Jeanne, Julie, and Julia-- A Cooking Experience!

This last weekend I saw the movie Julie and Julia. I found it a very enjoyable and heart warming movie. It is a truth inspired movie, based on the book, written by Julie Powell. Julie is a government secretary living a sad day life existence in a cubicle answering phones shortly after the 911, is looking for something to enliven her life. She decides to take on the challenge of making 524 recipes from the Master the Art of French Cooking in 365 days. She starts a blog and writes about her experience.

The movie bounces between the two lives of these women. I was amazed at watching the transformation of both women, Julie and Julia, as they discovered their passion of cooking. Meryl Streep wonderfully brought Julia Childs to life for me, and I was fascinated with the flash backs into how Julia became the cook that we all know and love. I could rather identify with Julie Powell as the under dog and wanted to cheer her on. Julie, played by Amy Adams, is a want-to-be-writer that had started writing a couple of books, had successful friends, living in a run-down one bedroom apartment with her husband, and working in a cubicle as a government employee, is far from living her full potential. She seems to have only two things going for her at the start of the movie.... her loving husband, and her love of cooking dinner at home for her and her husband.

This movie is not for everyone. As the lights came on a skinny young gal two rows back said," Is that all? THAT was boring!" I couldn't help but laugh a bit and roll my eyes at another gal sitting near by. This is a movie for those that love to eat, love to cook, or love to watch those cooking shows and imagine being able to cook all those wonderful dishes. You have to have some what of a passion for food to fully appreciate this movie. Obviously, a skinny young girl that probably counts her calories wouldn't get it.

It brought back memories of fun, warm, and inspiring moments of cooking that I have had. On my way home, which was about dinner time, I find myself wanting some wonderful food. I felt like running through a fast food drive thru would have been unfaithful after seeing this movie. And so, I found myself driving to the grocery store on the way home and purchasing the needed supplies for Chicken Dijon.

Here I was in my little one bedroom apartment kitchen chopping the red onions and I couldn't help but chuckle while thinking about a scene in the movie. Julia Childs was chopping away making a gluttonous pile of onions to increase her speed to catch up with all her male counter parts in her French cooking class while her husband, played by Stanley Tucci, comes in. She's crying, and he's trying not to inhale too much of the smell. It was like reliving the movie as I was cooking along. I enjoyed my dinner of Chicken Dijon with a nice glass of Chardonnay, and watched another movie Gran Torino. I'm not sure how either, Julie or Julia, would have thought or approved about the combo of the dinner and the movie, but when you live alone .... Sorry to say but I quite often eat in front of the TV.

I won't say much more about the movie. I don't want to be a spoiler but I will say that there are quite a few scenes that I found very funny, and others that made me think and question. I also kind of discovered that I missed cooking, and it was like visiting with an old friend. I need to do this more often. Perhaps, when I'm done with the Tri training?

A Slam Dunk Moment...

I had one of those moments last night where it couldn't have worked out better if I had planned it. The universe was in alignment, the clouds dispersed, and everything that normally would have gone wrong didn't. It amazes me when these moments happen because usually the opposite holds true for me. As I'm sure quite a few of you have had found it holds true for you also. This is not the norm. This is unusual, and well, I was WOW'd with amazement. Thus, I refer to these few and way too infrequent moments as a SLAM DUNK! But anyway, here's what happened....

I was waiting in the foyer area together with my fellow BCC cyclists waiting for a table at a local restaurant. We had just finished doing the regular weekly Thursday night bike ride. As I was waiting I notice one of the servers looked like a plumper version of my ex-brother-in-law's wife. She was always a sweet gal so I thought I would go ahead and say hello. Her family nickname was the Magnolia Queen. She's from the south and was always just a nice easy going gal that was easy to talk to.

When she got closer to the foyer area, where I might add, I'm standing with 4 male fellow cyclists, I wave. She comes over,"OMG! You look TERRIFIC! OMG! How are you? What have you been up to?" I proceeded to tell her that we had just got done doing a bike ride, and that I was doing some training for a triathlon. Her eyes just got big,"OMG! Wow! What Tri are you doing? You REALLY look terrific!" I tried to quickly explain the SLOW SALTY DOG to her, as our table was announced. We gave each other a quick hug, and then I walked off to the table.

It had been over 8 years since I had seen her. Here I am 75-80 lbs. lighter, tan, with long hair, and with 4 men standing in a restaurant. A SLAM DUNK moment! What are the chances? Now I can just imagine the conversation she had with her husband later that night when she got home. AND then a further conversation that might be taking place right now as my Ex is learning about the run in. Needless to say, I was in VERY high spirits as the meal progressed along last night. It made my night! The only thing was I had a bit of guilt that I didn't ask more after her, but I was thrown off and didn't know what to say.

Still Struggling....Towards SLOW SALTY DOG

Early this morning I struggled through another swim training. Ugh! I've switched it up a little with the training schedule. It's been getting lighter later and later in the mornings. Running at the park alone in the dark is not a good thing. I think I may have improved my speed partly because I've been imagining a serial killer chasing me around the park trying to slay me~! OH, NO!! Run, Forest Run!! ;-) So thus I switched my training schedule around a little.

But I was also hoping that doing the swim earlier in the day would make it --possibly-- a little easier? Well, no such luck! It's all the same. But I will admit it was rather nice having a lane all to myself. At the same time, I wonder if some of the swimmers that were joining other lanes were avoiding me for fear that I would slow them down; or bring them down?

I'm actually looking more and more forward to the SLOW SALTY DOG Triathlon, if only to seeing an end to this swimming laps thing. Isn't that terrible, but I am not finding any JOY in this part of the event. I find myself concentrating SO hard on the strokes. I try to be constantly working on my form that sometimes I almost feel like I'm getting worse on the whole as to better. It's like taking one step forward and two steps back. Yikes! Maybe I should be working on my backstroke!

A date has been set for the SLOW SALTY DOG event. September 26th is "D" Day! I have a month to pull this whole thing off. I'm progressing on the running quite well. I'm up to 7.5 miles, and hoping to push towards 8 or 9 miles this weekend. We've been working on a t-shirt design, and some medals have been ordered. A whole month... It's almost here, and I have to admit I'm getting just a bit of stage fright. Or should I say performance anxiety? But I keep telling myself to just breathe, and concentrate on the training for now. That's half of the battle, or maybe more.

A month-- seems like a such a short amount of time...

Not Drowning & a 10 Min. Mile...

Well, I wasn't a drowning victim last night during my Wednesday swim training session. I am however drinking more than my fair share of chlorinated pool water. Ugh! It was my first training since the panic attack that I had last week. I got to the pool a little sooner than normal and there were more open lanes(the master swimmers hadn't showed up yet), with---now get this--SLOW swimmers like me! Wow! I managed to get in a lane with two other slow swimmers, and it worked out pretty well. I swam my 1/2 mile in about 28 minutes. Of course, I still need to work on my crawl stroke that goes without saying. My breast stroke is getting better and better. I even did a little work on my back stroke without running my head into the wall; wonders never cease!

But what really has gotten me all pumped up today was this morning's run. I decided to take a lap this morning and go as quickly as I could manage. I timed myself and I actually ran a 10 Minute Mile! WOW! I was surprised, and I tend to wonder if I might have done a little better but I kept on having to pull up the capris that I was running in. With all the inches I have lost, I found myself having to safety pin the waistline this morning. I continued to run the lap, and periodically would grab with one hand (or the other) pulling my pants up. I'll tell you this is not an easy feat. I don't want to even imagine how this was appearing to others that were running/walking/biking at the park this morning. Or the effect it may have had on the young University of Utah ROTC that were working out. " Hmmmm... must be a new workout? A pants fire drill?" But all that stuck with me---- a 10 MINUTE MILE!! YAHOO! I'm getting faster!

The Fortune Cookie Read...

(Or that's how the cookie crumbles...?)

So I sat there looking at the small piece of paper with my fortune.

It read...

"Pleasant experiences make life delightful.

Painful experiences lead to growth."

Oh, it's amazing what simple knowledge you can get with a $7.95 dinner entree! I couldn't help but treat myself to some Chinese take out after a dismal swim training session.

It was the worse session of swimming training that I had EVER! I got to the pool and watched for a bit before I selected a lane to swim in. I swear they were all going at a good clip, and it was like choosing the lesser evil. I would be the turtle put among the hares! Ugh! So choose a lane, I must!

I start off with my usual warm up lap of breast stroke. The fellow lane members were passing me like I'm standing still. Ouch! I get to the end of the lap, and one of the gals is standing at the end taking a break. I told her I was sorry and that I just wasn't feeling it tonight. I felt like a snail. She was sweetly encouraging telling me that just to take it at my own pace, it's their responsibility to pass me, and that what counted was that I was here swimming.

So I trudge thru one more lap of the breast stroke, and then do another lap with the floatation thingy between my legs to work on my crawl stroke. I'm slow, and being passed but hanging in there. Then, I take the floatation thingy out and decide to do a lap of crawl.

I get down to the one end, turn around, and get about 30 feet from the other end when disaster strikes. One fellow lane member passes by making quite the waves. I drink water as I go to get a side breath in the stroke. Then another fellow lane member passes close to me right after, and accidentally (I assume) hits me with their arm on my left arm. Screwing up my stroke, and making me PANIC!! OMG!! I ended up doggie paddling the last 10 feet while I was hyperventilating!

I grabbed the pools edge and held on for dear life. All the while trying to think of calming thoughts to slow down my heart and my breathing. I finally managed to pull myself up and sat at the edge of the pool for a bit. I had enough for the night! That's it! I headed to off the shower, and changed. The whole time I was still kind of shaking.

Well, I HAD to treat myself after a swim session like that! So off I went to my favorite Chinese restaurant for some take out. And as I sat their with the fortune in my hand, I thought of how I can make my painful experience lead to growth.

Oh and PS... when I turned over the fortune, there's my lucky numbers which I could possibly play if I lived anywhere but Utah. Then there's the "Learn Chinese" part. The word? Disease (bing). I couldn't help but ask myself who's the sick minded person that comes up with these fortunes?!?! And maybe I missed my "calling"?

Progressing and Learning....(Well, one could hope?)

The training for the 1/2 Iron Man seems to be progressing right along for the most part. I'm almost amazing myself on how far I have come in what is a relatively short amount of time. I'm up to 6 miles running, and 3/4 mile of swimming. I know I have a ways to go but still I can't help but be pleased with the progress. As an added benefit I've lost 8 lbs., and 3.75", and all of this has occurred since I committed to do the 1/2 Iron Man back on June 30th.



Yesterday, I walked 6 miles up City Creek Canyon and then ran the 6 miles down. (Why not take a little advantage of gravity when you can?) But I tell you I forgot what an incline that canyon can get towards the top. I felt like I had ankle weights on for quite a bit of the way up. Oh, but that wonderful downhill when Diane and I turned around and started going down. Now that was nice! So if need be, I can now probably run 6 miles and walk 7 miles of the 13 miles that's in the 1/2 Iron Man. But I'm hoping that I can maybe build up to a little more running yet in the next month before the "Slow Salty Dog" event.

Saturday I managed to swim 3/4 mile and I was pleased. My crawl stroke still needs a great deal of work! OMG! I put this floatation device between my legs so that you can focus on your body rotation and arm movements. I think another gal that was sharing the lane with us(Diane & myself) was ready to smack me! I WAS all over the place. It was like watching a drunk in the pool. I couldn't swim a straight line if my life depended on it! I ran into the poor gal twice. I apologized but, man, if looks could have killed... I would've been fish food! So, I'm going to really try to concentrate and work on my crawl stroke for my next swim training.

But with all of this progressing along, I'm managing to learn a few things. Like don't donate blood while you're training for a triathlon. You do need all of your red blood cells that you can get. Duh?!! I've also learn that just when you think you have figured out the best way to help yourself to recover; your body changes on you, and doesn't cooperate. And never, ever, EVER, trim your toe nails too closely the night before a big run. OUCH!! But in the midst of all of this, I really hope that my learning curve is getting a little better. Though, I will admit to noticing a large amount of "dummy syndrome" after a hard work out. So I might want to hold off on being too hopeful about my learning curve.

Athletic Mind Games...

After a bike ride this morning, I had a gal new to cycling ask how I got to be such a strong rider. I had to pause for a moment. Yeah, I guess I'm a strong rider. Though what exactly that means, I don't know. I told her that I pushed myself, and that's how I got to the level that I am. I did the pushing in different ways. Like picking a cyclists on a ride that goes a little bit faster than me and staying with them as long as I can. Or doing the TGIF (SLC Airport/Marina) ride, which is an out and back, and trying to be further out each time before the fast group of riders passed me coming back the other way.

These are little mind games that I play with myself all of the time. I find it serves me well, and allows me to push my limits. Making me cycle a little harder, and a little further. Until, low and behold, I'm riding with the fast guys back from the Marina; or at least, I'm sucking their tire for a while on the way back.

I've been rather thinking about these mind games most of this last weekend. On Saturday while running/walking up and down City Creek Canyon, I stuck with my friend Diane. Even though, I could have gone on ahead at my faster pace. I was having fun by pacing myself a little bit slower, and I found that I could run farther at that slower pace. Hello!?! But I found I was rather fighting my natural tendency to go faster. I guess I may have a competitve streech in me yet? Well I had to combat this. Thus, I found myself talking more than I normally would have. The poor gal, I probably talked her ear off! As we were going along we talked about City Creek as an inverse downhill; not as a climb uphill. It's was a change of 1000ft. and not a gain of 1000ft. We were playing little word mind games with ourselves--- and this is when I started to think about the mind games that I'm always playing with myself for my athletic side of life.

But as I'm able to find mind games that help my cycling, and my running; I still find myself struggling with the swimming training for the triathlon. It's boring swimming laps in a pool. It's not like cycling, or running where you're going somewhere and you can enjoy the scenery. In a pool, there's the tile to view. Yahoo! Tile at the bottom of a pool! I guess if I was married to a man that sold tile it would be another story. I would be seeing HUGE dollar signs along the bottom as I swam along. But sorry, tile along the bottom of the pool is NOT my idea of scenic. So I find myself, needing to figure out a mind game for me to manage through the swimming.

Yesterday, I was talking with my fellow bike club member Jane. She said she LOVED the swim. I couldn't help but ask her how? She said that she would use it as a meditation. Hmmm? I thought to myself. Maybe I'm taking the wrong approach to this swimming thing. Maybe I need to take a step back and look at this from another direction. So thus tonight as I'm struggling through my laps at the outdoor pool, I'm going to need to come up with a new mind game to play.