Humidity is not my friend

Well, this weekend went pretty well. Friday night we got invited over to a new friend's house to hang out. It was the first time we actually met and I think it went really well. It was a lot of fun. Saturday we headed to my hometown for the Barn Dance. My 3 year old niece got to come this year. I always love seeing her. As soon as I got to my parents' house she ran out the door to see me. When we got inside I sat on the exercise bike (for lack of any better seating). It has one of those controls to tell you how fast your going, the amount of time, and the calories burned, but the batteries were dead, so she came over and pretended to set it up for me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to hire this little girl as my personal trainer.

Her: How many minutes do you want to go for? 3 or 8?
Me: 3
Her: ok, 8. Do you want to go fast or slow?
Me: Slow
Her: How about you go fast?

Then, she proceeded to make me go faster until I was at the speed she wanted me at and that was the speed I could keep going at. Luckily, her 8 minutes means about 30 seconds. I was sweating in my parents super hot garage in no time, though.

After that, we headed to the potluck that they have before the dance. They have a hay ride going from there to the dance, which is about 3 or 4 miles. My niece insisted I had to go on the hay ride with her so my sister and my husband also rode with me. We got about a quarter to half mile away and it started to rain pretty steadily. By this time, my niece, who was the one that wanted to go on the ride, was fast asleep on my lap. The rain let up and half way through it started to rain even harder, to the point of being completely soaked. My sister and I did our best to keep her covered from the rain. The rain stopped about 3/4 mile away. We got to about 1/4 - 1/8 mile away and the tractor started sputtering. He got us to across the road and we had to walk the rest of the way, me with a 30 pound sleeping toddler in my arms until I could find her dad.

The dance was fun, but I drank way too much. The night ended with my dad making a joke about me not having a job yet and me busting into drunken tears. The next day was not so fun. Brian previously rode his motorcycle the 1 1/2 hours from where we used to live to my parents' house. Now, he finally decided to take it back to here, which is another 2 hours. He was hungover and tired, but we made a few stops along the way and made it back. It was so nice to be home.

Yesterday, I was determined to get a lot done. Of course, my addiction to the computer was a preventing factor, and I had to make Brian some lunch at noon when he was on break, so I didn't start much before then. After lunch, I realized I still needed to run some packages to the post office and the insurance lady had called me the day before to tell me I needed to take my car in for an estimate. They had told me specifically where to take it, so I went there. So I go in and they told me the paperwork would be sent there but they tell me they don't do hail estimates, and don't work with my insurance company on that. What a waste of getting dressed to leave the house and drive all over. I would've used the trip to the post office as a reason to take a long walk.. even on a hot, humid day.

I didn't want to use the humidity as an excuse for why I couldn't take a run last night, because I want to get somewhat accustomed in case the 5k falls on such a day. I managed to bust out a mile and a half. Better than nothing. Today is also super humid and depending how my knees feel I may try for at least the same. I need to find my Carmen Electra DVD and start working on that in the morning to work on strength training. I also need to clean my messy house.

Well, this has gotten rambling and lengthy already. Maybe more tonight.

Accomplishments

Well, I'm not in a huge mood to write tonight but I have major progress to update on, so I'll keep it short.

I ran my two miles the other night as usual, which meant I only needed to add another mile on by the 21st. I was really excited to hear that my sister is only running hers at about the same pace as mine, and it's been my goal to finish faster than her despite the fact she's run a bunch of them for the past two years, and I just started.

It's been really humid lately, so running has been extra sweaty. Last night, I went for a run. My legs were burning not far into it, but I tried to keep my mind power going and let that be my trainer and force me to keep going. I let my body feel the beat of the music, which works well because I'll get a faster paced song, and then a little slower. Some of them are difficult to run to the beat of and I just fall into my own pace. I have marching band to thank for my having to run to the beat. I wanted to stick with my goal of adding on a quarter mile each time I run, so I pushed hard for 2 1/4. I got to the 9th lap and Old Crow Medicine Show's "Humdinger" came on. If you like bluegrass, then this is an awesome running song. The beat was great to pick up a nice pace, and I suddenly felt great and energized. I caught a second wind and got in my third mile, which means, I am running the full length I need to be. Now I just need to add in hills, uneven terrain, and speed in the next three weeks.

Well, this weekend is the barn dance. I'm excited, as always. Tomorrow is running night and I hope to make some more progress. Hopefully drinking this weekend won't set me back too far.

Something encouraging...

Here's an article I found. I had read one a while back about how your mind is your worst enemy when it comes to exercise, and by thinking you can't, you won't be able to. Since then, I've been trying to keep that in mind and stick to that theory, which I believe really helps. This one covers a few of the threatening thoughts and what they should be replaced with.

http://caloriecount.about.com/dont-exercise-punish-yourself-eating-b444943?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_20100729&utm_term=continue1

I'll Try to Remember...

Alright, it's been a few days, but my computer has been a bit neglected lately. No, I didn't lose my addiction... it got overtaken. Brian found a tv on Craigslist to use as an oversized computer screen, and when I say oversized... I mean this:


Yes, a 37" flatscreen. It's huge. So, he's been amazed by this big screen and took over my desk with his laptop hooked up to it, which means my laptop (which is basically worthless and can't travel from the desk easily) sat in the corner without me being able to use it.

Anyway, Thursday I went for another run. I decided to do some speed work, so I sprinted the straights and walked the curves. I was pooped. I think I need to work some more on the speed stuff. Friday, I didn't run, but I did manage to talk Brian into a bike ride. We rode about a mile and a half, and he decided to really push me at the end so he took off fast and I kept up for a bit, but my thighs felt like they were about to burst, so I went back to my sad slow biking. Yesterday, I did some housework and ran. This time I worked on running at a decent pace running one lap then walking one. I did this for 2 miles.

My eating was less than good this weekend. I haven't been all that bad around meal time, but snacking has been terrible. Despite that, when I weighed myself when I woke up today I was just under 175! I was so happy. I wore a sun dress today and felt so confident.

Today we worked on some cleaning. I got rid of a bunch of things and started arranging my desk drawers. I didn't run, though. Maybe I'll work in a little yoga tonight. I also worked on my bag I've been crocheting. It's almost done and it's really cute. I want to try making a flower to put on it to add a little appeal, and maybe if I like how it looks I'll try to sell it.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with another employment agency. I applied at Starbucks the other day also, but I haven't heard anything back. Still nothing from my interview last week, and I even saw a posting on Craigslist for an opening there just a couple days ago. I'd call to inquire about my interview, but I don't have any contact information.

Well, I can't remember if there was anything else to write about. Maybe someday I'll find some readers?