Paid to Workout

As I have mentioned several times in my blog: wouldn't it be great if I could find a way to be paid to workout. And not in the way that I paid myself each time I went to the gym and then allowed myself to buy a car stereo. No, in the way that, I don't have to work more than 40 hours a week because I am making a little extra money while getting/keeping my body in shape. Yeah, that would be the life! Well, I may have found it. Dog-Sitting. And although it is few and far between, it is excellent. I currently dog sit for my mom. She goes out of town, on average, two nights a month. She pays me $15 to stay at her house and wait on her spoiled Golden Retriever. When I started this gig, it was NOT worth it. The puppy was a nightmare. I got bitten and jumped on constantly; I had to be at her house every four hours to let the dog out; I got little to no sleep because the dog wouldn't sleep through the night and didn't like that I made her sleep in a different room than me. My mom's original plan was to pay me less but after I refused to do it a few times, she realized that it was worth the money. Now, it's annoying, but not deathly! I love the dog. She is adorable and loves me too. And for someone who doesn't have a lot of un-conditional love in her life, that's worth a lot. But with tonight's excellent weather, Hannah will make for an excellent running partner. I am going to take her out for a three mile run. It's hard on her; she hasn't been training like I have. But she loves it. And when we get home she is exhausted. So she lays around while I watch free cable. And she sleeps through the night. And I make an easy 15 dollars. Shhhh! Don't tell my mom!

Twelve Pounds

The scale went the wrong way this morning. I gained a pound this week. Overall, it wasn't a bad week eating-wise. There was a day this weekend where I had to live on cheese and pumpkin pie and a chocolate bar, but I won't go into the details. For the most part I blame lack of exercise. I only worked out 4 hours this week. The three hours I skipped would have been around 2000 extra calories; not to mention all the calories you burn after working out. So that explains why I didn't lose any weight. I'm not sure why I gained.

Anyway, Sunday I made it to the gym and ran uphills for awhile. It was very difficult to run at a 5% incline at 5.0mph. I could really feel it in my calves, and I am excited to try it again to work those muscles more. I could only keep it up for a minute at a time, but that's enough. And I am dreading Atlanta and its hills even more.

Tonight I made it to BodyPump (I had to work until 6:00 so I couldn't make it to Kickboxing too). I went up on my squat weight even though I was sore for three days last week. I figure, I just need to jump back into it. So although squats were very difficult I powered through. Here's where it killed me though: we did lunges on the step and my legs were already shaking, so I had to stop using the bench half way through. It is also difficult to do knees and squeeze moves when my legs are shaking. Come to think of it, everything is much more difficult when your legs don't want to hold you up any longer. I am planning to make it back to another session this week. I will have to check my schedule. And I am hoping to only hurt for two days instead!

I have been craving sweet/comfort foods all day long. I wanted to go home and make cookies or cake. Macaroni and cheese sounds great, as does french fries and creamy soups. I allowed myself to go out for dinner at Braeda. I got half of a melty-cheesy sandwich to satisfy my craving and then I got a salad! I'm not craving cookies so much anymore, so maybe it worked.

Ten Things that Make me Smile

I am going to steal a page off of Erin's blog and list the ten things that make me smile. Because sometimes a little reminder is all you need. I challenge all of you to do the same. See if you can get up to ten things, twenty-five, fifty.

1. My friends!
2. Hugs from preschoolers.
3. New haircare products and all the hope they hold.
4. New blogs to read and/or comments to respond to.
5. Buying shoes.
6. Newly fallen snow.
7. Seeing the scale drop.
8. New magazines in the mail.
9. Running faster every week.
10. The smell of rain.

Better than Ever

Today's Running Goal: Run 3.1 miles at 5.1 mphs (that's 11:45 miles).
What I did: Ran 3.1 miles in 38:18 (seven seconds faster)
Today's run was just hard, really hard. The 5.1 felt really difficult for the first 1.5 miles. Then after my walk break it was slightly easier to maintain. Jennifer ran with me this evening, which made it a treat. She kept up just fine even though she hasn't run the 5k practice day in a few weeks. It's hard to believe that there is only one more practice a week from Sunday and then the big day. I might skip a few of the hill/sprint days I have scheduled just to get another 5k practice in. I would also like to try to run further than 3.1 miles at an easier pace. We arrive in Atlanta on Thursday evening (two weeks from today). I am hoping we can get there early enough that we can practice with Amy on the course. Friday we should take the day off to rest and then Saturday morning brings the actual race. I'm getting kind of excited. Like I actually trained for this one. And I know I am going to have a better time, even if it isn't the 37 minutes I was hoping for!

I would like Amy to comment on how her training is going! Are you getting any closer to your 11-minute mile goals? Are you ready for this event? I suppose it's time we register.

Owww!

I am so sore. My thigh muscles remind me of this every time a customer comes to my desk and I have to get up to help them (every three minutes!). This is the second day I am taking off from the gym. That's probably not the best idea, doing some walking might help loosen up my muscles. But I don't even want to get out of the car, let alone spend 60 minutes at the gym. Besides, I am working ten hours today and have plans after work! I deserve to rest for two days. Tomorrow though, I must get there. I am leaving town on Friday morning and not coming back until Sunday. So Friday and Saturday will be two more days off this week. Good thing I did two hours on Monday, will get an hour in tomorrow and might be able to do two on Sunday. There is no way I can get my seven hours in though. Not to mention the fact that eating is much more difficult when you're staying at the house of someone else. And eating out with them. So tomorrow after work I am heading straight to the gym. I am going to run a 5k at 5.1 mphs. Hopefully Jennifer will join me and catch up on some training. I just hope I can move my legs by tomorrow!

You Know

You know you missed BodyPump when...
1) you try to go to the bathroom as little as possible for the next two days. That toilet is just too low.
2) you can't reach anything above your head because your arms won't raise.
3) you really believe that ladies and gentelmen, this is my floor, you're just dancin' on it!
4) you have a soft spot in your heart for Marika, cause she's your only hope.
5) you don't mind doing dips, because you know your triceps want to look good again.
6) you almost cry (out of happiness) when that warm up song starts to play.
7) you're scared to cool down, because it could always be taken away. Will you ever trust again?
8) you barely make it through lunges without a step or a bar.
9) it's the only thing you looked forward to for 5 weeks... well at least all day!

Eleven Pounds

Great news! Another three pounds! I was somewhere right around this weight at my High School Reunion, but I have never been this low during a weigh-in. It's so exciting. Obviously, leading a super-boring life where I don't leave my house except for work and working out, is paying off. Now I just can't wait until I get below the ten pound mark. Single digits!

I have today off, since I worked the weekend. I am having lunch with my mom; I will have to try to make some healthy choices. Then this evening I am taking the Kickboxing / Pump combo at the gym. I am a little scared because a) I will be alone for at least part of it, b) I haven't taken two classes back to back since July and c) I am putting all my faith in Marika to rejuvenate my weight lifting routine and that could be a lot of pressure. But I sure am looking forward to it.

Jennifer has been on vacation for the last five days, and I can really tell. Where are the rest of you? Nobody has commented on my blog since last Tuesday. I need a little bit of encouragement here!

Torn

It was an absolutely beautiful day and I had it off! (I work this weekend). So I had planned on moving my 5k run from Sunday to today. But, I really wanted to take advantage of the great weather. I wanted to do some running outside on the trail or perhaps take a long bike ride. The weather girl said this would be the last summery weekend. But I really needed to spend some time in the gym, where I could gage my progress and ensure my training was going as planned. I have begun to dread my runs at the gym... it takes me hours to drag myself there. I seem to find hundreds of things I should be doing at home instead. None the less, I ran the 5k inside; today's goal was 5.0mph. Everything went pretty well. I even felt like I could go a bit faster, so I tried at one point. I got a small pain then, so I slowed back to the 12-minute mile goal. It took me 38:25 even though I had rearranged my walking songs (put shorter ones in) and was running slightly faster than last time. I guess improving 5 seconds is still an improvement. I am just expecting bigger improvements each week. How am I ever going to get down to 36-37 minutes?

I am doing really swell with my eat-well plan. It helps that I am also on this budget diet. Jennifer is out of town with her family all weekend, and I have plans with some other friends this evening. Instead of going out to dinner and spending lots of money and calories, I am making Turkey Burgers and serving grapes! I was down another pound this morning, which really helps motivate me. If I see results I am determined to keep going. Now I am hoping to have a good weekend and possibly be down a total of three pounds this week!

This Week

Tuesday evening the only thing I had planned was working out. It's nice to have no other obligations but myself. Then, out of nowhere, this girl at work invited me out to have margaritas. She never invites me to do things (well, actually she hypothetically invites me to do lots of things, but never concretely) so I had to take her up on in. And let's face it, when have I ever turned down margaritas? She was getting off of work at 8:00 and wanted to meet at 8:15. I obviously knew that I wouldn't be going to the gym after drinking, so I had to go in between work at drinks. So I rushed home and had a small chicken burrito (with left overs I had in the house). Then I went to the gym with the intention of running sprint intervals. After just one minute I had a shooting pain in my stomach. I must have run too close to eating, or eaten too fast. So I knew that running was out of the question. I still filled the hour by walking hills and using that AMT machine. As I worked out I watched The Biggest Loser on TV. It's a great show to watch at the gym: inspirational, and on a network I don't get at home! I was almost crying though at several points. That's a little embarrassing at the gym!

I took Wednesday off from working out, seeing as it is my 10 hour day at work. Then today I was off at 2pm. I meant to get to the gym right away. But I didn't... before I knew it, it was already 7:00 this evening. Since I still had an hour of light, I decided to go outside and run hills. I haven't done that in two weeks, and even then it was pure failure (remember the broken toe and the rain?). So it was a good choice. I ran down really fast (8mph) four times and walked back up. It's a good quick workout, but seems to really do good things. As I ran, I listened to downloaded BodyPump songs. It made me so happy, because next week Marika is going to give me something I thought I would never get back. Boy are my muscles going to be happy.

My New Food Journal

Remember when I was on a quest to find a new online site that I could use as a food journal? Well, I tried several, all of which I hated. So I went back to writing it all down in a notebook. But I soon discovered that I could just not keep up with it. I have to be able to write down everything I eat as soon as it happens. Just carry the notebook with you, you are telling me right now. But that is easier said than done. I already have tons of things to carry back and forth to work; I don't need more. And then just when I thought that I was out of ideas, a great one came to me. What if I started my own online food journal. What I hate most about all those options out there is their complexity. So I could make up a simple one; one that has just the things I am interested in. Essentially it will be a blank notebook page that I can fill in electronically, online, all the time! So I have started a new blog: Karrie's Food Journal. Currently I have it set to private, because who needs to know what I eat besides me; who cares? But maybe allowing the whole world to see what I eat, would make me more accurate and more responsible for what I put in my mouth. For example, the two margaritas I drank last night, I counted as 500 calories. But if you were able to comment, you might say: Karrie, you know there are way more calories in a margarita than that. Or after you have lunch with me, you can say: Karrie, get real, you ate way more chips than that. Maybe that is why I don't want to make it available to all of you... you keep me too honest!

Good Stuff

Today is my 200th post! Think of how far I have come in the last 200 entries: I've lost about 15 pounds, run a 5k, am training for another, survived a personal breakdown, almost quit my job a few times but didn't and worked out a TON! Well, on top of all of that good stuff, I am feeling really good after last night's workout. I went to Goodyear and bought a 15-visit punch card for $60. I asked if Jennifer and I could share it and the guy at the desk said Yes (good stuff #1). Then he let us in without punching it for that visit, an $8 value (good stuff #2). I saw that the gym had made changes to it's class schedule, but they have added more classes and teachers and now they are at great times for me (good stuff #3). Marika, who will be teaching classes starting next week, was taking the classes last night. She had gone to the Body Power class and was hanging around waiting for the Kickboxing class when I asked her: So are you gonna teach the BodyPump we know and love or teach that thing you just had to witness? She confirmed what I hoped was true: she will be teaching the old way, where you actually build muscles and sweat and don't waste your hour learning about the instructor's remodeling projects (good stuff #4). Then we did kickboxing and again, it rocked (good stuff #5). I need to remember to bring a towel, or find out if I can borrow the ones at the desk, because even with shorts and a tank top, sweat was dripping to the floor. Last night, instead of Combat tracks, we did Turbo tracks. What this appears to mean is: we do Kickboxing for a while and then out of the blue this siren starts to sound (Mickey's anyone?). At that moment, you have to stop what you're doing, which is sure to be plenty hard, and start doing this super-hard high-intensity 2-minute turbo track. Then you resume your normal routine. Although it was a little annoying to stop what I was doing, it was kind of fun. And of course the music was super-good. Then I went to bed early and got over eight hours of sleep (good stuff #6). Oh yeah, and as of this morning, I had lost another pound (good stuff #7).

Fourteen Pounds

Finally, a good week. I lost three pounds! I only have fourteen left to go, meeting the lofty goal I had made for myself last week. I did not get seven hours of gym-time in. I only did five, but I ate pretty healthy all week. And although I was at fourteen pounds sometime in May and again sometime in early August, it feels like this time I am getting closer and will be at my goal weight soon. I am a tad bit worried that I am losing muscle mass. Besides the wasted class I took last Monday, and a few attempts to lift weights at home or at the gym, I really haven't done anything for my muscles in four weeks. I can already tell that my quad muscles are not as defined as they were in my prime BodyPump days. I guess it's nice that this is happening in the colder months, when I am all bundled up anyway.

This evening I am going to Goodyear to buy my 15-visit punch card. I am going to take the Kickboxing class again tonight. I have learned my lesson and have packed shorts to wear... no more long pants and Combat for me! I have also asked to get off work at 5:00 on Mondays and Wednesdays beginning in October, so I can perhaps take the BodyPower class when Marika comes and improves it immensely. I also have plans to try their spinning class. I am determined to mix up my workouts again so I don't get bored and can trick my body into reaching it's goal!

Football Power

It took me four hours to get to the gym. I had absolutely nothing to do today, which sometimes makes it even harder to get up and to the gym. So after I let myself sleep in until around 10am, I didn't make it out the door until around 2:00. But I guess it doesn't matter when I went, just that I went at all. Today's goal: practice 5k at 4.9mph. It was a good pace. I was able to run as much as I needed to. In fact, I even cut both of my walk breaks short. It was good to practice on the treadmill again; my Nike Chip is definitely off. I was done with the 3.1 miles when my IPod thought I had .4 miles left to go. I guess I will have to re-calibrate it sometime this week. The 5k still took me 38:30, which is a little disappointing. Even with the sprint at the end, I am going to have a hard time cutting much time off of that. I only have 4 more weeks until the actual race in Atlanta and I don't feel like I have improved myself much in the last few weeks. And I don't really feel like I can push myself much harder for that long. Either way, the power of football was in full effect today. I arrived at the gym with only 8 minutes left in the KC/Oakland game. Those action-packed eight minutes lasted my whole warm-up and 40 minute run. It really too my mind off of the running. So much better than CNN!

I have plans to eat with some friends this evening. I am going to do some online research and find some healthy options before I get there. Tonight's dinner, only marks the third time I ate out this week. Besides that, and that cake I ate yesterday, this week has been pretty good food-wise. I know I will have a loss at my weigh-in tomorrow morning; I'm pretty sure about two pounds, but really hoping for three!

Why Do I Love Cake?

I had some good goals for today, but they all seemed to go down the drain as the day went on. I had intended to be at the gym at 9am this morning. But after staying up until almost 2:00, it was too difficult to get out of bed when my alarm went off. I couldn't go any later because I was invited to Logan's and Alexis's birthday party. That started at 11:00 and although I had told Jennifer I didn't want to eat any cake, I still did. It was a really small piece, only 5 bites, but still, cake is cake. After I let myself sleep in I told myself I would go to the gym in the afternoon. But after attending the children's birthday party, and having to keep up with all those kids I was exhausted. So I went home and took a short nap. Since I had no plans this evening, I figured I could work out later. But then, my mom called and invited me to a sports bar to watch the Husker game with her. I went. So much for the workout. And I ate french fries. I did absolutely nothing healthy today. I ate crap, and I didn't even burn any of it off. Now, I am going to sleep some more until I can get up tomorrow and start fresh.

Thursday Plans

Today I am working 8-2, remember this was supposed to be my afternoon to get off early to make it to Combat and Pump. But alas, I will just go to the gym and do my own thing. It's a nice shift to work. I can still get to the gym and workout, go home a take a nap and be done by the time I would normally get off of work.

So my goal today is running speed intervals. The last time I did it, I ran at a 10-minute mile pace. My goal was to do it ten times, but after 9 times I hit the emergency stop button. So I just gave up. My goal today is to do it all ten times. It is pretty hard for me to run that fast, and I really do need that walking break every other minute. My hope is that eventually, it won't be that hard, and instead of a walking break, I could take a slow jog break! I mean it's only 20 minutes, I can do almost anything for 20 minutes. Maybe I should try it today, just the first few breaks would be an improvement. I am pretty motivated right now, because Jen is able to run 5 miles without quitting, and that is just so impressive! After that, I hope to use the AMT machine. It seems to be pretty popular, so I am not always able to get on one. But this afternoon should be prime time for such an event. I really should head up to the weight room after all that. My muscles have recovered from Monday's classes, so I need to do something to keep that up. But I am dreading it.

Since I have been at my mom's house for the last three days (dog-sitting) I haven't been able to weigh myself. I am going through withdraw... I can't wait until tomorrow morning when I can get back on my scale. I think I've been doing pretty well though! This not eating out is helping, although it is a bit boring!

Eating My Words

I am really sore right now. I want to believe that it is all because of that super-kickboxing class. But what if it is from the weight lifting? My legs aren't sore at all, but there is a muscle in my behind that hurts when I sit down. My triceps are in a lot of pain and I can't raise my arms above my head. It must be a combination of my abs, sides (back?) and chest muscles hurting. My shoulders and neck muscles are pretty tight too, which is normal after Combat. But the others??? Dare I say I was wrong about Body Power? Or is it just that I haven't done anything but run in the last three weeks?

Speaking of running, Jennifer, me and Hannah (my mom's dog) went running on the nature trail that leads out of town this evening. We ran 3.1 miles and did it beautifully. I love running when the weather is beautiful and the surroundings are just as nice. It sure beats that ridiculous treadmill. It took us 42 minutes for some reason, and I didn't really feel like we were running that slowly. It could be that I re-calibrated my Nike chip at the gym last Thursday and it is off a little. Perhaps we ran more like 3.5 miles!

Goodyear Bad Class

Last night at 5:30 I joined the Goodyear gym participants for a rousing class of Body Power. The description of the class read: You've heard of Body Pump, well here is our version. A full body workout with weights, set to upbeat music. Well, it was a weight class and we did work every part of our body and there was music, but that's about the only similarities to BodyPump that I saw. For the most part we used free weights. The only time we used a bar was for bicep curls and lunges, and we easily could have used hand weights for that too. As a class we would do ten-sixteen reps of a body part and then take a little break. The instructor would talk about her life for a little bit and then we would do the reps again, until we had done them three times. We did not lift to the beats of the music, in fact we didn't coordinate with the music at all, she might as well have been playing the radio. All in all, it was nothing I couldn't do at home. Sure the fact that it is a class and at a set time might actually get me there more often, but I was not impressed. On top of that the teacher was really annoying. She said things like: Let's give our knees a hug-i-poo to thank them, while we were stretching. Please, I'm not in preschool and even if I was I would hate that kind of talk! I just kept thinking: boy would these people be surprised if they had to do the entire Voodoo Child squat track! As I was taking the class, I just figured I have to keep looking to find a class like BodyPump. But afterwards I started thinking: what if I never get to BodyPump again?

Still, I stuck around for Cardio Box. I didn't have high expectations after that first class we took. But everybody was willing to stay, so we did. I suspect that nobody was really worn out after lifting weights, so they felt guilty calling it a day and going home. This class was soooo much better. It was tough; I was sweating; I almost passed out. Everything starting looking up when the instructor, Katie, who used to be a Gold's teacher, explained that it was exactly like Combat, except without all the Tai Chi parts. Jennifer immediately said Good because she hates all the deep breathing / centering yourself crap. But I knew right away that meant there would be no time to catch your breathe. And I was dead right. It was 45 minutes of ass-kicking Combat class. I loved it! On a side note: I will never wear long pants to Kickboxing again. And although I missed the friendly banter between Ryan and Mary, Katie was just as tough and good as they are.

The gym isn't as nice a Gold's. It's large with many different rooms. It has no air-conditioning, just window boxes and lots of fans. The fitness room is long and narrow (similar to Jen's) but it doesn't have nearly enough mirrors. I couldn't see myself at all during weights, and I couldn't see the instructor when I was in a left-stance in kickboxing. The classes weren't full at all and either was the parking lot. I'm pretty sure I will be purchasing a punch-card even if I only use it to go to Cardio Box. I might try the spinning class too though, I have heard those are great calorie burners. Albeit, Erin and I are both sore today (I haven't asked Jennifer yet) so it's either the fact that we haven't pushed ourselves that hard in three weeks, or those classes worked something we weren't getting. On Sunday their new schedule comes out. I will make some decisions then. Keep your finger's crossed for Marika!

One Measly Pound

After this weekend, I knew I wouldn't have a great weigh-in. But I was still disappointed with the one pound I lost (down to 17). I guess I should be happy that I lost anything at all. How can I expect to eat two pieces of cake and a ton of chips and still lower my weight? I have some strange expectations. Hopefully this week will be better. I do have a kid's birthday party this weekend, but I will make myself pass on the cake. I have already had enough this month. My goal for this week is to eat out only once (with Jen in Omaha on Friday, unless Jen was planning something else) and to actually get seven hours of gym time in this week. It's been a while since I've actually accomplished that goal. I want to lose three pounds this week, and be down to 14 by next Monday.

What I am most excited about today, besides having the day off and just lounging around my house on this dreary day, is going to some workout classes this evening. I am going over to Goodyear fitness center to see what they have to offer. I am hoping that they might let me in for free today to try it out. If they don't I will purchase their 15 trip punch card. Either way, at 5:30 I am going to try out Power Pump and then I will stay for the 6:35 Cardio Box class. I have to realize that it won't be exactly the same, but at least I have options, and that is what I am most excited about.

Oh Yeah, That

When I said I was going to have a great first week, I forgot that I had to spend the weekend at my Grandma's. My Aunt from Utah was visiting, so I spent Friday evening through Sunday having family time (read: eating and playing cards) in Columbus. How many kinds of cake do you think one family can keep in the house? If you said four you're right! There was apple cake, white cake, coffee cake, and chocolate cake. That doesn't even account for the cookies, cinnamon rolls, bags and bags of chips, and loads of dip that were being served. I tried to stay on the path of good eating as much as possible (I only had two pieces of cake and one cinnamon roll for the whole weekend) but it was difficult at times.

My dad has a golden retriever (Jeannie) that he never takes on walks. Probably due to the fact that my dad hardly does any exercise himself. But I was determined to make working out part of my weekend. So Saturday I took her out for a test drive. First we walked about a mile, which was mostly her pulling me down the road. Then we did a little jogging, just to see if she would keep up or keep stopping to smell things. She did pretty well. So today, I took her out for a 2.3 mile run. My goal was all 3.1 miles today, but she was so tired after those two miles that I had to take her home. Not bad for a dog that hasn't gone running once in her life, well except when she gets out of her kennel. I had assumed that we would just have to run around the lake, and by that I mean: in the street that is in front of the houses that back up to the lake (no scenery). But it turns out my dad lives less than a quarter of a mile from the Platte river, who knew? There was a beautiful trail along a dike right above the river. It was so perfect to run up and down; I wish I had a nature trail close to my house, rather than a busy street trail! I am almost considering driving up there more often just to use his dog and his beautiful nature walk.

The Race is On

I am three weeks into my eight week running plan. So far things are going fine. The long distance running has been slow enough that I haven't felt like a failure and the fast running is quick enough that I am done before I hate it too much. That's not to say that I have been successful at everything. I haven't made all my scheduled runs, but luckily the plan is flexible. And there have been occasions when I have had to stop before I reached my goal. If I did everything perfectly though, it wouldn't be called training. Here is what my log looks like so far (I have circled the days I accomplished my goal, or at least tried. But it's very hard to see on here.)

Amy emailed a couple of days ago to say that the race is on. The webpage is now up and running and apparently we can look at the route. It sure seems long. She says there is someway to put it into some route finder and look at where all the hills are. I am not high tech. enough to do that, but if someone wants to show me how, I could better plan my walk breaks.

Hobbling Along

With my toe hurting a lot Tuesday night (after working a whole day in pain) I didn't want to shove on a shoe and head to the gym. So I devised my own weight circuit. My plan was to alternate lifting 5-pound hand weights (10 reps of most things) with jumping 30 times with a jump rope. All without shoes on! Jumping sure is hard. The weight lifting part was easy, and I'm sure that I didn't fatigue my muscles at all. In fact, I only did one set of all my muscles, but I was tired of jumping rope; it was starting to hurt my shins. In the future I might try jumping only 20 times or 15 and adding two more sets, so at least I am using each of my muscles a lot.

I took Wednesday off from the gym, because I worked a 10-hour day. Beginning Tuesday, my library has started closing at 8 o'clock. This is a huge change. After working until 9:00 at least once a week (and usually twice) for seven years, getting done at eight is a whole new world. There is still life when I emerge from the library. I could easily go to dinner with someone, do some shopping or hit the gym. Last night, I just watched the Republican Convention, but I can hope to improve.

Tonight I have plans to go to the gym as soon as I am done with a light dinner. I am going to do speed intervals, seeing if I can increase my running to 10.5-minute miles and do at least 10 of them. I want to use that AMT machine again. I am just sure it was that machine that made my calves sore. And you all know my eternal struggle with my calves. Then I need to use the weight room. I either need to make myself stay there for a while, or increase my weights so I can hardly move them. Monday, I plan on heading to Goodyear to try out their Power Pump class. I can hardly wait.

Ten Reasons

Being on this ambitious kick, I awoke at 7am and was planning to meet Jennifer at the circle so that we could go up to 84th street and run the hill for a half an hour. We did! The following is a list of ten reasons why, even though I made it up there, I went home after doing it just two times:
1. It was raining, and I don't do rain.
2. It was so super-windy that I couldn't keep my eyes open as I was running.
3. Yesterday, while buying groceries at Hy-Vee I cut open my big toe (I won't go into the details about how I was bleeding everywhere and had to throw a hissy-fit until someone got me a paper towel to soak up the blood) and since I was still bleeding this morning, I had to wrap my toe in a lot of band-aids in order to get my running shoe on.
4. And even if I could look past all the pain in my toe, all those band-aids and tape made it hard to walk right, let alone run.
5. For some reason I was totally out of breath half way down the hill (Jennifer blames the head-on winds). I actually had to stop going down the hill. Usually it is my legs that give out way before my lungs.
6. I had zero energy, even though I got 8 hours of sleep. I now believe that when your body has an open wound, it takes all your energy to repair that, and therefore, I had none left to propel my body down a hill.
7. I had a major wedgie, and that is just something you can't fix on 84th Street.
8. In rush hour!
9. I wore shorts and a t-shirt, and it was about 60 degrees out. Did I mention the rain?
10. And the final reason I quit running this morning: it just wasn't any fun.

So this evening I will make myself go to the gym. I had planned on just doing some weight-work. But I might throw in a little running for kicks. My toe still hurts though. What if Hy-Vee has ruined my new-found sprinting career? Can I sue them for potential loss?

Planets Align

There's something special about the start of a new month. It's a fresh start, a clean slate. The same can be said every Monday when a new week begins, and I have the opportunity to do great things with my life. So when the two phenomena align, it is truly something magical. On top of all of this, Labor Day marks the beginning of Fall. I still see fall and school starting as more of a beginning and fresh start than I see New Year's Day. It probably has something to do with my love of new pencils and blank notebooks!

So I am feeling great today. I am beginning with 18 pounds left to lose. (I even lost two pounds in the last week of eating out.) I am committing to eating 1300 calories a day, and working out six-seven hours per week. I plan on having a big loss this first week, since I will be limiting my calories again after several weeks of eating whatever I please.

I started out my new life at the gym this morning. On today's agenda: a 5k at a 4.7 mph rate. Nothing impossible, that 12:45 mile felt really comfortable to me. I took a couple of walk/drink/sweat wiping breaks and ended the last 300 meters in a sprint of 9:30 miles. I haven't noticed an improvment in my regular running since doing the speed/hill intervals, but I definatly notice that I can sprint for a few minutes a lot easier than I used to be able to. Perhaps I should give up my dream of 5k running and switch to sprinting. Maybe I could become really good at that. Anyway, I accomplished today's goal! I am back on track, and it's going to be great!