Running day 2

Sep 172011
 

Well? I went running again. And it went a little better today than yesterday. My lungs are in less shock. Could be that my sinus infection feels less there today. Who knows?

This time I went to a park that has a track:

I ran about a mile and a half, running then walking then running again. Same sort of interval as yesterday only added an extra half mile to the distance. My joints are bothering me some, especially my knees. I’m not sure what to do about that. I’ll have to research if there are things I can be doing to protect them better.

I went to the park to run wanting to test it out. After yesterday I started thinking about trying running to change up my exercise routine some. My diet hasn’t been going well in recent months. In May I was down 75 pounds but then all summer I waffled going up and down. So now I’m only about 70 down. I started Weight Watchers last year this month, so yeah, I’m disappointment in those numbers. I was hoping I’d be farther along. But the summer has sucked. Actually this entire year has been pretty stressful. And this summer I started comfort eating from the stress. Bad, I know. Vanilla bean ice cream + Nutella was so damn yummy but oh so fattening too.

Also my exercise routine got completely knocked off track thanks in part to the summer hours schedule they implement at work. It meant I had to leave a lot earlier in the morning and I was getting home much much later. Bus schedules at night get worse the later you try to leave. So yeah, it sucked. I tried to get up earlier to work out in the mornings at home doing Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred, but the group I was doing that with all faded away and stopped working on it. So, I lost motivation too. But it’s time to push all excuses aside and get back on track. I may try the 30 day shred again this winter when I’m snowed in. Who knows?

In any event, the track is only about a 7 minute or so drive away so I think it will be doable. I’d never been to this park before. It’s really pretty and today there were a lot of people out and about. Is saw folks doing yoga or group training things too. And there were some nice views along the track’s way:

And after I ran I walked another of the tracks for another mile and wandered past tennis courts where there’s a wall set up for solo practice. Woot! That means I now have a place to take my lacrosse stick and practice knocking the ball around. Yay for that! I also passed some basketball courts and a baseball field and then came along an actual track:

That’s awesome to see. I’ll have to try running on that next. My knees will certainly thank me for that. This doesn’t mean I won’t run on my favorite trails at all. It’s just that they are too hard for me to get to during the week. Those will be for weekend runs/walks.

And that’s that. Looks like I’ll be giving this running thing a try after all. :)

Went running today – yep, lost my mind

Sep 162011
 

And this would be why I should be under supervision when I’m on sinus meds. Left to my own devices, I do things like this. :P

I was home sick today. Sinus infection. Congestion, sore throat, very freaking tired. I loaded up on sinus meds and slept. But then when I woke up I had energy. Ut oh. So I went for a walk. I thought it would just be a short one but I wandered and at about 2 miles from home found myself in front of my sanctuary of trails. And so I entered the woods. Somewhere along the trail I thought, hey, why don’t I run?

And so I did.

For one minute. And then stopped and thought, what am I doing? I actually paused and realized something was off, but then the dullness of sinus meds kicked in and I somehow reasoned that the one minute wasn’t so bad, I should try for another.

And so I did. But one minute turned into five.

I stopped again and walked for a minute. My lungs were bothering me but I still reasoned it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I liked running on the leafy covered trails. The ground had a nice bouncy to it or something. And they were reminding me of when I ran cross country back when I was a kid in middle school.

Funny thing though, I HATED running when I was a kid. I was miserable every single time my feet were moving then. I have no idea why I stayed on the team. It was volunteer. I remember even having a conversation with my dad about it that went something like this:

Me: “I joined the cross country team for another year.”

Dad: “But you hate running.”

Me: “Yeah.”

Dad: “But you really hate running.”

Me: “Yeah.”

Dad: “You really want to be on the team again?”

Me: “Yeah.”

Nobody understood why I stayed on the team, least of all me. I still don’t understand it. Maybe I thought of it as a challenge I’d someday overcome but never did. Who knows? I hated running so much. I haven’t run since I played lacrosse in college. And even then I only ran when I was actually playing the game. I laughed when they said we should run a mile to warm up. :P

So I really can’t understand why I started running today. It was an odd moment.

Anyway, after the minute walking break I ran again, this time for 6 minutes. Then I walked one minute and tried it again running for another 5 or 6 minutes.

After that though, I was done. My lungs hurt so bad. Sick and asthma and not in shape for running…yeah, go me for being a yutz there. And to top all of that off, after I stopped running I realized I was still about 2 1/2 miles from home and I’d have to walk there.

Hah! Duh.

Here I am two hours later and I feel ok for the most part. I’m still coughing some from the shock to my lungs. But that’s not surprising. Not sure if I will try to run again. Part of me thinks, hell yeah!, that wasn’t so bad. But then again, I should also mention, I’m still on the sinus meds. Lots of things sound like fabulous ideas to me right now that probably shouldn’t. :P

“Optimist” by Zoe Keating

Sep 122011
 

Some music for your Monday morning. The song is “Optimist” by Zoe Keating. It was used as background music for this video of the Holi Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork, Utah. The video is a lot of fun to watch and the music adds well to it. Enjoy!

Optimist from Brian Thomson on Vimeo.

Too much effort

Sep 112011
 

“Can’t reach bed. Too far away. Sleep now…”

:P

Oh, Ruki. She makes it seem like a few inches more is way too much effort.

Finished one ball of yarn — finally!

Sep 112011
 

I feel like it’s taken forever, but look at that, I finally made my way through one ball of yarn and had to start a new one:

This is the shawl I started last week to use as a lap blanket for work. So it’s coming along well. I’ve only made a few mistakes that are not too noticeable so that’s good. Yay!

I really wish the colors would show up better so you can see the subtle changes. You can’t see any of the red or the purple touches in this pic. Aah well, my phone only takes so-so pics. I really need to get a new digital camera. Some day. For now I will focus on practicing more knitting. :)

8 mile walk on a Saturday afternoon

Sep 102011
 

I went out the trails today to hike and the day started off so nicely. Pretty too:

And then I turned a corner and hit this:

Oh no! I tried a different route and ran into this:

*sigh* Guess I need to wait for the trails to dry out from all the rain more. I ended up having to leave the solace of the woods for the boring ol’ sidewalk:

Well? At least I got a good walk in. Now time for chicken tacos thanks to Trader Joe’s and to burry myself in homework. Hope you have a wonderful rest of the day! :)

Layered Mexican Chicken

Sep 052011
 

I made a new recipe tonight that I found on the Weight Watchers website:

I altered it a bit based on the reviews though. I halved the recipe. And I cooked the chicken differently. And I changed up the ingredients some too. I diced the chicken and tossed it in a large skillet to cook. Once it was done, I added taco seasoning. A little bit later I added red, green, and yellow peppers. Then some Rotel and the black beans. I let it simmer for a bit. Then when I removed it from heat I transferred the batch, leaving some of the extra juice behind, into a bowl and mixed in sour cream and just a pinch of cheese. I wanted more of the cheese melted on the top layer. And voi la.

Tastes oh so yummy! :)

The trails are always calling to me

Sep 052011
 

My ankle is still a little sore from twisting it the other day. But it held up well on my 5.7 mile walk this morning. So woot for that! How could I resist going out to visit my little sanctuary though. Sun was out after all:

It’s a bit humid out but still nice. A perfect way to start the day. Next up, an afternoon of creativity. Not sure what will inspire me yet. Writing, drawing, Schereschnitte…who knows? I’ll be going wherever the inspiration takes me.

Hope you have one excellent day too! :)

Spider in the doorway

Sep 052011
 

I went out this morning and discovered this spiderweb in our lobby:

I just used my phone camera so the picture isn’t all that clear. The spider is at the center and he’s actually on the other side of the web. This side shows his legs clamping on. I can’t imagine he’ll be catching many flies in the middle of our lobby but what do I know. :P

Sunday knitting fest

Sep 042011
 

I twisted my ankle yesterday so I was forced to stay off if it today. I took that as an excuse to lounge on the couch all day watching an X-Files marathon and knitting. It’s been a excellent day of rest! Woot!

I watched the tail end of season 3 of X-Files and started season 4. Season 3 is when the show really got its legs under it so these seasons are chock full of awesome. I’d also forgotten some of the guest appearances (Jewel Staite, Lucy Liu, B.D. Wong, Amanda Tapping) so that’s fun to see too.

As for the knitting, I started a shawl to be used as a small blanket at work. I want to make something small enough to lay across my lap without getting caught under my chair wheels. I’m using Lion Brand Homespun yarn which, egad!, I had no idea what I was getting into. It’s hard to work with. But I think I’ve gotten the hang of. It’s mushed up here because it’ll be wider than my knitting needles are:

I also worked more on the scarf I’m making for the office too:

Yes, my office really gets cold enough to need both of these. Windy side of the building and all…

And here is how my dear Ruki spent some of her day. While yesterday, she failed miserably getting into the window, today she succeeded gracefully. :)

And that’s that. I’m off for more X-Files and knitting. Woot! Hope you are having one excellent day! :)

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