To go with my previous post, last night's mile time was 9:26. Disappointing, but it was over 80+ and humid. Yes that's my excuse!

Coach Hope filled in for the MIA LeClair. So her workout for us was in 4s in honor Forth of July.

4 laps (1 mile)
40 pushups (I thought she said 4's- she really has to take a math class again)
40 situps
40 bridges
40 supermans
4 stair repeats

Then since there was still time, with a partner, we did 3 rounds of 20 leg lifts where you also lift your hips up at the top.

Great workout Hope!

And it was great seeing a familiar face back at bootcamp. Welcome back Lenel!!!! Good to see you again!

Just arantin' and aramblin'

I hate starting over. But I think that's what I said at the beginning of this year or the end of last.

My month-long hiatus from running has taken it's toll. Three steps forward, two and a half steps back.

ARGGG

My own fault. Yes I'm my own worse enemy. Yes I blogged that before. So just like everyone else, I'm a creature of habit. And admitted lazy.

If I'm going to end in the top 50% of the Maui Half, I'm going to have to step up to the plate and do something. Wishful thinking isn't going to get me anywhere.

Tuesday was the 5 mile loop around Kersting Ct. That took 59+ minutes. Basically I'm back to a 12 mm pace for any distance running. Nope - that's not going to cut it. ARGGG

Unfortunately this weekend is a bit hectic to get back into the swing of things. Am I stalling? Well yes and no.

Dentist/fillings Friday late PM so running is probably out.
Saturday-going to LA central library & getting room ready for Dave's boys
Sunday-can run in AM since I have a tea party to go to in the PM. But this will be the first day they will be here. Maybe I can do a short run early AM so I'll be home by breakfast. OK. Yes. That's what I'll plan on.

Summer Solstice fun(ny) run

Jane and Carol giving out rules before the race

Everyone looking bright and cheery before the face

Tammy (with new teammmate), Erin and Urbana at the beginning of the race. They were the first place team for the short course.

Zach (with additional teammate) and Hope.

Eric's team figuring out their next move. I'm so glad you get to play instead of plan.

Thanks all for participating. And thanks Nadir, Anna & Vanessa for helping. Your help was invaluable! And thank you Carol & Jane for making my BD part of the event!

Ahhh success. But I neglected to get a picture of this full of beers. Oh well. Next time.

The fruits of our labors ?!?

I'm hoping this will be really cool. This is the cast iron, heavier than S@!T sink Dave brought home. I bring home stray puppies and Dave brings home stray heavy stuff. We were figuring out what this was going to become. Originally I think he thought an outdoor sink / planting bench would be nice. But with the upcoming Summer Solstice, we both came to the same conclusion. This is going to be a ice/drink stand. Make a stand, put in a drain plug, fill it with ice (and drinks of course) and you have a PARTY! So if you're coming on Saturday, and it's out there, we succeeded. If not, it's going to be hidden in the garage like the red-headded step child. (yeah I don't know where that one comes from but it's just odd enough..)

This one was started a few days ago and is almost complete!





Today's main goal is to make the above into something useful. After lunch, the goal is to stain and assemble (or was is assemble then stain). I might even get them completed. Oh-what is it? See an earlier post from a month or two ago.

I'm on a mission and feeling much better about it. Mission almost complete I hope. And another required trip to Home Depot. Good thing I bought stocks ;)

Fruits of our labor

So I'm happy that we picked this (zuccinis, green beans, thyme, tomato came from parent's harvest :) on Monday and ate this on Tuesday. It feels a little more like white picket fence home.

My goal is to have a great harvest so I can share with my friends. I keep hearing that when you plant zuccinis, you get so much that you're giving so much away, friends start to duck when they see you coming. So if you see a bag of zuccinis on your front porch or come to the house and I serve you zuccini pizza with zuccini ice cream, please still be my friend :)~

I love my friends. Don't get me wrong with the following bitching. But organizing the Summer Solstice Fun Run is alot of work. Well - not the organizing, but getting the yard ready to do this. It would be different if the yard was already hardscaped and landscaped and I had the furniture. But it's not and I don't.

I love all the plotting we're doing so the organizing is so much fun. The decisions on where to send them, which public transportations would (or would not) be allowed, hills or no hills, what cities are going to be covered and what locals are in those cities, etc. That is fun.

So trying to build 2 more benches and the frame for the cast iron sink (to be used to hold ice/drinks - hopefully will be really cool) has been stressful. I might be stuck in the garage for the rest of the week and may have to miss bootcamp on Wednesday. This is not what I want. And the weather may not cooporate with my plans :( And the thought of spending all day cleaning the house is the last thing on my list of "things I want to do on my birhtday." I also may have to skip my annual trip to the museum so I have time to .... clean. Oh what fun.

Trying to do this, while still trying to work with the new puppy (which training is now non-existant) and trying to keep my dog from "over-disciplining" the puppy, and still trying to fit in bootcamp, and the vet appts, and trying to get a glass piece out for this month's contest, and fitting in all the social requirements (family-required graduations, dinner),and socializing with friends on events, and trying to get the house cleaned, and ....

I'm hoping the 50+ people will all fit into the backyard comfortably. I have no idea how 50+ people are going to have room to do pushups and situps, let alone just sit or stand and socialize afterwards.

When Jim and I first bought the house, my first requirement was the patio because I wanted to have dinner parties out there. Well it never was installed until after Dave moved in. Dave reminded me that I wanted that patio so we can socialize. So be careful what you ask for. HA. I guess 50+ people is a good test. I'm just very anxious about this. And if they are all going to fit.

There are worse things in life than trying to figure out how to accommodate 50+ friends. That, in itself, is a nice thought.

Deep cleansing breaths....

So some may not consider this a workout, but I beg to differ. Take 2 dogs - one puppy and one who is trying to get rid of the puppy, on a 2 mile jog, run, walk.

First-if you've ever tried to run with a dog, sometimes the trees and all the smells are too tempting and sudden stops are required. Secondly, if you've ever run with a dog, many times agility and speed is required to stop suddenly, take off suddenly, avoid the leash that's all of a sudden in your path, the agility to do a 90 degree turn on a dime, the strength to hold on to a leash being jerked out of your hand, etc.

Secondly, if you've ever run with a puppy, the attention span is even less than an 8 1/2 year old dog.

Thirdly, if you've ever run with 2 dogs, well....

So the workout was to tire out my older dog so she wouldn't have the enery to try and bite the puppy. A 2 mile run to the Academy and back to see "Daddy Dave" work out was in order. I didn't forsee the fact that she's attached to him and the thought of leaving him alone was way too much. So for 3 blocks I had to drag her away from her favorite play toy AKA Dave back to the house. Apparently 2 miles wasn't enough to tire her out, since she immediately decided the puppy was way too excited and needed to put a stop to that. Poor Dingo.

So the next part was, instead of just taking the puppy, I would brilliantly take both dogs. The minute I shut the door, I had the feeling this would be a BIG mistake. I thought exercising was supposed to relieve the stress!

Boo's main focus was to get back as quickly to Dave.

Dingo's main focus was...EVERYTHING.

It really wasn't a bad walk, although it was a walk more than the jog/run I was hoping for. I think we ran about half the time.

So far so good. Then we hit the Academy. For some reason, the sounds of box jumps and actions and all the people just freaked Dingo out. She was pankicky and couldn't wait to get out of there. But mean mommy made her sit and wait before bolting outta there! So much for doggie crossfit ;)

Funny thing was that when we ran, I could really feel the push off my foot, felt like I had a better "kick" and worked more on the core, worked on lifting the knees to avoid the raised sidewalk, etc. I thought I looked better since it felt like I was running with better form.

And end result was that both dogs were asleep on the floor for the rest of the evening. Whew! It also meant that our dinner wasn't until way after 8pm. Guess a run to the Academy might have to be a routine for Dingo (get her used to the sounds and all the people) and just a run for Boo. What I won't do for those dogs!

New Cycle-New Test In

1 Mile 8:57
100 yds lunges to 30 pushups
Lunge to 50 yd line (about 150 yd mark) to 30 dips on the bleacher
Lunge to 200 yd mark to 30 situps
Lunge to 300 yd then sprint

Total time: ? Can't remember. I think somewhere around 23+ minutes, but really I don't know.

Thoughts and reflections:
This is the second time I ran a mile under 9 minutes. My thought is that a 9:30 pace is really much more comfortable, but that's the laziness in me coming out. So the next goal is to get my pace down to under 8:50. That's ONLY 7 seconds, right? Yyyeeeaaahhh, sure.

Have to work on the dips. I don't have the flexibility in my arms to stay close to the bench. At least I think it's a flexibility issue and not just a strength issue. So dips and pullups are two things that need to be worked on. And pushups.