Finding Fitness from The Greatest Generation

3 minute read

Maintaining physical motivation is a struggle in times where we need to stay home.  Watching the news can leave me feeling too physically drained to do anything besides slip into my favorite pair of llama PJ pants and lifting tubs of ice cream to my face.  Living in an uncertain world got me thinking about other generations and how they overcame difficult times.  

Years ago I heard a podcast about living to be a centenarian and making it see 100. What was most surprising was how those with the most number of years to their lives were not the super-fit. They weren’t the Olympians, body-builders, or marathoners. Nope, they are ordinary people who moved their body all throughout the day with a more gentle approach. They moved their bodies to walk instead of drive, hand wash the dishes instead of using the dishwasher.

Maybe it’s time to get back to basics so we can get back to movement.  Let’s learn a few tips from our elders and create minor adjustments to our new behaviors.  Our health and our bodies are so worth it!

These feet were made for walking. And that’s just what they’ll do. 

Instead of finding short-cuts, I am finding the path of most resistance to increase my step count.  If you have to step out during the day, think about walking or cycling instead of driving.  When taking the car, park at the furthest end of a parking lot.  There are always a few extra steps I could always be taking – I’m challenging myself to go the extra mile.

Find something, anything to clean!

Feel the burn while you mop, vacuum, and unload the car! Think of small alternatives requiring more elbow grease like making a morning brew with a French press instead of a drip coffee maker.  I’m opting to wash dishes by hand even more so these days, it gets me moving more and saves water.  Sorry Romba, but every bit of movement counts so you are going into the closet for the time being. 

If you’re watching TV, put on a comedy.

Have you ever laughed so hard that your abs hurt the next day? No joke:  it’s a great work-out.  Studies in the International Journal of Obesity have found that laughing raises energy expenditure and increases heart-rate 10-20%. Just 15 minutes of laughter a day will burn 10-40 calories.

And, if there are commercials, that is your time to work-it.

I’m taking that time to do 20 push-ups, 10 burpees or even 30 squats. The key is to mix it up each break so all major muscle groups are activated.

Drink like a fish

Water that is!  Consuming lots of liquids helps me to get up at least once an hour and keeps me from sitting too long.  I minimize water intake the hour before bedtime to prevent disrupting my beauty sleep.

PSA:  I avoid drinking water from single use plastic bottles.  It’s more important than ever to respect the resources of our planet.

YouTube is your friend and Richard Simmons is waiting for you

Who needs a gym anyways when you’ve got Richard? Another go-to fave at the moment is Yoga with Adriene with guided yoga videos. She has lots of different 30 day series and is constantly adding new content specific to your goals. Although goat, puppy, or kitten yoga isn’t possible from home, Adriene takes you on inner space travel with yoga with alien.  

With or without the gym, your health and fitness can be maintained with everything you have - right now. The body doesn’t need hard effort. It just needs more of the easy effort. Your body will thank you for it!

Remembering My Pal on Mother’s Day

5 minute read

Mother’s Day is a day to honor, celebrate and appreciate the influence mothers have had in society and in our daily lives. A year never passes without spending time to reflecting on the impact one woman has made on me. She always lived up to her name and that name is Pal.  

Who is Pal?

Pal was a wonderful combination of warmth and kindness, laughter and love.  Most people would give their grandmother the nickname “Nana” or “Gram”.  “Pal” just felt better to us.  Her nickname came about because she had the tendency to call out “where’s my little pal” in the most endearing way when she was looking for me and my two brothers.

Pal was the reason Sundays could not come soon enough.  Us siblings would spend the entire day with her and my grandpa in their cute, little bungalow with a white picket fence.  My grandma and I would occasionally retreat away from the boys and spend time painting our nails, braiding my hair or getting crafty with paper garland chains.  She always had my most favorite snacks ready and knew how to make my sandwich just the right way.  I don’t know how many times my parents had to deal the request to make lunch “the way Pal does”. There were so many things she did that only her way was the way I wanted it to be. This still holds true to this day. 

Pal Living Up to Her Name

One of my fondest memories with Pal was a day of shopping at Great Lakes Mall. The trip was so special because I grew up in a lot of hand-me-downs from my brothers and second-hand finds from garage sales and thrift stores.  I felt like I hit the jackpot getting something brand new and straight from the mall.

As Pal and I journeyed through the stores together, her joy and excitement matched my own, marveling at all the trinkets and treasures. I learned what it felt like to be spoiled as the shopping bags started to grow and every request was met with a smile and a nod by Pal. Blazin’ blueberry roll-on glimmer and cucumber melon body lotion from Bath and Body Works?  Smile and nod.  A yin yang necklace from Claires? Smile and nod. Every form of sugar imaginable from the Sweet Factory? Smile and nod.  The bags got so big I started to develop triceps muscles at a very young age.

I was on a roll until I saw this country-style doll wearing a sunflower dress, with braided amber hair and holding a pot with a petite sunflower poking out.  I saw big numbers on her price tag and tried to contain my excitement.  I didn’t have a great concept of money but I knew she was too much to ask for.  We left the mall with bags weighing a little less than I really wanted them to. 

When Pal was dropping me off from our day at the mall and I collected my bags, she gave me a warm smile and said, “there’s one more”. And there she was - the doll was delicately wrapped in a big box full of cinnamon-smelling tissue paper.  Pal never failed to make me feel so loved and so special.  

Learning about Sacrifice

Pal taught me the power of sacrifice with an act she did before I was born.  Pal was a long-time smoker and started the habit during a time when cigarettes were advertised as a healthy product. Pal’s doctor warned her that her lungs were deteriorating and that she would not have much time left if she continued smoking. She made the decision to give up smoking the day I was born because she wanted to have more time with her family and with her first granddaughter. Because of Pal’s sacrifice and commitment to her family, we were able to share a childhood of great memories together.  

Her health started to deteriorate when I was in high school.  I helplessly watched the woman I love dearly lose the vigor she once had as she became dependent on an oxygen tank. Pal eventually died after years of battling with lung disease on March 22, 2004. She was 71 and passed away a decade sooner than the average American woman.

Pal’s Legacy Lives On

Pal never got to witness how far her love has taken me and how big my dreams grew because of the courage she instilled in me.   After my first marathon in high school, I was looking for a new adventure. Google led me to The Big Ride Across America - a 3,300-mile bicycle ride from Seattle, Washington to Washington D.C.  This wasn’t just a bike ride.  It was way to raise funds for the American Lung Association and help others from struggling with lung disease.  Pal was the reason behind every peddle.  She was the reason for every mile I pushed through.  Pal was the reason thousands of dollars were raised to help others dealing with lung disease.

I know Pal is still with me and I feel her presence strongest during endurance events.  When my body is weak, my spirit is strong because of her. The longing I have for Pal will never go away but she left me with the reassurance that she is always near in heart. Faith keeps me connected to her and she is there in spirit in every mile I take.

5 Notes on Nature

7 minute read

During this period of being indoors, I am finding there is no better time than now to slow down, reflect, and celebrate the lessons nature is willing and able to teach us.  The only requirement on our part is that we are still enough to listen.

Heading into Earth Day, I want to share a few ways I have been a student to nature and the ways it has opened my eyes and my heart. 

1.       Nature reminds to just breathe in

Air tastes the best in nature. When I am engulfed in fresh, clean air, I am immediately reminded of the joy and pleasure it provides in just one inhale.  I want to slow down to breathe a little deeper and savor each moment a little longer.  Nature taught me to breathe with my full capacity that leads me to a state of calmness and contentment.   

Similarly, our bodies respond to smell in a powerful way.  Is there a scent that instantly takes you to a place and time?  Maybe it’s the odd, yet comforting, aroma of old books and warm sugar cookies that transports you back to grandma’s house as a child.  For me, if I’m driving past a farm, I can instantly be brought back to days of cycling through the rolling countryside while on a cross country trek across America.  Or when I am in a seafood restaurant, I am suddenly transported to the middle of the ocean on my rowboat named Liv.  Scent doesn’t just smell good, it feels good too because it reconnects us and our bodies to fond memories. 

Enjoy the power of breath by simply inhaling deeply or by lighting a candle.  It’s an instant way to transport us to places away from wherever here currently is. 

“Scent doesn’t just smell good, it feels good too because it reconnects us and our bodies to fond memories.”

2. Nature teaches adaptability

The perfect orchestra is nature.  Stay with me for a moment.  The flowers are not worried about the cadence of the rain or when that bee is arriving to spread its pollen. The trees aren’t worried about the changing tempo of the seasons and how they will get through winter. The orchestra’s maestro, the sun, isn’t worried about throwing off the group by rising too early or falling to soon.  Why? Because nature knows how to adapt.

Adaptability is a choice we can make. Every. Single. Day.  It’s a difficult skill to master and something I’ve improved on as a result of time and patience.   Every adventure challenged me to adapt, like building up calluses in my hands to manage 10 hours of rowing a day or my feet adapting to the pressure of running countless steps for marathons.  Run4Water will bring new challenges and I welcome, not combat, the ways in which I will need to adapt to be in sync with my body, mind and surroundings.   

3. Nature reminds things start small and grow mighty

Imagine you are in a forest and engulfed by redwoods. These massive trees are wider than you are tall and they envelope you in a way that you can barely make out their tops as they touch the clouds. Can you believe they can weight 1.6 million pounds?!

Now, imagine that in your hand you have a seed that is 1/100 the size and weight of a coin.  That one, small seed has the power to become the very mighty forest in front of you.   But the forest got to where it is through small, gradual steps.

Nature looked really big when I was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  I was half-way through a 70 day crossing by myself in a rowboat with 1,500 miles from land on either side of me.  Typically, I feel elated and excited to reach the half-way mark on an endurance adventure.  But this time I was not.  The ocean looked too big, and I felt too small.  I wanted to throw in the towel and call it quits.

In this moment is where a shift in perspective was pivotal.  I told myself I would not row 3,000 miles, but instead 1 mile, 3,000 times.  Having this mindset allowed me to go further than what I thought was possible.

The vastness of nature reminds us that big projects and ideas start small like seedling of a redwood but can grow into something mighty with incremental effort.

“The ocean looked too big, and I felt too small. I wanted to throw in the towel and call it quits.”

4. Nature instills humility

Whenever we hear stories in the news about adventurers, we often hear about how a person conquered nature.  This headline could not be further from the truth though.  All it took for nature to put me in my place was almost getting struck by a lightning bolt while on a long-distance cycling journey!  It left an imprint on me, literally, as the bolt was so close it was difficult to immediately regain vision in my right eye after it had happened.

Nature is completely capable of making us humble and there is something beautiful about that realization.  We don’t need to fight that fact, and once we accept it, we can be left filled with gratitude and awe to experience its power and for what it has given us.  Moral of the story is to stay grounded.  In my particular case, that required being grounded in more than one way (because of the lightning).

5. Nature evokes a sense of wonder

“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself”.

Don’t you just adore this quote?  Natures does not need an audience but it is always willing to show us something new the moment we let it guide us.  

Most times when I go for my long runs, I don’t specifically plan my route and let nature and my curiosity take the wheel.  Venturing off the beaten path has resulted in some of my all-time favorite experiences.  There was the time running through the dry and arid Mojave that I stumbled upon an oasis filled with bright neon-green palm trees surrounding a small pond.  Or the time I stumbled upon hot springs and gave myself a nice little foot bath to calm my feet.  It’s amazing how I was provided just what I needed in those moments.

Because of these experiences, I am not afraid to take detours with my runs or even in life.  I never know what I’m going to find, or what I will find in myself, but I have faith I will be provided for.

“I never know what I’m going to find, or what I will find in myself, but I have faith I will be provided for.”

Enough talk about nature, let’s go outside and enjoy all that it has to offer.