Marching for YOU Part 1

In no way do I want to turn this into a political blog.  I don't identify with any strong political party or ideology.  I just love people.  I am going to continue to document my recent experiences, as I always do.

I want to start this post by telling you about my recent experience with Dave's grandfather, our Pop Pop, who is 93-years-old.  About a month ago, we brought Pop Pop to the WWII museum.  Do you remember that war?  It was 1939-1945...only just over 70 years ago.  Not a long time, right?  Pop Pop is a WWII veteran.  And by veteran, I mean that he was a Naval Aviator, as well as Naval Intelligence later in life.  He flew in this war.  He didn't test planes here in the states, he flew IN the war.  He was the pilot, as well as the man that controlled the torpedos.  He had a radio control man to his rear/side right and a gunman to his rear.

So when you walk into the WWII museum and you are a vet, you get a special badge which marks you as a celebrity.  Pop Pop had many, many people come up and thank him.  When we went to the theater to watch the movie with the museum, Pop Pop was announced and given a standing ovation.

I want you to reflect on this, as I did in these precious hours with Pop Pop.  There was a great war against tyranny that has living survivors.  That means this war was so close to our lifetime it is still part of living human beings.

During this time there was also great sufferings and travesties of populations due to racism.  There was a lot of looking the other way and there was a lot of denial.  There was also a LOT of support for two very horrible human beings in Germany and Japan.  Recently our bookclub has read several time piece books around WWII.  I am learning more than I ever did in school about this horrible time.

Let me remind you again- this was only 70+ years ago.  As most of us are between the ages of 30-50, 70 years doesn't seem that long, now does it?  There was horrible, horrible, horrible tyranny only 70+ years ago with the rights of many, many people taken away very slowly and in a way that was unnoticeable to an entire world.  Let that sink in.  There were millions of people being slaughtered, and the rest of the world didn't know it.

I hope we can all agree that leaders matter and people matter.  We can also agree that we are not exempt and we don't get a pass just because we live a few years later in the history of human kind.  It is not as though these sort of things can't happen to us.  There is nothing about the advancement of humankind that says you can't make mistakes and can't repeat mistakes.  The point is NOT to repeat mistakes, but we certainly can.  What an insult to people like Pop Pop and all of the men and women of that generation who fought for our freedom if we choose to think otherwise.

None of this is to say that I see impending genocide in our country by the millions.  But I do simply want to state that went I spent this day with Pop Pop, the impact was so great that I couldn't help but feel very close to this period of time.  I left with a great understanding that my past 38 years of life and many others have been extremely sheltered, and it might make our generation think things like this would never happen now.  It would be a mistake to think that way.

A Home in New Orleans

After being completely debt free including the house for approximately two months which felt amazing (sold our home in Memphis and did not owe anyone a thing in the world), we are now house poor the proud new owners of a house in the Algiers Point neighborhood in New Orleans, Louisiana.

I felt a slight bolt of fear yesterday as I signed the papers to my life away, but it is eased a bit with my two new views.  

 The view of the Crescent City Connection bridge from my back porch 

The view of the French Quarter from my front porch

Buying in New Orleans is tough, although I am sure many people from cool cities can say the same.  The market is a sellers market, and prices have tripled/quadrupled since we lived her 10 years ago.  My old uptown condo on St Charles is worth almost 4 x what I paid for it in 2001.  I sure do wish I still owned it!  Dave and I were feeling a bit defeated that we would not be able to live in an area we liked.   We quickly understood we would not be able to live uptown again because we couldn't afford it.  But, we were surprised at how many other areas we could no longer afford.

In the end, we didn't look much further than Algiers Point.  It is the 2nd oldest area in New Orleans (the first being the French Quarter).  Many of the houses here, including possibly ours, pre-date the civil war.  There was a great fire in this area in 1895 that wiped out most of the neighborhood, but the fire actually stopped at our street, and so our house may be one of the oldest around.  I am going to have to go dig in the historical archives and give some updates later.  This site has a sad history in slavery, serving as a holding area for slaves coming from other countries coming up the Mississippi to be ferried across the river to be sold.  It is also an area that was occupied by Confederate and Union Soldiers at different times.  There is a guy that digs up Civil War artifacts all of the time not too far from my house.  

Algiers Point has won the Curbed Cup for the city of New Orleans for best neighborhood 2 years in a row.  

Our neighborhood is mostly amazing.  There are many, many young families here.  Lots of free-thinking people, which appeals to Dave and me.  On any typical day I have spend time with at least 5 different neighbors.  I can't think of many days where I have not been involved in some sort of community activity.  

We are 2 blocks from the ferry to the French Quarter, so for $2 and 5 minutes of your time, you can end up on Decatur, ready to party without driving.  We have the Confetti Kids Organization, our own public library, 2 parks, an art center for kids, and 3 bars (of course) within a few blocks.  I now have reading nook in a loft (yes!), a screened in back porch for relaxing nights, and a bunch of fruit trees- grapefruit, oranges, lemons, kumquats, and plantains.  Ready to visit me yet?

Give me a couple of months, and then a bed will be open and ready.  All friends welcome!  

What It Takes...Now (and then!)

One thing I have realized over some trial and error is that I don't get much out of the minimum.  For me to stay fit or even gain fitness, I have to apply constant pressure.  Training only once a day as a rule just don't work for me.  But, if I train twice a day on most days, I will start to make some progress.  It doesn't have to be hard or long, but it has to be consistent and frequent.

So before Isla, this was doable.  I was up early to SBR- worked a full day- SBR at night if I needed a second session.  Rinse, repeat.  I didn't realize how much the frequency really mattered to me.  I am not saying it was perfect.  I was tired at work many days.  I remember one time I pulled into a parking lot because I had 5 minutes before seeing one of my kiddos for therapy.  I fell asleep, only to wake up later in a panic.  Dave also didn't love hated that level of training.  He thought it was not good for our marriage to have a tired wife that was never home.  He was right!  Who wants to be around someone that doesn't want to ever go out because they have to train the next morning...and every morning for that matter!

Fast forward 4 years and I have tried the 1 x daily on most days.  Not because I think it is the best training method but because I just haven't figured out how to work it all in.   And let me tell you, it just doesn't work.  It doesn't!  5-6 "sessions"  (as in stumbling around at dark 0'thirty slower than a grandma) a week vs 10-12?  LIGHT YEARS apart.

I had to take a hard look at what was NOT working.  It was so obvious, but I just couldn't really wrap my head around what change to make.  I can honestly say I still don't really know how I am going to fit in more, but the alternative is being very out of shape and not able to race because it is not enjoyable.

My solo pool 

Step one was making peace with the fact that I would be swimming by myself quite a bit.  I did observe one master's class here (the only one I could find) and the coach was playing on his phone while his swimmers did a basic class.  It is just not worth my money or my frustration to do that.  So, solo swimming at 5:30am  OR wake up at 4:10 am to drive across the river and swim in a pool with other swimmers (not a group workout, but at least I will see other people).  Those are my two options and I just have to deal.

Step two was asking Dave if I could have 2 evenings a week to do an extra session.  On Mondays I will go to the track and do a solo workout.  He agreed and I got myself back out there for some repeats for the first time in a year.  It was so good to run in the daylight!

Step three is getting our new house!  I will have a training room which means finally, after almost 4 years of it being nearly impossible to ride my trainer, I will have a quiet and private spot to get in some morning rides.  I really think this will be key.  We close on Friday!!!

My best run EVER!  My first run with Isla.  She waited all morning by the front door to run with me when I got home from my big run.  It is amazing how kids can run- I probably stopped her before she needed to stop.  This was seriously one of the most precious moments of my life.  

Races.  Oh races.  I need one, but I am going to wait another month or two.  I just can't imagine pulling the trigger on anything when I bet I couldn't even run a 25 minutes 5k right now. I unfortunately signed up with friends for a half marathon in 3 weeks, and that was a big mistake.  I want to DNS, but what kind of example does that show my new running friends who are running their first half?  So, I will go out there and suffer.  It quite possibly could be a PW day for me as I don't even think I can break 2 hours right now, but oh well.  I signed up so I have to just face it.

Some alternative training:  kids yoga!