Weight I have lost

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Should Run More So I Can Eat Biscuits

So I'm still waiting on my shoes. Maybe April 5thish.

Yesterday I ran 5 miles. First mile was easy. Second mile was eh. Third mile was more eh.
Fourth mile, my legs decided they just didn't want to move. I was actually "running" at 3.7mph at one point. I was so happy to see 5.0 come up on the dreadmill.

I made biscuits yesterday. That was a bad move. They were really good; so good I ate 4 of the 10 yesterday. That is the one thing I wish I could parlay into a business...baking. But not a bakery. Plus I would have to learn to make things pretty (I can make an awesome cake, but cannot frost it pretty to save my life). But when asked to bring something to a family affair, how often do people just go grab something at Kroger or Publix? Or maybe that's just my family. I would just like people to call and say, "Hey, Al. Going to dinner at so and so's and I'm tasked to bring a dessert. Can you whip me up a cake or a tart?" No prob. (You know, no taxes,no health dept., just straight pay). And not all that Ace of Cake where you care about the look of the cake and forget about the taste (don't they look dry)? Just June-Cleaver-I-whipped-this-up cake.

So I thought insomnia wouldn't play a role last night. I fell asleep at 8pm. Woke up at 11. Awake until 230ish. Then back to bed.

This morning I got up and went to the gym. 3 miles. My fastest training 3 miles yet. 38:13. Each 5 minutes got progressively faster. Started at 4.4mph, and ended at 5.1 mph. This is the easiest way for me to run 3 miles. Plus music was on shuffle so I heard all types of songs on my iPod. Lots of Pet Shop Boys. So this running was different than last weeks bc last week's 3 miler started at 4.3 and ended at 5.0 mph.

Other than that, nothing else is new. I'll probably make the dogs some cookies tomorrow. They are almost out of treats.

Monday, March 29, 2010

5 miles No, 10 miles Yes!

So I was totally bummed last Thursday that I had to miss my 5 mile run. First, I had to wake up with an alarm, second my schedule was all messed up (since I don't sleep until about 2). Third, the run was interrupted by a mandatory workshop at the Department of Labor. If I didn't go, I wouldn't get a check. So off I went.

I walked in and a woman is there with her screaming baby. I sat on the other side of the room. Then a man with the most oppressive BO sat down next to me. There were like 100 other seats. Then he doused himself in Axe. I moved.

The workshop was called and at 20 after 9 it finally started (it was supposed to start at 9). The woman with the kid was not allowed to attend. Maybe I was only in the 6th Circle of Hell instead of the 7th. BO/Axe Man sat infront of me and one of my eyes swelled shut so I moved again.

Then because no one raised their hand to say they were illiterate we had to read the pamphlet cover to cover outloud incase someone was embarrassed. Then we went over the importance of a GED and why we should get one. I tuned the lady out and drew a picture. At 1030, someone wanted to know about going back to school on the GI Bill, and the lady didn't know. This blew my mind because surely this isn't the first veteran who had this question. Aye yi yi.

I came home and took a nap. I felt it was the only way (a nap) to wake up my brain. Next mandatory workshop is how to dress for an interview, and then the next is how to write a resume (kind of putting the cart before the horse in my opinion). I'm *so* excited about these classes considering I took these workshops at college, at a professional place after my first layoff and at DoL after my first layoff.

The good thing...I lost 0.9 pounds.

So I missed the 5 mile run. Saturday I got up. D went somewhere to run, but I chose to run in the neighborhood. Where he was running, 2 women have been chased by a knife-wielding man, and the Silver Comet is too flat. So the neighborhood it was.

Mile 1 was just getting my brain into it. I really had trouble. My Chemical Romance didn't even kick it up. I think the 5th song on the list (Wrong-Depeche Mode) finally kicked me in. No one was outside. It was a bit windy any direction, it seemed. I came near Mile 3 infront of my house, so I stopped and drank some water (that I left on the stairs). Up out of the subdivision and to visit German Shepherd Street. I still haven't seen her. The Terrorist Dogs were out. Loud as usual. I passed a man walking. One house someone had been evicted and the door had a chain on it.

I got to ATT Hill. The creepy man wasn't out. I found out last week he or his friend got arrested, because they threw beer bottles at each other after one wouldn't share his food. So I giggled when I passed his house. The 2 dogs that may or not be his were parked on the warming grate. They didn't even look up.

I started up Friday Hill. I think there is a new drug house. In my course of running 3 laps on this street, I saw 4 cars pull up. But I have to observe more.

I finished up the first lap and Terrorist Dogs greeted me. I ran back to GS. She still wasn't out. Back to Terrorist Dog Hill, and up to Family Health Hill. That's where all the condoms usually are (used to be a lot of needles when it was a day care). Oddly, FH was not opened. That was unusual. I passed a man riding a bike and holding bolt cutters. ATT again was quiet, although one dog had moved.

As I was running toward Friday hill, a Pit Bull let me know he was in his yard. Somehow I didn't pee in my pants. This dog scares me. Almost finished that lap and 2 kids had gotten these styrofoam things out of thrash and were "jousting". Made me laugh.

On the 3rd lap, I went to GS, and went down a different road to Terrorist Dog Hill. I have found the new Friday House. OMG! Contact high. I also passed the man I saw on the first lap. He told me I had been out for too long and I was making everyone else look bad. That made me laugh.

I finally hit mile 8 at 2:03. 2 minutes faster than last week. I turned back to go to the subdivision. The evicted house now had a cut chain on it. Still no one out. At mile 9 I stopped at my house. 2:23 (2 minutes faster than last week). I got some water. I really just wanted to be done. Instead, I went down the hill and ran a .07 stretch a whole bunch of times to get to Mile 10. My legs hurt and I was tired. Walking up the hill, the mailman asked me if I was ok, as I almost made him hit me (I stepped out into the street). Finally I got to my house. Yay!

D made some excellent chili. We also went to see my friend B for her birthday. New beer, John John Dead Guy. Unfortunately my insomnia kicked in. I went to bed at 6AM.

I ordered new shoes. New Balance 1123s. They are what I have now. They work pretty well. However, my toes are messed up. I had skin flaps from old blisters with new blisters on top of them. It is kind of gross. No amount of Body Glide would help and the one that really hurts is on the ball of my foot, so no duct tape. (It hurts at mile 7 and on). The one thing I couldn't figure out is Road Runner Sports. I can go to their website and pay $147.99 for shoes or I can go to Amazon and pay $104.99 for the same shoes and they are sent from Road Runner Sports. We had this same puzzle when we got D's shoes.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Boredom and Blisters

First, thanks for everyone's chiming in doing the HM. I agree that I should just have fun.

Nothing exciting (like getting a job) since last blog. I did save $3.60 at Aldi vs. Kroger. Yes, I have enough time on my hands to shop at 2 grocery stores and comparison shop. I also got a library card. Now I have to figure out how the web page works since my branch doesn't have books (I can order them).

I ran 5 miles today. I did well for 45 minutes, but then the heat/boredom kicked in on the treadmill and slowed down. Still faster than either of last weeks by over a minute. But my toe hurt very badly.

I got home and saw why. The most humongous blister ever! It hurts very badly. Scuttlebutt and I hobbled on 2 of his 3 walks (Guinness only went on the first one which I hadn't taken off my shoes yet). So tomorrow's 3 miler should be interesting. What is weird is the other foot has a blister on the same toe, 3rd next to to 2nd toe. And it doesn't hurt at all.

We will see. I did make dinner tonight. Homemade Chicken Potpie with Homemade Crust. It was ugly looking but it was good.
I guess I'll be bodygliding the hell out of my toe.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

9 Miles

I did my longest run yet. Yesterday morning D and I lay (laid, lain ???) in bed talking about running. Neither of us wanted to do it. But SB and G-dog needed to go out so that would be our warmup. With a water, a glass of V8 Fusion and a Clif-Bar down, out we went. Dogs did their business and we came back and dropped them off. D decided he was going to run to the zoo and back, but I decided to stay in the 'hood. 46 warm degrees (seriously). It was 64 when I got back.

Up to .5mile hill (.25 miles each way). 2 old men were outside at 9:30 drinking beer. The weather was very crisp that this seemed perfectly normal (good patio drinking weather). I returned back and waved to them then down the subdivision hill to the subdivision hill loop. I did 3 loops and then ran to the beginning of the subdivision (1 and 2 miles). I repeated this and then went back up .5mile hill. The 2 men were still out. I was jealous. Next I went up Hellatious Hill. I'm not sure why I hate this hill so much, but I do. It isn't steep just long, but really not (the little elevation right before 3 miles, not the long hill from 2 to 3)...HH is about .3 miles.

At German Shepherd's house I was at 3 miles. I ran up to Terrorist Dog Hill and USP Hill. There were a lot of empty condom wrappers on this part of the run. Normally this would bug me, but I'm just happy people are having safe sex. BellSouth Hill was boring...the creepy man who asked me where I lived was there, but I ignored him. Up to the Friday House (4 miles), and up to the school. Will I or won't I run down to the park? I will. I hate this hill. Perhaps I should practice riding my bike up this hill. If I could get up just running (hill right before 5 miles). Still I got up it pretty fast. I saw D at the intersection. His legs were looking stronger than mine. At GS house, he saw me. He was at 7 miles, I was at 5. Ugh! So jealous. I did my "lap" again. One of the Terrorist Dogs has lost weight. I swear he could get through the fence if he wanted too. Creepy guy was still out. People were outside of the drug house (not the Friday house). I decided not to run down to the park this time. I ran a quick lap (no side streets so no interesting houses). I finished that and came back to Terrorist Dogs and German Shepherd.

I never saw GS. D said she is pregnant. Then back into the SD. I got down the hill and was almost to mile 8. When I finally hit it, it was 5 minutes faster than my 8-miler 2 weeks ago. The rest of the run was blase. I ran a little circle at the front of the subdivision because it was flat. Also at 8.67 miles, I met a new neighbor because I saw he had water and I wanted some. So he gave me a bottle. Apparently I can't run 9 miles without hydration...who knew?

So I sucked the water out of the bottle and started running home. I ran on an alleyway, again because it was flat, came out of that, and finish my miles going up a hill. My next-door neighbor was out. I asked him if he would drive me to my house. I think he thought I was joking. I walked on the other side of his house (not my house) again because it was flat. Finally I got home, and sucked down Gatorade.

I soaked my feet in ice cold water. I'm not sure why. They were burning so I thought it might help. The ball of my foot is bruised. D says I need new shoes...the soles of mine are smooth now. I know I do. I have almost 400 miles on these (I know some of you have 1000+miles on yours, but I'm not you).

So my HM time is going to be over 3 hours closer to 3.5 hours. At first I was bothered by this. D said I shouldn't be. He said how many other people even run HMs. I'm still bothered by this, but not enough not to go run it.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

5 more miles done

So I can't figure out if the Vitamin D is working or if I'm just not eating a lot. I think it is both. I lost 4+ pounds this week. I just stared at the scale when I saw the number. I was not expecting a huge loss.

Maybe it is not sleeping, or maybe it is watching countless episodes of Hoarders, Las Vegas and NCIS. Who knows.

I ran 5 miles this morning. 20 seconds slower than Tuesday. What is funny, is the 5 miler race I do in December, I'm running faster than that. I think it is knowing I ran 4.5 miles in under 60 minutes a few weeks ago, and now I can't run 5 miles in under 73 minutes.

So the run was boring and hot. I didn't look at the miles on the treadmill, until 65 minutes had passed (wouldn't you have been bored by then too). Not to mention it was a sauna. Also I noticed all week I'm stopping after 20 minutes because I'm absolutely dehydrated.

We'll see how I do on my 9 miler in the 'hood.

I'm looking for the camera cord again. The pups, D and I had a birthday beer last night. Scuttlebutt just likes the foam. Guinness could drink Guinness all day if I'd let her. Of course that is in between her 20 hours of sleep, 2 hours of playing and 2 hours of moping. The life of a 10-yr old dog...




The prepping

The sharing

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Blah

So last time I wrote I had an interview and an 8 mile run to do. I did both. I succeeded in the run. I didn't get the job. Then I drove to my dad's house. Mostly I hung out with my brother and his friend, and had a beer called Bud 55. Have you ever had those Crystal Light Flavored Waters? That's what this reminded me of.

Saturday, my dad, brother and I drove to DC for my grandfather's funeral. OMG! I was 5 again. Dad put in a book on tape. In the middle of the CD. With no dialogue. About the Civil War. After getting through NC, I thought I would die (book was 13 moons). I think it was written by a man, but what man takes 20 minutes to describe sex? It was awful. And I wasn't allowed to talk. At VA there was 1 CD left and it was in the back. Darn! So we got to listen to My Chemical Romance and I was able to talk again. Bro slept all the way.

The next few days we did the funeral thing. Monday, I got called for an interview and called the guy about the other interview (no). Tuesday we went back to my dad's. Wednesday I came home. The interview I got called for...they called me back and told me that they found better candidates, so they were cancelling mine. Niiice!!!! I didn't run at all until this past Tuesday. 5 Miles. I thought my legs were going to fall off. So slow!

Today was no joy either. 3 Miles at over 40 minutes. I'm wondering if the gym is too hot (72 degrees). It used to be 67.

Scuttlebutt graduated on Monday. Of course he picked this weekend to forget lay and rollover. But he did everything else, albeit minimally.

Today is Guinness's 10th birthday and SB's 1st. No party until I get a job. Then a keg.
:)

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Flush!

I got 4 flush emails today; 3 from jobs I actually applied to. I also got a phone interview moved to a different time tomorrow.
It was scheduled for the afternoon, but I have to drive North, and would prefer not to wait until after 3pm to leave.

So my running scheduled is all smooshed together right now. I ran my 7 on Saturday. Then Monday, I ran 4.5, slowly. It was ok. I ran the last .7 next to a guy in short white shorts, a tight shiny purple tank, and a Gigli ball cap. Now the outfit wasn't that outlandish for my gym. But the Gigli cap? And it was bedazzled. Who saw Gigli let alone has a cap? So it made me laugh. The techno music in the gym was blaring, and the guy caught me looking at him in the mirror. So he danced on the treadmill.

Tuesday, I ran 3 miles the fastest on the treadmill yet...38:19. This seemed really great until I went to dinner with my friend, my other friend and her co-workers. Oh my, my legs were mad. Food-wise I didn't do badly, and one of the co-workers picked up the bill, unexpectedly.
Also recruiter said company liked my credentials so a phone interview is being set up.

Wednesday, my thighs killed. So another 4.5 miles. Nothing exciting at the gym. Me running at 4.3 mph. I couldn't go faster. I tried. Nope, wasn't going to happen. Finally finished. I was still faster than Monday.

Today is the Burn Notice Marathon, applying to jobs and making dog cookies.
Also pack for my dad's, a viewing, a funeral, and 2 car trips. And dread that 8 mile run tomorrow. I don't know which I'm dreading more...the interview or the run. (Interviews make me nervous, no matter how qualified I am).

Hopefully no more flushes today.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Can We Just Skip February Next Year?

So if you remember, 2009's February sucked ass. I really thought nothing could top it.
BWAHAHAHA!

So 2/2, I lost my job. 2/6 my dryer broke. 2/10 the doorbell broke when the dryer part was delivered. I didn't even get a job on my birthday. I couldn't go see my grandfather for his birthday. He passed away 2 days later (no, I didn't realize he was THAT badly off when I wanted to see him). And I cleaned my shower, taking the grout off the shower, which I've since repaired.

So I'm going to MD at the end of the week with my dad and my brother. D is going to stay here to take care of the dogs. Truthfully, I know my grandfather is better off. He had just turned 89. At 83, he got cancer and decided to beat it. At 84, he got diabetes and another hip replacement. At 85 he had a stroke. At 86 he got MRSA. The man just didn't want to go. But his body did. It is always hard to watch someone get old when they aren't healthy. Thankfully, my grandmother has met him, and they are now drinking and playing backgammon for eternity.

The difference between this year and last year's Februarys...I continued running. I ran 72+ miles in February. I ate too much, so no weight loss (but a nice gain), but seeing my friend DL got me back on track. I saw her in August. Since then, she has lost 20 pounds and looks fabulous. Of course, what did we do this weekend...eat and drink.

I did run 7 miles over the weekend. Never have I run that far, but I did it. D ran his on the dreadmill. I ran outside.

So the first of March, I've tracked all my food and gone for a run. D and I did rejoin the gym for a month. After a snafu, we are members until May. That makes me happy. I really was going to miss the gym. Although I will be doing an 8 miler outside on Friday before I drive to my dad's. I'm thinking my legs will love me for that.
:)

So I'm trying to stay positive. Hopefully my phone will start ringing.