i've been tagged

consideing what a blabber mouth i can be it's funny even to me that i can scarcely think of 7 things to share about myself
but i'll give it a go...

i'm often perceieved as as pushy and demanding.

ironically, people tell me all the time that i'm too sensitive and that i take things too personally.

i attended 2 grammar schools, 2 middle schools, 3 high schools,
1 allied health professional school, and 5 jr. colleges.

i served a mission in italy during my mormon phase..relatively short phased but enough to completely wreck my twentys.

i love my husband more today than when we were first married.

when i feel nervous or insecure i go for a run or do something active to regain my confidence and works every single time without fail.

i'm funnier in person than i am on my blog.

so there ya go, lame but true. now i need to wade through about a bazillion pages in my anthropology book.

Good Night Moon

Over the weekend M and I hauled out our bikes and rode for a good hour . i rode to class on Saturday, avoiding hills whenever i could. i got a couple of lights and reflectors today to ride at night but i have to admit preferring to drive while it's still chilly at night. maybe in the summer when it's lighter and warmer.

I supported girl scout cookies sales last week and brought home..hmm...8 boxes on Thursday....
I'm glad i took just 2 classes, it's a manageable load and i'm doing well in both classes so far. i could stagger my math study sessions better, but all in all it's going well.

I think i just need to face a few facts and not keep hoping for things to settle into any consistent routine. i have a few fixed items on my plate but so much else is random and feels out of my control.

i wanted to swim on Sunday, i felt too tired to run or ride after Saturday's little ride to class that had me huffing and puffing..so, i wanted to swim because i needed some thing restorative and when i found everything BUT my swim cap..that's when i decided to go for a bike ride with M...much to her dismay.

Let me just say this about life with a girly girl. yeah it's fun and i love me some pink.but i wish she was a tiny bit more like i was when i was her age...i liked girly stuff and bikes.....Plus, i wish she'd just get with the program already and not find it necessary every single time to protest and whine.

Needless to say it wasn't a really enjoyable ride but we managed to put in a whole hour. after we pumped up her tires we headed over to the bicycle bridge and rode around the fake lake there along highway 80. we rode around the "lake" once and then backtracked home. we rewarded ourselves with? that's right MORE GIRLSCOUT COOKIES. ok so not good in the nutrition dept. but i'll take a few points for the ride and for not losing my shit when she made it so easy to.

ok. im so going to regret staying up so late. but i'ts hard to go to sleep after my night class.

goodnight moon

Live and Learn

this guy pretty much summed up how i felt following a field trip to the zoo with my anthropology class a couple of weeks ago. we had to observe a number of animals and try to identify signs of culture and communal behaviors. i didn't manage my time well and pretty much had a meltdown by the end of the day.

It's all work

i have been crazy busy with work, a couple of the surrounding nursing homes have been shut down due to influenza and our caseload has literally tripled in the last week. it's not called work for nothing.

while i wont go so far as to say i'm worried i am starting to get concerned about when the hell i'm going to settle into some kind of routine. school, work and working out it's still not coming together. i rely on T for most of M's shuttling to and fro and with him out of town on business i've been picking up the slack. on wednesday i worked half day and walked the dog for 50 minutes.

i will say to his credit he pushed hard on thursday to make it back from Monterey on time to get her to her dance class in oakland by 4 pm. not having a regular schedule has forced this catch as catch can approach....and it's really not cutting it. you can only wing it for so long.

on the upside. we're eating allot less red meat, mostly chicken and some fish. 2-3 servings of veggies and fruit. water intake pretty much sucks , though i have been enjoying brown rice tea allot. i'm really trying to at least eat better if i'm not exercising as much. only ran once this week but i'm not going to get all wrung out about it. it is what it is.

m and i are attending a nutrition class together next week at kaiser. i've been getting a tad bit too casual about workplace eating, seems like the valentines day candy showed up early and i've been popping a chocolate or two or three in my mouth on a daily basis.

i really shouldn't be here right now

but because any self respecting procrastinator knows that before you can really dig into the meat of the matter, in my case doing housework AND homework, there's trimming and prepping that must occur first.

looking at the mountain of stuff that has occupied my dining room table for oh uhm, ever.....i'm now thinking that the kitchen island will be my study area. it's the one room that i seem to keep tidy and it's far away enough from the living room that i can concentrate and co-exist with M's marathon viewing's of "Jon and Kate makes 8." lately she's been pulling the "why am i an only child?" card, to which i calmly reply,
"because knowing ones limits is a good thing and kid your it!"

i recently finished reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by elizabeth gilbert...which i thoroughly enjoyed..turns out it was a nice segue for the topic of discussion in yesterday's anthropology class. gilberts travels take her Indonesia, a country i knew literally nothing about before reading her story. in class, we watched and discussed a film on Papua New Guinea. gilbert described the cerominies and customs she observed and much of it was similar to what i saw in yesterdays class. i think it's kinda cool when that happens, seemingly unrelated acts that turn out to compliment eachother. making connections is awesome.

still, as fascinating as it all was in class yesterday. it's a class, and i'm a little more than intimidated at the prospect of writing college essays. i'm not uptight really or even anxious but i'm definitely not in my comfort zone....and that's usually a good sign. it means i'm about to learn something new. learning to swim comes to mind.

if pain is weakness leaving the body than i can reasonably assume that the discomfort i'm feeling now is new knowledge trying to enter my brain, right? i'll keep this in mind during monday night math class.

Stressing Less

nothing like a little sun and some caffeine to turn your running around. i'm enjoying my coffee ritual once again and i was sooooo happy to see patches of sun on this mornings little 4 miler. oh happy day!!

my dear sweet mia's recent post got me to thinking how we (myself very much included)invite unnecessary drama into our fitness efforts by self imposed pressure to perform, inspire or just plain put a dent into "the goals".

i was telling her how i stopped writing in the blog as i face my own struggles with getting back into some sort of routine and i had to ask myself why? i like coming here and writing about my life not just my running life. i like the challenge of putting into words my take on it all. i write more in a private journal but i also like making connections with other bloggers and well i just don't think you have to be a hard core athlete in training to be here.

i'm really happy with today's efforts, everything felt good and the good bit of stretching afterwards felt great. PLUS the 30 minute walk with Brandy afterwards burned another 161 calories.

no pressure just easy forward motion.

where is the sun?

i ran outside today and i'm sad to report that it wasn't as enjoyable as the run on the treadmill..gasp...can't quite believe it myself really. it's just this junk lingering in my chest made sucking in the cold air quite unpleasant.

while the rain has let up it's still cold and gray, (normally two conditions i prefer during a run) i miss the sun!! oh well, at least i got out there and worked up a sweat. getting back on track is not without it's aches and pains, the slight soreness in my quads from wednesday's run is a gentle reminder that i will not be picking up where i left of any time soon.

it's not uncommon when your ill to revert back to things that are familiar. you see it allot in the elderly, often times they'll revert back to their native language when there defenses are down and they are on the the mend. i find something similar happening to me. when i first started running. i did the popular walk-run program. i didn't have any of the gadgets or gear i have now. i never took the dog. things were fairly simply: walk a minute run a few more. i did this for several weeks until i was running longer and walking less. pretty much since the race last october i've returned to less structured runs. and since getting sick with the FLU FROM HELL and trying to get back on track, i find that the less "stuff" involved the more likely i'll actually run.

plodding along the BART trail this morning i left the gadgets and the dog behind because i didn't want to know how slow i was going and i really don't have the energy (or patience!) to include Brandy on runs around the neighborhood right now, i'm tired and cranky and just don't want to deal with all her distractions during the run so i just walk her afterwards.

getting out there and doing something is major accomplishment
right now.