The first time I participated in a 5K was in Guatemala... and then a 10K and then another 5K, all in Guatemala. So it was a little weird to get to do one for the first time in the States!
It was fun to do with an aunt who doesn't act half as old as she is. (Not that I'm calling her old.) And the highlighter-yellow shirt was cool...
...but not as cool as receiving the medal for first place in my age. Which sounds really good...
...except we were walking. :) This was her first 5k and she couldn't run yet and didn't want to do it by herself, so we walked it. (So either everyone my age is a slow walker or was running.) Either way, it was interesting to compare how it was similar to races in Guatemala.
While we are visiting in the States waiting on Little Man to be born, I've been walking every morning on a trail I've created in the back of my parents property. Since they live outside of the city limits, there are not leash laws and dogs all around the neighborhood bark and chase anyone who walks by. Instead of fending them off every morning, and since not walking is not an option, I decided to walk around the (large) back part of their property. I was surprised to find benefits to this besides just avoiding pesky dogs.
Walking between trees means I get to see lots of colorful birds every morning. Blue jays, cardinals, finches, mockingbirds, hummingbirds and wrens are common with an occasional rarer sighting of a painted bunting. Besides seeing them, hearing them can be therapeutic. Julian Treasure, a sound expert says "We are losing our listening." In a short talk, below that I think is more than worth your time to listen to, he shares five ways to re-tune your ears for conscious listening -- to other people and the world around you. In this speech he mentioned listening to birds, wind and water as healing forms of sound- two of which I get to experience every morning while walking. This morning time without loud sounds is so nice.
Going along with the lack of loud sound, comes the ability to think, pray, and analyze things. I'm not very good at sitting still and just thinking most of the time. There always seems to be way too much to do. I need to keep my body moving in order to think. If I'm walking, just the fact that my body is moving and that there is relative auditory peace gives my brain the freedom and time to meditate. Everyone needs some sort of time to do this. I don't realize how badly I need this until I miss it during the weekend and the contrast is stark.
Another benefit has been developing stronger ankle muscles from walking on uneven terrain. This means I have had to be more cautious, especially in the beginning, but now I appreciate that. I like the hills that are almost unexpected. It makes walking on a road or a track almost boring and harsh. :D (Not to mention treadmills, which have a different set of benefits.)
The (heightened-during-pregnancy) sense of smell also benefits. Have you ever walked around a neighborhood when all of the trash cans were out for trash day? Enough said. The trees and grass and even occasional dog presents still smell better than any roadside experience!
In the mornings, especially, I can also sense the changing seasons stronger than at any other part of the day. In our triple digit summer, walking outside not long after daybreak was the only cool time of the day... it was also the first time I could sense the gradual fall-like cooling of temperatures that quickly heated up to our normal, hot summer days just prior to autumn.
Though I normally walk before anyone else is up now that the school year has started, when I had to walk with Talia during vacations, walking outside was great because she could play while I was walking. I could see her at any point on the trail since she usually played in the middle and she loved getting to be outside. For us, it was a win-win.
Something that has been challenging is knowing distance, but a pedometer would make that simple.
Do you prefer walking outside, at a gym, on a track, on a road or is hiking more your style? I see benefits to all of them. Most of all, I love the privilege of being able to walk and intend to do it for as long as I'm able.
There's an issue with trimesters. While pregnancy is naturally a 40 week long thing, 40 is not naturally a number divided by 3. Hence, several different numbers are given for when one actually crosses the line between 2nd and 3rd trimester. It's a bit frustrating. I've seen the limit set at 27 weeks, 28 weeks and 30 weeks. To me, it would make more sense to just divide it into 4 terms: one for each set of 10 weeks! In any case, I'm considering this, the end of my 27th week of pregnancy, to be my end of the second trimester!
One thing that the third trimester brings with it for me, is a sense of urgency to decide upon a baby name within these last months. Something expat parents must consider with more detail than maybe those who stay in one spot are how the name of their baby will be said (and if it can even be pronounced) in the native language of the countries they plan to reside in. While I truly enjoy researching names, and believe in choosing meaningful names for my children, sometimes this is a bit challenging. A few conversations between my husband and I have gone like this:
Me: "Hey, what about this name!? It works in both languages." Him: "Hmmmm, yeah, but you say it COMPLETELY different in both languages. Don't you think that would be confusing for the kid?" Me: "Why couldn't we just stick with one pronunciation?" Him: "Remember the what-we-thought-was-an-easily-pronounced-name that certain family still can't say right?" Me: "You have a point. Let's keep looking..." ;)
Fortunately, (or unfortunately) we only care minimally about what people from the States or the next country we live in will do to mangle what we think is an easily pronounced name, so it doesn't get in the way most of the time. Even then, it just becomes something else to consider.
We've learned to prioritize to see if a name even gets on the list:
1. Is it meaningful? Do we like the meaning?
2. Is at least one of the names able to be pronounced in Spanish?
3. Is at least one of the names Hebrew to go with our family naming tradition?
4. If we choose to call the baby by the Spanish name, will our family be able to mostly pronounce it or will they disown us? (just kidding. ;))
Baby naming aside, the third trimester also has other challenges awaiting. The biggest one for me is managing weight. I have managed to walk a mile for every day of my pregnancy. Now, usually, that means I get up at 7:00 A.M. every week day and walk 2.5 - 3 miles (depending on how awake I am) before my family gets up and needs breakfast. I still say I've only walked a mile for every day in this pregnancy, because I like to round it down to be SURE I'm telling the truth. Be that as it may, that still works out to a whopping 193 miles total as of today. I truly believe that little, daily decisions and routines make big changes in our end results. It's crazy how a little bit every day has built up to so much, and probably more! I appreciate the health I have and want to keep it for as long as I can.
So, here I go into the last stretch of pregnancy! Hopefully, my next pregnancy post will be advertising the birth of our little man. :)
There's something about a cobblestone street that, besides helping you twist your ankle, also makes traversing them seem more special than just walking down a normal road. Someone took effort to make this street. It wasn't just heavy machinery belching out black tar and concrete. It was crafted.
Guatemala has its share of cobblestone streets. We have one on the very steep road we drive up every morning. The constant traffic is constantly jarring stones loose and the resulting holes are then filled with pavement slowly morphing it into a more practical, mundane road.
According to Wikipedia, a benefit of cobblestone over pavement is "Cobblestones set in sand have the environmental advantage of being permeable paving, and of flexing rather than cracking with movements in the ground." In a land of long rainy seasons, frequent earth tremors and quakes, it seems like this would be beneficial. Something I know for a fact is that the pavement on the other roads going to school every day is constantly riddled with new potholes... especially after any rain.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joseluiscastro/3961008577/ (This is a really good photo from Jose Luis Casro on Flicker. I am not posting the photo because I do not have the rights, but please click on the link. It's amazing!)
The flicker user Jose Luis Castro has some amazing photos with different perspectives in his shots of cobblestone streets.
It seems cobblestone streets are one of many things that make me wonder how effective some changes made in the name of "progress" have been. I know that I appreciate well-paved roads. I know that I don't have enough data to compare potholes in cobblestone vs. paved for effectiveness, but I would love to know the answer if you know.
