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A Very Angry Running Log

As documented, I’ve been keeping track of the running exercises that the family has been doing.  Everybody is doing fantastic and getting better.  They all especially enjoyed the “mini-marathon” that the Central Elementary put on as a fund raiser.

This is were I start getting angry!

We were hoping to also let them run in the Pleasant Grove Strawberry Days 5K this summer.  Julie did some checking into the registration and we will no longer be participating.   Apparently the ba***rds involved think that it costs them $20 per participant to run along their city streets!?!

How the hell am I supposed to be able to afford $100 to let five family members run?  $100 to use your public streets for 45 minutes?!? What are those costs covering??   Running requires no actual costs in equipment, nor any specialized skills.  There are no hard costs involved since your roads being used are already paid for through the taxes you take.  Can any reason justify $20 PER PERSON to participate in an event with no inherent costs?

Old Running Shoes

Almost every city runs some kind of ‘town days’ event in order to bring out their citizens and provide them with some activities to enjoy together.  Strawberry Days is one of those events, and is one of the longest running ‘town days’ in Utah.  It is meant for community involvement! It isn’t a business endeavor or private event.   Yet I’ve seen private for-profit running events, at much nicer venues, that cost less!

We know there are many events that are costly to put on that we can’t take advantage of.  But running?  We should be able to afford that!!  Are you intentionally trying to keep the poorer members of the community out?  You have priced out any struggling members of this community!  Or is this also a fundraising event instead of one intended to increase community involvement?

‘Running’ a Scam!

So I’m a bit angry.  The historical purpose for these town days events has apparently been abandoned.  It is no longer about bringing people together in mutual activity.  Or at least those activities are only made available to those with better financial fortunes than the Jensens have.

I know this is a minor ‘first-world-problem’ thing, and that many people with financial problems have it much worse than I do.  But I’m mad on their behalf too.  How many people would like to participate in this type of should-be-affordable community event, but can’t because the “community” has priced them out of it?  There are so few entertainments that poor people get to do or participate in.   Running should be within their financial reach!

Maybe I need to retake an anger management course, but I can’t tell you how utterly ridiculous I find this pricing.  I’ve fluctuated between smolderingly mad and blinding rage.

Your streets are not that great PG, it is not some great prestigious event to run on them.  No fame comes to the winner and no glory is bestowed by the heavens.  How about next year you keep your community events at a price point that doesn’t cut out your community?

Deep breaths Jax, keep taking deep breaths and relax.

 

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Another Weight Loss Attempt

It is time again for another doomed-to-fail weight loss attempt. Why Do I Do This To Myself?

It’s Glaringly Obvious!

Every time I look in a mirror, try to walk up a flight of stairs, or attempt to pick something up off of the ground, it is obvious why I need to lose weight.  I’m a big, fat, slug of a man.  The pain sucks. My back can’t handle the stress the weight causes.  I’ve consistently gained 10lbs a year since getting injured.  I don’t expect I could make it to my 50’s if don’t reverse course.

If I want to see my kids grow up or get married than I have to make weight loss a priority.  If I would like to be able to remain mobile much longer than I must shed some pounds.  I’d really love to be able to stop using my cane.  If I continue to balloon then eventually my ankles, knees, or back will just give out and I’ll be in really bad shape.  It should be glaringly obvious that if I want any quality of life that changes need to happen.

But I Also Have No Idea!

While it IS glaringly obvious that I need to lose weight, I simultaneously have no idea why I do this to myself.  I have tried and failed so many time that I have no confidence that I can succeed.  Does another attempt make any sense if I have anticipate failure?  Yes, the results seem desirable and worth the effort; No, they don’t seem achievable.

But hey, would I really be “me” if I didn’t occasionally try insanely stupid things that seem doomed to failure from the beginning?  Maybe it’s time for a “Here, hold my beer Sprite” type of moment.

Weight Loss Efforts

I will not be doing anything drastic.  I will be trying to combine a small change in what I eat (my “diet”) with a small increase in exercise.

What I eat (diet)

I think the biggest effect could come from just a slight amount of self-control, namely, not eating or snacking after scriptures/bedtime for the kids.  This usually happens around 9pm at our house, but I routinely consume a significant number of calories after this time.   Eliminating this “after hours” eating could/should have the biggest impact on my weight loss.

I don’t usually have much of a breakfast, due mostly to morning back pain keeping me in bed until after normal breakfast hours.  I know breakfast is “the most important meal of the day,” but this probably won’t change.  My morning consumption however has already been changed from cereal or bacon/eggs into a fruit/veggie juice.

Julie and I bought a Champion Juicer that we love.  We’ve had one for years (replaced after each fire).  Julie has been making fresh juices for us most mornings as breakfast.  The juicer tears apart the cells releasing the nutrients rich contents and eliminating the pulp/cell membrane.

A typical juice for two would include:

3 apples

1/10 of a pineapple

1/2 cup of mixed berries (blueberries, strawberry, raspberry, etc)

2 carrots

1/2 cucumber

1/2 stalk of celery

1 serving of some type of squash (zucchini, crook necked, etc)

small handful of spinach or kale (kale is bitter, use sparingly)

There are numerous books, websites, blogs, etc. that give you other recipes that are great.   This one is kind of Julie’s go-to recipe.  Just run it all through the juicer, stir, and enjoy.  You can get a full days nutrients from just one glass of fresh juice.  And it is easier than trying to eat that quantity of produce.

Exercise

This one has always been tough.  The chronic pain makes everything hard.  Combined with seeing how much ability I’ve lost, it becomes is very depressing.   How do I overcome that?

I had always played a variety of sports that would have me running and jumping.  But my weight and back problems don’t let me do either of those.  AT ALL!   Thankfully it is summer now, which provides an easy way to neutralize my massive weight: swimming.

Being in water relieves the stress that the weight puts on my body.  It doesn’t hurt my leg joints nor my back.  The plus side of having this much blubber is it’s buoyancy!  The local Pleasant Grove pool is only open in summer, and so I am looking forward to taking advantage of our family pass.

The downside to swimming though is that in order to breath one must keep ones head out of the water.  I’ve found that the arch in my back that this requires creates a more-than-acceptable level of pain.  So in years past I haven’t swam either.

I’m ashamed to say it took me 9 years to solve the problem of breathing with my face underwater.

My magical breathe-under-water device.  A snorkel and mask!

I don’t know why this “new technology” eluded me for so long, but I’m happy to say that I can now swim, pain free.   Shoulder surgeries has left them weak which could be a problem with swimming too.  Happily, I’ve found that also using fins give me plenty of propulsion to keep me at the surface without engaging my arms (the blubber helps too!).

So I can avoid back pain, rest my arms/shoulders when tired, and can get some exercise!  I am thrilled and excited about this.

Optimism

I’m leery that something will go wrong.   In the last few years something always seems to for me.  But I am more cautiously optimistic.  Not necessarily that I’ll lose weight, but that I can at least increase my activity level without a corresponding increase in pain.

If I can exercise, and if I can control what I eat, perhaps the weight loss will come.  If weight loss can occur, perhaps the pain will decrease (or disappear?).  And if I can be healthy and if the pain goes away, perhaps the depression/anxiety/PTSD will get better too.   That is far too many if‘s for me to be hopeful, but maybe feeling doomed to failure isn’t realistic either.

So wish me luck.  Words of encouragement are always welcome.  Prayers are appreciated.  Feel free to ask me how it is going.  I need the accountability.

And please, stop running away and screaming when I take my shirt off at the pool.  That could make a person feel bad you know 🙂

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School is Out!

Not a moment too soon, school is out for the kids here in PG.

How It All Began!

 

I hope the kids don’t expect us to make each day as great as this one was.   Their Aunt Jenni had a huge hand in making the day great.  School ended at 10:30, and by 11:00 they were all soaking wet from water balloons, slip ‘n slide, kiddie pool, and eventually entire 5 gallon buckets of mayhem.   It was awesome.   The video didn’t do justice to that part of the day simply because my recording was so poor.

The pool was fun, but the wind made it a bit on the cool side.  Only Caitlin and Joshua were there with their cousin.   I got a LOT of video from that.  Some of it good, much of it boring.

This summer will offer lots of time at the pool, and lots of time working.  I’ll do what I can to give video whenever I have time or energy to do so.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

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Activities Galore!

It is the last week of school and we have been all over the place with activities.

Gymnastics

Last night we attended the gymnastics “showcase” for Kristie, Charlee, Nikki, and Andrew at Patterson’s Soft Landing Gymnastics.  I have never been to an event like this and it was great fun for me to see what the kids have been working on and learning this year.

I thought they all did great!  Of course I may be biased.  They all progressed quite far throughout the year and I am really happy for them.  Kristie was even offered a spot on one of their competition teams, but since we are moving she isn’t taking the spot.

The highlight for the night, at least for me, was watching Kristie easily climb their rope.  It took about 20 seconds for her to get to the top of their 25 foot ceiling.  I was impressed.  Any time I have picked her up I’ve asked if they ever climb the rope and she has always said no.  When asked afterward why she always told me no when she had obviously climbed it so well she said, “We haven’t practiced until just last week.  We got to try and I climbed up it.”   It was just that easy I guess.

 

Dance Event

One of today’s activities was the end of year Dance Festival at the elementary school.  This has been a tradition there since Julie attended.  Each grade practiced and preformed a dance routine for a large crowd of parents.

I know this event is popular and expected, but I’d rather have skipped it.  The music was low and hard to hear.  The choreography was repetitive (which is expected for a large group of little kids).   And I don’t particularly like large crowds.

The kids were just one among a sea of others.  Because my kids are so short they were often hard to see in the group.  It was as good an event as I’ve ever seen it be, but still not a “must see” for me.  Julie probably feels different about it.

Little Red Hen

Following the Dance Festival, Nikki was also involved in a class play of The Little Red Hen.  I took Andrew home instead of attending.  Julie went and said it was adorable.   She needs to get some GoPro practice though because there was nothing in memory despite her claims she had the whole thing recorded.

Paying Tribute to the Porcelain King

And just to make this week a little bit more difficult, we have had illness going through the family.  It started with Andrew and Steven on Sunday morning.  Both vomited and earned a get-out-of-church-free pass.  Sunday afternoon, after church, poor JR had his turn right in the middle of a family movie.

That passed just fine and we thought by Tuesday we were all in the clear.  Then right in the middle of the gymnastics showcase Steven had two more episodes:  once right in the middle of the seated crowd, and then again as Julie was carrying him outside.  She got him outside and five minutes later he stated he wanted to go back in.  Julie said, “you can’t.  You’re sick.”   “I’m not sick, I’m happy :)!”

That was yesterday.   Last night it was Charlee’s turn.  Caitlin woke us sometime after midnight to tell us that Charlee needed new bedding.  Lovely.

Today was Lagoon day for the middle school and Caitlin was early anticipating going for her first time.  She left the house all ready to go.  About 20 minutes later she was on the phone telling us that she was ill to and fighting nausea.  So she missed Lagoon.   She didn’t vomit at all today, but Lagoon would have been a bad place to test the fortitude of your stomach.

Can Summer Begin Already?

I am more then ready for the school year, and this week,  to be over.  We have more than enough activities planned for us over the summer to keep us busy.  Family reunions, remodeling a house, pool time, fishing, moving, and hopefully a trip to Martin’s Cove in WY to visit some friends on a mission there.   We have activities galore planned, so let the fun begin!

Charlee