Weekly goal wrap up

Let's see how I did this week with my goals...

Sunday: Recover from migraine.

Pass!  I recovered from my migraine like a champ. 

Monday: Set alarm for 5:30 a.m. to go the gym to run 3 miles or an hour, whichever comes first. Wake up at 5:30, promptly reset alarm for two hours later. Two hours later, call boss to let him know I'm still feeling sick. Be persuaded to come into work for "just a little bit, then if you still feel sick go home." Work straight through lunch until 6:00 p.m.

Pass!  I didn't make it to the gym, although I was up that early to consider it.  Then I went into work for "just a little bit," which turned into all freakin' day. 

Tuesday: Set alarm for 5:30 a.m. to go the gym to lift weights. Wake up at 5:30, think about going to the gym for about a half or hour or so, after which realize that I still haven't set up a weights program and that I'm not in a clear frame of mind to do so this morning. Plus my ass still hurts from the needle jab. Go back to sleep.

Pass!  It is amazing how I am rocking these goals to the letter this week!

Wednesday: Run 3 miles or an hour, whichever comes first.

Pass!  I ran 3 miles. 
Thursday: Run 3 miles or an hour, whichever comes first.

Also pass!  Two days in the row at the gym to run 3 miles.

Friday: Take the day off from work. Rest. Get new mattress and box spring set up. Perhaps go back to bed for a nap in new bed. Go to brew crew.

Pass!  I am awesome!!  The mattress guys came and went without incident.  I didn't go back to bed because they came late in the afternoon and so after they set everything up it was time to go get ready for brew crew.  Then I went to brew crew and met up with the Gazelle and the Architect and some new people and drank beer.  I'm looking forward to the next brew crew!
Saturday: Resolution Run 5K. Don't die.

Pass!  And for an extra added bonus, I RAN the entire 5K.  No walking!  I made this a goal about 1km into the race.  You know, a lot of people say that they love to run because it clears their mind and they don't have to think.  Not me; all I do is think when I'm running.  As I was running this morning, I realized that it is very, very easy to disappoint yourself.  I don't mean by setting really high goals or standards for yourself and then beating yourself up when you inevitably fail.  I mean that when you are doing something that only you really care about it is so easy to not do it.  For example, I wanted to run this whole race but if I walked I would only be letting myself down, and since it was just me who cares?  I realized that I should care.  That I was worth not disappointing. 
 
And so I ran. 
 
It was a good temp to run and it didn't rain.  I had been expecting rain so I wore my ball cap and not my head band; my ears were frozen.  In fact, for most of the first part of the course I was obsessing on how I was going to go right out and get a new headband.  Then I passed the Lululemon course volunteers who were -- can you guess?  -- handing out free headbands!  I promptly put it on over my ball cap -- not caring if I looked like a dork (the pictures will tell -- and  my ears were nice and toasty warm.  So much so that when I took it off later I didn't realize how warm it had kept my ears; they promptly froze again.  They raffled off a ton of prizes but I didn't win any :(  Oh well, I did get a free headband!
 
I'll be posting my first week's marathon training schedule later on.  For now I need to shower and go meet S for some shopping!
 
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Ferret quo

I've got my latest picture up on the sidebar.  I think I look the same as last month, maybe a little teeny bit smaller?  By all accounts, I shouldn't.  Want to know why?  I'll show you:

This?  This is what I had for dinner on New Year's Eve.  That is a chicken cordon bleu sandwich, a beef and cheddar sandwich, a medium curly fry, a small order of mozzarella sticks, and a medium chocolate shake.  Know how many calories that is?  Yeah, I don't want to know either.

Of course, it's also what I had for lunch that day.  Not that I ate that much twice in one day or anything; I just never got the time to have any lunch that day.  I had two halves of a pastry for breakfast, about a zillion diet sodas (gotta watch my figure, you know), and then one single bite of a chocolate croissant.  So, fortunately for me, although the quality of calories that day was deeply in the toilet (in more ways than one, I'm sure), I probably was under my calorie goal for the day. 

It took about a week for all that toxic fat and stuff to get out of my system.  I have zero desire to eat like that right now.

Well, except for sausage mcmuffins with egg.  Special situation for the sausage mcmuffins with egg.  Actually, there always seem to be special rules for breakfast in general.  Like the morning calories are cancelled out by the rest of the day.  At least that's my story.  I'm sticking to it. 

But then I look at the side view:

I'm kind of twisted to the side so it's not completely accurate, but can you see all that Arby's sitting in my gut there?  And can you see how that ferret has migrated to my back?  Yep, no more fast food binges for me.  I hope. 

Oh, and that's CBS dog's butt in the picture.  Her weight is pretty good, even with the french fries she gets.

I made it to the gym again this morning and did my three miles.  In case you're wondering why it keeps being 3.01 miles, apparently it takes me 0.01 mile to stop my Nike+.  The first mile went great, then I stopped to walk a couple of laps because, like a doofus, I had left my water bottle in the car and needed to catch my breath and imagine lemons.  Once I started to run again, my left hamstring got all grumpy.  I ran through it and it didn't cramp up like it was threatening, although the grumpy spot subsequently moved from my left hamstring to my left quad then down to my left knee.  I'm guessing it was really that lump I found in my ass from that injection working its way out. 

It's been fun to check out the people below me working out in the gym to try to figure out who is a regular gym rat and who is following new year resolutions.  There's not a lot else to do as you run around in teeny little 1/12th mile circles.  The indoor track runners have been the same.  It takes a special kind of person to run around in teeny little 1/12th mile circles.  Nobody else has been crazy enough to join us yet.  There have been maybe eight to ten more people there at 6:30 a.m. than there was when I first joined in November.  Definitely not crowded at all, although as the renovations progress that may change.  But then again, maybe not; takes a special kind of person to get up at o'dark thirty to work out too.

There is a very large gal who was working out yesterday and today.  I'd like to go talk to her and say how great it is that she's there, but I can't figure out how to do that and what to say without it sounding like I'm really saying "way to go, porky!"  I find her presence very motivating personally and I'd like to try to give her some motivation, plus she's nearly the only other woman in the gym at that hour of the morning who isn't built like a stick.  We women with breastage must stick together.

I did have a very nice naked woman from a few lockers down strike up a conversation with me this morning.  She was admiring my gym lock (it's a pink breast cancer lock, so that I can find my locker once I'm done running).  I hope she talks to me again; it's hard for me to be coherent that early in the day and after running.  We chatted about marathons, and I noticed that a head kept popping up from the other side of the row of lockers.  Turns out that other gal was wearing a 2009 Portland marathon finishers shirt.  She was also made out of sticks.  I'm sure she was judging me.

(Well, maybe not, but she was made of out sticks.)

I used my "1%" motivation this morning after the hamstring got grumpy.  Although I must confess, in my head I keep hearing that "one more" commercial for Gardasil whenever I get into my 1% mantra.  Wouldn't it be cool if you could get a vaccine that would not only keep your coochie safe from cancer but enable you to complete a marathon?  "I'm going to be one more.  One more cancer free coochie crossing that ol' finish line."

I wonder if Gardasil needs any marketing help?

Cheers,

the CilleyGirl

Almost forgot -- a postscript for my fellow Whedonites

If you get the Logo channel, they are running Buffy eps every night at 6:00 p.m.  Last night was Once More With Feeling!  Spike.  *sigh*

Cheers,
the CilleySlayingGirl

Look! Over there! Look what I did today!

I am referring to my DailyMile widget over there on the sidebar where it should say that I went to the gym this morning and ran three miles!  Yay for me! 

I thought that after running only twice in the prior six weeks I would have lost a lot more fitness, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Not that the run wasn't a struggle; it was so cold and windy out as I left the house that I wore a long-sleeved tech tee, and then it was so damn hot in the upper level of the gym where the track is that I was huffing and puffing a lot.  I'm sure my face matched my red tech tee too; my skin temp felt like it was about 200 degrees.  But I still did 3.02 miles in just under 40 minutes, walking maybe six 1/12th of a mile laps in order to take water (and breathing) breaks. 

Tomorrow I wear a short-sleeved (and v-neck) shirt and do another three miles or one hour, whichever comes first.  Felt good to be back running again.

In other news, I half-listened to the season premiere of The Biggest Loser last night.  In the early episodes, there are always too many people -- you just don't want to get too attached too early, right?  Plus last night, way too much yelling.  I thought Bob might bust a blood vessel.  And I think he needs to shave.  I don't like bearded Bob.  It's like the facial hair has made him mean.

So, since I wasn't paying complete attention, here are a few random observances:

- The half-ton twins (Brown team) need to shave too.  Beards are not a good look when you don't have a chin.  And they had serious PMS/constipation faces all throughout the weigh-in at the show's end. 

- Doesn't Daris (Orange team) look a lot like Matt Hoover's little brother?  Right down to the big scary white guy 'fro?

- Apparently if you are fat nobody can love you.  However, at least half of the contestants are currently married.  Interesting.  I think more to the point is that if you don't love yourself, nobody else can love you either.  But I guess they either skipped over that or it just doesn't make for good TV.

- As the contestants get bigger and bigger over the seasons, I find my enjoyment in the show decreasing.  Originally there were more people to whom I could relate:  about 30 lbs heavier than me, trying to get fit.  It was motivating.  Now this season there is maybe one person (Melissa on the Red team) that comes even close to my weight and I'm watching and thinking that I'm apparently doing pretty well with this weight thing so why not have a Twinkie?  Or twelve.  Because at least my arms can get close to my actual ribcage.  And my knees don't turn in because of the size of my thighs. 

- Who named these people?  Cherita, Daris, Miggy and Migdalia (and what do you think were their nicknames in school, hmm??), O'Neal and daughter Sunshine (with brother or sister -- I didn't catch which -- Jazz).  The Tongan, Koli, I'll grant is okay; he's Tongan.  I long for an Esther.

- Michael, the guy from Chicago?  Goomba.  I have ex-boyfriend flashbacks (mine was a New Jersey goomba) every time I see him on screen.  I think it's the jewelry.  Whoever told the first Italian guy that that was a good look should be fitted for cement overshoes.

- I do like the Tongans.  They have such enthusiasm. 

- Taco Bell fresco?  Really?  And didn't I hear that Jared gained back a bunch of weight?  Poor guy.

- No more puking.  Please.  Not even after Taco Bell fresco or Subway.

- Seriously, no more puking.

In other other news, my ass still hurts.  Last night I was rubbing my butt -- as you do -- and realized that I now have a lump right under the injection site.  So now I'm wondering if as I rub my butt that I am releasing a big glob of Vicodin into my bloodstream.  And I'm rubbing my butt.  Oh, and I have to remember to ask for non-latex band-aids; it takes forever for the irration from the band-aid to disappear off my skin. 

And on that note, I'll leave you to it.  Coming soon:  recap of December goals (a big FAIL!) and an updated sidebar pic (can you find the ferret?).

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

Why run a marathon?

This is a question I get asked a lot ever since I started telling people I was going to be running a marathon this year. 

More importantly, this is the question that I ask myself at o'dark thirty (right now, 5:30 a.m.) when I'm supposed to be getting up and getting ready to go to the gym.  I'm pretty sure I've written about my answer to this question previously (probably early on in this blog), but I'm going through it again because I need to be able to not only remember the answer at o'dark thirty but to believe in it.  At least enough to get my ass up and out of bed and running.

My answer?  I think it all boils down to this:  Because I can.

A marathon has always been one of those things that whenever I heard about it, I always thought "I can do that."  Even when I hated running for years and years (and even now it can be touch and go), 26.2 miles sounded doable.  Not running the whole thing, certainly not running it at a pace anything resembling fast (relatively speaking, "fast" for me is anything under a ten minute mile; for argument's sake, let's say "fast" is under an eight minute mile).  But I believe I can complete 26.2 consecutive miles.  Even though I have no basis in life to, well, base this on.

Another reason is that it is estimated that only around 1% of people have done a marathon.  One percent.  That's a really freakin small number.  I know I'll never be in the Olympics.  I probably would never be in the Special Olympics.  I'll never climb Mt. Rushmore or Mt. Everest.  Hell, I'll never climb much above ten feet.  I will never skydive or bungee jump.  I may never take a cruise, go to Europe, Asia or Africa or even South America.  Or even Hawaii.  I may never get married, have a baby, or buy a house.  But a marathon?  My little cilley brain always says, without hesitation:  Yes, I can do that. 

I think it's the 1% thing that really gets me, given that there are so many other things people will do in the course of their lives, truly spectacular things when you think about.  Get into a tin can and hurdle yourself thousands of miles per hour through the air even though physics says you shouldn't be able to do it?  Check!  Jump out of a plane and not end up a pancake?  Check!  Shove another human being's skull through a teeny little opening between your legs?  Check!  I mean, really, what do you need for a marathon?  Got legs?  Check!  And you don't even actually need legs!  A marathon is so mundane to my way of thinking, why isn't everyone doing it?  Climbing a mountain, that, I don't get.  Going from point A to point B in 26.2 miles?  There's a finish line at point B, man -- how could you not wanna?

I'm thinking that may be my marathon tattoo:  1%. 

Not that all this is to say that I think a marathon will be easy.  Just doable. 

But again, how to translate this into morning motivation?  Help me out here:  why do you want to (or why did you) run a marathon?  What gets you up and out and running?

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl 

An auspicious start to the New Year

So far, 2010 has been a bit surreal for the CilleyGirl.  I started off New Year's Day not feeling 100%, but I went out to dinner at my friend S's for good luck New Year's foods and that was a lot of fun; we ended up in a Wii tournament where I again proved that I SUCK at driving any sort of a vehicle in a video game.  I am so bad, I ended up doing better driving in reverse where I couldn't see the course.  Anyhow, S and I made plans to go shopping the next day, whereupon I promptly woke up with a full-blown migraine, my second in a month.  Our shopping trip turned in to "um, hi, can you drive me to urgent care?"  Where I got a big shot of drugs in the booty (and the injection site still hurts).  I still feel a bit, I don't know -- hungover? from the migraine, plus I am seriously thirsty.  All the time.  So, I'm thinking brain tumor combined with rapid onset diabetes.  You know, the usual.  Seriously though, stuff where I've decided I will try for a positive mind set first before going through the doctor rigamarole, on the off chance I really do have something wrong with me and it will prevent me from marathon training.

Little Suzy Cilley Sunshine, that's me!

In that regard, here are my goals for this week.  They may or may not give you an idea of how this week has gone for me.

Sunday:  Recover from migraine.

Monday:  Set alarm for 5:30 a.m. to go the gym to run 3 miles or an hour, whichever comes first.  Wake up at 5:30, promptly reset alarm for two hours later.  Two hours later, call boss to let him know I'm still feeling sick.  Be persuaded to come into work for "just a little bit, then if you still feel sick go home."  Work straight through lunch until 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday:  Set alarm for 5:30 a.m. to go the gym to lift weights.  Wake up at 5:30, think about going to the gym for about a half or hour or so, after which realize that I still haven't set up a weights program and that I'm not in a clear frame of mind to do so this morning.  Plus my ass still hurts from the needle jab.  Go back to sleep.

Wednesday:  Run 3 miles or an hour, whichever comes first.

Thursday:  Run 3 miles or an hour, whichever comes first.

Friday:  Take the day off from work.  Rest.  Get new mattress and box spring set up.  Perhaps go back to bed for a nap in new bed.  Go to brew crew.

Saturday:  Resolution Run 5K.  Don't die.

I'll let you know how the rest of the week goes!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl

2010 Goals!

The crazy isn't over yet at work, so I'm trying to regain some sanity by taking a few minutes to do this.  Here are my 2010 goals, subject to possible refinement (i.e, I may have forgotten a couple that I wrote down elsewhere).

1.  Do the marathon training.

That's pretty self-explanatory, I think.  Official training starts January 10th.

2.  Do the marathon.  Don't die.

Again, self-explanatory.

3.  Use the crap I've bought before buying new crap.

I realized yesterday that in the past year I've gotten a digitial SLR (seriously fancy camera), a smaller digital camera, a Droid Eris phone, a laptop, a printer, and an iPod.  I still don't know anything beyond the very basics with the dSLR.  I need to learn how to fully use these things before I buy any more gadgets.  This kind of also goes with books; read the books I have (particularly those on fitness and nutrition) before I buy more books on fitness and nutrition.

4.  Try five new vegetables.

I've already done one of these this year -- kale.  I had kale chips and they were pretty good.   On my list to try:  brussel sprouts, cauliflower, and jicama.  I think squash may be the last one.  I bought a book on vegetables to help inspire me. 

5.  Eat healthy and responsibly.

Goes with a lot of everything else I've been doing, or resolving to do.  Eating more veggies and fruit (can't forget fruit!), less processed foods, less sodium, less fat.  More fish would be good, I love fish.  Keep up with the food diary.  Avoid fast food because I just can't be trusted.

6.  Make some new girlfriends.  (Or guyfriends, I'm not picky, I'm just a hermit.)

I work with two to three other people at my current job, and before that I was in an office of 15 people.  I've never been all that good at making friends and now that I've gotten out of the habit of interacting with other people I'm really bad at it.  I want to work on making new friends, getting out there in the world. 

7.  Go for a run with strangers.

I'm working on this one (first rule of Run Club:  Don't apologize!).  Hopefully it will morph into meeting goal 6.

8.  Go camping.

I love camping and I haven't made the time to do in at least two years.   I have all the gear.  I even have most of the gear to go backpacking, although I can only take one of my two dogs for that. 

9.  Race all the distances:  5K, 8K, 10K, 15K, half marathon, and marathon.

I'm already signed up to do a 5K, 8K, 15K, and a marathon this year.  Soon I'll sign up for a half (Race for the Roses) and I'll add a 10K in there once I see one scheduled.

10.  Get a new tattoo.

I meant to do this last year once I'd met my goal of (a) running a whole 5K and (b) doing a 5K in under 40 minutes.  But I have yet to put together the design I want (I need an artsy friend) plus I think I'll want to get one for the marathon.  Maybe I'll get two!

11.  Keep track of the books I read in 2010.

I started this last year and petered out around April.  I've always been curious to see how many pages I log in a year.  This year, I'm committed to keeping the list.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl