The Muddy Monster

I ran in the Muddy Monster 5k run this weekend. It was a beautiful day. I am always sooooo surprised by how difficult it is to run outside. This was on grass and some gravelly trails, but mostly grass, it was really difficult. In some spots the path was sort of narrow so my speed was slowed and runners really had to watch the path for ruts and sticks, etc. So my time was much slower this time - 33 minutes and 18 seconds I think. I walked quite a few times also, which I tend to do apparently. I have a real problem motivating myself to keep running. What I need is a way to watch some TV show while I run these things...then maybe I could keep up a decent pace while distracted by mindless entertainment. Oh well, it was a fun run and a great weekend.

The race has a facebook page...alot of fun costumes and some really fun pepole to race with.

These two won first place. Very nice, excellent costume, and he was giving away candy. Love that they were so into the whole thing.

The winning combo

So I finally realized last night why I run. Why I haven't quit, like I've quit so many other exercise plans. I don't love to run, honestly, anyone that says they do, I think is lying at least a little bit. I love how I feel afterwards, I love how it feels to finish a race that other people are in..and to finish ahead of a lot of people feels great. But the running part, it's generally awful. But..I figured out why I do it anyway. It's something I've finally figured out that I can do for myself. I keep myself on task, I'm not a slacker about it, I hate it when I let anything get in the way of my regular treadmill time. Also, let me be clear - I'm not running a 5k every night. My treadmill has programs that let me burn X calories in X time and I typically choose the 400 cal/40min program which involves plenty of walking. I run a little faster during the fast parts and according to the treadmill I burn around 450cals. I also watch tv on the iPad while I'm doing it - I'd quit for sure without that. Anyway...that's the thing. I do it because I want to, it's sort of my "thing" and I don't want to stop doing it. Also, it works. My legs and behind have never looked so good.

I'm running in the MuddyMonster next weekend and I think I'm going to dress up. Maybe a bumblebee...from what I've heard about the facebook photos..I could have a shot at a costume prize if I make just a little effort. It doesn't start until 10 which I love and it's all trails and grass, which is soooo much better than road running.

The other part of this combo is yoga or pilates or piyo or some sort of core exercise. I actually WANT to get out my Tracy Anderson post pregnancy DVD and see if i can do more of it now. I've been taking a piyo class at a local gym and so far I really think its working. It's slow progress, but I believe it works. So I think I'll take at least one more session of the class and then I'll have to decide if its still worth the hassle of going to class, or if I can find a suitable pilates/yoga/something DVD to do the same thing. I think actual yoga or pilates poses are key though, so i'm hesitant to give it up. We'll see how it works out.

Random note. I love RunKeeper I know Dooce mentioned it on her blog recently, which I thought was pretty cool, but I was also like HEY I USED IT FIRST. It's a really nice program, and it works on my windows phone and so i have my music, runkeeper and phone all in one, which is awesome. It tracks your gps location and pace and elevation as you run, then it maps it all out for you online, which you can then share with others. It's just cool.

Okbye.

Remind me

Maybe if i blog about it, i'll remember to do it.

MOVE FFXI CHARACTER TO TOWN AND SUSPEND ACCOUNT AGAIN.

As much as I want to play it, the game is just too large and I can't possibly catch up right now. The cost just isn't worth it. Maybe when both girls are teenagers and can't stand to hang out with me anymore, maybe then i'll have time to play again.

Plus I really need to focus on getting to and winning a level 50 Horde on Gears3 with my hubs and brothers. That game turned out to be much more addicting and much less frightening than I thought. Fun stuff.

Smart Kids or Maybe Not

So from what I've read in a few places, here, for example, kids brains do not fully develop until they're nearly 20 years old. Thank God for that.

So..here's some background. I get my oldest dressed in the morning for school. Usually I wake her up, pick out her clothes and help her get dressed. Sometimes I leave the drawers in her dresser open so that closing them doesn't wake the other kid. So a couple weeks ago, I left the two bottom drawers open, so I don't wake the other kid and we can just get moving. Remember that, I left 'em open.

So, she comes home from school that afternoon, wanting to play her Nintendo DSi, great. I say, I put it upstairs, in your room, on the floor, in front of your dresser. So she goes upstairs to grab it. About five minutes later she comes down, Mom, I can't find it. What? I know it's there, I put it there myself yesterday AND I saw it this morning. So I go up, to help her look. I walk into her room and I almost dropped a F bomb. She's standing there, with the bottom drawers of her dresser STILL OPEN. She's actually walking AROUND the open drawers "looking" for the DSi. I said ... Are you [in my brain #$#%@#!] kidding me? Did you LOOK WHERE I SAID?! She looks at me. Then sticks out a foot, and pushes a drawer closed. Voila! There is it, RIGHT WHERE I SAID.

My mind was seriously blown. How can you look in a place you cannot see? Without  MOVING the things that block your view. She was walking around the open drawers. It still blows my mind now.

Thank GOD their brains are still developing.

Holy Crap a Preschooler!

There are no words.

Again. I did it again.

I had all these great "thoughts" last night. Things worth writing down! And I didn't. Good grief, I'm pathetic. I did finish reading "The Help" though, so there's that. Good book and I'm looking forward to seeing how it translates into film.

What I need is a journal type notebook and a book light that isn't glaring or obvious or 'holy crap what is that' wake up the husband type light.  Oh and a real nightstand to put such things on.

Not a wordsmith

I am not a wordsmith. I am the opposite of a wordsmith, whatever that is. I am terrible with words. Written, Spoken, Implied. I tell ridiculous stories that make no sense. I say what I believe people or animals/pets are thinking without being clear that's what I'm doing, thoroughly confusing everyone around me. Working at home, I tend to ramble when I get face time with other adults, as though it's my last hope of having a real conversation.  And yet, I still want to write something. Something interesting that other people might read. A story, a true story, or a mixed true/embellished story. Something based on things I know about (kids? web design? crazy parents and siblings? insane drivers?)...or maybe something completely made up.  I dunno. I think I need to start bringing paper to bed with me, because when I turn off the TV my mind doesn't stop. It keeps going for quite a long time. So..I'm going to just list some things I think about..before I sleep. When I wish I would get up and write them down, but I'm too lazy and afraid of failure to do it.

- I should write a book titled "Why Children Lick the Cart. A guide for parents when kids make them say wha???"  And explain, in my completely unprofessional, totally uneducated opinion why kids do some of the things they do, how to deal with it and mostly just get all the crazy shit they do out on paper. Its mind blowing to me that I may have done some of these same idiotic things as a child as well. How can that be?

- I should start a life coaching company. There are a lot of morons that could benefit from my no nonsense, Dr. Phil without the psychology degree common sense advice. For a small fee, I could tell you NOT to buy a car with a credit card. Also, sign up for a 401k ASAP if you can. SAVE NOW. Things like that. Things that don't occur to the common sensically challenged. The biggest problem with this idea is that I'd be inclined to tell people they ARE IDIOTS and WTF why aren't you listening to me, OMG. And then, I'm probably out of business. I have no patience for idiots. Or maybe I just write a book 'I am your Life Coach and you WILL listen to me' instead, so people can buy it and just put it down if I piss them off.

-Now I'm angry with myself for not getting up last night and writing more of this down, because I've forgotten some of it and now i'll have to wait to document more of it.

Jedi Mind School

So we're addicted to Big Brother. Yes, we're aware that it's a horrible show. We're addicted, it is what it is. So each year, we order Showtime so we can watch Big Brother After Dark (BBAD) and see what's going on in the house after hours. Usually, its nothing. Less than nothing. Last night there was still nothing going on, but Rachel and Jeff and Jordan were outside, just talking on the couches. And Jeff was recounting how he talked to Kalia (current HoH) about nominations. He told her, if she puts him up, she becomes his #1 target. The next moment she says, hey, I just want us to be on the same page here. He cannot believe her...I JUST SAID YOU ARE MY #1 TARGET if you put me up..how can she now want to be on the same page. WTF. He says... "She needs to go back to Jedi Mind School. Because her shit ain't working" OMG. We laughed soooo hard. It was perfect, it's how all the houseguests act, like they have jedi mind tricks and they try to work them on everyone at the same time and none of it works.

The husband says he's going to start using that line.

You need to go back to jedi mind school. Cuz your shit ain't workin. 

Awesome

Stuff

Wow I suck at blogging. Anyway..almost on vacation, almost time for school to start again. I registered for another 5k in September even though I feel like a slacker when I run now. Maybe I'll get a chance to run outside this weekend again. The puppies also got their first haircuts. They're exhausted now.

I did it. I ran a 5k.

I ran my first 5k this morning. 30:48 is my time. I was hoping for a 30 minute 5k, because I think that's the average, and I want to be at least average. Heh. It was hot, and hard, and I did walk for a short bit while I had a drink. And the description about it being FLAT wasn't entirely accurate. There were uphill parts..but it was ok. There was also mention of entertainment... A man on a bicycle with a boom box strapped to the back is NOT entertainment. But that was ok too. I made it, I ran it (with a brief walk) and I made it in a decent time. All that running and training and I have something to show for it. My number, and a free shirt, and some pictures (proof) and the knowledge that I did it. I DID IT!

Run Run Run

I think I'm going to register for a July 4th 5k run. Is that surprising to anyone else ? I shock myself with that statement. I ran on the treadmill last night though and I just got on, turned on Lie to Me on the iPad and ran for 33 minutes (walked 2min for a short warmup) for about 3 miles. I didn't get tired or bored (thank you iPad/Netflix) and I felt great afterwards. So I actually think I might be able to run a 5k. Huh. Who knew.

New puppies

I have got to be the worst blogger ever. I find myself slightly jealous at the women that blog for a living, taking ad space and paying their mortgages with their online yammering. Yet I can't write two posts in a week's time to save my life. I guess there's a reason they're making money at it and I'm not. Also, I'm not trying.

So a couple weeks ago we got new puppies. Apparently we can only be without a dog about 2.5 months before we just can't resist puppies anymore. So we went to LOOK at the local pet store, just to see the puppies and kittens and fish and birds. And we left with TWO DOGS. We could not resist buying one, and when we found out she had a sister, well, what kind of monsters would we be if we separated them? Meet Molly (larger with white between her eyes) and Lucy (small, in charge). They're slowly but surely learning about peeing outside and ONLY outside, slowly..slowly. They're super cute and fiesty and playful and everything puppies should be. The girls love them so we're glad we have them, in spite of the training work ahead of us in the next few months.

Also, I haven't written anything to anyone about anything. I haven't written anything for myself, for my own plans. I haven't written. Hell, I could hardly write this. And I'm pretty sure my sister just had or is about to have a baby, but we aren't speaking (for what seem like good reasons), so I won't even be invited to participate in any of that.

So. Life is meh.

Running: The perfect playlist

I think I finally discovered the perfect playlist for running. Last night the toddler "stole" the iPad I usually use to watch Bones through Netflix. Rather than cause tears and screaming, I took my iPod Touch and selected songs for a running playlist. I figured that it's only 30 minutes of actual running, I didn't need music for the warmup walk or cooldown if I ran out of songs. So..let's see..what songs would be good for running.

Avril Lavigne: Girlfriend
Sir Mix-A-Lot: Baby Got Back
Black Eyed Peas: Boom Boom Pow
Warrant: Cherry Pie
Vanilla Ice: Ice Ice Baby
Limp Bizkit: Rollin' (Uncensored of course)
DMX: Up in Here
Kelly Clarkson: Whyyawannabringmedown
Tag Team: Whoomp! There it is

Will Smith: Men In Black
Alien Ant Farm: Smooth Criminal

I didn't get to all the songs above, but I'm fairly the confident the ones I didn't hear would still be awesome to run to. The 30 minute running part of my very last C25K program went super fast. I even ran an EXTRA MINUTE because  Baby Got Back was on and I couldn't stop.

A couple others I might consider adding to the list:
EnVogue: Free Your Mind
Will Smith: Gettin' Jiggy Wit It
No Doubt: Hey Baby
Kelly Clarkson: I Do Not Hookup

It turns out that my rules for music when running is that I need to be able to mouth along with it - obviously I can't sing because I'll die of exhaustion, but I can lip sync. I found the other awesome part of the C25K app for my iPod - extra programs! There's a 35 minute run and 45 minute run option, so you can still have the prompts to warmup, run and cooldown, without being in any week/day schedule since I've passed the program. Those will really come in handy once I can try running outside. If the sun comes out. Ever.

MORE Exercise?

So I've been sick since last Tuesday or something. I blame the kids, the 2nd grader brought home a cold, and while I worked hard to keep her sister from catching it, I didn't keep myself from catching it. So I'm just now starting to recover enough. I postponed my C25K wk7d3 run because I wasn't sure I could get through it without a coughing session and I don't want to affect my runs that way. So I've been doing the 40-minute workout program on the treadmill. But..the more I run, the more I try to keep going and going on the treadmill, the more I wonder if I should be doing something else too. I keep getting suckered by infomercials for things like HipHopAbs, ZumbaDance, Insanity, and P90X...and the bodies on those people. I can only dream. I've lost around 10-12 pounds since January, which is great, but I have this belly I can't seem to ditch and the scale seems to refuse to go any lower. I've been trying to fit in some Bender Ball work after a run, but I can't always get to that, and I don't like to spend my entire evening's free time exercising. Sometimes I like to watch TV and hang out with my husband. So, now I'm wondering if I should try Jillian's 30day shred again maybe, throw it in on alternate days, and run on the others. She says I can be shredded in 30 days...what if she's lying and it takes more like 60 days and more intense workouts that I don't have. The worst part, is that I'll probably end up doing nothing and just keep running. Just keep running, just keep running. Sometimes I'm just lame all around.

Dear Mom

I need to write a letter to my mother. We haven't spoken in something like ten years. Yeah yeah, technically that's a long time, but whatever. I'm not in any hurry to open any lines of anything with her. Every time I tried to talk to her in the past, it backfired. She doesn't listen and doesn't HEAR me, so I'm only afraid that any attempt will result in the same frustrations. But I know it's something I need to do. I need to tell her the problems I have with 'reconciling' and the fallout we've all experienced from her decision to leave over twelve years ago. I NEED to get it all out there. I want to say I've forgiven her, but every time I think through that, I get angry and so I'm not sure that I truly have forgiven her. I guess I don't know exactly what that means really. Do I have to not be angry about any of it anymore? Do I have to talk to her as though everything is like it was twelve years ago? Do we have to be friends? Can I forgive her and still get her not to talk to me? For now, I procrastinate. In an effort to procrastinate more, I'll probably elaborate via blog and dwell on all these questions instead.