Hi, everyone.  Remember me?  I thought I was the only one that stopped getting e-mails, only to have them recently start showing up again, but I guess it happened to all of us.  I actually forgot about this blog until I starting receiving e-mails again.  I have not posted on here in a very long time.  I am still slow (much slower than a lot of people who post on here).  I guess it is just my destiny to be slow in all athletics that I (attempt) to do, so I will just live with it. 

A few updates - I started a diet way back on July 10th, 2011, and so far I have lost about 26 pounds, with about 22 more pounds to go to reach my goal.  My body fat percentage is still bad, but at least I have lost some weight.  I mainly did it through cutting down on sugars and carbs, and eating more fruits and vegetables - you know, the usual stuff that you are supposed to do.  The best thing is that most of my pairs of pants are loose!  I still deal with health, injury, and aches and pains issues, but I've learned to work around them as best as I can.

The last official race I did was the Kansas City Half Marathon back in October.  I missed getting a PR by only a few minutes, which kind of made me mad, but at least I did finish.  I don't know if I could have even made up those few minutes, because by the time I was done, my back was killing me, which is one of my chronic problems.  I keep thinking  to myself, "If only I had not stopped at that one water stop, or if only I had not talked to that one person, which may have slowed me down" and other random thoughts like that.  But I had to do a walk/run anyway, so I was just grateful to finish.

The winter blahs have set in with me, which makes me not want to exercise as much.  Hence the reason why my body fat percentage is still bad.  But spring is just around the corner, and I love warm weather, so I can't wait for that.  We have not had much snow here, just hideously cold temperatures, and I am ready to be done with that.

The Conster, are you still on here?

I'm back too! How nice to start getting emails again! Tomorrow I run my first 5K of 2012 in San Francisco at the Waterfront Run 5K. Hopefully we will get out of there before all the playoff craziness starts. I pledge to run one competitive race per month this year and I signed up with a facebook group where we all pledge to walk or run 500 miles before the end of the year. I've lost my holiday pudge but have so far to go!  So Happy New Year everyone and good luck with your goals!!

The wharf to wharf was a blast. I have heard that about the Bay to Breakers too but missed the registration deadline. I live in Sunnyvale. I've lived here since 1982. The 500 mile thing is a facebook group. A couple of friends started it. The group is called "500 mile challenge" and says it's closed but I think if you put in a request, you'll probably be let in.

Good luck!!

Hello Everyone - recovering from first actual documented pain in the rear hard drive failure....managed to revived system long enough to pull files off then went off to the apple store - My wife is now proud owner of  a MACTOP - I have inherited her old laptop and the guilty Disk in question is facing permanent erasure.  That said, I have also erased and restarted my run list - so as to look forward and not back in the past.  My first scheduled race is in March and I have quite a bit of travel on the horizon.

I did manage to close the year strong and am looking for destination race for the fall - prefer 1/2 Marathon or 10K.  this past year I did the R&R 1/2 in Va Beach. 

Hope everyone is dealing with the weather - I'm still waiting to see winter.  I have managed a couple of longer waddles so far this month - planning 10K tomorrow.  I did see someone requesting advise for the rain - my 2 cents are get a nice quickdry/tech hat and the wool running socks.  I love the smartwools - I wear the thicker ones.  I find the keep my toes warm while wet.  Cannot say the same for some of the fancy hi tech socks...

lastly - My wife had her 2 year post chemo checkup today - she was stage 3+ ovarian when dianosed;  Scan and blood work continue to be all clear with no signs of recurrance  Her blog is the one I have on my sign-off.

I have a few friends who belly dance!  Do you get to wear the awesome jingly stuff?  I think that would be my favorite part - little jingly ankle bracelets and scarves and whatnot. 

I've been thinking of investing in a grown-up hula hoop.  It just looks so fun! I could use a bit more whimsy in my life these days. 

Hi!

I've only been going a few weeks - was looking for something I could do even in bad weather - and Love it! I'm not a natural dancer, but the ladies are all my age or older and none are super slim so it's all good. You can really feel the moves 'working' on muscles when you get into it and start doing it right. And yes.. jingles are being added! lol I have a belt and bought some earrings that are hoops with little purple coins on them to jingle. I'm not used to wearing dangly earrings though so they still feel odd. But jingling is cool! lol Being able to wiggle and not worry about WHAT jiggles is nice too!

Dolliegirl - sorry you're down about your last 5K, maybe it was hormonal or just one of those off days. Bound to come as you are doing so well. I'm sure you'll do better next time - but even if not, taking part and running the 5K is what is great! So good on you!! I'm wondering now if I should be brave and look for an earlier 'event' than June. Maybe pencil one in if there is one - even if I walk and run it.

My brother is a 60 year old hippie and makes hula hoops and sells them at festivals.  The one he made for me is about 4 feet across.  The larger the hoop, the easier it is to keep it rotating and doing it's hoop thing if you aren't very good at it - which I'm not LOL

Play will keep us young so I advise not only hula hooping but going to the park and taking a ride on the swings