Cookies: December 21st

My cookie exchanges went wonderfully. I came home with 11 dozen cookies which all looked fantastic on my cookie tray at Christmas. Everyone did such a great job and I sampled every single one of the delicious treats. Boot camp took a holiday this week, we were off from Monday-Friday. I started out this week with the best of intentions however I only managed to work out once. In my defense I did try to stay in healthy eating mode. Gabriella and Greg were excellent cookie samplers for both the cookies I made and the ones I received from my cookie exchanges. As you can see from the picture Gabriella is a natural born chef.

Chilly Weekend

This weekend it seems Okinawa is showing us it's chilly weather. It's been in the 50's and 60's during the day, which for a California girl like me seems very very cold. I think I may have to pull out my scarf and wooly hat if this weather persists. This weekend we explored a few new parks around the island. The newest one is right next to our favorite egg store and it's a great park. It's full of great ropes to climb and some slides, it even includes a skate park. We had some tasty lunch at a new restaurant. They had home made bread that was delicious, especially the baguettes. I'll have to go back again soon to pick up some bread to go.

Sunday was my first cookie exchange and although it wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be I still came home with a big stack of cookies of all different types. After our quick exchange I came back home and made some yummy turkey chili for dinner before making 5 dozen cookies. I have a few more dozen to make but I'm out of Canola oil and running low on granulated sugar. Of all the stuff I thought I was going to run out of neither of those made the list. I did have a fun time using my new pastry bag to squirt the frosting into the center of the cookie sandwiches. Tomorrow I'm hoping to finish my cookies with a little time to spare before the party.

Do you Sumo?

Thanks to Greg's Japanese intern Nori we were able to attend an amazing and rare sporting event. Nori arranged tickets for us to a Sumo match in Urasoe. Sumo comes to Okinawa only once every 6 years. We drove down together after Greg finished work and were treated to an amazing show. We had box seats which was literally a box traced on the floor with tape where we sat on some pillows. The Sumo program was divided into classes based on weight and record. There was even a section in the program where they explained how Sumo works. It was done by two wrestlers in a very funny and amusing way. The actual matches were fairly short but contain many specific rituals. The most notable ritual and probably the one most familiar to us in the west is the throwing of salt to purify the ring. Nori told us that Sumo matches use an average of 7 kilos of salt a day. The men who participate in Sumo start off at a fairly young age. At the program we saw children who are already part of a Sumo stable. Stables are where the Sumo's live and train. For those who are starting out, not only do they train every day but they also act as assistants to those higher, they live in the stables where those who are more experienced get to live in their own apartments. The Sumo wrestlers are huge, those in the highest class spend their days eating large lunches with beer in order to gain their weight quickly. There are specific Sumo moves which are illustrated on a t-shirt I purchased Greg at the event. The final matches of the evening were with the largest and most senior of the the participants. The matches were impressive, the massive size of the men and the sounds of them crashing into each other is indescribable. At the end of the night we were able to go up to the ring, see where the action had taken place and even touch the salt. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we are thankful that we were able to experience true Sumo.

Christmas Vacation

This week has been busy. I can't even remember how many times I've opened this website only to be called away to do something else. This week was my first full week of boot camp since getting back from Hawaii and it was a hard one. We worked arms this week and I suppose it's been a while since we have because mine are still sore and it's Saturday. The hardest day was Thursday. We had a 45 pound bar that we had to lift from a squat to our chest. We had a friend spot us and we of course had to spot our friends. I did pretty well, probably because Gabriella weighs about 40 pounds and I pick her up all the time. We had to do sets of 20 before switching positions. Then after a few sets we ran down the stairs, down the block and then back up. Angie came with me as my friend and although we didn't get to work together it was still nice to drive with her to class.

I also went to a couple Zumba classes this week. It's been about 6 weeks since the class has been offered and it was great to do some cool moves and burn some calories at the same time. We are off next week from boot camp, but I will still have Zumba a couple of times and I'll be trying to go to the gym everyday. Greg's brother is coming to visit next week and he's bringing his running shoes so perhaps we will go running together a few times. I know I'll need to work off all the calories I'll be taking in. Tis the season for holiday treats.

This week was Gabriella's last week of school before the holiday break. Greg and I had a teacher conference on Friday and her teacher had only good things to day about Gabriella. Her extra classes also finished up for the year this week. Gymnastics and Hula will resume next year and Gabriella will add a ballet class on Saturdays. For the next few weeks Gabriella will be on break from school so we will be visiting lots of parks and setting up a few playdates to make sure she stays entertained.

C is for Cookie

This weekend has been all about cookies. On Friday my chocolate mint cookies finally got made and Greg gave them rave reviews. They are delicious but the recipe only makes a dozen at a time which means a lot of work for me if I'm going to make them for the cookie exchanges. Today I made strawberry jam buttons and the dough for soft molasses cutouts is in the fridge cooling until it's easier to handle. We've been getting into the Christmas spirit by watching all our Christmas movies and enjoying the decorations all around the island.

Yesterday we went to the Camp Courtney Christmas Carnival. The only thing Christmas about it was that Santa was there. We didn't stop by to say hello because his line stretched all the way back to the North Pole. Gabriella played a few games, went on a ride and did a fair bit of bouncing. The evening out was really nice although it paled in comparison to the Balboa Holiday Nights in San Diego. I think this time of year is when we really see the differences between being home in the states and here during the holidays. We miss annual events like going to Balboa Park, seeing the parades on TV and going to see lots of Christmas lights. There are plenty of lights around here but no one has them coordinated to music or anything. This week coming up will be the last one before boot camp takes a 2 week break, I'm determined to keep up on my exercise if only to get out of the house by myself every once in a while.

Ho Ho Hoarders

My post today was going to about my truly hellacious work out this morning but that seems minor compared to the insanity I just went through. *Deep Breath in and out*

I'm making cookies for two cookie exchanges and for some reason I haven't been able to select a recipe yet. I bought one of those nifty mini cookie cookbooks at the exchange and spent today studying the recipes. Instead of deciding which to make I've picked a few to try out before I make my decision. The first recipe on my list required some new ingredients that I didn't have in my pantry so I take my list and head out the door. I had a few other stops on my list and the commissary was suppose to be the second to last. I merrily tossed a few items into my cart and then headed to the baking supply aisle looking for mint extract. I get there and there is no mint extract, but I've noticed that there are a lot of other holiday displays around the store so I check all of those. No mint extract. I ask the lady at the counter if they could check the back and they do and come back with nothing. The night manager of the exchange comes out to tell me that the item I want is NIS (not in stock). I ask when it will be in stock and she shrugs then says it's all up to the supplier. With a heavy heart I walk out of the commissary with my bag of other purchases. I know where all that Mint Extract is. It's in one persons house who couldn't find it last year and is hoarding it. It happens on this island all the time. You see your favorite toothpaste that you haven't seen since you moved here and suddenly instead of buying one or two tubes you are buying the whole case. Deciding that I need that extract I drive to the Air Force commissary. It's not really far away but in traffic it takes me 30 minutes to get there. Lucky for me they have it and I consider getting an extra bottle just in case but then I remember that is why I'm in this situation in the first place. So I decide to just get one because hoarding just makes it harder on the next person. I have all the ingredients to make my cookies but I'm too tired to make them tonight, I'll have to do it at some point tomorrow.

Now that my venting is over I'll share my work out with you today. This was my first true day back, yesterday we ran and to me that's kind of a piece of cake. Cake for me because I can basically go at my own pace, listen to my ipod and tune out the rest of the world for an hour. In class that is never an option. Today was friends and family day and I once again showed up without either. John was in rare form today, we started out with some floor exercise that used our hamstrings, glutes, legs and hips. We did that for a while and he made the exercise increasingly harder then we picked up some weights and headed to the stairs. Then we went back in and did some more of the leg exercises once again he increased their difficulty, then back to the stairs and to finish off our torture we did some ab work. During the Ab work he asked us to sit back so our abs were activated then lift our foot. I felt like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, the scene where she's staring at her toe trying to wiggle it, I was staring at my foot willing it to lift off the ground. Just like in the movie eventually my foot lifted but it was a struggle. I had to take a nap while Gabi was at school today because I was so ridiculously exhausted. I'm going to bed early tonight in hopes that I will be fully recovered for tomorrow's run.

Must be present for presents

Today started with a long run at boot camp. I realized that the last time I ran the long route I did not get lost I merely didn't go very fast. This morning I started a few minutes early and ran a few minutes late but managed to go the same number of laps as last week. I feel a sense of accomplishment that I survived the run and that I did it a bit faster.

It's the season for shopping and I've been doing a lot of it in recent days. Trying to get the last of the gifts purchased before the deadline to post gifts arrives this Friday. I say deadline because the 11th is the last day the post office here in Okinawa can assure me that my gifts will arrive in the states before Christmas. I was hoping to get the gifts sent today, but that simply did not happen. I did manage to buy the rest of the gifts today so that's something. If luck is on my side I can have them wrapped and packed tonight then mailed off in the morning. I'm feeling a lack of motivation to do this though. I love Christmas, especially buying great gifts for other people. This year has been a bit of a challenge, I feel being farther away from those I love has taken away some of my gift giving panache. I don't know what they (my gift recipients) have been doing in recent months, no one has mentioned something they'd love to have in passing because we don't really talk like that to anyone anymore. This year I can't say I've known what the perfect gift is for anyone. Even the people I live with and I do have the occasional casual conversation with them. Regardless if I've found the perfect gift or not the gifts have been purchased and they will soon be sent and that's just going to have to be enough this year.

Da Plane Da Plane

We are back home in Okinawa now and of course the trip was long and exhausting. Gabriella did manage to make it to school and has been awake all day. I'm sure both she and I will go to bed early tonight. Our trip home was not without its excitement. I have come to the realization that I take my memory for granted sometime and that can leave to catastrophic mistakes. One such mistake happened Sunday morning. My parents asked me repeatedly what time my flight was on Sunday morning and I cheerfully replied that it was at 10:36 am, never bothering to actually look up the flight time on the itinerary. Well it turns out that my flight was really at 9:45 and it landed at 10:36 in Honolulu. So when we checked in at Hawaiian airlines the nice lady in the flowery shirt informed me I would not be making the original flight. My first concern was making the connecting flight. Lucky for us the next flight to Oahu was only a half hour later and although we were on standby we still got on the flight without a problem. Once in Honolulu we had to take the Wiki Wiki shuttle bus to the international terminal which they say to give yourself 25 minutes to do. We arrived at the international terminal just in time to hear our name announced over the loudspeaker calling us to the gate. We managed to get on the flight by the skin of our teeth. The rest of the trip home was completely banal. The food was kind of icky, we slept a few hours on the long flight, and the landing into Naha was as bumpy as ever.

Gabriella and I are both happy and rested from our vacation. We enjoyed seeing our family and playing on the beach. I'm tan which is something to be proud of considering it's December. It was a great trip and I hope we do it every year.

The picture is from Gabriella and my last dinner in Maui.

Another post from Maui

The last full day of vacation is upon us and I can't believe that it's over already. We've had a few days of fun in the sun both at the beach and the pool. We've explored Lahaina and purchased the requisite hawaiian print dresses. The pools here are amazing, there are so many we haven't even visited them all. The waves at the beach have been a bit treacherous, so much so that I will probably be washing sand out of Gabriella's hair until Christmas. She was a brave little soul though, getting right back up after she was knocked down by the wave only to have it happen again a few seconds later. After the second time we cut our losses and headed to the pool. We went down to the south villa pool which included a fantastic water slide. It was a pretty fast one and only one person could go on it at a time. I went first and waited at the bottom to catch Gabi. She loved it, but when we went up for the second time the water slide monitor told us Gabi had to be able to swim independently to the side of the pool. We went only one more time. Gabriella has already forgotten most of her swimming lessons and she seems to be less than interested in practicing. We're still having lots of fun in the pools though. Friday we spent all morning and most of the afternoon at the pool. Gabriella and I are nice and tan. Later that night we went to another Luau, this time at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. It was called the Drums of the Pacific. I'm trying to upload a video of Gabriella learning the hula, but I'm not sure it's going to load. If not I have another picture that will be just as telling. The whole show was fantastic although I think the food at the other Luau was better. My dad decided to skip this luau proclaiming that one luau is enough for him. We lined up early and I was able to read a few more pages of my book before we went in to the show. Gabriella really enjoyed the show especially the hula from tahiti. We talked about all the different dances and she recognized a lot of their moves as ones she does in her hula class. All and all it was a great night, which Jen and I capped off with a late night trip to the spa. Today we will be going to the aquarium and packing. It's been a great vacation and I suppose it's not quite over yet.

**Sorry the video didn't load, but the picture is of Gabriella with the fire dancer. I think she looks adorably shy.

Pass the Poi

Another few days in Hawaii have passed and we are more relaxed than ever. My dad has taken the brunt of the babysitting duties so I've had a chance to relax and enjoy the island. My mom and I went shopping today and I bought a few new books from Barnes and Nobel. I read my book club book on the flight from Tokyo to Honolulu, so I needed some new reading material. After the bookstore we went on a fruitless search for terry cloth shorts for my mom. Although no shorts were found in the epic search of the Lahaina Cannery shops I did get a new sunhat so the trip wasn't a total bust.

Today I went in the ocean for a quick swim in some pretty rough waves. The water certainly wasn't as warm as Okinawa, but it was easy to get use to once I got in all the way. I dried off at the pool soaking in some rays and working on my tan.

Tonight was a great luau at the Royal Lahaina Hotel. The food was amazing, my favorite was the Kahlua pig and the vegetable stir fry. There was even a kids buffet for my little keiki. The show was fantastic, the best part was the mistress of ceremonies who was both clever and traditional. The dancers were great and Gabriella was enthralled by the show. My favorite quote is as follows.

Scene: Female Dancer in short skirt doing a very quick hip shaking hula.

Gabriella: "She's shaking her bottom a lot."

Gabi even showed off a few of her hula moves during the show. There was plenty of eye candy for both the men and the ladies. And of course there were fire dancers, which always adds an element of danger.

All and all it was a fantastic day. Tomorrow my cousin Jenifer arrives and I can't wait.

Aloha from Maui

We've arrived safely in Maui and have enjoyed our first 24 hours at the resort. I haven't been to Maui since I was 14 and boy has it changed. It seems like there are no hotels here anymore just timeshares. But it's still beautiful, the water is crystal blue and about the same temperature as a glass of ice water.

Our trip to Maui required us to take 3 planes through 4 airports. The trip from Okinawa to Narita was the same as always, although Gabriella didn't get a toy this time. She didn't even notice. We had a long layover in Narita and we spent it walking around the terminals, checking out all 50 gates. We had lunch at a little restaurant that overlooked the runway and Gabriella enjoyed watching the planes take off and land. When we finally got on the plane it was delayed for almost an hour. Once we were airborne we had lots of turbulence throughout the entire flight. I didn't sleep because of all the bouncing around but Gabriella managed to nap for about 4 hours. Arriving in Honolulu we took a bus to customs before heading back inside the terminal for our inter-island flight to Maui. My first stop on American soil was Starbucks for an eggnog latte. I suppose I've built it up too much in my head, elevated the deliciousness in my memory to heights the actual beverage could not achieve. In other words it wasn't as good as I remembered and I was disappointed. The good news is that I won't be going to Starbucks everyday for coffee. The flight to Maui was only 30 minutes and Gabriella got a window seat so we spent the fight looking out the window trying to spot migrating whales. We didn't see any. Finally touching down and deplaning in Maui we waited a couple of hours for my parents to arrive.

We rented a mini van because we had so much luggage and 5 people to drive around that the economy car wasn't going to cut it. Our first stop was Costco where we stocked up on everything we could possibly need. I even found my favorite Lobster Bisque. My mom and I are the drivers on the rental contract so I drove to the hotel. It was a lovely drive and I did my best to stay on the right side of the road. I was probably not the best choice for a driver since I was exhausted from 13 hours in planes and use to driving on the left, but we made it safely to our destination. The hotel here is amazing, there are a dozen restaurants, 2 general stores, pools for adults, a pirate ship pool for kids, beautiful beaches, and anything else you may need. We did our best to unpack and eat a quick dinner before settling in for a night in. I explored the general store and got a lot of small items like marinades and half and half. Later in the evening my aunt and I explored the nightlife (nonexistant) at the hotel. I was tucked into bed by 9 pm.

Early to bed means early to rise. This morning I was in the gym by 6 am and used the elliptical machine for 40 minutes. The gym is small but well appointed and I was the only one in there for the first 30 minutes. It even has a steam room and dry sauna which I look forward to trying out later. Our first activity of the morning was a sales breakfast from Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays. We bought tickets to the aquarium and a luau. I hope Gabriella likes the luau especially the dancers. She really wants to drink out of a coconut, perhaps that will happen at the luau. When we returned from our sales pitch Gabriella was already out at the pirate ship pool. I slipped into my bathing suit and joined her for a little bit before we both headed to the bigger pool. We spent the rest of the morning swimming before coming back to the room for lunch.

As I write this she is fast asleep in the chaise lounge chair covered with a blanket and snuggling her Ariel doll. I hope she wakes up in time for dinner.

Running Road Map

There is something about running that makes my brain a little wonky. Today I went to the 6pm boot camp. It was a run day and we started on time like good little boot campers. I was about half way through my first lap when John drove by and said "Long Route". We've been running the blue line for a while but I've never actually run the long route. So I turned the corner and saw some of the other people in front of me turning so I followed them. I managed to keep them in my sights through the neighborhood of houses before I finally lost sight of them. I just kept going straight hoping that the path I should take would be fairly obvious. I ran up this huge hill and ended up back on a street that I was familiar with. I made the turn and headed back to the start of our run route. When I passed John he said I was going too slow, that I needed to stop singing to myself or whatever I was doing and run faster. I sped up, changed my music and stopped singing. I did go faster and as I went down the giant hill I'd run up before I got the feeling that this route was really much longer than it should be. I managed to make it back to the the starting point exhausted and obviously the very last person to finish. When I looked at the ipod I realized that it was already 7:20, and I'd been running for an hour and twenty minutes. I decided that I wanted to find out how far I'd actually run, so I drove the route. It took me 5 minutes to drive it and the total distance was 4.2 kilometers. I ran it twice so that's 8.4 kilometers, which is 5.25 miles. That is the farthest I've ever run. My legs are already starting to throb and I'm sure by tomorrow morning I won't be able to move. But now I know I can run 5.25 miles, so that's something.

Thanksgiving and Sharing

Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving here in Okinawa. It was much different from last year when Greg was on call and we actually celebrated on Friday. This year we had a few friends over, our sponsor family and Greg's Japanese intern and his family. The McCaulley's have obviously celebrated Thanksgiving before, but this was their first Okinawa Thanksgiving. The day was beautiful and hot, probably close to 80 degrees. It was perfect grilling weather, which is how we prepared one of the turkey breasts we made. Nori and his family celebrated their first Thanksgiving, the Japanese don't have this type of holiday. Nori had lots of questions about our Thanksgiving traditions and how they differ from everyone else in America. It was really fun sharing with them. Gabriella loved playing with Luke and Yuto, although they were both younger they all played wonderfully together. Gabriella played the consummate host making sure that everyone was happy and well taken care of. The food was delicious. We served turkey breast two ways, one grilled and one made in the oven. The sides were mashed potatoes, mashed yams with marshmallows, stuffing, green beans and rolls. Everyone enjoyed the dinner and dessert was pumpkin pie and pound cake with homemade strawberry topping and cool whip. It was a great Thanksgiving.

Catching Up

Well it's been a busy couple of days and in the sense of time I'm going to attempt to catch up a little.

Sunday we went to the Churaumi Aquarium, it's in the northern part of the island and one of our favorite places to visit. Although the aquarium is much the same every time we visit I notice something new each time. For example, this time Gabriella willing touched the sea cucumber in the touch tank. She's always been apprehensive before, but not this time. We also visited the dolphin tanks, which Gabriella and I hadn't seen before. Check out the low railing in the picture, that would never exist in the states, yet no one fell in. We watched the dolphins swim and jump in their pools before heading over to the main event, the dolphin show. We've seen this show quite a few times and usually it's always the same. This time however they added a few new moves. Our personal favorite was the breakdancing dolphin, it was very very cool. The trip up and back to the aquarium was full of traffic. Monday was a Japanese holiday and apparently everyone in Okinawa was on the road on Sunday. It took us 2 hours to get home, so scrapping our original dinner plan we went out for sushi. We all went to bed early, Gabriella because she had school, me because I had boot camp and Greg because he gets up at 3 am on Mondays to watch football.

Speaking of Mondays, another one happened yesterday. There were only 3 of us at boot camp and needless to say without others to deflect some of the interest we were all front and center in John's focus. We worked on stretching and did another exercise with this blue inflatable tube. Then we got a lecture about trusting our heart to know what's right. It was a nice lesson, however my legs hurt the rest of the day.

Tuesday was stairs at boot camp and more stretching. There were only 4 of us which made going up and down the stairs quick and painful. Gabriella had a great lunch date with friends and enjoyed a Thanksgiving themed story time at the library. She was very excited to tell her friends about our upcoming trip to Hawaii. "I get to take 3 planes" she says. I had a little less fun at story time because once I sat on the floor I had a hard time getting up.

Tug of War

Today I finally feel like the holiday season has begun. I was able to procure all the ingredients I needed for Thanksgiving dinner. It only took trips to 2 commissaries, but I suppose that's tobe expected since in the states I would have gone to just as many. After the grocery shopping was finished we had a relaxing afternoon at home.

This evening we went to check out the Okinawa City International Carnival. It was on gate 2 street which is right outside Kadena Air Base Gate 2 (what a coincidence). There were food booths, taiko drum performances, and music. The highlight of today was a tug of war. They've been making this huge rope in the park that I run at for boot camp so I've seen its progress over the past few weeks. It was a huge rope and Greg was nice enough to help them move it into position. Gabriella had a chance to participate in the kids tug of war, which I believe was a draw. Greg participated in the first adult tug of war which unfortunately his side lost. I got to participate in the second adult tug of war and you guessed it WE WON!! Once again proving that I'm superior, just kidding. The whole festival was really fun. Gabriella played a fishing game and won a light up butterfly necklace and she got to bounce in a bouncy house shaped like a dragon. Greg and I got some tasty food and he even got a Rich Orion beer. The festivals on this island are amazing, they are almost always free and contain great opportunities to try new foods, play carnival games and see things that are both traditional and modern, today was no exception.

No Rain on my run day

It didn't rain this morning but there was a rather wonderful breeze at 5 am. I finally cracked the 3 lap wall I've had since we first started running the blue line. I made it 4 laps!! Which is probably a little over 4 miles. I am really proud of myself. I had a good mix of music on my ipod which helped to keep me going up and down the slight hills along the line. In fact I found myself speeding up or slowing down depending on the beat of the song. And of course like always I was mouthing the words while I run. I have no idea why I do it but I do. I sometimes wonder what people think as they drive by me while I'm running. I'm sure it's something along the lines of "that crazy girl is talking to herself or I wonder if she's calling for help because she looks like she's about to die." Neither is true by the way.

Today was a really busy day and as I write this it's still not over. Although someone up there likes me because both Gabi and Luke are taking a nap right now. I'm babysitting Luke today for our new sponsor family, he's almost a year and a half. He went with us to Gabriella's school international feast and to Hula. Gabriella has been amazing with him, holding his hand and helping him with everything from bouncing in the bounce house to showing him how to use her toys. They are quite a pair and clearly they both exhausted each other. I have my fingers crossed for some long naps and a pleasant rest of the afternoon.

Repetition is his reputation

I remember when Rachel was going through her first boot camp, she told me a story about how one morning John just made them hold the plank position the entire hour. Today I think I experienced a little of that. This morning I arrived at 4:45 am and we joined the 4 am class' workout already in progress. They were all laying on benches with red balls tied to their ankles doing leg lifts. The 5 am class started in and we did about 300 before the 4 am class ended. The 4 am class filed out and those of us who'd come early just kept going as the rest of our class came in and got settled. We just kept going, over and over and over again. We'd get to 1000 and then start over. I estimate we did over 3000 leg lifts. It was brutal, but I remembered what Rachel had said about that day she'd experienced. It's an hour of class, after that hour you'll get to go home he can't keep you there. So I occasionally (obsessively) looked at the clock knowing that at 6 am I would be released from this repeating hell. Finally we got to get some water and take off the "balls of fire". The next exercise was running in place with our hands on the bench in order to "try out our new legs". Needless to say it was painful and yet I knew I could do it because at that point there was only 15 minutes left of class and I know I can do anything for 15 minutes. We got a short lesson for the last few minutes of class where John admitted he was trying to kill us. He meant the old us, because in order to make progress you must let go (kill) the old habits, the old attitudes, and the old self. I've seen progress, lots of it in fact, so that makes letting go easier because I can see the light. I see the future me and I want to get there. I know it won't be easy and I'll probably have more days like this one before it arrives, but it will be worth it.

Rain Rain come and stay...

... especially on a running day. This morning was a run day and it was sprinkling and a freezing 62 degrees here. Honestly I walked out of my house this morning and debated going back inside for a jacket. I didn't because I knew I'd be hot and sweating in no time. Yesterday we had a class lecture and someone was 15 minutes late, so in order to teach the class a lesson about timeliness our class now starts at 4:45 am. So this morning I dutifully arrived at 4:45 at the Kadena Blue line ready to run. There was no one from the 4 am class, no water bottles or keys on the ground and no John. My fellow students and I decided that class must be in the gym so we drove over there and got started. I chose the elliptical machine because it's in the back of the room and I can people watch without being watched. I started the machine and off I went for 60 full minutes, never stopping only slowing occasionally to take sips of water. In 60 minutes I was able to go 5.24 miles, the longest distance I've ever gone running or on an exercise machine, with the possible exception of the stationary bike. I'm drenched in sweat even now and I'm sure that my legs will feel like jelly for the rest of the day. But it won't matter because I'll have a ridiculously happy grin on my face as I hobble around all day because of this early morning accomplishment.

Manic Monday

Since Greg worked all weekend he got today off. He and Gabriella both started their days before I did. Greg was up watching football at 3 am and Gabriella woke up from a nightmare/bathroom trip about 45 minutes later. Both of them were happily sitting on the couch when I walked out of the door to go to boot camp at 4:40 am.

Today was a big day for me at boot camp, not only because it was the start of my second one, but it was the first day I've gone without my friends. Angie has finished her boot camp although she says she will go with me on Thursdays as my friend and Rachel is in the states until after Christmas. I got in my car this morning and as if on autopilot I drove myself to the gym. Now usually Monday mornings are half exercise and half lecture, well not today. This morning started with this new exercise where we bend over with our hands on the ground then bend our knees. We did 440 before we had to start over because someone was late. All in all I think we only did 700 but they were killers. Then we hit the stairs running down the stairs, down the block then back. We did 12 laps, well I should say the fastest people did 12 laps, I did 7. But I did manage to kind of run up the stairs so that was an accomplishment. Then we went back inside and did some arm and leg work using the benches. Then back outside for more running and then thankfully a 5 minute lecture about burning fat. It was a crazy workout and I'm sure tomorrow's will be even worse.

Greg had today off as I said earlier, so he bbq'd some delicious brats for lunch and then we walked over to American Village for dinner. Although I did have a hamburger for dinner I was able to pass on Yogurtland. Greg and Gabriella managed to spend 1398 yen on two bowls of yogurt. Greg insists that Gabriella's yogurt was heavier than his, but he ended up eating a fair portion of hers in the end. I had a few bites of her fruit but that was it. The evening walk was really nice and we are going to try to take one more often.

Tis the season?

Well it's official I'm already in Christmas mode. Yesterday I pulled out some Christmas DVD's for Gabriella to watch and we've already started compiling some presents for the folks back in the states. I feel I'm already behind slightly since I think I had more presents purchased at this time last year. I'm most proud of actually ordering my Christmas cards from Shutterfly this weekend. I'm now confident that they will get here in plenty of time for me to address them and mail them to everyone in time for Christmas. It seems Christmas comes so much earlier here because all our gifts need to be mailed out by December 1st in order to guarantee their arrival before Christmas Eve. Although I'm not the only one who's getting into the spirit early, Santa was at one of the exchanges last weekend posing for pictures. Plus Starbucks already has their holiday coffees out, although sadly no eggnog latte again this year. Perhaps they will have it in Hawaii, I'll keep my fingers crossed. In my mind Okinawa has been decorated for Christmas since Halloween, but it may just seem like that because they love Christmas lights year around.

Advent officially starts in 2 weeks so really the Christmas Season is right around the corner, in fact just thinking of that makes me a little nervous. I still have so many gifts to buy and ship.

Before and After

Today was a run day and my God was it hard. We did this very short loop that included climbing up 4 flights of stairs and sprinting up the hill. I call it the hill because it's the same hill I sprinted up a while ago. This time the hill was not the problem, the stairs were the killer. I managed to do 7 laps in an hour. I have no idea how far it was but judging by the amount of sweat pouring off me I know I was working hard. In fact my heart was still racing even after I drove home, showered and laid back down in bed. This was the first time all week that I went back to bed after boot camp. I feel like I could go back to sleep right now and I might after Gabi goes to school.

This was a great workout and a good way to end my first 12 weeks of boot camp. I've come a long way in 12 weeks, I'm 30 pounds lighter, I can run without being chased, I choose to exercise and feel great after I do. I've also changed mentally, taking time to appreciate little accomplishments as much as big ones and I'm happier with myself and my life. This has been a great class and I can't wait to see what the next 12 weeks brings.

Veteran's Day BBQ

Yesterday was Veteran's day and as a rare treat Greg had the day off. We celebrated by throwing a bbq. Of course it wouldn't be a bbq without a last minute grocery store trip. Actually there were 3 stops on our last minute shopping trip. The first was Jusco, Greg wanted to check out the Japanese beer selection and I wanted to get some non oil marinade. We found out the Greg is very handy at Jusco because of his ability to read some Japanese. I can't wait to take him back and made more use of this skill. Our next stop was the shopette where Greg stocked up on 2 six packs of beer for the party. Unfortunately there was no Newcastle, but he did get some Stella which is better than a sharp stick in the eye. Our last stop was the commissary which was thankfully open on the holiday. Once we were all stocked up we headed home for a quick chat with the Montoya's on the computer and then I got down to the serious business of cooking. We served turkey burgers, hamburgers and brats. I made some fresh salsa and guacamole and a veggie tray for appetizers. The party was a great success and I think everyone had a nice time. I also managed to unload a substantial amount of candy from my pantry.

This morning in boot camp we used some very cool equipment, boxing gloves. It was a hard Ab workout but at least I had fun wearing the gloves and punching the air. I think I'd like to try a combat fitness class sometime. It seems like it would be a good work out and the opportunity to punch anything sounds intriguing. Later today is Cardio Funk, it's bandana Thursday so I'll be heading to the 100 yen store to pick one up to match my outfit.

So, I weighed myself today and I lost 1.5 pounds since the last time I weighed myself which was before vacation. I'm kind of astonished. I didn't stick with my exercise plan while I was in California and I certainly faltered slightly on the healthy eating plan. I'm happy I'm still loosing although it makes me think how much could I have lost if I'd stuck to the plan. Oh well, I don't have a time machine so I suppose I'll never know.

Another Week Begins

At the request of my brother in law I will try to keep the blog from becoming exercise-centric. Yesterday was my first day back at boot camp and although the workout we did was hard it wasn't mind numbingly terrible. My legs are sore today, but that's to be expected. We did get some cool recipes, one which I'm cooking in my oven right now. Anyway Gabi and I ran a lot of errands yesterday after school. We had to return some pruning shears, get some groceries at the commissary and pick up some eggs from the mini mini. I now feel like I'm back in the groove, my fridge is stocked, my calendar is updated and finally I'm back to working out. I can't believe how much I missed it. Gabi and I also went to the sushi go round for lunch, it was so delicious. I think that's what I'm going to miss most when we move.

Today I expected a hard work out because we don't have class on Veteran's day. But instead of a hard workout we got sent to the baseball stadium to run. However, in a decision I'm sure to regret later Rachel, Angie and I ditched the stadium and went to work out at the Lester gym on our own. Rachel because her knee is hurt, Angie because it was "raining", and me because I'm a lemming. I got a good work out on the elliptical machine and even did some sit ups. I'm sure I'll get an ear full at Cardio Funk tonight about our little disappearing act, but it was worth it.

Yomitan Village Festival

There are a lot of festivals here on Okinawa. Realistically one could probably find one every weekend. This weekend was the Yomitan Pottery Village Festival. We took our new sponsor family to check it out. The festival was full of food booths and games for Gabriella to play. We got a lot of tasty treats including slushies, gyoza, and draft beer for Greg. I was even able to buy some more Okinawan Sea Salt. There was entertainment of course. We saw the sign language choir, the prefectural orchestra and the biggest draw was the giant boat play. It's called the Play of Taki, which commemorates that Yomitan was instrumental in opening trade between the Ryukyu Islands and China. The boat is huge as the picture attests to and there were Eisa drummers and stick dancers. It was a really fascinating and impressive display. Jet lag eventually caught up with Gabriella so we called it a night. On the walk out she was able to win a giant Stitch for the giant Pearl she already had. It was a great festival one that we highly recommend.

Back on Schedule

Yesterday Gabriella was up at 6:45am. She was ready to get her day started even though she had been in bed for a mere 8 hours. I on the other hand was completely not ready to get up, but I was overruled. Breakfast was a pretty relaxed affair, cereal for her an egg for me. We walked to school like we normally do and she was thrilled to see all of her friends. When I picked her up a few hours later she was sweaty and happy to tell me all about her day. I asked her if she was up for going to hula or if she wanted to take a nap. "Hula!" was her response. So after a quick lunch of peanut butter and jelly we went to hula. Once again Gabriella's boundless energy prevailed and she made it through the class with no signs of exhaustion. On the other hand I was trying not to fall asleep while reading my book. After hula we had one more stop to make the dreaded Toys R Us for a birthday present. I felt like a Navy seal, I just wanted to get in and get out without anyone noticing. Before we even walked into the building I informed Gabriella that we were just buying a present, not looking for anything for her and to keep the asking to a minimum. She readily agreed and off we went. The trip to the store was blessedly short and an awesome birthday gift was found with in the first few feet of entering the store. Gabriella tried out a few of the little computers and some of the musical instruments but not once did she ask me to buy her anything. At least I don't think she did, by that point my ears were already asleep. The drive home felt long, I was using all my concentration to keep myself on the right side of the road. The relief I felt as we pulled into our parking spot and opened our front door was intense. I collapsed on the chair in the living room and just relaxed. I didn't sleep though because I had email to check. One such email was Greg informing me that there was a movie and pizza night at the chapel. I certainly wasn't interested but it did sound like something Gabriella would like. So later that evening Greg and Gabi walked over to the chapel for pizza, ice cream and the incredibles. I went to bed a little after 7 being too tired to even cook myself anything to eat for dinner. I woke up just after 6 in the morning and feel much better. Ready to face the day, starting with a cardio funk class.

California Dreaming

My poor blog has been forgotten on this trip but since I only have one more day in California I thought I would take some time and do a post. Today I drove 120 miles on 6 different freeways to visit 3 sets of friends. I honestly forgot what it was like to drive here. Not that I haven't been driving the whole trip, it was just today that I realized the differences between driving here and in Okinawa. I saw more cars today then I have probably seen total on the island, heard more horns, saw more middle fingers thankfully none were pointing at me. I'm starting to miss my quiet island life, my kitchen, my simple days and my island friends. I've loved seeing all my family and some of my friends while I've been here. I've been remiss in not being able to see all of them on this trip and for that I'm truly sorry. I think today I even missed boot camp a little, just a little bit and the feeling quickly passed but it was there and deserves to be acknowledged. This has been an amazing trip, I've been blessed to see my family, share in many celebrations and remind myself how lucky I really am. But now I'm ready to go home. I think back to a year ago when I considered California home, now Okinawa is home to me. What a difference a year makes.

Home

Well we've arrived back in California and already eaten at Super Mex and I've done some shopping. The flight to California was interesting because Greg and I didn't fly out from Narita on the same plane. I bought my tickets on September 1st and I bought Greg's much later once we confirmed he would be able to go with us. So basically I assumed that Gabi and I were flying on United from Narita and we were in fact flying on ANA. We of course didn't realize this until we were checking into the airport in Naha and the lady at the desk informed us. Greg arrived in California a half hour before us and was able to tell his family and mine where we were because we flew into the international terminal instead of the United terminal. Gabriella was amazing on the flight. Although I packed enough entertainment to keep the entire plane occupied for the 10 hour flight, the only thing she used was her ipod and she only watched one show then turned it off. She spent the majority of her time playing with her Ariel doll and sleeping. She was fairly well rested considering when we arrived at LAX it was 3 am Okinawa time.

Lunch was delicious, the real Mexican food was a tasty treat. SuperMex has been on Greg's mind since we got his ticket to come home. After lunch Greg and Gabriella took a nice long nap while I went shopping. It's so nice to have so many choices of where to shop. I bought myself some long sleeved shirts and a new pair of jeans. I bought a lot of clothes for Gabriella, some that she will wear on this trip others I will save for Christmas. I still need to go to the Children's Place and a few other stores.

This morning Greg and I went running together. He was nice enough to go slow so I could keep up. We ran around his parent's neighborhood looking at all the houses decorated for Halloween. I'm not sure how far we ran but time wise we ran for about 40-45 minutes. I think I'm all ready to run again by myself later in the week.

Checking off my lists

We leave for vacation today. I'm almost packed and ready to go, I say almost because I'm waiting for clothes to dry in my slow dryer. I went to boot camp this morning and because of the rain we were left to our own devices in the gym. I did the elliptical machine for 45 minutes then called it a day. It was nice to have a little time this morning to put all things vacation in the back of my mind. I feel I've been prepping for this trip for months. It's nice to know we will be heading to the airport in a little over an hour and the only real thing I have left to do is get Gabriella to school for picture day. The dishes are done, the bags are packs, the ipods and computer are charged, we are ready. I'm excited about going home, to see my friends and family. I'm also a little nervous about keeping up with my exercise routines and my eating. It's pretty easy here because I go to boot camp everyday, I feel accountable. However, when I go home I almost feel like I'll be overwhelmed by the sheer number of restaurant dinners, of soda, of choices. I hope I'll be able to stay strong and eat clean. I suppose if I don't it just means running a little longer.

How many ways can you do a push up

Today in boot camp we learned the fine art of doing a push up and a reverse push up. I must say it was really hard and I'm very sweaty as I type this post. There are few things harder for me to do in life than a push up. When I started boot camp I was able to do exactly 1 in 2 minutes. Now I'm pleased to say I can do more than that, today I did quite a few before reverting to using my knees. I suppose with less weight to lift coupled with stronger arm muscles a push up is no longer beyond the realm of possibilities for me. We worked on form and why it's important, the gist is if you do a push up wrong you put stress on different parts of your body like shoulders and elbows which will eventually cause injury. It was an interesting if painful lesson.

I only have one run between me and my vacation. I have loads of things to do before the trip but I'm looking forward to running tomorrow. For that one hour I'm going to move my to do lists to the back of my mind and just enjoy putting one foot in front of the other without a care in the world.

Early Bird Catches the Worm

Alright so right now it's 4:27 in the morning and I'm trying to finish this blog before I go running. My life has taken a busy turn as of late and I'm struggling to fit everything in. I have managed to put myself first though and still make it to boot camp and my extra cardio workout. Yesterday at boot camp we got another lecture, this time about the importance of tapping into our inner strength. And an explanation about why we stop trying when things get hard, why we avoid the struggles. I find the struggle to be difficult, but to achieve something while struggling makes it that much sweeter. Like fresh squeezed lemonade, it tastes so much better than powdered lemonade because you know the struggle it was to make. Yesterday was also Cardio Funk, which I think I'll actually miss when I go on vacation. Every time I go to it I feel like I got a tremendous workout, like I've gone to supernatural in just finishing it. After I had to go to the commissary all sweaty and gross, but I looked at it as a badge of honor, showing everyone that I had a good workout.

Well I've already done my run for the day. I made it three laps around the short track of the blue line. It was a little over 3 miles. I was hoping to do four laps but I ran out of time. It was an accomplishment because I ran the entire 3 laps, no walking. I'm proud of myself and I hope that I can keep up the improvement.

Zumba Roomba

Today was the first day of another boot camp week. This morning we did some triceps exercises that required us to support our own body weight and bend our elbows. It was hard like most exercises that we do. I wonder if 9 weeks about I could have supported my weight, although it's less now I still struggled. I think if we were given this exercise at the beginning of the program I would have baulked at it, completely refusing to try. Now I tried, it was hard but I still did it to the best of my ability. I suppose that's the major change that has happened as a result of this boot camp, I'm no longer afraid of trying. If I see a big hill or a steep flight of stairs I don't find another way around it, I simply do my best to tackle the obstacle in front of me.

Since we are leaving on vacation on Friday I'm working hard on getting in my extra cardio exercise during the week. Today I went to Zumba, it's an aerobic class that incorporates latin dance and exercise. It's a very cool class, I like the music, I like the instructor and I love that it's a hard workout but I don't notice because I'm busy dancing. Today was the second class I've attended and I think I'm getting better. After the Zumba class there is a 30 minutes abs and core strengthening class. Of course I stayed because why not, I'm already sweaty and it's only another half an hour. It was a great class and I feel good that I've gone. Now only 4 more days of boot camp until vacation!!!

Dam Weekend

This weekend started out with me going to Cardio Funk on Saturday. It was the hardest class to date, we worked out for 25 minutes on abs to start then 50 minutes of Cardio. It was brutal. I even had to stop on the way home to buy an extra bottle of water, the lady at Coco's looked at me a little funny. Probably because I was drenched in sweat and smelled horrible. Once I got home Greg made a delicious breakfast of turkey bacon and yummy eggs. It made me giddy it was so good. Then we headed out to the new Exchange, Greg got a new ribbon for his uniform and he had to pick up a new ribbon bar. After shopping we stopped on the seawall for lunch. Then home for a quick rest. Our next stop was a barbeque at one of Greg's corpsman's houses, where Gabi fell in love with her dogs. Gabriella spent the entire time petting and playing with fluffy and rusty. Next stop was Foster Fest, where Gabriella bounced in bouncy houses, ran through a maze, rode a train and won a giant inflatable stitch. It's actually the girl from stitch but I don't know her name, Gabriella has named her Pearl.

Sunday I had CCD which Gabi accompanied me to and then we all went to church. It was the first day that Gabriella went to the children's section of the mass. She seemed to love it and was very proud of the worksheet she completed. After church we went home to change and then went on a dam picnic. The Kurashiki dam is located just outside Kadena and is beautifully green. We set up our picnic mat and settled in for a delicious lunch. After lunch we took a constitutional around the park, watching the fish in the ponds and walking across a bridge which overlooked the dam. It was a busy weekend as always, but it will pale in comparison to next weekend.

Finally Friday

Well this week has been a killer, today my body is so tired I'm considering trying to get a massage at some point this weekend. Today was a run day and instead of running the blue line again we ran on a track where they were having a jog-a-thon for the special olympics. It was nice to run for a great cause. I was really proud to do a little to support such a great organization. I was also touched by their motto which was printed on flags around the track. "Let me win, but if I cannot let me be brave in my attempt." I see how it's a great motto for the special olympics but really it's a great motto for life. It reminded me that it's not the win or loss that matters but how you played. The journey is far more important than the destination. I'm pleased with where I am in my journey and I'm thrilled that I've been allowed to be brave in what I've attempted. It's so easy to try to solicit help instead of accomplishing things yourself, but it seems more satisfying when I've done it myself.

Dr. Funkenstein

I waited until late to write my post today because I wanted to include something about Cardio Funk. This morning we did squats with 15 pound weights, it was brutal, not only did my arms hurt from holding the weights but my legs hurt from doing the squats. We did learn a little more about the importance of not being a victim, especially to ourselves. For example, when we call ourselves fat or we make comments about our figure before someone else does. Putting ourselves down is never acceptable. We are making progress and even though others can't see it we know it. We are working towards our goals and making gains, even if they are small they are gains.

Anyway this afternoon I took Rachel and Gabi with me to Cardio Funk. I was so excited because on Tuesday I gained mastery of the footwork and managed to stay on the step the entire class. So of course today I was all ready to rock. However I failed to realize that I can never get too comfortable with the class because it's constantly changing. And change it did, to me it felt harder than Tuesdays class, much harder. I was sweating in the first 15 minutes and by the time it was over my whole shirt was soaked. But I managed to keep up with the moves and stay on the step. Today was harder and I still did it. Yeah for small steps in the right direction.

Pina Coladas and running in the rain

Today was a run day and mother nature felt like we needed a little cooling off so she sent some refreshing rain. However since we ran a new route lovingly referred to as the blue line, because we follow a blue line painted on the ground, the run was called due to inclement weather. I managed to run around the blue line route a little over 1 lap before turning around and heading back to the starting point. Then the whole class went to the Kadena gym. It was my first time there and it's huge with a delicious juice bar that probably serves Pina Coladas. Our class went up to the cardio room which has 6 TV's showing a variety of programs, all the machines have a cool little place to plug in your headphones so you can hear the TV program you are watching. We got to pick the machine we used for the remaining 30 minutes of our cardio workout. I rode the bike and read the subtitles on Conan while getting to know a fellow boot camper. I managed to ride 6 miles on the bike in a little over 30 minutes. All and all I say it was a good work out with only minimal weather exposure. Later today I'm going to try Zumba.

Stepping Up

Ok double post today because I did double the exercise. I went to Cardio Funk this afternoon as I sometimes do. Only today I told myself that I was going to try to stay on the step the whole time and I did. I managed to make it through the full 45 minutes of class doing almost all the moves on the step. Usually I make it about 30 minutes before I completely break down and can't get myself up onto the step. Today it was no problem, well I should say that I managed to power through the problems. It hurt, it was hard, and I didn't get all the moves but I stayed on that step. I'm so proud of myself, I was able to make a goal for myself and achieve it even though I wasn't sure I could physically do it. I suppose my next step will be to add another level to my step, but not until next week I want to celebrate my accomplishment and try to repeat it at the other 2 classes this week.

By the way on a totally embarrassing note I accomplished this feat while wearing my exercise pants backwards. I didn't realize it until class was about to start so I didn't have a chance to fix them. I'm pretty sure no one noticed but I knew and it kind of made me laugh.

No Light Mayo--Ever!!

Today was the first day of this week's boot camp, it's important to note that today is Tuesday. We all got an extra day off for Columbus day. However with the extra day to the weekend means an extra day to cheat on our diet. Today we paid for those indiscretions with arm exercises. As I write this I feel my left hand going numb and that my arm as a whole is not acting normally. I hope it will pass before I have to open anything, because at this point I would not be able to open anything with a twist top. The work out today started with 800 crunches then moved on to some triceps workouts. I don't know how many we did of those because I was too concerned with not dropping the weights into my face. As we worked our arms he read through a few journals, then he channeled his inner Joan Crawford and told us no Light Mayo or brownies. I give props to people for being vigorously honest in their journals. Although now that the whole class paid for the light mayo and brownies eaten by someone else, I'm all for deception. We did learn that we will be able to have brownies again, just not now. When we get to the maintenance stage we can have the occasional treat. This boot camp is about learning to live a healthy lifestyle to adopt better eating and exercise habits. I'm looking forward to getting to the maintenance phase, but if I have a brownie before then I will not feel guilt or shame about it I'll just work out a little extra to burn it off. Food will never make me feel guilty again.

Monkey Park

Greg had today off both because he worked all weekend and it's Columbus day. We decided to go check out a park in Nago. Its called Neo Park and it's really more zoo than park. We bought a ticket that included admission to the park and a train ride. As you enter the park you buy a small blue packet of food for the birds, because this park is very hands on. The moment you walk in through the entrance you see that the birds, in this case cranes and ibis' are just wandering around enjoying all the food being tossed out by the kids. There are no cages per se, the animals just wander around and the people just toss out the food never worrying about being bitten by anything. There were even monkeys climbing the trees eating bananas that people had brought to feed them. The monkeys didn't really seem all that interested in the bananas so it reasons that people must bring quite a bit of food for them since they were pretty choosy. The next section of the park allowed us to walk through a tunnel with took us through part of a lake, the fish swam by in relatively murky water. Next we came upon the petting zoo, which is like no petting zoo I've ever seen. Firstly, there were a lot of tiny dogs running around which you could feed for 200 Yen, you could also feed bunnies, a huge tortoise which we were also encouraged to ride, some capybaras and llamas. We of course purchased the food and fed all the animals. Gabriella stood next to the giant tortoise but had no real desire to ride it. As we wandered through the rest of the park we saw lemurs, more birds and some giant fish. Our day ended with a train ride which took us around the whole park and gave us a lovely narrative in Japanese. The animals all seemed well cared for and healthy. The park itself had some interesting signage and carefully constructed paths for walking. It was an interesting place to visit, we'd never see anything like it in the states because the insurance costs would be astronomical.

Hail the Conquering Hero

This morning we ran up a hill, a hill that I've never actually run up in the 7 weeks I've been running at this park. It's a different hill than the one I ran up Wednesday, it's longer and steeper. I ran up it 12 times, an accomplishment that I feel embodies the accomplishments I've made throughout the past 6 months. Even before I started boot camp I gave up bad habits, crutches that seemed to be holding me back from the person I wanted to be. Doing boot camp is a way to create new healthier habits to replace the old not so healthy ones. In the past 7 weeks I've looked at small accomplishments like sitting up without using my hands as steps on a ladder to a better me. Today however feels like I've conquered something bigger. This hill symbolized me holding myself back, I never ran up it because I assumed I couldn't, yet today I did not once or twice but 12 times. The body is an amazing thing, it can do things even though the mind tells it that they are impossible. I'm on the road to a better me, to possibly finding the person I've always truly wanted to be, the person that I can look at in the mirror and love no matter what and no hill big or small will stand in my way.

Circus of a Circuit

Yesterday we did circuit training and I learned why you should never be the bearer of news. Lets discuss the latter part of that sentence. My dear friends both missed the 5 am boot camp class for various reasons, and I was asked to let John know. I did and he looked at me like I'd grown a second head and just opened my own gym next door. He called me 2000 for the rest of the class because one of my friends who will remain nameless said she'd do 2000 push ups as punishment for missing class. John said 2000 push ups wouldn't even begin to cover the amount of work I was going to be doing. He was right. I worked out for 3 people instead of just one, each different task was brutal and the fact that he pushed me on each one made me work harder. We also got our first look at the weight room, which of course contains weights and machines that cause pain. I think I may refer to it know as the torture room from now on because that's what it is to me. I did find out I can push 70 pounds worth of weight, which was a little surprising. All and all yesterday was a hard work out, but I'm glad I went at my assigned time because I know my friends probably got beat up at the 9:30 class.

The Hill is not my master

There are few things that require mastery in running, yet running as a whole is almost an art. You need to master your stride, your posture, your breathing and possibly a few more things. That being said I'm starting to get mastery over those things, however certain parts of the course we run have mastery over me, meaning that I have a complete breakdown of my skills when I get to them. They are the hills, there are two pretty serious hills, one that is hardest for me is the very first hill, it's not as steep as the second one or as long yet I consistently face it and climb as if it's Mount Everest. So yesterday when we did our run I wanted to master it, I wanted to conquer what ever was holding me back. I made a commitment to run up the hill at least two times. My first trip up the hill I walked because I was fiddling around with my ipod, the second time I walked because after drinking water the hill was making me a bit nauseous and the third time I kind of half tried to run it. But finally it was the end of the run 10 minutes left, I only had time for a short lap around the stadium, it was now or never to reach my goal. So I sprinted up the hill, I made it to the top huffing and puffing and fairly certain that death was probably eminent. But I turned right back around and walked down the hill and did it again. The second time didn't seem so painful, it didn't seem as hard as the first, the hill no longer took on a tunnel visioned endless hallway. It was just a hill and I ran up it twice.

Week 8: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

This week started out with me missing Monday's boot camp because I was sick. I think it was the right decision because I would have thrown up all over John's studio. I spent the day in bed and felt much better when Tuesday rolled around. Although I must say it was doubly hard to get up on Tuesday morning. As we drove to boot camp I couldn't help but wonder what new torture we'd be doing this week. The new torture involves laying on our stomachs moving weights out and in. It's to strengthen our arms and shoulders, and believe me that it what hurt for the rest of the day. After we'd warmed up we had an obstacle course race. We had to do a push up then walk our hands over a very high step (the kind used for step aerobics) then do another push up and climb to the next one, once we'd finished crossing over the steps we had to crab walk to the end of the room. Did I mention it was a race? So we had to do it three times to start and we were off to the races. I was the last to finish on my team barely edging out the other teams last person. It was nice to win for my team, there was a threatened penalty for loosing but we never found out what it was because we had to start all over again. We did the course for a while then got a short lecture. Needless to say I was sore yesterday.

Hawaiian Weekend

This weekend was marked by Gabriella's first public Hula performances. She and her Hula group performed at the opening of the brand new Kadena BX. She did a wonderful job and of course had a ball doing it. Her age group performed 3 songs, 2 of which I'd seen before and a new one which I'll post as the video. After each performance we took the opportunity to peruse the new exchange. Gabriella got a new toy and so did I. Actually I got a few new kitchen accessories which I need to make room for in my ever expanding kitchen. Greg was in Hawaii during both performances and he was disappointed that he missed them. We are hopeful that he will be able to see her perform one of these days. Alright I'm sorry to say that the video is not uploading so I'm just going to put in a picture of her doing her thing. I'll continue to try to upload, but the file might be too big.

Run Gabi Run

Since Greg is in Hawaii I wasn't able to go to my normal boot camp class. I ended up going at 6 pm, and because of a babysitting snafu I had a running partner. That's right, I took Gabi with me. I must say that John was less than pleased to see her. After assuring him that she would be fine running he just shrugged. Gabi was a superstar, the first lap of the long route (about 1.5 miles) she never stopped running even making detours up and down the hills. She asked how many laps we were going to do and I told her we would do 3 laps. Her response was to smile and speed up. Gabi and I reached the stairs at the starting point and we both sipped on our water. When I asked if she was ready to go she merely stood up and started running. We made it around the second lap and were stopped by John who asked how Gabi was holding up and told us to run the short route on the next lap. The short route is just around the stadium about 1300 meters according to the signage. We made it twice around the short route before finally calling it a day. Gabriella ran for the full hour, although we walked up the hills (which I almost always do). I would guess that she ran about 4.5 miles without complaint, faster than I did. I am so proud of her and I know she really impressed John. She's a lean mean running machine.

Better Late than Never

This post is late because my day was packed with activity. Firstly I feel I should mention that Greg has left the island. He's on a transport to Hawaii with a critically sick kid, he will return on Sunday. Boot camp this morning consisted of 1000 crunches and a lecture. I was completely ready for an intense workout and when we didn't really get that I feel like my whole day was off. I guess if I'm not in terrible pain I'm not happy. The lecture was great, it translated not only to fitness but also to life. John talked about the 3 key steps to success and the importance of trying your best. The lecture was really about building mastery, whether it's workouts or child rearing or tying your shoe, if you want to master something you have to identify what you are doing wrong, find out why, and learn how to change that behavior through rigorous honesty and practice.

Today I didn't do my second work out because I wanted to get a little something for the child that Greg is transporting. Gabriella had already told me what I should get and so with little effort I made the purchases while she was at school. Since Greg is gone I won't be able to attend my normal boot camp class tomorrow, which is disappointing but not necessarily bad. This time I'm going to try the 6 pm class and hope for a nice breeze. I'm selecting that class because it's cooler and because I'll still be able to go to the opening of the new exchange on Kadena with Rachel and Angie. I'm so excited!!

Run around girl

Last night Greg was on call which means that he was still on call when I left the house this morning. He actually got a page right after I got up, it was just an update on lab results but for second I thought I wasn't going to be able to go run. I must say I was a little disappointed. I assured him I'd take my phone and give it to John while I ran, that way if he got paged I would just come home. As I drove to the athletic field I kept checking my phone, making sure it was on and that I had it on the right setting. Arriving at the field I handed my phone over to John telling him Greg was on call and that he may call. John's response was he couldn't wait to talk to him. I can only imagine how that conversation would have gone. We started the run with the long route which included the stairs. Once again I made it up and down the stairs on both of my long route loops. I must say I felt the run was harder today, it was a little warmer than it's been in the past week and it made running a little bit hotter. I felt I was going slower than my usual pace and I must admit that I walked more than I wanted to. I will be the first to admit that I hoped that Greg was calling ask me to come home. The last lap of the run was the short lap around the stadium, I was relieved to finish. I never really got into a zone today, I felt each step, each hill and each breath. I still managed to run over 3 miles and I'm proud of doing the best I could.

Multitasking a fitness story

This morning was weigh in day and I'm pleased to say I lost 5 pounds last week. I think it was that delicious Thai soup, but really it wasn't. The theme for today's post is multitasking, first because we worked arms, legs, and shoulders all in the same exercise and because going to boot camp isn't enough to reach my goal. The exercise was kind of brutal today, squats then biceps curl and finally pressing the weight over our head then repeat over and over and over again.

Yesterday he talked about us needing to get our second 35 minute cardio workout in 5 days a week. I did mine yesterday while Gabi was at school, I rode the stationary bike. I felt good that I finished it, this morning I think there might be a Zumba class so I might check that out instead. Another facet of this life changing boot camp is the diet. I've never really liked diets, in fact this may be the first one I've ever really been on. The hardest part for me is eating more often, but I did it last week and I clearly got results. Therefore this week I'm going to keep eating properly and add in the extra exercise and see what happens next week. I only have a few more weeks before I go home for the wedding so I need to Emeril it (kick it up a notch...BAM).

Week 7: It's only going to get harder.

Another Monday workout has come and gone. I don't know what it is about Monday's, but every single one gives me a tummy ache. I managed to eat my wheat roll before we got to class, but just barely. Today we focused on cardio and abs. It was hard and I'm very sweaty as I write this post. We got a few new people in our class and now that everyone is starting at different times I wondered if the workouts would get a little easier. The answer is no, he just expects more from those of us who've been in the class longer. Today was an Ab work out that nearly brought me to tears. As we held our feet out and squeezed our Abs with all our strength he talked about not quitting. Small tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes blending with the sweat pouring off my forehead but I held on. I don't want to be a quitter, I know I have Abs and they probably need a good workout. We also ran from a push up position, then did some push-up/stand up reps. Both of which made me very dizzy, probably an unsafe drop in blood pressure. It was a hard workout but I know that tomorrow will be harder.

Wonderful Weekend

This weekend turned out to be full of great weather and great family fun. First off no one was sick, which always tends to bring the quality of a weekend down slightly. Greg was on call Friday and did get called in at 4:30 am. He was back in time for me to go to Cardio Funk, but I chose to stay in bed instead. My legs still hurt terribly, to the point where sitting on the toilet was horribly painful.

Saturday we went to the southern part of the island to the Peace Prayer Park. It contains a cemetery, museum, wall of the fallen, and a peace tower. We saw everything, walking through the tombs in the cemetery was beautiful, each had some sort of water feature and a place to hang origami cranes. Later when we walked through the rows and rows of names we got a true sense of the scope of how many people died in the battle of Okinawa. Once inside the museum we got headsets so we were able to hear the narration in English. I must say that this museum was heartbreaking, the pictures they chose to display were hard to look at, the stories the survivors told were difficult to listen to. The fortitude of the Okinawan spirit is so strong, the fact that they are still friendly and kind after what they endured during the way is humbling. After the museum we walked to the Peace Tower, which contained a huge statue of Buddha. It also had a collection of paintings inspired by Okinawan history, including the battle. They were truly beautiful and the depiction of certain aspects of the war were done with beauty and compassion. Gabriella for the most part sailed through the museum enjoying the maps and the children's features.

After the museum we went to eat at the fabled Thai in the Sky. It's a thai restaurant overlooking the pacific ocean. It's come with all sorts of recommendations and we finally went. It was so delicious, the Tom Yum soup I had was amazingly spicy and comforting. I ate until I was sure I was going to throw up. I'm pleased to say I didn't. I'm also glad that it's far and hard to get to because if that wasn't the case I would probably go there everyday. Greg had a delicious pad thai and Gabi got the obligatory kids plate that contained a little of everything. I also had their lemongrass tea which was delicious. I was so full after the meal I didn't eat for the rest of the day.

Sunday I taught my second CCD class, my students are working on the Our Father. After that we went to church and then back home. We decided to go out to lunch and catch a movie. We saw Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs. All of us enjoyed the movie, Gabi's favorite part was the spaghetti tornado. The movie made me hungry. We also had the Broom's over for a barbecue in the evening. All and all a great weekend.

Staring at the Stairs

This morning I woke up from a crazy dream and hobbled my way down the stairs. Every part of my legs were hurting and as I sunk down into the chair to check my email while I ate my bagel I wondered how I'd be able to run. It turns out I ran fine, of course now my legs hurt even more but I suppose that is to be expected. Today was the first day I did the stairs. The stairs is just what it sounds like, 4 flights of stairs to a beautiful lookout. We had to run up and down them twice before continuing our lap. Normally John tells me to bypass the stairs, but not today. I took it as a sign of progress, he knows that I would be able to do make it up and down without dying. I made it up and down twice and finished running the first lap, today I ran the whole way even up the hills. It did take me 30 minutes to do that first lap, but I suppose I couldn't expect to go faster with the stairs than I do without them. The second lap was hard, I walked around the stadium and finally started to run again when I got to the parking lot. I think today was the first time I've ever reached the meditative state where you feel like you could run forever, I believe it's called the zone. My zone only lasted until I got to the stairs then it was completely destroyed. I only made it up and down the stairs once on the second lap. I thought I'd cut my losses and attempt to make it back to my car without having a heart attack. I did manage to run back to the starting point with a fair amount of ease. When I say ease I mean that I didn't keel over and was able to breath. All and all today was a good day, the run was good and the stairs are a sign on progress.

Insane Workouts lead to Insanity

This morning I actually signed up for another 12 weeks of boot camp. I paid my money and got my receipt, I'm all signed up for another 12 weeks of 4:07 am wake up calls and pain. Why did I do it? Well I'm still asking myself that question. It was a great deal, half off the price, so clearly I'm a sucker for a bargain. The other reason I did it was because I've really made some positive changes in my life in the last 6 weeks and I'd like to continue on the road I've started. It's a journey and it's painful but I'm going to be healthier and happier at the end of it. I need to build habits, positive habits and getting up and working out is one of them. Greg asked me if I thought I could still continue to motivate myself once the class was over and I told him I didn't know. I can be flighty and when push comes to shove occasionally I just walk away and give up. I think another boot camp will help cement my fitness regimen and help me to loose a little more weight. After all I'm going to be in a wedding next summer, I want to look my best.

Today we worked on our legs in what I would call painful power squats. We did it for 35 minutes taking a few breaks here and there. It was a short work out but it packed a punch, I was exhausted and drenched in sweat when I got home. Walking has been painful all day, going up and down stairs excruciating. It's a good kind of pain, what am I saying the pain is terrible, I think this boot camp has turned me into a masochist. Because I just paid more money to get put in this type of pain for the next 18 weeks, that I think is the definition of insanity.

Run like the wind

Today was a run day and I did awesome. I finished 3 laps (about 4.5 miles) in 55 minutes, and my last lap was under 15 minutes. I've never finished my run before 6 am, ever. I did a lot of things differently this morning, first of all I had bread and fruit as my 4 am mini meal, at John's suggestion. I think it may have given me more energy because as I'm writing this the pull of the bed is not as strong. Secondly, I changed my music selection. Instead of listening to some rock and roll or pop songs I put on my flag playlist. This playlist consists of all the songs I use to hear at flag competitions, some of which I had routines to. As I listened to these songs I thought about the routines, the costumes, how young and thin I was and I forgot (kind of) I was running. I didn't think of the pain, or the heat, or how far I still had to go, all I thought of was flags. So even though the songs were slower paced I ran faster. The biggest change was me, when I got up this morning I told myself I wanted to run 3 laps. I've changed in these last 6 weeks of boot camp. If I look back 6 weeks ago I couldn't even stay on the route, I got lost so many times that it's impossible to know how far I ran that day. Yet today I competently ran the route in my best time yet with a smile on my face and a spring in my step. I've changed a lot in these past weeks, not just my body but my mind. So really the only difference today that matters is me, I'm different and it's progress.

Week 6 Begins

I totally fell down on my blog yesterday, I forgot. Boot Camp yesterday was a lesson in how your body processes food and why eating every few hours helps to keep your metabolism going all day. It was really informative and I took the lesson that I learned and put it into action. I ate more often but smaller meals, healthier snacks and I definitely felt a little better. Since this week is the half way point I'm going to work harder to keep up the new eating regimen.

Today at boot camp there was no teaching, only working. We worked on arms with the weights and bands. We worked on legs by walking up and down the stairs carrying the weights. I was dripping in sweat creating small puddles on the floor around where I was standing. I made it through the class without cheating on my reps. I'm half way through this class and I feel like it's go time, if I want to make this a permanent change I'm going to have to get use to this new way of eating and try harder while exercising. I go home in one month and I want to wow everyone with my new healthier body.

Weekend Work Out

This morning I had absolutely no intention of going to Cardio Funk. When my alarm went off I turned it off. But Greg's alarm rang a few minutes later and even though he pushed snooze a few times I still got up in time to get dressed and drag myself out the door. Eating my banana in the car I drove over to the class. I got there a little early, there was plenty of room in the class and John was in a very excited and happy mood. The class was hard but I was able to stay up on the step for at least 75% of the class. It's nice to see that I'm improving, getting use to the moves, understanding the rhythms and building my endurance. I feel like I was a little tricked this morning into staying for the Ab working out. We kept stepping for the whole hour and then just quickly transitioned into the Ab class. The step class was hard but then to go into the Ab class was really overwhelming. But I made it through both classes and managed to drink two full bottles of water during the hour and a half. Driving home I felt the endorphins coursing through my body and I had a big smile on my face. Making it to through both workouts was a huge personal accomplishment and I'm very happy I went to class today. I even got a "good job today" from John. Next Saturday is bring a friend day, any volunteers?

Why 5 am boot camp is for me.

This morning Greg was called into the hospital to admit a patient so I wasn't able to go to boot camp at my normal time. I did get up briefly and call John to ask him if I could go to the 9:30 am class. Of course he said fine and I went back to bed for a few hours. Gabi was up really early and Greg was kind enough to take her downstairs and get breakfast for her. I got her to school and drove over to the park where we run on Fridays. I can see why 9:30 would be convenient, Gabi is in school so I wouldn't have to worry about Greg getting called in. But there are far more downsides than upsides. First of all it's hot, damn hot, real hot especially in my shorts I can cook things in them, a little crotch pot cooking. Secondly, my brain is actually functioning at that time of day so as I ran today I was thinking of how hard it was, why I should slow down or stop, what I was doing there. I don't usually have those thoughts at 5 am because my brain is just trying to wake my arms and legs up enough to propel me forward. Thirdly, the run is very exposed in the harsh light of day, people can see me coming and watch my progress has I huff and puff down the route. I like the anonymity of darkness, plus at 5 am people aren't interested in me running, if they are out at that park they are either exercising themselves or trying to pick up on other guys. Either way I'm completely off the radar. I also felt rushed dropping off Gabi and school then hurrying over to the park, then hurrying home to take a shower and now I'm only a few minutes away from picking her up. I've had no time to update my facebook status or check my email. So after this experiment with the 9:30 class I think I made the right decision picking 5 am.