Out On The Harbor

I've lived in Southern California for awhile now.  I moved here from Tahoe in 1996, and since then, for the most part I've been satisfied to stay inside. The city is boring, I thought, and I wouldn't be able to find adventure here the way I did back home up in the mountains.  But, over the past year as I've become more active I've found myself getting cabin fever from time to time. I enjoy my time outside running, but there are other activities to enjoy outside as well. When I was a kid, I used to love being on the water. Canoeing was one of my favorite activities and I enjoyed hours on the water paddling at Tahoe, or camps I worked at, or wherever I could find a boat to get in, a paddle to move it with, and a pond to float on. 

So, it happed that in March of last year, I overheard one of my co-workers talking about how he had been kayaking in the harbor at Huntington Beach, and the old light bulb went off over my head. Of course there are water sports in So Cal. It's near the ocean and all. Duhhhh. So I went to the ol' Google, looked up some rental places, read some Yelp reviews, and settled on Sunset Kayaks for my first trip out. It had been so long since I'd done anything like it, at first I thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea. As the tattooed 50-something surfer guy I rented from pushed me out in my kayak with a photocopy map of the harbor and a hearty "have fun", I noticed first of all, that I seemed to be sinking. Apparently kayaks have holes in the bottom, on purpose. And being as how I had just started out my fitness program, I was still pretty heavy. The boat had several inches of water in it, and my whole back end was soaked. But I figured I should still give it a shot. It took me a few minutes to get my rhythm back, but before long it was like I'd never stopped. That first day I just paddled around the inside parts of the harbor, enjoying the scenery, enjoying the peace and quiet. Here are a couple of the views I took in on that first day: 

Who would've thought we had scenery here in the big city? Not me...

Over the last year and a half, I've gone back to Huntington Harbor many times, always renting from Tattoo Surfer Guy. If you go on a weekday he lets you keep the boat as long as you want, and only charges you for the two hour rate. Now that's a great deal for someone like me, because I like to spend a long time out enjoying the ride. I've been through the harbor so many times I know every twist and turn, and I know where all the parks and bathrooms are. I even take a picnic with me most times.  I arrive early, I'm usually the first customer, and I go whether it's fog or shine. It doesn't matter what the weather is, I dress accordingly and get out there. 

I actually like the foggy days, for one thing there is NO ONE else out there, I have the whole place to myself. And the scene is mysterious and maybe even a little haunting.

blue heron standing guard

I also like sunny days, despite the fact that I have to cover up with an ugly hat and a thick layer of SPF 4 million. It doesn't really matter what the weather is like, so long as I can be out there.

last November I found some fall colors in So Cal.

look! it's me with hair! red hair...

On occasion I am lucky enough to have a companion. Usually the trip is a bit shorter when someone is with me because unlike me, they don't want to keep going until their butts are numb and they have blisters on the inside of their thumbs.  Most recently my son has been my victim...er, companion.  As you can see here, he's having a blast.

One of the things I really enjoy during my kayak trips is seeing a lot of wildlife. It's amazing to me to see the variety of birds and other critters I encounter while paddling around. Here are some of the animals I've encountered on my trips.

pelican taking flight

Ssssshhhhh, guys. Stand still, maybe she won't see us...

this sea lion has followed me a few times.

cormorants guarding the dock.

crab hiding in his little mud house

My favorite part is actually not really in the harbor, but just outside. There is a nature sanctuary just north of the harbor, and you're not supposed to go in, but if you stay right on the edge you will still be able to see quite a bit of wildlife. There are birds nesting out there, which is why it's protected. It stinks that we can't go into the preserve, but I understand the reasoning. The birds I see out there the most are blue herons and egrets, pictured here: 

The first time I went over there, I didn't know the nature preserve was off limits, so I did go and paddle up the river there for quite some ways. I only managed to get one picture before a burly, tattooed guy in fatigues with a big gun came running out of the bushes demanding to know what I was doing there. Oooops. The US Government takes their bird nesting very seriously, it seems. At least they let me go with just a stern warning, and I got to go in there once and see what was there.

shortly before being busted by the feds.

For the past year and a half I've really been enjoying these trips. At first I did tend to sink the boat a bit lower than I liked, but as time passed and I lost weight, the boat didn't sink quite so much, I didn't get as tired, and I found I could go faster. I still get sunburned though. Darn sun. Oh, and my rental guy always gets a funny look on his face when I show up. He sort of recognizes me, but he can't quite remember who I am because every time he sees me, I've lost another 10 lbs and cut my hair shorter. 

At least he did remember one time that my name starts with an "M".

So what it really boils down to is the experience.  I love the views, as you can see. I love the sound of the paddle cutting through the water, and of water lapping against the shore, or my boat, or the other boats in the harbor. I love the sound of the birds calling, even the raucous seagulls screaming at each other over some fisherman's abandoned bait. I love the sensation of the boat floating on the water, from calm water to choppy waves caused by wind or boat wakes. And it doesn't hurt that it burns a whole lot of calories in addition to being a great deal of fun. I love the whole experience, and wish I could do it more often than once a month or so. I'd really like to explore some other areas as I could pretty much do Huntington in my sleep by now. I just have to find a rental place with a deal as good as Tattoo Surfer Guy. I want to explore the Long Beach and Naples Island area, and eventually get out in the ocean. There are some cool tours, and lots of places to go. I'd love to even have my own kayak, now that would be a dream come true. But until then, I'm happy to cure my cabin fever with a few hours out in Huntington Harbor, enjoying the views of my little corner of the ocean.  Hope you enjoyed them too.

just past the buoys is the forbidden zone...

these ice plants stay red like that all year round. 

the bridge to Trinidad Island

and now for a round of bridge-kayak limbo. how low can you go?

It's Only A Half Marathon

It has been an interesting 18 months to say the least. So far in my posts, I have gone over my motivation to lose weight, and some of the steps I took to get started. That was the hardest part for sure, I think, just getting started.  Like I mentioned previously, I managed to put it off for a long time, I am something of a professional procrastinator in all areas of my life, but this one was particularly difficult to break through.  So when I did manage to find something of a "plan", i.e., reduced food intake combined with activity and exercise, the next obstacle I had to overcome was my tendency towards complacency. I had to make sure that I stuck with the plan and didn't lose momentum and slip back into my old habits.  Because 25 years of bad habits don't just go away, no matter how successful you are at breaking them.

My first few months went well, I was actually surprised at how well I was doing.  I had failed at the attempt to gain control of my eating habits so many times, that I always had a fear in the back of my mind that somehow I would slip back into my old ways and lose all the progress I'd made. It had happened multiple times in my life, actually.  For example, when I first moved to Long Beach, I joined a gym, saw a personal trainer and got some advice about fitness and weight training. I went regularly for about a year, lost some weight, and felt good about myself.  When I had to move across town, I quit the gym, didn't join a new one, and gained the weight back.  Then, about 6 years ago, when pregnant with my daughter, I developed gestational diabetes.  The doctor put me on a strict diet to control my blood sugar, the diet also happened to involve a lot less food than I normally ate, so I ended up losing nearly 50 lbs by the time she was born. 50 lbs! That's huge! I felt like I had a new chance at life. But as the months passed, I somehow lost the motivation to keep eating right. I went back to my old habits and over a period of 4 years, put back nearly every one of that 50 lbs that I had lost.  Now that is pretty devastating, to say the least.  I did double time in convincing myself I hadn't gained "too much" weight. Before I got pregnant, I was a size 30, and went down to a 26 after I lost that weight. Then, even as I gained the weight back, I managed to keep stuffing myself into those size 26 jeans, and stretched out my shirts so that they would still fit. So I could tell myself that I wasn't really getting bigger. But the scale doesn't lie...

So over the past year or so, as I was on my way to losing weight again, that was always in the back of my mind, the knowledge that I might slip. But something was different than in all my previous attempts. I can't really put my finger on it, but I think it just boils down to being tired of failure. Each day that passed that was another success just fueled my fire to keep going, to not look back at how I failed in the past, but to look forward at what might be possible.  So I kept going.  I think the key for me was taking things slow and steady.  Like I said before, I set small goals, and once I met them, made more small goals, and so on. It might seem like that's not an effective approach. But, the funny thing about small goals and accomplishments is that the more time passes, the more the results add up.

I remember the first day I went for a walk. I went to the beach at Belmont Shore, on the east side of town. I got down to the water's edge, looked at my clock, turned on my music, and just went. My goal was to keep moving for one hour. And I did. The next time, I went to the same beach, walked the same amount of time. And I went further than the first time. The third time I went I actually made it to the San Gabriel River. That became my first route. I think it was just short of three miles, and I did it over and over and over, 3-4 times a week, for months. After a few months of beach walks I started mapping out some routes around my neighborhood. I used Google Maps to estimate distances and went from my front door, just walking the sidewalks in my neighborhood. About 4 months into this, I was up to walking 5 days a week, both at the beach and near my home. I began to track my times, noting that I was getting faster and faster, and kept working to increase my speed. I added difficulty, by incorporating a route with a hill so steep, I got winded just driving up it. That was Signal Hill. It is about 4 miles from my front door to the top of Signal Hill. The first time I did it, I had to stop several times, and when I reached the top, I called my husband to come and get me. But I made it. 

When I was first starting my walks, I tried to jog. I made it about 100 yards before I had to stop, literally. I couldn't breathe, I was gasping like a fish out of water. But just a month or so later, I discovered I could jog about half a block before things started to go black. Then, a whole block. Then, a whole song. I could jog three whole minutes before I had to walk again. I added distance to all my routes. 4 miles, 5 miles....6 miles! Wow! I couldn't believe it! Gradually, slowly, day by day. I did my Signal Hill route once a week, and then one day, instead of calling my other half from Hilltop Park to come get me, I walked back home. 8 whole miles, with that monster hill to boot!  Wooooot!  In October, 10 months into this, I ran my second 5k race. And I literally ran it. About half of it. In November, I did my first 10k, a Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot. I ran the first mile and walked the last 5. 

Then I set my sights on the unthinkable: A half marathon. That's 13.1 miles, y'all. And it wasn't just one half marathon, but three. The Beach Cities Challenge. I have a co-worker named George, he's this skinny little Filipino guy who runs marathons. The old me would tease him about being a crazy runner, but during this transition time he has been a great help to me, offering advice and encouragement. So one day Georgie told me he was going to complete this Beach Cities Challenge, which was the consecutive completion of three races: Long Beach Marathon, Surf City Marathon, and OC Marathon. But the half marathon races also qualify for the challenge. For some reason, the thought of this just seized me and I couldn't get it out of my head. So around December I thought I would shoot for the the OC half in May to start my challenge. I went to El Dorado Park on the east side of town to train, and began to add more miles. I got up to 10 miles walking, and felt like I could do anything. I did the 10 miles a few more times as the weeks passed, and one day, as I finished mile 5 out of 10, I decided to start jogging just to see how long I could jog. I jogged the entire second half of that 10 mile distance. Forget starting my challenge in May, I registered for the Surf City half marathon in February! George and I went together to race that day, he ran the full marathon and I did the half, running 9 miles out of the 13.1, finishing in 3 hours and 9 minutes. Then we had to call AAA because I left the lights on in George's car and the battery died. But that's a story for another day.

Since completeing my first half marathon, running has become like breathing to me. I've reduced my runs to 3 days a week, but with longer distances. It frees me, strengthens me, calms me. If I go too long without it, I feel like I am missing something. I continue training because I still have more races coming up, but also because I love it! I added an app to my phone that uses GPS to measure distance, speed, even calories burned. It has been an indispensable tool to my success, helping me train by keeping track of my pace, so I know if I'm on track or need to step things up a bit.  In May I did the OC half, I ran the entire distance and finished it in 2 hours and 46 minutes. In October I will run the Long Beach half marathon, and complete my Beach Cities Challenge. This will be a huge day for me, completing a goal I set for myself back when I was still barely getting started. I'll get a big, gaudy medal to add to my growing collection. I'll only wear it once, but treasure it forever because it won't just represent miles, but the difference between the girl who got winded jogging 100 yards, and the girl who runs half marathons. And who knows what's next? After all, I've got to keep reaching for something. As long as I keep reaching, I keep my determination to keep doing what I'm doing. Could that full marathon be in my future? It is a huge leap, a huge concept. And yet, the fact that I'm even considering it is a big step for me, because it means I've stopped beating myself up over my past failures, and given myself permission to believe I can do the things I thought were impossible just a short time ago. And that is the best reward of all.

Getting Started: Go For A Walk

Wow! Can't believe I'm already on post #3. These things I'm writing about have been bouncing around in the back of my mind for so long that it feels amazing to put them down on virtual paper. I hope that virtual people aren't the only ones reading...

In my last post, I talked about my struggles with food and dealing with my calorie and nutrition intake, and how I got started getting it under control. Continuing on with that thread, today I am going to focus on the the flip side of the coin: activity and exercise. As I was able to work on controlling my eating habits, I knew I needed to get out and start exercising. But it's not easy to start an exercise and fitness routine, especially when you weigh more than 300 lbs and you get winded climbing a single flight of stairs. Thing is, I'm the kind of person who has no problem sticking to an established routine. It's the getting started part that I have trouble with. So when I wanted to started exercising, I was game for the challenge, but didn't know how to go about it. I knew I was physically limited, and that I would have to start off slow. Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities available to me and it wasn't long before the perfect solution fell in my lap.

I got the starting point I needed in an email from HR, inviting all employees to join a team to do a 5k race in nearby Seal Beach. The kicker? I could walk it. Hmmmm. 5k? How far is that? It turns out that it's only 3.1 miles. I figured I could handle that. So I signed up and began going for walks. I considered it training. I didn't want to show up unprepared on the day of the race, pass out, and be hauled off on a stretcher. So three or four days a week,  I drove down to Belmont Shore, and walked on the beach for an hour at a time. To pass the time, I listened to music, took pictures with my Blackberry, posted them on Facebook while I walked, and realized I had actually found a way to enjoy being outside in the city. After 6 weeks passed I did the race, I finished in about 51 minutes, and as I crossed my first finish line I realized I'd found something good. After the race, I kept walking, keeping track of my pace, distance, and noting that the more I did it, the faster and farther I could go. I began to set goals, and each time I reached the goal, I set a new one. And I'm still doing it even now.

So you see, for me it was very simple. It wasn't a matter of going straight from the couch to running marathons. Or even half marathons. It was just starting at the beginning and working my way up. If you are like me, and looking for a way to get started, don't think big, think small.  Just go out and walk for an hour. Walk for a half hour. Walk down the block and back if that's all you can do. Then the next time, go just a little further. Or, ride a bike, swim in a pool, paddle a kayak. I can recommend a good guy in Huntington Harbor. Do Zumba, lift weights, or get on that silly elliptical. I can't stand the thing, but I people I love swear by them. You know who you are. Try different things until you find what you love, then stick to it. It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you are moving. Set your goals, get out and work for them, and once you reach them, set new ones. You'll be on the way to the new you in no time at all. I promise. Because I did it. If I could do it, anyone can do it. And yes, that means you, too.