Fast Fall Walk

The weather has turned suddenly cold.  The bumble bees appear to be frozen in the morning on the flowers waitng for the sun to warm them.  Note to Self.....It gives a photographer perfect opportunity to macro a bumble bee!  Today it was cloudy cold and windy.  I came home from work and did a fast fall walk jog as the sun went down.  The days are definitely shorter in day light and the feel of Fall is in the air.

Sunday Valley Cruz

Valley Cruz 2010

Today we had a car show at our church and I walked around getting pictures of beautiful old cars.  These cars are lovingly restored and proudly displayed.  It was a beautiful day and I spent it in photographic solitude among friends and strangers.  Did I count it as exercise?..... No, it does not count as 30 minutes of intentional exercise!  I came home and went for a walk around the hood before heading off to see the movie Eat Pray Love with my friend Stephanie.  It was a great movie, offering beautiful scenery, divine culture and plenty to reflect on.....

SetBacks

Such a rough week emotionally and I feel drained of emotion of any variety.  My husband and I walked over to the Middle School to watch an Agility Dog Contest.  Immediately our eyes found the small dogs and a Papillion breeder was there with 4 puppies.  We held one called "Big Jake", and although I had fleeting thoughts of getting another dog, we refrained, and was content to just hold the little guy.  After the dog trials we walked over to Subway and talked about our little "Shmupps" and how much we miss him.  I feel like I have let go of control over my food choices and it is starting to get the upper hand....it is definitely a setback.

Time to Play

If it wasn't for this project I would not have exercised today.  I think the depression went a little deeper today.  I am having a hard time with all the visual reminders of Chance, so I tried to remove them all tonight.  I packed up all his doggie accessories and put them out of sight in another room and closed the door.  Then I vacummed the whole house.  I am finding small little furry reminders of his silky soft hair everywhere and each one I find hurts a little.  I know I can't remove them all because I will find one on a shirt that I have decided to wear or a coat from the closet.  Tonight I did yoga on a cleanly vacummed carpet and I missed my doggie licks to the face.  Chance always thought that when I was on the floor it was time to play and he would position himself under my Warrior One yoga pose or lick my face on the Downward Dog and I would shoo him away..... I didn't think I would miss that....

Wednesday Walk

Normally a Wednesday would not be such a big deal.  But I am still dealing with the little things that come with losing a pet. I made it through work with mild depression, it helps to force your brain to focus on other issues that are immediate and important.  I have been trying to medicate my feelings with food, eating without concern for myself and it never works.  At the end of the food tunnel all you find are tight jeans and saddness.  I have so many emotions to deal with right now and I am only adding to it with donuts.  I went for a walk today because it is the only thing I can put a "pin drop" of energy into doing.

Still Painful

Today, is a new day and almost 24 hours farther from loosing my little warm furry bundle of unconditional love...and it is still painful.  Going to bed last night was horrible as I expected to hear his little jump up from the floor to the bed and feel him snuggle up against me.  I cried myself to sleep last night and I am not so sure tonight is going to be any easier.   I had a major, " I miss my dog" meltdown at lunch time.  I am so thankful I have an hour for lunch.  I was able to cry my eyes out, pull myself partially together and go back to work for the afternoon.  When 5 o'clock hit I didn't really want to go home to an empty house so I called my husband to be sure he was going to be there when I got home.  He suggested we walk over to Subway for dinner and I was glad to be able to get my exercise done, my dinner eaten, and therapy talking about our little "Shmupper" dog as we walked...

Bye Chance

Chance~ 2000-2010

It was the Monday after the terrible weekend.   Our dog Chance having been diagnosed with diabetes, could not continue any longer with his battle back to good health.  We took him to the Vet for a Monday morning appointment but we knew in our hearts we may have to say goodbye.  I was at work when my husband called me and I was still hoping we could save our little "schmupps".  As soon as my husband said, "I am going to let the Vet talk to you....",  I knew my worst Monday was about to happen.  I knew this day would come eventually, and it came too quickly.  I was blessed to have a new manager who has 3 dogs who are her "children", and when I entered her office and told her, she did not hesitate to send me off to be with my "dog-child".  I called my son Marshall, who was still asleep in bed, and he wanted to say goodbye also, so we drove to the Vet as quickly as we could.  My little dog, who hates the Vet Clinic and normally shakes like a leaf on a tree, was waiting calmly with my husband in the sunshine outside the Clinic.  I held him in my arms as we entered the building, and I was anticipating his panic and angst to go home but he did not even try.  I know it was the right thing to do for him.  He could not lay still at home for very long without having to reposition himself to be comfortable, he could not eat and he stopped drinking water.  I held him in my arms and whispered in his ear that I loved him and that he was a good boy as he took his last breath..... it was a heart ache like I have never felt before and I spent all day trying to escape it.  Everywhere I went there was comfort being offered but no relief was found as my heart continued to break.  It wasn't until late evening that I could even have a conversation with anyone, and thats when I went for a walk with my friend Cindy.  It is always her wisdom that calms the storm in my head, her love that eases the pain in my heart and the bond that we share in God is unbreakable...

Going the Distance

I went out for the distance walk today.  I did two rounds of the hood and saw a little police action on the second round!  Someone was picking up their wooden fence when the cops pulled up with lots of neighbors standing around.  I kept walking but had a rubber neck reaction trying to figure out who plowed down the fence!  I only did a little running today because one of my shins was starting to hurt a little.  The distance was 3.4 miles in 50 minutes, thats about 15 minute miles.

New Shoes!!!

Well, the day did not go as planned, but it turned out ok.  We were supposed to go camping with some friends today and as we were getting ready to go, the dog threw up.  Now, I don't know if it was a "ploy" to get us to stay home but it worked.  My husband who is extremely exhausted and stressed about leaving the dog in the care of our 18 year old son, was trying to pack up the car when I called it all off.  We went out to breakfast and then to visit a friends backyard garden oasis.  We came home again to discover the dog had "tossed more cookies".  Exhaustedly my husband cleaned it all up, and managed to get even more stressed out.  I had to have him sit down in the "lazy boy" and put on some John Wayne just to calm him down!  Later in the day we drove down to Runner's Soul and did some shopping therapy,  I know he feels better buying things for me so I let him buy me some new running shoes ;)  I did a walk/jog around the "hood" and probably would have gone for a second round had I not seen lightning in the distance... all in all, a good and bad day.

Friday Night Lights

Tonight I decided to go out for my walk/jog while it was still light out but, the sun was low enough behind the hills that it was cooling off the days heat.  I have to say the people in the hood were a little crazy over the fact it is Friday.  First, I had a truck full of teenage boys drive by and give me the old,... "WOO HOO!" obviously having their "happy hour" in the truck.  Then I had an old guy drive by in a suburban and tell me to "go faster"... this is another great reason why I like to exercise in the dark...  all the crazy young boys are out in the bars picking up girls and the old guys are kicking back in the "lazy boy" with the remote control...

Thursday- Taking Advantage

I am definitely taking advantage of the outdoor weather these days.  I know winter will be coming soon, I can already feel fall in the air.  When I enter stores I can see all the fall pumpkin and leaf decor on the shelves in the front and Christmas is setting up toward the back of some stores.  My favorite season is fall, as I love the warm colors and the cool air.  I have been going out consistently for a walk/jog in the evenings.  I have been enjoying the cool nights and the quiet of the neighborhood....the downside is I haven't found any money in the streets, its too dark!!!

27 Days

Twenty seven days to go,... I can't believe my project is coming to an end!  It seemed like 365 days was the whale in the room....now it is a minnow.  I did a walk/jog tonight and I increased my jog time to 3 minues and kept my walk time to 2 minutes.  I definitely need new running shoes if I continue jogging.  I have been doing alot of thinking about my next project, and I really thought it would be marathon training.  Well, I will train for a half marathon using the Galloway method as my exercise continuation,  However, I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar.  So, my next project will be learning to play the guitar.....I will start most likely on my birthday.... and I will practice everyday for at least 15 minutes....

After Work "Party"

At 5:00 pm it is really hard to force myself over to the workout room before going home from work.  But, as I sit here tonight (at 8:21pm) posting the details of my 60 minute workout, I am really glad that "Do-It-Now" forced me into the room.  I am home from the "Party" and I did 40 minutes on the Elliptical Trainer and the other 20 minutes doing ab exercises and bicep curls.  I should "Party" more often!

Half Moon

I remember a place in California called Half Moon Bay.  It was a quaint little place with shops, beaches, and seafood eateries.  The moon tonight was a beautiful half moon with a golden amber color and my mind thought about Half Moon Bay.  I have been so many places in my life, someday I should sit down and list them all.  I liked Half Moon Bay beacause it was small, and I like small places where you can get to know the shops and the people.  I have gotten to know my neighborhood pretty well.  I have seen each home in the daytime and the night.  I may not know the people on a first name basis but I could put faces with houses.  I have seen their yards in the daytime and their living rooms in the evenings, I could also tell them if their sprinklers are working and hitting the grass.  You can get a pretty good idea of their sprinkler system in the evenings while doing a 30 minute walk jog.

Another Sunday Stroll

I had to put my son on a plane back to North Carolina at 8 am and I had to drag myself through the rest of the day.  Sleeping is a way to shut off the emotions, so, sleeping was my "drug" of choice.  I waited until the sun went down and cooled the air to announce I was going for a walk.  My husband has left the Insanity workout for 2 weeks and so I knew if I invited him to walk with me he would go.  Walking is so much easier than the insanity of Insanity!  We went for a Sunday stroll and had a nice time talking about life.

Sad Saturday

It is a sad, sad, Saturday... My son came home for a visit from the Marines and it is the night before he has to go back.  He did a lot of prepapation for returning, cleaning his room and laundry, such a good squared Marine!  But I tried to stay busy with my own chores just to avoid going down to his room to sit on his bed and watch him clean up his room.  He would have thought that was totally weird of me but I wanted to get my "eyes full of him", before he left again.  He is such a handsome and mature 22 year old man with green eyes and I just adore him so.  Needless to say, I did not want to leave the house at all so I waited until 11 pm to go out for a walk/jog.

Friday Half-n-Half

I did a half-n-half.  I went over to the small workout facility during my lunch hour, to see if I could squeeze in a few minutes of exercise and to test out how sweaty I would get.  I really only had 50 minutes so I walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes at about a 3-4 miles per hour pace.  I wished I could have gone longer but by the time I walked over there and got my shoes on and got on the treadmill, I only had 15 to spare.  I did work up a small sweat, nothing to write home about, but I knew if I went any longer it would have been a tsunami of sweat.  Then about 5 minutes used up getting back into my work shoes and across the parking lot and to the cafeteria.  It left me about 20 minutes to eat.  Good thing I only had a salad...I finished up my other 15 minutes at home later in the evening with pilates and stretching.

Forced

I stayed after work to get my e-mail sorted out and filed or deleted.  I recieve about 70 e-mails a day and some of them pertain to the phone center where I work, and the rest are sent from other depts and I just need to delete them.  By the time I got all of it done it was 5:30 and I just wanted to go home but I knew if I did it wouldn't get done right away.  So I forced myself into the gym.  I forced myself to do the elliptical machine for 45 minutes and it was tough.  I came right home and ate ice cream for dinner.  I know,... it does not make any sense to me either....

Two Miler

This is my posting for yesterday, because when I came home my son was on the computer, well really he was on his x-box with a connection to the internet.  So, on with the post... nothing exciting... I did a two mile walk run,...mostly running

Double Whammy

Today I did a double whammy.  I whammed it up one side and down the other.  First, I whammed it up with Jillian's Shred Level 2 and then I whammed it up again with a 2 mile mostly jogging, sometimes walking workout.  I am feeling kinda like a pot roast and potato dish, the one I consumed last night with 3 pieces of french bread slathered with butter.  Tonight, we ate out at the Mission Bistro and I opted for the salmon but again had a tuscan roll with butter.....when will it all end?   Tomorrow is Garretts birthday, and we will eat out again.... is there a light at the end?

Companion Walk

Tonight was another walk with my husband.  It was just a walk, no jogging.  We had a big dinner with my son Garrett and Marshall and my parents.  Garrett is visiting home from the Marine Corp and I made one of his favorite meals, pot roast in the crockpot.  We had salad and warm from the oven french bread.  I made fudgy brownies and we had mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.  Needless to say, I ate with abandon and stuffed myself to the point that all I could do was walk.  So, thirty minutes of walking and off to bed early.

Togetherness

I had a walk/jog date with my husband tonight.  It was very spontaneous and only two miles but it does go  by faster when you have someone to walk, talk, and jog with.  It was a cool summer night and the sky was clearly showing off the "evening star" Venus.  I was so glad to have a companion to share my sweat with!

Something New

Today I got to do something new and it was free!  I recently got a new job and while on a tour of the facilities I discovered they have a nice workout room!!  So today I took my locker supplies and a lock and went out to try it all out.  I did the elliptical trainer for 30 minutes then played around on all the Nautilus machines and weight lifting equipment.  I had the room all to myself and it was great!  I think I was there about an hour...

Can You Believe It?

I can hardly believe on a beautiful summer evening I did an indoor walking dvd.  It has been really smokey outside.  There are wildfires raging mid state around Wenatchee and Chelan and the smoke has drifted in our direction making the outdoor air thick with smoke.  I did a Leslie 4 mile walk.

This Is A First

I have been wondering all this time what I would do if I felt sick but still had to workout.  Well, it happened today.... I worked out anyway.  I didn't want to, and the least stressful was a walk, so with my Tummy Town aching I walked...belching all the way.  If I could have stopped and thrown up I would have felt much better.  But this was during daylight and I really didn't want anyone to see me tossin' cookies in their front yard.  To my suprise I felt much better after the walk!   An apple a day and a walk, keeps the Doctor away ;)

Razzle Me Wednesday

Well, to be completely honest I did not want to get up off my Bootyville and exercise.  But then I remembered thats how Bootyville grew in population.  So I drug my tired Booty to another comfortable position, one that has petals and is in front of a television, my recumbent bike.  I did my obligatory 30 minutes and went 5 minutes over just to be sure...

Summer Nights

I love summer nights.  They are often cool and sometimes breezy.  The perfect temperature for an outdoor walking jogging exercise time!  I decided to spend as much time outside exercising as I can before the snow flies.  I went for a 2 mile, 2 minute walk, 2 minute jog on a lovely summer night!

Late Night Yoga

Today was such an exciting day!  I started my new job at STCU in the phone center AND my son Garrett came home for a visit from the Marine Corp.  The only problem is,... Garrett came home at 10:00 pm and by the time I got around to exercising it was 11:30 pm.  So, yoga was the perfect fit for my 30 minutes of exercise!

Sunday Stroll

Just a plain ole fashion Sunday stroll.  What happened to that tradition?..  When did it die out and fade into the background?  What have we put into its place?  Probably television...no wonder we are an obese nation!

Huff an Puff

On a Saturday evening, after my husband came home from the Bistro, I was just leaving for my walk/jog when I asked him if he wanted to go for a walk...I forgot to mention the jog.   He said, "yes", so he did not bother to get out of his jeans, who needs to if you are going for a walk?  Well, we started out walking and when my beeper went off I launched into my light jogging mode and so did my husband.  He used to be a marathon runner, so I was suprised to hear him huff an puff as he jogged along side of me!  When I made mention of his labored breathing, he replied "Well, what do you expect?, I was wearing jeans!"  I never realized that denim is so hard on your lungs!...