May Day's, Running Bulls, & Month End...

Happy May Day!  Awww… the first of May and hopefully, those April rain showers will simmer down.  May flowers bring them on! 

This last Saturday I opted to go for a run outside than a bike ride.  While I was running along over to my favorite park, I turned a corner and I was in the midst of 100 other runners.  I felt really bad because all of them were passing me like I was standing still.  I was going an easy pace because I was planning on going at least 5 to 6 miles.  They were ladies pushing strollers that were going faster.  I almost felt like I was in the middle of the running of the bulls and I was waiting to get pulverized into mincemeat. 

I ended up going up on to the sidewalk just to feel a little more at ease.  A local running store was holding a free training run.  About a block away from my favorite park there was a water stop with a van advertising the shop.  Shortly, after the water stop they had the run turning around in the street and I was glad I was on the sidewalk.  I continued on and did a lap around the park where a bunch of Army ROTC kids were stretching out before they started running laps around the park.  I did the one lap and it was like I had the whole wide sidewalk to myself; plenty room to breathe.  As I headed back home from the park, the running shop was clearing away the water station and I was going along nicely at my own pace on a quiet street.  Awwwww… that was nice.  I managed 5.5 miles for the day.  It felt good.

Later Saturday, I was having a late lunch/early dinner and had thought I had broken my tooth.  I freaked a bit and couldn’t remember my dentist name, couldn’t find the number and was just freaking out.  That’s strange for me.  Then I calmed down and got to looking and thought it might have been a crown I had swallowed.  Waited and went to the dentist on Monday afternoon to discover that it was a broken filling and I would now need a crown.  Darn; another expensive crown that doesn’t go on top of my head!

Month in review…

1.)    Saving Money?  I’m at my goal pace plus an extra 4% more.  I haven’t sold any more paintings and I’ve been trying to build up a stock of paintings, cards, and etc. for the booth I’ll have in the Little Red Riding Hood Bike Ride. 

2.)    Uncluttering my life?  Well, almost a quarter of my bedroom is stacked with donations that I need to take to the Good Will.  I need to see about taking a trip on some Saturday afternoon to drop it off.  But I still want to go through some more of my summer clothes before I do.

3.)    Reaching my goal weight?  As of last Friday morning, I was within 8 lbs. of my goal weight.  I’m feeling pretty happy with that.

4.)    Cutting down on eating out?  Nope! Sorry!  I’m SOL here!  I’m really failing at this one of late.  I’m beginning to wonder if I should throw this goal out and start from scratch!  Of course, it would help if I got my act together and cooked at home.  But I just haven't been in the mood to do that of late.

5.)    Do 1 Century Bike Ride?  Yep, got this off the list!  I found out this morning I did win the lottery for RAGBRAI.  So I’ll need to start upping my average mileage to prepare for 472 miles in one week.  In other words, I may have to plan to ride my bike every where by the beginning of July.  

Stats for the Month of April…

368 miles Cycling

19 miles Running

30 minutes on the elliptical

And

I’m now up to 21 books read for the year!

Down Again & A Fairy Tale in Reverse...

My bathroom scale was being a friend again this morning.  I stumbled on to it hoping but not hoping; but not sure what to expect.  I tried to clear my blurry morning eyes a couple of times before I was sure of what I was seeing.  Yeah!  I was down two more pounds!  Wow; what a way to start off the morning. 

I promptly went in my closet and tried on those size 12 Calvin Klein jeans that I could just barely squeeze into.  They fit!  I was VERY tempted to wear them today but its “Homeless” Friday.  (Yes, the ultimate version of the casual Friday has been down graded at my work.  We now call it – Homeless Friday’s!)  So instead of wearing the dressy beige Calvin Klein’s, I grabbed a comfortable pair of holey jeans to pair with layer t-shirts.  I’ll save the Calvin Klein’s for Monday.

I had quite the stats for this week when it came to working out but then I did do a century this last Saturday.  But here are my stats—151 miles cycling and 4.6 miles running.  I’m going to try to continue this working out and eating plan; in hopes that I’ll continue to lose.

Now for the fairy tale in reverse? 

My mom has been playing with the idea of renaming her cat from Porsche to Pumpkin.  She has her reasons; besides, the variety of spellings possible for the car.  One of which is that she says she’s always calling her cat Pumpkin anyway.  I rather found it a bit funny at first when she mentioned it because it really struck me like a Cinderella story in reverse.  Yeah, can you imagine going from a Porsche to a Pumpkin? 

But I guess it’s a good thing it’s not a dog.  Because changing names on a dog would confuse the heck out of dog.  Come here Spike!  Come here Squirt!  Or whatever!  At least you don’t have to worry about a cat coming when you call.  Most of the time they just look at you like they are saying “I’ll come when I damn well feel like it.  So hold your horses, will ya?”

Well, this week Porsche/Pumpkin or Ms. Orange Porsche is recovering from having her back claws removed.  Mom thought she better get it done understandably to save on the new living room furniture.  Mom was lucky enough to have sometime off to stay home with Ms. Orange Porsche--- You know, I rather am liking this possible new name.  What do you think, Mom?

Mark That Off the List!

“Well, I did it! I did it! I did it! Yes, I did it!”  The music from “My Fair Lady” is streaming through my head shortly after I finally managed the 100 miles on my bike on Saturday afternoon.  It was a long day on the bike but it wasn’t as long as it could have been.  The century bike ride took me 6 hours and 14 minutes riding time and the weather was just beautiful.  The sun was out there was barely any wind and the temps reached up to the upper 70’s.  I couldn’t have ordered better weather. 

Photo: A quick shot of first signage of Willard Bay.  Can't see the Bay yet but I was taking a quick break.

 But with all that being said the last 30 miles were pure struggle!  I had pushed it too hard for the first 50 miles and it came back to haunt me.  I was maintaining an average speed between 18-20 mph on the way out from Centerville, UT to Willard Bay.  That was quite a bit faster than I should have been going and when I got to the half way point and stopped for a bit I felt a bit of headache coming on.  I had planned on going about 16-18 mph but I ended up riding for awhile with a faster group and wanted to take advantage of the draft.

I found myself grabbing a quick bite and thinking that I’m going to need to take it easy on the way back.  Meanwhile I’m watching the breeze blow a flag showing wind from the south.  That was the direction I would need to go 80% of the way back.  Not a good sign!  One of the guys commented on how well I was doing and I said,” we’ll see!  Sometimes the last 20 miles can be a real bit*h!”

I started out with another group of riders back hoping that I could draft for a bit but I quickly lost them in the distance.  Before I know it my average speed I was able to maintain into the slight breeze was between 15-16 mph.  My headache was still intact but I was hoping that the half bottle of Coke would kick in to dissipate it. 

But about 30 miles to go and I find my dear friend Ron waiting for me.  He was in the middle of the group that left the lunch stop that had left me in the dust.  I guess they left him in the dust and he was waiting for me because he was already bonking.  So we were a team all the way back to our cars.  We took turns drafting, talking each other up, and complaining to each other.  “Are we there yet?”  “Well, we ARE getting closer, I hope.”  Those were the common phrases between us. 

We suffered through together and I gave him a Big Hug when we got back to the parking lot where are cars were.  Then, after I got everything in the car, I headed to a McDonald's and ordered a Big Mac, a Wild Berry Blend, and the largest Diet Coke they had.  (The only things that I'll eat at a McDonald's too.)  I was a terribly unsafe driver and eat the Big Mac while driving the 15 minutes south back to Salt Lake City.  I got home and felt wiped out the rest of the day.  But I did it! I did it!  Now it's on to other goals for the year!

A New Cat & A Month End Report...

Mom now has a new cat whose name is Porsche.  It’s a grey cat and I’m sure that mom will be mailing me a photo via snail mail any day now.  (Mom has yet to managed the feat of attaching a photo to an email.)  Prior to the announcement of the new cat when I would talk on the phone with her she was always mentioning about seeing a cat or kitten at a local pets store.  So last week when she called me mid-morning while I was at work  with an excited voice and said, “Guess what?!??!!”  I guess she got a new cat.  It took a little bit of the wind out of her sails, but she continued on excitedly and told me about the new family member.
 

It was a couple days later that she called me because Porsche was hissing and snarling at her.  She was afraid the cat would bite her in the middle of the night so she was sleeping catless with the bedroom door closed.  My first thought was that THIS was not going to work out.  

I know that there’s an adjustment period whenever there’s a new pet.  I know I had one with my dog Rocky.  I was ready to take him back the first week.  Well, almost the 3^rd day after he had torn into a HUGE stuff animal and I had little bitty styroform balls all over the green shag carpeting.  We were finding those balls for months!  I told visitors that we were fertilizing the living room lawn when they discovered the small white balls.

The last time I talk with Mom, it seemed that her and Porsche have come to an arrangement and are getting along.  But I have a bit of fun when I call mom and ask if everyone is alive and well.

Now for the Month End Report… ( A little bit late but…)

1.)    Saving Money?

Well thanks to the help of selling some paintings, I’ve managed to save more by about 18% which has been nice.  The even nicer park of all this has been that a piece of my work will in the future be displayed in London, England.  Yes, a fellow blogger has purchased a piece of my art work, and I think that’s SO cool!

Here's the artwork...

"Cycle of Red, Yellow& Tyedyed"; A Poured Watercolor on 11" x 11" Paper.

2.)    Uncluttering My Life?

I’ve started forming a large pile to go off to the good will.  I went through a couple of kitchen cupboards and in fact, emptyied out two of them completely.  They were just full of STUFF.  I’ve also been starting to go through all of the warm weather clothes and seeing if I want to keep or put in the pile.  But I’m progressing on this goal a little more this year!  Yeah!
 

3.)    Reaching My Goal Weight?

I’ve rather hit a plateau these last couple of weeks but I’m trying to hang in there and focus.  I still have between those 12 to 13 lbs. to lose.  They seem to be like a parasite that’s hanging on for dear life.
 

4.)    Cutting down on eating out?

UGH!  I’ve been just plain HORRible about this one.  In fact, today for lunch I went through the Wendy’s drive thru and all of the gals working at the restaurant leaned out said hello and asked me how I was doing!  NOT a good sign!  But I will say I’m not on a first name basis yet!  Obviously, I need to work on this one!
 

5.)Do 1 Century Bike Ride this year?

I’m hoping to have the first one be the Willard Bay Super Series Bike Ride that my bike club puts on the 21^st of this month.  If it’s not too windy, it will be a go!  I’m still waiting to hear about RAGBRAI.  The lottery will be announced on May 1^st, and I’m thinking I’ll need to really step up for some riding if I get in that.  I mean 471 miles in a week; O-vay!  That’s a lot of riding.

New Year; New Goals...

A beautiful sunrise photo I took a few days ago from my balcony. 

It’s the dawn of a New Year and I have myself playing with idea of setting new resolutions for this Year of 2011. I find it exciting and for me it’s rather like a blank canvas that is calling me to paint a new scene. What will it be? And how will it turn out? Hmmm… that is certainly food for thought.


And as I am sitting here enjoying a cup of coffee, and my mind is perusing through all of the possibilities; I can’t help but reflect on how I only attained about 40% of last year’s resolutions. Which I will admit was rather dismal and I can’t help but think that I need to be more realistic. No matter how much you may want to set goals and plan ahead; life has a way of throwing a few wrenches with possibility a few crow bars at you, or whatever other tools that may come to mind. There’s no possible way to see around that curve in the road and know what’s coming your way.

So what I’m trying to say is that maybe I need to set goals that are perhaps a bit vaguer? But then again I just might be too easy on myself. This is the dilemma that I find myself in as I am need of another cup of joe. But then again I maybe just over analyzing this to death; …which I do have a tendency to do. Hmmm… Okay so with all that going on in my head, here is the list that I’m thinking of…

GOALS...
1. Save more money! This was the one goal that I really did manage this last year. I now have enough in a savings account that if out of necessity I could go 6 months at my current cost of living if I lost my job. Not bad and I’m thinking I should continue this and try to work towards a full year.

2. Find a balance with my running and cycling. Run some more of those fun 5K’s. Last year, I ran two half marathons and I felt that I really had accomplished something. It was fun running and finishing one of them alongside a friend. But I did all this running and it came at the cost of not being able to enjoy my cycling as much. With that in mind I’m thinking of signing up for more 5K runs and giving myself the time to enjoy my cycling.

3. Do one century on my bike. I came close last year and if not due to a mechanical problem I could have done it. But I made the attempt too late in the cycling season and only had the one opportunity. Part of the reason I attempted it too late in the season was because I was training too much for running.

4. Be more conscious about my weight. Basically lose weight but I don’t want to focus on a particular goal weight. I feel like I would be setting myself up for failure if I did that and also would pushing towards unhealthy type of eating habits. I definitely would like to lose this the weight I gained over the holidays. It’s been a sugar fest from Hell the last few weeks. I would like to rein in all that bad holiday eating and work back towards the weight I was at during the end of the cycling/running season. I was within 6 lbs. of a goal weight that I had in mind for years. I was pretty pleased with myself and I think with some healthy habits and exercise I could be there again. I would like to work towards it in a more healthy way.

5. Commute more to work either on my bicycle or via walking. I think this will help with my other financial goals and also allow me to get more exercise. Sounds like a Win-Win situation to me.

6. Finish my 100 Salt Lake City Porches Project. I’m currently working on porch #9 and I think it is progressing well. I would LOVE to tie the project with a charity if I can and start selling them on-line on my Art blog. I also would like to have a showing of all 100 Salt Lake City Porches in one place; preferably not in my small one bedroom apartment. If you get the chance check out my Allgood Art blog.

7. Narrow down the clutter/things in my life. We live an age where things/items seem to collect around us. For some of us it is a status symbol. For others it maybe just in the pure joy of having some of these items around them. But lately to me quite a few of these items/things seem to be getting in the way and just collecting dust. Also, sometimes it seems as though some of these items require other items and can develop into an unseemly amount of MORE things. It’s not as though I can take these with us when we die and on top of that I only live in a small one bedroom apartment. So, part of my goal in this is clear out a great deal of those items that I don’t need. I would love to work towards being able to move everything in my apartment in one truck load if I needed to move. And yes I know that this may sound contrary to do a painting project of 100 Salt Lake City Porches. But even so, I would like to “clean up” some of my act. I have items that sit in upper areas of closets that have not seen the light of day. I also have a closet FULL (to over flowing) of clothes that I need to trim down. I will admit that I am a clothes horse and most of it is from thrift store finds that I REALLY should have never bought in the first place. WHAT was I thinking? So I’ll need to sit down and figure out what I need and what I don’t need. Then, I’ll start trimming down.

THERE! 
I think that's enough goals for one year, don't you?

A Recovering Runner...

I’m standing among a circled chaired group with sweaty palms and fear that my deodorant may have given out. “Hi my name is Jeanne and I’m a recovering runner.”  They reply with saying Hi Jeanne.

I continue on, “It’s been 6 days since my last run.” There are audible gasps among the members of the group. "I’m just not motivated to run. 6 days ago, I did a half marathon and I feel kind of burned out from running. I felt tired after the half marathon, of course."  I smile.  "I felt slightly stiff for a couple of days, but otherwise I felt pretty good.  But I'm concerned about this lack of motivation.  I’ve been walking as usual in a course of a regular day. I’ve biked a couple of times.  Infact, I tend to wonder if the Big Guy upstairs is trying to tell me something… The two times that I’ve gone biking I had flat tires...BOTH times! I think that He is telling me to get back on the path and running.” Meanwhile, I’m getting some “Amen, Sista!” from some of members of the group.

(** NOTE:  The above situation is a work of my imagination.)

So, I’m hoping to get myself motivated to run again by signing up for another half marathon. Is this a crazy way to get motivated, or what?  I am however signed up for a 10K run at the beginning of October that will also help get me going; I'm sure.  But I will admit that I’ve been missing my bike in amidst all of this running, and I still want to do a century ride this year.


Last night I did another bike ride, and I did notice that I’m going slower on the hills than what I usually do.  ( Amazingly, no flat tire occurred!)  But this leaves me with concerns about doing a century on my bike.  The longest ride that I’ve done this year was Little Red Riding Hood and that was only 75 miles. The last 6 miles of that ride I rode in a state of cramping heat stroke. On top of the whole matter I’m even more concerned because in the last two weeks I’ve only ridden 50 miles and those 50 miles has been in the last three days.  I NEED to get my behind in gear and find some kind of motivation.  HELP!?!