Why I Didn't Work Out Lastnight

So, most of you know that I tend to not do things on a whim. I'm a planner, I always have been. I like knowing what is going on each weekend of the upcoming month so I dont miss out on anything. When I think about it some more though, maybe all that planning actually hinders me from experiencing things.
So yesterday, I did something on a whim...and it was exciting.

During my lunch break I was reading the paper. Ben Folds was featured on the front page of the weekend entertainment section. (If you don't know who Ben Folds is, he's the geeky guy from The Sing Off) I really started listening to his music a few years ago and fell in love with it. I had been told those few years ago that I had to make sure I made it to one of his concerts because he puts on a great show. Ofcourse I was told that just a few months after he had appeared in Madison. The paper was talking about his upcoming concert at Overture Center in Madison...the concert was that night! How had I not heard about this concert before that moment?! Did God not know that I wanted to go see Ben Folds! Maybe He did. I spent a lot of my lunch hemming and hawing over whether or not Pat would go to the concert with me. I knew the music wasn't really his style but I called him anyway.  Guess what? He didn't sound too interested and even suggested that I call another friend to see if she wanted to go. When I called her, she wasn't interested. I needed to find a friend in the Madison area that liked Ben Folds or was atleast willing to give his music a try.

I figured out that I should maybe call the ticket office before I even start to worry about finding someone to go with me. If they didn't have any tickets left then my decision would be quickly made for me. It was a great thing that I called when I did because they had two tickets in the front section of the auditorium, just rows from the stage! I took them immediately, not even pausing to worry about who may or may not be going with me. When it came down to it, I talked Pat into going with me. My coworkers must think I'm quite the dork because I was running all over the office telling them how I did something on a whim and it was a great thing because I got really great tickets!

The concert was a blast! I am sooooooooooooooo glad that I paid the money to get those tickets and I'm sooooooooooo glad I made the decision to just call the ticket office. It was a great experience. Hey! And Pat really enjoyed the concert so much that he is planning on purchasing Ben Folds' new album  Lonely Avenue. I myself have already purchased it.

I also wanted to share with you the recording Ben made of our audience last night. I believe he is compiling recordings off all his concert audiences singing one of his songs from the new album.  Pat and I are visible in the video but it's not totally really clear so you would have to know exactly where we were sitting. Enjoy!

WTF IS BEN UP TO NOW? Part 4 

 

I Used To Be Fat - A tv show

"I Used To Be Fat" motivated me to get my butt in gear tonight to work out. It is a new show on MTV about teens that are fat and are sick of it. These kids are given personal trainers and then given around 100 days to get skinny. I think that time period is crazy. How many of those kids are going to gain back all 60+ pounds when they go off to college. I dont know. It motivated me tonight.

Workout Together!

Pat and I worked out together tonight. It really made the time go by quickly. I've been doing the Biggest Loser Wii when I haven't been sick. Tonight was the first workout in about a week since I got sick...again.

I am really looking forward to getting back on the wagon and working out every night or in the mornings, even if I have to force myself. It's been hard sometimes doing this on my own. I really really appreciated having Pat there next to me tonight. We both looked like dorks in our basement, punching imagined punching bags. It was great watching him sweat with me and now it's great to hear him complain about how much his thighs hurt when mine don't. I just attribute that to my working out more than him lately. I really need his support all the time.

It's been cold lately. Today was relatively warm at 25 degrees. When I walked out of work tonight, I had briefly wished I had brought my work out gear with me so I could go for a run. I haven't actually run since Thanksgiving. That is far too long! It's hard when it's been so dang cold and it's been dark by the time I get off of work. That is starting to change now. The sun goes down right before the end of my work day and the temp is supposed to be a balmy 32 degrees on Friday and its supposed to be sunny. I think I might take my work out gear with me to work that day so I can get a run in after work. I guess it will be interesting to see how much have regressed.

Tasteless

So I'm sick...again. I'm sick for the second time in about a month and a half. Of course, this means that there is no working out for me because the moment I get home from work, I pull on my pjs and snuggle into a blanket, trying to calm the chills running through my body.

This morning was day three of said cold. Today, I lost my sense of smell AND taste. I hate it when I lose the taste aspect of my senses. It really is amazing how much I focus on the taste of food when I eat. I think I focus on it almost too much. I've read that we are supposed to eat food for energy but most instead eat for the emotional side. I typically lose weight when I am sick and can't taste anything because food loses that luster for me. When I'm sick, I only eat when I'm hungry and until I'm full. That's how its supposed to be. I wish I could get my diet to be like this forever, I mean, only eating what I need to keep myself from feeling hungry. For lunch, I was amazed how little amount of food I ate for me to feel full.  It is a welcome change from all the food I stuffed into my face over the weekend.

Boy I can tell I'm not my usual self. I am having some issues typing and my  thoughts aren't very focused tonight. I will continue tomorrow night.

The Satorialist

I stole this from Miss Donna over at Quiet Life. 

The Satorialist

I know this has nothing to do with my weight loss but has all to do with my love for photography. So, since this blog is titled "Destroying Dead Ends" I think that my reservations with photography fit in just fine. Here's the thing, I think I take some good pictures. I think it's just that I get lucky. The people around me tell me that I'm talented...and for some reason, I don't believe them. I have yet to get any of my images printed. I haven't done this probably because I dont know what images to get printed and if they will be good in my house.

I also don't take pictures as often as I wish I would. There have been numerous moments where I'm, say driving to work, and I think "oh wow, that would be a gorgeous shot" but then I don't have my camera with me and I would be late for work anyway if I stopped. Living in the country, giving myself a longer drive to work, has given me this opportunity multiple times: the beef cattle that is grazing in the dewy field, the heavy fog blanketing a cozy farm, and that gorgeous early morning sunrise through the trees surrounding our house. The opportunities are there. I cant let this become a dead end for me. Just like in one of the first posts I put in this blog, aren't I the one that determines what makes a photo successful? There isn't anyone there besides myself to motivate me to get myself out of bed early and on the road to work early to take advantage of those cold clear mornings!

Just another thing I wanted to share with you. I have really fallen in love with the soundtrack to True Grit. If you haven't seen the movie, I would highly recommend it. It often surprises people that I like a good Western movie, as well as Sci-Fi. I'm weird, I know.

Overcoming Temptation

Two things tonight...well three. 

1. I'm watching the Biggest Loser.

2. My very own husband told me that he finally caught up on his reading of this blog. My very own husband also told me that in my video last week, it looks like I have no neck. I guess I am going to have to work on that.

and 3. I came home from work ready to wimp out of my workout tonight by skipping out on it. Until I read a friend's Facebook post about skipping a nap to get on the treadmill. So, after throwing a load of laundry in the machine and getting some dinner into the oven, I did a 35 minute work out on the Wii. I really only have three nights to work out this week and I need to take advantage of that. So I'm really happy that I overcame that temptation to sit tonight.

This weekend Pat and I are heading to South Dakota to visit his family. I have never used a hotel workout room before but I think this might be the right time to give it a try. I really need to figure out if our hotel has such a thing. I am really looking forward to getting on the treadmill at my parent's house. I haven't really taken the opportunity to run since it's gotten cold outside. I need to really just overcome that wimp talking in my head. I just need to get over it.

Spandex!

My butt in biking shorts. If there were pictures taken oh my butt in spandex, I would spare you the horror! I personally have not seen any pictures of my butt in my bike shorts. I know the padding in the back makes my butt look even so much bigger and better. *LOL* I really hope there will never be any pictures of my butt in bike shorts.,

Bike shorts save a lot of pain in the end. They save the pain your butt bones (pelvic?) cause your butt from sitting on a thin bike seat for a long time, sometimes hours. They also create a nice smooth area where the inside of your thighs brush against the seat.  They are well worth the embarrassment of the skin hugging material.

Trust me, there is always someone that looks worse in spandex than you do. My husband says he would never wear bike shorts. A pair is really worth the investment. All the cool bikers wear bike shorts AND a helmet! Helmet is key, although it is nice not to have to wear one on the bike while I'm using the trainer in the basement. I save my butt and my head!

I Have Followers!

 I was going to post this on Wednesday night but Blogger was having issues with their website.

I was really excited to discover that James over at Prior Fat Guy is now fallowing my blog. I am really excited by that because he is also in the middle of his journey to being healthy. His blog was picked to by the readers of Prior Fat Girl to be an addition Prior Fat Person..? So hop over there an read his blog. He living in the Twin Cities (go MN!) and is a great blogger!

Pat and I are heading to the Madison Home Expo later this morning. Then I'm hoping to get to the gym (my basement) to do a couple of work outs. I havent worked out since that crazy working out on Tuesday. It would be nice to be able to get outside to do some walking/running but it's been soooo cold again this week. Maybe I can talk Pat into going over to Fontana to pick up some winter workout gear. I also still need to pick up to wireless computer for my bike. I'm kinda sick of guessing how far and how fast I've gone in the hour I was on the bike.

Off to the shower to get ready for the Home Expo.  So many questions to ask.

Video, Successes, and a Confession

Oh god it’s video day. The guy from the phone company is here to fix our phones, finally. Our DSL connection came back lastnight but the phones are still dead, no sound, no static, nothing. The guy said it was on their end (yay) and that he would get it fixed within the hour. Not enough time for me to make it to work for the day but I’ll just get to work on Saturday instead.

So I saw on someone else’s blog that they do a video of their goals at the beginning of each year. I thought that was a great idea and I would do that as well. 

Please don't judge me. That confession feels utterly embarrassing. I mean, those times should be in my past when I sit down and binge. It makes me want to cry. I’ll cover up the crying though with two success stories for the day.

Since I had the whole day off from work, waiting for the phone guy to show up, I had plenty of time on my hands to work out. I did a Kick Boxing routine for 30 mins this morning with Bob and Jillian on the Wii. Wow, I’m not coordinated. I hope that changes soon. After I ate that pizza tonight and watch ed the first hour of the Biggest Loser season premiere, I forced myself onto that bike in the basement to watch the second hour of the show. There were soooo many times I wanted to get off that bike but I made myself finish the whole hour. Sure, there were times when I stopped to take a breather but I didn’t let my feet touch the floor. The last fifteen minutes was filled with thoughts of “just get through the commercials, just get through until the next commercials”. It was hard but I did it. I don’t feel all that bad about the pizza anymore after I think about getting a full hour in on my bike. It’s the little successes I have that are the most important steps in making it to my goals.

Days ‘til race day: 264 (not many days left)

I'm Committed Now...Oh Boy!

Here we are, sitting at Epic once again. I’m really hoping that we will have the internet fixed by this time tomorrow. I somehow got to take the day off so that I can sit around the house and wait for the guy from the phone company to show up. He said he would be there sometimes between 8am and 8pm. I think that is worse then what Charter tells you. Charter at least gives you a morning or an afternoon time so you don’t have to take the whole day off from work. The only way I was able to pull off taking the whole day tomorrow is because of my coworker’s uncle passed away and she’s expecting to be off some other day this week so she’s working tomorrow and I’ll be working her day off and Saturday.

Pat and I are planning on going to the Home Show this weekend at the Monona Terrace. I’m not really sure what that entitles but I am hoping to talk to someone about the hole (planter) in our entryway. I suppose I could take some pictures with me so they know what I am talking about when I say “hole in the floor”. Oh what a joy it would be to have that hole filled in and tiled over.

The whole focus of tonight’s post is a little daunting. I actually registered and committed to the Iron Girl Duathlon on September 25^th. I am $95 more poor than I was before but $95 well worth it…I think. I knew this was something I was committing myself to doing back in September. I went to watch  my sister compete in the first ever Maple Grove Triathlon. There were two lengths, Sprint and Olympic. I noticed the more experienced athletes competed in the Olympic distance. There were all types of people competing in the Sprint distance, big ones, tall ones and skinny ones too. There was one woman competing in the shorter distance that was quite inspiring to me. She was probably in her early twenties and had a huge cheering section. They were cheering her in, even though she seemed to be the last one through the finish line. What was inspiring to me? She probably was the heaviest lady in the whole competition. She was maybe 5’5’’ and looked like she was over 250lbs. But she finished it in the time allotted. THAT was inspiring to me. If she can do it, anyone can right? That was the moment I decided I needed to do something.

I knew I wasn’t a strong swimmer and didn’t want to take the time or money to join a gym so that I could relearn how to swim correctly and efficiently. I decided I would take on the Iron Girl Duathlon. This is an annual event, in it’s seventh year in Minnesota, which benefits women. Only women are allowed to register for this event of a 2 mile run, 22 mile bike ride, followed by another 2 mile run. I’ve always been strong on the bike so I’m not worried about that. I am worried about completing those four miles of running. I was hoping that my exercising would be better by now but I have yet to complete a 5k running the whole way. I guess I will have to be able to do it by September.

I actually have multiple people that are planning on running the event with me. My dear sister told me she was going to register. This race should be a nice cool down two weeks after she completes her second Iron Man Wisconsin. My cousin Lynn is going to do it with me; this will be her second Iron Girl race. I know my other cousin Meg is contemplating it and so is my friend Kinsey, although she’s not a fan of biking. I may need to drag her out for some long rides this summer. I tried to talk my mom into doing it but she responded with a “no”. I appreciate all the support but it’s really up to me to get my butt in gear and get in good enough shape to complete it. I don’t really have a goal to place high. Just a goal to finish and maybe not come in last.

Days ‘till race day: 265

Connection Withdrawal

 

Woohoo! Two entries in a row. I’m working on this one pretty early because Pat and I are at Epic to get our Internet fix. We’ve been without our internet since yesterday morning. It’s frustrating because we’ve had the phone guys out here before to look at the wiring into the house and they said everything was good on their end. Pat did some rewiring of the jack in the office, thinking it might be the old wiring in this house. Well, that didn’t fix it. And it’s not just that we don’t have a connection for the internet, our house phone has no dial tone and no one can call into our house without it just going to voicemail. So if for some reason, you need to get a hold of Pat or myself over the next week or so, please call our cell phones.

Since we have no internet, I’ve been writing my blog entries in Word and updating them when I find time to find some internet connection. Today, it is at Epic. The next couple of days, I might be making trips to the Verona Library over my lunch break to take advantage of their wireless.  Pat leaves for Chicago on Tuesday afternoon, the same day the phone people should be out to check the connections again. If they don’t fix it that day, I suppose I will have to call someone to come check the lines inside the house. So who really knows when it’s going to be fixed?

But there was life before the internet… I think. I am going to try to use this time of no internet connection to do other things. I’ve realized how much time I actually spend searching the internet. It’s crazy amounts of time and that’s not a good thing. It really takes a lot of time away from myself.  There are healthier activities  I would like to focus on instead of sitting on the computer. Today, those activities include getting to Costco to use our gifted membership, packing up our Christmas decorations so we can put the tree out on the curb (or in the burn pile), and do day two of the Biggest Loser program.

Other things I would like to do over the next week included finish some books that I started, pick up Pride and Prejudice at the library and read that (I bought a book at Barnes & Nobel a couple of months ago that is based off P&P but I haven’t read the classic so I’m considerably lost), get used to my bike again, do the Biggest Loser program every other day, meditate,  take a bubble bath, do something with a friend, and maybe work on my crocheting again. There might be some TV watching in there as well but I will probably do that while I am working out. My iTunes music library will probably get a work out because I like to listen to music while I am blogging.

So here’s to limited internet making me a better person.

Days ‘till race day: 266

A Good Holiday and A Good Weight Loss

Happy New Year!

My mom called me today and told me, once again, that she and my sister were wondering where my blog entries have gone. I did promise on Monday that I would wonder about my losing weight over the Christmas weekend and having no idea how I did it. I’ll also fill you in on some of the great, and healthy, gifts I got from my family.

So I lost 2 lbs over Christmas, and I wasn’t trying. I did stay away from the sweets and Christmas cookies until just a couple days before hand. There were no holiday parties to attend this year so there was no unneeded drinking or high calorie foods to tempt me. Working out has been utterly nonexistent since I got sick in the beginning of December. Now that I’m feeling better, finally, that has changed and I’ve gotten back on the wagon. My mom claims the reason for my weight loss last week is because I received the Just Dance Wii game from my sister.

Christmas was good to me this year. It was wonderful to have my Dad, Mom and sister make the trip to Madison in the snow this year. I am blessed to have them and blessed to have their support. It was also nice not to have the large crowd of family, although I did miss parts of it. Christmas Eve was quiet and we opted for mass the next day. Dad made some awesome chili, which now fills my fridge and freezer. The five of us gathered around our tree to open gifts. It was odd to me that Pat and I were opening lots of gifts and my parents and sister were just opening the few gifts we got for them. It was early to bed to make sure we were up at 5am so that showers could be taken before 7am mass. A couple of us took an after mass nap before venturing to the movie theatre to see True Grit. The movie was packed and a pretty good flick. For dinner, I made my first ham, squash and salad. After dinner, there was another round or two of showing my parents the Wii that we got last year from Pat’s parents. It’s always bitter sweet when guests leave. It’s nice to have them around and our house really felt like a home when they were here.

There are a couple of gifts I’ve been using in the past week since Christmas. My sister picked up the Just Dance and The Biggest Loser Wii games for me. Neither require the balance board, which is good, ‘cause we don’t have one and we don’t plan on buying one in the near future. Boy, I tried out that Biggest Loser game a couple of days ago and my thighs still hurt when I stand up. I have a lot of work to do! Pat bought me a stationary trainer for my bike. I was surprised that he got it for me. It was something I had been wanting and it was something that I probably needed to get my butt toughened up for biking in the spring and summer. I’ve used it three times and I am impressed. I do need to get a new computer for tracking my distances and speed. My goal is to go 20 miles each time on in it. It’s a nice little trainer but I just have to make sure I get a bunch of use out of it.

I feel like I’m starting to ramble on a bit about odds and ends. Since I have no internet at home, which I will get more into in my next entry tomorrow, I plan on getting back on the wagon of updating this more often. I’ve been actually making lists of ideas for entries so that I remember them. So there will be upcoming blogs about registering for Iron Girl, I’ll give a recap of my high school reunion AND (if I’m brave enough) I will post a video of my goals for 2011.

Oh and I’m starting a race count down :)

Days ‘till race day: 267