running with 4 muddy paws: Stay Hungry

Recently my husband and I binge watched Friday Night Lights. That is 76 episodes...and nearly 76 hours of TV watching. It was worth it. I was surprised how much I liked this show. When it was on "regular" TV years ago I thought I would never watch it, who wants to watch a show about high school football in Texas? Apparently I did! Just last week we watched "We Could Be King" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3699674/ which is a documentary that is very similar to Friday Night Lights but is a true story and takes place in Philadelphia. It's basically a story about being an underdog, working hard for what you want, believing in yourself, being resilient, relying on your teammates, etc. It was really good and very inspiring. One of the themes of the documentary was about staying humble and hungry. In fact, the coach made his players do push ups for every letter in HUMBLE AND HUNGRY and spell out this motto as they did their push ups. This really resonated with me.
This brings me to mention "the injury." This injury that prevents me from running, riding a bike, hiking, etc. has been so humbling. I am someone who needs a daily moving meditation, someone who needs movement to relieve stress, someone who needs a sweat and a physical challenge daily. Running with some cross training thrown in was a no-brainer to meeting these needs- not to mention an enjoyable way to meet these needs. I miss it and I miss sharing the trails with friends. I am truly humbled that my body isn't working in a way that it used to, that it wants to and my mind is not always graceful when confronted with this obstacle. However......in order for me to get through this period in time, I have become slightly obsessive with 30 day challenges. 30 days gives me enough time to make it a challenge and also to see if this activity of the challenge adds to my life in a way that I will incorporate it going forward. In a sense, I am staying hungry for new challenges which keeps my mind somewhat satisfied and relieves some of the disconnect between what my mind wants to do and what my body is capable of doing. Firstly, I tried kettlebell sport and this is sticking with me. I have really enjoyed getting involved with Seattle Kettlebell Club , learning what kettlebell sport is, meeting like minded people and finding a new way to challenge myself physically and mentally that keep me hungry for more. This is something I will stick with. Then I tried a 30 day challenge of a 25 minute a day strength/cardio workout in addition to anything else physically I might have been doing that day. I really enjoyed this, it was hard and there were some times I got my heart rate up very high and dripped sweat. I could see improvement in my stamina and strength in just a few weeks. I am still doing this a few days a week. The great thing about this is that when my injury would present itself, I just moved on to a different exercise. Even my husband tried doing this with me one time....and one time only!
Now I am doing a 30 day gluten free challenge. I'm on day 4 and I want some graham crackers. But I did find a recipe for GF graham crackers so I will try these out. So far I have made some really good things! Quiche crust, muffins, more muffins and am always looking for new recipes and learning new techniques. Baking gluten free appears to be a delicate balance in avoiding dried out crumbly edibles. Who knew there were so many alternative ways to bake with all these types of flours and starches. I will experiment with other things besides muffins but I love muffins and I like to eat them every day. And so does my husband.
So by being humbled, I am staying hungry to keep things interesting, new and adventurous. Humble and Hungry, I like it.
Now for some photos:

Kettlebell Sport: (https://aka-sport.org/)
Yesterday we did a 10 minute set of jerks and snatches. 10 minutes doesn't sound like a long time, but it left me shaking and panting.