Monday Mornings

A nice morning run with Katie. I didn't get to see her new haircut though due to the hat. Although I did notice no ponytail!

Shiner joined us this morning too. He has been getting a bit nutty since the cold weather and salted roads haven't provided much opportunity to run or to walk for that matter. The temperatures were decent today and although our previous run with the doggy mukluks (booties) wasn't very successful, I decided to give it another go. Shiner would want me to point out that he does NOT like the mukluks. He would rather suffer sore feet than the humiliation of wearing bright yellow booties. In addition, although I think it is pretty cute how he prances around with them on, the fact is that I am sure that other dogs in his peer group would give him endless grief. However, with most things in life, Mom wins. Well, the front left bootie came off before we left the parking lot. I had put it on 3 times already so this time it went in my pocket. About a mile later Shiner stopped which in dog language means - "I am not moving another step until you take these STUPID booties off me. As with most children, he waited until the time when he knew a temper tantrum would indeed win. So, I let us both win. I took off the remaining front one and left the back two on. He was willing to work with this compromise and ran the remainder of the run. It is is back two paws that I worry about most since one got part of the pad torn a couple of weeks ago. Plus I chalked it up to an experiment to see how his pads would do with out risking injury to all four. I was happy to see when we were done that his front pads were just fine. Shiner was shining with happiness that he will be able to go on runs from now on - temperature permitting.

I thought this would be simple

I was pleasantly surprised this morning. I was expecting frigid and windy - in other words -18 which had been predicted earlier in the week. I awoke to a thermometer which read 14! And although windy, it wasn't bad. Even the freshly fallen snow wasn't too bad to run in. The city had done a good job of plowing. Although our pace did reflect the smooshy conditions (slow). Plus Christy was pleasant company (as usual).

So, in a previous post I mentioned the idea that I got from the movie Julia & Julie. Which is to blog everyday on some tidbit of advice/inspiration given by a running calendar.

I thought this would be easy - that is finding such a calendar. In this day of diets, working out, losing weight and The Biggest Loser, I thought it would be VERY easy to find a calendar that had a daily 5 -15 minute workout or SOMETHING. As I liked to say (and still do) in 8th grade... NOT! (Did that come from some movie?)

Seriously, I thought I could just go to Amazon and type in 'daily fitness calendar' and a plethora of calendars would be listed. Again - NOT! I tried many different search words and the best I could come up with was Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous 2010 Daily Calendar. I am not joking. I even did a Google search and came up dry. So, now I am turning to online daily workouts.

Stay tuned to see what I decide or maybe a better way to phrase it what I FIND! (Considering today is January 8th, I am realizing that I may be using this as a delay tactic too!)

Lose It!

Inspiration has just been falling in my lap....

My new "gadget" is an "app" (application for you NOT in the know". I saw it reviewed in some best apps of 2009 article and decided to check it out. It is called "Lose It!" I didn't think it would be that great since it is free and there tends to be a direct correlation between what you pay for something and how well it works (At least that is what my Mom taught me). The reviews were high so I thought I would give it a try.

It is pretty fun so far, but that is not why I am blogging about it. One of the features is that you can enter in your exercise for the day and it will calculate the calories burned. I was showing this feature to a friend and realized that there is an EXTENSIVE list of fitness activities such as Jai Alai (and no, you will be shocked to know that I don't know what that is) to the old standby - Badminton. And of course we all have a Luge course in our backyard (I guess the winter Olympics are coming up) and what I always think of first when I think of a good workout - music playing. And of course... Sexual Activity. Yes, that is right - no exercise list is complete with out Sexual Activity.

Now, guys - don't get your hopes up. And gals, don't worry that your husband/significant other has another "tool in his toolbox" in addition to lingerie to get you into bed more often. According to Lose It! 15 minutes (I always make sure I don't OVER estimate how many calories I burn) of "general, moderate" sexual activity burns up....

wait for it...

Wait For It......

WAIT FOR IT........

5 calories!

Yep! 5!

Oh, I know you are asking, "But wait! 'Active/vigorous' sexual activity must burn up A LOT more!" I won't make you wait for it this time. The ASTOUNDING amount is..... 8 calories. (Am I hearing groans out there?)

Okay - for you love birds out there (Larry/Judy and Al/Sheri) I know you are saying "Come On! give us credit where credit is due! What are the numbers for an hour???? Be ready to groan even louder (and not in a sexual way, because it should be obvious by now that it won't do you any good) 20 calories for moderate and 33 for vigorous. Hmmmm..... as my friend said "I'll take the candy bar instead".

Now, if you are thinking, "Well, it is just WRONG!" I did a little (quick) checking on the Internet and although admittedly it was low, it wasn't so low to totally discount it. for 15 minutes of moderate sex, 2 calculators gave estimates of 12.5 and 22 calories.

I also compared what my Garmin gave for today's lovely run with the Cousins. My Garmin said I burned 582 calories and Lose It calculated 546. So, given the amount of variables that go in to calorie burning calculators, not too far off.

Just something for you all to ponder.

A little bit of excitement on this morning's run. The snow removal people were out in force around Walgreens making it quite difficult to get into the parking lot. We had to go around the block and through the alley. Yes, that qualifies as "a little bit of excitement".

Inspiration

I know, I know.... I have NOT been good about posting to my blog. I just haven't been very inspired lately. Maybe it is because Tom hasn't run with us for quite awhile so I don't have any new material to work with! Mike tries to help me out, but since he has gotten his promotion and a girlfriend he is so serious.

But a new year is upon us and it will be my FOURTH year of blogging! Whew! Time flies! No wonder I am struggling to write something new and interesting. The New Year Baby (remember that animated TV holiday special? (I am not sure I have my adjectives in the right order there)) must have visited me. Jim and I watched Julia & Julie last night. For those of you who don't know the story is about Julie who blogs about cooking every recipe in Julia Child's first cookbook.

So, the thought occurred to me...maybe I would find a running calendar which had some type of inspirational message on which I would blog about. So, I have gone in search of such a calendar, but currently I am side tracked.....

I found the "Running 2010 Wall Calendar". It is also a log and it must be a darn good one because the calendar costs $146.86 and used it is $146.92! No, it is not a typo, at least not by me. Maybe it is printed on gold or guarantees a Boston qualifying time at your next marathon? Hmmm. I am tempted to order it just to see what all the fuss is about... NOT.

Then I found one that may be much more interesting at a much more reasonable price -

What's Your Poo Telling You? Although, I am not sure I am really up for writing about poop, especially my poop for a whole year.

Or maybe one that is much more realistic is: 2010 Daily Calendar: 365 Excuses for All Occasions

Also on the consideration list is I Can Do It 2010 Calendar: 365 Daily Affirmations. I can just hear Mike's or Tom's voice telling me the daily affirmation in a soothing, but confidence inspiring voice.

But I probably would get 3 faithful readers (you know who you are) if I featured The Biggest Loser Simple Swaps: 100 Easy Changes to Start Living a Healthier Lifestyle.

In order to complete my New Years Resolution to deal with the lady on Rusk Street who tries to drive as close to us as possible just so we can clearly see how her middle finger is erect, I should get 2010 Getting in Touch with Your Inner Bitch boxed calendar

The "Who thought of THAT title" prize goes to the Grandma's Dead: 2010 Postcard Day-to-Day Calendar. Honest! That is a name of a calendar!

The calendar I would probably enjoy most, but who be the hardest to blog about (because a picture IS like a thousand words) is the Daily Hunk 2010 Daily Boxed Calendar (Calendar). The fact that they had to put the word calendar in parentheses behind the word calendar in the title goes to show you the level of intelligence they are expecting in the people interested in anything with the word "hunk" in the title!

I also found it very interesting that when I did a search for "workout calendars" I got

2010 Daily Calendar: 365 Reasons to Have Sex. I think there is a conspiracy out there!

So, what shall it be? Any requests?

Christmas Day Run

I went on an unplanned Christmas Day run. Kinda spur of the moment - sans husband. It was the best day so far to run so I am glad I did. After the torture of the first 2 miles I experienced one of those great moments while running - a runner's high. I was listening to Brandi Carisle - great music and easy to feel love live and those around you while you are listening to her amazing vocal.

So on this Christmas Day I was feeling very blessed for having a wonderful and loving husband and great kids. I was feeling thankful for in-laws who I actually enjoy spending the holiday with. I was thinking and missing my Sparta running friends and wondering how they are fairing in the nasty weather up north.

All in all a great run....

Passed the....

I passed the 1300 mile mark today. I thought I did yesterday, but realized when I entered my mileage in my log that I was .75 miles short. Yeah - I know.. it was probably close enough but it is all in the numbers - isn't it?

A different route today that was a little more enjoyable than running along the frontage road... doesn't take much though. Still a bit of wind. It is amazing how much harder it is to run when on vacation, but my attitude always is - it doesn't matter how fast I run... it is good that I am running at all!

Jim wasn't able to live without his ipod today. He said there were too many periods of silence yesterday. I reminded him that conversations are 2 way... it takes two.... He did tell me that he loved me while we were running... so I guess that should make up for it.

Wondering

I am in a state of pondering..... I am not sure what it all means.....

I was very late sending out the weekly running poll for this week. Normally, I do it by Wednesday, sometimes Thursday. This time I realized I had forgotten to send it out FRIDAY AFTERNOON. Not a peep from anyone. NOT. A. PEEP. I guess this should be expected since the troublemaker of the group was off enjoying San Fran. Apparently, everyone's life doesn't revolve around running (like apparently mine does!). I am so happy that I run with a group of polite people!

It was a good run with Christy this morning. I was glad she was willing to go after her exhausting long weekend in Disney! One lesson learned.. put the poop bag near something that is easy to see and to remember!

It's Back

First run in snow today. It was a bit slick on the roads, but anywhere cars had not driven were fine. There were a few times where are arms flew up and we squeaked due to the slipp'n and slide'n. We kinda looked like this kitten, but even more cute... especially Jill with her morning hair.



There was a nice cold wind from the west too... a nice cherry on top.

It went fast and didn't seem to bad. At least we had a good excuse to run slow!

A ran a little late today since I couldn't fine my shoes. Katie and Christy were kind enough to wait for me after I yelled at them through my car window. Luckily for me they were running the route where I saw them. Good for them for leaving at 5:00! I always knew they were abided by the law despite what Christy said during the run.

I have actually had a couple of good runs since my last post. I ran a leisurely run on Thanksgiving day with Shiner. Leisurely - because I got to sleep late - I didn't run until 10:00 and because the pace was a little slow with all the futzing with Shiner and the leash as well as being pulled in the opposite direction for a squirrel! (nice run on sentence!)

Yesterday ended up being a long run. I 'ran' into Rhonda at the beginning of her run and midway through mine. Since I had her motivating me a long, I was able to go long as I had hoped too. Shiner did well too and still had energy at the end! A nice change of pace running with Rhonda - a whole new world of untouched topics kept us busy while we ran.

I believe I posted this video before, but I saw it again and am wondering if Shiner will ever do this.... dreaming about catching Bella someday.

Run #2

Today was Shiner's second run with the group and his first run with Belle. It went relatively well especially once we let Belle lead and I ran behind with Shiner. It was enjoyable for me because Shiner was doing a sled dog imitation trying to catch up with that cutie Belle. I am sure he is feeling life is unfair since after all that hard work he never got to play with her. Another one of my children who will be saying "You're so mean!" in dog speak.

It was a good run with the Cousins and Jill. A Thanksgiving run is planned for tomorrow. Hopefully we won't be running in snow.

Success so far.

Today was Shiner's first day of running with the group. I am sure I was more nervous then he was. It was probably good that Bryan didn't get a deer (at least that is her STORY for not showing this morning) so Christy and Bella weren't able to be there. It gave Shiner a chance to get acquainted with the routine without the distraction of a cute girl and the mental trauma of realizing that he can no longer adequately show her how much he loves her.

Thankfully he is not a sled dog wanna be. Absolutely no pulling. Plus since it was dark he couldn't see squirrels so no leaping after them. I did use his "no pull" harness and the few times he did see something he quickly got turned around. Worked great.

Maybe my sister-in-law is right that is original name "Miles" is appropriate for a dog in our family.

Leakers

There were a couple of leakers this morning! And to make it even worse, one of them missed out on getting her Girl Scout Cookies!

Here is a nice little cartoon... complete with snot rocket!

Back in Sparta

A great group run with almost everyone this morning. It appears that the temperature has dipped to the point that calling of the dreadmill can no longer be resisted by certain members of our group. We will see them in spring!

Running along the cozy streets of Sparta wasn't quite the same as running through Central Park. It would be great to live in a city with such a great park. Of course if I lived there I couldn't afford to be within running distance of the park! So I guess the path along Beaver Creek will have to satisfy me.

While in NYC I also got to experience one of my worst dreadmill experiences every. I won't bore you with the details except to say that I only ran 2 miles and the people on the elevator afterwards were not happy with my new perfume - "profuse body sweat". Although I have to give them credit - no New York F bombs or similar language was directed my way. Of course, since I was in a hotel they probably were just visitors not true New Yorkers.

Veterans Day

Don't forget to honor and thank those who have served our country.... even if it is Mike.