One thing that has taken me by surprise is for seemingly the first time (although not! The memory tends to forget these things), it has taken me 2 months, no joke, to get into shape. I guess if it took me 6+'ish months to get out, it would be expected it would be some time to get back into it. I had always been grateful, almost to the point of bragging, how quickly I could get back into shape. Not so, my friend! This aging thing is a b**ch! I had predicted it would be tough, but phew, it's not only tough, but taking foooooooooreeeeeeever. Am being smart about it though, have to, both for personal and professional reasons!!!!
Got back from my travels in early Oct. Kinda worked out, i.e. easy slooow jogging, in Portugal. So I pretty much used the month of October to eaaassssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee back into running and other sport. It actually took me the whole month to get my cardio conditioning back into gear AND more importantly, to lose some weight. That has been interesting as well, because probably less than a week of eating Clean, my cheeks drastically went down and a few weeks later, didn't have to suck my stomach to get into my pants. Haha. It's really amazing once we dedicate ourselves to something, how the body can react. Come November, pants feeling a bit loose and feeling "light" again. Probably ate completely Clean (no dairy, sugar, minimal to no carbs) for a month and then did fairly Clean with a 'cheat' day once a week, which is what I'm doing now with the "cheat" day being not-so-bad of a cheat anyway. So my tentative goals are being accomplished, Step 1 was to lose my added holiday wait, and Step 2 was to gradual increase my running no more than 10% increments, yay injury prevention! That has actually gotten a lot better and am sticking with the slower "social" group and decided would rather go sloooow and get the distance in than start to kill myself keeping up with my previous faster running group.
I don't think Boston Marathon can come soon enough, although if I DIDN'T get in, who knows what kind of state I'd be in as a I really thrive on goals. This one being "don't die during the marathon." Haha. So my plan is to ease into sport and everything until the end of the year, and then come Jan, when I have T-minus 4 months to get Boston ready, to crank it up with speed and everything.
Although I admit I'm not as motivated as I was last year, lost a little zest, am doing something new this time around - personal training! I've never done it before and think it will help... along with my fave, stair climbing to help train and conquer those Boston hills! Phew!!!
Soo... lesson being - listen to your body and be smart. Thank gaaaawwwwdd besides some muscle soreness from losing pretty much ALL my strength, put aside my psychological torment of my back, and am actually feeling painfree!
In other news, winters in Dubai are like summers in Chicago, EVERYTHING happens! The weather is TOTALLY fab and ... just perfect. Although of course I miss Chicago, definitely don't miss it when it is suffering from Chi-beria and I am still swimming outside, ha ha.
Enjoying some delicious home cooked meals with friends,
And.... another example of some fun stuffs going on, went to Formula 1 (training session) with my Dubai Serbian family to celebrate Dejan's bday.... and ran into Richard Quest from CNN!
And as you see, Dejan really is happy to be turning a new age! hahaha!
Anyhoo, random update, but that's life for you! As I am in Dubai the next 5ish months, there will be more Dubai Life updates, including an update when my best friends from home is coming out next week!!!
