Exercise - DragonLady’s World

Archive for the Exercise Category

Cupcake Classic 5k

By DragonLady on October 22, 2012

I guess I should end my unintentional hiatus? I really didn’t intend to go a month (approximately) between posts, but, well, I’ll blog about that later. 🙂

If there is a virtual 5k going on, you can bet that Molly is going to find it and ~~force~~ talk me into doing it. This was all well and good until I started training for a half marathon, and, well, it is hard to work in a 5k (3.1 miles) when you reach the point in your training that your short run is 4 miles. But I signed up for Jess’s Cupcake Classic 2012 anyway because 1) there was a cool shirt to be had and 2) there was a cool medal to be had. The only problem was I ended up sick the whole week and did not run at all until Saturday. :sigh:

So Friday night, I got a text from Karyn about running Saturday morning. It was totally expected because that is the day we do our long run, and yes, I had avoided texting her about the same thing because I was wanting to remain in denial that I hadn’t run all week, and therefore running 12 miles Saturday morning was going to suck. Big time. Especially since I hadn’t successfully ran more than 10 miles. But we settled on a time to meet and I told her I was considering baking some celebratory cupcakes. After all, I still had that 5k to run. And yes, at this point I knew there was no way I would run a 5k Sunday which was the last day. So, I forced myself to bake gluten free blueberry/blackberry muffins (muffin/cupcake – it’s all the same to me), packed up a few for post run, and hoped the hubster wouldn’t snore too bad so I could get good sleepies.

Up and dressed, and ready(ish) to run:

Yes, I am totally faking a smile after the rash of crap I got on Facebook over the lack of smile when showing off my new glasses. So, Kate, that fake smile is for you. :cheesy: And I am holding my head up in a futile attempt to cover up the double chin. 😉

I kind of guesstimated where the 3.1 mile mark was during our run, which I guesstimated wrong when I stopped the timer on my watch, and had to guesstimate a little more accurately via MapMyRun. It was 37+ min which I have written on an index card on my desk at home. Remember I said Saturday was a 12 mile run? And I hadn’t ran more than 10? Yeah, it sucked. That last lap around campus climbing that hill the last time, I was just about done, and unconsciously dropped to a walk. I realized it after a few steps and forced myself back into a run with the “You have less than a mile and you are over halfway up this hill and it’s the last hill. Run! You can do this!!”

And this is the only post-race pic I have:

And Karyn said the only thing that kept her going was the promise of these at the end:

She finished like 45 minutes before me, and passed me twice during my 7th lap. At least I think it was twice during the same lap. I might have zoned out an entire lap. It was brutal for us both. She ended up with a rather nasty blood blister, and I got some crazy chafing that nearly had me in tears in the shower. But those muffins were good. I could write a post on what a pain they were to make, but I can sum it up with this: the batter was the consistency of soft taffy. I think I cussed more than once while filling the paper liners.

But anyway, Karyn and I are ready for the half marathon. 13 days…

This entry is filed under Diet, Exercise, LinkWhoring, Photos, Running. | 5 Comments

Funday Friday #11

By DragonLady on September 21, 2012

This will be one of those list posts because I just haven’t ~~had time for~~ felt like daily serious blogging.

1. I let Petra ~~drug me with gluten free/dairy free cupcakes and trick me into~~ talk me into taking 3 of her cats. That is the short version because part of the full version of why I took them I refuse to blog about. Anyway, my daughter finally has the black “kitten” (he’s 6 months old now) she tried to get 5 months ago. He is a sweetie, but the other 2 still keep their distance. Poor Spot hates them all, but she hates everybody and everything except me & the hubby. She likes Black Kitty, but for a different reason. 😉 Oh, and Petra still has more cats than me, unless Mittens shows back up and makes us tied. lol

2. I made an appointment with my doc for a physical with the intention of scheduling an OB/Gyn appointment as a follow up. He is very very pleased with my weight loss to date and said “You no longer need to concentrate on weight loss; just work on fitness.” My blood pressure is great, my glucose is fine (which it was before), and my cholesterol is now “phenomenally” good. He agreed with Petra’s diagnosis of gluten intolerance when I explained what all cleared up when I cut out gluten so I suppose that makes the diagnosis official now. 🙂 But when I explained that my cycle is still all messed up, he gave me the OB/Gyn exam pretty much on the spot, and is putting me on bc pills for 6 months to try to get everything back in sync. Ugh. But at least that’s out of the way, and I got a bonus rectal exam out of it. MacBros, consider that payback for all the jokes I make about you getting abducted by aliens. LOL I was then scheduled for a mammogram (which I had Tuesday), and I get to have a colonoscopy in a couple of years. :-/ But, anyway, he also checked my knees, and thinks they are fine just to ice them after runs…which does help tremendously.

3. I was blessed with enough additional income to pay off all debt except for the mortgage. My mom told me to buy a car, which I will probably do tomorrow.

4. I’m going to attempt once again to learn how to crochet as soon as the half-marathon is over and I have more time on my hands. Opal and Teeni have inspired me. 🙂

5. Speaking of the half-marathon, I am so ready for it to be OVER. I look to Saturdays with dread of that long run. I do enjoy spending time before and after the run with Karyn, but that long run wears me out mentally more than physically. That said, I did my 6 mile midweek run Wednesday and 1) beat my AF 2 mile time (10 seconds is 10 seconds) and 2) beat my fasted 5K time. Only thing I can figure that made the difference in the run was drinking this a few hours prior and still be pinging a little. 😉

6. After showing up for my eye appointment yesterday…2 weeks early…I used the opportunity to hit Angelina’s for some gluten free yumminess. I had seen their posts for the past 24 hours about moussaka, and I was getting some of that. Rather I thought I was going to have me some of that because it wasn’t gluten free. I might have died a little inside. 😉 However, Petra had informed me earlier in the week that I needed to get their gluten free chocolate chess pie and eat it while having alone time. After the bison burger recommendation, I made sure I got some pie because really, who doesn’t like pie? Oh, wait, that would be my daughter. 😯

“That looks like perfection.” – Petra

I got falafels instead of the moussaka I wanted so there was still flavor satisfaction. And I took the pie-hating daughter to Harris Teeter for sushi. And yes, I went off by myself and ate half that pie. I’ll be eating the other half in front of my co-workers. Maybe if I’m quiet they won’t notice… 😉 Then Karyn stopped by and dropped off their dolmas they didn’t eat. Seriously, I am like the only one of our group who likes those, and I end up eating everyone else’s. lol I am not ashamed. 🙂

7. And because this is AGAIN stuck in my head…

This entry is filed under Diet, Exercise, Funday Friday, Life, Photos, Ramble, Running, Video. | 6 Comments

Feels like Monday

By DragonLady on September 5, 2012

I had a 4 day weekend, and I don’t feel like I got any rest at all. It was nonstop busy from Friday night on. Shopping, traveling, cleaning, yard work, racing, cooking. Yes, I said racing, but should have said “racing.” I’ll get to that. 😉

Saturday morning Karyn picked me up and we went to do our long run. She did a long run. I did 4, and then sat on a picnic bench trying not to throw up until Karyn finished. haha We were both itching for some Ethiopian food and started planning a trip to the Ethiopian restaurant. She would have to secure child care, but we were going to try for that night. Turns out Sunday night was going to be better so with that trip postponed, I had no excuse not to mow my yard. Seriously, each of my neighbors has mowed at least twice since our front yard has been mowed. But, yeah, so I got the front and back yards mowed but no weed-eating.

I don’t remember if I mentioned it last week (or ever), but back in late May/early June, I got race registration happy and signed up for a bunch. I really didn’t pay too close attention or I would NOT have signed up for the RunRaleigh 8K the weekend following the CARA Run for their Lives 10K. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Anyway, that is why I only ran 4 on Saturday instead of the 9 that was scheduled. We drove up to downtown Raleigh with me hoping for a race-cancelling storm the whole way. No luck. Hot & muggy, though not as hot as it would have been had it not rained before we got there. It also rained some during the race. Knowing my pace, I stayed at the back when the race started, but pretty soon I was talking smack (in my head) about the runners I was passing thinking that they must be really slow. At the end of the first mile, I checked my pace and I was running just a little over a 10 min mile. Ok, I don’t run 10 min miles. Needless to say, just past mile 3, I hit the wall, and ended up having to walk up the hills (which weren’t even big hills), and trot down. I ran (if you could call it that) the last 2 blocks just because I wasn’t going to walk across the finish line. Run or crawl. I grabbed my time (1:04:41 (Gun), 1:04:18 (Chip)), a banana, bottle of water, and we booked it out of there.

I had the hubster text Karyn on our way home since we were getting home a full 45 min sooner than I had estimated in case they wanted to head up sooner. They did, and so I took a shower (Karyn insisted – lol), and we made our second trip of the day to Raleigh. The second trip was the better of the 2 by far! Joe & Karyn had already ordered (yes, this was preplanned), and it seems like the food came out soon after we got there. Really, that time we were at the restaurant seemed to just fly by…unlike that 8k. 😉

Monday was the second trip of the weekend to Walmart (ugh), and yesterday I spent behind the wheel for 6 hours. Oh, and let me drive for 1.5+ hours without having to change gears, and at the point I have to stop or slow down considerably, I will forget that I am driving a standard and wonder why the truck is bucking. haha. Ok, maybe it was because I was talking to my mom on the phone (hands free). I was so tired when I got home and the kids made me take them to the store. As if I hadn’t spent enough time in stores over the weekend. I went to bed at 8:30 and I guess I just passed out.

So, yeah. Today feels like a Monday. And I am not spell/grammar checking. Don’t judge me. lol

This entry is filed under Diet, Exercise, Life, Ramble, Running. | 8 Comments

CARA 10K Race Recap

By DragonLady on August 28, 2012

Saturday morning I ran in the CARA-Run For Their Lives 10K. Last year I had intended to attempt the 5K, but then Irene happened and the make up race was on a Sunday. Anyway, I suggested to Karyn that we do this 10k as we train for the half-marathon she talked me into running. We headed over there Saturday morning thinking we had a good idea how the course was going to be. :rofl2:

Even my double chin is smiling

See how we are all smiles before we started? Poor Esther has now been accused of being a photobomber. She and another BCRT runner were in the starting line with Karyn and I. I should have been in the very back with the walkers, but whatever. lol The gun went off and we all took off.

Note that Esther and the lady in the yellow shirt (whose name I cannot recall) are still even with me, and I pointed out Karyn’s shoe and how far ahead she already was. I was not properly prepared for the gun and so I was still starting my music on my iPod. That would be the last I saw of any of those 3 until their final mile. When we headed up into the neighborhood, I realized my folly in not actually driving that part of the route. Hills. Awful hills. When the 5k folks caught up and mingled with us, another Tribe member, Jim, came up behind me as I was groaning uphill and said “Hills are your friend.” I mustered up all of my self-control and didn’t punch him in the ear, and instead just croaked out “NO! They are NOT!” He laughed, told me I was doing great & to keep it up and then virtually disappeared. Ok, he didn’t really run that fast, but he still quickly ran off and left me. I say that like I was alone with a bunch of other runners. haha! I was pretty much following another lady and trying not to let her get too far ahead (especially in the neighborhood). That last neighborhood hill was the one that almost had me puking.

Finally we emerged from the neighborhood maze (and there were enough turns that it felt like a maze), and headed back down to the trail. Now I run the Endor Trail nearly every Tuesday with the BCRT, so I know it like the back of my hand, and it has what several of us have dubbed the worst hill ever in the world. But just one side of the hill, and that was going to be the last big hill before heading back to Kiwanis Park. In my mind I booked it up the Carbonton side. Coming back from Spring Lane was going to be bad, and I knew it because it ALWAYS kills me. But it didn’t. Weird.

Finally, though, I was back in the park headed to the finish line. Click to embiggen because it’s thumbnail size or full for this photo for some reason.

Cue “Gonna Fly Now”

Karyn was waiting on me and snapped that as I was crossing the finish line. This is one of the few times I’m glad it was a rear shot because I know my face was contorted in pain. My chip time was 1:13:12 and gun time 1:13:21 with a pace of 11:50. Not my fastest run, but I am happy with anything under 12. Esther placed 2nd in our age group, and I wasn’t last. 😉 Karyn placed 5th in her age group. It was hard to get around Sunday, especially anything that involved bending my knees with my full weight. It still hurts to walk downstairs today, and I cannot say I am looking forward to tonight’s run.

This entry is filed under Exercise, Life, Photos, Running, Training Tuesday. | 6 Comments

After a year

By DragonLady on August 7, 2012

It has now been just over a year since Molly ~~forced~~ talked me into joining a running club with her. July 26, 2011 was my first run (the 2nd BCRT run), and I am pretty sure all I did was walk 2 miles instead of running 3. This would be followed by several months of mostly walking the 3 miles, if I did the 3. Here’s how I looked (from behind) in August of last year:

I left Petra in this cropped photo (that I shamelessly stole from BCRT’s FB album which contains several unflattering rear shots of me) because I am like twice as big as her. :-/ I know, I’m freakishly tall. lol 🙂

This is from mid-July after having lost 32 pounds:

This is also shamelessly stolen from BCRT’s Fb album, but I at least know exactly who took this one (being frontal and all). I had already seen Tim snapping around so I was sucking in when Eva walked up and snapped the hubster and I. I’m pretty sure I am still twice as big as Petra. LOL

But that isn’t really what I intended to write about. This past Saturday I had to run 6 miles. (If I hadn’t taken a week off for my knee, it would have been 7.) I barely lasted 5 the weekend before, and was pretty unsure that I would be able to keep myself psyched up. Less than half a mile into it, when I turned the first corner, I smelled breakfast cooking from someone’s house. I assumed it was the house on my left as it is closer to the road and I could see a light on. Anyway, I kept chugging along, and eventually made it to the 3.1 mile mark and noted the time (since I had signed up for a virtual 5K). But by the time I made it up that hill I wanted to quit. Bad. Or maybe that was before the 3 mile mark. I forget. Anyway, on my long runs I have discovered that it is a great time to pray and meditate. Since I do my long runs on Saturday mornings fairly early, there is hardly any traffic, and generally no one outside, so it’s just me & God. No computer to distract me. Music low enough that I can hear traffic. It is perfect for listening.

Lately I have been reading The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges, and so I was mulling over what I’d read so far and how to apply it. On the front cover, the latter portion of 1 Corinthians 9:24 is printed “Run in such a way as to get the prize.” So naturally I am thinking about that as I am running…and wanting to quit. So I prayed for the will and endurance to run that morning so that I would have that as a constant metaphor for remembering that the Holy Spirit will help me with strength and will and endurance in tough times of life…resisting temptation, and finishing the race. And I ran a 10k – 6.24 miles.

So, call me a nutroll for believing God gave me the ability to complete that run Saturday. I’ve been called a nutroll for much worse. 😉 But, 2 days later, and I got hit with another “trial” which is really an on-going one that is either active or pending. I got angry…again…and wondered just how much…again…and then I remembered that run. And then I remembered this:

James 1:2-4 (ESV)
2 Count it all joy, my brothers,[a] when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Followed by this:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV)
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

I am not promised strength for finishing a run, but I am promised strength to endure the trials of life and to overcome temptation. So if God answers my prayer to have the will to run 6 miles, which I am not promised, I can believe he will sustain me through this trial. As one of my friends pointed out to me last night, He has a plan for what is going on even though I can’t see it. And ultimately, God is going to get the glory for it.

This entry is filed under Exercise, Faith, Life, Photos, Running, Training Tuesday. | 12 Comments

Hither, thither, and all that other stuff

By DragonLady on August 6, 2012

I might be back. Or this might be a hodge-podge of crap with promises of more detailed posts later, which may or may not be empty promises.

Cats
About 2 weeks ago, I stopped at the mailbox before pulling into the driveway (as I do), and I noticed something in the neighbor’s driveway. A cat. One of our cats. Simon. The only one of our cats that the boy liked. He had been hit by a car, and the kids retrieved him and buried him though not before my daughter insisted on taking a picture to put on tumblr. :sigh: #parentingfail

3 days later, the hubby decided it was time to kick Spot out of the house, and she ran right into the backyard where the territorial dogs are that kill anything non-dog that gets in their space. She sat in a tree for 2 days, and finally the hubster got her down, and she’s back in the house.

Darci, our oldest dog and habitual escape artist, managed to dig out again, and I found her in the front yard as I let Evie out. I let the hubby know before I left for church, and thought no more of it until I got home. He said to me then, “Have you seen Mittens?” Now, this is kind of a dumb question (I’m thinking) because it’s always 1-5 days following an escape before we see her again. Then he said “Look out the window.” I see a mound of dirty white fur, and was crushed. But he followed my informing me that it was not Mittens, but a ‘possum.

Food & Exercise
I am pretty much back on track with the half marathon training. I did 5 miles weekend before last, 6 Saturday (6.24 specifically…), and that puts me on track for 7 this weekend catching me up to the schedule Karyn and I are following. She is smoking me, by the way. After the half I might work on speed. Might…

So, I had a week-long craving for a bacon cheeseburger last week. Wednesday, I wanted one bad enough to risk a glutening. Petra talked me off that cliff, and I sated that craving with chips & salsa. I know, the chips were bad (they were gluten, msg, & preservative free), but the salsa was YUMMY! So when a less persistent craving hit on Friday, I got some more salsa – chipotle garlic. Yeah, that made “medium” subjective because it BURNED us…and opened up our sinuses. When I went over to James at church that night, he was like “What did you eat?!?!” Karyn’s been eating salsa ever since. lol

Anyway, so Friday night, James made me a cheeseburger. I told him forget about the bacon. I didn’t have any gluten free buns, so I used lettuce instead. Very messy, but enabled me to eat it like a burger. Oh, it was yummy. James made stew Saturday that I wasn’t going to eat, but I had a little anyway, and it was way better with him spicing it than by using the McCormick seasoning (their beef stew seasoning is NOT gluten free – fyi). But yeah, then I got home from church yesterday and he had fried sausage. Now I don’t really even like sausage, but I ate 3 or 4 patties and it was GOOD! And I found a jar of salsa in the fridge… 😉

Needless to say, there was no weight loss this week poundwise. However, I think I am losing inches. My shirt isn’t so tight where the buttons tend to scream (Molly, you know what I’m talking about – lol), and my trousers seem a bit loose.

Wrap up
I am now sick of writing this post and can’t stand to have another post in my drafts queue.

Molly is vlogging every day in August. Check her out on YouTube. Seriously! Her vlogs while driving are seriously out.of.control.

This entry is filed under Diet, Exercise, Fail, Life, Ramble, Running. | 4 Comments

Maniacal Monday #12

By DragonLady on July 16, 2012

So much has happened over the last few days, and so much of it is stuff that I am just not going to blog about. At least not yet. It is a pretty safe bet that I will eventually. On the other hand, I have a few things I do want to talk about, if just briefly.

1. I have lost 32 pounds so far, and 8 since starting the Marathon Weight Loss Challenge. Whether or not I lose the remaining 18.2 pounds is not so important to me as losing what remains of my spare tire. 😉

2. I took last week off to heal my knee. It tried to hurt as I ran last night, but it calmed down after a mile. Both knees were hurting before I got to the half mile point. I only did 2 miles, and managed a consistent pace.

3. I ate vegan all weekend, but I don’t think I am going to be overly strict about it. For instance, I will still eat honey. I also don’t think I can resist another bison burger if I happen to be in Southern Pines. I tell you, though, it was hard cooking steaks for my family, and not eating one.

4. The hubby let the inside dogs eat leftover fried potatoes. Evie puked for 2 days. :-/

5. I take back envying stay at home moms. Seriously, if their days are like my Saturdays, on the go non-stop, and getting very little accomplished, but totally worn out from all the nothing-to-show-for-it work, I don’t know. I mean, I did do 3 loads of laundry, but only 2 of the 3 made it out of the dryer. I managed to cook the hubster a meal for dinner but that’s only because I found a pack of instant potatoes in the cabinet. Otherwise, it was just steak. Chuck. I can’t afford ribeye for the non-discriminating cow-eaters. 😉 I did get all the dishes washed…

6. Just realized that I was quite vocal in sunday school yesterday. Huh. Interesting.

7. Is totally not liking this romaine lettuce I bought. :-/ Had a similar dislike with baby swiss chard over the weekend.

That’s all I got for now, so I will leave you with this because it’s stuck in my head….

This entry is filed under Diet, Exercise, Maniacal Monday, Ramble, Video. | 9 Comments

“You gotta know when to hold ’em…”

By DragonLady on July 10, 2012

I’ve had problems with my knees since junior high, following the year that I grew 5 inches really fast. They may or may not be related, but I had sporadic pain for about 2 years following that growth spurt. After being pain free for several years, I had a couple of accidents in the Air Force, one for each knee, and had issues with the left one for a few years. That one eventually landed me in physical therapy where they determined there was too much play in patella, and gave me an exercise plan to strengthen the muscle around my knee. It helped, but a long walk would still end in pain on the inside of my knee. But then I got fat, and that quit happening…oddly. 😉

So, with that background, a couple of weeks ago, I ran 4.5 miles – the longest I’ve run ever. Either that night or next day, I noticed a pain in my left knee on the outside, especially walking downstairs. But it cleared up after a couple of days, and I had no problem with it until the bug dance run. It hasn’t hurt while running since then, but has hurt either soon after or up to a day later. It is probably iliotibial band syndrome, and so I am taking a break from running this week to rest and heal. It could be the slant of the road, the hills (I keep saying hills are killing me), or it could be from rolling my ankle a couple times when I have to run on the shoulder because of traffic. But whatever the cause, I’ll be biking this week instead of running.

I ran the Patriot 5K 4th of July. I was joined by 4 other Tribe members, each of whom smoked me. lol But I expected to be smoked, and my goal was not to keep up with them, but to run the entire 5K without walking. I have to admit, I was ready to quit before I got off campus and onto the street. It was terribly demoralizing to get passed by runners with strollers. And I was totally dreading the first turn around because I knew it was uphill almost the whole way to the second turn around. But I got a little morale boost after the first turnaround because while I was running really slow, there was a butt-ton of people ahead of me walking. But then as I passed where the route went on/off campus, I saw the first 2 runners coming in. I looked at my watch and it was just over 15 min. Really?!?! Who runs a 5k in 16 minutes?!?! Well, 16-17 year old kids on the track team, that’s who. Anyway, I finally made it to the second turn around, and by the time I passed the roundabout and turned back onto campus, I felt like I was booking it. The reflux hit right before the final turn before the finish and I was sure I would puke, but I managed not to, and ran my best 5K to date: chip time was 35:58. My watch time was 36:10, and the gun time was 36:17. I didn’t come in last, except among the Tribe members, but like I said, that was expected because they run fast. 🙂

And for today’s earworm:

This entry is filed under Exercise, Running, Training Tuesday, Video.

“We can dance if we want to…”

By DragonLady on July 3, 2012

I set out a little late for my run last night. I thought it was another 3 miler, but turns out it was 4 miles. You want to know a good motivation for pushing yourself? Start at 8pm and try to do 4 miles before dark. Anyway, I picked a different route than Saturday morning’s 4 miler because I hadn’t done the loop in a while, and I wanted to work in more uphill since half of tomorrow’s 5k is uphill. I finished the first mile in under 11 min, but there was too much uphill to maintain that pace and so the next mile was concentrating on breathing and continuing to run. Shortly after I finished the second mile, and was heading downhill, something bit or stung me. It felt about like a sweat bee, but then I looked down at my calf, and nearly soiled myself at the size of the bug.

Now before I continue, I’m really not a girl about bugs. With the exception of stinging and biting bugs, they are just an annoyance. But when it is big and flies fast and looks like a hornet, I turn into a girl. I didn’t scream, and I don’t think I let the f-bomb fly, but I did the bug dance trying to keep the thing from perching on my calves and either biting or stinging. I kid you not, I think that thing was chasing me. Of course with that “dance” I was doing in the road, I wasn’t running though I got a lot of upper body movement trying to swat at it. This whole act went on for a quarter mile before I finally hit it hard enough to stun it so I could kill it. I had to step on the thing 3 times before it quit moving, too!

With the bug dead, I continued walking and tried to get myself back in the game while pondering whether or not to continue attempting the 4 miles since I had initially abandoned the addition to the loop route to give me 4 miles instead of 3.4. By the time I made it up the hill I had only decided to attempt running again. Well, attempt was all it was because the bug dance tweaked my knee which has been sensitive since last week’s 4.5 miler. But I figured I could go ahead and finish walking 4 miles anyway, and just take a left onto my road and go around the corner and then back to the house. I wasn’t past the first house before another one attacked me, albeit a smaller one. That’s when I dropped the f-bomb and turned towards the house. That bug didn’t follow me either…weirdly.

This is what I think the bug was. Harmless, yes, but still too big to ride on my sweaty calves.

This is to attempt to make up for Safety Dance.

Be glad I didn’t pick the Jagger/Bowie remake…or even the Van Halen remake… 😉

And I am a complete girl over spiders. Size is irrelevant.

This entry is filed under Exercise, Humor, Running, Video. | 11 Comments

Settling back into normal

By DragonLady on June 27, 2012

My mom turned 80 a week ago, and I flew home over the weekend to attend her birthday party hosted by one of my cousins. Great food, cousins I hadn’t seen in YEARS. My poor kids were overwhelmed by all the family who they didn’t know, but who knew them. I did not take a single picture, and I am waiting for someone to either email some out or post on Facebook. I would poke at them to do so if I could remember who was taking them. lol Just for the record, I have broken another one of my rules. I always said, “The DragonLady doesn’t get on a plane sober,” but I did going and coming. I wasn’t at all comfortable, but I was sober.

I got up and ran 5K Saturday morning from my mom’s. That was the craziest run I have had so far. I was fine running down to Uncle Fred & Aunt Becky’s, and I was fine running to the old school, but from that point on, every time I ran uphill, I thought I was going to poop. (That’s your TMI for today.) I mean, it was crazy, and I didn’t think I would ever get that last 400 meters done. Pretty sure the chick on Nike+ said “100 meters left” twice. And once I was done, I couldn’t go. Weird.

I lost 3 pounds during week 1 of Jess’s Marathon Weight Loss Challenge.

It probably would have been more had it not been for the birthday party, and that moment of weakness when I drank a Dr. Pepper. But, it’s all good because I met my 3rd milestone and went under 180. I began reading Eat to Live since my doctor “prescribed” it 3 or 4 years ago. So far it is reinforcing everything I have researched and fell upon since going gluten free and then going natural(ish).

After waking up sick yesterday morning, I ended up calling in and went back to bed and slept until 10:30am. I think maybe I was just exhausted and dehydrated because when I got up that second time, I ate and drank a bunch of water, and then felt fine by 3pm. So about 7, I decided I could try a run, and I ran 4.55 miles. I probably could have run farther, but I told the kids before I left that it shouldn’t take me more than an hour. The first mile felt good, I wanted to quit the entire second mile, I wanted to quit for half of the 3rd mile, and then I just kept telling myself that I could make it back to the church. Once there, I told myself I could make it to the 4 mile mark, and at that point I was confident I could make it home. I was feeling real good once I made it back.

And I am now training for the half marathon in November. Karyn sent me the 20 week training plan she is following, which this would be week 19 and I’ve not been exact, and still won’t be since I have a 5k next week, but it will be ok. I think.

This was stuck in my head nearly all day Monday…