Walkification, part deux

Jen and I went out for the second installation of our Monday-Wednesday Lunchtime Walkification, and this time Curtis came along too. Here's Curtis trying to banish a rock from his shoe, and Jen--who/whom you may not have recognized without her clever headwear. (It's whom by the way.)

Walkification

Good Ness, it's nippy outside today! I'm off to a good start this week, thanks to Jen, who suggested walking at lunchtime on Monday and Wednesday. And I'm grateful for it (the good start) after a poor, unenthusiastic finish last week. I barely made it to the gym on Friday, and didn't even think about going out on Saturday, although I am tempted to give myself a star anyway because climbing up and down stairs and a ladder to finish packing up and putting the Christmas decorations in the attic was hard work. My crook-of-arm muscles are still a little sore from it.

Anyway, here is Jen trying to keep her ears warm against the wind:

Will work for stars

You are looking at the face of a woman who, with every molecule in her body, absolutely, resolutely did not want to go to the gym tonight, but who, against her conscious will, forced herself to go anyway. And she is now exhausted. She hated the treadmill tonight. She loathed the very act of moving. And as she walked, then ran, then walked, then ran, then walked, she detested marathons, and triathlons and decathlons and anything else that ends in -thlon (or -thon). What am I doing? I won't be able to run that 5K in March. This is stupid. Remind me, Self, why are we doing this? But dammit she wanted to earn a star on her blog, and so she went, she ran, she blogged. You are looking at the face of a woman who is in control of her own destiny. All is well.

Into the woods

On Saturday, Keith and I decided to bundle up and take the run-o-cam out to St. Mary's Lake for a hike on the 7.5-mile lakeside trail. Neither of us have hiked this trail before, which is silly since we don't live more than 10 miles away from it. Still, it was a pretty easy trail, with only mud and some particularly aggressive tree roots to really slow us down--the length of it being the most challenging feature--and we will definitely be going back.



Despite the location, the lake was really only visible for the first 2 miles or so. We saw lots of trees. I am fine with this, however, because as much as I prefer water to woods, I can only stand to look at placid bodies of water for just so long.

But I must say, woods *do* have some pretty interesting things going on. At least they make for an interesting hike until it all starts to look the same and you just want to get the hell home to a nice, fat cheeseburger.

The air started to smell like snow about one-third of the way through, and the sky of course looked a bit ominous, and we thought maybe it would start snowing while we were on the trail. As we neared the finish--maybe 2 miles from the end--we finally started seeing flurries, but the heavier snow held off until we were safe and warm at home, each enjoying a delicious burger (with cheese for me!) and fries.

It was a dark and stormy night

Tonight I crossed over to the other side. Despite the cold and rain and general meteorological ickiness, I left the house.

And went to the gym.

Like one of those people.

Some days I am truly amazed by the things I am capable of doing.

Catching up

Sorry for the light posting this week: I was planning on posting Tuesday night after I got home, but ended up on the phone all evening with Jen B who was having the one of the most terrible weeks imaginable. I was then going to post last night, but got home late from WIFLing at mom's and ended up on the phone with Jen B again for a short while as she called to tell me the MOST EXCELLENT NEWS that I think has made the fog of terribleness lift. And then I was tired and went straight to bed, although not before *finally* burning a CD of Ok Go so that I can play "You're So Damn Hot" at my desk. What can I say? It makes me feel good.

What I would have written on Tuesday and/or Wednesday is this:

I did 30 minutes on the treadmill at the gym because it was cold! and dark! outside. But I must say, it felt darn good. Not from the throbbing in my ankle, nor the steady tightening in my chest as my lungs struggled for oxygen, nor the deafening lub-lub-lub-lub-lub of my pulse, nor the searing in my quads and hamstrings and glutes and calves and TIBIALIS ANTERIOR as I forced them to continue moving against their collective will--no, no. It felt darn good because I ran on that treadmill at a steady 11-minute-mile pace for 20 minutes before I started to notice how much it freakin' hurt or that the music I thought was in my head was actually coming from the mp3 player someone else had left in the holder thing.

Cardiomania!

Keith called me at work today to ask if I wanted to go with him to the gym tonight. That's right: He called to ask me. It must be a cold day in hell.*

I started on the elliptical machine, which I normally hate, only today I realized how amazingly well the darn thing works every leg muscle I own, and consequently the cardiovascular system. Then I got on the treadmill--because I can't stay away!--started running and couldn't stop. I was not aware that it was possible for me to run for 45 minutes on a 1 percent incline (to simulate the resistance of outdoor conditions!), but hey, you learn something new every day. I now believe that running a 5K is a reasonably attainable goal. Even cologne boy on the neighboring treadmill didn't bother me.

Although, now I'm home and sitting down and quite frankly, I'm afraid to stop moving. I know what will happen. Tomorrow morning I will awaken to weak rays of sunlight crawling through the windows and I will smile and think, "Ahh! Another day! A chance to start brand-new! What a beautiful gift!" only to be interrupted by the sound of my abs and glutes and quads and hamstrings and calves and shin muscles screaming in threatening chorus, "DAMN YOU, WOMAN!"

*His words, not mine.

Le Grande Battement

Tonight I went over to my mom's house and we completed the NYC Ballet workout 1. I don't think we'll be auditioning for The Nutcracker any time soon. In fact, we would probably get thrown out of class for not properly respecting the spiritual art experience of the ballet dancers and making smartass comments to accompany the disembodied Bavarian male voice's instructions: "In dis stretch, you should feel your hamstring and calf mossels..." "Yes, I most definitely feel my hamstring and calf mossels."

Beyond that, all I have to say (in my best Bavarian accent) is, "DUN FORGET TO BREATE!" Thank goodness! I knew I was missing something!

Back on the road again

Even though I know it's just a tease, the warm weather and later sunset (well, that's not a tease) made for a pleasant evening of aerobic goodness.

Now as it turns out, perfectionism is a psychological condition. And after a very careful and highly reliable self-diagnosis via the Wikipedia article, I think I can safely state that I am perfectly pathological and neurotic. Apparently this is unhealty. All jokes aside, it makes perfect sense, then, why I feel as though I have completely failed and thus hate myself for it.

So today I instituted a new kind of workout, to force myself out of the comforting bonds of regimented scheduling, list-making and the inevitable self-deprecation. You will notice this week's schedule is blank, except for today, whose goal was to do "Something. Anything." So for two liberating miles, I did Whatever I Feel Like, henceforth known as WIFL (pronounced "wiffle"): today's WIFL in the form of completely unstructured run/walk intervals, although this was mainly due to the fact that I forgot my watch with the interval timer. And it was very nice.

I even enjoyed the running part more than I have in a very long time. Unlike a treadmill, it is more difficult to control my running pace on the road, and inevitably I start off too hard and too fast and end up feeling like if I could just keep running without my lungs exploding, maybe all the body fat will just detach from my frame by force of impact and I can kick it away into the woods. So I decided since today's goal was simply to move, I would run (jog) at what I thought would be the slowest, most pathetic pace I could muster. Which turned out to be exactly perfect.

And I returned home feeling a little cheerful, which is quite a change indeed.

Off the bandwagon

Well, I must say that in the first six weeks of the Sarahthon, I have done an excellent job of failing tremendously. However, please note the clever use of oxymoron to emphasize this point and keep in mind that at least my writing has not suffered as much as my waistline. And thighs. And ass.

I had hoped to avoid going into New Year's Resolution territory, so I won't. I once made the mistake of telling someone about a resolution I had made. Her immediate and only response was "Most people don't keep their New Year's resolutions." Thank you. Yes. I feel encouraged and ready to tackle my resolution now. They also say that by telling someone about their goals, most people are more likely to stick with them. Makes you...accountable. I did not accomplish that goal, and I suppose it should be no small wonder why. Tactfulness lesson number one: Be sure to keep your Singularly-Narrow-Minded-Know-It-All Comments Filter locked in the ON position at all times.

Anyway the reasons why I should be motivated to run, or walk--or hell, to move--have now (admittedly) grown to include the fact that at the end of May I will be going to Savannah to perform the role of Lady of Honor for my best friend's wedding. And I really don't want to be fat for another wedding, especially since...well, I probably shouldn't discuss it on the Internet where just *anyone* can read it because that would be hurtful and WRONG. The point is that I've tried not to let my own vanity get in there with all of the "important" reasons for wanting to get in shape. Whatever. The badge might say "Lady of Honor," BUT I WANT TO *LOOK* LIKE MUY CALIENTE SEÑORITA OF HONOR *sizzle sizzle*.

I came prepared to work out today, as it's a beautiful spring day--no, I'm sorry, it's actually the start of Maryland's annual January weeklong-spring-before-winter tease--and beyond getting paid to sit indoors and rot, I have no excuse for NOT being outside, despite all my willfulness against physical exertion.