When You Start Out The Climb.
My apologies for the lack of updates recently. Last week I had an incredibly busy week. My mornings have been spent training...Allow me to explain....
On October 10th I started training at Country Park for the Greensboro Gobbler 5k. I did one 5k last year in March and made it probably less that 1/4 of a mile before having to give up and walk the rest. My finishing time was 45 minutes. Boo hiss!!
Recently I began walking at Country Park and one day I was thinking about the Gobbler and suddenly thought, "Hey! I'd like to do that!" So then it became a goal.
I started by trying to make it up the first big hill and a little ways after. My first day I made it about .17mi. It was awful. Then I walked the remainder of the 5k distance. Then I was able to make it about .25mi.
After that I had a break-through. I told myself that I would try to make it to the dog park which is about 1.3mi into the course. I way surpassed it and went about 1/2mi instead. I felt awesome and walked the remainder of that lap.
The course is really hilly and very challenging. Its actually much more challenging than the course I was on for the last 5k. So this will be quite an accomplishment. My furthest distance ever (when I was running frequently) was 1.5mi.
Yesterday I surpassed that by running the entire first half of the 5k. Around 1.6 miles. This after a long break from running and many challenging hills. When I was running 1.5mi 3x a week it was on a treadmill on a 0% incline. So this has been a huge accomplishment already for me and I'm super proud of myself.
So after my run yesterday I officially registered myself for the Gobbler on Thanksgiving Day (Nov.25th). This also happens to be 2 days after my birthday and I think its going to be a fabulous gift to myself to accomplish my goal. I NEVER thought I could run a 5k but I've totally GOT THIS!
Also, as an extra incentive, my husband has made reservations for us at the Grandover Resort after the race. They're going to have this huge lavish buffet and I'm going to find some pumpkin pie and DEVOUR that bad boy! I'm gonna be like King Kong, climbing on that table and jumping around with my pumpkin pie and my ridiculously overloaded plate of delicious food.
My husband broke this surprise to me in an e-mail the other day and included at the end, "Remember...non-finishers eat at K&W". LOL
I guess I won't be a non-finisher then!
I'll keep you posted on my progress..
-G♥
The Cologne-
This story has gone unmatched since it occurred. I mean…really…well you’ll find out why..
At the other school I used to work at I had this sneaky little kid in my group named…well..we’ll call him ‘C’. Whenever ‘C’ was up to no good he’d give me shifty eyes to make sure he wasn’t going to get himself caught. That of course always tipped me off that he was doing something he shouldn’t be.
One day during snack I catch ‘C’ sneaking something out of his backpack at the table. He throws shifty eyes my way and then quickly stashes the item so that he won’t be caught. However..I did see it. In fact, I did a complete double take thinking surely I did not see what I thought I had.
I say, “Um…I don’t think so. Hand it over.” He does so very reluctantly. Since I had already caught a glance of this item I can’t, in hindsight, believe that I dared to touch it. I guess I was really trying to talk myself out of seeing what I saw. But no…I took it. And in my hand now was a small bottle of KY lube.
I pulled ‘C’ aside and calmly asked, “What is this?” because I was dying to know what he thought he had. “That’s my cologne.” And sure enough I had caught sight of him dabbing something on his neck at the beginning of the day. So ‘C’ had been dabbing lube all over himself all day before I confiscated it.
“’C’? Where did you get this?” Guilty look. “My Aunt’s drawer.”
At this point I’m absolutely biting my lip and its nearly bleeding. I wanted so bad to lose it. I shuffle over to my boss and show her. “’C’ has stolen some…erm…’cologne’ from his aunt’s drawer and brought it to school with him.” I had to go to where she was so that the kids wouldn’t see me totally lose it. Then, when trying to find something to store it in, a co-worker of mine grabbed a latex glove and stuffed it into one of the fingers. So now I’m carrying a bottle of lube around stuffed into the finger of a glove so that it totally looks like a condom and I’m wondering if things could possibly get any more inappropriate. I put it on my boss’ desk so that she could speak to whoever was picking ‘C’ up that day.
The funny thing was that the Aunt was supposed to pick ‘C’ up that day, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. Instead I led his mother to my boss’ office so that we could speak with her. Now this is her sister’s…um..goody. My boss handed her the glove and she says, “Y’all got me all worried about what’s in here!” The way she opened the glove had me rolling all over again. My boss has this look on her face like she’s not sure how to approach this conversation, but she says, “Um…’C’ thinks this is cologne…..I’m not so sure.” The Mom sort of pried it open with both hands and looked down into it and then quickly shut it and looked up biting her lip, trying not to laugh. “No. I’m not so sure it is either.” We all died. Poor ‘C’…his mother will have dirt on him for the rest of his life!
Gotta love kids…Even the shifty-eyed ones!
Well I haven't stuck to my promises....Already I've gone to McDonald's once, I didn't exercise but once this week, and I've been eating terribly.
I really miss the absolute do-this-crap-OR-ELSE motivation that trying to join the Navy provided me with. So I've decided that I need to set some sort of goal up for myself. It needs to be something that I can't easily back out of and also something challenging that I'll feel was really worth it when I'm through.
Sooooooo....I've decided that I'm going to try to do the Greensboro Gobbler. Its a 5k that takes place on Thanksgiving Day. Its fairly tough too. The course is Country Park where I walk at a lot. There are two really decent hills in it.
Forget the fact that I was running a mile and a half 3x a week. Now I'm getting to .25m and feel like dying. Dangit! I hate setbacks, but I've only myself to blame. The good news is that it shouldn't me nearly as long, as it did when I first started running, to progress from one goal-marker to the next.
So this is my plan of action:
- I'm going to try to run 3x a week for the next 2 weeks. (Short-term goal)
- While I'm running I'm going to run as far as I can and then either walk the rest or do intervals..I'm not sure.
- Each time I run I'm going to try to run past the point where I had to stop the last time. (Pacing!)
- If I feel like this is doable (even doable but really tough) I'm going to sign up as early as possible for the race so I can't back out.
- I'm going to try to get in at least 2 strength-training days a week
- I've GOT to watch what I'm eating or it will totally screw me on my runs.
My goal for this is to be able to run the entire thing without stopping. Even if I'm slow as a turtle. Slow and steady wins the race, after all!
Wish me luck! I'll keep everyone posted and if you have any suggestions please let me know! :)
-G
My last trip to the hair salon was about 4 weeks ago. That was the day I had finalized my decision to go from blond (my natural hair color) to red. I just had to try it. I don't usually experiment with hair colors, but I've always wanted to know how I looked with red hair.
It actually looked really good and very natural on me. I have red-head skin anyhow. The problem was that it started to fade immediately! I'm talking showers with red dye pooling at my feet. After $120...thats NOT cool!
So when I when I went to the salon yesterday I had something like strawberry blond hair. I had also decided a while ago that I was going to bite the bullet and try to grow my hair out. I did pretty well. But, as usual, I found myself wearing it in a ponytail all of the time. What's the point of having long hair if you're going to wear it up all of the time? And I knew when the kids started asking me why I never wear my hair down that it was time for a change.
So anyhow I decided to go back to short. I promise to post a pic later. Well the hair coloring was fantastic. She had to give me a dark brown base color to neutralize the red out. Then she applied heavy highlights all over and a toner. The result is really nice. I like it.
Then came the haircut. At this point I'd been there for about 3 hours. Yeah! It takes a loooong time! She's cutting my hair and we're all joking around because my hairdresser and the other hairdresser that usually works with her is hilarious. Well I don't know if she felt rushed or what, but I walked out with the WORST haircut I've ever had!
Imagine...
I ran home and ordered my husband upstairs until I could mess with it. Then I had a moment of near-nuclear meltdown where I nearly cried. My hair was screwed. I immediately started searching the net for super short styles I might like. I figured that the only way to salvage it would be to cut most of it off.
So I found something I'd be okay with and called my hairdresser and rushed down there and PRAISE JESUS! She fixed it! She didn't have to cut it all up, she just had to shape and texture it more. Now I like it quite a bit. Its the perfect length for me and was really easy to work with.
What a nightmare! Thank goodness its all fixed.
Now for your enjoyment...
- "I was doing blow off of a gay guy's butt"
- "I did the deed over the balcony and all I can think to say is 'I'M ON VACATIOOON!!'"
- (Another Client after asking for a bottle-opener to start in on her wine) "If you hang around here with me long enough I eventually talk about sex. And that's because I never have any!"
- (My hairdresser)"I want to go across the U.S. making out with bartenders. I wanna be a c***tease."
- "You need to stop making out with gay guys. And how could you make out with those eyebrows??"
- "Who stole my Cherry Coke? What the hell! Who takes someone's Cherry Coke???"
- (A different client) "So here we are at this nail place and we're laughing at the price list which, on the bottom, says 'Toe Waxing:$10 & Up', and we're like WTH??? 'And up?!' How much hair could you have on there?!"
- (My hairdresser to me about redecorating the house) "Just burn it. Burn it down. I'd be running out with my cats and my hand bags going 'SAVE THE KENNETH COLE SHOES!!!'"
- (Me) "Man...I'm gonna need a nap after this!" (My hairdresser) "Getting pampered all afternoon is really hard, isn't it?" (Me) "I know, right?? My husband just doesn't get that."
- (Me to the other client who was tired of meeting men off of Match.com) "I met my husband on the internet. I just wasn't looking at the time and it wasn't on a dating site." (Her) "Any advice?" (Me) "Yeah...try not to get murdered. That always ends bitterly."
Until the next time...
-G♥
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