Remote Challenged

Happy Friday everyone!
Phew, I am feeling 200% better compared to 2 hours ago! And I have a lot to say today.

1. It started out as a sluggish, can't keep my eyes open, dragging my junk-in-the-trunk kinda morning. I was up about 9 a.m. and had some Greek yogurt with fresh berries and a drizzle of honey.  As I sat letting the food digest a little before I head out to the Y to run, I got sleepy. I mean, "Seriously? I just woke up!" I didn't know where time went but at one point, in my bed, I had my eyes wide open and said to myself, "Enough is enough. Get out of bed and get moving!"  It was about noon when I finally step foot at the Y. Better be late than never, right? I could be this girl below, but instead, I was up and running.

2. I was assertive today. I went to the reception desk at the Y and asked if I could borrow their remote control for treadmill room. The lady jokingly asked if I didn't like the program that was on. I told her, I didn't mind the program, but running to General Hospital will probably send me to the pysch. ward at a hospital.  Anyway, she gave me the remote and I was excited.
(Pat on my back for just opening my mouth and ask.  Squeaky wheel gets the grease, right?)

3. I'm excited about the remote control because we don't have cable tv at home. Yep. No antenna or cable TV. Nada. (Reasons: expensive, a lot of trashy shows, time sucker). Then, I realized that I didn't exactly know how to work the remote. There are too many buttons on this remote with so many colors! Somehow, I got to the REALLY adult channels.  I was mortified! I hit whichever button that was the opposite of the button that led me to Pornoville. It worked. I stayed safe parked at some channel that was doing a feature of Sandra Bullock. Much better, right?

(Random Thought: I like Sandra Bullock and her ex-husband is a big fool! She is so pretty, so classy, so girl-next-door yet so wow!) 

4. So, the whole time when I fiddled with the remote control, I had the treadmill set to a slower pace and  I was walking.  Then, when I found the channel I wanted, I increased the pace and today was pretty darn good. I kept my pace somewhere in the mid 9:00ish range. I paused the treadmill 2 times (very briefly) to catch my breath and have a sip of water.

             2.05 miles - 22 minutes (walk at the beginning + run. Rest/sip)

1 mile - 9:31 minutes

Did I not go kinda fast today? Ha! After the run, I did 50 crunches on the big ball and did some squats using the ball against the wall and holding out a medicine ball out. My knees were not 100% thrilled. But it was done and I love it!
(Reflection: Isn't that amazing? Less than an hour ago, I was not in a happy mood. I felt lazy and sluggish and was just feeling yucky! But now, after a good run, I feel like a complete changed, new person. I have energy. And I have happy. 

5. I gave the Bondi Band another try today, using all the sweet suggestions from fellow bloggers. I had the band pulled a little down and it stayed on the whole run.  Love it. It helps prevent a lot of sweat from rolling down my face. Now, I want to collect all the black/white Bondi Bands since my workout clothes are all black/white/blue.

(Question: How do you wash your Bondi Bands? I washed mine in the shower using shampoo/bath foam. Is that OK?)


6. I have to say, I can't stay up until the wee hours of the morning like I used to. I remembered the days of staying up till 3 or 4 or 5 a.m. in the morning to study for a test and staying up to go dancing and have a few drinks. I have stayed up for the past few nights, helping the boyfriend laser engrave a bunch of cutting boards.  And I am tired pretty much half of the day.  So far, I have finished 2 pallets (4 more to go!). That's the thing being a boss of a small business in a not-so-rosy economic climate - (1) can't afford to hire workers, (2) it is difficult to find a dedicated employee who takes pride in what he/she does. So, since school's out for summer and I don't have to work, I am doing a little pro bono work for him. It is good though. He works long hours and with me helping him at the office, we get to spend quality, productive time together.

How was your run today? What challenge did you face today during your run? Did you overcome it?
C'mon. Brag about it. Toot your own horn.

Random Thoughts, Random Questions

Monday blues? Nah. I don't usually have the blues on Monday. I usually feel super duper good on Mondays.  Today's run was quite good. Indoor on the treadmill, 67 degrees (although it didn't feel like it after 0.5 mile into the run), TV show, window with a view. Life is good!

I ran the planned 3 miles that was on my calendar, stopped at 1.5 mile to take a sip of water. After the 3 miles, I stopped the treadmill and drank more water and thought to myself, "Why stop at 3 when I can definitely do another one?"  So I started the treadmill back up and ran. I set it at a 1% incline for the first 3 miles (32:56 minutes). For that 1-miler (10:45 min), I just increased the speed by a notch, or two, or three after every 2 bars on the screen. It was quite fun and made the run seemed shorter.

Here's me after my run. My tank top was soaking wet.

Quite a few random thoughts/questions on this treadmill run. Check them out.

1. Did I just watched 1-mile worth of advertisements on TV?  Do I need to look at IHOP's pancakes and Red Lobster's crab deal while I am running? 
2. Oh I miss California! Well, actually, I miss the fresh seafood there. My best friend and I spent 2 weeks and drove from LA up to Sonoma last year. Our meals were a rotation of oysters, mussels, clams, crabs, and abalone. Oh my! Delicious.  
3. I do enjoy Arkansas but I enjoy my seafood more. 
4. That man has been standing outside, next to his car, talking on his cellphone for the past 2 miles.  
5. My right ankle and my left ankle itch. Ignore. Ignore. Ignore.
6. There is a grain of something in my shoe. Wiggle the toes to get it out of the way.
7. Does Vanna White ever age a little?
8. O0ps, side stitches. Breathe in deeply. Regulate the breathing. Do not stop running. Keep breathing at a regular pace.  Focus. 
9. I think I am flinging sweat off the end of my pony tail. Thank goodness the lady is 2 machines away from me. 
10. My lower back/tail bone feels like it needed to be popped. Argh.
11. I love the Bondi Bands I bought recently off their Web site.  They are cute and light and do help prevent sweat from rolling down my face.  But I hate my flat head and my slippery fine hair.  Seriously, my head is flat in the back. If I lay down with the back of my head facing you, and you put a glass on top of my head, it probably will stay and won't tip over. It is smack flat. And my hair is thin and fine and slippery. My Bondi Band won't stay put on my head. Does anyone has that trouble? What do you propose to remediate this flat-head-fine-slippery-hair situation? I tried using some bobby pins but I must not know how to do it right because the pins won't stay put on my hair. (I'm bad at doing anything with my hair - I have it up in a pony tail, in a bun or hanging loose most of the time.)
12. What's the running etiquette when you have a kid (10ish years old) running next to you and are approaching the Finish line? Do you treat the kiddo like any other competitor, speed up/sprint to the Finish line? Or do you encourage the kid to go ahead and beat you and kinda curb that competitiveness in you?  At my last 5K race, I sped up and left the kid to fend for himself toward the end and made a dash for the Finish line. I felt bad after that though because I was confused as to what was the "right" thing to do. I'm all about encouraging a kid, but I am also a firm believer that kids need to have some kind of competition. So, what say you? 

How was your run today?  I hope you had a good one!

July 4 weekend and Show & Tell

Hope y'all had a good July 4th weekend.  I didn't do much over here in my neck of the woods. Spent the holiday cleaning out the fridge and today running. Read on ... 

I had plans to drop Keith's truck off yesterday evening and run home. But ended up eating and procrastination won. I slept in the office, on a recliner, because he was working and I didn't have a ride home.  He gave me the truck's key at 3 a.m. and sent me home. Seven o'clock rolled around and I decided to get yesterday's run in. Yes, the guilt clung onto me like algae onto a fish tank.
I dropped off his truck and ran home.

Miles ran: 2.76 miles in 31:10 minutes. 

Mile 1 = 10:55.96

Mile 2 = 11:20.03

Mile 0.76 = 8:55.00

It was quite a struggle. At 8 a.m., the temperature was 77degrees but the Real Feel was 88. Humidity was at 80% and dewpoint was at 70.  Anyway, I'm going to stretch really well because I know my legs needed it. They felt a tad heavy today (or maybe because I have been feasting too much?) and felt like they need some elbow grease and get it all twisted around.

Random Thoughts:
1. Do people wash their running shoes? How often? How?
2. I need to wash my running shoes. Google "how to" and post a question on the blog later.
3. Man, it is hot! Gotto get used to the heat since I have a 5K coming up.
4. I'm gonna torture myself. Gonna do this again tomorrow.
5. I'm so messed up in my head. Why subject myself to torture like this when I can just lay in bed and stretch.
6. If I lay in bed, my mind will be running amok about not running.
7. I'm thankful to have legs, and legs that move, and being able to get around using my own two feet.
8. I'm gonna enjoy a cup of coffee and oatmeal and a piece of fruit for breakfast.
9. Yeap. I gotto lose 2lbs this month.
10. This Bondi Band is not staying on my head. (Gonna do a separate post later today).

*

There has been a show-and-tell sort of post going around. It is showing and telling your fridge. Awesome, I thought. I like showing off, and my fridge is in the dire-est need to be cleaned. That is great motivation to clean it out.

I spent July 4th cleaning this monster. I took out each shelf and washed it well with soapy water and with a bleach solution. I threw out jars and jars of stuff that we haven't used in a while. I kid you not. I had about 6 jars of jams/jellies/fruit preserves and at least 5 jars of pickles, and at least 5 jars of some kind of relish. PURGE!

This is the fridge in the house.
It's big and hoards lot of food.

.

 I left two shelves kinda empty for leftovers.
We love leftovers in this household.
Maybe that's why we always have junk in the fridge.

 Bottom: Drinks shelf
(Hoegaarden, Hershey's chocolate syrup, water, wine, lemon and lime juice, Powerade)

  2nd bottom and top shelves: Shelves for leftovers and new groceries.

3rd shelf from bottom: Mayo, Miracle Whip, salad dressings, vegetables basket, fruit basket.
4th shelf from bottom: Jellies (homemade apple, apple, apple butter, grape, blackberry, strawberry). 

Bottom shelf: Yeast packages in blue container. The other blue container is what I used to thaw frozen meat out. I like to contain all the juice in a container. 

2nd shelf from bottom: Dairy products - milk, eggs, yogurt, cheese (we have 3 containers of grated parmesan cheese), half and half, and soy milk. 

3rd shelf from bottom: Lunch meat, hot dog buns, A1 sauce, relish section (hot chow chow, milk chow chow, dill relish, hot dog relish, sweet relish, homemade relish, salsa section

4th shelf from bottom: Pickles section (dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, Cajun pickles, sweet pickles, Gerkins, homemade pickles), jalepenos peppers (store bought and homemade)

Top shelf: Garlic (minced garlic, California minced garlic), my Asian/ethnic section (ginger and garlic paste, tahini paste, tom yum paste, 3 jars of pickled sliced ginger - the ones you get at sushi restaurants. Meat marinade. 

So, what's in your fridge? Let me tell you. This was a good post, in that, it forces me to gut the entire fridge. Now, I feel like the items in the fridge can breathe properly. I actually caught myself just walking into the pantry and staring lovingly at the fridge. Awesome!