If they have rest days in the Giro...

then I suppose it's ok if I take a couple. I didn't workout yesterday, and I don't expect to workout today.

Spent a couple of hours this morning watching the Giro - hoping Ricco would make a move and destroy Contador, but it didn't happen. Diluca is done though. So, everything rests on tomorrow's TT. Ricco only needs 4 seconds. Sella is the big surprise of the race, I think, and he has a great future ahead of him.

I like to run in the heat

TodayI ran outdoors - just around the former "big" block. Stopped off to meet a friend, who couldn't handle the heat, but he's wimpy like that. :)

Logs are slippery.

I just returned from a brief trail run at MUM, and I learned a lesson today: freshly fallen logs are slippery. Oops.

I was running along on a "new" part of the trail - well, it looked new to me. I had already crossed one log on another branch, an area I know very well. So,I felt fairly confident approach this log across the trail. Instead of just climbing over, silly me decides to try to stand up and cross. Thus, I went SPLAT. I felt my shoulder - the left one, which if you recall is the "injured" one - stretch awkwardly and for a moment I thought, did I break something? Well, nothing broken but I do have some scratches. My left knee had been giving me some problems throughout the run, but nothing major. My big fear falling - other than breaking bones - is getting poison something. I probably should take BG's advice and rub some rubbing alcohol on my legs just to be sure to "kill" anything on there - ie dry out the oil.

However, I must admit there was something sorta cool to falling, being dirty, and having scratches. I feel very tomboyish and it reminds me of being a kid again.

So, logs are slippery. Careful or you'll go SPLAT!

I missed a milestone!

I missed my 100th post...like the 100th episode of your favorite sitcom. Ok, maybe not.

Today was a relaxed day; I just used the MUM gym to do 20 minutes on the elliptical. I did some leg stuff not worth mentioning. I did build up quite a sweat. Sweat is good. I just felt charged today.

Hope it lasts!

When exercise doesn't feel like exercise...2 reasons

One, I won't mention here. The other - well, I can't believe that I just ran 3 miles and I felt fantastic! I could have kept running. I think the heat and humidity help me sometimes. I was telling Mike about running in Goldsboro in 90+ degree heat and 100% humidity. I just did it because it had to be done.

I feel FANTASTIC! My body is just on fire - in a good way!

And now, for a snippet of a poem by a very good poet:

"Our bond is no little economy based on the exchange
of my love and work for yours, so much for so much
of an expendable fund. We don't know what its limits are--
that puts us in the dark. We are more together
than we know, how else could we keep on discovering

we are more together than we thought?"

This poem just resonates with me right now.

And another:
"And I am happy as the young
Tom Jefferson, unbuttoning my collar, imagining his power,
considering my healthy body, how I might use it in the service
of the country of my pleasure."

ENJOY!

A trip down memory lane...

I haven't been to Urban Active in several days, so today it felt like a bit of a nostalgia trip. Well, not really...here it is:

• elliptical
• hack squat
• leg press
• bench press
• incline fly
• lat raises
  
• decline fly
• cable rows
• curls
• tricep exercises

Perhaps I'll put in weights and reps later. It was a decent workout. Now I'm off to run around the block.

I had two donuts today and lunch at Chipotle, so I'm feeling penitent.

I hope working outside counts

as working out! I haven't run nor lifted in several days, which should be obvious to anyone reading this blog.

I did do some outdoor work yesterday, which was good. I did NOT put 22 bags of mulch down as some people did.

Today looks like a rainy day, so I am not sure what I'll be able to do. I'm guessing a trip down to Urban Active.

Update on non-workouts and a non-workout post about robins

I didn't workout on either Friday or Saturday. Yesterday I expected to do a lot of outdoor work but that did not occur. So today I'll do that - probably visit Bern's, the overpriced landscaping place here. I also may goto Urban Active or at least take a run around the block. I don't feel like I've been working out very hard lately, and I have not curbed my eating - my BAD eating (hello, McDonald's breakfast yesterday... sad, very sad).

More importantly, the robin babies have all left the nest. It actually saddens me to see an empty nest. Yesterday was the last day that a baby tried to fly. The baby was in the backyard when I was up having coffee. It was hopping around struggling to fly. Within an hour it was gone. I suppose the learning curve for these creatures is very fast - of course, it has to be.

Well, that's all for now. Bye-bye, babies.

A quick run

around the small big block was all I could muster. : (

Fighting a cold by working out

I am either dealing with a chest cold or with allergies. Either way, I don't feel 100%. So, I decided to hit the gym and do a bit of a workout:

• bench press
• no weight on bar, 15 reps
• 10 lbs on bar, 2 sets of 18 reps
• 20 lbs on bar, 1 set of 15 reps, 1 set of 11 reps (Yes, I was going for 15)
  
• dumbbell squats
• 55 lbs, 2 sets of 18
  
• 75 lbs, 2 sets of 15
  
• abductor
• 50 lbs, 2 sets of 18
  
• 60 lbs, 2 sets of 15
  
• adductor
• 50 lbs, 2 sets of 18
  
• 69 lbs, 2 sets of 15
  
• elliptical
• 8 mins
  
• some ab work

Not quite a run today

Same route as yesterday, less satisfactory result. I covered the same distance, but only ran about half-way. I walked the rest. Company was good, so I am not complaining.

And of course, those birds were lovely too.

NON WORKOUT POST: Flight school should be starting soon

Late morning I spent on my deck reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a potential selection for my Lit and Film course. Well, I noticed that the baby robins are a lot bigger and more active in their tiny nest, and Mom and Dad are really working to feed them. The mouths have become hungrier and bigger.

An amazing thing happened while I was sitting there - one of the robins began to stretch his little wing out of the nest. He flapped it a bit. It was awesome to watch.

Of course,now I have to worry about those little babies being on the grass in the backyard with Bert lurking about. I hope he doesn't bother them, but that's his nature as a cat. We'll see. I feel like a protective surrogate mother to them.

Sweet potato chips or should that be...sweet! potato chips that are yummy and healthy(ish!)

I am sitting here on my couch thinking about my class this evening and enjoying a few (er, more than the 17 chips per serving) potato chips. Am I worried at high fat, high calorie, high sodium? NO! These are TERRA Chips and they're TERRAFIC! Oh gosh, that was bad.

Honestly, these chips are fabulous! I encourage everyone who likes the munch munch of chips to get a bag. The nutritional information seems almost good to be true for chips:

Plain Sweet Potato Chips

Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 oz. (28g/about 17 chips) Servings Per Container: 6 Amount Per Serving Calories 160 Calories from Fat 90 % Daily Value* Total Fat 11g 16% Saturated Fat 1g 5% Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol 0mg 0% Sodium 10mg 0% Total Carb. 15g 5% Dietary Fiber 3g 11% Sugars 3g Protein 1g Vitamin A 50% • Vitamin C 10% Calcium 2% • Iron 4% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Now, are these PERFECT ? No, of course not. They are still chips! You're getting 11g of fat in every serving, but these are far better than other chips out there.

Thus ends my unpaid endorsement of TERRA CHIPS!

"Why don't we give love give love give love one more chance?"

That is a line sung by Freddie Mercury in "Under Pressure," which was playing on my "running" playlist on my iPod.

I love, love, that line and Freddie's amazing voice.

So, my four mile run - or "mun" as a I just wrote - didn't work out. Instead of doing the big big block, I just did the big block, which is still about 3 miles. I sprinted the last bit as well. I had some runner's concerns.

Now I'm sitting here in my living room about to make myself a protein shake...POOF, I'm a protein shake.