11 Random posts

I got tagged by Christina to do this 11 Random posts.
Here are the rules:
1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer...Answer Christina's because I'm lazy.
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people! Whatever...do it if you want.

1. I drink a lot of fluid and always have. It was not uncommon for my brother and me to go through a can of Hi-C in one dinner sitting when I was 6. Now I drink 12+ glasses of water a day, and probably 5 Diet Cokes. The DC is down from 13. I didn't increase my water to compensate though.

2. I cannot multi-task. If I have the TV on, and am looking at my phone, I have no clue what is going on on the TV. With work, if I'm working on more than one project, I have to block it out on the calendar.

3. I don't watch any TV shows that the rest of America seems to love. I have never watched American Idol, Real HouseWhores of ____, Lost, Modern Family, The Office, etc. I tried to watch The Office. After 30 seconds I determined that it wasn't worth the 30 minutes of my time. I liked one show. It was called Happy Hour on Fox. It was hilarious. It lasted 2 or 3 episodes.


4. If I could retire, I would retire in Baltimore. Everyone tells me what a dirty, rundown, gross city it is. I love it. Although, I will never root for the Ravens. When we visit, I feel so alive. I do not feel the same in Washington, D.C.

5. I couldn't fathom living in the suburbs in any place. I did it for the first 18 years of my life, and then another 7 years after college (I was ITP, though!!!). After the age of 6, I couldn't figure out why we didn't live in the city. When I spent 3 weeks in London after 9th grade, I decided I would always live in a city.

6. I don't like cats.  I had 4 growing up. The first 3 were decent. I didn't get along with the last one.  It made me hate them. Now when I'm around them, my skin itches and I sneeze constantly.

7. I hate when co-workers call a female co-worker a bitch.  It is very non-descriptive.  Hard-ass or ball-breaker is usually more apt, because most times I hear bitch, it is when a female told someone they didn't do something right, follow procedure, or the name-caller isn't getting their way.  If someone calls me a bitch, I ask them to be more descriptive, or tell them I wouldn't be doing my job if I weren't one. 

8. My brother gives the best hugs.  Not in a creepy way.  But they are the kind that if you never see each other again, you know that he loves you.  This is a long way from the bone crushing handshakes that he used to give me in church, on purpose. 

9. My idea of hell is a cruise.  I never have been on one.  The thought of looking on all sides and not seeing land makes me sick.  The thought of being on a ship with a whole bunch of strangers holds no appeal.  The thought of being on a ship with no good beer scares me.  Thinking about the Love Boat gives me nightmares.  It also holds no appeal to me to spend a few hours in one place and get back on a ship. If I want to go somewhere, I want to explore that area.

10.  I hate Tapas.  I don't understand them.  If I wanted to share my food with my dining companions, I would have invited them over to my house for dinner where we could have normal sized plates of food.  I don't want to share 7 over-priced small appetizers (3 which I probably don't even want) with 3 other people, spend $50+ and have to stop at McDonald's on the way home, because I'm still hungry. 

11.  My house is rarely ever clean all at the same time.  Sometimes I probably should be embarrassed; frankly, I just don't care.  When I think about how I choose to spend my time, I don't want to look back in 50 years and say, "Every Saturday, I cleaned my house."  I'd much rather go, "I spent my Saturdays exploring Atlanta with D (and the dogs), enjoying the time we had together." 




Here are my questions:
1. Favorite dish/food? Pizza (always with red sauce and extra cheese, other topping vary).
2. Favorite singer? Eddie Vedder
3. Chick flick? Thrillers? Scary movies? Don't really enjoy any although, right now I'm catching up on Comic Book Movies
4. Favorite beverage? Guinness
5. What's your typical/usual daily outfit? Pants and some kind of "nice" T-shirt.
6. What's your usual workout outfit? Shorts, Knee Brace, Technical T, HRM, Bra, socks and shoes
7. Pet peeve? People who assume I think the same as they. And people who use the subjective pronoun where the objective one should be.
8. Introvert or extrovert? Introvert unless I know you. I don't like talking to people I don't know and I see no point in small talk.
9. What do you always have in your grocery cart? Jalapenos
10. Your best trait? I will think the best of people until they prove me otherwise.
11. Your worst trait? I am stubborn.

Transmitter Exchange

So D and I traded transmitters yesterday.

Got to the gym, and walked. Nothing exciting.  Started running, and my HR hung out at 161.  D said his was 00.  He did some stuff.  I noticed my HR going to 165, 170, 172.  Hooray, it is the transmitter.  I was so excited.  My 3 miles went pretty easily. The last .5 were the hardest, but I kept at it.

When D finished he told me his transmitter was working too. Since his HR never goes above 155, he said it read right and calculated his usual calories.  Who knows?

I still think I'm buying another transmitter in a month.

And an interesting article on shoes/feet.

Flashing the Gym

Half-Marathon Training Week 1 is in the books.  I completed all the runs, but had some issues.  My heart rate monitor is on the fritz.  I noticed it at the 5K we did...how does one get 200 calories running 3.1 miles?  The next runs were eh.  Thursday, D and I were at the gym.  He was running a few TMs down from me.  I kept noticing my HR was not going any higher than 160, according to my watch.  Considering it was a 2 mile run, I was trying to do speed.  My heart felt a helluva lot faster than 160.  Then it dropped to 87.  WTF?  I grabbed the water bottle, lifted my shirt and rewet the HRM strap.  Yes, for someone who cannot change in a locker room due to modesty, I have no issue flashing an entire gym full of men.    So, but .4 miles, I was pissed off, and told D I was going home.  I went into the bathroom and pretty much doused my breasts in water in the sink.

Back on the treadmill.  Stuck at 160.  Worked fine while walking, sucked while running.  I got the 1.6 done but WTF?  Water was all over the floor next to me from where the water kept splashing off my strap/boobs/bra. During my cool down, I did get it to 170 by going 7mph on the treadmill.  I know I'm not that freaking healthy. 

Saturday, we went back to do 4 miles.  Same shit happened again.  I looked down the TMs and saw my heart rate reading on 3 of them.  The gym got new TMs so maybe these sucked and had crosstalk. More flashing.  The Personal Trainer giggled.  At 1.85 miles I told D I was going into the other room (that is only 76 degrees, MY GOD turn down the heat!!!!).  The HRM went up and stayed at 160, until I walked a minute.  Then it went to  185.  Every single time.  I finally got done, but told D that without my gadgets I don't like running.  (Yes, I'm one of *those* people, and you can lecture me 'til you are blue in the face...I will not run without my HRM). 

Sunday, I meant to use the extra strap, but getting out of the house was an effort and I forgot.  Stuck at 160 for 3 miles.  The gym was 77 degrees so there was a lot of walking since I obviously wasn't properly hydrated for Bikram Yoga Running.  I tried the upstairs TMs as there was 1 guy in the room on TM1 (he had TV1).   I got on TM9 (I had TV4).  All TVs were on HGTV.  I changed mine to the AFC Championship.  He huffed.  I wonder if HGTV pays a premium for these things.  I got .6 miles in before my HRM said 0. I flashed again, just to get it working again. Since I wasn't dead, I went to the other room.  I had to turn on the game in there, although if there was huffing, I didn't hear it.  I got home and D wanted to know why I didn't take the other strap.  I forgot.

I put it on and went outside and ran up to the top of the street.  Thought I was going to pass out.  154.    Really?  So, I'm going to try that one tonight, to confirm it doesn't work.  If it does work, I will buy another strap.  If it doesn't, I need to replace the Polar F6.  I'm not happy. I don't like change.

Week 1, Day 1

So half marathon training has begun. And it began crappily.

D had to work a late shift, so I got home and had to assemble dinner.  Yes, this is indeed "whitewhine."  He had already cooked everything, I just had to assemble. I was able to do that while completely destroying the kitchen that he had cleaned earlier in the day.  So I cleaned that up.  Then I sat in the living room and watched Criminal Intent.  After 90 minutes, I decided to go to the gym to run 3 miles.

So I got there and got on a treadmill.  Walked .5 miles.  No biggie.  Changed the HGTV to ESPN to watch basketball. Someone 3 TM's down huffed about that (I didn't have headphones on.)  They were in front of TV#3, I was in front of TV#4.  They could suck it.  They were watching Jeopardy.  Whatever.

Finally started running.  About 3.5 minutes in at 5.1 mph, I got such a side stitch, I took it to 4.7.  Then I took it to 3.4.  After a minute I started again.  At 3 minutes, same thing, so down to 4.7 and then 3.4.  Every time I walked the Michigan/Michigan State game got more interesting.  So this time to 5.0.  Still a damn stitch.  Walk, more bball.  I did this for the whole 3 miles.  Only one set of 4 minutes did I feel ok.  But I wanted to know how the game was going (I can't run and look up at the same time...it makes me motion-sick). However, I did run my 3 miles at a faster pace than the 5K 2 weeks ago.

And because I cooled down with .5 miles, I got to see the end of the game which was good.

Got home and walked the pups. Both of them acted foolish on the walk.  Right as we stepped inside, it started raining.  So that answered that (SB will not go in the rain, and McM has trouble going in the dark with me).

Hiking on a Treadmill

So while wallowing preparing for the fact I need to do some hill work, I read Shelley's blog.  She had a Hiking Workout on the Treadmill.  Yeah, that's nice.  While I was sitting picking at my cuticles, testing a board at low voltage, I started thinking about the workout some more.  It was only 20 minutes.  Monday is lifting day, but neither D nor I really enjoy it.  Plus it aggravates my hip.  What's one Monday to try something different?

So I wrote the workout on a sticky note and stuck it on my wallet and went home.  After dinner, while watching That 70s show, I asked D what he thought of it.  He didn't seem that fond, but then decided ok he would try it.

So we changed and off to the gym with 2 sticky notes with the workout on it.  We scored TMs next to each other, and started off with a 5 minute walk at 3mph.

Then came the workout.  It was easy for about 2 minutes.  I say that because it is at 3.6mph, and I walk slowly.  As the inclines went up it did get harder.  I lasted for through the first incline of 12% grade. The 2nd time we did it, I had to hold on, because I almost fell off.  I didn't like holding on because it changed my posture.  But it was that or fall off (the whole workout is 20 minutes, I wasn't going to slow down).  Finally, the whole thing was over.  We walked 5 more minutes at 3mph.  Total was 30 minutes, 1.7 miles, 297 calories burned.  D said he had trouble the last 12% interval.

My legs burned. I didn't know a treadmill went to 12% (I didn't know it went to 4, haha).  This morning, my thighs are sore.  Overall, I think we will keep trying this. 

So the workout with our warm-up/cool-down

5 minutes    Incline 0     MPH 3.0
2 minutes    Incline 0     MPH 3.6
1 minutes    Incline 4     MPH 3.6
3 minutes    Incline 8     MPH 3.6
2 minutes    Incline 12   MPH 3.6
1 minutes    Incline 3     MPH 3.6
2 minutes    Incline 10   MPH 3.6
1 minutes    Incline 12   MPH 3.6
4 minutes    Incline 7     MPH 3.6
2 minutes    Incline 12   MPH 3.6
2 minutes    Incline 6     MPH 3.6
5 minutes    Incline 0     MPH 3.0

This should get you 30 minutes, 1.7 miles.

Run with the Dogs 5K, My 4th Year

So D, A and I once again signed up for this.  On Friday, A sent me a message she would drive herself because she was awake at 5am.  I was a little confused by this, but ok.  D and I played with the pups in the park and ate massive gyros, and I saw the race started at 9.  So we decided we would leave at 715 on Saturday, because we had to get gas...and because Decatur is a whole 10 miles away at the very most. So it would take us FOREVER to get there (sarcasm, if you aren't sure).  A texted at 9pm that she was getting off the plane, which now made her message reasonable.

So I got up at 330.  I have been fighting with insomnia since Thanksgiving. It hits when my head gets stuffed up, and it is too late to take a Benadryl.  Saturday's cure was Smallville.  Put me right out.  We got up around 630 and got ready.  We were a bit thrown by the 55 degree weather.  No thermal clothing. Just shorts and a long sleeve shirt.  I wore out my CWX capris at the Smuttynose HM (damn thigh rub!), so I had been wearing my thermal compression capris, but 55 seemed too hot. So just regular shorts and a knee brace.  Water and clif bar, and we were off.

Pre-race  I have awesome hair

Our gas station has a funky pump that I forget about all the time, and of course it was whacked out, so we only got $10 worth of gas.  So the 15 minutes for gas was shortened.  We got to Decatur at 730.  We were there before they even set up.  We waited awhile and finally got our T-shirts and went back to the car and played on the phones.  At 830, we went back out to use the facilities and look for A.  We couldn't find her, and decided she probably slept in.

At 905 they talked about the route, and it had changed again.  This was the 4th time I've run this race and the 4th course I've run.  They said there was 2 big downhills, which I immediately thought 2 uphills.  The race started, on an uphill. 

I ran for awhile, and we turned into a neighborhood.  This race has dogs in it, and the lady by me had hers on a retractable leash, something I cannot stand, and that all the trainers I have used despise, and that the pups' daycare will not even allow.  The dog was all across the road with this cord acting as a tripping hazard.  She didn't pick up after the dog, either.  After half a mile of irritation, I finally told her to control her dog because she was causing a trip hazard.  Yes, I went there.  And then she slowed down and I passed her.    We continued through this neighborhood which was up and down, but no big hills either way.  Mile 1 was 12:58.  I was not surprised by this time, but I was disappointed.

We got out on the main road and ran for what seemed forever.  It was a slight uphill mostly.  We passed Thinking Man's Tavern.  D and I need to go there once.  We went about 6 years ago, and liked it.  Because it isn't on Decatur Square, we forget about it.  Knowing it is only a mile walk, we can deal. We ran all the way to the East Lake MARTA and turned down a steep hill. This little girl passed me.  I thought she looked familiar, but couldn't place her.  (Later when I looked up results, I placed her...she is my friend's daughter...she beat me by 4 minutes...I got chicked by a 9 year old...she placed in her AD, which is awesome!) The Decatur Police did a nice job blocking traffic.  Turn again and another downhill with a turn, so not a lot of picking up speed.  I walked through the water and continued.  A lot more uphill grade (but no major uphill, more annoying).  Mile 2 was 13:13.

One more huge downhill, and we were out on Ponce. I ran in the bike lane.  I noticed I don't like running in my shorts.  Perhaps it is because I have been wearing them since I got them 35 pounds ago.  Perhaps it is because when I wear them on a treadmill, it is flat and my stomach doesn't giggle.  But my stomach actually hurt from gravity.  I started getting closer to Trinity, but the hill got steeper.  I was already at 31 minutes, and knew D had long finished.  This deflated me.  So I walked for 45 seconds.  The cop right before Trinity was doing a good job too.  She had some car flipping her off for not allowing her to turn, because another woman and I were passing. Little things like this make me laugh, and yes, I did stick my tongue out at the woman.

So down Trinity and I knew I was almost done.  I also knew I had another uphill to go.  I did my best but when I saw the final ascent get even steeper, I said fuck it, and walked for a minute.  D was at the top of the hill and probably was wondering what the hell I was doing.  At 39 minutes, I was still in the middle of the hill, and decided to finish.  I ran and turned and ran the downhill.  Finished at 40:53.  Definitely a lackluster performance.  But what should I expect?

D had talked to someone involved with race while waiting.  He said that all the uphills and downhills equalled out to 0 descent/ascent.  D got 27 something. He said it was not a PR.  Neither of us felt great about the race effort from us, but it got done. And we will do it next year, because we like the T-shirt, like seeing all the dogs prior to the race, and it is a good kick-off to the racing year.  (A didn't make it to the race.  Her daughter was too excited to see her).  And this morning, my thighs hurt.  I definitely need to add more hills into my training.

McMenamin in his new scarf

Scuttlebutt in his new scarf doing his Elvis impersonation

  Later we went out on our own pub crawl with our friend J.

View of the Capitol from the first bar

Guinness

Walking to the 2nd Bar, another view

Jailhouse Breakout Stout

View from 2nd Bar

Cabbagetown, walking to 3rd bar

View of downtown, walking to 3rd bar

Almost to 3rd bar, yes, this is a 2-way street

Some Poundage Gone!

My first weigh-in (I normally WI on Thursdays, and the first/last day of each month), and I'm down 3.8 pounds.
I bet it has something to going to the gym 3 times this week.

I'm still worried about the 5K on Saturday.  I could barely run 2 miles, last night. 

In other news, my mother-in-law bought me the Cooking Light Year in Review 2012 (she buys me each year's book for Christmas...I ask for it). Even though I get the magazines all year round, I like having all the recipes in one book. Plus I miss recipes throughout the year.

So what have I eaten?
Sunday: Baked Potato Soup
Monday: Cheesy Chicken Meat Loaf Minis, and Garlic Fries
Tuesday: Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs and Roasted Chile-Garlic Broccoli
Wednesday: Baked Potato Soup (see Sunday's link)

I'm very lucky D likes to cook. 
These are also my lunches during the week (there is some chili in there as well from Saturday).

New Years Resolutioners are Gone? And Say No to a Thong!

So D and I went to the gym last night to run, since we have a 5K on Saturday and the last time I ran was early December (I pulled a DNS at our annual Baltimore run, since I got no sleep and partially hurled a Clif Bar, had the chills, and a good sweat going...D got a PR!).

So we agreed to face the music after dinner. We would take 1 car and I would go first (I think this was unsaid) if there weren't 2 treadmills.  We had no issue finding a parking spot.  Our badges worked to get in the gym (it is locked at all times).  In the front room, all TMs were open.  We like the back room.  5 of the 10 TMs were open.  Obviously, the Resolutioners don't run on Tuesday or they have given up.

D finished 3 miles in the time it took me to run a slow 2.  I had to walk part of the 3rd mile since my HR spiked up past 185.  I have a lot of trouble slowing down a run; I have no trouble walking.  I did finish under 40 minutes.  With warm-up and cool down, I got in 4 miles.  D got in 4.75.   As we were leaving, 3 TMs were taken and a gal chose one in between all the other people.  And she was wearing a thong.

PSA:  You shouldn't wear a thong to work out.  I read this (and it was on Oprah.com so it has to be true) sometime this week.  Something about the sweat from your ass makes the thong slide forward and the fecal matter moves forward and thus you will get a UTI. This is something I never have to worry about.

New Year, Same Me (I'm Plugging Along)

I weighed myself yesterday. For the whole year, I lost 5.1 pounds.  That is 5.1 pounds I didn't gain. That is 5.1 pounds less on an airplane seat.  That is 5.1 pounds I don't have to carry on my body.  While it seems miniscule to some, I'll take it. Especially since I decided to eat (and drink) nonstop from October to the end of the year.

I have run 2 miles so far this year.

My wish is to lose 10.2 pounds (or more) this year.  I know I can do it.


Happy New Years!