Thanksgiving Weekend

I love the holiday season.  Thanksgiving is such a positive holiday.  I love taking time to reflect on what I'm grateful for.  Normally if you ask me an open ended question, my mind goes blank for a good while before I can start to entertain the question.  But if you ask me what I'm grateful for, inevitably, instantly, Todd's face pops up in my mind.  It's so easy to be grateful for him :)  He is... he's just better than me in the most obnoxious way.  And I cherish everything about him.  And then of course I remember my happy little children and how they've enriched my life so immensely.  Is anything in life more important?  I'm grateful for my wonderful friends.  I am surrounded by strong women in my life, good good women who know who they are and mean so much to me.  I love the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love serving in my calling- it purifies me to give of myself and my time as I serve the women in my ward.  I enjoy a very full life and I feel overwhelmed to stop and consider it.  But I am, nevertheless, humbled and grateful.   I know we can all take a stroll in the clouds upon counting our blessings :)

On with the festivities.  Thanksgiving morning I ran the Turkey Trot 5K with my niece, Jordan, and Todd's dad and step-mom.  It was good to be with family and start the day off doing something healthy.  I ran it slow and felt fantastic afterward. While I did that, Todd hosted a Turkey WOD (CrossFit workout) with his brothers at the house which I heard was a lot of fun.

Picking Jordan up for the Turkey Trot

With her two best friends at the Turkey Trot

With Todd's Dad and Step-mom 

We ate Turkey Dinner at Todd's mom's house this year.  It was a very large group, but most extended family and friends left after the meal.  Todd and his brothers spent most of the day watching football in the bonus room while the wives played cards downstairs.  The kids spent a good chunk of the day playing in the leaves as it was much warmer out than usual that day.

Kris, carving the turkey.

Getting Lainey for a turkey nap.

Over the weekend, we cleaned the house and got things ready for a Christmas tree and decorations.  We got a real tree this year and actually decorated it tonight.  The house is looking merry and bright! 

Todd also spent a lot of time this weekend figuring things out for Christmas lights outside, but in the end, he realized our latter was too short to reach our gable peaks in the front.  Pretty much the whole front of the house is made up of gables so if we can't reach them, we can't do lights :(  We borrowed Todd's mom's BIG latter and it still wouldn't reach the tops.  My brother gave us a good idea, however.  He said we could rent a cherry picker to do it.  Sounds fun and worth looking into, so we'll see how that pans out.  

Over the weekend I did a CrossFit WOD with Dean and Jenn (my coach and his wife) and Todd and I took the kids to dinner and to see the movie, Puss In Boots. 

One of the nights we got a babysitter and went bowling with Todd's married brothers and their wives.  I just watched and socialized because, unfortunately, I couldn't bowl.  I actually injured my right wrist a week and a half ago.  I'm not 100% certain how, but assume it had to do with lifting a heavy lift in the gym when my wrist had been slightly out of alignment for a few days.  It started to swell at night and I woke up with it hurting bad enough to not even be able to twist a door knob open.  I had it tested for stress fracture and it wasn't that.  I figured it was just strained - I should have had it adjusted from the get go.  I hope it will get better soon, but it's not making progress very quickly.  

A visit to Denny's afterward.

I actually had a big goal this month that I really worried I'd have to fail or not even attempt to meet because of my wrist.  This month marks one year of me doing CrossFit and any weight lifting in general.  So I had a goal of being able to dead lift twice my body weight by the one year mark.  I had built up enough strength in the reps I do in my workouts to be able to max deadlift at least twice my body weight.  I was going to max on it Thanksgiving weekend with Todd but wasn't able to.  Todd however, who was also training with me to meet a goal the same time, DID pull his goal!  A whopping 400 pound deadlift!  As sad as I was to sit and watch instead of pull along side him, I was SUPER excited and proud of him.  My sister-in-law also pulled twice her body weight in the gym this week!  I was happy for everyone, just feeling kind of left behind and sorry for myself.  I'm not used to earning something without actually achieving it!

Yesterday, my Dr. confirmed that it is a ligament strain and said those take a long time to heal.  Could be 4-6 weeks, could be a year.  I was beyond disappointed.  When I told him the details of my goal, he asked how confident I was that I could pull it.  After guaranteeing him that I could pull at least that much, he got a mischievous grin and said (exact words), "Man up, go home and pull your goal, and THEN heal."  So with his permission... I did!  I stopped at 10 pounds over my goal because I didn't want to push my luck, but my wrist was actually doing pretty good.  Oh, it feels AWESOME to make goals, do the work to get them, and watch them come to be!  I had a lot of people rooting for me who knew about my goal and it was awesome to be able to let them all know I did it and have their cheers and support.

I'm excited to see that deadlifting doesn't bother my wrist anymore.  Other things still do, but that lift's safe.  I still want to give it a few weeks of sheer rest.  But I don't have to worry about losing strength in it and the fact that I've healed fast enough to do what I did shows that it probably won't take anything like a year to heal. 

Todd getting set up for his 400# deadlift.

Todd didn't get pictures of me maxing, just a video, and I can't figure out how to get it on here from my e-mail.  Is it because it's a mac video?  He took it with his iphone.  If anyone's computer savvy that way, feel free to tell me how to do it!

One of my friends, upon hearing about my frustration with my wrist and my goal, asked me what motivates me to do what I do.  What is it exactly that I'm ultimately working toward or what makes me keep wanting to be stronger and wanting more than I've already achieved?  I thought it was a really valid question because, two or three years ago if I'd have met an avid CrossFitter, I would have wondered the same thing about them.

Have you ever noticed that the more you learn, the more you feel like there's so much more to know out there?  Your mind is made so aware of the vast amount of knowledge out there as you continue to discover it.  Well, for me, the more athletic, strong, capable of doing things that used to seemed out of my reach, or healthy I learn that my body is capable of becoming, the more motivated I become to discover the depths of that.  At first it was to get in better shape so that I could have another baby without all the health issues and discomfort my other pregnancies gave me.  And while that's still in the plan, it is no longer the reason.  Having another child could slow me down for a while, maybe even set me back, but it wouldn't be the "end to my means".  My journey doesn't have an end anymore.  And the more I learn of other athletes, moms, in my sport who are on the same journey and have discovered even more elevated achievements-  it inspires me to try.  Why not?  What's the harm in knowing what you can accomplish?  Not knowing sounds much less interesting to me.  I'm not working toward any goal at the expense of looking crazy (sickly thin or manly) or especially not at the expense of my health.  What I've learned, is that you don't have to look those things to get stronger or faster or more limber.  And the more I do what I've been doing, the healthier I get.

In two weeks I'll be able to say I haven't gotten sick for 1 year.  As each month passes, I, myself, am surprised that it's been so long.  I used to catch a cold at least every other month.  But after so long, I think it's safe to say we have a LOT of control over how often we get sick.  Both eating healthy and clean and exercising regularly have completely changed my overall well-being.  My whole family has enjoyed unbelievable health this year.  I want to say someone's gotten sick- maybe a 24 hour bug or something but I can't remember for sure who or what.  Not to say I/they won't get sick tomorrow or ever again, but definitely not often.  And that just makes one more thing for me to want to discover about myself.  Will I make it to a year?  And if so, how much longer than that?

I want to know what the body I was given was built to accomplish.  That's my answer.  Reaching my goals makes me want to create new goals to work towards, not stop and journey back to where I came.  And each new goal just becomes funner and easier because self doubt is out of the equation.  Because there's no end to it all, I'm not in any hurry.  My goals aren't urgent and ridiculously large.  As long as I'm progressing, I'm happy.

With Turkey Day behind us, the giving season is under way and a new year is approaching. I want to challenge my friends and family to choose something they want to discover in themselves.  You were not given a body that isn't capable of doing great things.  You were made to surprise and impress yourself as often as you will allow.  Maybe it's completing a 5K for the first time or to finish one in a new personal record time.  Or so many push-ups or pull-ups.  Or a heavy lift.  Or touch your toes if that's too hard.  Give yourself that gift this season by making goals, writing them down, making a plan, and working toward them.  Discover what YOU are made of if you don't already on a regular basis.  And... IF you feel like something's out... please go to your chiropractor  :)

Todd and I have been collecting motivating phrases to choose from to put them up in our gym eventually.  So while on the goal setting/motivation subject, I thought I'd post a few of my favorites:

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."- Steve Prefontain

"Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try."

"You miss 100% of the shots you never take."

"Results are not guaranteed, they are earned."

"Anyone can give up; it's the easiest thing in the world to do.  But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength."

"Between the difficulties one hides the opportunity."- Albert Einstein

"Whether you think you can or can't, either way you are right."- Henry Ford

"You can have results or you can have excuses.  You cannot have both."

"The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."  Vince Lornbardi

"Obsessed is a word the lazy use to describe the dedicated."

"Do these pants make my butt look faster?"

"The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves for our toughest opposite is the one looking back from the mirror."- Tuan Tran

"The most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why."- Mark Twain