An Announcement and HTD4: Introducing Jesse

Last night, Jon had to work pretty late and, since I get really antsy being home alone all day during my temporary unemployment, I decided to see what Jesse was up to this evening before he got home. Thankfully, she was free, so she drove out here to run with me (I'm also car-less currently in addition to being unemployed). The Runner's World plan had me doing 2 13:18 miles for an "Easy Run" last night, but since Jesse and I were running and talking, we pushed quite a bit past that and hit 5.25 miles.

We took my usual route out on the bike path (hence no map... boring!) and we just able to jog and chat as we merrily plodded along. I don't know where it came from but yesterday (and today) have been surprisingly cool and mild, which is very refreshing after these past few weeks of intense heat and humidity. Here's the run breakdown, though I forgot to mark the miles, you can get the idea from the overall stats:


I also went ahead and forced Jesse to snap a sweaty photo with me post-run, since I talk about how much I love running with her and yet haven't really made her "appear" on the blog yet:


Also, on a final note, yesterday was bath day for Sahara. She was such a good girl and how can you resist this post-bath adorableness?


Oh wait, you were probably still waiting for that announcement, weren't you? Well, I got my arrête de travail (teaching contract/work papers) in the mail from France yesterday and, after my lovely father in Cincinnati scanned and sent them to me, I learned that I'm going to be in two different towns in the south of France next year: Chateauneuf-de-Gadagne and Le Thor. I'll be in 3 different primary schools, teaching from October 1, 2010 – June 20, 2011.

Chateauneuf-de-Gadagne is the 'A' dot... It's apparently too small to really be on the map when I zoom out there. Also, my French family (who I was hoping to live with) is south of that in Miramas
To be honest, I'm freaking out. My cousin still wants me to live at home, though I think that'd be too much of a commute, but other than that I don't know what to do. Furthermore, I was really hoping I'd get a 7-month contract... 9 months just seems so long. I know it'll be an amazing experience and that Jon and some family and friends will visit... but it still makes me sad to think about being away for that long and missing things happening at home. I know it'll work out, but I am kind of disappointed with the placement right now. Then again, I guess things happen for a reason, right?

On that note, I should go and start packing for our trip to Auburn. We're hoping to leave tomorrow, but it might get pushed back to Friday depending on Jon's work. I'm really looking forward to working on the house and seeing everyone down there--Not to mention the fact that Jon alluded to a possible girly spa day as well? Always a good time. :)

Weigh-In and Vacation Planning

Quick post this morning, since yesterday was a rest day. After spending the day up at a coffee shop in town working on my graduation announcements and other Paris preparations, I walked to Jon's work to see his new desk and to pick up the car to drive to WW. After 25 minutes of walking, I was a hot mess, but I got there okay and welcomed the brief bit of air conditioning. I got to the meeting really early and got a chance to stand around and chat with Grace, the fabulous receptionist, and Chris, our fearless leader. Here were this week's official results!

Weekly weigh-in: 169.6
Loss: 2.4
Total loss: 24.0
Emotion: In Control

I was really surprised by last night's weigh-in, since there'd been a lot of indulgences this weekend. I really do think running does amazing things for your body if you do it regularly. I'm feeling so much better since I've gotten back into training for this half marathon. It's always good to have a goal.

Speaking of goals, last night's meeting topic was "Packing Your Plan" (i.e. taking it on vacation with you). Since my goal is to try and lose weight while we're in Alabama (and then while I'm in Paris), I've already gone ahead and found a meeting in Auburn that I can go to while we're there. This way, I'll at least be able to weigh-in a few times! Furthermore, I'll be taking my running shoes and plan on continuing to train by finding fun new places to run while we're there. It'll be a good way to get to know the town a little better (and I'll get to run at Lake Martin over the 4th).There are a lot of different restaurants that I'm looking forward to revisiting and new ones that Jon still wants to show me, so I'm sure the healthiness level of our time there will be varied. That said, he and I are going to try and eat most of our meals like normal since we'll be there long enough to stock the fridge and cook. Though we're going to try to eat normally, it's definitely going to be a more Yuengling and heavy food filled couple of weeks than usual, largely since there are certain things that I'm looking forward to eating while down south... coughcough fried pickles and a Niffer's burger. Despite that, I think that my running in addition to the fact that we'll be working on the house all day building/remodeling/painting will hopefully keep me from doing any diet damage.

All in all, I'm feeling really positive about going on vacation. I know that I'll eat some foods I wouldn't normally eat and probably drink more than normal, but I'm going to do my best to stay active and get more activity points in than normal as well. Did you know that, according to eTools, an hour of wall painting or indoor remodeling is 2 AP and that an hour of "outside carpentry" (i.e. us tearing down and building a shed/finishing the retaining wall) is 3 AP? Although I probably won't track my APs for working on the house in an effort to not over eat, it's good to know that we'll at least be getting in 5-6 hours of activity a day just by doing what we've planned to do.

Questions for the day:
1. What are your summer plans and how do you want to work your weight loss into them?
2. Do you have any overall goals for the summer?
3. How are you going to incorporate activity into YOUR vacation?

Have a great day and I'll talk about tonight's anticipated training run with Jesse tomorrow!

This Weekend: Wine-Tasting, Oversleeping, and a new C25Ker

Busy weekend over in Cincinnati for this girl! Overall it was great seeing my family and friends, since I won't be able to go back to Cincy until I get back from Paris in August.

Friday: Jesse and I did a fair bit of shopping, hitting big at the semi-annual sale at VS and buying a lot of sale items at the Gap (a sweater and a polo), Forever 21 (tank tops, tee shirts, and a cute "going out" skirt), and a dress at J.Crew. We also just enjoyed hanging out together and browsing all the favorite stores. The best part of the J.Crew dress? Well, my dress from graduation is already getting a bit big... and when we were at J.Crew, I saw the same dress in cream and ended up getting it a size smaller! I was bummed that it was on sale for a lot less than I'd paid for it, but happy to be down a size! My friend Megan might take my grey dress, so I feel a bit better about spending the extra money.

The game was great--the Reds stomped the Indians 10-2. We had great seats...up top, right behind home plate:


Jon also found a new girlfriend at the game in the form of Jennifer's 2-year-old daughter Isabella:

See? Here he is, wooing her with his iphone and its lightsaber app
Saturday: Saturday started with a WW meeting and a weigh-in. I love my WW leader Lori in Cincinnati, so I always make sure to go to a meeting while I'm home. Plus, I had the bonus of being down 1.4 lbs!!! After spending time working on the car (while I was napping...), Jon and I met my mom and a couple of her friends up at the Dilly Deli for lunch and their weekly wine tasting (and to watch the sad US v. Ghana game). In honor of the game, the deli featured all US-produced wines. After the wine tasting, Jon and I treated ourselves to gourmet cupcakes from the Sweeterie, which is located above the Dilly Deli. I opted for my habitual favorite (Red Velvet) and Jon went for a chocolate marshmallow fluff creation.

Jon thought I was weird since I wanted to take photos of them...


We ended up eating the fabulous cupcakes in the car since Jon and I went to Best Buy to buy him a digital camera so that we can send mine off to be repaired. This way, if for some reason mine's not back in time, I'll have a camera I can borrow to take to Paris with me. Plus, we now have the added bonus of having a camera to take to Auburn with us! Jon maintains that this new camera is pink (he didn't have a choice since it was a return/refurb that was uber-marked down), but I'm sure it's really red. Silly man. :-P

Other than that, we just spent a chill evening at my mom's... I mowed the lawn and then we went out for dinner for some Cincinnati-style chili at Skyline. I was semi-blown away though when I came home and found out that a small 4-way and a coney totalled to 16 points!!! We'll see how the rest of the weekend's eating will influence the weigh in tonight!

Sunday: While lounging around the pool, Jon decided to play with his new toy and the dog at the same time, so we caught these fun photos of her in the backyard:


She leads a really tough life.

Aside from lounging around my mom's and completing my invigorating 6-miler, Jon and I joined some of my family for dinner at Montgomery Inn. I caved and ordered ribs and chicken with a baked sweet potato. We both overate, but we left the leftovers with my mom and proceeded to drink lots of water to make up for it. Thankfully, when I stepped on the scale this morning I was at the exact same place I was when I left Nelsonville on Wednesday. Still, we'll see what the scale says tonight.

Also, my former roomie (and one of my best friends) Katy decided to start doing C25K AND blog about it! I'm so glad she's started the program. Hopefully she and I will be able to run a 5k together before I leave for France again in October. She's planning on running in the Hocking Hills Indian Run, which is the same day as the Dayton Half... We'll see, especially since the Dayton Half has bumped up to being so expensive! Perhaps Jon and I will run a different half and then join Katy in Hocking Hills for a trail run.

Speaking of leaving for France in October... A lot of the other assistants in my académie have been getting their placements and contracts in the mail. I'm getting really frustrated with all this waiting! The anticipation is killing me! Hopefully my "arrête" will arrive tomorrow and I'll let you all know where I've been placed!

Also, kudos if you made it through this whole post... I'm so longwinded today! How was YOUR weekend?!

Half Training, Day 3: After the Deluge

I have another post about the weekend, but I just got back from my 6 mile long run and I'm too pleased with myself to wait to post about it.

I wasn't feeling very optimistic about running this morning because, instead of getting up at 7am to run before it got warm like I'd been planning on doing, I slept in until 11, aka my usual cutoff hour for running outside in all this heat and humidity. Instead we had a leisurely breakfast with my mom and played in the pool for awhile. My friend/neighbor Christi @ Making Healthy the Norm brought her ADORABLE little man Ramsey down for a swim too, so we got to play with him and watch him play with the puppies:

Isn't he precious? So well behaved too!
Christi's already signed up to run the Dayton Air Force Half Marathon that I was thinking about running, so hopefully Jon and I will go ahead and sign up so that we can all run together. Sadly, after a bit of pool time though, a pretty decent wind and rain rolled in and everyone had to head for shelter, so our play time together was cut short. Thankfully though, the rain only lasted for an hour, leaving in its wake a nice breeze and a cooler temperature outside. Seizing the opportunity to make up for my lazy morning, I threw on the running gear and head out the door, leaving my iPod and my phone at home in case the downpour would come back.

Today's run was supposed to be 6 miles at a 13:18 pace. I found that allowing myself the steady, slow pace kept my heart rate down and out of the 180s with an average of 163 and a max of 177. That really helped, and overall, I only stopped to cross streets and to go to the bathroom when I hit the park at mile 4. Here's my average pace breakdown by mile-ish:

Mile 1: 12:34
Miles 2 & 3 (forgot to hit the lap): 12:33
Mile 4: 12:54
Mile 5: 12:40
Mile 6: 12:20
Overall pace: 12:36
Not too shabby, I feel. This route had some gentle hills (that always feel bigger when you're running them) and some fun scenery around town:



Also, I felt a lot better during and after this run than I did after the 5 mile tempo run on Thursday. Anyway, I should probably go shower... I'm a hot mess and we have dinner reservations tonight at the local favorite, the Montgomery Inn (where there is nearly no truly healthy food) in order to celebrate my belated birthday (since mine fell on Jess's graduation). More on the weekend later! Happy Running!

Morning fun run--

Quick post. Last night at Black Finn was a success (mostly). Controlled my points intake by only having 2 martinis (1 Pineapple Upside-Down martini and 1 appletini). I'd never had an appletini before... DE-licious. I'll put up some pictures later once I get them from Chris/Katie/Megan. (I think Jon and I are going to solve the camera situation this weekend. More on that later). I like being the driver, because I'm able to have a drink or two and then switch to water without being the loser that's not downing drinks. Keeps the points off too!

Anyway, Jesse (my personal running cheering section) came into town last night to go shopping with me today and, always in fine form, we woke up early this morning and went for a relaxing run together. Since it is technically a "rest" day, we made it a slower paced run, but it was nice to get out there and chat and wake up. I really love running with her because although she runs marathons and can obviously run longer than me, we run at approximately the same pace, so when we run together I don't feel like I'm holding her back or boring her. I know Jon's okay with running with me and I appreciate it... but he has a 9 minute/mile average pace, so I know running with me must be a drag.

Here's the map from our run... it's a new route I hadn't done before in town (mostly) and I really liked it. One thing I love about running in Cincinnati is that there are some many sidewalks to run on. Our average pace was 11:52, so actually better than yesterday... Funny how that works. Yesterday I thought I was pushing it... and today seemed easy. Weird how that happens.




Alright, well I should shower... I'm getting my hair cut and going shopping today and then going to the Reds game. I'm not sure what I'll do with my hair, but don't worry, I'll post pictures! Have a great day, and, if you're in Cincinnati... enjoy the GORGEOUS weather!

Half Training, Day 2: Merrily we plod along

Let me tell you, today was definitely a day where I had to drag myself out of the house to run. Despite the good news that I might possibly have a short-term job between France trip #1 and France trip #2 (the long haul), the beginning of my run was pretty ick seeing as I had to postpone it due to a walking cellphone fight with my dad... Don't you love those? Anyway, by the end of that, I was pretty ready to pound out some frustration on the pavement, or, well, the middle school track:

When I'm home, I always loving running up at the middle school because, like I've probably mentioned before, that was the last time I "ran" in my life since I was on the middle school track team. I remember being so proud of myself for being able to run an 11-minute mile as a 13/14 year old and then looking over at my coaches and seeing their disappointment. I was just happy with myself because I hadn't stopped once! Anyway, running on this track makes me remember that girl and feel really proud to be doing what I'm doing. I wasn't really overweight then, but I know that if someone had told my eighth-grade self that someday I'd be training to RUN a half marathon, I would not have believed them at all.

Anyway, once I finally got started, the run went pretty well. The first 2 miles (1 warm up, 1 of the "tempo" bit) were really easy, but the last few were a bit more of a struggle. I stopped and walked for 30 seconds right as I hit 3 miles and then again after mile 4 for a minute walk and a quick water-fountain break at the park. My pace splits looked like this:

Mile 1: Average Pace of 12:37
Miles 2-4: AP of 12:08
Mile 5: AP of 13:27
I'm surprised at how fast Mile 1 was (I was trying to keep it at a 13-minute + pace to start slow and not tire out), and slightly disappointed that I didn't hit the goal of an 11:39 pace for the tempo part. But, most importantly, I did it and kept it up for an hour... 20 minutes more than I've been doing lately. That in itself made this run a success in my book. Plus, Week 2 of training is the exact same as Week 1, so I can always shoot for some improvement then!

Here are some quick post-run photos and the overall map of my run... I bet anyone who drove past me on the main street thought I was crazy taking photos of myself with my cell phone, but whatever!
Yeah, I was going for an upbeat "YAY!" photo and got distracted... though this probably sums up my life at the immediate end of my run...
Quick shot of my running buddy after our date together today. See! 5 whole miles!
See? Much better. Side note: I don't think I've EVER been this sweaty after a run. Seriously, my entire top looked like it was just supposed to be darker pink. Epic.

Anyway, I'm just glad I finished the run. It's giving me more confidence that I can successfully complete Sunday's 6-miler. It is nice being home and finding some fun places to run and friends to catch up with! Also, it's nice being able to come home from a run and immediately put on a swim suit and jump in the pool. That helps! On tap for today: getting graduation announcements out and going out for happy hour with some friends from high school! :)

Cincy for the weekend!

Psst! Quick quick post, since I'm up past my bedtime.

In Cincy, visiting family and friends until Sunday. Jonboy is still at home, but he'll be coming into town Friday after work to go to the Reds v. Indians game (GO REDLEGS!) and to hang out till Sunday (I'm introducing him to Montgomery Inn, a Cincinnati favorite). Today was a "rest" day according to the plan and so I did just that: hung out with my padre and then lounged around with my BFF from high school (Chris), ate some seafood with my mom, and drank my favorite wine. Fabulous.

That said, I'm kind of nervous about tomorrow's run... It's a 5-mile "tempo" run and I haven't run more than 40 minutes since May (and the last time I did that was over a week ago). We'll see how it goes!

On that note, I leave you with the only documentation of today's car ride (taken at a red light, I promise):

Take 1 (Kelly @ FittingBackIn, I thought you'd appreciate her stylish pink Auburn collar... She has a pink collar, and my mother still refers to her as "him"...What gives?!)
Take 2. Isn't she the cutest puppy around? Then again, I'm a bit biased.

Okay, bedtime! Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Half Marathon Training?

So, I was kind of iffy on my jogging this morning. Jon and I decided not to get up at 5:30 and to sleep instead and, once he left for work, I settled down with my coffee to read blogs and wake up a bit. Fortunately for my own fitness, Emily @ Skinny Me! posted about finally officially hitting the 140s at a WW weigh-in, which really motivated me to get out there and get a jog in. Again, one of the many reasons I'm so happy to be part of the blogging community.

Anyway, after spending yesterday lounging poolside with Jesse, my fierce marathon running friend who thinks I can do anything (like run a marathon with her someday), for today's jog, I decided to go to Runner's World and get my own personal training plan for the possible half marathon Jon and I want to do in September (the current runners up are the Dayton Air Force Marathon/Half or the Hocking Hills trail run). Here's the plan that it generated for me:


Today, I did the 2 mile "easy run" and it wasn't bad. The training plan wanted me to do the two miles at a 13 minute pace, but, although I tried to run slow, my average pace for the two miles was 11:45. Afterwards, to keep myself out a bit longer, I walked back the 2 miles I'd run out. It felt good and I could have pushed it for a bit longer, but it felt really good to finally hit a goal for running that I'd set, since I've been stopping a lot lately to get my HR down or to get some water. It'll be nice to have a steady, 13 week training program again to keep me accountable. That was one the things I really missed from finishing C25K. I won't post the charts etc since, well, I'm a dork and forgot to turn the watch off when I got home, so my averages and such have been really skewed aside from that first lap (my 2-mile run).

Oh, and here are a few pictures from yesterday's bike adventure. I'd meant to post them, but then the post got so long that I forgot.








PS- The Salmon recipe from last night was great, I definitely recommend it. I poured the marinade over a bag of frozen asparagus stir fry veggies from walmart and it was all delicious. :) Now, off to read or clean the house or something. Ciao!

Weekend + Bike Adventure + Weigh-In

Whew! What a busy weekend! Lisa's bachelorette party went well, and I didn't drink (which I'd originally decided to do in order to save points). Though, I'm embarrassed to admit that instead, I ate quite a bit as well. That said, it was a fun time, with blue boas included. Here's a quick photo (borrowed from Katy's FB) of some bridesmaids with Lisa, opening gifts at the hotel before we headed out. :)


Friday I got home from the bachelorette party and calculated the points I'd eaten the night before...and immediately went out for a walk/run. Didn't begin to make a dent, but I felt good. Afterwards, I made some more of my pico de gallo and met Jon up at the lake for his company picnic, where Jon was the grillmaster for the company. Sadly, I have no photographic proof of this, though we did have a really good time—beautiful weather and I'm friends with a bunch of his co-workers. Andrew, one of Jon's co-workers who is known for his culinary escapades, decided to take this opportunity to make fresh fried twinkies, snickers bars, and oreos. I tried a bite of them... and let's just say that there are many other desserts I would rather have (for future reference). (Photo is from Andrew's FB... I'm just a photo stealing menace today... That's what happens when your camera gets broken... Sad face).

Saturday was the big wedding festivities... I squeeze in a run in the morning and we got up to Granville and checked into our hotel in the afternoon... at which time I promptly realized that I'd left my dress at home. Thankfully, Katy and her fiance came to the rescue and were able to stop by my house and pick it up! Anyway, the wedding/the weather/the venue were gorgeous and I'm so happy for the two of them. Nathan even cried during their own vows. Love them. I can't believe they're moving out to Colorado in two days! Talk about a fast wedding recovery!

(Photo from Sara's camera)
See? We know how to have a good time.

Sunday we left the hotel and finally stopped at the Coffee Cup in Nelsonville for breakfast. I've been driving by this diner for years, have always wanted to go, and never have. Thankfully, Jon and I weren't in a rush (the service was SUPER slow), but the food was good and the people were really sweet. Looking back as I write this post, I can definitely see why I gained this week... Definitely had a big breakfast. Other than that, we spent Sunday afternoon at the beach at Dow Lake. All in all a relaxing weekend.

That brings me to today's bike ride and weigh-in. Since my bike was still hanging out at my apartment complex, I decided to have Jon drop me off in town and that I would just ride it back home. It was really hot outside, but thankfully, most of the bike path is shaded, so I didn't get too hot. All in all, it took about 1:30:00 to run the half mile I ran beforehand (to get to the apartment) and the 13.5 miles that I biked between towns. Since I forgot to change my Garmin to cycling the first 4 miles are kind of odd, but here's the part after I set it to cycling:



I'm pretty impressed with this ride, even though all that distance only equates to 5 WW APs. Speaking of WW, tonight was weigh-in, and, as can be expected after eating everything I've just mentioned in addition to guzzling water like it was going out of style while I was at the pool today (a post-bike ride bit of relaxation), I was up 2 pounds when I stepped on the scale, which brings me to 172.0. I'm not pleased to be up this high, but I know how I got there. Furthermore, I'm really proud of how many activity points I got in throughout the week. It's definitely been my highest AP week in awhile. So, now all I need to do is keep within my points this week and keep up the activity and I'm sure I'll see results! Anyway, kudos to you if you made it through this post! Now, I'm off to make some dinner. Tonight: Soy Ginger Salmon with brown rice and veggies!

Soreness and a different kind of crazy eye

Woke up with more slight all-over body soreness thanks to my mini bout of P90X Yoga and then an unanticipated run with Jonboy last evening. I stepped on the scale for my morning weigh-in (Although I only really count my weekly WW one, I do like to have an idea during the week) and was pleasantly surprised to see 167.8, only 1.8 pounds to go before I'm back to where I was before we stopped running regularly last month. :-) It feels good to finally be back in control and seeing results again.

I wasn't planning on going for a run last night, but Jon suggested it, and I'm glad he did. It wasn't a very good run, even though it wasn't too hot or humid outside. We followed our usual path (I've decided it's relatively pointless to keep including a map, since we run the same route every day more or less) and there were plenty of families with small children out on bikes. I always like passing other people, it's one way to give each other a bit of encouragement and a smile. As you can see in the chart, I stopped quite frequently to walk for a few seconds. The fact that I kept stopping really upset me since I used to be able to run 60 minutes no problem at least once or twice a week, but now that I've started up again, 40 minutes seems like forever.



Regardless, with that many calories burned and for it being an unplanned extra workout, it wasn't that bad. I'm really glad I went out and did it, even if it wasn't my best. Gotta (re)start somewhere!

Tonight, I'm off to Columbus for my former roommate's bachelorette party. I've offered to DD. I must admit that my reasons aren't completely altruistic—by DDing, I get to avoid all the extra points of too much alcohol without looking like a lame-o loser. If I'm going to make these 20 pounds happen this summer, I have to exert some type of self-control and since I'm really bad about eating based on what everyone else is eating, what better way to force self-control than by making it about my friends' safety? We're staying overnight in a hotel downtown (thanks to the bride's parents), perhaps I'll try and get a run in before booking it back to Athens to get ready for Jon's company picnic! I'm going to make the same Pico de Gallo recipe that was such a hit back in April.

Anyway, have a happy Thursday and I'll see you all tomorrow. I'm debating trying to re-conquer the Yoga DVD today, but we'll see how that goes!

Yoga X

Whew. Still a bit sore from yesterday, so I decided to stretch it out with some yoga, using the P90X Yoga DVD. We haven't officially started P90X (we just finally got all the equipment), but I've been wanting to try out the yoga dvd.

I'm an avid Pilates doer, but I've never tried yoga and let me say, it was difficult. I only made it through the first half hour and with just that, I'm a sweaty mess. But, it feels great. Now I'm off to shower and go to the doctor... I think I might have a stye on my left eye, but I'm not sure. Despite my religious hot compress applications, it's been getting worse every day, so I'm off to see what she thinks. I'd really like to be able to wear makeup to my former roomie's wedding on Saturday!

Today's question:
How do you all feel about yoga as a form of cross training?

Have a great day!

A New Roommate

Let me start with the success that was last night's weigh-in. After a weekend that seemed to revolve around food and graduation festivities, I was rather skeptical. I've also moved to Monday meetings for the summer to coincide with my friend/mentor Judith, who's the director of the Paris program I'm helping coordinate this summer. I'm so glad she's a WW-er too so that we can be health conscious together in Pair-ee! Anyway, here are the numbers:

Weekly weigh-in: 170.0
Loss: -3.2
Total loss: -23.6
Emotion: Surprised

At my weigh-in, the receptionist also informed me that I need to lose another 30 lbs to hit what is considered my ideal weight for my height. I find this news REALLY intimidating and I'm also not sure what I'd look like -30lbs... But, I guess we'll see.

It is also worth mentioning how sore I am from yesterday's 6-mile walk. I can't tell you the last time I was sore from a run, but, wow, after yesterday's walk I'm so sore I'm walking funny around the house. I love it! I'll never think of walking as an easier form of exercise again. Sure, it felt easier while it was happening, but I can definitely feel the effects today! That said, I will probably use today for cross training or rest instead of trying to push it and run this evening.

Part of today's cross training is sure to involve Jon's and my new "roommate": the Perfect Pullup bar that Jon brought home last night.


It's all installed and Jon was able to do a few pullups last night with the rotating handles (these apparently make for a more effective pullup). Then it was my turn. I, unsurprisingly, can not do a single traditional pullup, but I can do these standing row ones:

Also, I can sort of do the "Austrialian pullup," so all hope is not lost. I'm also trying to do some pullups using the chair in order to build up strength. I googled "Women pullups" or something similar, and found this article from Women's Health Magazine. I'm going to try this flexed-arm hang business tonight, but I'm not that optimistic... I really don't have any arm muscle to speak of. Legs, definitely... Arms no.

Question for the day:
1. What are your feelings on pullups? Can you do them? Wish you could? Couldn't care less?
2. If you can do them, any tips? I'd love to be able to do one someday.

Okay, off to heat up some leftover Moroccan chicken for dinner!

Graduation and walking in a jungle

Let me just say that despite the fact that I do want to move down South, I loathe heat and humidity when I'm forced to be outdoors for long periods of time. Sadly, these two weather-y adjectives, combined with heavy downpour, were definitely in order for the entire Graduation weekend. That said, we made the best of it (even if I got cranky being outdoors in that robe-like monstrosity) and had a great weekend. Here are a few photos to give you an idea:


Celebratory Champagne Slushies!
Yes, the fire alarm did go off before the graduation lunch... Fun!


I feel that this picture adequately sums up my prominate feelings of the day in regards to my graduation regalia

So, today starts my official summer. I wrote all my thank you notes and then was going to start cleaning the house, but after reading some of my usual blogs, I definitely felt like I needed to go and get a work out in. I geared up and went out there, but it's so hot and muggy here that instead of jogging my anticipated 4 miles, I power-walked 6 instead. I don't think I've ever been this sweaty, but it felt GREAT! See? Look at this happy, sweaty walker:

I must say, carrying that water bottle with me was a great idea. In the end, I walked 6.17 miles in 1:31:00 with an average pace of 14:40 and HR bpm of 159 for a total of 573 calories burned. Not too shabby for a "down-grade" from my anticipated run! :) I know now that if I want to run, I definitely have to wait until later or go first thing in the morning. Now, off to clean some of the house, since we were so busy this weekend!

Oh, and I think I'm going to make this for dinner... We got all the canned goods and such that my friends (who were moving out of Athens) didn't want to take with them... Result: We have a lot of canned beans, tomatoes, and salsa. Win!