So, I decided that a quick update was needed on my attempts at running during the holidays. Well, it should be very brief considering I have ran all of three times. Part of the reason I haven't been is the indoor track has been closed, and I just can't drag myself out into the cold. Cold and I have an ongoing hate-hate relationship. My lungs especially struggle in the cold weather. I figured death by freazation (I invented this word. Use It, Love It, Spread It) wasn't worth toned legs. Its almost worth it though...
Any ways, the times I have gone have been delightful. My dear husband even came with me last time. Nothing like seeing a really hott guy running around the track to give you motivation. (And, yes, that hott guy would be my husband).
In other news, Christmas was amazing! I was able to spend time getting to know my in-laws. I even did something crafty and made a fleece blanket for my awesome sister-in-law Julianne (she is my best pal). I probably ate my weight in delicious food, and will continue to do so over New Years. As much as I love the holidays, I am kind of looking forward to basic routines again. I know, boring, but I love knowing what each day is supposed to hold. And this whole exercise thing will be a whole lot easier.
Happy Holidays One and All! Be safe! Be clean! Be merry! Be GOOD!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The Indoor Track
Alright, it is time for a midweek Update! Guess what? I ran every day this week. (This sounds a lot better than it really is, considering it is only Wednesday). My life has been simplified as I have started running on the BYU indoor track. And, if I do say so myself, things are going very well. I decided to amp up my training program as it was designed for people who were really out of shape or had never run before. Considering I've been doing Yoga and Powertone for the past three/four months I decided that I could definitely speed up the process a wee bit.
What I did not anticipate was that running on a track requires a completely different mental state. You see, there is this big area in the middle for people to jump, do running drills and just show off their excellent physique. And then there are these ridiculously fast runners who pass you four to five times, each time more humiliating than the last. And then there are the inevitable desperate men attempting to pick up on some girls. (Why don't guys realize that we women are usually running to escape the world and weirdos like themselves, this is the WORST place to pick up a girl in my opinion. Ok, not the worst. The Dentist or the Hospital are probably the worst.)
So, I step onto the track and am immediately scared for my life as an older gentleman with freakishly muscular legs and a balding head charges up the lane I'm in, making grunting noises that would scare a gorilla. I, of course, try to get out of the way, only to cut off another runner. I get myself off the track for a moment and wait for a lag in the steady stream of runners. I feel somewhat like I am waiting to turn left without a light. Finally, I throw myself into the melee and just make a run for it. Literally. I figure out which lanes are for the slow people, and resolutely promise myself that I will not leave this lane! (this didn't last long. I got bored).
Having found myself where I needed to be, I then became aware of how pathetic I am. Here I am, walking two minutes then running a minute and panting at the end of that minute so loudly I'm sure someone will stop to ask if I am having a heart attack, and passing me are people three times my age, jogging along with a serene look on their face. When they pass me twice, I feel the urgent need to hide but I hold my head up high and focus on the lines of the track. Worse than the old people are the young ones. You know, those guys in such amazing shape that you can see each individual muscles in their legs, (and the rest of their body) and the girls with toned legs and thighs that magically, and it has to be magic or I want a refund on life, don't jiggle at ALL, and as they pass you speed walking they look at you with pity. And I get all fired up and want to run and run, but know that if I try I'll be more pathetic than a fish out of water... so I don't.
I know the people in the track probably aren't running around us slow folk and thinking about their own superiority, but I can't help but think that they are secretly laughing at my little efforts. This, my friends, is a perfect example of my low self-esteem and drastically (according to my husband) skewed perception of myself. So,while huffing and puffing my way around the track, I kept on telling myself "You are awesome. Trust me Jeannie, you rock at life. Look, see this, we made it around the track five seconds fast than last time. Ah! Ignore the old man racing past you. He has been running for years, this is only day two. You can do it!" Only to have this train of thought diminish to "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can."
When my timer beeps and I realize that, by some miracle, a half an hour has passed, I scurry off the track to the random place with the adult monkey bars (I haven't no other way of explaining this...) where people go to stretch and work out the rest of their body. It is, of course, filled with guys attempting to bulk up their already scary large arms. I ignore them, go to a corner, turn the iPod to Enya and start do some Yoga. This is when I notice that someone is staring at me. It turns out to be a guy I went on several dates with, but then abandoned when I realized how fake he was. I had my wedding ring on, and thought that once he saw this he would go away. Nope. He actually interrupted me in the middle of Sun Salutation B to try and talk to me. (NEVER interrupt someone when they are doing Yoga. Seriously, it throws me completely out of my groove and instead of being at peace, I'm grumpy) I won't bore you with details of our conversation. Let's just say, I bragged about my husband for about 2 minutes before he got bored and abruptly said he had to go and finish his push ups. (I'm not sure how push ups can be so demanding, but I was very glad to see him go).
So my friends, I've done it. Two consecutive days of running. The track is only open tonight, and then reopens on Monday, what with the holidays and all, so I am going to have to find some type of alternative. Still, GO ME!
P.S. The hardest part about all of this is still breaking in those amazing running shoes. I love them, but my feet don't. Not yet any ways.
What I did not anticipate was that running on a track requires a completely different mental state. You see, there is this big area in the middle for people to jump, do running drills and just show off their excellent physique. And then there are these ridiculously fast runners who pass you four to five times, each time more humiliating than the last. And then there are the inevitable desperate men attempting to pick up on some girls. (Why don't guys realize that we women are usually running to escape the world and weirdos like themselves, this is the WORST place to pick up a girl in my opinion. Ok, not the worst. The Dentist or the Hospital are probably the worst.)
So, I step onto the track and am immediately scared for my life as an older gentleman with freakishly muscular legs and a balding head charges up the lane I'm in, making grunting noises that would scare a gorilla. I, of course, try to get out of the way, only to cut off another runner. I get myself off the track for a moment and wait for a lag in the steady stream of runners. I feel somewhat like I am waiting to turn left without a light. Finally, I throw myself into the melee and just make a run for it. Literally. I figure out which lanes are for the slow people, and resolutely promise myself that I will not leave this lane! (this didn't last long. I got bored).
Having found myself where I needed to be, I then became aware of how pathetic I am. Here I am, walking two minutes then running a minute and panting at the end of that minute so loudly I'm sure someone will stop to ask if I am having a heart attack, and passing me are people three times my age, jogging along with a serene look on their face. When they pass me twice, I feel the urgent need to hide but I hold my head up high and focus on the lines of the track. Worse than the old people are the young ones. You know, those guys in such amazing shape that you can see each individual muscles in their legs, (and the rest of their body) and the girls with toned legs and thighs that magically, and it has to be magic or I want a refund on life, don't jiggle at ALL, and as they pass you speed walking they look at you with pity. And I get all fired up and want to run and run, but know that if I try I'll be more pathetic than a fish out of water... so I don't.
I know the people in the track probably aren't running around us slow folk and thinking about their own superiority, but I can't help but think that they are secretly laughing at my little efforts. This, my friends, is a perfect example of my low self-esteem and drastically (according to my husband) skewed perception of myself. So,while huffing and puffing my way around the track, I kept on telling myself "You are awesome. Trust me Jeannie, you rock at life. Look, see this, we made it around the track five seconds fast than last time. Ah! Ignore the old man racing past you. He has been running for years, this is only day two. You can do it!" Only to have this train of thought diminish to "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can."
When my timer beeps and I realize that, by some miracle, a half an hour has passed, I scurry off the track to the random place with the adult monkey bars (I haven't no other way of explaining this...) where people go to stretch and work out the rest of their body. It is, of course, filled with guys attempting to bulk up their already scary large arms. I ignore them, go to a corner, turn the iPod to Enya and start do some Yoga. This is when I notice that someone is staring at me. It turns out to be a guy I went on several dates with, but then abandoned when I realized how fake he was. I had my wedding ring on, and thought that once he saw this he would go away. Nope. He actually interrupted me in the middle of Sun Salutation B to try and talk to me. (NEVER interrupt someone when they are doing Yoga. Seriously, it throws me completely out of my groove and instead of being at peace, I'm grumpy) I won't bore you with details of our conversation. Let's just say, I bragged about my husband for about 2 minutes before he got bored and abruptly said he had to go and finish his push ups. (I'm not sure how push ups can be so demanding, but I was very glad to see him go).
So my friends, I've done it. Two consecutive days of running. The track is only open tonight, and then reopens on Monday, what with the holidays and all, so I am going to have to find some type of alternative. Still, GO ME!
P.S. The hardest part about all of this is still breaking in those amazing running shoes. I love them, but my feet don't. Not yet any ways.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Epic Fail? Not Quite.... Ok, maybe a little....
You know, after my huge schpill about not letting excuses rule my life, I'm ashamed to admit that I did not go running until Friday morning. FRIDAY?! Let me show you what happened this week:
Tuesday: My sister-in-law let me borrow Hunger Games. I sat down to eat dinner and picked up the book to read while I ate as Stephen was at work. Two hours later, my brother calls me. I hadn't moved from where I was sitting. My dinner had gone untouched. I had 20 pages left. By then, it was too dark outside to go anywhere by myself.
Wednesday: Stephen, bless his wonderful heart, gave me an amazing Christmas gift! (early, as you can see. Which is usually against the rules, but we let it slide this time because I needed what he gave me!) He had bought me the nicest running shoes on the market called Ziggs, by Rebok. They absorb a lot of the shock that comes from running. My dear husband wants to protect my already thrashed joints. His gift was very heartening. It's nice to know the most important person in your life wants to support you in your goals. Not to mention, I don't have any excuses left as to why I'm not running. BUT! I wasn't able to go Wednesday night because we ended up at the Mall, and then we ate dinner. By the time we got home, it was too late. Again.
Thursday: I was actually changing (Yay! True intent to go!) When my dearest little brother (ok, so he isn't that little) showed up at my door as prearranged. Only... I forgot. And then, my best friend and her boyfriend dropped by to give us a Christmas gift. By the time everyone left, it was not only late but I was exhausted.
Friday: I ACTUALLY RAN! But... I found out, much to my chagrin, that I am terribly out of shape. It is seriously unfortunate. For the past four months I did Yoga twice a week and Powertone twice a week. Plus, on occasions, when to the gym to the elliptical machines. Did this do me any good when I hit the pavement? Nope. Friday's training schedule was to Walk two minutes, run a minute, walk two minutes, run a minute for 30 minutes. I'll admit, I am being rather hard on myself. I wasn't dying or anything by the time I was done. I think I have a really good training program set up (if you want to find it, let me know. Its hard to explain on here) because it is trying to condition my lungs and get my heart pumping without completely discouraging me. But still... I was always really happy when that one minute was up.
However! I WILL PREVAIL! I will run this 5K if it kills me. (I really hope it doesn't kill me.... really really hope).
Saturday: Didn't run. Saturday was actually a really bad day for me. Just one of those days where you can't climb out of the emotional turmoil that doesn't make any sense. Running probably would have been good for me at that point. You know, next time I get down in the dumps I think I'll go for a nice brisk run/walk.
So there you go, my rather pathetic attempt at last week. For this next week though, I am going to try to make it every day from now until Thursday. I might even go Christmas day... we'll see. I'm not that motivated.
Random thoughts - While sitting at Subway I had two things occupy my mind when I should have been writing. ONE: Those green signs on the side of the road that say "20 min to Lehi" and have an arrow pointing in that direction, and then "17 min to Lehi" with the arrow pointing the other way. You know what I"m talking about? Any ways, how do they know? Are they tracking cars? Have they worked out a mathematical equation that can determine, by counting cars or something, how long the drive will be with x being the minutes, y= number of cars and b= weather conditions? There is probably a very simple answer to this... but now I have to go waste time looking it up and finding out.
The second thing was, where does all the soda come from in a soda fountain? And how do they fill it? What do the containers look like? I want to go open one up and explore it now. I don't know if anyone will let me though...
Tuesday: My sister-in-law let me borrow Hunger Games. I sat down to eat dinner and picked up the book to read while I ate as Stephen was at work. Two hours later, my brother calls me. I hadn't moved from where I was sitting. My dinner had gone untouched. I had 20 pages left. By then, it was too dark outside to go anywhere by myself.
Wednesday: Stephen, bless his wonderful heart, gave me an amazing Christmas gift! (early, as you can see. Which is usually against the rules, but we let it slide this time because I needed what he gave me!) He had bought me the nicest running shoes on the market called Ziggs, by Rebok. They absorb a lot of the shock that comes from running. My dear husband wants to protect my already thrashed joints. His gift was very heartening. It's nice to know the most important person in your life wants to support you in your goals. Not to mention, I don't have any excuses left as to why I'm not running. BUT! I wasn't able to go Wednesday night because we ended up at the Mall, and then we ate dinner. By the time we got home, it was too late. Again.
Thursday: I was actually changing (Yay! True intent to go!) When my dearest little brother (ok, so he isn't that little) showed up at my door as prearranged. Only... I forgot. And then, my best friend and her boyfriend dropped by to give us a Christmas gift. By the time everyone left, it was not only late but I was exhausted.
Friday: I ACTUALLY RAN! But... I found out, much to my chagrin, that I am terribly out of shape. It is seriously unfortunate. For the past four months I did Yoga twice a week and Powertone twice a week. Plus, on occasions, when to the gym to the elliptical machines. Did this do me any good when I hit the pavement? Nope. Friday's training schedule was to Walk two minutes, run a minute, walk two minutes, run a minute for 30 minutes. I'll admit, I am being rather hard on myself. I wasn't dying or anything by the time I was done. I think I have a really good training program set up (if you want to find it, let me know. Its hard to explain on here) because it is trying to condition my lungs and get my heart pumping without completely discouraging me. But still... I was always really happy when that one minute was up.
However! I WILL PREVAIL! I will run this 5K if it kills me. (I really hope it doesn't kill me.... really really hope).
Saturday: Didn't run. Saturday was actually a really bad day for me. Just one of those days where you can't climb out of the emotional turmoil that doesn't make any sense. Running probably would have been good for me at that point. You know, next time I get down in the dumps I think I'll go for a nice brisk run/walk.
So there you go, my rather pathetic attempt at last week. For this next week though, I am going to try to make it every day from now until Thursday. I might even go Christmas day... we'll see. I'm not that motivated.
Random thoughts - While sitting at Subway I had two things occupy my mind when I should have been writing. ONE: Those green signs on the side of the road that say "20 min to Lehi" and have an arrow pointing in that direction, and then "17 min to Lehi" with the arrow pointing the other way. You know what I"m talking about? Any ways, how do they know? Are they tracking cars? Have they worked out a mathematical equation that can determine, by counting cars or something, how long the drive will be with x being the minutes, y= number of cars and b= weather conditions? There is probably a very simple answer to this... but now I have to go waste time looking it up and finding out.
The second thing was, where does all the soda come from in a soda fountain? And how do they fill it? What do the containers look like? I want to go open one up and explore it now. I don't know if anyone will let me though...
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Confessions, Disclaimers and Gee Wizzes
Well here I am. After years of saying, "I should blog" I actually started one. And the start of this blog isn't that I was sitting and admiring my own thoughts, or exclaiming that the wondrous events of my life should be published for all the world to know, but that I needed someone to be responsible too or I would never actually reach all the things I want to claim as my own.
The best way for me to explain what it is I am trying to accomplish is to give a brief summary of yesterday's events. Or lack thereof. You see, I have decided to become a runner. I decide this every few months, go running a few times, and then find better things to do with my time (or so I say). The reality of it is, I am full of excuses. For example, I have found this wonderful training program at runnersworld.com for beginners that I was really excited to start. It was supposed to be started on a Monday, and I woke up telling myself, "Today is the day we begin!" But... the night before was rather sleepless. Well, very sleepless. And then I had my two hour yoga final where I twisted my body into positions I didn't know possible, and then held them for 5 to 10 breaths (for those of you who have never done this, 5 to 10 breaths is an eternity.... trust me). My body was tired, my mind was tired and.... it was cold outside. Three very valid excuses. But you see, they were excuses. And I am determined, NO MORE EXCUSES!!!!
So, first things first.
Confessions:
I dream big, love planning but often scare myself with the enormity and amazingness of my own projects so they rarely get done.
I am very, very human and extraordinarily far from perfect. I have bad days, good days and days that are worse than a steady diet of vanilla yogurt.
I would rather read then breathe sometimes. It can be an issue.
Sometimes, when my husband isn't home or isn't ready to go to bed yet, I fall asleep with a teddy bear. And I'm not ashamed to admit it (obviously).
I hate celery.
Disclaimers:
Sometimes I say things that aren't very nice. They may be true, but tact has never been my strong point. I don't ever mean to offend anyone. I promise!
I really like using ellipsis, usually incorrectly... (See, I couldn't help it.)
I am a romantic. I am patriotic. I believe in all the good old fashioned emotions and in being passionate about things. If this annoys you... well, I'm sorry cause you are missing out on a lot of fun in life.
Gee Wizz
Cats sleep 16 to 18 hours per day.
The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.
The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in jelly.
And two of my favorite words are : Brobdingnagian and Polypragmoisoi
Now, if you are still with me, I would like to go into further detail as to what I really am about. I want to do all the things I want to do. Redundant? Yes. Well, I want to run a 5K (for starters) but I will never get there unless I actually get out there and consistently run. I want to finish a book I started writing, but I never will unless I actually work on it. So, I am using cyberspace and the few people who want to take the time out of their day to read this as my conscience. I now have someone I am accountable too. And I WILL accomplish my goals.
Now, some days it might not be an update on goal reaching (or attempted reachings) but it might be on some random thought that I wanted to get out of my head and onto some form of communication.
So, to wrap things up, I am issuing myself the challenge to stop using excuses. I will reach my goals. By June I will be able to run at least a 5K (this can and will hopefully be changed to a 10K) and by the end of this year I will have finished writing my book. Anyone else want to join me in an attempt to fulfill some dreams? I hope so.
May the Force Be With You
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