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?

An Update & Rambo Part 5...

No change in the weight situation this week. I’ve been struggling with motivation this last week. Of course, it’s hard with the schedule I’ve been doing. Catching an early morning bike ride, going to work, catch an evening bike ride or workout at gym, then head home to work on a porch painting, and end the day with an hour of winding down time on the Nook ( I’ve got to turn the energy and brain down somehow.) I blame this all on my type A personality mother. (Just joking Mom!) If I was a true type A personality I would be studying for my Masters in some remote degree, learning at least two foreign languages, and have an immaculately kept apartment. Please never come to my apartment without proper warning because I have the hazmat team on standby at all time.

I’ve often been running through the fast food in between here and there. AND we all know that fast food is the anti-Christ of dieting! Especially when one is not fond of salads; but I’ve been trying to get the sandwich wrap things on the menus that are somewhat marginally lower in calories. Though, I tend to wonder about these wraps when you find a big glob of mayonnaise stuck in the middle of it.

My stitches are healing well. My whole calf area was looking pretty “knarley” (as a former college mate would say). There were all shades of purples, blues and greens that made it look like my calf had been used as a punching bag. The bruising was really showing up and it looked worse than the actual injury seemed to me. But as of today there’s just the lovely sickly yellow-greenish glow left. I’ve all ready been back on the bike, which will come as no surprise to any of you that know me as “Biker”. I rode Emigration and didn’t “pop” a stitch.

I was telling most of my fellow cyclists about the event. Tales of the doctor’s office where I refused to take the shot for the local pain deadening. The nurse hovered with the shot ready at a moment’s notice meanwhile the doctor is taking a brush to the wounded area to get the bike chain grease out and then he does the stitches. The whole time we are chatting along about cycling and a recent vacation trip he took to northern New York State where he cycled. It was as the doctor was washing his hands after the procedure that he looked over his shoulder and called me, “…one tough cookie.”

My fellow cyclists’ reactions upon hearing the story were “owing and ouching” and then comparing me to Rambo. In fact, one teased me that I was Rambo Part 5. Another teased me that my pain center of my brain went dead from a bike accident I had back in 2007. In that accident I face planted it while doing 20mph and was knocked unconscious for about 3 min.

Last night, I braved the same ride that I got these stitches from. I was ever so careful when I went by the intersection where I went down.  The scene of the crime still had a great deal of gravel but I managed this time to get to the “Brew” part of the “Bike & Brew” ride that’s put on by a member of my bike club (BCC). My good friend Doug who puts on the ride did however announce at the beginning of the ride that I was a safety hazard and I should be avoided. Talk about adding insult to injury! I, of course, took it all in stride.

At the Weather's Whim & Nicknames...

So I'm sitting here at my desk at work and looking out through the windows. There are these dark gray clouds floating in the sky. No blue skies in sight and I'm hoping that it doesn't rain. Please don't rain! Tonight is the last of the Tuesday night bike rides up Emigration Canyon for the season. So here I am at the weather's whim.... please, please... Don't rain!

It's that time of year when there's not enough light to catch a bike ride after work before it turns dark. Darn winter! The sun rises later and sets earlier. It's the opposite of burning the candle at both ends! But I just want to catch one more bike ride after work up the Emigration Canyon, and I'm definitely planning on bundling up for this one!

It's not as though I won't be going up Emigration Canyon the rest of the year. There's still weekends, but it's harder because weekends get SO crowded with other things. I'll probably also be going out for short rides durning my lunches too when the weather is nice.

Oh, did I mention that I bike year round outside? I've had some people call me a hard core bike babe. If the roads are clear, I'm out there! You'll find me all bundled up and pedaling along. What can I say....? I LOVE to bike!

Thus, the nickname that a great deal of my friends call me-- Biker Chick! I can't begin to tell you some of the reactions that I've gotten when new people meet me after most of my friends introduce me. (I tend to wonder if some of my friends have forgotten my real first name.) I think these new people expect me to be in leather, and really tough... perhaps burly with a little bit of chin hair. I smile at the reaction and then say that I'm a cyclist. Then, they say,"Oh!" Like this explains it all. Then I feel like they are looking for the spandex ware. I've been half tempted to lean over and say," I'm prepared I have spandex underware on!" Just to shock them further continue on and say," I left my helmet in the car, but if you really want I can run out and get it. It's pretty cool! It's got Superman stickers on it!" Nah, maybe not!