Thursday, March 22, 2012

Unofficial Weigh In

Had annual trip to Gyn today and was dreading stepping on the scale.
Weighed in at 128 - only 10 more lbs to go to get to my pre-pre-pre pregnancy weight.
Makes the 8 miles I am about to run in place a little bit sweeter to swallow.  :)

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Dirty Thirty: Kalamazoo Who?

The Dirty Thirty was drafted in my early 20's.
Life was A LOT different back then - to sum it up, I had no dependents, well other than a cat named Sassy.
I had recently finished school, gotten my first job and moved away from Chicago to the exotic city of Kalamazoo, MI.
Despite the fact that Michigan was only a few hours away from IL - I felt like a complete foreigner when I moved in.
My boss filed me into his phone directory under the letter H.
How could this be possible you ask since my first name started with K and my maiden name with S?
Oh, because it was filed under HMP...High Maintenance Princess.  True Story.
I didn't quite get it until I met my co-workers - all males, except for one female who hunted, skinned her own deer, drank hard alcohol all of the time and never wore makeup.

The apartment I lived in was considered "upscale" for the area - but there consistently was a film to the water.  When I was gone for a few days a gelatin like film would form in my toilet bowl and it would literally peel off the sides of the bowl like skin when I flushed upon my return.  I was so repulsed, I refused to use the dishwasher or the sink so I lived off of bottled water, paper plates and never took longer than 5 minute shower.

The winter days were long and soggy.  I remember one January where there were 18 days without sun.  No sun.  I hopped onto a flight and as we broke through the cloud cover, everyone on board shielded their faces unsure of what the bright light shining into the windows was.  I now know what vampires feel like.

I traveled 20-26 days out of the month.  I had to be in the office by 6 and rarely left before 6:30 in the evening.  I remember one morning being unable to locate my ice scraper, having to sub in my credit card (which cracked), getting into the office at 7:30 and being greeted with a good afternoon, glad you decided to come in today.  Really people?

It wasn't all bad - people were nice, the airport was so small that the TSA agent (yup, one) and the person behind the airline counter would remember you by name and on the weekends that I was in town I could drive to Chicago in about 2.5 hours.  (This made for some excruciatingly long drives back at the butt crack of dawn on Monday mornings and some very unproductive Mondays in the office after a weekend of whooping it up back home).

Thankfully when this list was drafted I was back in Chicago with friends on one of those said business trips - it was decided that number one on the dirty thirty was to get out of Kalamazoo.

What's crazy is the number of San Diegans I have met, since leaving, that were born and raised in the 'zoo - looks like we did end up having something in common.


 

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Hitting the proverbial Wall

I am in a rut.
Seriously.
Yes, I have been running throughout the week and slowly making my way up mileage ways.
But I am seriously losing interest - fast.
I was all geared up to run the R&R in a few short months and then had to change it to San Fran at the end of July.
Part of the reason I was running my booty off was to be bikini ready for our trip to Italy.
The trip has also been postponed due to the hubs needing to be in Chicago for a meeting.
I feel as though all of my motivation is slipping through my fingers.
I turn 30 in less than 3 weeks and I am only a little more than halfway through my list.
I have 15 LBs to go to be at pre preggo weight.
Today during my "long run time" I was pub crawling with some friends.
I ate 8 bags of Scooby Doo fruit snacks today (Stay away from them at Costco, they are addicting).
I have given myself until tomorrow to figure out a way to change up my routine and to begin putting together a plan to knock the the rest of the list off.
The documentation of the list will begin tomorrow, I will be sulking in my rut for one more night.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Getting my booty in motion!

This morning I woke up with a start.
Was it the time Cooper woke up crying waiting to be fed?
Could it have been the time Logan woke up screaming from a bad dream?
Oh no, those were the two other times - this time when I leaped out of bed, it was serenely quiet.  
What day was it????
March 3rd...it was officially one day and one month away from the big 3-0.
I am over halfway through my list (and technically I added the * in at the beginning of the Dirty Thirty giving me until 11:59PM, pacific time, on December 31st 2012 to complete the tasks) but to be honest I haven't really been doing anything recently to keep the check offs coming.
Running consumes my life.
Well, running, 3 kids, 2 dogs, the need to take care of the 3 kids and 2 dogs consumes my life.
After running in the evening, I am exhausted.
I am embarking on my long run this morning - with my new buddies from Meetup.com - and then I begin recapping and attacking THE list!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

La Costa Half

The La Costa Half is something new that you have not heard of?
Me either - until yesterday.

D took all 3 boys to Pee Wee soccer so that I could check off my long run for the week.
I was going to drive down to the coast - running from La Costa to Cardiff and back.
8 miles was my target.

After gearing up (in all black mind you - it was a foggy start to the day) I thought I would make a spontaneous change to my plan.  With gas prices at well over $4 a gallon it hardly made sense to drive down to the coast to go running.  I hopped on mapmyrun.com and figured out a course that would total 8 miles and end at Pee-Wee soccer.

With a quick text to D to let him know my plans - I was off.
(Had I been truly observant I would had realized that the text that I sent generated a response within my own home...)
Looping through cul-de-sacs and neighborhoods, running along busy streets, listening to the baywatch theme song (still old iPod - not sure why I downloaded that one several years back...) knowing that in just a little bit I would be in the air conditioned car, drinking water, being taxied back home.

I hadn't received a response from D, but I was certain that they would be waiting for me (even cheering me on) upon my arrival.
As I approached the field, exhausted, I kept running, eyes darting from side to side inspecting every car I passed, knowing that the Tahoe and my fan club had to be nearby.
I made it past the fields - still nothing.  Checked out the park by the field - knew no one.
I had no money, no water, no id (should I pass out along the way) and wanted nothing more than to sit my booty down.
I creeped around for a while, hoping I had missed them - texted again, called - went to voicemail, called home - that went to voicemail too.  Called again, and then again - about 15 phone calls in, it began to sink in...no one was coming to get me.

It was 10:15 - my spontenaity did not account for the fact that this was my first time training outside and not on a treadmill.  There would be environmental factors such as hills, stop lights, car exhaust that would all slow my pace down.  I was 15 minutes late to the soccer party and everyone I know had gone home...

It is 2.5 miles home from the field to my house.
The sun had come out in full force.
My Men in Black running getup began to adhere to the sweat that was coating my body.
I was SOOOooo thirsty.
I evaluated my options - walk home and get home in over an hour or start running again.
I chose option b and began the LONG road home.
I cranked up the iPod and the songs that came on could not have been more appropriate -
Fall Out Boy "Where is your boy tonight..." - Good question - Not at soccer, not picking up his cell and not at home.
Dixie Chicks "Without you..." - Yup, I was left alone to forge for myself without food or water in the middle of the dessert...

In order to make it to my house in the shortest amount of time possible, I had to run along the busiest streets in town.
I kept trying to inconspicuously undo the perma-wedgie that had formed within my sweaty pants as I ran.
After about a minute of running and tugging - I gave up.  I would definitely have made it on the glamour dont's as the runner with her pants up her booty - I didn't even want to know what the front of me looked like...
As I got about a mile within our house - I started feeling light headed.  I was sure I was going down on the sidewalk and was panicking that my "ICE" was not picking up his phone.
Was this my punishment for cheating on my Lenten sacrifice only a day after I made it?
I mean, it was only a blow pop and my throat was killing me, could that really be considered "sweets"?
My phone started to ring - it was D.
D:  "Where are you?!"
K:  "I don't know on the side of the road somewhere struggling to make it home since you didn't pick me up as planned"
(Definitely up to interpretation- "somewhere" defined a stretch of road that I drive no less than 20 times a day and "plan" was one that I made and shared, but he just happened to not receive)
He volunteered to come get me, but at that point I had come too far - I was almost home.
As I made it into the home stretch, I had to preserve my energy and I pretty much crawled in through the front door - sweaty, smelly, bright red faced and super upset that I had to run all of the way home.
Let's just say that it was not a pretty picture.

After downing about 6 glasses of fluids, showering and upping my blood sugar, I promptly hopped online and purchased a fanny pack that had a harness for water bottles.
I am now a "serious runner" - it was time to gear up.
So I didn't officially run a "half" but clocked in almost 11 miles yesterday.

For next weekend's long run I joined a meetup group.
They'll know I'm serious once I strut in with my fanny pack accessory kit.

Weigh in tomorrow - time to locate the tongs.

Monday, February 13, 2012

We got more bounce in California

Meant to be posted on:  Saturday!

P90X turned out to be more than I bargained for.
By that I mean I anticipated not being able to get through the entire video from the get go.
In all actuality after about 15 minutes, I had to shut it down.
Turns out I am not as flexible as I used to be (let's just say I cannot even touch my toes) and there will need to be some yoga blocks purchased stat.

Last night we headed out to a party with some friends.
It was a blast.  As we were heading out the door, I realized the night was still early and we headed to the bar to whoop it up a little longer.
It's embarrassing how giddy we were to be out.  At a bar.  After midnight.
What is more embarrassing is the fact that I could not peel myself out of bed this morning and remained there until after noon.
Give this girl a beer (or three) and things go downhill.

Today was supposed to kick off my first long outdoor run along the coast.
By the time I crawled out of bed, I had no interest in running outdoors.
Fresh air, after being indoors in bed all day, I was sure would somehow be too clean for my body to handle in it's present state.
I headed to the gym.
I cannot for the life of me run without music.
If I hear the sound of my feet hitting the pavement, treadmill - it exhausts me (I cannot explain this) and I lose the urge to run.
Before heading out I frantically searched for where I had placed my iPod and through all of the digging, lifting, prodding around I found my old school iPod that was D's Christmas present to me the first year we met.  (Sadly, i was hoping to find my rings which I also misplaced...we are an organized bunch at our house...no success)

One of my BFFs growing up always swore by coming up with an alias when you work out.
She was convinced that if you listened to music when working out that you normally did not listen to, it would motivate you.
My alias, turns out, was someone living on the mean streets of the intercity.
That's right.
I used to love working out to rap music, well, mostly rap music.
As I was breaking back in the old school iPod, I was greeted by the likes of Eminem, Dr. Dre, Nate Dogg mixed in with some other selections like the theme song to Laguna Beach.
Running 7 miles on the treadmill gives you a lot of mental down time to travel down memory lane.
I couldn't quite remember when or why my music selection had changed until "Welcome to Detroit" popped into the mix.
I had been that guy from the beginning of the movie Office Space.
Working as a marketing associate right out of college had me on the road continuously.
Despite the fact that I technically lived in Kalamazoo, I was on the road 28-29 days out of the month.
One of the first surgeries I had to cover was in Detroit.
I had my iPod plugged into the radio (with D's other Christmas gift the adapter) and I was blaring tunes as I made the 2+ hour drive at dawn into Detroit.
When Eminem's song came on I was pulling into a Subway parking lot.
Windows down, music blaring.
I thought I was pretty cool, I mean come on, Welcome to Detroit, when you're in Detroit for the first time?
As I stepped into the Subway there was a lot to take in.
Plexi glass separated me from the person taking my order.
A net connected the top of the plexi glass to the wall.
I paid for my order and received my sandwich through a rotating lazy susan.
I was NOT in the suburbs anymore.
As I got into the car, I quickly closed all of the windows and continued on my journey in silence.

As I reached the end of my run, another Laguna Beach song came on.
I remember downloading it when I was planning on moving to SD after D and I got hitched (girl dreaming after the first or second date)
I have to chuckle thinking that last time I was singing the tune of "We got more bounce in California than all yall combined" I was running on a treadmill.  Daydreaming.  In Kalamazoo.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Dear Regulars

I haven't posted in a couple of days but I have gotten some good running time in !
I've kept up the every other day run and last night completed 5 miles and burned over 600 calories.

I am not sure what defines a regular at the gym.
I'd like to think that now, after working out every other day for an entire two weeks, I fall into that category.
But, despite my frequent recent attendance, there are several questions I have that I would love to ask someone who has been a regular for over 3 weeks.

1.  Why is it that when there are 10 open treadmills people feel the need to choose the one right next to mine?  Does this fulfill their need for a running buddy?  I do not consider myself to be claustrophobic but having someone running right next to me feels extremely confining.  This has now happened several times and I had never considered up and moving to another treadmill until a few nights back.  The guy running right next to me must have eaten a pound of sausage.  Every time he exhaled, I inhaled at least 100 calories from that said sausage.  It was disturbing enough for me to move.

2.  Is there some benefit to straddling the treadmill belt, crank up the speed and then jumping on?  Last night for the first time I saw someone start two treadmills going at two different speeds and then proceeded to move from one to the other.  Is the pause button passe?  Is ramping up speed wise out of date?

3.  Is there a schedule out there of the "it" times to work out at the gym?  My running time is completely based upon when the hubs can watch the kiddos.  It varies from 5AM to 10PM.  During these times the gym has been completely empty or completely packed.  The Monday following superbowl there were time limits on the treadmills. It automatically shut off after 30 minutes.  I flashed back to the days of when people on the playground would count for you to get off of the swing.  People were literally circling to see how much time was left on each person's treadmill.  I have to admit...after my treadmill shut off, I would stretch, look around to see if anyone was looking and restart up again.  I did this twice. I'm pretty sure other people noticed.

This morning I will be blowing off the dust from the P90X videos we purchased almost 2 years ago.
I did one eighth of one video and never went back.
Let's do this Tony.