Mondays are tough sometimes, and that was true for me today. Nothing terribly horrible happened, and it really didn't even have anything to do with it being Monday. It was just a combination of feeling overwhelmed, very unsure, incapable, and being totally out of my comfort zone - too much new stuff! - at school today that was wearing on me on my drive home today. So by the time I walked through the door, I believe you could actually see the black cloud hovering over my head, and my mood was indeed poor. I bet each of us knows this feeling at one time or another from work or whatever circumstances.
But I had made an exercise date with Wade (mah husband) that we would do our next walk/run together when I got home from school today. Believe me, it was the very LAST thing I felt like doing. And I was tired too. (small violin playing...) But I knew that if I sat down to check messages or email which is my usual M.O, I would be done for and would not go. So I quickly changed my clothes and shoes without sitting down, and we both headed out together, in the drizzle. (The weather would usually be a reason for me to cancel out also.)
As the minutes ticked by and each time my feet hit the pavement on my mini-runs, I felt my poor mood slipping away, and literally felt a weight lift off me. By the time I got home, I was in a much better frame of mind, and more fun to be around for sure (right, Wade?!)
Having someone to exercise with does indeed make a difference and Wade as an exercise partner is a big help to me. We have an unspoken competition going on. Whomever starts running first, the other tries to match the distance that they run. And we encourage each other on each run especially.
So, in summary, my antidote for a bad day is to sweat it out of ya! I hope perhaps you can identify with this and maybe get a little inspiration. I know I will need to be reminded of this again the next time I feel like this. Hopefully, not as soon as tomorrow :-).
Until next time....
LLOTM
My family
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Memory Walk 2010
The month of September is when Memory Walks are held all over the country. Our local Memory Walk was held today in Wilton. And what a beautiful day it was! The Memory Walk is annually the largest fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association, which provides support and services to those who have this prevalent degenerative disease and research to one day end it. This is my 2nd year participating when I was a team of one then and this event has grown significantly since last year. The amount of walkers overall grew significantly from last year also to approximatley 90 walkers this year.
Our team named Memory Keepers consisted of 6 walkers today; my sister Janice, my son Chris, daughter Emily, friends Holly Paul and Michelle Beedy, and myself. (We missed you, Tammy and Julie.) And I know my Dad was with us as well. We were the 2nd highest fundraising team, raising $730! We rocked! And we had fun! Our goal is to grow our team in size and donations for next year, so let me know if you are interested in joining us. Always the last Saturday in September, by the way.
I chose to do the shorter of the two available walking routes today for various reasons. What it lacked in distance, it made up for in grade, in parts - steep!
Our team gathered for breakfast after the Walk and awards and replenished our carb levels we had depleted. :-)
Thanks to those that contributed and definitely to those who participated. It was esp. great to share this with my sister (Cathy, I know you were there with us in spirit) and with my kids, and to have both my kids under our roof again last night. That happens very rarely these days.
So tomorrow this LLOTM is back to the walk/run plan - the 5K is 2 weeks from today.
Today was indeed a good day. I hope it was for you as well.
Until next time....
LLOTM
Our team named Memory Keepers consisted of 6 walkers today; my sister Janice, my son Chris, daughter Emily, friends Holly Paul and Michelle Beedy, and myself. (We missed you, Tammy and Julie.) And I know my Dad was with us as well. We were the 2nd highest fundraising team, raising $730! We rocked! And we had fun! Our goal is to grow our team in size and donations for next year, so let me know if you are interested in joining us. Always the last Saturday in September, by the way.
I chose to do the shorter of the two available walking routes today for various reasons. What it lacked in distance, it made up for in grade, in parts - steep!
Our team gathered for breakfast after the Walk and awards and replenished our carb levels we had depleted. :-)
Thanks to those that contributed and definitely to those who participated. It was esp. great to share this with my sister (Cathy, I know you were there with us in spirit) and with my kids, and to have both my kids under our roof again last night. That happens very rarely these days.
So tomorrow this LLOTM is back to the walk/run plan - the 5K is 2 weeks from today.
Today was indeed a good day. I hope it was for you as well.
Until next time....
LLOTM
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Here goes....
Welcome to my blog. I've been thinking about creating one for some time now. I have to do enough writing already now for school, but this is for fun and for me... and maybe for you too.
Why write a blog? Selfishly, to keep myself on track and motivate myself by making this commitment to write a blog. Maybe some others can gain something from it as well.
This is mainly going to be about my ongoing journey with losing weight, getting healthier and exercise. No weighing in and posting hard numbers in black and white for all the world to see - no thank you. That's just a little too Biggest Loser/too much reality for me! Let's just say that when I step on my Wii Fit board and do my Body Profile or whatever it's called, it speaks to me.... in a tone that sounds like it's really disappointed in me. Enuf said. Great for your self-esteem! Yeah well, screw you too, Wii Fit Fiona or whatever the heck your name is!
My goal is to be much healthier within the next two years, and removing some medications from my life, which will also have to include a significant weight loss. But it seems too daunting if I think of the sheer amt of poundage to lose. So let's just take it 1 step at a time.
Speaking of steps, I began the Couch To 5K running plan about 6 weeks ago. I learned about it from some other Facebook friends. For those that haven't heard of it, just like the name indicates, it's designed to take someone who isn't exercising (from the couch) to the point of running a 5K at the end of the 9 weeks. The C25K app that follows this program is one of the few apps I have paid for on my ITouch. It incorporates music and a prompt for running and walking, plus keeps track of the dates of your runs and you can add a note each time as to how you felt, etc... I even signed up for a 5K as a goal to work towards - my first ever - to correspond with the end of the program. I was coming along pretty well on building up my running over the last weeks. When you start from barely being able to run 25 ft, it doesn't take much to improve upon that! But I didn't take into account that this training program was proably not designed for someone of my size. And so, I couldn't progress as much as the program prompts you to. I would have to repeat each week twice before I was ready to increase my endurance. And having a pesky flu virus a few weeks put my program on hold for a full 10 days. Which means at the end of 6 weeks, I am still on week 3, with my 5K less than 3 weeks away. I began to get discouraged and think "What was I thinking?!" Me, run a 5K - you must be joking! I am so not ready to run a 5K!
Also when I found out that the 5K I am signed up for in Portland goes right through the Old Port and Congress Street which means that my fat behind will be parading right through the city. Not a pretty image to imagine!
Plus I am doing the Alzheimer's Memory Walk this Saturday which is a c. 3-4 mile walk, and so I started focusing my attention on the distance of c. 3 miles which I was far from, instead of on running.
In summary... whaa.... whaaa........ call the whambulance.
And then tonight.. I went for a moderate length walk with my husband this evening that turned into a walk/run for us, each taking turns running what we could. And I did pretty well, considering I haven't run in over a week now. Plus I felt great afterwards! The endorphins go pumping through my bloodstream better than others sometimes, and sometimes I feel terrific after I run, like I could conquer the world. There's nothing else like it! This motivated me to stick with my goal of the 5K, and I will just run what I can and do my best, instead of feeling like a failure that I can't run it entirely and not doing it at all, which I had been seriously considering.
So I'm back in!
I don't promise a daily post to this blog, just enough to update my progress (or lack of) and when I have something interesting to say or an epiphany.
And in the meantime... if you see something coming towards you that you can't at first identify as you are driving down the road in my little rural part of the world, it could be this Large Lady On The Move.
Until next time....
LLOTM
Why write a blog? Selfishly, to keep myself on track and motivate myself by making this commitment to write a blog. Maybe some others can gain something from it as well.
This is mainly going to be about my ongoing journey with losing weight, getting healthier and exercise. No weighing in and posting hard numbers in black and white for all the world to see - no thank you. That's just a little too Biggest Loser/too much reality for me! Let's just say that when I step on my Wii Fit board and do my Body Profile or whatever it's called, it speaks to me.... in a tone that sounds like it's really disappointed in me. Enuf said. Great for your self-esteem! Yeah well, screw you too, Wii Fit Fiona or whatever the heck your name is!
My goal is to be much healthier within the next two years, and removing some medications from my life, which will also have to include a significant weight loss. But it seems too daunting if I think of the sheer amt of poundage to lose. So let's just take it 1 step at a time.
Speaking of steps, I began the Couch To 5K running plan about 6 weeks ago. I learned about it from some other Facebook friends. For those that haven't heard of it, just like the name indicates, it's designed to take someone who isn't exercising (from the couch) to the point of running a 5K at the end of the 9 weeks. The C25K app that follows this program is one of the few apps I have paid for on my ITouch. It incorporates music and a prompt for running and walking, plus keeps track of the dates of your runs and you can add a note each time as to how you felt, etc... I even signed up for a 5K as a goal to work towards - my first ever - to correspond with the end of the program. I was coming along pretty well on building up my running over the last weeks. When you start from barely being able to run 25 ft, it doesn't take much to improve upon that! But I didn't take into account that this training program was proably not designed for someone of my size. And so, I couldn't progress as much as the program prompts you to. I would have to repeat each week twice before I was ready to increase my endurance. And having a pesky flu virus a few weeks put my program on hold for a full 10 days. Which means at the end of 6 weeks, I am still on week 3, with my 5K less than 3 weeks away. I began to get discouraged and think "What was I thinking?!" Me, run a 5K - you must be joking! I am so not ready to run a 5K!
Also when I found out that the 5K I am signed up for in Portland goes right through the Old Port and Congress Street which means that my fat behind will be parading right through the city. Not a pretty image to imagine!
Plus I am doing the Alzheimer's Memory Walk this Saturday which is a c. 3-4 mile walk, and so I started focusing my attention on the distance of c. 3 miles which I was far from, instead of on running.
In summary... whaa.... whaaa........ call the whambulance.
And then tonight.. I went for a moderate length walk with my husband this evening that turned into a walk/run for us, each taking turns running what we could. And I did pretty well, considering I haven't run in over a week now. Plus I felt great afterwards! The endorphins go pumping through my bloodstream better than others sometimes, and sometimes I feel terrific after I run, like I could conquer the world. There's nothing else like it! This motivated me to stick with my goal of the 5K, and I will just run what I can and do my best, instead of feeling like a failure that I can't run it entirely and not doing it at all, which I had been seriously considering.
So I'm back in!
I don't promise a daily post to this blog, just enough to update my progress (or lack of) and when I have something interesting to say or an epiphany.
And in the meantime... if you see something coming towards you that you can't at first identify as you are driving down the road in my little rural part of the world, it could be this Large Lady On The Move.
Until next time....
LLOTM
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