Okay, my goal was to do the 6K today in less than an hour. 55 minutes and change!  My husband ran it with some walking intervals and only finished 10 minutes ahead of me.  I'm very pleased with my finish time and was thinking of you all.  Had to head straight to the airport so I missed Melissa Etheridge concert.  Congratulations to you all on your races!

This past week started out great with the opportunity to meet Michelle Valenti down at the Bay this past Sunday.  We went for a nice long walk and did a little interspersed jogging on the way back.  It was a nice change to walk with someone else.   Jogging was another story.  I jog pretty slow on my own, but it's still faster than my walk pace.  I really felt I needed to pick up my pace to accomodate someone 20 years younger than me but I couldn't sustain it for nearly as long.  Still a really gorgeous day and nice to finally meet Michelle.  We did have a nice lady take a picture of us that I planned to post but when I got home I saw that my camera was on "video" mode.  So, if you'd like me to post a 10 second video of Michelle and I posing, I'll be happy to.

Got my non-dorky fanny pack in the mail so I can carry my phone with me, in addition to my housekey and iPod.  I finally felt secure enough to get off the treadmill and get back outside for my workouts, which was great.  The weather has been beautiful and I'm so happy for the time change because there's still a couple of hours of daylight left when I leave work.  Now I have the option to get my walk/run in before or after work.

Took a self-defense class on Saturday (once again, thank you to Michelle!).  It was wonderful, we learned some great defensive techniques and got all the good reminders about being aware of your surroundings, etc.   A really great class and I'm so happy to have had the opportunity.   Got up today and went for a 2.5 mile workout this morning.  I jogged my normal snails pace, a mile out and then jog/walked on the way back (uphill).

I'm VERY motivated this week to push that little bit extra as my husband and I are going to Hawaii on Sunday.  I'm originally from there and it's always nice to go "home" even though I'm in California now.  I'm bringing my running shoes and we plan on jogging in the mornings and I promised to take him on a hike up Diamond Head which he has never done before.  This time, I promise to take usable, postable pix to share of our workouts in Hawaii.  Hope to even get in a little outrigger paddling!

Hope you all have a productive, successful week!

Hey guys...tough week here in San Diego.   This past weekend a local 17 year old girl went on a trail run in broad daylight and was raped and killed by a registered sex offender a half mile from her car.   Kind of tough to get out and run by yourself with that fresh in your mind.   I just want to take this opportunity to remind all of you to please be safe.  Walk/run with a friend if you can, take your cell phone with you, let folks know where you're going and when you expect to be back.  I run/walk with my keys in my hand to use as a weapon if I need to.  Keep aware of your surroundings if you're like me and run with an iPod on.  Don't have it so loud where you block out who and what is around you.   Okay, enough of me being your mom.  Let's be safe out there.

Whew.  Shake it off.

So, with that in my mind, I still have gotten out and done my workouts but have also supplemented with workout DVDs.  Did a little Tae bo (oh! old school!), a little "The Firm".  Good stuff and keeps working out fun.  Something different all the time....perhaps I have exercise ADD?    I used to paddle with an outrigger canoe team but took the last year off to deal with stuff and am now wanting to get back to it.  Every chance I get, it rains.  Shouldn't be a big deal but the water from where we put our boats in the water gets really polluted from the storm drains every time it rains and it's not something you want to fool with if you can help it.  So, fingers crossed for no rain, I'm hoping to get out with my old team on Saturday and paddle.  I'll let you know how it goes.    When I was paddling with them, my husband and I ended the season with a trip to Hawaii and paddled an 18 mile race.  That 's what I think about when exercise gets tough, boring, etc.  "You paddled 18 miles before, you can get through this."

My diet this week has been much improved.  I've totally skipped my 2:30 candy break.  I've brought oranges to eat instead, I've eaten my lunch later to put off that 2:30 hunger.  It's worked.  My other Danger Zone (no TopGun music please) is evenings.   I tend to graze at night so I've tried to be more concious of that and have a Skinny Cow ice cream after dinner and leave it at that.

Sorry for the ramblings guys...I'll be in a much sunnier place next week, promise!

So, I signed up for a women only 5K this past Saturday.  It was billed as run/walk, you could do either or both.  I decided I would racewalk it just so I could get an idea of where I am for the 6K up in Los Angeles in April.  I did it in 42:53, 13.50/M!  Not too bad.  I have to admit it really made me feel good to pass the run/walkers and I even passed a couple of joggers. It was really fun passing the ones that were much younger than me!  Yeah, I said it. All in all, it was a really fun event and made me pretty confident for training to start on Monday the 22nd and get ready for the 6K walk in April.

Then.  I got up the next day.

So, when people tell you to stretch before and after working out, they're not kidding.  Especially when you're doing a pace or length you're not used to.  O.  M.  G.  I was SO sore.  I even went to the gym with my husband and couldn't manage a sloooow walk on the treadmill.  I stretched for the entire hour.  It was brutal.  Please.  I beg of you.  Stretch.  Warm up.  Your muscles will thank you.

I did realize if I can walk that pace for 5K, there's no reason I can't slowly jog that far.  I decided to try it out this week. I woke up early and attempted to jog a two mile stretch in my neighborhood, fully expecting to have to walk about 1/2 mile in.  Not at all!  I jogged 95% of it.  I took a short break coming up a hill on the way back and a short piece at the end.  I was pretty pleased with myself.  It was slooow but it was farther than I've jogged/run without stopping in a long time.  Yes, I stretched when I got home.  And I'm only a little sore today.  Going back out tomorrow to see if I cam improve my time/endurance.  

Keep going!  And stretch!

Seems like everyone I talk to had a difficult 2009.  Whether it was job loss, relationship issues, court issues, everyone seems to be glad to put 2009 behind them.  The last year was stressful for me as well.  While I'm so fortunate to still have a great job for a great company, my husband and I spent the year focused on legal issues and both of us let exercise fall off of our "To Do" list.   Finally, everything has calmed down and we can get back to an exercise routine.   I've put on about 10 pounds in the last year and I can't wait to get back in shape.  I'm tired of being tired, tired of not looking my best and tired of not being able to wear my favorite clothes.  I also have a 30th high school reunion coming up this summer and that is a great motivation to work towards looking my best.   My goal is to lose 20-25 pounds by June.

My challenges, probably a lot like you, are making time for exercise.  I take my stepson to school at 7:00am and go straight to work from there. More often than not, I pick him up later in the evening at 7:00pm from his gym (Dad picks him up from school and takes him to his gym).  In the past I've found that I tend to stick with a workout program when I tackle it first thing in the morning.  Before the prior year, my husband and I got up at 5:00 am three days a week to go to the gym, so I know I can do it!  So, I either need to get up at 5:00am and do my exercise or make myself do it after work before I pick up the stepson at the gym.  Last week, I tried going to the gym between work and before picking him up and that works out pretty well.  I have options, morning or evening, so I need to be flexible and do one or the other.   Here's where the excuses come in!  5:00am excuses: It's too dark to walk outside!  It's too cold to walk outside!  I'm too tired, I'll work out tonight! (which gets followed at 5:00pm by, I'm too tired to work out after work, I'll do in the morning.....I think you see the pattern,)  So, that's one of the bad habits I've developed over the past year.

Diet wise, I have a 47 year history of not eating well.  When I was young I was naturally skinny and could eat anything I wanted and not gain a pound.  That all stopped in my late twenties and it's been a struggle ever since to reconcile my new slow metabolism with my engrained poor eating habits.  Add to that, I hate to cook and am not a big vegetable fan.  So, my work is cut out for me there.  My plan is to make small changes and make better choices.  I started trying Jamba Juice's oatmeal with fruit last week, and while it takes a little getting used to, I am liking it.  And guess what?  It is FILLING.  I don't get hungry for hours after, which is great.

I'll touch base again and let you know how the training schedule looks and how I'm going to make it work with home, work, and well, everyday life.  It's important so it needs to be a priority so I'm going to make it one!