Hello world!  It’s me again.

I’ve been totally off line for a long while due to a series of unfortunate events.  My computer broke about 2 months ago and I don’t have the funds to get a new one.  My colitis came back, I got bronchitis, I coughed so much I pulled a muscle all the way around my right side so it hurt to breathe, and I’ve been working enough hours to fill in all the time I haven’t been sleeping. Well, trying to sleep.

But all my ills are working themselves out and I finally broke down and decided to write on my work computer.  Ya, probably bad karma but maybe I paid it in advance? Let’s hope so.

Oh, then my eldest shot my air conditioner with a dart the other day (letting out ALL of the freon, look up how much THAT shit costs) so now that winter has finally hit Florida I can’t run the heater. Did I mention I’m a huge cold wimp? Hopefully I get it fixed before it gets hot again, at least in the cold you can pile on clothes and blankets.

But, there is always a bright side.  I went to the humane society 2 weekends ago and got 2 bunnies.  Ya, I know, priorities. Don’t judge, they were a gift.  Charlie (the white one) and Corona hate each other with a passion, this bonding thing is turning out to be a wee bit more complicated that expected.  But I went in tonight and low and behold:

Maybe, just maybe they won’t try to kill each other next time I let them meet without bars between them.  Or maybe they’re tricking me so they can get into round 2.  How would I know? At least they both get along with the cats and dogs.

So I’ve decided it’s time to stop moping about and time to get back to paddleboarding (if my wetsuit still fits), running and writing.  Plus I got a bicycle for Christmas and it’s about time I start using it!

So, here we go again….

🙂

Well, once again I have done no running OR other exercise in a couple of weeks because of stupid colitis. It isn’t horrible this time but it is enough to make me not want to go get thrown around in mma class or go running or pretty much anything that I really should be doing.

However.  Before this latest bout I hadn’t been doing any running anyways.  Because I don’t like running anymore? No. Because ‘cross training’ has taken over.  I’ve been going to classes three nights a week for about an hour and a half, going out (what? Just for fun?) on a weeknight most weeks and spending the other with the kids doing whatever. Don’t ask me what happened to the weekends because I don’t know.  They do seem to start and finish simultaneously sometimes! Oh, and I was throwing in some yoga and a bunch of walking too. And Walking Dead is on again. And I bought a kettle-bell so I had to try that out… But not a run to be found.

It made me wonder, am I seriously the only adult around that cannot stick to doing one thing consistently? It’s not like I don’t enjoy running, because I do. Mostly. It’s just that there are so many other fun things to do! And it’s not like I am focused on getting to the Olympics or anything.

The funny thing is that when I was at the Spartan Race running all over the place I actually was able to run further and faster than expected.  Further and faster than if I’d been just running all this time. Seems running isn’t always the best practice for running after all. Of course it could just be me-weirdness. Not at all outside the realm of possibility.  It makes me wonder what I could do if I kept at the other stuff and somehow managed to get a few runs in every week too.

Last Saturday was the 5K Zombie Run, I think I’ll use it as a catalyst to get back into a running schedule and see how it goes.

Do you ever have an issue with simply running out of time before you can get all of the different kinds of workouts in that you’d like to?  Also, do you choose your workouts because they sound fun and you enjoy them or do you push yourself to do workouts just for the physical benefit?

I’ve finally started feeling better (yay!) and ready to get back to running.  Only a mile at a time, but tonight will make it three times a week so I’m pretty happy with that.  I switched back to running outside which is HOT but also fun. I’m really surprised that after running on the treadmill for a couple of months and then not running at all for over a month running barefoot is just as comfortable as it was before.  I don’t know why but I thought my feet would get un-used to it.

Before I started running again I started doing yoga again.  It’s amazing how hard everything is the first time after doing very little but sitting or laying around for too long. But I found two yoga practices that are perfect for when you don’t have the energy to go all out but you want to do SOMETHING.  And the cool thing is after you do something you naturally want to do something else.  A body in motion and all.

This yoga practice is from Yoga Journal.  It’s nice and mellow but still leaves you feeling great when you’re done.

Here’s one for digestion.  It’s also gentle and relaxing.

My colitis isn’t completely back in remission but it’s close enough that I feel confident that if I keep up the meds and the aloe juice and keep down the stress and the bad attitude it’ll be gone in no time.   All in all it’s been a great week.

What do you do to keep your energy up when you aren’t feeling it or to ease back into working out when you’ve been off the wagon for a while?  If you know of any other great, mellow yoga practices I’d love to hear about them!

Earlier this month I wrote that my ulcerative colitis had flared up leaving me doing a whole lot of not much.  I’ve been feeling a LOT better and I kind of thought I was in remission the last day or two. Today wasn’t the best but colitis is always a roller coaster, never a straight line. I’m OK with that, I still see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I haven’t been eating totally vegan, that lasted a full week.  I have not strayed much though.  One thing about colitis is when I have a flare up I get obsessed with what I can and cannot eat, just because I know I can’t eat whatever I want. As soon as I start to feel better I want to eat everything I wasn’t able to before.  Happily salads and fruit are the biggest draws. Unhappily a bowl or two of ice cream was slipped in too. Is what it is.

Two things I can eat unless I’m really sick are rice and bananas.  That’s just great but after a while it does get a wee bit boring.  Maybe it’s because of all that obsessing over food and rice but last week I started to really crave rice pudding. Like, CRAVE.

So I looked up the recipe, but all of them I could find had a full cup of sugar in them.  Sugar is not on my short list of foods I can tolerate, so after much thought I came up with the (now) obvious – substituting the sugar with bananas.  I wasn’t sure how it would work but it is awesome!  Nothing in it is off limits and it tastes good enough to have everyday for breakfast (and maybe lunch) without having to force myself to eat.  Win and win.

So long story short, you don’t have to be sick to make this and love it – and you don’t have to feel a bit guilty about eating it because it’s pretty much health food.  Yay.  🙂

Rice Pudding:

• 3/4 cup brown rice
• 1 box coconut milk (1 quart)
• 1 1/2 over ripe banana, smashed with a fork
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Throw it all in a crock pot on high for 4-5 hours.  And done.  How easy is that?  I like it cold with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

The first time I made this I used a full cup of rice and cooked it the full 5 hours, it was good but I wanted to try and make it not as thick. So the next time I used 3/4 cups rice and only cooked it 4 hours.  Looks perfect!

I’d love to have you try this and let me know what you think.  Do you have any suggestions for healthy, real food sugar substitutes?