RAGBRAI Highlights...

Why does it seem that the bad get forgotten over time and the good times seem to be what sticks?  I keep on thinking about my RAGBRAI time (the whole four days) and I can’t help but smile at some of the things that happened. 

Like the night before when the team had a dinner and we loaded up the truck.  During the dinner, we went around and introduced ourselves.  As we started introducing ourselves we discovered that the newbie’s got a little something extra written in black marker on their calf.  Here’s all of us newbie’s lined up on the loading truck ramp.

Photo- All the newbie's with VIRGIN written in black marker on their calves. 
I'm near the middle in light green shirt.

The real funny thing was that this is a common thing done to people who are doing their first time at RAGBRAI.  I ran into quite a few “VIRGIN’s” as I rode along.  Some even had it on both calves!

Another time, it was an afternoon after I had finished the ride for the day.  I had stopped in the downtown in the overnight town to have some lunch before looking for the host house where I would stay for the night.  I ended up eating with this married couple who were from South Carolina.  The gentleman was originally from Waterloo, Iowa.  As I was talking the wife said that her husband was concerned about having her come along because she’s an organizer and usually has everything planned down to the last detail.  As she was learning, RAGBRAI is not one of those rides that you can plan; it’s a more go with the flow type.  But she said she was having fun opening her mind and boundaries.  Meanwhile, her husband had decided to get a little treat while we gals were talking.  He came back with a plain little white paper bag.   “What’s in the bag, dear?” She asked.  It was a Maid-Rite sandwich.  She rolled her eyes,” It MUST be an Iowa thing!”  I told her it was and Iowa was the only place you could get a true Maid-Rite.

Another morning, I riding in a pace line with these guys from Chicago area.  It’s nice cool and the sun is coming up as we are cycling along a picture perfect rolling hills of corn fields.  There’s a slight haze of fog off in the distance giving a golden pink hue to everything.  One of the guys in the group, says” Is this heaven?”  Another guy in the group says,” Don’t say! Don’t you dare say it!  I DON’T want to hear THAT line again.”  I was just cracking up and was half tempted to say the famous movie line from Field of Dreams… “No, this is Iowa!”

Photo- First night of RAGBRAI and a Beautiful sunset over the golf course near where my tent was set up.

Another night, the cycling team was out shooting the breeze with all of our lawn chairs forming a big circle.  We were all talking and one of the guys had been interviewed on TV and also been interviewed for the newspaper.  I asked him why he was so news worthy.  One of the other guys piped up that he had been seen streaking naked through the main street area of town.  I quickly came back with a retort,” And THAT was considered news worthy?!”  Everyone cracked up at that and there were even retorts about hitting a man when he was down.  Awww… it was all in good fun!

There were several more highlights such as discovering one of the gals in the group graduated the same year from the same high school as I.  Another one of the guys grew up down the street from me but was 7 years older so we never really knew each other.  All kinds of weird little coincidences and quirks.  It really was a good time except for the heat.

Wicked Witch of the West Ride...

Last night as the temperature soared to 102 degrees in the Salt Lake Valley, I was crazy enough to plan on doing the Emigration Bike Ride.  I figured it would be good preparation for the RAGBRAI that I’m going to do in a couple of weeks.  Unlike last week’s Emigration ride which was 100 degrees at the start.  There was at least a little breeze last night.  I was teasing one of the gals that did the ride with me last week that we were doing the Wicked Witch of the West reunion ride.  She laughed but some of the other people at the start looked at me warily when I said that.  Then, in a crackling voice with some hand motions I cried, “I’m MELT- ting! I’m melting!”  Then everyone was cracking up!

I had recently gotten a new replacement seat for my bike.  The old torn seat that had survived a totaled bike accident in 2007 was getting pretty cracked and worn.  It was time for a new one.  It was on the way towards the canyon that I discovered it wasn’t tightened down enough.  I swung by a local near by bike shop and they helped out really quickly.  But I got separated from the group for a bit.  I pushed it a bit and caught up finally about a mile in the canyon with the gal I rode with last week.  It was as I was coming up behind her that I cackled a laugh and said,” I’ll get you my pretty!”  It was just TOO funny.

After doing that, I slowed down and took it easy.  I waited up for another cycling bud to catch up and we managed our way to the top at a much slower pace.  No racing tonight with 100+ temps.  The name of the game was just getting there to the top.  Four people ended up turning around early because the heat got to them.  It was a night where I savored that coast down the canyon.  I didn’t pedal until I had to and just let myself go along for the easy ride down.  I deserved it!

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!

Belated Happy Fat Tuesday & Somber Ash Wednesday?

Yesterday was the Happy Fat Tuesday; or as it’s probably better know as Mardi Gras.  In the US, Mardi Gras brings up images of wild parties in New Orleans, masks, beads, and women baring their breasts. It’s the day before Ash Wednesday when you do a last bit of splurging before giving up something for Lent.  Then it’s forty days of going without or limiting or whatever deal you’ve made with yourself and God.  Quite often in years pass I’ve given up coffee, chocolate, and caffeine or I’ve limited my sweets, or tried to be nicer to other people.  Sometimes, I’m successful at these things and at others I’m a total failure.  The total failures I knock up to “pie in the sky” ideals when my feet are firmly planted in the clay of the earth. 

Today is Ash Wednesday.  It’s that time of year when us silly Catholics get ashes put on our foreheads.  More than almost anytime of year, the church will be filled to almost overflowing and all of these Catholics even the “cafeteria” Catholics like me want ashes on their forehead.  There’s just something with the symbolism of smeared ashes on your face.  It certainly makes you stand out in the crowd when you go to the grocery store afterwards; especially in Utah.

I remember in years past purposely going to the grocery store after the evening Ash Wednesday Mass.  I wanted to stand out and try to be different from most of the LDS culture.  It was like I was trying to be a thorn in the side.  I would go down the aisles and just wait for someone to say that I had dirt on my forehead.  But nope!  No one said anything.  If anything at times it seemed that everyone was avoiding me.  Talk about clearing out an aisle at the grocery store!  There was no eye contact with from the girl at check out.  It seemed as though I was ignored or worse avoided like I was demon spawn.  It took all the fun out of it.  So after a few years, I stopped running errands afterwards.  I would go straight home and wash off the ashes just before bedtime.

Then I changed to going to a noon Ash Wednesday Mass at the Salt Lake City Cathedral.  I would take a longer lunch to go.  It would piss off a fellow co-worker who I am convinced has never liked me since she found out I was Catholic.  Talk about being the demon spawn in this case I might as well have been.  I would come back from my long lunch hour with the smudged ashes on my forehead and she would glare at me every time she went by desk during the afternoon.  Talk about how to lose friends and alienate people, I was on that path!  Well, after a few years even attempting to piss off a co-worker got a bit old, and I felt it just wasn’t at all in the spirit of the Lent season.

So this year, I’ve kind of opted out of the whole Ash Wednesday.  I’m not sure if I’m going to be giving up or doing anything for Lent.  It just seems like after years of trying to be a thorn in the side; I need a year of backing off and getting some space.  I guess that’s one of the benefits of being a “cafeteria” Catholic.

My Bucket List...

 I've been thinking about it all this last week.  I've been adding and I still may have somethings to add over time.  There may be some crazy and different things that might surprise some you you, but then maybe not.  But this is what I came up with....
**************************
1. Go canoeing


2. Go kayaking

3. Try rollerblading

4. Attend a traditional Greek Wedding (I mainly just want to see if they really do spit on the bride as she goes up the aisle.)

5. Get a henna tattoo

6. Go on a retreat that’s at least 4 days and at least 100 miles from home-- either spa or sports related.

7. Learn to speak Spanish

8. Brush up on my French

9. Write & Publish a book

10. Go horseback riding

11. Go whale watching

12. Try pole dancing (this might be dangerous due to my lack of coordination.)

13. See a Circque du Soleil Show in Vegas

14. Eat a meal prepared by a world class chef

15. Do a bit of stand up comedy

16. Cycle the diameter around Crater Lake & possibly Lake Tahoe too.

17. Make a difference in someone’s life. ( I see this as an on-going thing.)

18. Experience a nomad lifestyle for an extended time frame. (thinking possibly 2 years)

19. Visit all 50 states

20. Participate in the Burning Man

21. See the Northern Lights

22. See an Atlanta Braves Game

23. Go on an Alaskan Cruise

24. Visit some National Parks (not in Utah)

25. Go skinny dipping

26. Visit the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.

27. Walk along the Coney Island Boardwalk

28. Take a tour of the Hershey Factory in Penn.

29. See the Grand Canyon

30. Visit Historic Williamsburg

31. Visit the Art Institute of Chicago & see American Gothic by Grant Wood in person

32. See the Cherry Blossoms of Washington D.C.

33. Cross the Golden Gate Bridge

34. See the Liberty Bell

35. Visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

36. Visit the Guggenheim Museum in NYC

37. Bake a French loaf of bread that’s not like a rock.

38. Visit a nudist colony

39. Kiss a complete male stranger & make it a good kiss!

40. Have several pieces of my artworks on sale & hanging in a professional gallery

41. Phrases I want to say before I die---

--- You can’t fire me, I quit!; --- A martini shaken not stirred. (Gold finger)

********************************************
I invite any feedback or comments you may have.

A Late End of Month Report...

This is late by a couple of days. Oppps! I kind of spaced it off completely, but better late than never as they say. So here it goes….

As far as my savings goal, I’m behind my saving schedule by about $50... I’ve had birthdays, get well presents, and Mother’s Day coming up and it’s made a dent in the finances. I must admit that I didn’t add gift giving into my budget. It’s something that I need to look.  In other words, I need to figure that stuff in the budget plan.

Weight loss has been progressing along fine. I was down a total of 18 lbs. as of this last Saturday morning. I’ve been averaging about 4.5 lbs weight loss every month; which is a good steady pace.  I've really been please with this pace and my progress.

Here’s the nitty gritty for the month…

4 hours on the elliptical

21.65 miles running

2.4 miles swimming

159 miles biking

Read 9 books (Up to 23 books for the year)

Even with this strange Spring time weather, I’ve been managing to get out on the bicycle. I’m hoping that it will warm up even more and then I’ll get 400 miles in cycling in the month. I also hope to get a little more mileage in running too. Speaking of running, last Friday night while on the “dredmill” doing 3 miles; I broke an average speed record. I managed to run an average speed of 11 minute and 4 second mile! Normally, I’m a slow 12 minute mile. I’ve been doing little drills all winter long on the treadmill to help improve my time. Now as far as the reading of books, I blame the bad weather to enabling me to read more. Last year I read 57 books and I wouldn’t be surprised if I break the 60 mark this year.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No. 40"- Poured Watercolor on paper

I’m working on porch #40 of my 100 Salt Lake City Porches project. I will admit that recently I took a bit of a break and did some bike art. The Gallery Roll, which is put on by a downtown bike shop was looking for some bike art, and I thought Why Not? So I painted a few watercolors and entered a couple of those along with an oil painting I did this last fall. I’ll let you know which ones get in, but in the meantime check out my progress on the 100 Salt Lake City Porches. I’m up to 40 of them! Wow!

As far as the goal of uncluttering my life, well… I’ve started a pile of clothing from the closet but it’s not very sizable. I’m figuring that as the weather warms that I’ll bring out the summer clothes, and start going through those and get rid of stuff that I’m really hoping is too big because of my weight loss. Keep your fingers crossed!

Yurting Expedition...

Part of the view from yurt the first morning.

I had packed my borrowed backpack the night before. It weighed in at 35 lbs. which I thought wasn’t too bad. Bee, a friend, was planning on joining us for the yurting but then got offered a warmer and better deal of backpacking the Canyonlands back country. She had offered to go up part of the way with us and carry some of our supplies. I carpooled with her; leaving approximately 10-15 minutes before Polly and Eric said they would be ready. They were cross country skiing the way up and would probably pass me hiking on the way up; or so we all figured.

The snow gate- there's Bee and Zephyr!

About 10am, with a misting of rain I found myself hiking up the canyon. Bee helped me put on the backpack. We ended up having to jerry-rig the bottom supporting strap with a fanny pack and a bungee cord because I was a little larger around than the 28” waisted friend (Bee’s tall skinny hubby) that the backpack belonged to. There was no taking this pack off without help to put it back on.

A close up I took myself shortly after starting out.

I started out at an easy pace with my snow boots with the yakstrax attached. Check in time for the yurt was 1pm. So, there was really no rush to hike the 4.75miles up to the yurt. Within a mile, I turned to notice that Bee was no longer in sight. She had my snowshoes that I would have strapped to the outside of my pack. I only let her take those because I really wanted to go up under my own steam. Two years ago when I went yurting with this group I had really been a burden with one carrying my sleeping bag and another ending up carrying my backpack. This year I was determined not to be a burden.


Most of the snow was between 4 to 6 feet.

It was the 1.5 mile marker that I took a bit of a break. I stood and drank from my water bottle; enjoying string cheese from my fanny pack. I waited there for about 4-5 minutes figuring that it was just a matter of time before Polly, Eric, & Bee would arrive on their cross country skies. Nope, no sign and the misting rain was starting to turn sleet. I continued on.

A bit of fog combined with misty rain on the way up.

About 2/3 of the way up, I saw my last cross country skier coming down. I was then all by myself. It was really quiet and sometimes I found myself almost jumping out of my skin when a clump of snow would plop down off a nearby pine tree. ¾ of the way up, I was starting to really feel the weight of my pack. I took my mittens and tucked them under the shoulder straps to help pad a little bit. I also started counting steps; about every 25 steps I would pause for a bit. The sleet was turning to big flakes of snow.

The yurt during the second day.

The last ½ mile, I was REALLY feeling that pack and wondering where in the H – E – double hockey sticks the yurt was. I started swearing out loud and I tell you it would have embarrassed a sailor to hear me. But I figured I was alone. Though, I did have the image of a rabbit coming out and saying,” Lady! Do you mind? My little bunnies really shouldn’t be hearing this.” Not that anything like that would happen except in the movies. The swearing and the anger were helping me along. Finally, with a huge sigh the yurt came into view. I was never so happy to see a structure in my life.


Snow- woman & man that someone had made before we arrived at the yurt.



Polly geting wood for the wood stove.

Eric doing abit of reading the first night.

I took off my pack and waited. Polly and Eric had the keys to the yurt. I moved around after taking off my pack to keep warm. I shoveled a bit. The snow was coming down lightly. After almost an hour, I started walking down the road to look for Polly, Eric, & dogs. I was wondering if they had a problem and had to turn around. ¾ of a mile later, there they all were moving very slowly. I took the leash for Jack and walked along with them to the yurt.



Myself and the ever spoiled one-eyed Jack!

 It ended up going between rain and snow all the first night. We could hear an owl hooting in a nearby tree for some of the night. The next morning it was beautiful! We all went out. I followed on my snowshoes and tried to keep up as they cross country skied. After a half hour, I decided to turn around. I was having a tough time keeping up and the snow was melting. There was one instance, where I stepped outside of their cross country ski track and ended up going in the snow up to my lower thigh. I turned around and went back to the yurt; where Jack cuddled up to me and I did a bit of reading.

You could hear the snow melting around the yurt, but no leaking in the yurt. It kept us nice, dry, and warm as long as the wood stove was fed. One little problem, with the melting snow was the restrooms. During the afternoon, there ended up being almost 2” of water in the women’s restroom. Later on in the early evening, we discovered the women’s restroom door was frozen shut. We all ended up using the men’s and left the door open just in case during the night.



The second night in the “wee” hours of the morning, I heard howling of coyotes. I woke up Polly and Eric to listen. One coyote sounded as though it was maybe 15 yards away from the yurt and the other answering coyote’s howl came from a distance. I thought that it was really amazing listening to them. I was also getting a kick out of Zephyr’s reaction to the howling. He seemed to have this quizzical look and would tilt his head a bit.

The beautiful sunrise the second morning!

Another beautiful morning, and the day we would be heading back to civilization. It was with a bit of disappointment that I started to repack. I left 1 hour before Polly & Eric left. Since they were skiing down it would only take them about an hour. We figured it would take me about 2 hours to hike down. So I would start out early while they did cleaning and restocked the firewood from the lean to that was behind the yurt.

One of many amazing views on the way down.

About ¼ of a mile down, my yakstrax got tied up in the shoe laces of the other snow boot. I went down; almost face planted it. I tell you it is REALLY hard to stand up when you have 35 lbs. of weight on your back. I opted to take off the yakstrax and retied the snow boots. Then I continued hiking down the canyon. About 1/3 of the way down I found a group of gals that were out hiking the day with their dogs. I hiked at a good clip and quite often said hi or answered questions about the yurt as I went down. I arrived at the bottom but couldn’t manage to take the backpack off by myself. I ended up enlisting a cyclist that was taking a break near the snow gate. I beat Polly, Eric, & the dogs by about 5 minutes.

My first sighting of civilization-- a group of ladies out for the day.

An Early End of Month Report...

Since I’ll be heading out to the Netherlands of yurting tomorrow morning and getting some much needed R&R,  I figured I would go ahead and do my progress report for the month of March. It’s kind of hard to think that a quarter of the year has all ready passed by. Overall, I feel good and think I’m progressing well on my entire goals for the year.

As I type this I must admit that I’m very pleased with my progress on my savings goal.  I’m still ahead of my goal, and I even have managed to move more ahead of that goal. I’m almost ahead by $110. Yahoo!  Little by little its adding up, and it feels good too.



This morning I weighed myself, and found that I’m down another 2 lbs. YES! Though, I tend to wonder if some of that is due to my hair appointment this last Saturday. You see, I had about 4” of hair taken off the length. Naw! Just kidding around! Yes, I did have that much taken off but hair couldn’t weigh that much could it? So anyway, that brings my total weight loss to 18 lbs. total. I seem to be still averaging 6 lbs. per month; a very good pace of losing weight.



Here’s the nitty gritty stats for the month….

6 hours 24 minutes on the Elliptical

28.33 miles running

92.25 miles cycling

2 miles swimming

And

Read 5 books (up to 14 books for year)

I’m running a little bit less but getting more miles on the bicycle as the weather allows. I’m trying to balance out the running with the cycling; which was one of my goals. I’m also trying to build up more miles on the bicycle to work towards doing a century. One of my goals is to get one century in for the year.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.32"- Poured Watercolor on 9" x 11" Paper

I just finished #32 of the 100 Salt Lake City Porch paintings.  This project has been moving along quite well and I seem to be on schedule to finish it up within the year so far.  I also think I'm seeing some improvement in my paintings.  Click here to check out the progress of the project.



Now for the uncluttering my life goal… Well, at the end of last month I moved out the defunked dryer. I then went through that closet and reorganized and cleaned it out of excess stuff. With doing my taxes I ended up going through various paperwork and receipts that I had. I cleared out quite a bit of the unneeded. Why I had the receipt for the 52” Big Screen TV that I got rid of 8 years ago? Gee, I think it was a safe bet that I didn’t need to keep that anymore. I was amazed at how many receipts that I had like that. I thinned out those files pretty well. I was actually able to get all of those, my tax papers, and other important papers to fit in my small fire safe. Cool! But you know with all of this clutter “maintenance”, I sometimes feel like I’m a gardener. There always seems to be weeds sprouting up where you least expect them.  The worst thing is... I never did like gardening or yard work, and most of it was due to those darn weeds!

Happy Ground Hog Day & January’s Progress…

Happy Ground Hog Day! Good news! It looks like an early Spring this year. I guess that the famous Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow. Of course, my co-workers and I were wondering if he couldn’t see his shadow due to a HUGE blizzard that hit the Northeast. I can imagine the man with the hat had to bribe Phil BIG time to even come out to take a look around. I imagine Phil would much rather be warm and driving around in that truck with Billy Murray in the 1993 movie version of Ground Hog Day. That was one of my favorite scenes where Bill’s character says, “Now don’t drive mad!” Sorry, I get a kick out of the idea of Road Raged Ground Hog.




It’s kind of hard to believe that January is over. I’ve managed some progress on my New Year’s Goals within the month’s time. I’m on track for my saving money so far but one month is only a bit of wading into the 2011 year. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to see a good tax return and add to the savings. Of course, I need to get my act together, sit down and do the tax return before I can coup any kind of gain.


I’m down 9 lbs. in weight as of last Friday and I’m working hard on this goal. I’ve put in a total of 4 hours 7 minutes on the elliptical for the month; as well as 29.10 miles running on the treadmill. I’ve been out for a couple of 3 mile snow hikes and even swam a mile. And there was enough sunny and low-40’s temperatures this last Saturday that I got an 8 mile bike ride in. That felt really good! I’m watching what I eat but I will admit that I’m still struggling just a bit with my evening snacking. There’s something I need to work on.

I'm progressing along with using my Nook.  I've read 3 books this month.  Two of those books were 600 plus pages; which means I'll read more books (shorter) books this month.  I know this wasn't really one of my goals but I thought I would throw something in here just to mix it up a little.


Tonight, I’ll get a good start in my watercolor painting class on #15 porch of the Salt Lake City Porches Art Project. Check out my Allgood Art Blog if you get the chance. I added a whole page where you can view the porches from the beginning. It’s rather interesting watching the progression of the porches. I think the project is helping my skills as a painter.


I’ve been working on getting rid of the clutter in my life. Right now, I’ve got a pile that’s in my living room that needs to go to the good will. Earlier this month when I was putting away my Christmas décor I took what I didn’t use and started the pile. Then, found some odds and ends in the front closet that I haven’t used in probably two years. It was all just sitting in there taking up room in a corner of the closet. Then, this last week I read a Better Homes & Garden on-line newsletter that talked about getting rid of clutter in the kitchen by going through the utensil drawer. Yep! I went through my utensil drawer and added to the pile. Now, I just need to get the pile of clutter out of my living room!

The "Stevie Wonder" & Weighing in...

The gym at my apartment’s clubhouse is nothing snazzy but it does have a newer treadmill and elliptical machine. So I am managing to workout there three times a week; a couple of week nights and then once on the weekend. I often arrive and the lights are off and I end up turning the machines on. I feel as though I have my own personal gym.

Last night the endorphins were kicking in pretty good after the treadmill workout (running 2.4 miles in 30 min). I started in on the elliptical. I guess you could say the endorphins went to the head because I just decided to get silly, and besides no one was around. So as I was on the elliptical I started to do the Stevie Wonder. Now some of you may be wondering… the Stevie Wonder? But some of you may have heard me mention the guy that Diane & I used to see at the gym. I nicknamed him the Stevie Wonder. He would be going along on the elliptical too with his eyes closed and his head wagging about.



So for 45 min., I was doing the Stevie Wonder, only with my eyes open. I was also finding that it was easier to do it with certain tunes on my mp3 player. “Funky Town” worked real well and “Don’t Worry Be Happy” was a good tune for it too. Now I’m a bit curious if it burns more calories and yes, I did look terribly silly in the mirrors as I went along. But it was only me, and actually it was rather fun! Who knows maybe I’ll do it more often?


Weighing in…
I thought that I would do updates on Friday as to my progress on my weight loss. That way I can hold myself (or try to) accountable for what I do during the weekend.  This week I’m down 5 lbs. YES!  Not too bad for a starting week. I managed to work out three times this week. Twice I worked out for about 45 min of cardio and once for 75 min. I still need to do a bit of the weight training thing.  I stayed under 1200 calories per day for most of the week.  I did have one day I went over by a couple hundred but I've been really trying to be conscious of what I am eating and the calories involved.

A Wonderful Read!

It was as I was taking a break from reading Moby Dick and I discovered a read I REALLY liked. I found myself about 175 pages into Moby Dick and I needed a break from the book. Sometimes, this happens I need a break from a book because I get bored or I’m struggling with the language. Then, I’ll end up reading back and forth between two books for a bit. I must admit that Moby Dick for me is a challenge because of the language and sentence structure.

It was shortly prior to this that I had purchased “The Memoirs of Cleopatra” for my Nook and I thought what the heck. I’ll see if I can haul my way through the two of them. I was a bit shocked when I opened “The Memoirs of Cleopatra” and it was about 1250 pages. That’s the problem with the Nook a thick book doesn’t really show itself until you open it.

 

I started reading this new book with an image of Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra and past that really didn’t know that much about her. But my hats off to the author Margaret George; within a short amount of pages she was bringing Cleopatra alive to me. She intertwines historical events and details of life in the period into a well crafted experience. I will every now and then venture into historical novels but this was a page turner. I found myself immersed in Cleopatra’s time and enraptured with it. I read the whole 1250 plus pages in under 10 days. During the 10 days I found myself staying up till the wee hours of the morning reading and couldn’t seem to put the book down. I was addicted and needed my Cleopatra fix.

I would recommend this book and I am now curious to read the other two historical novels written by Margaret George. If they are as well written as this book, they will be a pleasure to devour the words on the pages.  Now the REAL challenge is going back to Moby Dick.

Furniture Jenga~!

Last night after coming home from my water color painting class, I rolled up my sleeves and started in on a game of Furniture Jenga. Why you might ask? Am I, perhaps, insane? Or maybe this is part of a new workout theory? Or is it just that I don’t get enough excitement that I need to be plying stacks of furniture into my kitchen just for fun of it? NO! All this game of Furniture Jenga was in preparation for having my carpets cleaned.


So here I am last night looking at my pint sized kitchen and trying to figure how to fit as much of my living room furniture, and possibly some of my bedroom into that space. Now let me preface that my living room is a living room as well it serves as a dining room too. It was a vertical jigsaw puzzle that needed to be solved and just may prove how much of a warped mind I might have.

I started first with the bulky loveseat on its side. Nope! Not going to work. After a few more gruntingly laborious attempts, the loveseat ended up on its back facing up. It left plenty of room for stacking chairs, tables, pillows (why does there always seem to be an excess of pillows?), and what not. Next, my dining room bistro set, then an end table, and then … well, you get the picture. I arranged a few times over and ended up putting some of the more “weather proof” items on my ¼ pint sized balcony.

I went to bed last night with a small sense of accomplishment that I had only my futon, an alarm clock, and my cell phone out in the carpeted areas. After getting ready for work in the morning, I dragged the wooden futon frame into the bathroom. It fit just barely, and left just enough room for the futon mattress. It had maybe taken me 10 minutes top to move the futon frame into the bathroom. The futon mattress, however, was a whole different beast all together. It was like trying to move a huge dead body. (Not that I would actually know how to handle a dead body.)  It took me a total of 30 minutes to wrestle that darn mattress into a slim place between the futon frame and the bathroom door.  Whew!  What a relief!

It was after this wrestling match with the futon mattress I looked down and discovered I shouldn’t have worn my black work clothes to do this job. Being that I already running a bit late I tried to just slap some of the dust off of my black clothes. As I’m heading towards the door, I remember my lunch that happens to be in the refrig in the kitchen. Oooopps! In the refrig that I can not open the door to because there’s a huge stack of furniture in front of. Darn!

So I’m writing a note to self—No black dress clothes to move furniture in and have a back up plan for lunch because you are an idiot and won’t be able to open the buried refrig door.  On a positive note, I know what’s for dinner tonight!  Of course, that’s after I un-bury it!  DOH!

I Think I CAN (BUT Maybe I Shouldn't?!)!

This last week as I’m checking out my local cycling club’s ride calendar and I see a ride that snared my attention. I’ve been in search of a riding challenge for myself during this cycling season. I think I may have found it?  But you tell me...

The name of this ride—I Think I CANyons Ride. There’s a choice of a 2 CANyons version or 4 CANyons version. All the proceeds of the ride benefit a local clinic that provides healthcare for the homeless. A wonderful cause and they are advertising water stops at the top of each canyon with a lunch after 2 CANyons or 4 CANyons—your choice. The event takes place on July 31st a mere 3 and a half weeks from today. So I need to decide which version I’m going to do.

The 2 CANyons version of the ride, I “could do in my sleep”; as Diane puts it and continues on, “Jeanne, it wouldn’t be enough of a challenge for you.” And yes, she probably is right; considering its 2 canyons with about a total of 3740 feet of climbing and 43 miles. Not to brag but this would require NO training what so ever for me.

So thus I’m playing with the idea of the 4 CANyons version. This version is climbing 4 CANyons along the Wasatch Front for a total of 12,000 climbing feet and 110 miles. Most people would consider this an INSANE challenge, and here I am playing with the idea of it. Can you say C-R-A-Z-Y?!?!



But in my defense I can say that I’ve climbed three of the four canyons. One of them of which I lead weekly bike rides up to the top of. The canyon I haven’t climbed is the steepest. In fact, it’s been compared to part of the Tour De France. It's Little Cottonwood Canyon.  It maybe be only 8.3 miles from the base but has a whopping average of 9.2% grade as you go up it. I’ve heard rumors that Dave Zabriskie, local cyclist turned world class, uses that canyon quite often for training. Quite often when I’ve driven it I’ve seen cyclists riding it; but then again all of these canyons along the Wasatch Front you'll see cyclists going up and down.

In the past, I’ve done rides where there was 9,700 feet of climbing but that was two years ago. And outside of climbing the one canyon I haven’t really been doing that much climbing this year. Three years ago I did another ride called the Mount Nebo Loop (Wasatch Mountain's highest peak at 11, 870 feet) where there are 37 miles of 6% or higher grade of climbing. I did the whole 70 mile ride in about 5 hours and 20 minutes which is respectable considering the amount of climbing involved. I sent an email to one of the guys that put this I Think I CANyons ride on the cycling ride calendar and asked if I was in the ball park for attempting this. He said that if I could manage ¾ of the distance that in his experience I could pull it off the full thing on the day of the ride.



So the main question is… Am I CRAZY enough to do the 4 CANyons version? I would need to add a MASSIVE amount of climbing to my cycling training schedule in the next 3 weeks to be ready for the event. That on top of the training I’m all ready doing for a half marathon that takes place in August 20th in Park City. Realistically is it possible for me to do ALL this?



Hmmmm… maybe I’ll sign up for the 4 CANyon version and see what happens? It’s only a $10 difference, and then if I find myself not ready I can always do the 2 CANyon. BUT is that giving myself to easy of a way out?  

(Editor's Note: All of the above photos are from a recent ride I took up Emigration Canyon-- which is the last canyon on the I Think I CANyon Ride. Beautiful, isn't it?)