Holy Cow and ABS

I haven't blogged in four years.  Obviously a lot has happened since then but I won't bore you (too much) with that.  As far as running, in summary:
I started hiking and backpacking more
I came to love yoga so much that I became certified and now teach it (the torturous hot kind of course)
I therefore became a seasonal (aka fake runner haha).  I start training in the spring so I can do summer runs and be in shape for hiking, but I rarely run during the winter so I can focus on yoga.  I'd say, I found a pretty good balance and sweet spot, especially compared to when I only used to run because yoga has helped me gain strength and stability that aids in all other types of physical (and mental) activity.
In fact, something else new: I've also been doing this ab work out that's supposed to give you abs in 22 days...seriously, I don't know why I'm surprised that it's working...duh.
The premise is you do these six exercises for 22 days straight (although I've skipped one here and there).  It's set up so you basically exhaust yourself (called "extinction training").  When you can't do anymore, you move on to the next exercise.  And here's the kicker, best part...I'm not even trying that hard! LOL
Seriously, the comments on the YouTube are the best...one guy, "if you make it to 45 seconds, you get 10 second rest and then another set, so I just stop at 44 seconds."  Alright, good point!  I started by only doing one set because I basically hate it so much, but it takes about 5 minutes a day total to do the six exercises.  Then, after a week, I became a little less lazy and thought I would try two sets, and, what do you know, I could do it and actually came to enjoy/expect the torture.  I've also been cooking a lot since, ya know, quarantine, so we've been eating hella healthy.  I'll cheat on the weekends here or there, but I try to stick to paleo/whole30 with a few modifications (for example, I made homemade bread--not gonna MAKE it and NOT eat it haha).  If you eat healthy and have a decent body fat percentage, you'll start to see definition after doing these exercises for a few weeks.  I've noticed my rectus abdominis is more defined, as well as my obliques.  It's pretty sweet.
I'm about halfway though (completed day 12 today), and I've been doing these exercises:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VsDP584zyQ
Here's his similar link if you get bored with the first one after a week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6PhNnlb-14

Anyway, I wanted to post about running because it had been so long and here I am ranting about abs...
In other news, I had a c-section a little over three months ago to remove a large fibroid (12 cm across) and four others.  It was insane.  I could see the sucker on the outside of my belly (no six pack then obviously).  The fibroids were all growing on the outside of my uterus for reasons unknown and were larger than my uterus (imagine a tree with a mushroom growing on it that is larger than the tree).  They were causing awful periods and basically made it difficult for me to work and live without rushing to the bathroom because I was always losing a lot of blood.  Oh yeah, and I've had a bunch of iron infusions and even a blood transfusion (my anemia was terrible).  I fainted a few times and cried often.  90% of the time, I had to miss out on fun to stay home.  I knew it was bad when I went out one night with some girlfriends and my husband sent me with an extra pair of underwear and a FULL ROLL OF TP.  I spent Christmas last year at the Maui ER.  Not fun.  Having surgery was one of the best decisions I've made no matter what people say.  I tried herbal methods, tea, vitamins, visualizations.  They were too big.  People who don't believe in western medicine don't have a 12 cm growth sticking out of their belly.  If you did, you would want it cut out too, whether you consider it natural to have surgery or not.  I was just grateful that I knew my body enough to know something was wrong early on.  I had to advocate for myself for months before I could get anywhere.  It was a trying time.

Obviously, my uterus problems caused huge issues with my running, hiking and skiing the past two years, so although I've still been running a half marathon each summer, my increase in speed dwindled and then plateaued.  I'm not sure there will be any races this year--those in August are already cancelled, but I'm hoping to do a half in October, which gives me plenty of time to get in the distance and possibly increase my speed.  I just want to do one because I've done one every year since I started running in 2012.  This will be #9.  My goal is finish strong and maintain my average speed (a little over two hours).

Lastly, this shout out is for my favorite runner who I did not meet until 2017.  She ran her first half marathon last summer with me, and I've had so much fun nerding out with her about everything running (and all of the other things we have in common, except for favorite nail colors).  I look forward to our many adventures together this summer doing all the Alaskan things: hiking, backpacking and running <3