Always carry your camera

Today Catie (my cute, girly bike) and I went for a 15 mile ride. As I was leaving the driveway I realized my camera was still at home. Since I wasn't planning on riding any place new, and it was a pretty overcast day, I decided to leave without it.

Big mistake! As I was riding on the Lawrence Hopewell Trail on the Lawrenceville campus I heard happy sirens. You know, the kind that announces Santa Claus is coming for a visit, not the kind that says MOVE IT -- we have a CRISIS! I pedaled up to Main Street where I saw the Special Olympic torch bearer about to switch to another torch bearer. I took these pictures with my 4 year old iPod, but think of how much better it would have been with my DLD (Dinky Little Digital). *sigh* I swear I saw a torch when it was live, not seeing it in my pictures.

Had I returned for the camera, though, I would have just missed this experience.

May updates

While typing an email to a friend I realized the text could easily by transformed into a blog post to reach more friends at once, well at least the 10 of you who actually read the Pillsbury Press.

Time has been flying too quickly. May is always crazy in our house as it is our wedding anniversary (22 years) and Ashley's birthday (13 years) and end of the school year stuff (7 more days until summer vacation). Oh, and Ashley was confirmed on the 10th (Mother's Day) and preached two weeks later at a different church. Some days it feels quite non-stop. That's my excuse for not writing back sooner and I'm sticking with it!

The reality is I've been in a funk since getting the diagnosis. I've been very fixated on changing my diet and dealing with feelings of guilt. Yesterday I went back to the endocrinologist for the first time since the initial blood work and got great results, and some answers (never enough). Despite eating 6 times a day, though, I'm still hungry and still losing weight. Yeah, I know on some level that does not sound fair.

As activities are coming to an end for the school year, new ones are replacing them. Ashley has taken to riding her art teacher's horse (go figure). Ashley has started volunteering at a local animal shelter socializing feral kittens so they can be adopted. One was adopted off of my lap last weekend. He was sweet. The countdown to Europe is 28 days away. She raised about $2,500 for the trip through art and odd jobs (like cutting Don's hair). She also recently sang a solo a capella in the school talent show -- a huge accomplishment for her to get over her fear of singing in public and to be viewed as a good singer. 

I keep busy with freelance, but I'm trying to catch up to date with scrapbooking so the dining room table could return to being a dining room table. The Little Free Library saw a surge in activity during the neighborhood yard sale (we participated in it by putting large useless items on the edge of our driveway with the word FREE on them). Our curbside compost program just started today! Only 150 people have signed up in town, but they are hoping it really it grows quickly. I've ran a couple of races this month: one in Pennsylvania and one in NJ. I'm having a lot of fun with my new bike, Catie.

Don is still with Comcast (no surprise). He is making great strides with unicycling and can now go down the street on it, but can't turn around to come back.

The blog is always a place to get some updates on us. 

I think that is about it for last month. This year is flying by too quickly.

Update to the Elephant in the Room

Back in February I received a diagnosis I was not ready to accept. Still not ready to accept if truth be told. 

Yesterday I returned for my first round of blood work to see how changing my diet has affected everything in my life. To say I was nervous about the results would be a vast understatement. I was afraid that by changing my diet to drastically cut down on carbs (including most sugars and grains) and drastically increasing my intake of eggs, fish, and meat other numbers that had been fabulous would suddenly be in need of repair (or at least tweaking). I was also afraid I was not doing enough and would be forced to take medicine for the rest of my life.

Fortunately my fears were unfounded. My A1C dropped from 8.0 to 6.3! To put it in context for those of you lucky enough to not know what that means, normal is under 5.7, pre-diabetic is 5.7-6.5. To put it into further context, my endocrinologist would have been happy with that number if I had been on medicine for the past 3 months. She was ecstatic with my ability to do it through diet alone. She also told me that doctor #1 who told me my numbers were "toxic" and that I had to go on meds immediately was wrong. 

I think I heard her utter the phrase "you are not diabetic," but I was afraid to quiz her on that preferring instead to let those words rest on my heart and in my soul. Four months ago I would have accepted being called "pre-diabetic" because that means there is hope it won't progress to a disease even the ADA insists no one wants.

I have a lot of bones to pick with the ADA and their website. It is peppered with phrases that say how horrible diabetes is, and how preventable it is, too. It is not caused by eating too many sweets or carbs. It is not caused solely by genetics. It is only caused by things I have done to myself. Gee, thanks for the support.

"Eating healthy" is another phrase with which I have a bone to pick. It seems there is always a new trend. I remember uttering the phrase "I wouldn't last past lunch on the Atkins Diet" to my brother in law when he was following that fad (yes, that is the one where the leader died from a heart attack), yet that's pretty much what I am following these days (oh, God has such a wild sense of humor). I wasn't following any particular diet, just trying to "eat healthy," yet still have some sweets, the occasional apple cider, and things that make life interesting. I was eating low fat, and trying to go vegetarian. In other words, I was having too many carbs for my body.

What changes have I made since February? I now eat fish, lots of nuts, Greek yogurt, tons of salads, almond butter, spaghetti made out of squash (spaghettini) and tofu. If someone says it has low carbs and is good for me, I am willing to try it. I've given up pasta dishes (*sigh*) and most desserts (*double sigh*), but will have a spoonful of ice cream and 2/3 of a cup of rice, definitely not in the same sitting, though.

I have cut my carb intake to less than 30 grams a meal. If you don't realize how hard that is, consider yourself lucky. It means either a 2/3 a cup of rice or 1/2 a cup of beans or 2/3 a cup of butternut squash. Not both at the same time. Always pair those carbs with a protein to make it easier for my pancreas to process them. So that means instead of grabbing an apple on the go (21 grams of carbs) I am to pair it with peanut butter or cheese. 

In the past four months I have lost 10 pounds without trying to lose weight. I am also eating 5-6 meals a day, and am still often hungry. I was told no need to lose weight (that was not what caused my pancreas to stop working), but when you eliminate grains and sugars, and are told not to have too many fats because fats make it harder for the pancreas to produce insulin, and exercise more, then there is no option but to lose weight. I've also knocked 30 seconds a mile (or so) off of my run times.

The "good" news is it is Type 2, meaning my pancreas does still produce insulin, just very slowly. The really good news is my cholesterol and other numbers did not jump past the normal range by vastly increasing my intake of meat (sorry, vegetarians, I wanted a meat-free diet to work, maybe someday I'll figure out how to make that happen for my body).

I was really hoping for better news -- such as "we are so sorry, but we mixed up your blood results with someone else's and you do not have any problems producing insulin," but even my husband admitted that was unrealistic. For now I'll keep on cutting my carbs to 30-40 grams a meal and continue to focus on what I am eating rather than focusing on testing myself. I found daily testing was stressful, and stress leads to higher numbers. Besides, the numbers were in the same 20 point range every morning, so they weren't telling me anything, and I was too stressed to do the before and after meal testing that tells something. Hearing things like, foods that work today might not work tomorrow (based on exercise and other factors) do not encourage testing. All I can do is focus on finding more low-glycemic foods and trying to stay within the guidelines. I also have to learn to let go of the guilt I've been feeling and return to enjoying life.

As with my earlier message, I encourage you to leave me a message with some encouragement. We can all use encouragement.

Organic Waste Composting is here!

Sustainable Lawrence and a select few local (and vocal) residents have been pushing for ages (2 years, perhaps 3 years) to join Princeton, NJ as the second town in Mercer County to offer curbside organic collection. What does that mean? It means everything that was once alive will be collected once a week in our new green bucket -- from pizza boxes (which you cannot recycle) to egg shells to weeds to food scraps to grass clippings to lint to tissues to paper towels (no used toilet paper, please).

Princeton started theirs in June 2011 as a 3-month trial program. One big difference is Princetonians pay for their trash. Lawrencians don't pay directly for our trash (it is part of our taxes, not a separate bill). We will have to pay $17 a month to have our compost collected. Yes, we could do it ourselves, but we don't. This is composting without the mess.

Since January it sounded like it was going to happen any day now, most likely by March. By March we stopped dropping off our compost to Chris and Sherri's house and started collecting it ourselves. I blogged about small changes we could all make. We put our names on the list in early 2014, or late 2013. We waited as the town tried to round up 300 families to participate. We got more hopeful when the town announced the trash company decided to cut the minimum number to 150 families within the town. 100 signed up. 120 signed up. 130 signed up. 140 signed up. 147 signed up. Come on! We can do it! There are 30,000 residents. Let's say an average of 3 people per household (if for no other reason than that is what we have), you are talking 10,000 households. However, you must have curbside trash pick-up to participate (which eliminates apartments and places that use dumpsters). STILL that number seems more than do-able.

And we waited. Every once in a while an article would appear in the all-but-defunct Lawrence Ledger. Every once in a while the township would send us an update. Every once in a while an update would be given to town council. 

We would go on vacation and see other places with organic waste collection -- this brown bucket was spotted on the streets of Montreal. My friends in Princeton would rave about their collection.

And still we waited. Until this afternoon when a Pensky moving truck moved slowly through our neighborhood to deliver our bucket. Our pick up starts on Wednesday June 3. There will even be a ceremony to kick off the collection.

Lawrence residents, it is not too late to sign up. The first 300 participants will receive a discount as per a grant from Sustainable Jersey.

Now the next question is, how many of the 9 buckets of compost that we have been collecting will fit in the new green bucket, and how many will have to wait until next week? There is a lot we have not been collecting -- such as pizza boxes, dryer lint, paper towels, and tissues, that we will start collecting now. I suspect there will be weeks when our green container will be overflowing, and our regular blue trash containers will remain hardly used. Wish we could swap the sizes.

I am happy be be part of this movement and look forward to watching it continue to grow. 

Finisher Medals

As a child I was not at all athletic. The closest I came to participating in a sport was being in the marching band -- at least I was on the same field as the football players, so that should count, right?

I didn't even start running until late 2010. Since then I have run races in about 10 states, plus Canada, and witnessed a race in Japan (had I but known). I'm even on the committee for the Princeton Half Marathon, and will be a "balloon lady," otherwise known as the last designated finisher, in 2015. I've actually lost count as to how many races I've run. More than medals I have collected along the way.

Often when deciding what race to do, I think about the "swag." Over time I have gotten fussier about what I want from a race. These races each cost money (I won't admit to how much), so afterwards I want something to show for it -- ideally a nice medal and a women's cut tech shirt. According to Runners USA, since 2010 more women finish races than man. However, racing organizations will often hand out "unisex" shirts to all finishes. Us women know unisex=mens cut. I don't run so I can look good in a mens cut shirt.

Every time I read about the debate over "participation awards," I think about the swag I receive for running races. How is this any different? I've only once placed in my age group. It was a race held at Rider University to race money for Women's Space. The race was called "Run Over Violence." Other than placing, the race was such a non-event, I didn't even write a blog post about it. I suspect I only placed because most of the other runners were college students. 

Is it wrong of me to love collecting these medals basically for "participating" in a race? I certainly did not "win" any of them. Is there a difference between someone my age wanting a medal for simply finishing a race and a child receiving a participation award for participating in a team sport, but not winning? Is finishing a race enough to merit a prize? 

These are the questions I ponder every time I race. This year I have decided to only run races between 5 and 10 miles, with the exception of the Princeton Half Marathon because they asked nicely. Most, if not all, will include a medal, or at least a t-shirt.

There is enough in life to feel guilty about. This should not be one of them, but it still makes me stop and think a little when I receive one. I love my swag and will keep working towards collecting it.

Biking Adventures

Last month I finally bought myself a brand-new bicycle. I named her Catie. 

During the week Catie and I go for adventures in Lawrenceville. On the weekends I'm the first one to vote for a family bike ride. Here are few pictures from our adventures.

Pole Farm/Mercer Meadows

Following instructions Don posted online for taking the Delaware River Heritage Trail from Trenton to Bordentown (we skipped the giant hill into town since the littlest one was already tired and we still had to go back):

Heading to Bordentown

Fortunately we were not on the tracks at the time.

After I ran the Spring Like 5 miler, Don and I took our bikes out for a 12.5 mile ride to Allaire Village and back.

Seen from the Capital to Coast Trail at Allaire Village -- old time baseball

 Mother's Day ride with my family along the East Coast Greenway and Lawrence Hopewell Trail in Lawrence.

Behind the Brearley House

Appropriate for Mothers Day -- seeing geese with their gosslings

Up and over Route 1

2015 Spring Lake 5 Miler

For years I have heard about my friends running the Spring Lake 5 Miler and have been very jealous. I've also been very late to sign up as registration takes place in early February. And, it fills up quickly.

When Kim posted she was planning to run it, I decided to do it, too. It wasn't until race day that I appreciated this decision. The Spring Lake 5 Miler started in 1977 with 500 runners. This year (its 39th year) had 12,000 registrants, and 10,880 finishers. That is a lot of people heading through town together. It is one of the largest 5 mile races in the country. They used to cap out at 10,000, but upped it this year to try to reclaim the title of largest 5 miler.


The weather was beautiful -- just a hair chillier than beach goers would like, but perfect for running. Even with hitting traffic for the last mile, I showed up about on time for the start of the race. Fortunately (for me) Don came with me. I picked up my commemorative glass and t-shirt just prior to the race (technically, after the fast people started) and handed them off to Don, who was riding his bike. By the time I started, the people in front had a 4 minute head start on me. It also meant the walkers were between me and the pace I wanted to keep. Rats! 

I think of myself as a back of the packer. As far as the running community goes, that is probably a fair assessment. Though I run/walk at 2:1 intervals, I do run. For me the Spring Lake 5 was a chance to see if the faster times I have been seeing in training could hold up during a real race. As you can see in the pictures, the pack was crowded. It was crowded the entire race. I didn't ever really find my pace group of runners, but I didn't even find "the Goldilocks" zone until around mile 3. Don saw my green sparkle skirt near these houses. He took the picture from the other side of the lake. This is the view I had most of the race -->

In the end, I was too fast for Don. I lost him after the first mile. Each time after that he looked for me, I had already left that area. I anticipated finishing around the hour mark. As you can see below, I finished at 57:10 -- or nearly 3 minutes (and 33 second per minute) faster than my usual pace. I wonder if it being so crowded helped me (in that I kept looking for some breathing room) or hurt me (in that I had to get around people). Either way, I'm happy to PR. This is even more significant to me since I've been making major dietary changes due to an unexpected diagnosis. I've been fading out around mile 4, but that day I was able to tell myself to keep going another mile.

Place	Bib	Name	Gender	Age	City	State	Country	Clock Time	Chip Time	Pace	Division Place	Division	Age Percentage
7801	2474	Jacquelyn Pillsbury	F	45	Lawrenceville	NJ	US	1:02:35	57:10.8	11:27	508	F45-49	45.2

I was also happy to see for my age group, I finished faster than 45% of the other participants, and ahead of 28% of everyone -- which makes me feel as if I am more of a middle of the packer now, or at least not a back of the packer.

I was also happy to see my splits when I came home. Each of the last 3 miles were within a second of each other. In other words, no crashing and burning. A good day for me indeed.

When I started running races (calling it "racing" sounds a bit more elite than I feel), I would come home and crash. After the Spring Lake 5, Don and I went for a 12.5 mile bike ride along the Capital to Coast Trail to Allaire Village. Another huge change for me.

The swag was also lovely -- a women's cut tech shirt I will probably wear again, a nice medal, and a calendar listing all of the races for the next year (the calendar starts in June). I added my green sparkle skirt since I did not take a picture of Flat Jacquie.

One last bonus ... the bibs were mailed to us so I did not have to worry about picking it up in advance of the race. If we were any later, I could have collected the shirt and glass after the race.

As much as I enjoyed myself, though, I probably won't do this race again. It was crowded, and just far enough away to make it a hassle.