She had taken me up a notch. I knew my hips were weak, but I didn't know the strength they were capable of this morning. Every moment of the class challenged me and pushed my hips to their limits, but I loved every minute of it. As I looked around the room, I felt like one of the weakest runners in the room, but I was there and I was going to give it my all. I left feeling invigorated. So stoked on life right now!

As far as running goes, I have been taking a break since Tuesday. Instead of running, I reacquainted myself with the elliptical. In high school, I loved the elliptical. In college, I studied on the elliptical. At work, I set the record for best woman on the elliptical. As soon as I set that challenge, I stopped doing the elliptical. I fell in love with running, so the elliptical went on the back burner. Spending time on it this week, that passion I once felt did not come back. I tried to entertain myself by listening to music. I started with bands like Three Days Grace and Theory of a Deadman, bands with hardcore, I'm going to conquer and succeed albums. I got bored after 30-minutes and on came the country. "Country girl, shake it for me, girl, shake it for me, girl, shake it for me," played in my ear buds for 45-minutes. Later that night, Josh Tuner's Why Don't We Just Dance came on my playlist during my Pure Awesomeness class. One of the surfer guys asked me if that really got me going and I said, without shame, that yes, in fact, it did. It's just not the same on a treadmill as it is on the open road though.

During my 50-minute elliptical session yesterday, I decided to watch a couple of episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Even Ted Mosby's search for the perfect wife didn't entertain me enough to convince myself I was having a good time. Two-minutes aggressive pace, three-minutes moderate... is it over yet?

But bike class was great, tri club went well. All in all, it's been a good week. It's been an easy week. Now that I'm writing about it, I'm looking back and thinking, "Wow... I slacked this week." Next week is my rest and test week. I guess we will see if I improved from taking a break or if my times go down. For now, I'll go teach my Pilates, grab lunch with the boyfriend, do a 2-hour speed and force bike ride, teach three circuit classes, train Richard and get some sleep. Here comes the weekend!