I’ve been thinking about starting to run with Rogue on a regular basis. I’m not sure about running through my town with her because of the crazy dogs that come out of their backyards and surprise you… but when I’m running the prairie path trail having her along would be nice for sure. So on Monday I picked up a Gentle Leader harness. Rogue is notorious for pulling during the first mile on walks and I knew she would pull me when running – at least in the beginning of the run. I had also been considering a Gentle Leader head collar. I just couldn’t get my head wrapped around something holding her mouth shut when she’s panting (i.e. sweating). I know the product claims the dog can breathe and drink with it on but there is just something about it. I also didn’t like that it didn’t connect to her collar either. So I went with the harness. The morning of the run, I took her with me to drop Dan off at school. Can you say excited? Oh she was thrilled to be going somewhere at that time. Even sat pretty in the backseat. lol! Now, I already knew she … Read more
[ Continue ]I can’t believe I haven’t written about this yet! What’s the point of me even having a blog if I can’t find make the time to blog about THIS?!?!? I ran my first official 5k on 4/22/12! My time was the best I’ve ever run 3.1 miles. But first let me preface this post with this… I am a slow runner. No. I am a very very slow runner. Most people probably wouldn’t call what I do running. But I do. I know I am running. I am moving faster than I walk. I am exerting more effort than I walk. I am RUNNING! I am a RUNNER! The Announcement I wasn’t going to tell anyone I even signed up for this 5k. Who wants that pressure? I had been thinking about running it the week or two before and finally decided to just do it and signed up on the last day of registration. And then I quietly wrote it very small on the fridge calendar. I really wrote it there more for me. Not that I would forget it but to make me more accountable for it. To make sure I really did it. But then… Sam saw … Read more
[ Continue ]Last night we had a few inches of that heavy wet yucky snow dumped on us. I know I shouldn’t complain. It has been a VERY MILD winter this year in Chicago. Last year around this time we were still seeing piles and piles of snow everywhere from our 20+ inch snowfall in one day. That was awful. As I get older, I am starting to detest winter more and more – read that as HATE WITH A PASSION. I never thought I’d be one of those people who would move to Florida when they got older but I am really thinking about it lately. Why wait for older? I’m ready now. This is what the bottom of my driveway looks like. It’s what most of the streets around here look like. It’s worse where they haven’t plowed. The school parking lot was incredibly bad this morning. You think they’d plow the damn thing from a safety standpoint. Nope. Hopefully it’ll be plowed when I go pick up Dan. But as I was driving back from the gym this morning (yes I have gotten myself back to the gym this week!) and I saw this mess all over the streets, … Read more
[ Continue ]So I went back to the gym on Tuesday. I have gotten so off track since I was sick earlier this month. It was time for an ass kicking intervention. I’ve been telling myself that I really needed to get back to lifting weights not just doing cardio. My plan is to go back to what I used to do when I did the Body for Life 9 years ago (wow! 9 years? really?). I work on arms one day, do cardio the next, then legs/abs, back to cardio, arms, cardio, rest, repeat. The weeks get switched up – one week with 2 days of arms / 1 day of legs/abs and then the next week flips with 2 days of legs/abs and 1 day of arms. It was really good to get back to lifting weights… but wow I get sore like crazy the first week back. Usually after the first week, I’m good but that first week is SORE. The delayed onset muscle soreness (yes it actually has a name) started to be REALLY noticeable when I turned 34-35. I think my body is telling me that the real answer is to NOT STOP EXERCISING. “For the past 5 years I keep hurting … Read more
[ Continue ]I ran somewhat regularly from July-Nov of last year. I didn’t run much in December. I think I got to run twice maybe three times and that’s it. And by running I mean run for about 20-30 minutes with a few 30 second walk breaks in there somewhere (sometimes a few minutes of walking). I wasn’t consistently running without stopping all the time. My main health goal for 2012 is to go back to the gym and lift 2-3 times a week and run the other 4-3 days for a total of 6 workout days every week. January is always a crazy month for me and I know I’m not in the right mindset to go back to the gym and stick with it. This time of year also has all the “new year resolution” people at the gym and it’s always hard to find a machine. Rather than set myself up to fail right off AND to coincide with my 2012 “Good Enough” plan, I have decided to run ONE MILE every day during the month of January. Just ONE MILE every day. That’s it. I can do that. It’s only 15 minutes. It’s only 1 mile. When Feb comes, I’ll make … Read more
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