This is gonna be a shortie but I just wanted to update quickly. I finally went over to the gym near my house to check it out. It was fine, but it felt crazy to be in a gym so small. I seriously felt like I was back in my basement running on the treadmill. The guy working was super nice and the group class room was actually a decent size. The best thing: it's exactly a two minute walk from my apartment. Basically, the pros are still the pros and the cons are still the cons.
I'm going to call the owner tomorrow to clarify a pricing issue, and depending on her answer I think I'm gonna join! I'm excited to be part of a gym together, and they have some great opportunities throughout the year (boot camps, biggest loser style competitions, etc).
I did the first workout that I posted on my schedule this morning: run-walk, 2 mins-1 min for 35 minutes. I started with a 5 minute walking warmup and cooled down for 5 minutes.
When I got home I made a quick dinner -- one of my favorite staples. A cheese omelette and a juicy apple:
Eaten while watching the newest New Girl. Now I'm gonna hop in the shower so I can actually have a Friday night. Happy weekend ya'll!
Hello! I imagined things would begin slowing down, but they really just haven't. Last week I went to New York for an extra long weekend to celebrate my little sister's sweet 16! I'm pretty sure this is a Long Island thing, but we take our sixteenth birthdays pretty seriously.
Being a princess at my sweet 16 - May 2004! Please note the tiara.
My beautiful sister!
Being home was great. It's always nice to spend some real time with friends and family. I don't get to do it often enough. And I have to admit, as soon as it gets cold out I really start to miss NY.
Without even realizing it, I finished my 26th book of 2012 (!!) meaning I at least made one of my 2012 goals.
The last few books I read were:
The Hangman's Daughter - Oliver Pötzsch Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand Kings of Colorado - David E. Hilton The Paris Wife - Paula McLain The Wildwater Walking Club - Claire Cook
Unbroken, Kings of Colorado and the Paris Wife were all really great. After reading Unbroken I became a little obsessed with Louie Zamperini. My friend Cara invited me to join a book club and I just started reading our first book for it today: The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes by Diane Chamberlain. I'm only a few pages in and I'm already hooked!
I'm kind of upset that I haven't done so well with my other goals for the year, but there's still time! I plan to work on two of them:
- take a cooking class - I'm going to do some research today and just book it!
- run a 5k in under 30 minutes - I still have 2 months before 2012 is over. I am not sure I can actually do this, but if I start trying today there's always a chance! To start, I made up this schedule for 3/week runs. The goal is to push myself a little faster and give myself more walking breaks. We'll see how it goes!
My food lately has been pretty boring because I haven't been food shopping in weeks. I'm starting to feel that desire for some warm food so I have plans to cook some nice comforting meals in the next few weeks:
- spaghetti squash with meat sauce
- escarole, white bean and ditali soup
- baked potato soup
- turkey chili
- lentil veggie mac n' cheese
I am going to try to make one recipe a week for the next few. Yum!
Breakfast today was an overripe banana and this cereal I stole from my parents house. I think it's Kashi frosted wheat?
I have to go to City Hall today so I'm thinking of grabbing lunch around there since there are so many more options in Boston! The mall food court has treated me well but I'm starting to get really sick of it. There's supposed to be a Chipotle opening up soon. I've never had Chipotle but I like Mexican so I think it will be a positive addition. Anyone else think of South Park anytime someone mentions Chipotle? Warning: this video is SO gross.
Hokay, my run didn't happen last night. Yes, my clothes were laid out, but by the time I got home it was pitch black out! Ugh!! I made a deal with myself that if I didn't run last night I HAD to get up and do it in the morning.
I stayed at Tom's last night and because he has to wake up way earlier than me it was actually much easier to get up and out the door this morning. Easier, not easy. I am simply not a morning person and I honestly am not crazy about working out when there's a hard stop time at the end of it. I didn't get out as early as I wanted to so I only had a half hour, but that was fine with me. I planned on following day 1 of the couch to 5k program: Brisk 5-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
I walked for 5 minutes to get my legs moving and then started jogging. And my knee didn't hurt!! And it never started!! That makes me so insanely happy. I ended up not following the plan and instead did alternate 1 minute jogging, 1 minute walking, 2 minutes jogging, 1 minute walking until I reached 30 minutes. I felt really good and knew I could probably have pushed myself more, but wasn't going to try to on my first time out on the pavement in what...2 or 3 months?
The proof
The run really wasn't so bad, and neither was waking up earlier for it. I don't know if I'll ever be a *true* morning exerciser, but it sure feels nice to get it out of the way before 9 am!
If I could change one thing about myself I would give myself a great singing voice. I LOVE music and love to sing, but unfortunately my voice sounds like cats fighting in a dumpster. Eek. When I was in 5th grade I was chosen for the All County singing competition -- I have no idea how. I couldn't go because it was my cousin's bat mitzfah and I know I threw quite the fit. Also in fifth grade, I tried out for our "Disney on Parade" play and sang the entire song "I Can Show You the World" all by myself at auditions. I can't even imagine myself in that situation. I was auditioning for the part of Jasmine but ended up getting the part of Cogsworth -- yes, the male clock from Beauty and the Beast.
My friend Christina got the part of the Candlestick and we had to sing to each other on stage. So ridiculous. For those Disney freaks out there you might have caught the Be Our Guest reference in the title.
I saw Pitch Perfect (which was awesome) over the weekend and it's fueling my dreams of being able to sing. Do you need a half-way decent voice to benefit from voice lessons? I guess for now I'll keep singing in the shower and in the car with the windows closed.
I'm afraid to even type this, but after my post yesterday I'm feeling rather motivated. My finances were not nearly as bad as I was imagining, and I'm even starting to feel that little twinge of running excitement. I found myself browsing races on cool running and day dreaming about my running goals for the next few months and next year. Like I wrote, I am re-starting this slowly and steadily. I took a look at the Couch to 5k program and am thinking about loosely following it. I'm also thinking about incorporating workouts into my lunch time. I don't always take lunch but it would be awesome to squeeze in a 20-30 minute workout during the day. I don't know if this is really something I can do but I may try it out one day.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to test out my knee with a run-walk outside after work. I already laid out my clothes so it's just a matter of putting them on and going outside. I really want to enjoy a little of the beautiful fall running weather before it becomes too cold to leave the house.
Who would have ever thought I'd put the word 'beautiful' in front of fall? Who am I?
It's been about a month since I've updated. Things have been incredibly busy over here and I truly didn't have the time or effort to put into blogging. Luckily this is my life and I can do what I want :)
Even so, sometimes when I neglect the blog it's a sign of something else. In the insanity of the last few weeks I feel like a lot has gotten away from me...
1. Eating healthy and food shopping: basically not existent for the last month. I've been eating out 2 meals each day and am just not making good choices in general. No accountability whatsoever.
2. My finances: this is really related to the above. I've been spending more money lately and just feeling indifferent about it. I'm usually super frugal (nice way of calling myself cheap) when it comes to my spending habits but something is just off. I haven't checked my accounts in about a month and I'm honestly afraid to look. First step is admitting you have a problem...?
3. My exercise: between my knee and everything else I've just been totally sedentary lately. I went for a 6 mile walk with my roommate last week and was embarrassed about how much my legs hurt at the end of it. Also, a few weeks ago as I was leaving Vermont I said to my friends, "I wish it wasn't raining so we could go for a hike." As soon as I said it I felt crazy. I am in no shape do a hike up a mountain right now -- I'd probably pass out halfway to the top. I HATED that feeling. I don't ever want to be in the position where I couldn't spontaneously do something active. Being active is something that I spent years incorporating into my lifestyle. I have always been a person who just does work out a few times a week and it's never been that challenging to get myself to the gym or out for a walk or run. What's happening to me? I feel like I've been so lazy and it has to change. First step is going and signing up for my new gym membership. So the plan is to make a few small changes that will help me with the above 1, 2, and 3. I have a couple of goals for the coming weeks: 1. Sign up for the gym by October 30th. Commit to going twice a week, try for three times. 2. Go food shopping every other week. Don't put pressure on myself to cook extravagant meals or have diverse lunches. I can eat a turkey sandwich every day if I want to! 3. Revert back to basics and try to choose whole foods (fruits and veggies) for snacks. 4. Reduce eating out and LOOK AT BANK STATEMENT. NOW. AS SOON AS THIS POST IS PUBLISHED!
I feel better already.
Before I sign off for the night there's something else I just need to address: running.
Running and I have a love-hate relationship. When things are good, they're real good. When they're bad, they're real bad. Last weekend I was supposed to run a half marathon. Yes, I hit a bump in the road with my hurt knee and deciding not to run on it was a good decision, but if I'm going to be completely honest anywhere it should be here in this little non judgmental space I've created for myself. I think I had decided I wasn't going to run well before I hurt my knee. When my knee started hurting it was like a little gift of God. I had an out. I didn't have to run this half marathon that I'd been dreading basically since the day I signed up for it. I think the problem lied in the fact that I never got excited for the race. In the beginning I thought, "I have 8 months to get excited for this, it will come." But it never did. Running never got easier, whether it was 1 mile or 6 miles, and I never felt like I was ready to commit to a training plan. Although it felt like an easy and obvious choice, deciding not to run was still really hard on me. I felt like a failure and a quitter. It was the first time in my life I felt like I had set a goal and not achieved it because I simply didn't try. There is a huge difference between trying and failing and not trying and failing. What I did wasn't commendable and I don't deserve any "well at least you tried" pats on the back. Now that the half has passed I decided that I needed to shelf the self-criticism and just get over it. I can't beat myself up forever and there will be lots of other races to run. I jumped the gun and signed up for something with the notion that I'd be ready when the time came. I wasn't ready. Next time I will be. So where do I lie with running today? I want to start from scratch. I recently reread some of my older posts, in one of which I ran for 15 minutes straight for the first time. I was SO proud of myself. I should be proud of myself for these accomplishments even if they seem small comparatively. I'm going to start with walking and work my way up. If I can only run for 5 minutes at first then I'm going to smile and be happy it wasn't 4 minutes. That's that, I'm through with the comparisons, and I'm through with putting myself down. And now, to end on a super high note...here are some pictures from my life the past few weeks. Enjoy!
P.S. I miss zumba.
Cheesecake at Junior's in Brooklyn!
The greatest 90's band that ever lived
Scaredy cat hiding under my seat
Short rib & truffle mac n' cheese at The Lincoln in Southie
The best 'day off' sandwich from American Provisions
Oyster shuckers at the Boston Fish Festival
So good.
I could eat this everyday
My first attempt at my grandma's meatballs. I think they came out pretty well!
Even though I didn't run, TKO did! And went home with some serious bling.
