Flexibility

...also titled, "Rubber Band Girl: The Later Years."

image from this site

So when Maggie and I were wee little things taking ballet classes together, we (she more than I, but still the both of us) were known as among the most flexible. Once I grew up and out and no longer practiced ballet, I was still pretty proud of the fact that I maintained most of that flexibility without trying too hard, despite all the talk I heard about runners being notoriously stiff. In recent memory, I could, for example, keep both legs straight and my back flat while I stood with my face pressed to my knees without discomfort.

Well, after just attempting this feat again to prove to myself that I still could, I have to say that...I can't do that anymore.

This makes me very sad.

I can still put my hands flat on the floor in-between my feet, but that's with some definite tension in the back of my legs. Any further than that and it gets pretty painful.

Sigh. There are always trade-offs when I try to improve myself. Stop biting my nails; develop trichotillomania. Beat trich; get addicted to checking my email. Lose some weight; lose most of my T&A (VERY sad when that happened :'( ). Lose some more weight and improve fitness; lose most of the natural flexibility I still had left.

Well, it stops here, damnit. I want to sit in a center split with my chin on the ground and be able to call it "resting" again! I'll be attempting to put together some kind of stretching routine and posting it here once that's figured out.

For now, here is some food.
Big ol' salad with homemade hummus dressing and an egg, salmon steak, cherries and a delicious pale ale. And Eric Idle as the Lord High Executioner. Can't beat that.

Big ol' scoops of veggies (steamed broccoli and some OKRA, courtesy of amam. I actually liked it and it was not slimy!) topped with EVOO and grated parmesan, salmon steaks, blueberries and milk.

Yesterday's dinner. It was AMAZING. Sauteed 1/2 onion in a little EVOO over low heat until it was soft, then added red cabbage with ACV, sea salt and water to steam it, then sliced apples about a minute later. Once that looked pretty good, topped it with ripped-up kale and some more EVOO, then just let it sit until the water was gone and the kale was cooked and I couldn't wait any longer. Topped with 15 stir-fried shrimp and eaten with gusto. Also, some milk.

Exercise: yesterday I ran 1.6 around the Duke Wall; made it 3.0 this morning (with nasty cramps and a lot of walking). And Crossfit tonight. Yay!

-N