A New Year Results in a PR!!!

So the Run with the Dogs 5K that was postponed happened yesterday. A, D and I went. We all had some difficulty in dressing since it had been so cold the week before and yesterday at 8am it was 50 degrees.

Jacket or no jacket, shorts, short-sleeves? It was like none of us ever ran before. We all finally got situated, and off we went. We got to Decatur High and wondered if we missed it. Then we realized DHS had a new wing and that's where registration was. Still we were confused because we saw no cones. (A and I did this race last year). So we we picked up our numbers and our shirts and found out that it was a new course because CSX had some issue with us crossing the tracks. So the old course was no good. Back to the car to put the shirts away, and off to the Starbucks in the square (where the start was). .4 mile walk. Then as usual a lot of waiting. Well not as much as usual, because A and I are starting to leave a little later. Unlike last year, this year a lot of people were running with their dogs. We talked to one lady who had a cute lab.

Then a bunch of yada yada yada, and the race started.

The start of the race, D, A and I are all in this shot.

Down Ponce. Most of the people with dogs passed me. Some dogs freaked but for the most part people had control of their dogs, and they picked up after them (dogs in races annoy me especially with retractable leashes, and owners that don't carry bags). So I was running along. We turned off Ponce and through some neighborhood and came back to Ponce at Avondale MARTA. A lot of houses were for rent, which was interesting...I didn't know people in that area rented houses. Anyway I passed the cone that said Mile 1, except Garmin said Mile .92. It jingled a little while later and mile 1 was 12:40. The second mile took us down where D and I looked at houses, but ultimately didn't buy. Mini hills and speed bumps.

At 1.55, I grabbed some water from the DHS athletes who were on the corner. They were funny. SOOOO quiet, always ending everything with Maam or Sir. Some were at other corners. I thanked them for being there, and they always said, "You're welcome, Maam" or "Thank you for supporting us, Maam." (Race supported DHS Athletics). Anyway, mile 2 actually dinged at the Mile 2 cone. 25:20.

Now into the last mile and there was this hill. It really wasn't bad, but looking at it, it just seemed to be like a bitch. And I was tired. And I didn't want to run anymore. Finally I was out of the neighborhood and back on Ponce. It was 2.25. I could totally feel myself slowing down. I didn't want to run anymore. Plus I was running on the sidewalk. I hate running on the sidewalk. Finally I got up hill and was back in the commercial district. I decided I didn't care if there was oncoming traffic, I was running in the street. Now it was 2.6. I told myself to pick up my feet for only .1. At 2.73 I told myself, to keep at it. I looked up and saw D and A. My watched dinged 3 miles, although the cone was about 20 feet infront of me. I didn't look at the time, but Garmin said that mile was 13:40-something. Obviously I slowed way down.

D and A cheered me on, and I saw the last turn and went in. The clock said 40:10 so I gave it everything so I could get in under 41. I crossed at 40:25. I guess I had a bad judgement of distance. I turned of Garmin. It said 3.12 miles, so yay. I was on the threshold of pukage, but kept it down 3 times. D had to fill out my race card as I didn't want to bend down or lean over.

Me finishing...of course looking down!

Then we walked back to the HS, and got water and then went home. I knew I had PR'd but wasn't sure by how much. It turns out, the last race I got under 41 minutes was in April 2008. I beat that time by 26 seconds. Go me!

The HS gave me scarves for Guinness and Scuttlebutt. When I find the camera cord, I'll post some pics.

Today, D and I finished our first week of HM training with a 4 mile run. It went very slowly. SB and Guinness joined us on the track. Guinness is worn out. SB is still energetic and crazy as ever.

The Week and the Gym in Review

So this week I lost another 1.5 pounds. I'm pretty happy with that.

Especially since I had chili and Burger King, and a guacomole cheeseburger (it was a buffalo burger though). But I also put a beer back into the fridge when I had no points left.

I earned 26 Activity Points on WeWa, which I ate all of, plus the weekly allotment of the 35 extra points, plus 7 more. According to Sparkpeople, there really is no one type of food I ate heavily this week (based on fat, carbs, or protein) although I seemed to like sodium, and not like fiber.

And my new favorite drink is Blue Gatorade. I have no clue what flavor Blue is but it tastes good.

My legs are very sore. We have run 6 miles so far this week (1, 3, and 2) and walked 2.5 miles. I still have 10 more miles to run through Sunday. D and I are getting used to running after dinner, but neither of us likes it. We make up lots of excuses but eventually get ourselves to the gym.

And I finally realized why I look at my feet on the treadmill. Or notice so many people. Yesterday my options for TV reading (Closed Captioning) was something on Bravo about Launching a Clothing Line (like I care), Fox's American Idol (like I care), and MSNBC's Keith Oberman (I didn't think the gym would like me throwing a remote at the TV to break his ugly face (sorry his left streak makes my blood boil as much as Bill ORiley's right streak). So I looked at my feet while running. D watched a basketball game, but I couldn't see it because there was a beam in the way.

A guy got on to the mill next to mine. I'm not sure what he was doing, but he made me laugh. He went 3mph for a minute, then went 7mph for a minute, 3mph for a minute, then 9 mph (his trainer was calling out the mph). He nearly fell off. And he complained to his trainer his pants were falling down (he only had them pulled up to his butt to begin with, not over his butt). He really was only on the mill for 4 minutes but I enjoyed those 4 minutes. I couldn't tell you what he looked like except he had on TH boxers "under" his white Nike Basketball shorts (what I could see looking down).

The guy on the other side of me thought American Idol or the Launch the Clothes show was the most hilarious thing. I found it funny that someone could laugh that hard reading a TV show. He wasn't on long. Maybe 10 minutes of my run. Ashame, because he smelled very nice. He also had very tan legs, a woman's shaped butt (he has some meat on those cheeks), and WHITE (as in blinding) socks and shoes. I mean brand new socks aren't this white.

And then it was over. I finished my 2 miles. So happy...

Today I told work to sign me up for the Triangle Tri!

Gatorade was My Dessert

So I really didn't think I was going to run yesterday. I drove home from work, and I had about a 40 minute head start on D. We tied getting home. It was dark and cold and 6pm. We walked the pups and had to make the decision: eat then run, or run then eat. We ate first. I didn't care for what we had, but that's ok. While sitting there watching Bones, I decided I was still hungry and I wanted something with sugar.

Well the only thing with sugar in our house is Gatorade. And it is in the garage, by the car that I should use to drive to the gym. So upstairs, I went and changed. D changed. We put Scuttlebutt in his "place" and Gdog just wandered around. In the garage I grabbed 2 bottles of Gatorade, and opened one. It was so good. What kind of weirdo craves Gatorade?

We went to the gym and the big treadmills were all full. The little ones were not. So I did the 5K workout on a little one. Much easier than the big treadmills. There is only 1 hill and it is a 2%. The big ones have 2 2%, 1 3.5% and 2 2% hills. So needless to say I ran almost a flat 5K. I guess I have to change the level or something.

I finished my run and my cooldown and finished the first Gatorade. Dee-lish-us! D and I went to the car, and surprise, I'd forgotten about the 2nd one. Hooray.

Today my legs feel very sore. 2 miles tonight. Argh!

And I have to decide today if I'm going to do the Triangle Tri. My entry will be free because my work is a sponsor or sponsoring workers or something. We'd have to pay for D, but it is for charity so tax write-off.

And I still haven't decided about Pearl Jam and Ireland.

I bought D a Garmin 305 today. He wanted one at Christmas, but they were $200 and I had only paid $170 for mine, so I was being cheap. Amazon had them today for $167, so yay. Next is a new Polar F6 since I stole D's. He also announced today he wants it back. So I either have to find mine (hahahahaha) or get a new one. I have a gc to Amazon so I'll use it for that. (no I didn't use it for the Garmin, because I got the gc after I ordered it.)

Update: I know the Garmin has an HRM. I just find it highly inaccurate. As in it gives me 1000 calories for 30 minutes of stationary bike work, and 300 calories for a 6 mile run. So I choose not to use it. I just wear 2 watches, the Polar and the Garmin.

I really liked the link feature today

So last week, I did my running and Thursday I stopped to rest for my 5K on Saturday. Well, the roads of Atlanta iced over by rain, water main breaks, etc. so on Friday while sitting at home (not at work...I don't drive in that shit), the race director called and said the 5K was postponed. Kind of funny considering it was called the Frostbite 5K, but if I don't drive in that crap, I certainly don't run in it (I do walk in it, because I love Guinness and Scuttlebutt soooo much).

So Saturday rolled around and D said, "Let's go to the gym." We had a million other things to do, so of course, I said, "OK." We went up to the gym...main road great, side roads iced! We ran a 5K on the treadmill, I walked a mile, and he told me he would make me chili for dinner (he was going to a hockey game...he drives in this shit). So I called the people we were going to see to tell them we weren't going to make it because of the ice (they thought I was weird, because north of us it was all clear), and D made chili and I took a nap. I woke up to watch GT beat Duke (yes!).

D got ready and left. I made the spaghetti for my chili and got a beer. I didn't open my Terrapin Brown but instead decided to track all my points in WeWa. At 50 points, I put the beer back, and watch SVU, and Top Gear and pouted I couldn't have a beer (damn Bacon Mac for lunch!).

It was an exciting Saturday for me. Sunday we went and saw our nieces. We were going to lift weights but I didn't want to. This activity is supposed to be Monday's activity but SB is getting obedience training, so we are moving the HM training around.

Monday rolled around, and SB's training got pushed back. So we went to the gym. Another mile run 11:52 this time. I thought I was going faster, although this is 8 seconds faster than last weeks mile. Another .5 miles walked and weights lifted.

So Week1 Day 1 of HM was completed.

In other news, I'm trying to convince myself to go to Ireland to see Pearl Jam. D is on board with whatever I decide. I just don't want to put the money on the CC and I don't have the funds available at this time, so that would be irresponsible. At the same time Pearl Jam in Ireland!!!!

I decided to be truthful

I gained a ton of weight (11 pounds) after Po's passing. Some of it alchol induced, some pizza induced (I recall a lot of pizza). So the new year, I started at exactly the weight I was when I started this journey (funny how I always go back to that weight). And not a lot of running.
GAH!

So back to Sparkpeople, WeWa and meal planning. You can see I've been busy on the meals. D's mom bought me another CL cookbook (she knows I'm a fan, this isn't a mean MIL gift), so besides the recipes from the mags all last year, now we have them all compiled in a book, and are trying lots. This week, I was down 2.9. I'll take it.

I have not seen a lot of my other gift from D's mom, my Snuggie. We seem to be at the gym a lot! But the Snuggie rocks!

May Wonders Never Cease

It is Wednesday morning, and I have already run today. Wow!

Monday was weight lifting day. As a warm-up, I walked .21 miles, ran 1 mile, and walked .29 miles. I ran my mile in under 12 minutes. That is the fastest this year!!! 11:59 to be exact. Woohoo! Weight lifting was there. I'm not really into it, and being that the gym was full of noobs that won't be there come February, it was a bit annoying, but eh. I don't really like weights, but D likes them, and I do like the spreadsheet I keep to see my improvement.

Yesterday I picked up Scuttlebutt from his nut-hacking. The nurse is telling me he is to be calm and no rough-housing. This, as he body-slams himself into the wall. And he had already had a sedative. LOL! I took him home and he immediately went to "place." He seemed calmer last night, but that may be the sedative he took at 6pm.

Anyway, I didn't run last night. I was hungry and by the time the food digested, it was time for the Orange Bowl which didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. So eh.

D had the day off today, which meant I couldn't hit snooze 5 million times, so on the first alarm, I got up, put on my gym stuff and went. I was surprised how empty the gym was at 615. Even emptier at 730. Anyway, I walked .3 miles and ran the 5K circuit. I found on the dreadmill it is easy to cheat, which is why I don't like it. I didn't run 2 level 2 hills, although I ran 2 level 2 and a level 3.5. I slowed way down on those though. I did the 5K at 43:35. Then I walked .7 miles to get my HR down.

I came home, D was still in bed. So I got ready for work and walked the pups. Which woke him up. They love to love on him. Jealous, I reluctantly left for work.

23 degrees?????

So after doing nothing yesterday (oh wait, I worked on a Saturday), I decided to be productive today. D and I went to Einstein's for our breakfast date. That is one of my favorite times of the week. Then he went to work so I went to the grocery store. It was freezing. About 18 degrees.

And my head ached. No, still no hangovers for 2010. Yesterday I went to take Scuttlebutt for a walk. He thinks walks are the best thing ever, so he ran into Guinness, ran around her, jumped over her, nearly knocked me down, and body-slammed himself into the front door. I got him to sit down, and then bent down to get his leash off the floor (isn't that where you keep yours?). So, he got re-excited and jumped up. Now I don't know if he bit me or his teeth just landed into my forehead, but the loudest F-bomb was dropped. Let's just say the walk was not a very good one, especially since he didn't do his business.

Anyway it now looks like I have a zit, but it I flex my forehead, it kills. So a nice bruise is forming.

Ok, so back to this morning, I went to Kroghetto. I spent about 30 minutes in the vegetables and 10 minutes in the rest of the store. Came home and relaxed until SB decided to play with my hands and bit my arm. I decided to put him in his cage and take Guinness for a run. Never mind it was 23 degrees. We started. Mile 1 was bad. I really had trouble getting air in my lungs, because it was so cold, and the second half of Mile 1 was a hill. I remember last year when this run was very easy. Anyway we got to mile 2 and I walked for a minute. I would say Gdog walked too, but you know. I run so slowly, she was already walking. Anyway, the only part of me that was really cold were my shins. So I'm thinking I need longer socks. Or just to bare it for the 2 weeks of cold that Atlanta has. Really my hat, gloves, running pants, 1 LS shirt, and a pullover were fine. Just my shins were cold.

Nobody was outside on our run in the 'hood, so no colorful observations. Most people don't tend to sit on their porches or walk to the corner store in 23 degrees. Plus church was in session, so both churches I ran by had full lots.

We got home and I took SB for a cool down walk. He seemed to calm down a bit (once we got out of the door). Right now he is curled up sleeping on my feet.

Tomorrow is his nut hacking. I'm so excited. He is supposed to be a lot calmer once this occurs. We shall see.