Lessons Learned Today

After 3 agonizing miles at 0630 this morning in some humid 75 degree heat I realized I recently have learned a few lessons.

 

Lesson #1- I have grossly undertrained for the race this weekend. Seeing that I'm a lazy slob I'm not sure why I thought intermittent running would get me ready for a 4 mile race. Also not really varying the speed or incline on the treadmill will severely limit your ability to run outside. Who knew? Ok so I knew that but I was hoping for some magical event to happen that would make me run fast and look good all at the same time. Still waiting on that...

 

Lesson #2- I hate the heat. The treadmill provides me with the ability for comfort. I have my fan, Sydney Bristow, and a cold bottle of water at my disposal through out my run. A back country road provides me no comfort. And this whole getting hot at the crack of dawn thing is getting old fast. I like cold weather running for outside. Until I move to Alaska to run I'm going to continue to complain about the heat and humidity.

 

Lesson #3- Country folk are more considerate drivers. This was the most pleasant lesson today. As I have been in Minier all week (AKA middle of nowhere) I have been able to utilize the back roads for my torture sessions. Every time a car/truck/tractor/semi has been headed my way it has not only slowed down considerably but it has also driven on the other side of the road and the driver waved to me. Now they might have been just making sure I was not on the verge of death as it may have appeared, or as I like to think it, they are just nice people. That and if they hit me, it's more than likely they will actually know me and have to tell my parents they smeared me across the road.

 

Lesson #4- I better start cross training. This is just fact. I will never get better or be in better shape if I don't do that. The question is what to do for a cross train?

 

In other news, little girl #2 decided that it would be a good idea to take a poo in the wagon outside in the driveway for us to find later. My conversation with her went like this:

 

Me: Did you poop in the wagon?

LG2: Yes I did.

Me: Why did you do that?

LG2: I was trying to be funny.

Touché little girl, touché.

 

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Moving

I don't know how people keep up with blogs and manage to have a life. I can't seem to hack it and I'm pretty darn organized. Of course maybe it has to do with the many life changes that I am going through. Not "The Change" but some pretty drastic changes none the less.

 

He sleeps like this every night, on my side of the bed, quite rude.

 

This last year has been rough for me and my family so it was decided to move. And I'm not talking about move to the other side of town, I mean move to another state and uproot your life in the process. The house here in Terre Haute is on the market and I have quit my job at the hospital (which was tough, having been there almost 10 years). I am still working a part time gig at another facility in Terre Haute that is more flexible in scheduling. In the mean time the job hunt is on. The husband has an interview today and I have an interview on Monday. I have had some other phone interviews as well but this one on Monday is the one I really want!!!! Here's to hoping...

This made me laugh so hard, and I don't know why.

Needless to say, I'm a bundle of nerves. Not only do we need a house, jobs, and to get out of this house, I need to get little girl # 1 into 1st grade by the fall in Minier, Il. (That's where we are moving) Unless you are from there you don't know where it's is, so don't ask. I also need to enroll little girl #2 in preschool and set up some type of Childcare (which is all dependent on jobs). And let's not even talk about packing the house...

She really doesn't care about moving, pampered snot.

It's hard to type this with her using my arm as a pillow.

All in the meanwhile I'm still running. Today I did 3.5 miles, and it was my first run outside since like 1986. Ok I might be exaggerating a little, but I seriously haven't ran outside in this calendar year. And it was pretty good, considering I can't pace myself for crap. Temperature was around 65 degrees and it was overcast at 0700 in the morning. PERFECT!!!! Except for that sudden urge to poo myself at 3.5 miles. I could have run at least another half a mile if my gut wasn't ready to explode. Ah, the things they don't tell you when you get into running.

 

View from the run. Probably could have dropped one there and no one would notice.

 

Maybe I could just go back to my job as a fashion model, that used to work pretty well.

 

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5 miles of Sydney Bristow

I'm back in uncharted territory. 5 miles today baby!!! And the last mile I ran in 10:18. I managed to take about 15 sec off each mile from start to finish. Surprisingly I was not a huffing and puffing mess. My foot still feels pretty good but I'm just waiting for th bottom to fall out on that. I'm a perpetual pessimist. It's pretty much doom and gloom at my house on a daily basis. So if you are looking for a good time, come on over to the Haute. Anyhoo, it felt really good. Not, eating a Dairy Queen ice cream cake good but maybe a warm pop tart on a cold morning good. Either way, I'm satisfied.

If you do stop by, I'll be the girl looking homeless.

 

I have also fallen in love with Jennifer Garner. She kicks a$$. Lately, Ive been watching an entire episode of Alias during my runs and she gives me the will to keep going. If Sydney Bristow can run and fight in 5 inch heels whilst dangling from a grappling hook, surely I can run for a few measly minutes on a flat treadmill. It's just so much easier to push through the miles with some incentive (get Jennifer Garner's abs).

Sorry Jen, I'll focus more.

 

I've got five seasons to get through so that should last me the next few months if I only watch it while running. And it gives me the desire to run to see what that dirty SD6 is up too. I know it's like years old and possibly dated as far as fashion is concerned, but I don't care, it's love. I just may become a spy. Or I might eat a few Reese's peanut utter cups and go to bed. I'll see which one is most appealing in about 30 minutes.

 

And its the big cup for the win, sorry abs...

 

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Hell Hole

I think I'm working too much. This week I have 58 hours scheduled. It might be a little too much for me. I have been trying to figure out how to work less but in the mean time I picked up a second job and didn't cut back at the other job. WTH was I thinking? Now I just feel like this when I run...

 

 

Must find a way out of hell hole.

 

By the way my oldest child turned 7 today. I now feel like an aged piece of cheese that is molding and crusty. That is all...

 

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New Goals

It seems as if I'm on a 4 mile kick. If I don't run at least 4 miles at a time I feel like a personal failure and should probably than spend the rest of the day in bed. Last night I had planned on a 6 mile run. But I spent the whole time sucking wind and stopped at 4.5. It was all I could do to get to that point. I guess I was in for a bad run considering all the last few have been pretty great. But the beauty of a bad run is that the next run should be better. Right? I'm right, right? Please tell me I'm right, because I don't really want to suck wind again today.

I really am dirty right now...

 

My goal for 2013 is to actually run a consistent 9 min mile. But since I'm starting around the 10:45 point I've got along way to go and it seems logical to set some small goals to meet on my way up to the ultimate goal. So I have decided my smaller goal is to work on some endurance. I want to be able to run for 60 min. I figure that once I get there I can work I speeding things up to fit more miles into that 60 min time frame. I don't really have more than an hour most days to run anyway so I feel that this is a do-able goal.

 

 

On a lighter note I complete my own taxes last night and do not owe money !!!! Super excited about this tid bit and we are getting a little back. Not as much as last year but enough to make me feel like ol Uncle Sam wants to be on my good side.

I know, most people do too.

 

Today, I paint. It is time to finish my oldest new room and get her separated from her sister so that at least one of them is getting some sleep and not playing together all night. I should have taken some before pictures but all you are gonna get is the after. Mainly because I'm lazy and don't really care about impressing anyone with my mad decorating skills.

 

 

I'm off to get high on some paint fumes.

 

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Running Drought is Over

 

Yesterday I got up early to take the dog on a walk so that I could get it over and done with instead of dreading it all day.  Of course the dog had a great time and never seemed to get tired.  And because I would eventually like the wonder pup to be my running partner I decided that it was as good a day as any to start running.  I took it slow and didn’t push myself ( but when have I ever?)  And much to my surprise I made it a whole mile.  Pick your jaw up off the floor and swallow the drool hanging from your lip and stuff your tongue back in your face…

I know, blows my mind too.

 

Of course the dog didn’t think that I was moving fast enough for him, he decided to walk me.  Gonna have to work on that…

It was a great game for him, no so much for me.

 

Then all day yesterday I cleaned the house and got ready for the invasion of children that happened later in the evening for this girls 3rd birthday.

 

And that is truly what she asked for.

 

After the party you couldn’t even tell the house ever started as clean.  In fact, I will send them to your home if you need a wrecking service.  Just give me a call to arrange service. 

Big swollen feet

 

Last Sunday I had a come to Jesus talk with myself about my feet.  It seems like I have been dealing with them forever and I am sick of it.  But when I really think about it I haven’t been as aggressive as I should be with trying to get better.  There has been a lot of “research” and internal debate about what I should be doing but not a lot of action has gone into my heels other than my self prescribed “rest”.  But considering my job has me on my feet for 14 hours a day for at least three days a week that rest idea has gone by the wayside.

…and painfully swollen.

So for the last seven days I have faithfully done some stretching, icing and rolling of my feet.  It sucks, because the whole process takes at least 30 minutes since I have to do both feet.  BUT I can say that I have seen a small improvement.  They still hurt but the pain is not as extreme as in the past.  I don’t have a secret desire to cut my own feet off anymore.  So I am taking these small victories and rolling with them.  Still no running yet.  I’m too nervous for that but I’m hoping soon.

Well, my feet might be winning at least.

Speaking of running, I have an opportunity to possibly purchase a Sole F63 treadmill used.  We are mulling the decision over. And by we I mean DJ has said do it and I can’t decide if we should  and where in the world would we put it????  No really, tell me where I can put it so that I can just buy it and cancel my gym membership.

I plan on going over and test running on it to make sure it suits my stride and has enough power and then I just might take the plunge and purchase a giant clothes drying rack treadmill.

 

Time for “therapy”.

House Purge 2012

 

House purge 2012 is practically over and I don’t believe that I have ever been more productive.  Of course this will only last for the next 4 days and then the wolves will descend on the house and wreck all sorts of havoc on my newly cleaned rooms.  We even cleaned the garage today (only 2 dead mice).

It may resemble this mess…

 

Do you think they will notice the toys and clothes that are now missing?  I seriously doubt it.

OK, maybe they will notice a little bit.

In separate news, I still haven’t worked out lately and it seems to be a habit for me.  I must make a mental note to get my butt in gear.  Or else that big juicy hamburger I had for lunch is going to come haunt me in my dreams.  Do you want to see what happens when you let a small child get a hold of your phone?

And that’s just a sampling of what I found.

Six miles. Done!!!

 

Six miles in the books for today. Of course they were spent on the lonely treadmill.  And the heel felt good after a mile or so.  It’s not that great now… in fact it’s on fire.  You would think that I could learn a lesson.  Running = Pain later.  But it so addicting, how do you stop?  Today is such a nice day too that I could have run outside but in an effort to minimize the things that increase the pain in my foot, I am sticking to the treadmill since there is less shock impact.  Can you hire someone to take you piggy back through a race course?  If so then I am looking for a strong individual who likes to carry twice their own weight around for fun for hours on end.

Funny how I found a picture of me on the internet. And I’m not even getting royalty checks for this shot of doing what I do best, being lazy!!!!

Now I must attempt to mow the lawn.  This event has only ever happened once before in my life so if you want to see something funny, come over and heckle me, help me.  It doesn’t really matter.  I won't be able to mow a strait line to save my life.  In fact I should take a picture when I’m done to show you how bad it will be.

 

That is all…

If I could catch my breath

 

There are many lessons that I have learned over the last year and a half, about running.  One of which is, the day following the best run will be the worst run ever!  I don’t even want to talk about last weeks running.  It was horrible, and disappointing and depression.  I’ll just shut the box on those runs.  Yesterday I ran 3.5 miles and it was splendid.  It was like the stars aligned and angels descended and carried me through a  delicious run that probably could have lasted longer but I had things to do and had to get moving to other places.  Cut to today, my left heel HURTS and the entire 3 miles was spent catching my breath.  I didn’t run any faster today than yesterday.  So what the heck is going on?

Wouldn’t it be nice to be “naturally” thin, and not have to work so darn hard!!!

 

Maybe it’s the poor diet that I generally follow while running.  The more I run the more hungry I am and then end up eating crap.  I can do great for the first 2/3 of the day and eat fairly healthy, but night time hits and I want to eat everything in sight.  It’s like a monster takes over my brain and makes me eat a massive amount of chips and salsa or peanut butter.

Maybe the peanut butter is clogging my arteries and lungs and causing me to be sluggish.  Isn’t there a pill that I can take to turn my brain into a sane person.  A Zoloft or a Wellbutrin perhaps.

If sleep can fix everything then I’m really behind. 

 

Any suggestions???

I’m the worst blogger

 

Well, not only am I the worst blogger but I’m also the worst at motivating myself to workout.  Big fail on my part.  I did manage to drag myself out of my winter induce coma and ran two whole miles (whoopee) on the treadmill and then spent some time on the elliptical so that I didn’t feel like a complete failure. 

At least I didn’t fail THIS big.

 

I can’t keep going 13 days between runs!!!  It’s unacceptable.  I think I need to move somewhere where the weather is semi-nice all year round so that I don’t get sucked into these winter slumps.  Take today for example today, it was grey, misty, cold.  In short, a great day for sleeping.

That’s it, I’m moving!!!

Can you hire someone to do your exercise?

 

It was a close call this morning.  I spent a lot of time waffling back and forth on the issue.  Should I or shouldn’t I?  Well, I really should, but I don’t really want to.  Of, course my backside chimed in and reminded me of its size. (Jerk!)  So to the gym I went.  I ran 3 miles and walked another 1.5 miles at a 4.0 incline, overall, productive I’d  say.  Unlike this…

 

If I had a quarter for every time this happened to me…

I also managed to change to color of the grout in my kitchen.  The home builder did white grout!  Then didn’t seal it.  Who does white grout?  Well I could never get it clean enough for my taste and it only seemed to get dingier everyday.  It’s a nice brownish, grey color now.  Very boring looking but clean and uniform.

Only if you pay me too.

If you had seen it before you would be amazed at the transformation.  I’m wishing that I had taken a before pic, too late now.  I plan on doing the laundry room too, so maybe I’ll remember to take a picture then.

Bahahahahaha!!!!

Quick question, is it wrong to use men's deodorant?  I’ve said before that I don’t care to wear the deodorant that often, but I will wear it if the occasion demands or I can’t stand my own stench.  But do I have to use the women's kind or is it Kosher to use my husbands?  I’m just curious since I bought some that he doesn’t like and I hate to waste anything.  As long as its doesn’t make me grow facial hair or drop testicles I plan on using it.  I’ll let you know of any adverse effects.

 

Have you done anything questionable today?

 

Fasting from Running

 

Did I mention I have to work tomorrow?  Well I do.  Somebody has to take care of the sick people.  I plan of eating at least 5 lbs of any chocolate substance to make it through the day.  It should add nicely to the additional weight that I’ve been packing on during my fast from running.  That’s what I’m calling it to make myself feel better about not running.  I’m really fasting. Totally for religious reasons.

My poor niece Ali was tired from watching little girl # 1 & 2 all night.  She’s thrilled!!!

I plan on getting back on the running wagon soon.  But in order to make it more of a challenge I think that I should gain a few more pounds.  I wouldn’t want those other people to feel bad at the gym if I showed up in excellent physical condition and they were just starting on their new years resolutions.  So it’s my new years resolution to not get too in shape to aid in others high self esteem.  Sound good?  Yeah, maybe not so much.

Regardless,I do plan on eating a crap ton more before the new year.  And crap ton is way more than a regular ton or a metric ton.  Look it up! I dare you. 

 

Do you plan on being bad over the holidays?

Move over Martha, Jess has the power drill

 

I just realized that between the bubonic plague that struck our household and my working 4 out of 5 days in a row I haven’t had the time nor desire to step foot into my running shoes.  I wish I could say it has been a restful week off but I think, looking back, that I probably would have enjoyed having my eyes poked out the running.  So I eased into any physical activity with a nice 30 minutes on the elliptical and then managed to run 1.5 miles before crapping out and pretending to lift heavy things.  I felt overly productive.

Yes, I know. Lets not rub it in.

 

So when I got home I decided to go DIY and install the laundry room cabinet that I keep avoiding.  I think it didn’t turn out to bad.  I just hope that I anchored that bad boy into the studs.  The doors weren’t that difficulty to put on, much to my surprise.  Martha Stewart, you ain’t got nothing on me.  Now if I could just figure out what to put in it…  (Seems like I had big plans for it when I first had the idea.)

Move over Bob Villa, I’m coming for ya!!!

What did you do productive with your day?

I might get sick on you

 

Yesterday was measured in trips to the bathroom.  After around 20 trips in 3 hours I gave up any semblance of time and gave in to the sickness.  My stomach couldn’t keep anything down and by backside wouldn’t stop vomiting.  Over all, a very pleasant day. 

This is one of my “sick” bags.  Handy, but not pretty.  Uhgggg, the memories…

Because I’m obsessed with my weight, I weighed myself after a day of extreme fluid loss and found the silver lining to being sick.  5 pounds of weight loss in one day.  I’m stoked, too bad it's not a long term plan for success. 

These are the pictures that happen when you leave the computer unattended.

Of course that makes it difficult when going to run today.  Spend a day in bed trying not to die, get really dehydrated and eat a couple pieces of toast and then try to run the next day.  I probably should have had a better plan, like rest or something.  It was a sluggish 3 miles but I made it.  And since I’m a glutton for punishment I spent another 28 minutes on the elliptical machine.  Over all I feel slightly better than yesterday but maybe shouldn’t have gotten back on the treadmill so quickly.  Oh, well…

And by the way, I’ve decided I know the reason I’m so SLOW.  My legs are just too short.  I watched a few other people today on the treadmill while I plodded along on the elliptical machine  and came to a few conclusions. 1. My legs are too short for my body. and 2. I’ve already been through puberty and can’t expect to grow anymore.  Crap!  All these people with their super long legs can take further strides and look like a sleek gazelle running through a field of wheat where as I just look like a cockroach scurrying across the floor.  And my family will attest to this truth, just ask them at most holiday functions, they will be glad to point out my flaw and laugh in my face.  Jerks.  I’m defiantly the deformed child seeing as my brother is 6’4” and my sister is 5’10'”. I’m 5’6” on a good day in my tennis shoes.

Yeah, well you suck and don’t expect a good Christmas present this year giant trolls.

I must go research ways to get taller that don’t include surgical breaking of the legs and inserting extenders or clinical drug trials.