Day One

This is going to be a work in progress for awhile, so please bear with me.

First a little bit about me. I hit that mid 40 range last year and I am actually looking forward to 50. After that, I'm not so sure. I'll let you know after my 50th birthday. My goal is to complete the Kona Iron Man at that time. I figure I'll have a good shot at getting in at that point!

At 38, I joined a small town gym to not only exercise but to get rid of some major stress in my life. The biggest stress was tending to my ailing mother-in-law and new born baby while the 2 older boys ran rampant. On my exercise journey, I started running. Then I became a Personal Trainer and Aerobic Instructor. Always looking for another challenge, I competed in 3 triathlons and was hooked until my IT band had issues with me. Got that taken care of and raised money for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and ran the Disney World Marathon. I was very creative in coming up with the $5000 needed for the event and one of my better ideas was to hold a 5K fun run. This November it will be in its 4th year. The Veteran's Day 5K. I'll keep you posted on that as well. I then learned I have a talent for this and next came a 5K fun run for my son's Boy Scout Troop. Our 2nd Annual fun run will be April 23, 2011.

I was still searching for something else that would challenge me when I found CrossFit. My little town of almost 7000 has a facility and it took me a few days to not only get the courage to call (after watching the videos on CrossFit it was quite daunting) but trying to schedule it in. I met with Dan the owner of Kitsap Crossfit and he put me through the paces. I knew I was not in the best shape at that time of my life, but I didn't realize just how bad it was!

It was ugly.

Then came the Paleo talk. And more paleo talk. And paleo posts on the box's website (you can't call it just a gym). And more paleo. So, I did my research and I found that it could work for me. If it could work for me, it should work for my family too. Ooh, how I love a challenge!

Being Catholic has many advantages. Mother's guilt is the best there is and I have learned not to abuse it.  Now it works on so many levels! The family was home over Christmas Break (BTW, you will quickly learn that I am not politically correct. I'm a blue blooded Yankee) and I tried my hand at many dishes. My husband, who hails from the Irish section of Queens, was thrilled to learn that we would now be eating real meat with fat. He wasn't so keen on all those vegetables that didn't come out of a can nor was he happy to learn that he would have to give up his "daily bread" consumption. The second biggest hurdle was my middle son who considers sugar a main food group. By this time he was nearing 13 and starting a growth spurt. He decided to play along and discovered that vegetables are really not that bad and participated in the shopping excursions in the produce section. A miracle had just taken place under my nose! My oldest and youngest sons are sports nuts and really needed that nutrition. The oldest starting High School Swim Team as a Freshman and the youngest trying his hand at wrestling. They thrived on the diet.

All along, I kept telling them that we would- as a family- go strictly Paleo over Lent and the count down began. Fat Tuesday's dinner consisted of Chicken Alfredo and garlic bread. I kept to the chicken and broccoli!

There are 17 days left of Lent and the boys and I have done pretty good. My husband is the exception. He won't give up his Stouffer's lunch or his instant oatmeal for breakfast. My youngest is slowly coming around to not noticing the coconut milk in his real fruit smoothies and my middle son still gives me grief over strange looking combinations until he samples a bite. I'll fess up a bit. I have allowed myself the occasional Rudi's gluten free muffin and a gluten free pancake from a box but, the one thing I am guilty of is my love for a well crafted beer. I believe I consumed a few of them over Lent. So, while not 100% paleo, I don't believe I've fallen under the 80% that Mark Sisson from Mark's Daily Apple has applied. Oh, and those skinny jeans that I haven't been able to squeeze into for awhile- now sag. I have saggy jean butt disease!!

My next challenge? I am the newest Assistant Boy's Track Coach for the Middle School and I was so lucky to also be tapped as the throwing coach as well. I will now be learning how to throw my cattle prod!