Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Adventure time
James is coming to the gym with me tomorrow! Fun! Exercising with a buddy seems like a better plan.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Springtime
Good news...today was better. I think how much I enjoy my run is directly related to how nice it is outside. Today, for example, is balmy and warm. The sky is bright blue and the air smells like spring. Not like flowers, it's still too early for that...it's that early spring smell of damp earth, like when the ground finally thaws. I have no idea where that smell is coming from, since this is North Carolina, and the ground was at no point frozen to begin with.
Anyway, whenever it's a really gorgeous day, I love to be outside...so it makes the running a little more bearable. Clearly yet another argument for moving to Hawaii, where almost every day is beautiful.
Anyway, whenever it's a really gorgeous day, I love to be outside...so it makes the running a little more bearable. Clearly yet another argument for moving to Hawaii, where almost every day is beautiful.
Friday, February 3, 2012
One month down, 11 to go...
Today was sort of a big deal for me. I had two options. Suit up and head out for a run, which I wanted to do about as much as I wanted to drive a rusty spike through my ear...or consider my resolution to exercise officially broken by the week of zero physical activity. You can probably guess which I chose, since I likely would not come here to write about my failed resolution.
Anyway, suffice to say after a week of inactivity my run was not at all fun. I got dizzy again, which is really very pitiful when you consider I'm not exactly running a triathlon here. But by god, the point is, I went and did it. I don't really care if I never run three miles, let alone ten, as long as I don't become a sea cow or a dependapotamus. (Which for those of you don't know, is slang for a military dependent wife who weighs 400 pounds and does nothing. I laughed myself sick when I first heard the term.)
The good news is we haven't failed at eating healthy nearly as much as I have failed at exercising. They key for both of us, we discovered, is that we have to find healthy ways to be lazy. Having a tray of pre-cut veggies for snacking helps, for example, and V8 juice does too. We found greek yogurt in single-serving cups with fruit on the bottom, and that's pretty nice too...it doesn't even taste foul, and I double-checked to make sure it's not just full of corn syrup.
Day one all over again, more or less a success. Lets see how tomorrow goes.
Anyway, suffice to say after a week of inactivity my run was not at all fun. I got dizzy again, which is really very pitiful when you consider I'm not exactly running a triathlon here. But by god, the point is, I went and did it. I don't really care if I never run three miles, let alone ten, as long as I don't become a sea cow or a dependapotamus. (Which for those of you don't know, is slang for a military dependent wife who weighs 400 pounds and does nothing. I laughed myself sick when I first heard the term.)
The good news is we haven't failed at eating healthy nearly as much as I have failed at exercising. They key for both of us, we discovered, is that we have to find healthy ways to be lazy. Having a tray of pre-cut veggies for snacking helps, for example, and V8 juice does too. We found greek yogurt in single-serving cups with fruit on the bottom, and that's pretty nice too...it doesn't even taste foul, and I double-checked to make sure it's not just full of corn syrup.
Day one all over again, more or less a success. Lets see how tomorrow goes.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Fallen off the wagon
I haven't posted in a while because, to be honest, there hasn't been much to post. I've been on base for several days for various reasons, and it's made it impossible to run...
Anyway, I wont talk about all the things I haven't done, but instead reaffirm that as soon as my schedule normalizes again, I will return to running and working out properly. That is all this post is for.
Anyway, I wont talk about all the things I haven't done, but instead reaffirm that as soon as my schedule normalizes again, I will return to running and working out properly. That is all this post is for.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Weather impeded
Yesterday I missed my workout because I spent the morning and much of the afternoon on base again. I went to an orientation with the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society, because I plan to start volunteering with them...with the hours drying up at work now that the holiday season is over, I need something to do with my time. Doing something productive on my off-days will keep me from diving headfirst back into this past summer's off-and-on "Waaaah I'm so worthless why will no one hire me my degree is trash" depression. Besides that, logging hours with an organization that works directly with service members and is...you know, government and stuff...will probably do a lot more for my resume than retail. One day I'll land that big-girl federal job!
Today, unfortunately, the weather is not cooperative. It's been a very rainy month, and today followed that trend, with the lovely addition of 40mph wind gusts. No thank you, getting pelted with rain and then blown into traffic is not on my schedule. It's been a pretty good day, though...despite the weather being too ugly to go outside in, it's nice and warm, so the windows and screen door are open. This, of course, means that Panda is running absolutely wild...she must be entirely recovered from her surgery by now.
I got two exciting phone calls today. I've got an interview scheduled for Monday to work in a store on base...it's still retail, but it pays a bit better, and hopefully the hours would be more regular. That will likely be the deciding factor for me...if they're offering more hours, and at better times, I suspect I'll take it. The other call was from a nearby pharmacy. As some of you know (but have likely forgotten, since I never talk about it) I've been taking an online pharmacy technician course, courtesy of the MyCAA program (basically, free training in a portable career since James is a Marine). I'll be finishing it this week, either today or tomorrow, so I did an application the other day and planned on doing some more soon. Anyway, they called me today, and I'll be taking an online assessment of some kind in the near future. So one interview Monday, with maybe another to come...maybe I can keep this positive momentum going, and I'll get a call for that dream-job too.
Today, unfortunately, the weather is not cooperative. It's been a very rainy month, and today followed that trend, with the lovely addition of 40mph wind gusts. No thank you, getting pelted with rain and then blown into traffic is not on my schedule. It's been a pretty good day, though...despite the weather being too ugly to go outside in, it's nice and warm, so the windows and screen door are open. This, of course, means that Panda is running absolutely wild...she must be entirely recovered from her surgery by now.
I got two exciting phone calls today. I've got an interview scheduled for Monday to work in a store on base...it's still retail, but it pays a bit better, and hopefully the hours would be more regular. That will likely be the deciding factor for me...if they're offering more hours, and at better times, I suspect I'll take it. The other call was from a nearby pharmacy. As some of you know (but have likely forgotten, since I never talk about it) I've been taking an online pharmacy technician course, courtesy of the MyCAA program (basically, free training in a portable career since James is a Marine). I'll be finishing it this week, either today or tomorrow, so I did an application the other day and planned on doing some more soon. Anyway, they called me today, and I'll be taking an online assessment of some kind in the near future. So one interview Monday, with maybe another to come...maybe I can keep this positive momentum going, and I'll get a call for that dream-job too.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Hot hot hot
I would like to submit a formal complaint to every deity that has ever been prayed to. I want to cover all the bases here, and make sure someone gets the memo. I would also like to CC Charles Darwin on this, just in case there is no intelligent design at all, and evolution has no hand to guide it.
Sweating is an inherently flawed mechanism. It works charmingly if the air or the breeze is cool enough to chill the moisture on your body...however, if the breeze is warm, or the air already has enough humidity in it to allow a fish to breathe comfortably, sweating does absolutely nothing. In fact, I would argue that it adds heat to your body by providing an insulating layer of warmth. At the very least, it does nothing more than make you feel sticky and disgusting, and give passing citizens a reason to judge you.
As I'm sure you can surmise, my run was a little toasty today. Running at 70 degrees is much different than at 50, or even at 60. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm thrilled with the weather. It does, however, reinforce to me that as soon as summer hits (or spring, at the rate we're going) I'm going to have to do these runs a lot earlier in the day. Up until now I've been doing them fairly late for the sake of allowing the temperature to rise as high as it could...pretty soon I'm going to be hustling out there at first light, just so I can get it done before the temperatures soar.
Panda is equally pleased by the weather. She loves it when I open up all the windows and the screen door for her, because she likes to sit on the sill and wail at the people in the parking lot. I've read that the Manx breed isn't supposed to be very vocal, but apparently she missed that memo.
Anyway, last night's chicken parm turned out well. Tonight we're going to do some mahi-mahi fillets, probably with something green on the side. I'm not a big fan of fish, but I'm trying to change that, since if I am ever to live in Hawaii it will kind of help. Living on locomocos and POG probably would not improve my health.
Sweating is an inherently flawed mechanism. It works charmingly if the air or the breeze is cool enough to chill the moisture on your body...however, if the breeze is warm, or the air already has enough humidity in it to allow a fish to breathe comfortably, sweating does absolutely nothing. In fact, I would argue that it adds heat to your body by providing an insulating layer of warmth. At the very least, it does nothing more than make you feel sticky and disgusting, and give passing citizens a reason to judge you.
As I'm sure you can surmise, my run was a little toasty today. Running at 70 degrees is much different than at 50, or even at 60. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I'm thrilled with the weather. It does, however, reinforce to me that as soon as summer hits (or spring, at the rate we're going) I'm going to have to do these runs a lot earlier in the day. Up until now I've been doing them fairly late for the sake of allowing the temperature to rise as high as it could...pretty soon I'm going to be hustling out there at first light, just so I can get it done before the temperatures soar.
Panda is equally pleased by the weather. She loves it when I open up all the windows and the screen door for her, because she likes to sit on the sill and wail at the people in the parking lot. I've read that the Manx breed isn't supposed to be very vocal, but apparently she missed that memo.
Anyway, last night's chicken parm turned out well. Tonight we're going to do some mahi-mahi fillets, probably with something green on the side. I'm not a big fan of fish, but I'm trying to change that, since if I am ever to live in Hawaii it will kind of help. Living on locomocos and POG probably would not improve my health.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Not so bad
Luckily, whatever caused yesterday's weakness was gone by today.
When I went for my run, I tried to focus less on speed and more on proper running form...longer strides, making sure my feet hit heel-to-toe. It actually helped a lot..when I got home, I felt pleasantly tired instead of like I wanted to throw myself into traffic and die. I actually think I could have gone farther than a mile, had the inclination struck me. My muscles still burned, but the pain I've been having in my ankle and knees was much less. I'm really glad, because I was starting to worry about the ankle pain, and whether or not it would put an eventual end to the running. Turns out when you run like a human being instead of like some sort of flat footed rotund beast, it really works. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but even the stretching afterward was better.
Quitting soda is still pretty hard, but I think keeping it out of the apartment is the key. Having a coke when we're out at a movie, or on a date, is probably not so bad. Drinking it like the water of life itself for the whole day is probably the issue.
We've been doing better about cooking here at home the past few days as well...tonight is chicken parm, but with no breading on the chicken. This is fine by me, since I typically prefer chicken without skin or breading anyway...strangely, the prospect of it makes me miss the chicken parm they served at the Gold Rush once every few weeks, also known as "The One Truly Edible Meal of the Month." Not because it was particularly good, but because when the days before had consisted of Mystery Meat Tacos and Discount Shrimp in a Bowl of Horror, the chicken parm seemed like heaven, and we all ate at least two servings of it.
Anyway, with that almost-pleasant nostalgia out of my system, it's time to go do some productive things. I've got some good momentum going today, and I don't want to lose it.
When I went for my run, I tried to focus less on speed and more on proper running form...longer strides, making sure my feet hit heel-to-toe. It actually helped a lot..when I got home, I felt pleasantly tired instead of like I wanted to throw myself into traffic and die. I actually think I could have gone farther than a mile, had the inclination struck me. My muscles still burned, but the pain I've been having in my ankle and knees was much less. I'm really glad, because I was starting to worry about the ankle pain, and whether or not it would put an eventual end to the running. Turns out when you run like a human being instead of like some sort of flat footed rotund beast, it really works. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but even the stretching afterward was better.
Quitting soda is still pretty hard, but I think keeping it out of the apartment is the key. Having a coke when we're out at a movie, or on a date, is probably not so bad. Drinking it like the water of life itself for the whole day is probably the issue.
We've been doing better about cooking here at home the past few days as well...tonight is chicken parm, but with no breading on the chicken. This is fine by me, since I typically prefer chicken without skin or breading anyway...strangely, the prospect of it makes me miss the chicken parm they served at the Gold Rush once every few weeks, also known as "The One Truly Edible Meal of the Month." Not because it was particularly good, but because when the days before had consisted of Mystery Meat Tacos and Discount Shrimp in a Bowl of Horror, the chicken parm seemed like heaven, and we all ate at least two servings of it.
Anyway, with that almost-pleasant nostalgia out of my system, it's time to go do some productive things. I've got some good momentum going today, and I don't want to lose it.
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