Can Couch Potatoes Change?… or Don’t We All Start as Spuds?

It's all about choice.

It’s official.  I registered (and paid) for the triathlon scheduled for July 16.  Pretty good for someone who—until very recently—thought triathlon was spelled Tri-ath-A-lon! 

If you’ve read any of my last three posts or A Running Journal diary, you’ll know I rather dubiously started running via the barefoot mode to lose a few pounds; a last-ditch effort.  It’s been only a month since I’ve done more than walk or weed the garden.

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What? You’ve Never Heard of Brick Training? Join the Club.

Superbrick!

Yes, it all began with that one step. 

Now I’m wondering what I’ve gotten myself into.  I showed my husband the Sprint Triathlon website, which by the way includes a NON-traditional biking distance of 24 miles, a Sprinternational special condition, I guess.  This translates into longer than normal.  The rest of the normal sprint (as far as I can tell) is .3 miles of swimming and 3.1 miles of running.

So, my husband looked at the distances on GoogleEarth and all I kept hearing from upstairs were groans and “Oh, my God.” Continue reading

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Stand Back (Get Out of My Way) or…Who Says There’s Limits?

Here we go!

When I started running a few weeks ago (see Sit.Desk.Write… and Run.), I never aspired to anything more than… running to lose a few pounds. 

My athletic husband, who’s mouth is still hanging open because I’m actually moving, tentatively suggested that maybe… someday… down the road… I might consider doing an actual event like a half-marathon or 5K race to start. 

A dear friend who’d encouraged me to run five years ago but never pressured me, also suggested I pick an event for the fall as a target to keep me on track. 

I paid them both lip service, but had no burning desire to join a mass of hot sticky (stinky) people jostling for position to do what?  Publicly sweat?  No thank you. Continue reading

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Sit. Desk. Write… and Run.

A week and two days ago, I started running.  It wasn’t a planned event, but here I am. 

As I began to chronicle my daily data; weight, distance, and my level of motivation, I realized it was turning into a running journal of my progress–the highs and lows of victories and disappointments.  When I’m passionate about something, I’m driven to write about it. Continue reading

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Remind Me Not To Eat 5 Brownies… Again.

But... it was delish.

It’s almost noon and I’ve already walked 7.9 miles, moved fifty-one bricks to different locations, and done three loads of laundry which entails traversing many, many stairs.

So why am I not losing weight?  It might be all the food I’m eating. 

A friend told me this morning you can eat anything you want and not gain weight; the key is eating only half of anything.  Continue reading

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We’re back (to reality)… or How walking 10 miles a day on a beach is different than walking 10 miles a day at home…

Every vacation needs a romantic sunset!

Whenever I return from a vacation break, lots of feelings and thoughts flood my mind. 

One, I’m re-invigorated to jump back into my life and wipe the slate clean.  I mean really clean.  After spending two weeks in an easy breezy condo with my husband on a Florida beach where pretty much all you need are a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, a bag for shells, a blender, and a tube of sunscreen, when I get home, I naturally want to pitch any and all extraneous clutter blocking my path.  A to-do list is begun. Continue reading

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Ringing My Bell On Valentine’s Day: The Morning After

 

For moi?

 

Valentine’s Day has always been my favorite holiday.  Some years it’s been high and some years it’s been low. 

I still remember the shoeboxes I decorated with paper doilies and red construction paper in grade school and the optimism of what they could hold.  (In retrospect, I guess there was something good about wearing those “saddle-shoe” orthopedic nightmares; the boxes were bigger and sturdier.)  Continue reading

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The Best Thing I Liked About Zumba Was My Instructor’s Outfit.

 

Seriously, her clothes were really cool.   My instructor could have been this example!  If only I could swivel my body and look anything like her… wow.

I’m not sure what I was thinking when I sailed into a trial Zumba class at a local health club that morning.

Long ago, the first fitness class I ever took outside of mandatory high school PE was a ballet class my freshman year in college.  I bought pink tights, a black leotard, and the slippers.  Oh, the slippers.  I like to tell people I dropped out because the class conflicted with a jujitsu class I was able to get into after registration closed, but the truth is…  I couldn’t do the moves.  I couldn’t do the moves in jujitsu either, but I yelled a lot and that seemed to cover most of my mistakes.        Continue reading

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Pardon Me If I Scream Out Loud.

 You might have noticed (or not) there weren’t any new posts from me during the month of December 2010.

We need to talk.

 

In the same sentence I can honestly say I love technology and I hate technology. 

Do you remember what it was like before we depended on our cell phones, our laptops, and our transporter rooms?  What do I mean–transporter rooms?  Oh, yeah, that hasn’t happened yet, but I bet someone is working on it.  If it was on Star Trek, it’ll happen, right?  Michael Crichton was thinking the same thing when he wrote Timeline.

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You Don’t Need Bangs If You Look Like Halle Berry.

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Am I right? 

But then, I’m not Halle Berry.

It all started when my husband mentioned he needed a haircut.  I offered, but he declined.

On my way to the shower I stopped in front of the mirror, pondering my bangs.  Time for a trim.  And my special “notched” scissors would add some extra oomph.  They look like regular scissors except they have little indentations all along the blade, so when you use them, they only cut intermittent strands of hair.

 I dampened my bangs, thinking it would be cool to snip a bit higher and let the shorter pieces plump up the rest of my long straight bangs. (Later, I tried to analyze how I picked up the wrong scissors, but by then it didn’t matter.)
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