Sky Blogging

I'm on a Delta flight from Atlanta to San Antonio. Delta handed out promo codes to try out their in-flight wi-fi so I'm blogging from somewhere over.... hmm I think we're still over Alabama.

This is cool and actually works pretty well... I'm getting a good response time. Right now, I have several windows open (not on the airplane, of course) so I'm using email, Facebook, Twitter, and I'm even shopping Ikea online - all while blogging too! Pretty cool.

Saturday I had a big adventure taking Fred and Wilma to the vet. Fred used to be a real devil but he's gotten more mellow as he's gotten older. But that didn't prevent him from throwing a fit when they took him to the back to draw blood. They carried him out of the room we were in and brought him back in a towel!

But he is getting older and for the first time, they are talking "if he's still around when it's time for his next rabies shot in 3 years". He's starting to get cataracts... I could tell a while back that those were developing". And, he has small tumors in one ear. They said it's nothing to worry about now but we'll have to keep an eye on them because they could get big and could become cancerous. Other than that, he's doing well for a geriatric cat.

Wilma was funny at the vet. She decided to play possum. She just went completely limp and let them do whatever they wanted. She was so happy to get home and be free!!

Sunday, I finally tried getting out for a run. My left knee has been bothering me so much that sometimes, it's hard to even walk around. I had a deep, deep tissue massage on Friday and even had to recover from that. Saturday, I was still in too much pain to try running. But I iced it a lot and took my ibuprofren. Sunday, I felt comfortable enough to get in 9 miles!! Then I went home and iced it some more, and stretched.

It feels pretty good today but it tends to hurt more after I've been sitting a long time (like on this airplane). So I'm sure I'll be a gimp for a little while when I land in San Antonio. The hotel I'm staying at is supposed to have a great swimming pool so I'll take a dip later to loosen up.

Now I think we're over Mississippi...

My Brand "Used" Car!

My Honda Accord is 10 years old - and looks ever bit it's age. There is a dent in the left rear passenger door, scratches all over the body, and the paint on the hood was faded from the sun.

I was thinking that it's about time to trade it in. BUT... it still runs so well!

I was thinking about having it painted but just didn't want to put 2 or 3 thousand into a ten year old car. I'd heard that MAACO offers cheap (er.... inexpensive) paint jobs, but I'd also heard that it's only good for a couple of years.

The MAACO here was offering a sale so I thought I'd check them out. I called and talked to someone on the phone, then drove my car over so they could take a look at it. I ended out leaving it with them so they could paint it while I was out of town. They have several packages and the lowest end package is only good for 2 years. Out of five packages, I purchased the 2nd to the highest package for $599 and it has a "polish warranty" for four years, and includes a better quality paint. I also paid them another $100 to get the dent out of my door. So, for $700, I got a brand used car!

I just picked it up on Friday. The guys at MAACO were really nice, and they even vacuumed the trunk for me! I'm so happy with this that now the Tracker is there for the $299 paint job.

What I Learned in School

I'm having "blogging withdrawal". I don't think I've gone this long without blogging since I started this blog. But I have been too busy and too tired, but mostly, I haven't had any brain cells left.

On Monday, I got up early and caught a flight to Philadelphia. I met up with my co-worker, Carl, and we picked up my rental car and drove to somewhere in Pennsylvania – about 45 minutes from the airport. It could be Norristown or it could be Conshohocken or it could be Audubon, or it could even have been all of the above. I think that the IKON office is in Norristown and the hotel, which is just across the major street is in Audubon.

In any case, our training on Fasoo (a digital rights management system) started at 1pm on Monday and went until 5:00-ish. After getting checked into the hotel, four five of us headed over to 99 for a steak dinner. I was asleep by 10pm.

This is what we have been learning.

I guess that's why my head is spinning.

I got up Tuesday morning and did a 3 mile jog on the treadmill, including a warm-up and intervals, then it was back to class – ALL day. For dinner, Carl and I went to Bertucci’s. This was a decent Italian restaurant, although we both had fish.

I was too tired Wednesday to get up and do any training and we had class again ALL day. Right after class, five of us met in the hotel lobby to work on our “test” for the class then headed out for dinner.

It seems like all I’m doing is training (the brain), sleeping, and eating.

Thursday was so busy that we even ordered lunch in so that we could finish by the time I had to leave for the airport.

Fabio and Carl - "analyze THIS"!

Fasoo Training

I Found It

I got up early Saturday morning to meet Jordan (aka "Sleepy") at 6:45 for a run. But wouldn't you know, she fell victim to her nickname and didn't get up in time!!

I ran 5.2 miles and it was pure torture. I had taken my inhaler but it didn't seem to be working and my legs felt horrible. After those double-unders on Thursday, I still had so much pain in my calf muscles, particularly on the left leg. Yesterday I even contacted Travis to schedule a massage for this Friday - I can't wait!!

During my 5.2 run, all I did was walk and jog. And I even took 800mg of ibuprofren before the run! I don't think I even covered a straight 1/2 mile of running. It took everything I had just to get it done. Naturally, I've been really, really worried about how my marathon is going to go.

Today I got up and went to North Shore Pool to meet the gang. This time, Jordan was right on time! We had a great group running today including: Robin P., Robin H., Robin A., Justy, Jim, Janet, and Theresa. Some were running 5 miles, others were going 9. Jordan and I figured we'd get in 5 but wound up with 6.1. It was the first time in a long time that I felt back to normal with the run. I took my 800mg of ibuprofren before the run and also took my inhaler. Today, I felt like I could have run the marathon - I felt great!! But it was also nice not to overdo it.

I have to leave first thing in the morning for a trip to Malver, PA and will be gone Monday through Thursday so Jordan and I are going to be committed to each other through email during the week to make sure we get our runs in. Then we'll run again next weekend.

With my running, I feel like that old golf saying: When you have it, you think you'll never lose it. And when you lose it, you feel like you'll never find it.

I'm so happy that I found it again today!!

Tabata THAT!

So Wednesday, I did that WOD consisting of 400m run, 50 double-unders, and 25x Push Press at 55#, 5 times.

DL had asked me what weight I use on the Push Press for Fight Gone Bad. I told him that I did it as Rx'd so he loaded 65# on the bar. He had me to the first 25 at 65# and it about killed me. Then he lowered the weight to 55#. Well...the Rx'd weight for FGB was only 50#. So I hurt my shoulder patting myself on the back! (kidding).

Thursday morning, the WOD was "Death by Pull-Ups".

With a continuously running clock do one pull-up the first minute, two pull-ups the second minute, three pull-ups the third minute… continuing as long as you are able.

I was so sore from the double-unders and push press yesterday so I knew this would be hard today. After the 1st pull-up in the 1st minute I grabbed a 25# plate to add to the box I was standing on. I thought that would be better than reverting back to the blue band. I was able to keep going and got 15 rounds - finishing just as the clock expired.

Then, I had to drive 4 hours to Jacksonville for a one hour meeting with a customer - and then turn around and drive home. And the meeting was at 3pm. Ugh!!

All that did was make me stiff all over, from head to foot. The tightness in my left quad caused me knee to ache and it really hurt every time I had to press on the clutch.

Today we were scheduled to do a front squat workout but DL already had it in his mind that Dawn and I would do a Tabata row 16 x 20 seconds on and 10 seconds off. That way, we could loosen up and be able to train this weekend.

I was so stiff that I didn't even do the warm up. Instead, I massaged with the foam roller, then set up our C2 rowers. Luckily, the C2 rower that I used for the Tabata workout wasn't working properly - no display. Cool!! That meant no results. So I just rowed when Dawn rowed and rested when Dawn rested. Of course DL knew I was slacking and would come by every few minutes to remind that if I was talking, then I wasn't working hard enough!!

So true!

Woeful Wednesday

Monday night was another XFit ladies night out. We all met at Gina DeMeo's house where she had some tasty appetizers (baked brie) and she made at least 10 different quiches. I tried a small piece of three different ones and the crab quiche was my favorite. But I should have left the crust behind because the gluten did bother me a little. Good thing I had small pieces!

At XFit, I got first place for the women for Tuesday's WOD - only because not many of the women like to run... but hey, I'll take it!

Tuesday's WOD was Tabata Pull-Ups (I did the blue band with my knee in it), Push-Ups (girlie), Abmat Situps, and Air Squats. I was going to do the push-ups on my toes but was so tired after the pull-ups that I went straight to girlie push-ups... and I shouldn't have, my reps were too high. Here's how I did:

Pull-ups: 9, 8, 7 , 6, 5, 6, 5, 6

Push Ups: 24, 21, 17, 14, 13, 14, 14, 11

Abmat Situps: 11, 11, 11, 11, 10, 10, 9, 9

Air Squats: 16, 15, 15, 14, 14, 14, 15, 15

TOTAL: 380 points

Tuesday was a really tough work day - way too much to do with deadlines looming. Tim was a real sweetheart and came by to take me out to lunch (Evo's). Then I worked a little late so he took me out to dinner too - wow twice in one day! We went to Bowled for dinner and I had their Cioppino Bowl with mussels, clams, baby gulf shrimp, calamari & mahi-mahi in a light saffron tomato-fennel broth served over soft polenta. It came with bread but I gave that to Tim. I can definitely tell the difference not having gluten in my diet!

This morning I wanted to sleep in. Last week, Dawn and I took Wednesday off and we both felt so much better with the rest. But I figured I'll be out of town a lot the next couple of weeks and really didn't want to miss too much. But, I decided that I wanted a workout that focused on running since I feel like I'm a little behind on my marathon training.

I told DL that I would do 4 rounds for time of 400 meter run and 50 double unders. He wanted me to do today's weight training day but we ended out with a compromise - much to his liking and not mine. Instead of 4 rounds, I did 5 and he also added 25 x push press at 55# after the double unders.

Right off the bat, my legs felt so tired from Monday's run and Tuesday's tabata (air squats) so I was running so slowly. But my double unders were much better... I got 16 in a row today. DL had the push press at 65# for the first round - which took me forever so he lowered it to 55# and that was still tough. Doing double-unders and push press is NOT a great combo - both fatigue the arms!! It took me 46:44 to get through this workout!!

Now to get through another hectic work day... ugh!

UFO!

First of all, my weekend of running was terrible!! I was having a very bad allergy weekend. On Saturday, I couldn't breath just walking around the house, even after taking my inhaler. So, I ran errands and worked on the house instead.

That afternoon, Tim and I went to a surprise birthday party for Marc Wheeler. Jess and Diva did a great job arranging this surprise party at the Feather Sound Country Club!

You can see that Marc was really surprised!

I think Marc is giving me the evil eye for taking this picutre!

The rest of the day Saturday was running errands and then lots of rest because Tim had his 10k swim and I was running 13 miles on Sunday morning.

But, I got up Sunday morning and headed out for my run at 5:30am. I made it about 5 miles and stopped at Tim's condo. There was lightning in the distance and it just seemed like it was getting closer. It was really windy as TD #1 (soon to be Claudette) was spinning off the coast of St. Petersburg. And maybe it was the low pressure system that just made me feel like crap. So that's all I got in for my run.

Tim and I wandered over to North Shore Pool and I timed for him and Dawn. Dawn did the 5k swim. Tim finished the 10k swim in 2hrs 24 minutes. A little slower than last year but he wasn't expecting a great performance and was pleased with his results.

Today (Monday), Dawn and I ran to XFit even though we knew the WOD was 800m repeats. I also opted not to use my inhaler. Sometimes I feel that if I work through it, it will get better, but I would definitely have been more comfortable with the inhaler. After running to XFit, we did the full warm-up, then got started on the 4x800m sprints with 2 minutes max rest in between. My goal was to negative split so I had to run comfortably hard on the first interval and get more uncomfortable as I went along. Results: 4:02, 3:49, 3:38, 3:34... I was sure I wasn't going to get another negative split on that last one so I was pretty surprised.

While we rested up afterwards, and cheered on Chalka during his run, we noticed something odd in the sky. So 7 of us stood out in the parking lot (with Chalka running), trying to figure out what this UFO was... even though we knew it was something logical, at the time, for us, it was unidentified.

We went through a process of elimination... the contrail was too big to be a plane and looked more like the Shuttle. But none of us had heard anything about the Shuttle being launched today. And the trajectory was different that the Shuttle - it didn't go straight up - it sort of headed off to the eastern horizon. But the contrail was amazing! Closer to the ground, it was red because the sun was coming up. Higher up it was as bright as a really fat bolt of lightning. Then, we watched as the contrail got really, really big and you could see a separation like you would from the Shuttle!

Then it was finally posted on our news website:

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2009/8/17/509327.html

The Delta II Rocket was launched for the final time (and this picture just doesn't come close to the spectacular view that we had)!

Oh... and after the WOD, I worked on pull-ups again. I can do kipping jumping pull-ups. I can do a dead hang using the blue band. Marc had me try a dead hang using the blue band with only my knee in it and I could get one and struggled to barely make the 2nd. So this is what I'll be working on after every WOD. He also reminded me to "grease the groove" at home using my own pull-up bar. He did not approve of me using my pull-up bar as a Medal Holder!!

Popeye!

After Hazel's amazingly successful single deadlift pull-up, I was inspired to conquer that today.

I walked confidently into the Damit Gym, stepped up on the box and gripped the bar. Then, I gave every effort I had to hoist myself up......

But nothing happened. Nothing at all. My feet never left the box... not 1/4 inch... not even 1/8 inch. I was as far from being able to do a pull-up as I was the day I started.

I guess Popeye forgot to eat some spinach!!

I conceded... and proceeded to do my warm-up jumping pull-ups and could not clear my chin over the bar once, where I had been able to do this for 5 to 7 reps. I had to step back to using the blue band.

I guess yesterday's Angie not only kicked my butt, but she completely destroyed my arms as well. I guess this is what happens after sprinting through 100 pull-ups and 100 push-ups. The 100 sit-ups and 100 squats had far less impact... I was even able to run today.

So I have decided that I must stay focused on the marathon training. I'll try to focus on upper body strength but will still have to taper before my marathons. Then I'll polish it off after my January marathon see what I can do before the triathlon seasons kicks into full swing.

Now, after a very, very busy work Friday, I'm going to try out a new recipe for dinner tonight... Duck Breasts with Dried Cherry Sauce. Sounds great... I hope it tastes as great as it sounds!

Sleeping on the Job / Angie

This is Fred... sleeping on the job... literally. That notebook he's sleeping on is my book of notes that I'm supposed to be typing into a document for a customer. Fred is really overkill when it comes to paper weights. And look at his silly little fangs!

I was sleeping on the job too! I had to be up at 11:20pm Tuesday night to put in a bid on e-Bay for some ceiling fan blades that Tim was interested in. The bid ended at 11:30pm. So, with 30 seconds left, I entered Tim's maximum bid, but someone else bid $50 more so he didn't get them, and I didn't get any sleep. It's hard trying to go back to sleep at 11:30pm. And when the alarm went off at 4:45am, I just wasn't ready to get up.

I called Dawn and told her I was going back to bed! I think that sleeping in Wednesday was really good for me. After that extra bit of rest, I felt energetic ALL day! Good thing too because I had a very busy work day and spent my lunch hour painting baseboards.

In the evening, while Tim built new baseboards for my hallway, I put the entertainment center back and methodically put everything in it's place. And just to show you what a GEEK I am, not only did I alphabetize all of my DVD's, I alphabetized them in hexadecimal so that "21" comes after "1408". And only another GEEK would understand that!

Today (Thursday), the WOD was supposed to be 3 Rounds for time of 21 L-pull ups and 15ft L-rope climb, 3 ascents. I can't do anything L, so Marc had us do Angie instead. For time, 100 pull-ups (blue band), 100 push-ups (girlie), 100 sit-ups (GHD), 100 squats. Time 22:44.

Afterwards, I looked like Fred.

Fight Gone Bad

Fight Gone Bad is one of those love/hate WOD's. You hate it when you are standing there getting ready to start. But you love it when it's over!!

This is another one of those workouts that caters to my ADHD. There are three rounds with one minute rest between each round. Each round consists of five stations and you get one minute at each station to do as many reps as possible. You add up your total reps for your score. (For rowing, you count the number of calories on the C2 rower). The stations are (followed by my reps for each round):

1. Wall Balls, women use the 10# ball (20, 22, 23)

2. Sumo Deadlift High Pull with a 50# bar (12, 14, 12)

3. Box jumps on the 16" box (12, 12, 15)

4. Push Press with 50# on the bar (8, 10, 9)

5. Row (9, 8, 9)

My total score was 195.

Maybe I need more of a warm-up because my reps should probably be going down instead of up. On the other hand, that might also mean that I'd do less reps over all. Dawn hates the Wall Ball and I don't mind them so much. Sure they are hard as heck, but I can keep up with most of the guys in the gym. But I am at a distinct disadvantage on the box jumps and rowing due being "height challenged". I feel like I'm trying to jump over a fence on the box jumps when everyone else looks like they are just hopping up and down. I've got to find me some hang time!!

Now I'm on to the 2nd WOD of the day - painting the living room. I'll post pictures when it's done... it's a big change for me!

The REST of the WOD

Saturday was a continuation of whatever was going on Friday. Friday evening around 9pm I felt that fever and body aches coming on again, and bad chills. I'm not sure why this would be on again off again, but when it was off, I felt pretty good!

I decided to take Saturday off, and good thing because Tim and I moved all of the furniture in the living room and we started all the prep work to paint the living room.

Sunday, I got up bound and determined to get in a run. I'm feeling behind in my mileage for the marathon training. I wanted to get in at least 5 miles and hopefully 7. I set out feeling really, really good and decided to go for 10. But since I decided thatduring the run, I wasn't as prepared as I normally would have been and had no food with me at all. The first 5 miles felt great. I turned around to complete the 2nd half of the run and started to feel the bonk coming on in mile 6. Getting to mile 7 was a real struggle. From there, I walked and took a short cut home but was not disappointed getting 7 miles of running and 2 miles of walking!

Today I met Dawn at 5:20 for our jog to XFit. The WOD today was all upper body. We did "JT" (what Hazel did last week). 3 rounds for time of 21-15-9 reps of handstand push-ups, ring dips, and push-ups.

I did my handstand push-ups kneeling on a box, the ring dips were also standing on a box, providing a little support, but I did "normal" push-ups instead of girlie push-ups (for the first time). My time was 8:39. Then I jogged home.

And the rest of the WOD came after work. Tim finished painting the ceiling while I got out my little brush and did all of the detail trim work - around the windows and door, and baseboards, and outlets. That overhead work tired out my already tired arms.

I'm not looking forward to Fight Gone Bad tomorrow : (

Tim Discovers the Web Cam

Poor, poor, pitiful me.

Yesterday, I felt pretty good all day... none of those "pill in my throat" feelings. But then, around 4pm, I thought I'd better eat a little something before swimming at 6:30. I ate two slices of the whole grain bread that I bought from Rollin Oats (with a little butter). Immediately, that pain came back. That's when it dawned on me that I might have a gluten intolerance.

Anyway, I dealt with it and went on to swim and had a nice swim with Troy. Our first swim Tuesday was 1000 yards, today the goal was 1200, which we finished in less time than the 1000. We'll have a steady progress to increase our yards over the next few weeks, settling in at 2000 with an occasional 2500.

Dinner was organic beef hamburgers (only1 for me, 4oz... no bun, thank you very much), applesauce with cinnamon, and spiced sweet potato chips. And one glass of red wine.

I woke up this morning when the alarm went off and got out of bed to get ready to go to CrossFit when I suddenly realized... I am sick. I had a slight fever and those miserable body aches. I called Dawn to cancel, took 3 ibuprofren and went back to bed... for four more hours!!

I felt like a million bucks when I got up! Even the soreness in my legs from the weeks workouts was gone and I was looking forward to a 6 to 10 mile run tomorrow.

Tim and I exchanged information that we discovered on gluten intolerance and I found out that I'm eating so many things I shouldn't. Even my Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal is not safe from gluten. And who would have thought that my imitation crab meat has gluten! Tim and I are going to try to cut out all foods with gluten for at least 30 days to see if we feel any better. I'm printing a list of all the confirmed and possible foods with gluten so that we can avoid things like meatballs, creamed vegetables, gravy (things I don't eat anyway) and suspect foods like yogurt I'll have to investigate to see if mine had gluten in it... I sure hope not.

I went to "The Meat Man" today and bought a couple of T-bone steaks which I grilled and served along with an organic salad (with Gillian McKeith's recipe for salad dressing), and baked sweet potatos, with another glass of wine. None of this should have gluten in it.

Tim and I enjoyed a fun evening playing on my new mini laptop, when I turned on the web cam!!

Here is a picture of me with my new haircut (just got it today)!!



And here are pictures of Tim being all excited about being on the web cam...

After dinner, we were enjoying a lovely (not) show on Discovery Channel (it's Shark Week). I felt good all day. Then all of the sudden, that fever came back. I mean, it came on within 30 to 60 seconds, complete with body aches, headache and a majorly rumbling stomach. I'm not sure what's going on. Along with the fever, I also felt really, really cold (and the thermostat is set to 78). I took 3 more ibuprofren and am now typing this post. I sure hope this goes away as quickly and completely as it did the last time.

I really don't need another excuse not to go for a run!

Food, Inc.

A must see movie... Food, Inc.

A few of the XFit ladies got together for dinner and a movie last night. We had wine and a lite dinner at Taps in Tampa. I had an absolutely marvelous crab-stuffed portobello mushroom. The stuffing included bits of asparagus and horseradish!!

Gina, Sam, Lisa, Jordan, Barbara, and Carolyn

After dinner, we walked around the corner to the historic Tampa Theater.

"... the most elegant place in which you will ever order Goobers"

Food, Inc. was a very informative movie. It educates you about what goes on behind the scenes in the food industry and pretty much what they do to place your health at risk for their opportunity to make a buck. They touched briefly on slaughter houses, but not to the gory extent. But they even showed chickens being killed at an organic farm. It's never nice to see this sort of thing and yet, the organic environment was far more appealing.

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After they showed the hen houses operated by Tyson and Perdue, I can't imagine eating one of their chickens. They grow the chickens so fast that their skeletal and respiratory systems can't keep up. The chickens can walk only a few steps before they collapse!

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But it's not just the meat. They made a clear point that today's tomato is really just the idea of a tomato and has nothing close to the nutritional value that a tomato provided 30 years ago.

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The cool thing is that they point out that every time you shop, for every item that gets scanned, you are voting. Do you want junk or do you want nutritional food? Then the vendors must listen to the consumers. WalMart has already answered the publics demand for organic foods and has contracts in place with Stonybrook Farm out of Loudon Virginia. Kudo's to WalMart!!

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This morning I just knew that I wouldn't be able to run with Dawn to XFit so I jumped in the car and drove over and picked her up. My legs are still so sore, and with Back Squats as the WOD today, I knew I'd be in trouble.

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I did the warmup (minus the pull-ups and dips). Then, while Dawn did back squats, I practiced pull-ups and dips then took some time to really stretch my legs.

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Swimming this evening should really help to loosen up the legs so that I can get back to my marathon training!

Don't mind her... she's just paralyzed

While playing "Barbies" as a kid, this was the standard introduction of the "old" Barbies (with the stiff legs) to the New and Improved Barbies with the bendable legs.

At that age, we didn't really know what it meant to be paralyzed. We didn't know that people who are paralyzed have no control over their muscles - we thought they were just "stuck" in that position. I don't think we ever even saw a paralyzed person, except on TV (Perry Mason).

But in my athletic endeavors, I have since met a handful of amazingly able "challenged athletes" and Paralympians. And so it was a couple of years ago while running in Disney's "Race for Taste" 10k that I saw a young girl in the race, using an old fashioned wheel chair. After the race, I approached her and her Dad and asked if they had heard of "The Challenged Athlete Foundation" - which helps to arrange racing wheelchairs for challenged athletes. They had not.

Later, I searched the Internet and found contact information and called their home in Ft. Myers and asked if I could put them in touch with a representative from CAF. They were thrilled! I called my friend Robin Adams and turned everything over to her.

Now Arielle is racing on her high school track team and has raced in the Gasparilla 15k, ING Half Marathon, and other races! Here is her story:
http://www.christopherreeve.org/site/c.mtKZKgMWKwG/b.5036577/k.5A52/Standing_Up_for_What_is_Right.htm
CAF is always looking for donations, but now, they are looking for recipients! If you know of anyone, young or young at heart, who may benefit from an athletic wheel chair, email me at cskiper@gmail.com so we can get them in touch with CAF. We all donate to good causes, but how many times do we really get to see the end result?! http://www.challengedathletes.org/


Now, back to my Barbie story... I started my day feeling like the old Barbie. My legs were soooo sore from the last two days that it was even hard to sleep. I kept crouching into the "child pose" and could barely get my butt down to my heels - my quads felt completely swollen.

So I didn't know how I would ever make it through today's WOD - a 10k time trial. Dawn and I made plans to meet at North Shore Pool to start our run at 5:45... and I planned to be there early to warm up. I originally planned on a 3 mile warmup but I could barely move. I managed about 800 yards but was surprised how much my legs loosened up just starting and stopping for 800 yards.

If I'd had my cell phone with me, I would have canceled the run! But Dawn arrived and we both begrudgingly agreed to get it over with. My Garmin locked up so I thought I'd just do the entire 6.2 miles with her. We started out with the full moon low in the sky. As we got going, my legs did start to loosen up more. At the half way point, Dawn gave me her Garmin so I was able to pick up the pace during the last half. I finished in 57:50 and Dawn came in at 58:45. My latest 10k races have been in the range of 51:35 to 52:24 so that shows how stiff I was and how humid it was. But it was really great just to be able to get this run in.

We finished with the sun just coming up over Tampa Bay - always a beautiful sight!

300 - The Magic Number

Meet my new "mini me"!

I just bought an Acer Aspire One. Finally, a non-work-issued laptop. So now I can load my own stuff without having to worry about being against company policy. And, I think I'll do most of my traveling with this little guy and not have to lug around my big work laptop.

Check out the difference in size between mini-me and the larger IKON-issued laptop. I also ordered a usb-connectible DVD/CD-RW drive for it so I can watch movies when I fly. And I can load my Rosetta Stone software and learn German and Spanish any where, any time.

And good thing it has a 6hr+ battery! I had to unplug it when a nasty storm rolled through and there was so much lightning and booms SO loud I almost crawled under the bed with Wilma... she always does that during storms. She is the ultimate "scaredy cat".

Yesterday was "Cindy" and I was able to get 20 rounds of 5 pull-ups, 10 push ups, and 15 squats. That's a total of 300 squats. For some reason, 200 squats is no problem for me. But every time I total up to 300, my legs are shot! My quads were sore later the same day... a bad sign that I was really going to be hurting.

Today, I was scheduled to meet some friends at 7am so I didn't have time to run to and from the Damit Gym with Dawn. Not that I would have been able to anyway. And then a nasty workout awaited me.

Today was Death by Clean and Jerk. This meant that I'd have to deadlift a bar (OW), then clean it, squat all the way down (OW, OW), stand back up (another OW), then push press the bar overhead. And here's the trick, one rep for each minute that elapses (Minute 1 = 1 rep, Minute 2 = 2 reps, and so on) until I peak (ladder up), then ladder back down.

Marc set me up with 55# on the bar. I was able to get to 5 reps in the 5th minute - but that was just as the buzzer sounded. I was supposed to do another 5 the next minute, but could only manage 3. Then, I was supposed to do 4 but could only manage 3. Then I was back on track with 3, 2, and 1.

Next, I'm meeting a friend at 6:30pm for a swim. I think a nice easy swim will do me some good! And Tim said he'd even fix dinner tonight... yeah, buddy! :D

Where'd the Weekend Go?

Yesterday, I got in a decent run: 5.25 miles in my new running shoes. But boy is it hot!!! I'm going to have to start running at 6am at the latest.

The picture below is a typical day of me working. As you can see, Wilma owns the chair and lets me use about 2 inches of it.

If she's not taking over my chair, then you'll always find her in bed. It's hard to resist going in there and laying down with her! But then, I'd just be like her and sleep away the entire day. Yeah... I could do that.

Sunday evening, we had a get together for Bryant Davies. He is leaving for at least a year... moving up north, back to the Baltimore area for work. I took over some healthy snacks for the party... except for the sinful Baked Brie that got devoured! Other than that, I took strawberries with non-fat yogurt dip, and grilled sausage: organic chicken & turkey italian sausage, and organic pork andouille. MMmmm MMmmm Good!

Bryant will have to frame this picture of him and his harem. Front: Robin Perkins, me and the hostess, Lisa Plescia. Back: Robin Adams, Troy Kimbrough, Bryant, Amy Keener, and Dawn Clark.

Today... it is back to reality. I met Dawn at 5:20am for the1.5 mile jog to CrossFit. For today's workout, we had a choice between Mary and Cindy.

Mary is the 5 handstand pushups, 10 one-legged squats on each leg, and 15 pull-ups - Max rounds in 20 minutes.

Cindy is 5 pull-ups, 10 pushups, and 15 squats - Max rounds in 20 minutes.

Marc posted this picture of me doing the handstand push-ups. It looks pretty impressive... until I tell you that I am hoisted in the air with rubber bands. I need help getting into the handstand position using rubber bands (a pain for only 5 push-ups), so I decided to do Cindy: jumping pull-ups and girlie pushups (on the knees).

20 rounds plus 3 pull-ups. The last time I did this, I was still using the blue band and managed 16 rounds. So this was an improvement. It's faster doing the jumping pull-ups because you don't have to get in and out of the band, but it's also more tiresome doing the jumping pull-ups.

Then, the 1.5 mile jog home turned into a 1.5 mile walk home.

The Big Bag

Man, it's been a long week!

I've been gone every week for the last few weeks and the workouts have been hit or miss. I get so tired from flying - especially when there are delays.

This past week I left on Monday (7/27) for Philly. I was able to make it to CrossFit first for the 5k run (25:25 - a little slow for me). Tuesday there was no time for working out. Wednesday, I was so tired and stiff that I just did some much needed stretching. I was looking forward to getting back to CrossFit Thursday morning but my flight was delayed and I didn't get to bed until 1am!!

I've been trying to eat well while I'm on the road. Being in Philadelphia this past week was, well, interesting. Only in Pennsylvania would you see somthing like this...

I didn't notice this writing on the mirror until I took a shower and steamed up the bathroom. It says "Pittsburgh is back"... certainly in reference to one of their sports teams. At least it didn't say "REDRUM"!

OK... back to my healthy eating. Breakfast is usually oatmeal or yogurt and fruit. And for dinner, take a look at this awesome salad... Tuna Tartare (cooked medium rare) over spinach and tomato salad with a vinaigrette dressing.

So why has my stomach has really been bothering me lately? I feel like I swallowed a pill and it's stuck low in my throat. Heartburn? I don't know, I've never really had heartburn before. Gillian McKeith says to take 1 tsp of L-Glutamine before meals. I went by Rollin Oats and the guy there confirmed that L-Glutamine helps to heal the lining of your stomach. He also gave me some chewable tablets - made from Papaya - that seem similar to Tum's. Using both of those seems to have taken the edge off of my distress. But I hear you're not supposed to take Tum's because it neutralizes the acid that your body needs to digest the food and if you use it too long, your body adjusts and starts producing more acid! I'm just going to douse my little fire with some Breyer's all natural ice cream!

Friday morning, I met Dawn at 5:15am and we ran to CrossFit... that's 1.5 miles from my house. Then we did "Lynne": 5 rounds of Bench press and pull-ups. I did75# for the bench press (reps were 5, 7, 8, 6, 6) and jumping pull-ups, which are actually getting better (reps were 8, 9, 9, 9, 9). And then we ran home... that's not bad getting an extra 3 mile run in on top of the CrossFit workout!

But boy was I sore this morning!! And you don't realize how much you use your arms for running until they are too sore to move! I did an easy 3 mile jog this morning, and have a longer run tomorrow, probably 9 miles.

So what about the Big Bag?

Tim took me to an afternoon movie and, as usual, we stopped by Walgreens so he could buy his usual movie fare - Good N' Plenty and Twizzlers. That meant that I had to take my big purse so we could hide the goods. I still got my popcorn though. We went to see "The Ugly Truth", which was not a bad move, but not a good movie... surprisingly raunchy!

Once in the theater, we settled into our seats and later notice an older couple (no, make that an old couple) entering the theater. The man was carrying a pretty big bag... like those recycled grocery store bags and we just knew they brought their own treats! Tim laughed and said that would be us in 20 years! (More like 30 years).