July 29, 2015

Active dates with friends

This morning, I woke up absolutely ravenous. It was one of those hungers that just made me want to eat an enormous, filling breakfast. I ended up making a bowl of oatmeal with a new combination of toppings: brown sugar, lots of blueberries, and some chopped almonds.


I don't know if it's just because I was so hungry, but it was one of the best bowls of oatmeal I'd ever had. And it was only 5 PointsPlus. I'm going to make this more often for sure.

Kendall, Nathan's girlfriend, asked me if I wanted to go for a bike ride today. She's doing the Tour de Troit with me in September, so we want to get some rides in together before that. Jerry had to work today, so I had to take the kids with us. The most the kids have ridden is 10 miles, so I hoped to go about 12 miles today (at a leisurely pace), depending on how they felt during the ride.

Kendall picked us up in Nathan's truck, so that we could put all four bikes in the back and drive to the Metropark. I was a little shocked when I stepped outside and felt how hot and humid it was! The windows of my house were actually foggy and dripping from the moisture in the air. We loaded up on sunscreen, and packed a lot of water to carry. We parked at the far south end of the Metropark, and then decided to do an out and back from there.

We let the kids set the pace, so it was pretty slow moving, but it felt nice to go for a leisurely ride. We were able to chat while we rode, and we stopped a few times for the kids to take a drink or check out the scenery. I meant to take a ton of pictures, and I just forgot! The first stop in the park, I snapped one pic--and that ended up being the only photo I took the entire ride. And it wasn't even a good picture. (You can actually kind of see the haze in the air...)


We rode to the neighborhood where I grew up (where I lived from birth until I was 15 years old). My aunt was outside gardening, so we stopped and chatted with her for a few minutes, and then rode down my old street so I could show Kendall the house where Nathan and I grew up in. We used that as our turn around point, and then headed back to the Metropark where the car was.

My dad was working at the park, so we stopped at the building where he works to say hi to him, and then rode the rest of the way to the car. I had forgotten to start/stop my Garmin a couple of times with our stops, so I don't have totally accurate data from my Garmin, but we probably rode about 13 miles total. Noah would have loved to do more, but Eli just wasn't having it. The heat had gotten even worse during the ride, and by the time we finished, the heat index was 103 degrees. It felt so good to be done! I'd promised the kids we'd go to Subway for lunch after the ride, so we headed there afterward.

Riding a bike in the heat isn't nearly as tough as running in the heat. It's nice because you have the breeze blowing in your face when you ride (I'm not fast enough of a runner to get much of a breeze, haha). The actual ride wasn't too bad; it was the stops when we were just standing in the sun that was tough. Noah really loved it, so I'd like to go for a ride with just the two of us soon, too.


Something Kendall and I talked about today was how we found it interesting that we actually choose to do something active with friends when we hang out (like our bike ride today). Six years ago, I never would have chosen a bike ride in the heat when we could have just gone out to lunch in an air conditioned restaurant. I never could understand why people would choose to do something active--because it just sounded so unappealing to me. Now, it's become so second-nature that I don't even really think twice about it. Go for a walk? Sure. Travel for a race? Count me in. Bike ride in the summer heat? Definitely. I still enjoy coffee/tea dates, or movie dates, and things like that; but active dates are just as appealing to me!

I'll end with this question: What are some of your favorite active ways to spend time with friends or family? I'd love some more ideas!

20 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 29, 2015

    This summer was my 10th anniversary. My husband and I decided to leave our son with Grandma and spend 2 days camping and canoeing. Since I've gained so much weight since we got married, I've quit like this, but I'm so glad I got over the fear and did it this year. I had so much FUN! I've started tracking calories now, and I registered for my first 5k since college (more than 10 years ago!). I'll probably walk most of it and still get embarrassed about my weight, but it feels really good to be more active again. Thanks for your very inspiring blog!

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousJuly 29, 2015

      Correction: "Since I've gained so much weight, I've quit doing things like this."

      Delete
  2. Hiking, soccer, basketball, kayaking, surfing, swimming, umm... boot camp! hot yoga... anything really! I love being active :)

    www.slowandsteadykandm.com

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  3. Living on the beach lends itself to a lot of volleyball. :) Just be careful falling in hot sand!

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  4. My husband and I love hiking, rollerblading and playing racquetball at the gym! There are some night time hikes that we enjoy a lot, things like: full moon hike, strawberry moon hike, red moon and any of those!
    Natalia VG.

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  5. I love to go kayaking with friends or stand up paddle boarding. It makes a great girls night, followed up by a coffee by the river.

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  6. There is a big park near us that has a zip line/ropes course that I am starting to work up the nerve to try! After losing 70 pounds I am starting to get more daring!

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  7. AnonymousJuly 30, 2015

    I recently had that same conversation with a friend after our run date :) I love it! We also have weekly yoga dates now too. I know you live by water as I do so water sports. We have kayaks but you can rent them for pretty cheap too or row boats or paddle boats are fun for both adults and kids. A big thing here and I have only tried it once was SUP (Stand up paddle boarding) so fun but HARD and my friends do yoga on the boards ?!?!?!?!

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  8. AnonymousJuly 30, 2015

    We take all our willing guests our Paddle Boarding (stand up paddle boarding). Everyone has loved it! Best part it getting to the middle of a lake and laying down on the board and just relaxing. If you don't have good balance, you can always paddle from a kneeling position until you are ready to stand up. Best advice, don't be afraid to fall in, but if you are going down, just jump in.

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  9. kayaking with friends is fun! We have a date to try stand up paddle boarding in a couple of weeks. I love active friend dates

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  10. Hiking, tennis, and of course, frisbee! Frisbee seems to be popular with friends of almost any fitness level. :)

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  11. When my husband and/or son takes a walk with me, it's so wonderful. Six years and 170 lbs. ago I didn't want to walk anywhere.....

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  12. A while back, my in-laws were in town visiting and offered to take the kids for a day so my husband and I could have some time to ourselves (it doesn't happen too often). What did we decide to do? We went for a run together! I usually run alone, so it was a nice change to have someone push me to keep going.

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  13. Such a great point about choosing to do something active with friends/family instead of passive. My husband and I are about to visit Ireland for the first time....instead of doing a bus/car/group tour, we are hiking! The hiking company arranges B&Bs along our route and transports our bags, so we only have to carry daypacks. How awesome is that! With my Mom, I walk or bike. With friends, it's lots of tennis!

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  14. My husband and I enjoy playing frisbee golf. Or playing frisbee with our dog...just not at the same time :)

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  15. AnonymousJuly 31, 2015

    I've recently started meeting my firends for a run in the mornings, before work! It's really fun, we get to gently wake up together - and then we each drive (or run, in my case) to our offices and shower there. So nice to get to see a friend AND get your exercise done by 8am :)

    Sarah

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  16. AnonymousJuly 31, 2015

    Swing dancing is great exercise and it is FUN!

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  17. We used to buy Groupons to different restaurants. That was our entertainment. Now we buy activity related Groupons. Last weekend, my husband and tried archery. (Quite the workout! ) Next Groupon will be another new activity: paddleboarding! Can't wait! Thanks for such an encouraging blog!

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  18. Im with you. I do not like to socialize with food. My dream is to soon learn how to stand up paddle board and maybe get some girlfriends to meet up doing that. My husband, unfortunately, would rather go out to eat and to the movies.

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  19. I just had to come by and give you MAD PROPS for biking 12 miles in that humidity! It was AWFUL on Wednesday! GO YOU!!!!!

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