LIVING BY THE NUMBERS

5 November 2002

I have realized that I'm living my life by numbers. They've taken on huge importance in my life.

This morning I was peeking at the odometer every time we rode under a street lamp, trying to be sure that I was keeping up to 12 mph, or faster, if possible. (I thought I had to be out of my mind going out when the thermometer in the carport said 39 degrees--more numbers. I was double layered--two pairs of pants, the fleece biking shirt covered by a jacket, new biking gloves with fingers in them...what I need now is a headband to keep my ears warm.)

When we got back home I checked the odometer, since I finally learned how to use all of it yesterday. We'd gone 8.01 miles in 40 minutes with an average speed of 12 mph (yes! I'd made it up to 14 mph enough to compensate for those 10 mph stretches).

I also note with smug pleasure that I have biked more than 1000 miles since that first wobbily 4 mile trip around the deserted air base in Alameda.   It may not be SecraTerri's 2002 miles in 2002, but if anybody had told me when Olivia dragged me into the bike shop to start looking at bikes, and I stood there, resigned, letting her order all of the equipment for us, that I would be sitting here a mere 10 months later talking about fleece shirts and odometers and biking more than 1000 miles, I would have thought you were insane.

After parking the bike this morning and  stripping off my wet clothes, I started preparing my normal breakfast--oatmeal, which I eat with blueberries, which I know is 2 points for oatmeal and 1 point for blueberries. If I'm still hungry, I'll add 2 slices of high fiber toast (1 point) and 1 Tbsp of peanut butter (2 points).

Last night, we went to a reception honoring our friend Stephen, who was receiving an award for his contributions to music in the town of Davis. (I did the article for the newspaper.  It's one of my very favorite columns that I've written. If you're interested in reading it you can check this link.)

The reception was really a lot of fun. As I have stated in this journal many times, I am not comfortable at social events and will never be the hostess with the mostest, but this group consisted of all of my favorite people in Davis, most of them connected with the Davis Comic Opera Company and it was just a delight, especially seeing people I hadn't seen in a long time, whose company I miss.

But I discovered that there were three of us there who are doing WeightWatchers. The hostess had made all WeightWatchers-friendly foods (and you'd be hard-pressed to notice, if you weren't made aware of it. She's a fabulous cook.) My favorite moment came when I was taking with a friend about going shopping at Trader Joe's and mentioned how much I liked their little cat cookies and simultaneously we both said "15 cookies for one point!" You know you've been on WeightWatchers too long when your conversation revolves around how many points are in the foods you are eating! (Either that, or you've been successful enough that you know what you should and should not eat.)

Tomorrow, since there is no biking, I'll go to the club, where I'm also living by numbers...3.0 mph...3.3 mph...elevation 2...3...4... 50 lbs...40 lbs...10 reps...12 reps... It's all about numbers at the club and how far you can push or pull or walk.

Then I'll head off to WeightWatchers, where we all know that "numbers" have assumed great importance for me. Will it be up or down or the stay same? Kind of hard to predict this time since I've been more or less OK, but not entirely, so your guess is as good as mine.

I remember when I was a little kid and numbers were very important. "Only 317 more days until Christmas...," counting down day by day until that special day arrived, hoping that it would live up to all the anticipation.