First Day of 5th Grade

Yup, another year has passed. With me almost completely absent from this blog. Well, I couldn't let this one pass by- a post of the boys' new photo before the start of a new school year! A new house, but with the same picture carefully measured up from the floor and rehung specifically for the photo for this blog post: The morning of the first day of 5th grade for Sean and Ashton! But first, here they are, such youngins. :) Bright and cheerful, this is their first morning of kindergarten:
And first grade:
Second:
Third:
Fourth:

Now we can all compare and sigh at how much they've grown- not just in height, but in personality and style. And individuality! Such big boys, those two handsome sons of mine~ (Although now that I'm comparing, it looks like the photo is a little higher than last year, as their heads seem to be coming up to the same place in the painting... Oh well. You can see in their faces the maturity they've gained this past year. :)

Woodland Park Zoo Blog: Baby, baby, baby!

Yaaaaay! Three new snow leopard babies!  Check out the link below so see some eye-watering cuteness~

Woodland Park Zoo Blog: Baby, baby, baby!

2011 Healing and Mileage Stats

For 2011 my new year's resolution was to do whatever it took to heal my back, including taking time off from running, going to physical therapy, change how I exercise- anything! And I stuck to that. At the beginning of the year the pain from the muscle spasms in my back forced me to spend an entire week on the floor, missing work and zero appetite. For weeks I dropped weight at an alarming rate. Finally I went in to see a back specialist and he ordered an X-ray which showed some arthritis, but not much else, and then an MRI. THAT showed why I was in so much pain! I wrote a blog with the gruesome picture showing the herniated and bulging discs at the bottom of my spine, and with this info, the good doctor prescribed a cortisone shot. Miracle of Miracles, it WORKED! And I stuck to my resolution with faithful determination- I changed how I stretched (so I don't put unnecessary pressure on those injured discs, because that's never going away!) and make sure I'm good and warmed up before I even think about running (YES! I get to run again!), plus I have been swimming 3-5 days a week and spinning on my off-running days. I exercise more often, but much shorter distances and really pay careful attention to my body and what it's telling me- if there is too much ache, no problem, I walk instead and am happy to do so, knowing that I won't end up on the floor from pushing too hard. I am exercising smarter. :) I feel great and haven't had any relapses, plus I've really enjoyed getting back into swimming! Now I will admit, I haven't held back in the pool and have dropped all my times significantly- I used to swim a 1000 yard freestyle in 17 minutes, and now I'm consistently swimming them around 14:30. Two and a half minutes is a LOT!

Okay, on to the part you've all been waiting for- how many miles have I put in this year? I don't have any elliptical miles to report, but spinning and swimming miles instead. Here's the run down:

Running miles: 425.5
Walking miles: 382.9
Spinning miles: 535.7
Swimming miles: 190.8 (That's 176 swims this year! UP from last year's 13!)

Grand total: 1534.9, so let's round that to an even 1535 miles in 2011!

Compared to 2010:

Running: 470
Walking: 55
Elliptical: 59 miles

Grand total: 584

And 2009:

Running: 552.2 miles
Walking: 66 miles

Grand total: 618.2 miles

And an even 600 running miles in 2008!

Look at that resolution: HEAL. Did it make a difference? Well lesee, 1535-600= 935. Is that a big enough difference? :) I'd say so.