Going on a Walkabout

Although I don't have a ton of time to post today, I thought I'd hop on here for a minute and just mention how nice it is to be able to walk to so many of my errands in town.  Now that the weather is a little cooler and life is settling back into a routine after a hectic summer it's a lot easier to get out and get moving again.

I've got some things in the works that I think you will all be excited to read about in the coming weeks.  I can't wait to share them with you... soon!  Until then, take care and keep those bottoms moving!

Let the Group Therapy Continue!

M and I have added a lot to our morning walks.  First it was the amount of time we walk (from 30 minutes to 1 hour), then it was distance (from 1 mile to 2.5-3 miles), then it was stairs (10 minutes of climbing stairs downtown really makes you feel the burn!) and then this week we added something - or rather someone - new.

Mr. Kawaii decided to join us on our morning walk yesterday morning, and it was great having him along.  For one thing, it was wonderful to have a third voice in the conversation that always happens in tandem with the walk.  It was also great to share with him all of the joys and gripes of the daily routine and get his insight on a few things that M has been mulling over.

It was mostly great having him join us because he's just fun to be around, no matter what the activity.  I hope he continues coming back out with us.  Someone's got to hold my stuff when I get a half mile into the walk and realize I have no pockets!

Stairs!

M and I have added a new step to our daily walks - quite literally!  We've discovered a couple of places along our route with buildings & stadiums with several flights of stairs.  Climbing them a couple of times during our walk really helps to get the heart beat pounding and make those glutes, lower abs and calves feel the burn.

It's such a great idea... I don't know why we didn't think of it before.

April to August - Where Does Time Go?

I can't believe it has been 4 months since I last updated this blog!  This summer has been a busy one; filled with paintball, camping, expanding businesses, the upcoming publishing of my first novel (information here), remodeling at home and at the in-laws... lots and lots of activity!

I have been having such a great time away from my desk that I have completely forgotten to do regular updates here, and that is something I really need to get better at doing.  How else will you know that I am in the beginning stages of pulling together a 3-woman paintball team (a sub-team of Gearheadz Family Assassins), or that I'm debating whether or not to once again hit the pavement for the Great Columbia Crossing?

I will try to keep in better touch with this blog and keep you all updated.  Viva la small bottoms!

You Look... Different

Hey-O!  April is marching along at a rapid pace, and I fear I am going to run out of month long before I run out of things that are supposed to get done.  Coming back to post on exercising is a little difficult at the moment because I have the attention span of a goldfish and often forget about the blog when shiny things pass by my window.  Oh well, at least I remembered today.

Yesterday Mr. Kawaii and I had a "date day" out on the town and walked for several hours around a show at a local convention hall and at an outdoor mall while we looked for new and inventive ways to spend our hard earned cash.  Although I no longer use a pedometer, I am confident that we walked several miles over the course of the day and it was so good to be outside moving around.  This past week has been a bit hectic, and unfortunately the workout side of things has suffered, but we made up for at least a little of it yesterday.

As we were out, I bumped into an old friend/romantic interest from back before Mr. Kawaii and I were an item, and after the happy "hello" hugs and chit-chat he leaned back and said, "You look so... different from when I last saw you."  Although I'm not sure how the comment was intended (I mean, I've cut about 2 feet of length off my hair, have traded in my tight fitting office attire for jeans and a company jacket and am visibly a much happier person than I was 5 years ago), I couldn't help but think that he was referring to my weight which is, truth be told, significantly different than it was back then.  Initially I was embarrassed for having become so large, but as I thought about it more I was propelled into a long and thought provoking look at who I was and where I am today.

After the initial horror of possibly being mistaken for someone who has "let herself go" I've decided that while yes, I do look different than I did back then - it is because my life is different.  While it's true that I weigh nearly 50lbs more than I did when the old-flame and I said our last goodbyes, the weight gain didn't come from sitting on ass for several years eating bon-bons.  No, I had a demanding and profitable stint in the food service industry where working 60+ hours a week made exercise an afterthought (the unlimited taste-testing, 3 square meals a day on the house and hundreds of gallons of sugary drinks also helped in producing this weight-gain), moved, got married, traveled, gave up the corporate grind to begin working for myself, supported other local small businesses, took care of my mother full time and have somehow found the time to finish writing a novel.  And further, while others might see me now and compare the roundness of my derrière to the firm bubble of a butt I had several years ago... what would they have thought if they saw me 18, 12 or even 6 months ago?  Truth be told, although I still haven't lost more than 5 pounds since this weight loss revolution took hold, I've dropped from an 18 to a 14.

And so, this morning after pondering this some more (I am a woman after all, so I couldn't just let it go) I find myself shrugging my shoulders and muttering, "who cares what he thinks?" about the whole ordeal.  Although it's true that I'd love to be that svelte size 8 that I was yesteryear, I wouldn't trade my life for anything.  Maybe one day I'll bump into him again so instead of reacting with embarrassment to the statement, "you look so different" I'll be able to muster the courage to ask him why he looks so very much the same.

Walk This Way....

There is nothing that calms one's nerves after a long day at the office like a walk through the neighborhood with a friend.  Something about the combined movement of body, and the ability to vent unencumbered about annoyances big and small brings a sense of relief from the daily grind.

T and I walked about 2.5 miles (she also walked to my house and back home - she knows how to show that sidewalk who's boss).  The weather was nice, although the spring blooms did start to get to our various allergy senses near the end of the loop, and I was glad to retreat back indoors to escape the terror of pollen.  It was a beautiful evening, and I am resolved to have more of these walking excursions to keep my momentum.

I'm also feeling a little high today because I was able to bring my new belt down one more notch.  Score.

I'm ALIIIIIIVE!

I was feeling a bit like Frankenstein's monster this morning (you know the feeling - you wake up after a fitful night of dreaming about overdrawn checking accounts, your ex-husband dating Kenny Rodgers and flying puppies), and in a rare moment decided, "what the heck - I already feel like crap, a run won't make me feel any worse."

Where the heck did THAT come from?  I decided not to question the intricacies of my brainwaves too long, fearing that the inspiration to get up and get outside might be fleeting and so within minutes of getting out of bed I found myself walking and jogging with Pooch around our 2.5 mile loop.

With a continued feeling of, "this is going to hurt but let's just do it anyway", I found myself jogging about a third of the loop, making it a goal to jog at least a portion of each block before dialing it back and walking to catch my breath.  Somewhere over the last few weeks of doing squats while reading and checking out Netflix's exercise videos, I have magically increased my stamina.  It's an odd sensation, and maybe I'll try for a repeat tomorrow... maybe.

Just In Time

I walked across town to do my errands today, a nice 3.5 mile loop around town with a couple of short stops at the bank and post office.  The weather was pretty nice when I first set out, but the longer I walked the grayer the clouds got.  I lucked out - it didn't start raining until I was back in my own driveway!

Now that I'm home it's time for some deep cleaning and a shower... although maybe not in that order because trying to walk quickly enough to outrun the rain has left me a very sweaty mess.  Fitness smells oh-so-good.

Gun Extravaganza

Yesterday the entire family headed out to the gun show, and Mr. Kawaii and I spent around 3 hours walking the several long rows of vendors, seeing all there was to see.  By the end of our three hours at the show, we had walked the hall nearly twice and both of us had broken a sweat.  According to the calorie burning tool on AolHealth, 3 hours of non-grocery shopping with sitting and standing burns roughly 611 calories.  Not bad for milling around finding something amazing to buy.

We did doubly good by avoiding the various snacks, treats and candies at the show.  I smuggled in a couple of low-calorie granola bars for us to nibble on when the smells of hot-dogs, pizza, jerky and baked goods got to be too much.  The healthy snack tided us over until lunch time, when we sat down and shared a basket of fries and a single slice of pizza.  All in all, a great day with the family and a healthy activity out of the house.  Double bonus!

Getting the Workout In

When I woke up this morning, I couldn't muster up the "gumption" to work out.  I found myself wandering around the internet, checking e-mail and making phone calls instead... until finally I puttered through my workout hour and had to move onto other projects.  The day, as far as exercise was concerned, appeared to be doomed.

I did manage to get the workout in though, amazingly enough!  As a part of my project of getting my novel published, I have been asked to read a pile of books to try to classify the book (it's somewhere between adult fiction and romance) and I have been feeling very sloth as I've been curled up with Pooch on the couch and a book.  This afternoon I had a fantastic idea: Why not do squats while reading?  I made it through a few chapters of squats and lunges, and then decided to walk to the grocery store for some odds and ends so I got a mile of walking in too.

Hooray for multi-tasking!

The Poop Walk

Mini-workout rant:

I don't know why it is that when I take Pooch out on the long loop around the neighborhood... 2 and a half miles... he insists on pooping 2 blocks from the house.  It's like he knows that we're going on a long walk and that I will have to carry his steamy gift in a plastic bag for a half hour and takes pleasure in making me do so.

If you haven't already caught it, Pooch and I did the long walk around the neighborhood this morning and I rushed through it in hopes of finding a neighbor's trash can left out and open on the curb after the garbage man drove by.

It's mornings like these when a long hot shower after the workout is much appreciated.  Yuck!

Walking the Town

I failed to update the blog yesterday even though I did get quite the workout in. I have decided that to try to save some money on gas (I hear it is going to reach near $5/Gallon this summer) that I would try walking or riding my bike to my errands in town instead of hopping in the car for 3 minutes every time I need to go four blocks to the grocery store.

I tried the experiment out yesterday, walking both to the bank and to my friend's house a couple miles away, and was surprised to find that while I was away from the house for an extra 20 to 30 minutes compared to what I would have been driving, the difference in time wasn't so significant that I can't use it as an excuse to NOT walk to the bank, grocery store, favorite restaurants or friend's and family homes.  By ditching the car I not only got my workout in without really trying, but I also discovered that I don't need those four wheels as often as I think I do.  I didn't even miss out on listening to music during the adventure, plugging a pair of headphones into my cell-phone and listening to music that I downloaded to it long ago.

Even though the left ear-piece on the headphones stopped working on the second leg of my journey, the trip was a success and I discovered that listening to the Hamster Dance in only one ear only makes you go half as crazy by the end of the song.

A Two-Fer

I was feeling on my a-game this morning and so Pooch and I went for a nice mile-long walk around the neighborhood (in the wind and rain) and then I came back inside to do a half hour of yoga (god bless heat and a freshly vacuumed carpet).  Now my clothes are wet from the rain and my abs feel like a pile of jelly so I know I did a good job working out today!

Now that we're back home, Dummy the cat and Pooch are curled up for a nap and I'm feeling a little jealous.  I have no time for such frivolities.  But I am going to take an extra long shower before I dive back into work for the afternoon.

Guns, Knives and Exercise

I'm hopping on for just a brief moment before going back to enjoying my relaxing day off. :)

Today Mr. Kawaii and I headed to a Gun and Knife show at the Expo Center in Portland and walked through the show for about 2 1/2 hours before finally deciding it was time to stop shopping and head home for some lunch.  We had a great time, saw lots of really cool and interesting things, successfully avoided the hot dog and hamburger stands and got to enjoy being out and about together.

It's been a great day!

Getting the Most from My Mile

It was a pleasure to wake up this morning without any back pain for the first time in a couple of weeks.  I decided that getting back into the workout one mile at a time is certainly working without aggravating my current bumps and bruises so Pooch and I headed out for another mile around the neighborhood this afternoon during one of my breaks.

Since I knew that a mile is comfortable for me now, and I'm hesitant to do much more than that at once for fear that the twinge in my back isn't quite ready for more, Pooch and I decided to get as much as we could from our one mile trip.  Once we had walked a couple hundred yards and I was feeling in the groove, I spent a block jumping over cracks in the sidewalks, a second block doing grapevine sets on the even strips between driveways and a third block jogging at a comfortable pace.  Although none of the three exercises were overly strenuous, they sure did get my heart pumping (and kept the neighbors entertained) and I was able to focus the rest of the walk on simply maintaining the sweat that was forming and watching my breathing.  

It surely wasn't a workout to match the herculean efforts of many of you who head to the gym several times a week, but it was a great test of my activity level and a "wake up!" to all the muscles that have laid dormant over the last month or so.

I'm looking forward towards the Adidas Shamrok Run (March 15th in Portland) with anticipation, wondering if I'll be in good enough shape to participate this year.  Perhaps just the 5k to wet my whistle and make me feel accomplished?  We shall see...

The Pooch Walk

This morning, Pooch awakened to the day like a puppy let out of his mother's pen for the first time.  He brought me several bones in bed, barked at me through the bathroom door, bounced on Dummy to say "hello" and generally ran amok through two episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (don't you judge me).  I finally gave in to his hounding and got myself up and dressed for a walk around the block.

I was hesitant to take him on a walk earlier this week because of my back, but his flamboyancy this morning warranted risking the possibility of pain just to gain some peace and quiet!  Luckily, once he was on the leash and out the door he behaved himself and refrained from pulling too hard on the leash to inspect tantalizing shrubbery and barely-contained trash cans during our stroll.  I decided, partially in an effort to make sure he'd nap the rest of the day and partially to see just how out of shape I've gotten since my workout hiatus, to jog a portion of the way and was relieved to be able to make it from one end of the block to the other without feeling out of breath or pulling some vital muscle group.

We only went a mile, and I'm glad I didn't push myself further because as I type I can feel my back tensing as I sit here.  A nice hot shower and some extra strength Tylenol are in order to keep it from getting worse, I think.  But back pain aside, it was a great walk - and Pooch... is already asleep. Peace!

Ah, My Aching Back!

Well, the back saga continues.  I made it out of the house for a short romp around the neighborhood, about a mile and a third, but by the time I rounded the last corner my upper back was achy from all the swinging and strutting of my hips and shoulders.  Oh yes, I swing and strut.

The little adventure got me out of the house for a bit though and loosened up the rest of me.  I'm going to have to rest a while, but who knows - the joys of lifting laundry and folding it energetically may just be in my future.

Walking and Contemplation

I haven't been doing a great job of blogging (obviously), but I have been trying to get a little activity in as my back has been healing.  Gettting in a few squats here and there, burning calories cleaning up the house after my time stuck in bed and taking short walks have helped me to feel less like a bump on a log.

During the clean sweep of the house, I managed to find a very old roll of film that has been floating around the house for years, and after many reminders from my mom I was able to finally remember to drop it off to get it developed.  After another week, I finally remembered to pick UP said pictures from Walgreens and Mr. Kawaii and I sat down to go through them last night.

The photos ended up being from waaay back during the first Christmas Mr. Kawaii and I spent together (4 years ago).  It was fun to look back to the beginning of our relationship together, but inevitably the thing that I paid the most attention to was how thin I was 4 years ago.  I've gained a solid 50 pounds from that Christmas, and at first I got a little down on myself for my "failure" but on my walk this morning I re-thought my stance.

Back when those photos were taken, Mr. Kawaii and I had only been together a few months.  Just a year before, I had gone through a terrible divorce.  I spent months walking between 3 and 6 miles a day in addition to going to the gym and doing an hour of yoga every morning... I worked out constantly because I was miserable and quite honestly couldn't afford to do anything else.  I was in great shape, but I was unhappy.  I had no friends, no money, was at risk of losing my apartment and was very unsure of whether or not I'd get another paycheck.  Life sucked, and although I fit into some really cute size 8 jeans back then, there is no way I'd want to go back.

I reminded myself again that I haven't gained any more weight in 12 months - which is a huge improvement to where I was, gaining 15 to 20 pounds a year.  All I have to do is keep focusing on finding time in my schedule to get exercise in and continue eating appropriate portions and I'll be able to watch that waistline start to shrink.  I can do it!

Outdoors Again!

Shortly after my last posting here a tragic accident involving a shampoo bottle, my left arm and the top of my head left a string of muscles in my upper left back pulled and painful.  It's taken me several days... almost a week... to recover to a point where picking up a glass of water or strapping a seatbelt onto my fragile body doesn't hurt.

Being pretty active in my daily life with errand running, housekeeping exercise and work, trying to keep still has been a struggle this week.  Mr. Kawaii can attest to me forgetting I'm injured and trying to do something silly (like put away the dishes) instead of staying in bed or on the couch like I am supposed to, but overall I've tried to tone it down a bit so that I could heal.

Today I finally felt like I had enough mobility to take Pooch out for a romp, and we walked about a half mile around the neighborhood.  Not enough to break a sweat, but at least I finally feel like I had the opportunity to get outdoors and do something good for my body.  Hooray!

Let this posting be a lesson: Never underestimate the power of shampoo.

It's Raining! It's... Sunny?

I had a strange walk this morning, 2 miles around the block through what seems to have been a wide enough loop to go through a couple of weather cycles.

It was nice and warm this morning (a balmy 53 degrees last I checked) so I headed out into the world to get a walk in before buckling down for a consultation with a tax accountant.  I'm trying to get myself psyched up for a chat about tax filings, exemptions and deductions and I figured I should put my best face forward.  So, to get clear-headed and pumped full of energy I hit the pavement in what started out as a light sprinkle.

About halfway through the walk I was suddenly drenched as the cool, calming sprinkle turned into a sudden downpour.  The benefit of the downpour was that it inspired me to walk faster... and I apparently walked so fast that I escaped the cloud altogether because the skies broke loose and sun spewed forth!  My walk ended with me wet, warm, sweaty and wondering... is Mother Nature off her meds?