Yesterday I switched over to the fun-looking bootcamp and it was SO MUCH better. It was tough, but the trainer was really good and kept it interesting. There were about 15 ladies, which was kind of too many for my preference, but it was fine being that large. Apparently a lot of them are school teachers and talked about that a lot.

This one, Love your Body, is all women (with a man trainer) and you sign up for one day a week, although it is offered on both Monday and Wednesday evenings. (They also have some morning/day sessions and a 1 1/2 hour Saturday 6:30 am session. I'm sorta-kinda thinking of going to that one.) Right now I'm just doing Mondays until Power In Motion ends in 3 weeks, then I'll do Wednesdays too.

Now I can enjoy boot camp like Running Knitter!

Also, I'm down 6.4 lbs in 9 days on the My Fit Foods Challenge. It's really not hard to stick to it at all since the food is so freaking good. I did miss up a little on Saturday when I went to 2 parties back-to-back, which wasn't bad until party #2 pulled ribs off the grill. I shouldn't have, but did and it really wasn't that good. It did screw up my weight loss mode some, so it's kind of good I did that so now know the effects. I do wonder losing this quickly it usually doesn't last. But I am eating real food & a lot of it, so it seems healthy for me. I would love to eat their foods all the time, but it's just too freaking expensive for me. (~$22 day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 snacks).

I'm working on the 6 word meme that Running Knitter tagged me with & will post it soon, but doubt I will tag more people to do the same. But may, so watch out.....

EAS protein drink + Boot Camp = Puke

Good news and bad news...

Good -- Boot Camp was much better today. The trainer had notes with a planned workout routine and it was a not-so-crappy, harder workout. We went through it quicker than he expected, so he improvised some & it was a good workout. Still plan on switching over to the other one when this one ends, though.

Bad -- I had an EAS protein drink about 4 pm. Boot camp was at 5:30 (and then Power in Motion should have followed at 6:30, 4 miles). An hour and a half is so not enough time to have a milky type (soy actually) drink before a tough workout in the heat! I bailed on the 1/4 mile jog at the end. An also skipped out on Power In Motion, although I did show up and stretch with them so I get counted as being in attendance for the perfect attendance award.
That EAS drink was pretty darn tasty too....if you're going to have to puke, it's not a bad thing to puke....

Tomorrow is good tv night - Ugly Betty, Lost & Gray's Anatomy. So I have to figure out when to get in the 4 mile run I didn't do today. May skip Gray's - never did really get into that show. Plus, by then it will hopefully be cooler. Just not sure if I will do 4 miles that late. Plus, at that time I usually stay in the 'hood so I don't have to cross busy streets, which means loops around our three one-mile blocks and that gets boring.

I'm sticking to eating good! I so love My Fit Foods. I went by today to pick up my foods for the next 4 days - yeah! (There isn't any EAS protein shakes included this time, darn!)

I'm melting.....

Quick update before I head off to exile (outside the loop, beltway & Hwy 6):

Jimmy Buffett was awesome as always. Can whacking beach balls for an hour followed by standing/dancing for 3 1/2 hours count as strength training and cardio??

The gazebo looks great & doesn't dominate the back yard like I thought it would.

Houston Garden Centers all across town are out of grass. I planned on that being my workout on Sunday, but did get in some "workout" planting an orange and lemon tree, cleaning the gutters, attaching a handle & latch to the storage shed door and other general housework.

My Fit Foods rocks - on day 3. I love, love, love their food -- just wish it was cheaper so I could always eat it!

Boot Camp sucks - not challenging enough, poor instructor, even worse owner, boring exercises, they cancelled class Friday!, we've ASKED to do more ab work (who ever asks to do crunches??) and haven't been doing them, the class doesn't last the full times it's supposed to last. It just all around sucks. BUT, I did find out about another evening boot camp - they meet just next to the one that this one meets & they have fun! So next month I'm doing that one instead. Class is tonight (missed Monday due to Jimmy!) so hopefully it'll be better.

It's freaking hot out -- I tried to run yesterday about 6:30, and decided to abort after a mile & go back out at 9pm. At 9 it was still icky, so before the end of the driveway I realized I could do the elliptical in air conditioned comfort while watching Sunday's Desperate Housewives on the computer. So I did 35 min elliptical followed by about 10 minutes of abs.

Boot Camp followed by Power In Motion tonight - whoopee!

goal reached!

Back on March 14 I set a goal of reaching 100 miles by April 15 (I was at 60 miles at that point).

I reached my goal!

(With a 15.9 mile cushion!)

The Jimmy Buffett concert is Monday & I'll be there guilt-free (even though I will be playing hookie from Boot Camp....)

Also on Monday, I'll be starting the My Fit Foods 21 Day challenge. I probably should set a goal weight to reach or target of how much to lose, but am not sure what is a reasonably acheivable goal at this point..... I'll have to ponder on that.....

checking in....

Hi readers!

I've been really busy lately (and without internet most of the day!!), so haven't had time to post lately, but been thinking about the 4 of y'all!

Running Knitter -- I just came from Boot Camp & it was fun. The other group next to us was using some fun equipment that we didn't have, though. We mainly did a lot of core work, which is what I REALLY need. It wasn't really as tough as I thought it would be, so that's good! At the end of class he asked the 6 of us if it should be easier/harder/same. We mostly said the same for now, but harder later. Whenever I was wanting to stop doing something, I just channeled some boot camp vibes from you and pressed on!

Timmy -- Winslow & I really enjoyed meeting you & Calvin at the arboretum. He's even cuter in person!

Viv -- I LOVED your post yesterday about shopping. You should REALLY consider submitting that to Reader's Digest or Women's Health!!

Cara -- I had oatmeal ala Cara while camping this weekend!

Crawfish + Beer + Late Nights = BLECK!!!

This past weekend I learned that (you may need to sit down for this) I prefer to eat healthy, not go out drinking all night AND enjoy getting up early for a long run on the weekends.
EEEK - guess I've grown up. (And none to soon since I had a grey eyebrow hair last week.)

Friday was all-you-can-handle crawfish & beer for $10 at PJ (!!!!)
Saturday was a dual birthday party dinner at El Pubelto Place for 2 friends (and 30 others) followed by Absynth and Poision Girl til 2am
Sunday was crawfish & beer at Front Porch
Monday was the Astros home opener from suite #1 with free food & booze.

Tuesday I picked up an order of good healthy food from My Fit and started back running. Only 2 miles, but 2 good miles. (The 4 miles I did on Saturday were just pathetic.)

I'm feeling so much better already.

Unfortunetly, I have a big nasty project at work that is going to have me working late and venturing not just outside the loop, but also outside the belt (egads) and (painful just to type) outside Hwy 6. Oh, the horror. Down I-10 at that.
I will work Boot Camp into the schedule, though. Starting Monday at 8PM in Memorial Park. So I'll be getting home at like 9:15 pm.
Oh dang - I just remembered I'm dog sitting next week too. Crap. Literally probably.
OK -- on that note, I'm going to bed....

Will run for medals...even if they are plastic

Whoopee!! Another "medal"

It's not the fancy-schmantzy Tiffany number that Running Knitter will get at the Nike Women's Marathon, but I love it anyway.

It's my "Whoopee, we made it half-way" medal to keep our Power In Motion running group members motivated to make it through the 10 week program. A fantastic idea since now is about the time to consider dropping. Jack, the main coach, is a really great guy - I'm pretty sure this was his idea & a brilliant one!

And I needed some motivation. I did not run yesterday (see - I'm not hardcore!). In fact, I didn't run at all since last week's PIM. But my medal will get me back on track and out running like on my schedule!

It's now proudly hanging on the bunting I got from the last baseball game in the Astrodome along with my race bibs and other "non metal" medals:

The "real" medals are on display right by the front door on the key box -- I plan to get a shadow box for them along with a picture from the events, but that just hasn't happened yet.

Weekend wrap-up

I love, Love, LOVE backpacking Lake Georgetown w/ Houston Sierra Club. It's a once a year trip that I've done five times.


The trail is a bit challenging in parts, but it's just 11 miles total, 6 1/2 the first day and 4 1/2 the second. So you end up at camp about 2:30 with pleanty of time to goof off and, like this year, EAT.
I gained about 2 pounds on this trip!

• queso - velveeta & rotel is heaven in a pan
• ham, cheese & cracker tray
• bisquick sausage cheese balls (I LOVE those!)
• stove top with turkey spam, cranberries & pecans
• chili mac (minus the ground beef - funny story)
• oatmeal raisin walnut cookies
• raspberry crumble

And I did get to try Oatmeal ala Cara, which is great -- can't believe I never mixed trail mix into my oatmeal before - it's great!

Pictures from the trip are on fotki.

Monday was spent returning my poorly designed REI Roadster tent to REI for their new Quarter Dome T1, so now I'm anxious to get back out on the trails again! I'm going to miss my funny looking little Roadster, but this new tent is free-standing, super quick to put up and (cross your fingers) not supposed to leak! (I had to bail out of the Roadster on Friday night which had over an inch and a half of water.)

Tonight back to running...I think I will even if it's raining. Yikes - I'm becoming hardcore! Next thing ya know I'll be a triathlete like Viv (if I learn to ride a bike....)

PS -- I had a Cliff Shot gel in Razz(berry) on Sunday for the first time. Tasted like ketchup. Now, I do like ketchup quite a bit. But not in the middle of a hike with no fries (etc) in sight. It was just wrong. I had a vanilla one before & it was fine. Even thought I really like the cute packaging, I'm going back to Gu.