Decisions have been made!

Starting tomorrow, I am starting to exercise again. I don't care if it's just a 40 walk with the dogs in the afternoon or a half hour on the elliptical before or after work: I WILL DO IT. I will start running again. I'm just going to build up to it. Also, I need to buy another sports iPod holder thingy because my mom's cats stole mine.

Hope you're all doing well.

Inspiration

I was just reading some of my older entries and was inspired to work out. I was going to anyway, but I hadn't planned on doing it until later this afternoon, since I have to take the guinea pig to the vet.

However, reading how well I did this summer and the results I've gotten from taking care of myself, I didn't want to put it off. I did the full 20 minutes of aerobic (instead of cheating and just doing the warm up) and weight training. That's right, I'm bad!

I got my hair chopped off this weekend. I really liked having long hair again, but it was annoying me. The ends were really split, so I went in and just had all the bad stuff chopped off. A friend of mine is a hair dresser, and she does conditioner-only herself, so she was fine with not using any shampoo, conditioner or product on my hair when she cut it. I had done the BS/vinegar wash that morning, so all she did was wet my hair and get to work. I went from this to this, and I love it. I know I look miserable in the pictures, but I was using my Mac’s Photo Booth program and when you click on the button to take the picture, it has a three second countdown. So that’s what I was looking at. Also, this is what my hair looks like (pre-cut) after three months no ‘poo. Niiiice.

I had a point here. What was it?

Oh, right. Before, I would put my hair up in an octopus clip, but now I don't have enough hair for it to hold. I had to go out and buy a scrunchy to keep the hair out of my face when I workout. I also bought my very first shower cap yesterday. It's pink with polka dots. I'm old!

Anyway. Change is good. This haircut really gave me a boost.

Time to put that shower cap to use!

Running tomorrow! Can't wait!

Week 2, Day 1

I made it through the first day of Week 2! Barely.

Okay, it honestly wasn’t that bad. Until the halfway point. It was right about then that I became convinced I was going to keel over. That is, if my calves didn’t give out first. I try to keep a positive frame of mind while I’m running; think about good things that motivate me. Today, I reflected upon the state of my underwear. At first I thought I’d accidentally been stealing my mother’s netherwear, but then I realized they were mine; and they were all baggy on me. And so, my mantra for today’s run was: ”Myassisgettingsmaller...myassisgettingsmaller...myassisgettingsmaller...”

I’m getting ahead of myself.

I woke up bright and early at 8:00 because I knew I had a full day ahead of me. Plus, I knew it was going to be hot, and I wanted to get my run in before it became unbearable. I was in a hurry and so didn’t have time to eat anything but half a Luna Bar and some water. I was cold this morning but determined to run in shorts. Glad I did, too. It was 54° with no wind, and I had a pretty good sweat going by my second run.

I was really looking forward to Week 2, if only for the change in music. While I don’t like techno music, I have to admit, I do like these new songs.

So I started out the first run, did pretty well. Thought to myself, ”It’s not as bad as I thought it would be.” I’ve really been paying attention to my breathing and my form, and though my calves started hurting, the sides of my legs were perfectly fine. I guess every week brings a new set of sore muscles?

I also kept my eyes straight ahead and took in the scenery. Normally when I run, I watch the track. Mostly because of the potholes. But if I stay in the inside lane, it’s pretty safe. So I looked ahead and it helped. I brought my crappy digital along this time and took some pictures. Will upload them tomorrow.

After my run, I took my mom swimming. We forgot about the new Fall hours, so we completely missed her class. Thursday we’ll have to be there a little before 10:00, which means from now on, I’ll have to get down to the track by 8:00 so I’ll have time to do my aerobics and ab workout before we go swimming.

The upside is, we pretty much had the whole (smaller, warmer) pool to ourselves. It was just us and three other people (old folk). One of them was the mother of my mom’s friend, so we talked to her for a while. She lives at the senior center and said that one of her friends called another friend crotchety and Molly said, ”Well, if she’s crotchety, what the hell does that make me?”

I love her.

Plus, she’s got this really awesome swim cap.

I swam laps back and forth while Mom and Molly gabbed. I’m not sure how many I did, but it definitely got my heart rate up. After Molly left, I made my mom do some of her exercises and then doggy paddle along next to me for a while. Then we sat in the hot tub for about ten minutes. I was glad for that, since I’m pretty sure my legs are going to be sore tomorrow. If they’re not, I’ll be surprised.

I haven’t been feeling too well, but I’m pretty sure it’s the change in weather. Whenever the seasons do the changing of the guard, I get all forked up. Bleh. I was determined not to let it mess up my running, but if I had felt bad at all out on the track, I would have turned around and gone home.

I went to my sister’s house on the way home from the library and brought Lady back with me, since I’m taking her for acupuncture tomorrow at 12:30 and she really needed a bath. While I was at it, I gave Tank a good scrubbing, too. Speaking of which, he turned ten on Sunday! I made him some vegan doggy cookies. I’m usually not that much of a dork when it comes to my animals, but yeah. I spelled out his name and age. Why not? The “A” broke when I put it on the plate, but it all tasted the same to Tank.

Birthday Boy!
Originally uploaded by BlindTurtle.

For lunch I had a veggie brat with sauerkraut and mustard and in a little while I’m going to make Wonderful Winter Squash for dinner. I figure I’ll serve it with some brown rice and a big salad.

I’ve gotten a couple more donations for my Walk for Animals! I know some pretty awesome people. I’m already thinking of a nice thank you for them. Brittyn is local, so I plan on finally bringing her those cookie cupcakes I promised her after she broke her poor little jaw.

Driving home from the pool today, there was a pear in the middle of the road. And me without my goddam camera. Speaking of which, I’m starting to seriously think about selling my photographs. I got my friend’s brother’s wedding photos back from Blue Moon last Saturday and the folks there asked if they could put one of them in their customer show (and on their website). You could have knocked me over with a feather, I tell you. I’ve had a couple of people approach me about buying a print of this or that, so I think it’s about time I start looking into building a darkroom.

Really looking forward to Thursday!!!!

Week 1, Day 5

I did it!

Unfortunately, I shared the track with three other people this morning. Four, if you count the dog. One of them was Creepy Binocular Man. Obviously, I'm going to have to get up earlier if I want to run by myself.

I wasn't feeling it this morning. I got up a little before 9:00, fed and medicated everyone. I wasn't hungry but I felt I needed something in my belly, so I ate a handful of almonds and raisins. Chased that with a cup of water, then drove down to the track. I was disappointed to see other people there and had that first impulse to turn around and go home. But I've come too far to let some track walkers deter me.

As it was, we all stayed pretty well spaced from each other. Creepy Binocular Man passed me twice (once during a run, once during the cool down) and the guy with the dog disappeared sometime after my third run.

Again, the running is getting easier; it's the walks in between that are killing me. Suggestions? Remedies? Anyone? Also, I realized I'm no longer sore the day after a run. Improvement!

So now I'm home (obviously). I just ate a banana and in 15 minutes I'm going to do my regular 20 minutes of cardio, plus my ab workout.

I really need to get new ear buds. I've got the ones that came with my iPod, but they slip out of my ears too easily.

I know they say fresh is better, but I'm thinking I might buy a bunch of frozen fruit for breakfast smoothies. I just bought a (cheap) new blender, and I really want a damn smoothie. I've got a couple of gigantic tubs of plain Wildwood Organics soy yogurt leftover from the Gathering earlier this month (gad, has it been that long already??), so why don't I use them?

I'm so bored with food. I really want to make this, but the extent of my cooking abilities extends only to how long I should nuke a boca burger in the microwave.

This is why I’m fat. I don’t eat enough varied foods. It’s hard, living with my mom, because she spends most of her time in the kitchen, preparing meals for her guinea pig. No, really. And the fridge/freezer is full of crap I don’t eat, and it’s too much of a bother to fight my way in and find something.

Lame excuse, I know. Once she’s back in Florida for the winter, I think I’ll be experimenting a lot in the kitchen. That is, if the guinea pig will let me.

Week 1, Day 4

That's right. I decided to stick with Week 1 until I feel up to Week 2.

Totally the right decision. The runs were much easier than last week; it was still a push, but my recovery time is a lot quicker now. I felt pretty good except for my legs. What're they called, the soleus muscles? Kill me on my walks. I would have done well all around if it weren't for my shrieking leg muscles, which usually starts around the halfway point. I stretch after the five minute warm up, but so far that doesn't seem to have helped.

Sad news: the pool is closed for two weeks. Maintenance. Pfft.

I got up late this morning, so I scarfed down a banana after feeding the animals and putting on some sunblock. I want to get into the fruit-for-breakfast thing since I'm usually not that hungry in the morning anyway.

Oh and I found my clip ons! I went to Walmart on Sunday to return my digital camera (*weep*), and I stopped by the church to retrace my steps. Sure enough, I found them poking up out of the grass. So glad I didn't have to buy a new pair.

I think one thing that made the run easier today is that I saw myself in a full length mirror the other day. There's one hanging on the back of my bathroom door, but I rarely look in it. The only time I look in a mirror is when I wash my face. Anyway, I was getting dressed in the bathroom and happened to glance at myself in the full length. Then I did a double take and took a closer look. I realized that, though I'm still fat, I seem to have more of an hourglass shape these days, rather than the blobular look I've been sporting for the last four years.

I went back and checked my notes from February, and I've lost almost four inches in my waist. On one hand, it seems like I should have lost more in almost seven months, but on the other hand 3.5 inches is 3.5 inches!!!

Toward the end of my run, a bunch of kids had invaded the playground which sits to the sw of the track. I was kind of embarrassed because of my skin-tight, flub-accentuating, salmon pink running shirt, but it quickly passed. I was waiting for one of them to say something so I could reply, "Is this where you want to be when Jesus comes back?" Because my day isn't complete if I don't quote Joe Dirt. Plus, they're Adventists so it would've really freaked them out.