I ran my very first Turkey Trot this Thanksgiving in Oceanside, CA (conveniently close to where I live). I finished in 29:30 or something close to that. I've wanted to run a Turkey Trot for a long time but never really got up the gumption.
My dad in his heyday (thirties, I guess) ran 7 miles 5 or 6 days a week, and Turkey Trot shirts were once in abundance at my house. They seem to have all faded into transparency after more than thirty years of wash and wear. Now I have one to continue the Turkey Trot family tradition!
It was the biggest race I've ever tried to run, with thousands of people running, walking, or getting in the way of the runners.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
I don't exist on Mondays!
Today is Sunday, a sabbath for many people, and often a harder day than most others for me, and not always because I work (which I don't, anymore). It's all the things I do for my "culture" in the Marines.
Monday, in the real world, is the start of the workweek. It's typically the start of the garrison workweek as well, but it means field day for my unit. Lately, there's been some "issues" with field day, and as usual no one even knows what they are. The current company gunnery sergeant can't drive on base because he got a DUI. Yet he's in a high-profile billet and allowed to judge other (junior) Marines on their choices that don't get people killed, typically. I speak of field day and room cleaning. Unless, of course, your shop approves of bleaching the room with enough bleach to force me, living three rooms down the hall, to leave the barracks due to choking on fumes or to leave a corporal sick enough to be unable to work for a day. Common sense, people. But it's also the day of private lesson and karate class. These are far more important for me than my room being sterilized for that next day's inspection. The company guns wants all evidence of human habitation removed from sight. I of course, refuse. I have to cook my meals, execute bodily functions, and otherwise live in my room. I refuse to disappear for one to two days of every week so that my room looks like I don't live there.
So I clean up on Sunday to make sure I'm good for Monday evening and Tuesday inspection. Things to do, people. Things to do.
Monday, in the real world, is the start of the workweek. It's typically the start of the garrison workweek as well, but it means field day for my unit. Lately, there's been some "issues" with field day, and as usual no one even knows what they are. The current company gunnery sergeant can't drive on base because he got a DUI. Yet he's in a high-profile billet and allowed to judge other (junior) Marines on their choices that don't get people killed, typically. I speak of field day and room cleaning. Unless, of course, your shop approves of bleaching the room with enough bleach to force me, living three rooms down the hall, to leave the barracks due to choking on fumes or to leave a corporal sick enough to be unable to work for a day. Common sense, people. But it's also the day of private lesson and karate class. These are far more important for me than my room being sterilized for that next day's inspection. The company guns wants all evidence of human habitation removed from sight. I of course, refuse. I have to cook my meals, execute bodily functions, and otherwise live in my room. I refuse to disappear for one to two days of every week so that my room looks like I don't live there.
So I clean up on Sunday to make sure I'm good for Monday evening and Tuesday inspection. Things to do, people. Things to do.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Fitocracy plus simple workout
I'm typically wary of many fitness or nutrition or meal-tracking sites. I think they're useful for many people, but I'm not great at getting workouts put into the online trackers.
Well, a few days ago I stumbled onto Fitocracy, and so far, I've logged what I've done. The point of Fitocracy is that you get points for each workout you log (so don't cheat and log fake workouts- it's tempting). I don't really know how They calculate the number of points each exercise is worth, and some exercises are hard to find matches for, but in the beginning, it's quite easy to level up with regular exercise. My hour-long karate classes are worth quite a number of points. As the usual with these points-based levels, the lower levels require fewer points to achieve. I'm already level 6!
It's not been inspiration to go run three or four miles at a time yet, but it certainly helps me stay on track with my little exercises. Since I checked this morning and had 27 points to make level 6, I thought "This is a great time to do a simple pre-breakfast workout that just gets my blood moving a little and wakes me up! Then I'll level up!"
I hope that I continue to level up and earn points. I also came up with a workout idea that is really flexible, simple, and probably not new. You take 3 exercises, any that you want, and you do three sets of ten repetitions in a circuit. This morning I did pushups, squats, and planks. It's not a hard workout, I suppose, but it's a great format for a beginner, I think, or someone like me that isn't great at designing or sticking through long and involved workouts. I imagine you could make this quite challenging, by doing high repetitions or putting on a weight vest, and you have lots of options for including sprints.
Well, a few days ago I stumbled onto Fitocracy, and so far, I've logged what I've done. The point of Fitocracy is that you get points for each workout you log (so don't cheat and log fake workouts- it's tempting). I don't really know how They calculate the number of points each exercise is worth, and some exercises are hard to find matches for, but in the beginning, it's quite easy to level up with regular exercise. My hour-long karate classes are worth quite a number of points. As the usual with these points-based levels, the lower levels require fewer points to achieve. I'm already level 6!
It's not been inspiration to go run three or four miles at a time yet, but it certainly helps me stay on track with my little exercises. Since I checked this morning and had 27 points to make level 6, I thought "This is a great time to do a simple pre-breakfast workout that just gets my blood moving a little and wakes me up! Then I'll level up!"
I hope that I continue to level up and earn points. I also came up with a workout idea that is really flexible, simple, and probably not new. You take 3 exercises, any that you want, and you do three sets of ten repetitions in a circuit. This morning I did pushups, squats, and planks. It's not a hard workout, I suppose, but it's a great format for a beginner, I think, or someone like me that isn't great at designing or sticking through long and involved workouts. I imagine you could make this quite challenging, by doing high repetitions or putting on a weight vest, and you have lots of options for including sprints.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
THANKSGIVING!!!
My favorite holiday is right around the corner! This year is my first time trying to put together a full meal (four courses, so far) for the Big Day.
It's double-hard because I'm trying to only cook for 2 + leftovers. It's so easy to cook for huge amounts of people. Just one serving? Complete pain.
Here is the proposed menu:
Appetizer: Bacon-based spinach cheese wraps
French onion soup (sans toast)
Fresh greens side salad topped with a little bit of salmon and dill, olive oil dressing
Roasted Rosemary Turkey Breast
Lima beans (not particularly paleo, but I love them so haters shut up)
Green beans with diced ham
GRAVY!!!
Mashed white vegetable (I'm considering my options but may fall back on cauliflower.)
One or two mashed potatoes for the beloved (He does not want to give in to paleo.)
Sweet potato/butternut squash
Paleo Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake (hold the frosting)
I feel like this won't be enough food! What am I missing? I have soup, salad, main course, sides, and dessert. I know! Appetizers!
Hmmm. Ants on a Log. Something stuffed with spinach cream cheese. Bacon-wrapped anything. Aha! Bacon-based spinach cheese wraps! We'll see how this goes. Bacon, cooked, with wilted spinach topped with mozarella cheese.
It looks good in my head, hey!
It's double-hard because I'm trying to only cook for 2 + leftovers. It's so easy to cook for huge amounts of people. Just one serving? Complete pain.
Here is the proposed menu:
Appetizer: Bacon-based spinach cheese wraps
French onion soup (sans toast)
Fresh greens side salad topped with a little bit of salmon and dill, olive oil dressing
Roasted Rosemary Turkey Breast
Lima beans (not particularly paleo, but I love them so haters shut up)
Green beans with diced ham
GRAVY!!!
Mashed white vegetable (I'm considering my options but may fall back on cauliflower.)
One or two mashed potatoes for the beloved (He does not want to give in to paleo.)
Sweet potato/butternut squash
Paleo Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake (hold the frosting)
I feel like this won't be enough food! What am I missing? I have soup, salad, main course, sides, and dessert. I know! Appetizers!
Hmmm. Ants on a Log. Something stuffed with spinach cream cheese. Bacon-wrapped anything. Aha! Bacon-based spinach cheese wraps! We'll see how this goes. Bacon, cooked, with wilted spinach topped with mozarella cheese.
It looks good in my head, hey!
Friday, November 2, 2012
Being Busy... or Not So Much?
Today I realized that I'm a very busy person, or possibly I just view myself as a very busy person. I feel that I have a lot to do and not very much time to do it. This last week was rough: I was broke, almost out of food, there was fraud on my bank account, my weight hadn't budged for a couple weeks, and numerous other tiny things that always happen to everyone.
I'm not terrifically organized, and "things" always seem to pop up: fraud, problems or issues at work, fighting with boyfriend. I'm easily distracted. I haven't watered my poor, sun-starved aloe plant for about a week now. I haven't looked at my day planner for a few days, either.
I know I have plenty of time to get a lot of administrative tasks done, work, take care of my home (room), cook, eat, and sleep, but some days I feel like I don't get all of the blocks checked. For instance, I've been running around this morning after cooking breakfast and working out getting a snafu at work straightened out. (It's my day off!) Since I've gotten home, I've looked at the breakfast dishes, laundry, and other miscellaneous cleanups and just said "no".
How do people organize, prioritize, and get things done? In our multi-tasking society, we think we can and should be able to fit 25 hours worth of work in a 24 hour day. So we double-book, plan to do two, three, or more things at one time, and wonder why we're tired. I'm usually the first one to say "I'm tired" and beg off social events, work, and chores.
The things I think I need to learn from this are:
1. Prioritize tasks.
2. Do one thing at a time, and do it well.
3. Plan ahead and try to leave room for surprise tasks.
Honorable Mention: instead of saying "I'll do these two errands at the same time" say "I'll do these two errands on the same trip" or "I'll complete both of these tasks by this deadline".
Probably the key thing I've learned in my journey to "Git-R-Done" status (meaning being dependable and being on top of things) is to Relax, Evaluate, Change. First, if something goes awry, don't panic. Take a breath. For example, I missed an early-morning appointment. I phoned in, apologized, and rescheduled. I missed another early-morning appointment, and did the same thing I did the first time. Both were missed due to sleeping through my appointment time. So I evaluated my appointment times, and decided to change my preferred appointment time from early morning to later in the morning. This didn't require any official paperwork, just a small change in when I set my appointments. If you have a consistent problem with something in your life, like forgetting to pay a bill, evaluate why you might be putting it off (no money in the paying account, acknowledging a failure to meet a financial goal), and try something new (setting up auto-pay with your bank, writing bills every week instead of once a month). Always give a change a couple of weeks to settle in, and re-evaluate. So far, my later-morning appointments have worked well.
I'm getting better at being busy, but I have a long way to go!
I'm not terrifically organized, and "things" always seem to pop up: fraud, problems or issues at work, fighting with boyfriend. I'm easily distracted. I haven't watered my poor, sun-starved aloe plant for about a week now. I haven't looked at my day planner for a few days, either.
I know I have plenty of time to get a lot of administrative tasks done, work, take care of my home (room), cook, eat, and sleep, but some days I feel like I don't get all of the blocks checked. For instance, I've been running around this morning after cooking breakfast and working out getting a snafu at work straightened out. (It's my day off!) Since I've gotten home, I've looked at the breakfast dishes, laundry, and other miscellaneous cleanups and just said "no".
How do people organize, prioritize, and get things done? In our multi-tasking society, we think we can and should be able to fit 25 hours worth of work in a 24 hour day. So we double-book, plan to do two, three, or more things at one time, and wonder why we're tired. I'm usually the first one to say "I'm tired" and beg off social events, work, and chores.
The things I think I need to learn from this are:
1. Prioritize tasks.
2. Do one thing at a time, and do it well.
3. Plan ahead and try to leave room for surprise tasks.
Honorable Mention: instead of saying "I'll do these two errands at the same time" say "I'll do these two errands on the same trip" or "I'll complete both of these tasks by this deadline".
Probably the key thing I've learned in my journey to "Git-R-Done" status (meaning being dependable and being on top of things) is to Relax, Evaluate, Change. First, if something goes awry, don't panic. Take a breath. For example, I missed an early-morning appointment. I phoned in, apologized, and rescheduled. I missed another early-morning appointment, and did the same thing I did the first time. Both were missed due to sleeping through my appointment time. So I evaluated my appointment times, and decided to change my preferred appointment time from early morning to later in the morning. This didn't require any official paperwork, just a small change in when I set my appointments. If you have a consistent problem with something in your life, like forgetting to pay a bill, evaluate why you might be putting it off (no money in the paying account, acknowledging a failure to meet a financial goal), and try something new (setting up auto-pay with your bank, writing bills every week instead of once a month). Always give a change a couple of weeks to settle in, and re-evaluate. So far, my later-morning appointments have worked well.
I'm getting better at being busy, but I have a long way to go!
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