Weekends are not long enough....

I feel that all weekends should be at least 3 days, 2 just isn't enough. But since that doesn't seem to be an option lately, moving on....

Saturday wasn't looking good from the beginning. Woke up to head out for a ride and looked out the window. Sad....lots of clouds, looked like a very serious threat of rain. I really wasn't interested in getting caught in the rain on the bike, so I decided to try and wait it out a little. Checked weather.com and saw a large green area of where I live. Bad news. So I waited a little longer, still no better. So I decided to head out for a run isntead. Running in the rain is much more pleasant, plus I can get out of the rain much faster when I'm a mile from home rather than 20 miles from the car! So I skirted up and headed out. Surprised myself actually. Finished a great 4.2 miles after not running in about a week...nice!

After the run, my mom and I explored the local art fair. Nothing super exciting except the very cute yellow lab puppy I saw! :) After the art fair it was party time! Backyard party at Colleen and Nick's. Played some bags (I definitely carried the team - way to go Nick!) and ate some good food, and of course drank some beer. It was a fantastic evening of hanging out with 3 married couples, 1 couple that is living together and....me. Ah well. I was happy to be the 9th wheel.

Today was a shop day. Typical work day, except for one added factor....the "X factor". I did my best to not make a big deal, and I think I did a pretty good job of it. Was ok for most of the day, it got a little tougher towards the end of the day (aparently 3 hours of that situation is about my limit), and then everything kind of all hit me when it was time to go home, so I got the heck out of there. Apparently it's supposed to get easier. I'm waiting for that day. Today I was really tempted to take up a friend's offer to walk in and give him one of those "should've had a V8" bops in the forehead though. Ahh...that would have been good.

And with that....moving on....and signing out. Early to bed to get ready for the 2nd session of boot camp tomorrow morning! :)

A clear sign....

I think this is a pretty good sign that my drain pipe for the gutter is clogged...

Uggg... I don't even want to think about cleaning that out...

Check me out!

Ok, I'm sorry but I need to brag about this for a minute.

I did 30 real push-ups in a row this morning!

Woo hoo! Way to go me! Gotta say, I'm feeling pretty awesome about it! :)

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Wow, this has to be one of the craziest things I have read: Prisoners Cycle around France

Apparently they are letting a group of 196 French prisoners go on their own Tour De France. They will cycle 1,400 miles and stop in 17 towns along the way, and will stay in hotels at each town. Now to me, this sounds like a dream vacation and not a prison sentence. One of the inmates was quoted as, "It's a kind of escape for us, a chance to break away from the daily reality of prison" Now I thought the idea of prison was that you couldn't get away from the daily reality of it, it's supposed to be a punishment! Not a place where you get trained and get to go on cycling trips around the country. If that's what prison is turning into, then sign me up! Let me know what I need to do to get locked up there!

TGIF!

Ahh it's Friday, and not only is it Friday, it's a Friday before a long weekend! Does it get any better? :)

I finally decided to stop letting life get in the way last night, and I made it out for intervals with the guys. I fully expected to get dropped on every single one and spend the evening trying to catch up. The first 2 or 3 were like that, but then I figured it out and started to hold my own. I felt good about the ride, definitely plenty of room for me to improve and get faster, but in order to that I actually need to ride my bike! That's the plan for the summer. I'm tired of letting other things get in the way, I love the bike and need to get back at it.

No big plans for the long weekend, and that's probably a good thing. Hoping to have some friends over for some grilling on Saturday evening, working at the shop on Sunday, maybe more grilling Sunday night, and hanging out with Garrett from Red Rock after he gets the SkirtChaser truck up here on Monday. I so need a full 3 days away from work, and I plan to enjoy every minute of it! Nothing can stop me.

That's the new goal - stop letting life get in the way of life!

It really shouldn't be this hard....

Can someone please explain to me why I am having a super hard time finding these??

White plastic patio chairs....they're not really a rare item! I have been to 4 different places looking for them. Lowes, Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club (with someone elses card). So far, I can only find tan plastic chairs. My table is white though! I want them to match! Next up on the lists: Target, Menard's and maybe Costco if I can get my sister to go with me. Hopefully I will find some before I invite people over for a bbq this weekend.

Which reminds me....I should probably get a grill before then too! :)

Weekend accomplishments!

I actually had a pretty productive weekend. I was able to get around to most of the things I needed to do, although a few of them were put off for more important (aka more fun) things.

Saturday: Woke up with the intention of heading out for a ride, walked outside, didn't feel too bad, although there was some wind. Checked the weather report: Saturday - 20-30mph winds, Sunday - 5-10mph winds. So I switched the workouts, and headed out for a run instead! Got in a good 4.5 miles. Yea! Wearing my race series skirt always makes me feel a little faster. :) After getting cleaned up, I went and met Mom and Veronica for lunch, and then off to get a pedicure with mom. Normally I'm a paint my own toes kind of girl, but when mom is paying pedicures sure are nice! :) After that I took my car for an oil change and a nice wash - hooray for a clean shiny car! Then I tackled the big project - making my old patio table look slightly less crappy. Project involved wire brushing and scraping the table, then priming and then painting. I probably should have spent a little more timing on removing the old paint, but it was a lot of work! Table isn't perfect - but it's definitely better and useable.

Sunday: Woke up for my ride! Nice and sunny, not much wind, but a little chilly. Needed the arm warmers and knee warmers, but all in all not bad. I did a solid 40 miles through the hilly area of Barrington Hills and could definitely feel it. I tried to attack all of the hills as best as I could since I apparently don't have the attention span for long rides anymore. After the ride, I stopped in the shop to pick up some stuff, then picked up some delicious Jimmy Johns. It always tastes good after a ride! After getting cleaned up I put Ginger in the car (so much for the nice clean dog hair free car!) and headed to Veronica's house so we could take our dogs for some play time. Walked over to the forest preserve and had a nice long walk and then let the dogs run and swim at the lake. Ginger was a very happy girl! After that, I really should have headed home to clean my house and do some laundry, but instead we went over to Matt and Tee's house for a bbq. Unfortunately the "grill masters" took FOREVER to cook, but I guess it was worth the wait, because it was pretty delicious. Finally headed home around 9:30 and passed out. It was a very long day!

Super early wake up call for boot camp this morning. I always hate getting up, but once I'm up I'm good to go. Tough day as my legs were pretty tired from yesterday since the foam roller time also got scrapped because of the bbq. It's going to be a long day at work because it's super quiet here. All of the branch directors are in town for a quarterly meeting so all of the VP's are over at the hotel for that. Maybe it means I can sneak out early?? :) Only 8 hours to go....

Cutting back....

So I made a decision, I'm going to try to cut down on the fake sugar that I consume. I can't say cut out completely because sometimes I just need my Vitamin Water 10 calorie, or a Diet Coke or my delicious vanilla Splenda in my coffee. But cutting back is a good start. The past 2 mornings that has meant using raw sugar in my coffee and only using 1 packet instead of the usual 2 Splenda. I did give in and have a Coke Zero with lunch yesterday, but today I skipped the Diet Coke, and so far have held off on the Crystal Light Energy drink mix even though I could really use the caffeine!

Does this mean that I can supplement with some real sugar though?? Ted does have Hershey Kisses on his desk.... :)

I'm trying...

I'm trying to be more positive lately. Mainly I'm pretending, but it's better than I was. So in that spirit, here are a few things I would like to share.....

1. Why yes, I am wearing pink shoes.....you got a problem with that? These are my new Nike Shox....Livestrong edition.



2. Apparently I'm the only one who is immature enough to catch onto "That's what she said" comments in my bootcamp class. Today's came from our instructor....."Don't worry, I'll help you get it up." Come on, that's just too easy.



3. Only 4 more weeks until SkirtChaser Chicago! Anyone in the Chicago area needs to come do this race. Trust me you will love it. Guys chasing hot girls in skirts, free beer and food afterwards, a fashion show of great Skirt products...come on, what could be better? Next weekend is the Raleigh race....I'm kind of hoping to get out there, but as of now it doesn't look possible. Sad. :( Oh wait, this post is only supposed to be positive.



4. I recorded my longest run ever this weekend.....4.5 miles, I'm getting there!



5. Umm.... ok I'm out of positive things to say....so I'm done...

Could be MIA for a while....

So apparently I'm a single girl again....not my choice. So I'm not happy about it. And until I can find a way to cheer up and find something interesting to write about, I will spare you all my unhapiness. Here's hoping I'll be back soon....

Tweet tweet....

Oh yes, and I started a Twitter account. Mainly so I could easily follow updates from other's, but I guess I will post a few updates of my own if the mood strikes... Sometimes I catch on to things late, we'll see how long this lasts. Come follow me! Tweet!

TGIF!

Woo hoo Friday! Started it off with a great boot camp this morning. The instructor is finally starting to get a feel for us and pick up the intensity a little. Which is definitely good, if it would have stayed at the same level as the first 2 classes I would have been a little disappointed. We played with the slosh sticks a lot today. I'm sure I'll be feeling it in my arms tomorrow!

Unfortunately I was running a little late since I decided to go home and shower rather than driving over to the gym (mainly because I was too lazy to pazk all of my stuff last night) so I didn't have time to grab any coffee....so we'll see how long the "excercise high" hangs around to keep me awake. My guess is not much longer....

I think I'll be buying some new shoes this weekend, realizing that my Nike Shox just aren't so "shocky" anymore. Sad. Time for some new ones! I wanted the Livestrong ones, but sadly they went and made the women's shox pink instead of yellow...what's up with that?? So who knows what I'll end up in.

It's gorgeous outside right now, but unfortunately I'm stuck inside at work. Why does that always seem to happen?? They are predicting that some thunderstorms are going to roll in during the late afternoon, but I would really appreciate it if they held off until tonight so I could get a run in after work. And then of course with the rain comes cooler temperatures, so the wonderful mid 70's we've had all week while I've been working are going away and we're getting low 60's instead for the weekend. That means that a morning ride on Saturday could be a little chilly! Hmm....maybe I'll wait until later and head out on my own. One of these days I swear I will do a group ride again and try to remember how fun cycling can be!

Ok, I think that's enough random thoughts for now. :)

What a way to finish....

Yesterday was just a mess....well mostly. Work was a disaster, just one thing after another. Got an e-mail from my boss this morning that simply stated "What's going on????" after he saw an e-mail about us canceling some work last minute and still needing to pay because the vendor was already on site. Yeah, it's going to be a fun one to explain.

So, I decided to give myself something to smile about once the work day was over. So I stopped into Runners High n' Tri since I noticed through the window the other day that some of the new SkirtSports stuff was in. Unfortunately they didn't have much, but I did settle on a lime green WonderGirl tee....everyone needs a little lime green in their wardrobe! :) And it's a color that definitley makes you smile.

I also spent some time in the store talking with Pom, she's awesome! I mentioned to her how I felt like I was stuck at my 5K distance and was having good and bad days with the running. She advised me to slow it down a little at the beginning and see how it went. I know that I usually start out a little faster because Ginger gets excited and pulls me along at the beginning. So when I got home and get ready for the run, I went out with the intention of keeping it a little slower at first. Ginger didn't like being reined in, but she got used to it. And sure enough, the advice worked!! I felt good longer and ran farther!! I recorded my longest run yet....4.2 miles, and I probably could have kept going, but didn't want to push it too much since I had boot camp in the morning. And in the end I still finished with a respectable average of 8:50/mile. I even got a little encouragement from Paula Radcliffe - world's fastest female marathoner, congratulating me on my longest run at the end of it. Nice. Nike really has figured out how to keep people motivated. I wonder who else I can get to talk to me?!

Today is starting out much better. Woke up bright and early for boot camp, got 2nd place in the "plank-off" and afterwards got to head home for a nice breakfast, nap and shower before coming into work a little late today. Have to give tours of the warehouse all day, so I'll keep moving, which will hopefully keep any soreness away. And then tonight is yoga night. Woo hoo! Trying out a new instructor, so we'll see how it goes.

And with that....Happy Wednesday everyone! :)

Oh yeah....and this....

http://aldi26.blogspot.com/2008/05/happy-bevrijdingsdag.html

Need something good today....

So far this morning is a disaster. I have a headache, work has gone insane, installers out in California have decided to start "improvising" and charging us extra thousands of dollars because they "couldn't wait", people are calling me with questions on projects I'm really not that involved in, I'm going to have to have a very unpleasant conversation with a particularly nast vendor soon, and it's only 10am!

I really need something good to happen today....