June 28: zoo food

Exercise preface:  I love³ swimming at Euclid's Memorial Pool during the early morning lap swim!  It's a perfect environment: the refreshingly cool water; the sea gulls crying in the sky against the clouds breezing by; the view of the community gardens, playground, and soccer & baseball fields.  Swimming at Memorial first thing in the morning is an amazingly peaceful way to start one's day.  The lanes are longer and wider than those at the Y, and there are more of them.  I love it, love it, love it!  I send a giant thank-you to the guards who get up early on summer mornings so that we early bird swimmers can enjoy this time.

 

Our Three and I went to the zoo yesterday.  Having learned from experience, I decided to pack snacks & lunch to take with us.  Nothing against the zoo's vendors, but when hunger strikes, it's better to eat than to wait in line.  I was grateful for taking the time to pack and carry food because – believe it or not – after the climb up the board bridge (with yours truly pushing our youngest in the stroller), I found that my breakfast of several hours ago had worn off.  Kashi bar to the rescue!  (exercise note: This may be the first time I've ever gone steadily up that boardwalk without pausing; and I did it pushing a stroller full of child and supplies!)

 

We made it most of the way through the primate house before Our Threes' later-than-my breakfasts clearly wore off (bickering, testiness).  No need to stand in long lines, we simply found a shady spot and refueled.  We were all set for our journey to the Northern Trek and Africa, in jolly good moods.  It's amazing what nourishment can do for a body.

 

I enjoyed this outing with Our Three tremendously.  Our Three are wonderful young people who are a pleasure to be around.  They're clever and observant, funny and loving... unless they get overly hungry.

 

Back at home, my eating slipped.  After my early morning cardio at the Y and my additional exercise at the zoo, I really needed a nap.  Our Youngest wasn't on board with that idea, though, so I ended up gnawing on a hard pretzel and having a bowl of cocoa puffed rice cereal.  Not bad, but it was eating for the wrong reasons.  I needed to find a way to rest, not merely drug myself through a few more hours of wakefulness.

 

Today's a new day, and I'd better get back to tracking what I eat.  Funny how easy it is to forget about it when I've got pools and beaches on the brain.  And yet without good eating, none of those other things can happen.

~Karin