Eben graduated from Marine Corps Bootcamp!!
Then we got married!! (if you or anyone you know ever needs to plan and execute a wedding in five days, I'm your girl.)
Then I moved to California! Eben left for CA three days after our wedding, and about six weeks later I followed. Three days of driving my little Mitsubishi and whatever it could carry across the USA and I arrived in Carlsbad, CA...about 30 miles from where Eben was based at Camp Pendleton. While I was getting settled in, Eben was finishing the last half of his School of Infantry Training. During the week we had no contact, but I was able to bring him home (almost) every Friday night through Sunday afternoon. Then about a month later he graduated SOI and for about a month after that we lived in limbo while he was in Recon Country...it's a lot to explain but I'll sum it up by saying he didn't know what his eventual job was going to be, where he would be doing said job, or when we (or maybe just he) would be moving in order to start said job. And he couldn't leave base. And he didn't know when he would have free time so I would randomly drive the half-hour to base to hang out with him in the car for like an hour.
When I first moved to California, I had no idea how long we'd be out here and basically no plan for how my new life would take shape. I was kinda starting from scratch, a stranger in a strange land. After boot camp, his trajectory was for him to finish SOI, wait to get picked up in a Recon training group, go to Recon school, finish Recon training (a process that could have taken anywhere from 3 to 6+ months) and then get based......somewhere. So until we had a better idea of what to expect I kinda bid my time because there was a good possibility we would be moving again soon or that things would change dramatically. All this uncertainty makes it hard to find a job. Not to mention that people around here don't take kindly to Marine wives and certainly don't want to hire them (and after some of the stories I've heard I know why). So, no job, can't see the husband...so what did I do? I ran. A lot. So much that my old knee injury was beginning to act up but I pushed through it anyway.
Then..... I had to go to the hospital for a burst ovarian cyst. So I was completely laid up for about a week, recovering for about 3 weeks total. That brought my ENTIRE life to a grinding halt. Really, looking back, working out was ALL I HAD at that point. I was stressed out beyond belief trying to figure out the logistics of my new life from scratch, on completely uncertain terms, without Eben around, and running was the only thing that kept me sane. So when that was taken away, I felt like the last tiny puff of wind had been taken out of my sails, so to speak.
Being out here in California with no job, no friends, no family, no husband...I have never felt so alone and so confused in my entire life. Why on earth was I here and how in the heck was I supposed to figure my life out when my whole world was constantly changing? The minute we would figure things out, his status or school would change, he'd get moved around and we'd have to figure things out all over again. Forget about trying to plan for the future when you don't know what today or even tomorrow is going to look like. And lesson #1 about the military...they tell you nothing. You just kinda have to strap in and ride the rollercoaster. You figure things out as you go, and most of the time not until after they already happened. My husband signed up for this and they tell him where to go and when to be there and what to do when he gets there. But for me, as a military wife....it's not so black and white. So in my experience, being a military wife is about the most alienating and confusing thing you can sign up for. If you can imagine being on a small boat in rough seas...you're clinging onto that boat, things are rocky but as long as you can feel the boat in your grasp you are getting by... then imagine getting tossed out of the boat, into the churning waves, you can't see, can't breathe, are being pushed around and under and tumbling around like a sock in a washing machine. Forget the boat, it's gone. You'd die for a breath, or even to be able to open your eyes and SEE SOMETHING.
Now I'm not complaining here...just telling it like it is. I am so, so blessed to have a wonderful husband and yes, I did agree to this way back in April 2009 when he enlisted, knowing full well it was going to be hard. I have never once, in the past year, been hit with something and thought to myself, "My golly this is so hard, and here I thought being a military wife was going to be a bed of roses!" And I must say, my gift for always imagining the worst did prepare me pretty well for military life. If there's anyone I would do it for, it's him, and if there's anyone who could make all this much sweeter, it's him too :) He's just pretty darn great :)
Fast forward to the present....Eben opted out of Recon (huge sigh of relief) and was able to get stationed with a regular infantry unit here at Camp Pendleton. This provides us a lot more security...Eben isn't getting stationed in Japan (which he would have been in Recon, and I wouldn't have been able to go with him), we are staying here in California for the forseeable future, he gets to come home every night, he knows his deployment and leave schedule for the next year and a half...many things have settled down.
So after a long recovery where I couldn't do anything physical, I slowly began working out again but my knee was still hindering me. I couldn't really run or do Yoga, so I sought out a Pilates studio here in town and am now working there really part time but get to take classes for free! I have been going there for about a month and the classes and instructor are AMAZING and super hard core. My Pilates practice has grown leaps and bounds and every single class I have this fundamental "aha!" moment that changes the way I do a move from that moment on. It's quite amazing. Also, the past few weeks I have been slowly building up my strength and endurance and I have been able to run, pain free, for the past week or so!!
The upside of all of this is that by some miracle, in my five months of stress, general life-turbulence, physical calamities, etc...I've managed to keep my weight at or below my 20 pound loss! So the changes I put into place 8 months ago definitely stuck and my body is now comfortable at maintaining this new weight. But.....that's the thing. It's comfortable here. So even though I'm still pretty good about working out and eating well, I'm not seeing any additional loss. So it's time to kick things up a notch because I still have progress to make. I still have jiggles where I would love to have no jiggles.
Another reason to get rid of those jiggles.....I am working towards a goal I have had since I did my first set of "hundreds"...becoming a Pilates instructor! Just waiting for the financial part to come together. This school aint cheap. Anyone know any wealthy benefactors??? Free Pilates for life! Hahahaha :)
So, my goal here is to give my workout routine a kick in the pants! Now that I'm "back" I want to continue on a higher level than before....because these last 5-10 pounds are the pesky ones.
So, here's my plan:
I'm going to restart my blogging practice...I think this really helped me last time to keep on track and stay focused. Not to mention the accountability part. Plus, I have done some crazy things in the name of fitness lately that could be fun to write/read about (hula-hoop dancing class, anyone?) and I definitely want to keep pushing myself to try new things as I am working the plan. I think the key to success is to keep your fitness program new and fun by trying new things, so my plan will probably keep changing. Plus, your body is lazy and contrary and greedy about its fat. You need to constantly trick it into giving it up by distracting it with fun new challenges!
For my workout, I'm going to continue to do Pilates at the studio 2-3 times a week (hour long classes). I'm going to also run outside or do some other form of pure cardio 3-4 times per week (treadmill, elliptical, bike, stair climber...lately I've been getting into doing 10 minute circuits on one machine and then moving on to a different one). I'm also going to throw in Jillian Michaels' 30-day Shred challenge. I picked up the DVD real cheap at Target before I had my health setback, and I think now is the perfect time to start it....plus I've heard good things about it and I'm curious to see the kind of results it will yield. So it's kinda like an experiment. Basically it uses circuit training...3 intervals of (3 mins strength, 2 min cardio, 1 min abs). There are three levels you progress through over the 30 days and it leaves the progression up to you. I'm going to start at the beginning because it's a very good place to start.
Even though it's called 30 Day Shred and I am going to try my darndest to keep it to 30 days, sometimes life gets in the way or I need a day of rest (also I have a vacation coming up in about a week). So I'm going to do the prescribed 20-min workout pretty much everyday unless something crazy is happening. I also am going to try to take pictures every week to chart the progress....we'll see if this happens, it's not that I'm shy just that I'm lazy.
Well, here goes! Stay tuned.....mission: GET SHREDDED.
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