Perfect 10 Update- Week 5

Wow! Another week has come and gone. I feel like I blinked for too long and it whipped on by me. I’ve been up to my elbows (at least) in oil paints trying to get ready for an art show in March. This last week my life has been gym in the early mornings, work, and then oil painting at home till bed time. I’m afraid I may burn out. But for the most part, I’m managing through and I think I’m progressing pretty well on these Perfect 10 goals. Here’s the progress report…

--Lose 10 lbs. over 10 weeks: Well, this morning my digital scale was flashing back and forth very quickly displaying two different weights within a lb of each other. So, I’m going to be optimistic and claim I’m down a half lb. I almost wish I had a digital scale that showed the tenths of a lb., but I don’t. So that puts me at down a total of 2.5 lbs. over 5 weeks. I’m also very optimistic for next week because this week is my monthly cycle and I usually gain 3 to 4 lbs. but I lost half a lb. which would be wonderful if it showed up as a loss for next week of 3 to 4 lbs. I would be ecstatic if that happened!

--Build to 10 miles running in under 2.5 hours: Early this last Sunday morning, I ran 9.12 miles on the treadmill at the gym in 113 minutes. Like the joke… “AND BOY was I ever tired afterwards!” I immediately went home and took a two hour nap. Monday morning, I woke tired, sore, and crampy. I think that the run may have brought my monthly on early by two days. I called in sick to work and curled up with the hot water bottle in bed.

--Balance exercises twice a week: FAILED totally!! With every thing going on I completely spaced this out this week.

--Gym at least 3 times a week: Done! Friday, Sunday, and Wednesday!

The Unknown Fact--- My last moving violation I received on my bicycle for “Improper Look Out”. I don’t think that many people know that in quite a few places the bicycle is classified in the codes of motor vehicles, and as such falls under the same rules. Yes, you can get a ticket as much on a bicycle as in a car.

One evening I was commuting home from work on my bicycle. I came to an intersection where cross traffic did not stop. I waited and waited for a spot to clear enough for me to take the left hand turn that I needed to take. It felt like it was taking F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Finally, I just had a big commercial van that was taking a right turn just prior to where I was waiting.

I SHOULD have waited but I was impatient. I started out into traffic. There I was out in traffic lane when from behind that big van; a white car came. I had a bit of an “Oh Shit” moment, and then I reacted. Its funny how things that happen fast sometimes feel slow. I quickly twisted my front tire so that I would go in the same direction as the car. The front of the car still clipped my front tire; snapping the front fork. The front tire was thrown to the curb. Meanwhile I spun around balanced over the back tire. When I stopped spinning, I fell straight sideways.

The police gave me the ticket and it was placed on my driver’s license. I was a little bruised and embarrassed but fine otherwise. But not nearly as bad as the driver of the white car, who I really felt bad for. They were a mother and child, who were illegal aliens. The car was impounded on the spot, and they were waiting to be taken into custody. As I waited with my broken bike for a ride home, I watched in amazement as a drama of crying and screaming unfolded.