Downtown YMCA, part 2

According to Stormfax.com, Punxsutawney Phil's weather prognostication accuracy is just 39%. I'm counting on his being wrong about today's wintry weather prediction. We in Columbus have had a few pretty days scattered among the soggy and gray ones, but the past few discouraging-looking days have tempted me to stay inside, almost derailing my walking routine. I am determined not to let that happen.

Yesterday's reconnaissance mission to opening day at the downtown Y left me anxious to try the brand new Landice Pro Sports Trainer treadmills inside the airy upstairs exercise room. The media screen was not connected yet, but the control panel let me see how many 1/4 mile laps I made on its virtual track, as well as how many calories I burned. Looking across the street at Country's Barbeque on Broad while walking was motivating, but the Hope for Haiti album's GREAT music kept me striding along...lip syncing the words and smiling through 3 miles. The 20-something girl next to me probably wondered if Beyonce' was working out next to her...or maybe not so much...

Did not try the sauna as I had planned, but did peek in at the pool. It is small: only 4 lanes and short -- 25 yards. I doubt that diving is allowed, as one nice racing dive might send a swimmer crashing into the other end of the pool.

Drumroll, Please

After work today, Laurie and I toured Columbus' newest downtown draw, the Central YMCA. Our impressions: NICE! The pool is small, but, hey, the ceiling seemed to be intact - more than could be said of the old Y. The ground floor also has a nice basketball court. Walls of windows face the rooms of  new machines upstairs and the weights downstairs - good for watching activity on Broadway. A walking track snakes through the upstairs areas. We also found a nice group classroom, a cycling room, and two spacious ladies' locker rooms - each featuring a sauna and steam room. I've never tried either. Might be nice after all that activity...

Yoga Day USA

GET YOUR KARMA ON!

January 23, 2010 is Yoga Day USA. Find a free workshop near you. Anyone can do Yoga. What's it gonna hurt to try? Come on; up off the couch now!

Evening Walk

Nothing shakes the heebie-jeebies of a weird work day any better than a walk around the woods at sunset with my camera and latest tune favorite.

Walk It Off

This afternoon I finally road-tested my new walking shoes down at Lakebottom Park's* track in Columbus' historic Weracoba-St. Elmo area. Being outside was a nice change from walking with the good, but monotonous, DVD that I've been using inside. Lots of people found the weather perfect for jogging, biking, scooting, strolling, playing football, tennis, or basketball. While Will and I chatted our way around the track, we watched different groups of people enjoying the day. Anna jogged the path surrounding the park.

We lived in a tiny craftsman bungalow on Cherokee Avenue, just across from Lakebottom, until Anna was 3 years old. She has made many-a-lap around that park, but mostly in a stroller. While a student at Columbus High (below), Will walked/ran the park perimeter daily during a health class. My father also exercised there during his time at CHS back in the '40's: ROTC drill practice. It's a great, old park and epitomizes "old Columbus" to me.

Being outside also gave me the opportunity to try out my new camera. I played with the settings, but really need to just sit down and look at the manual, I think. Don't like to do that! The Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS Digital Elph is just about perfect for me: compact, 10 megapixels, intuitive (yeah, mostly). One complaint: SLOW. I'm sure that there's a way to improve upon this. The review that I read indicated a better than average shutter lag.

I know, I know: reading the manual may help.

*Lakebottom Park actually refers to two parks, Weracoba and Wildwood, which are bisected by 17th Street.


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Shoe Fit

In the small change; big difference category: walking shoes that fit! 

Over lunch in Tiger Town today, sister Beth suggested that I look for walking shoes in a store around the corner (Foot Solutions). WOW! Nathan, the foot care specialist (really, he is), spent about 40 minutes with me, carefully assessing my foot (flared; HIGH instep, callouses), my gait, and my shoe needs. He found a great, WIDE shoe with good arch support and shock absorption. I wore the Brooks Ariels right out of the store and have not taken them off yet. I'll test them out with Chris Freytag in the morning . Nathan also suggested custom inserts, but I'll have to see about that in January when my Flex account rejuvenates.

Kitty Yoga

Miss Loretta demonstrates Power Yoga for abs.

Pizza Perfection

Confession: I have allowed the last week of school prior to Winter Break festivities to derail my lifestyle-changing ways. Between the faculty-supplied special treats at school, the SLP dessert bar, and the barbeque lunch our principal hosted today, my dietary resolve has dissolved! Then a case of the "might as wells" led me to end the week with a Deorio's 7" house deluxe. Back to the reformation tomorrow.
But tonight, it was all Deorio's. mmmmmmm


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Adopting a New Routine

Halfway into one my "loose kicks" down the frozen food aisle, the Assistant Store Manager looked up from her handheld inventory device to smile and ask if I was having a good day. Without realizing what I was doing, I had coordinated several moves from Laurie's walking exercise DVD to the beat of the music piping through the grocery store. Feeling only slightly silly about being discovered in my routine, I had to smile at the changes I've integrated into my life over the past 6 weeks.

Photo above copied and then modified from:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrnoded/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Not only have I changed my daily habits, but I am also beginning to notice the benefits. Though my work day had been a particularly stressful one, apparently I was oblivious to that as I hunted for the broccoli. I had already worked out at the Y, cooked supper, and was then, at 8:30, happily dancing to the beat of some unknown tune, instead of slouching, sedentary, in front of the computer. I don't really care what anyone at the grocery store might have thought. That's progress and I'll take it.

Encouragement from an Unlikely Source

Background: My students are adorable - all of them - in strikingly different ways. Sometimes I forget that learning speech and language skills is hard. They need encouragement, which I try to remember to give generously.

Observation: Hard of Hearing students usually don't acquire language, including pragmatics (social forms), as quickly or as completely as their hearing peers. Because of this, Hard of Hearing students may be quite direct in their comments. Many times hard of hearing students have made pronouncements to me about my age, hair style, weight, clothes, make-up. Whatever they see and think, they share - uncensored. Usually, I think their observations hilarious. There's no room for thin-skin in this field.

Setting: My desk at school; the last five minutes of my fifteen minute working lunch, just prior to an IEP committee meeting for a second grade hard of hearing student's annual review. My student enters to complete one last evaluation item for the review.

ND: Hi, Mrs. Whiteside. What's that?

EW: Hi, ND. Soup! I've got one more bite of my lunch.

ND: What kind is it?

EW: Cabbage soup.
ND: Is it good?

EW: Not particularly.

ND: Why are you eating it?

EW: Oh, I'm on a diet.

ND: Me too!

EW: (Puzzled - she does not seem pudgy to me.) You ARE?

ND: Yes, and I'm doing the Wii Fit too.

EW: Really???

ND: Watch! (executes several fitness moves quite agilely)

EW: Wow! Is your mom doing Wii Fit with you?

ND: No. She's not losing weight!

EW: (big laugh) I don't know if I could do those moves either!

ND: (Surveying me up and down for several seconds.) Mrs. Whiteside, you're looking better! Know how I know? Now your pants do like this (draws parallel lines in the air with her hands), and not like this (draws parentheses)!

EW: (Big Smile) ND, you made me feel better today!

ND: I did???
EW: Oh, Yes!
ND: (Big Smile)

So, in this exchange, my Hard of Hearing student used very appropriate pragmatic language to give encouragement. What a great way to end a week of speech/language work!

Idle Hour Park Walk

I think that Laurie was on target with her estimation of the duck/geese population at Phenix City, Alabama's Idle Hour Park: hundreds! Resting on the banks, strutting across the road, dozing under the trees, paddling across the lake, and even following us around the loop road, great groups of them seemed to have imprinted on us. Rather quickly we made a habit to look down at the pavement, in order to dodge slick spots that they left in their wake.

Planning to document the afternoon, I snapped away with my camera. The goose close enough to me for a good picture refused to look my way. Put your hand out there like you've got some bread, Laurie. Glad to be anywhere on a Friday afternoon except logged into Clarity, Laurie humored me. But, instead of looking up, the stubborn goose commented with a disgusted hiss at our ruse, doggedly pecking away at whatever delicasy he/she (have no idea) had found on the banks of  Moon Lake where we'd gone to "walk it off" after work.

Our plan had been to burn some calories and chalk off one more aerobic session on our fitness to-do list. Laurie suggested Idle Hour as a different walking spot, and I was eager to give it a try. I'm afraid that I ruined our exercise plans, stopping every few feet to take a picture or to laugh at a funny Laurie observation. We had only walked about a half-of-a-mile when I left to meet friends for an impromptu El Vaquero dinner. Thankfully, Laurie is good-natured and didn't seem to mind.

The late afternoon was beautiful and gave me the chance to revisit the scene of a pleasant childhood memory. My dad had taken Beth and me to Idle Hour one afternoon in the early 1960's when I was about seven and she, about five. Laurie told me that the park had been in a state of decline even then. My memory of the place is vague, but Laurie confirmed what I thought that I knew: we probably rode a merry-go-round and a swam in an immense pool - not much in the way of excitement by today's standards. However, Beth and I remembered our afternoon there for years to come as complete magic. More than likely, my fun Daddy provided most of the magic.

Today's walk was short and, though not especially magical, will yield its own good memories: a good friend, several good chuckles, and a sweet autumn afternoon.

Riding the Riverwalk Redux

Anna and I failed in our attempt at riding the Riverwalk this past July. If we had known that the Downtown YMCA loans its members bicycles (pretty nice ones, too), we could have ridden at no cost to us for two hours without the bike rack woes. There was no problem getting two bikes at 4:30 on a week-day. I wonder if Saturdays would be as easy.

Laurie and I have wanted to rent bikes at Ride on Bikes since late summer. We'll do that sometime soon, but chose the freebies today. Vowing to leave work by 4 (almost made it), in order to have time to ride before dark (kinda creepy down there in the shadows), we finally got a bike ride in before the time change.

We selected two sleek,  gazillion speed bikes and set off through downtown towards the river. The Y employees looked just a little bit uncertain about our safety as we headed down 11th Street. They should not have worried about us returning on our own steam, but some navigational tips might have helped us out. Apparently, the last time that I ventured south on the Riverwalk, coaxing balky, sweaty children to follow my lead, the new Trade Center wing had not been built. The trail doubles as a service drive behind the building, confusing me (never takes much!). After a slight false start we did find our way onto the trail and pedaled to South Commons before heading back. I know, I know! Not very far! (I have ridden as far as Oakland Park before!) But now we know the ways of the Riverwalk and we'll be back.

Canada Geese were out flying in formation, and some snacked on whatever delicacy they waded past near the river bank. A lone duck floated by, but the real prize sighting this afternoon was the beautiful Great Blue Heron poised directly below us on the bank. He posed and then took off, skimming across the river and casting his perfect reflection on the water on this overcast autumn day. Lovely. DRAT! I had to use my Blackberry's inadequate camera...would have been a really nice picture with the Canon. This one will have to do (double click on it for a better view).

Laurie and I agreed that biking the Riverwalk was a nice end to a weird Monday at work. We'll be back. With a better camera. Now that we know what's what.

Changing Lifestyles

May I just say, "UNCLE!"? For years I've needed to do something about my sedentary lifestyle and diet. If my shrinking clothes (Surely this is the reason I kept outgrowing them.)  did not serve as an adequate reminder of my backsliding, unhealthy ways, my well-intentioned mother's persistent prompts did refresh my memory each time I saw her.  
Not effective!


But now I am committed to a lifestyle change. What did the trick? Really, two long-term processes. Last year Fife was diagnosed with Meniere's Disease and has had Gout attacks for several years. Over the past year he has drastically changed his diet to control both conditions -- life-altering for him -- and very effective for weight loss. His positive response to dietary restrictions helped me begin to change my own diet (Thanks, Fife!). Then, for half of a year I followed a friend's professional blog  in which she reported her day-to-day experiences during her international exchange to Hungary and, in so doing, also documented her active, healthy lifestyle. Later, her simple encouragement for me to try Yoga and to become more active sealed the deal. (Yes, first I stubbornly argued that I couldn't do Yoga. Thanks, Jane!) Turns out that living examples are uncomplicated and effective motivators, if rarely noticed.

I'm loving learning Yoga (Also doesn't hurt that instructor Rodney Yee is a former ballet dancer.) and can't figure out why I was so resolutely opposed to trying it before (Could it be that I have a very hard head?).  For five days each week, I participate in some aerobic activity, and I am rehabing my diet. Another friend, a former aerobics instructor, has been coaching me on machines at the Y and has taught me how to use an exercise ball (thanks, Laurie!). Yet another friend shared her cabbage soup recipe and Yoga DVD recommendations (Thanks, Cindy!). What would I do without my gentle and generous friends?

Try these tasty, filling, low fat, low carb, low salt, meatless Eggplant Stacks (thanks, again, Jane). Sandwich low-fat Swiss cheese, greek oregano, green onions, tomatoes, basil, grilled portabello mushrooms, and roasted bell peppers between grilled eggplant slices (brushed lightly with olive oil) and bake until heated through.

Now that I've blogged my resolutions, I have no choice but to be committed to them. Can't lose face. :D

Sometimes my stubborn persistence can be a good thing.

And, persist I will.

Hold me to it, friends.

Bike Ride: October at Callaway

Here's just a peek at my beautiful day spent (mostly) on a bike at Callaway Gardens while Fife attended his first day of Fly Fishing School (a birthday present). I'm not sure that Pine Mountain ever saw the 65 degree predicted high and am certain that the sun never peeked out, but the day was glorious! I'm pooped! Click on the collage to see the pictures a bit larger or go to my Picasa Web album to see the slideshow.