Being Tested

Wednesday is trying to test me. Maybe I'm being documented to see how I deal with irritation? Granted, I probably caused it (a running theme in my life) - and compared to what is going on with other people these things are nothing - but I'm still going to vent about it a little bit.

I woke up to find myself feeling about 86.4%. I wasn't coughing as much. There was less phlegm than I've grown used to. I had actually gotten to sleep without hacking for 2 hours. The biggest problem continues to be that I cannot take a deep breath without launching myself into a coughing spree. Needless to say, it is getting old.

So after putzing around for a little over an hour (Facebook and Twitter are like my morning coffee - - I can't get my day started without them) I was off to the gym. I get out of the car with my 2 iPods, headphones, gym card, keys and sweatshirt (it's in the damn 50's here today!!!) and head to the door. Once I am in I realize I dropped my card somewhere. Fantastic. So I head back out into the whipperwills, and retrace my way back to my car. Nothing. Look in my car. Nothing. Grrrrrrr. So I am heading back to the door when Maggie (seriously the nicest girl EVER who works at the front desk) was on her way out to tell me someone else found it. Good. Problem number one taken care of.

he is one good lookin' man!

I was looking forward to attempting a nice long cardio session today, and was looking forward to watching "The American" on my iPod. I haven't seen any of it, and thought it would be a good distraction to get me through my workout...oh, and George Clooney's in it. Yum. So I plug everything in, get my machine started up and hit play. The left side of my headphones won't work. SHIT! Now, I realize this isn't a huge deal, but it kind of drives me crazy. Plus, the gym is loud, (and I swear I'm sometimes partially deaf) so I have to have the volume up to hear what I'm watching - and didn't feel like deafening myself in my right ear. Damn it. Oh well. That can wait for tomorrow. Then I look up and realize the TV that usually has SportsCenter on it is still on TNT. I have no idea what was on it, but it looked sort of "Buffy and the Vampire Slayer"-esque. No thank you. I got innovative and made it through my 60 minutes on the elliptical.

I wanted to stop about half way through when it felt like someone punched me in the gut, but that passed soon enough. And the good news is, I ended feeling at about a 91.7% - so things are lookin' up!

I just wanted to share one other troubling thing that I read. I don't know for sure if it is true. I will do some additional investigating - maybe I could start a series: Slimming Down to Sexy Investigates.....? I wonder if anyone would watch it? Anyway - I read that when it comes to water consumption you should take your weight, divide it by two - and drink that many ounces. HOLY CRAP!! I might as well just grab a straw and head to the largest body of water I can find....

5k's of walking

Now I know that a 5K isn't that much. And for the most part, 3.1 miles doesn't seem like that much to me anymore, either. But when you take some time off from the treadmill, and spend the bulk of your cardio time on some sort of elliptical, your heels can become soft. At least they can when you are delicate and sensitive - like a peach wrapped in a flower - like I am. This is not the end of the world, but it will cause some issues when you hope on the treadmill for your beginning 5k for the 90DWLC! I was about 1/2 way through when it felt like I may have rubbed all of the skin off, and might be down to bone on my left heel. And when you walk like I do - sssllllooooooowwwwwlllllllyyyyyyyy - half way means you still have a lot of time left! So I gritted my teeth, focused on SportsCenter and the cute baseball players, and pressed on. I had another distraction when I was down to .55 miles left - my iPod died. It went silent. It locked up on me. But there will be more about that later.

ewwwwwww

By the time I finished my walk, I had grown immune to the pain. I didn't even look at my shoe or heel. I was on a high from having completed it. When I hopped in the shower I was reminded of the open wound now on my body as soon as the water hit it. But that searing pain subsided as well. It wasn't until 2 days later that I noticed that there was blood on my shoe. Gross. So basically - I need to get my ass on the treadmill more often, so my heels can toughen up a bit. I went through the same thing a few months ago when I started walking a lot more. This damn delicate body of mine can soften up in no time!

So my starting 5k time is 1hr12min14sec. The good news is that I have a lot of room for improvement. If I can maybe shed a decent amount of Remus over the next 3 months, I'll feel like I'm flying! So I was OK with my time. I realize it is slow as hell - but oh well. Life will go on. Then I was watching the times from the Boston Marathon come in. The fastest woman was at like 2 hours and 22 minutes. To run 26.2 miles. it took her one extra hour to go 19 miles. Holy shit! That is ridiculous!! Not that it makes me feel any differently about my time - but I just thought that was a shocking number to share! Amazing!

And here is my week's highlight. For those of you that know me well, you are well aware of my electronics obsession. I have had just about every iPod made at one time or another. I have a deep seeded need for a iPad, although I have no actual requirement for one. I love new phones and gadgets. I am the IT specialist for my parents, and usually have a "test" (something to look at and attempt to fix) or two when I visit. I have spent so many dollars with Apple, I hate to even begin to guess how much it might be. But here is where that comes in handy. When I got on my treadmill for my 5k, I couldn't get the tuner to come in clearly for the ESPN TV unless I had my iPod clipped to the collar of my shirt. Now...for the average gym-goer, this would be no issue. For me - sweaty mcsweaterson, it is a huge issue. I don't glisten. I don't look "dewey". I SWEAT! Like my whole t-shirt is drenched when I am done, sweat. So needless to say, my iPod got wet, which caused the "it died" issue. I took it home (not realizing that it getting wet was the issue) and tried to fix it myself (I have had many issues over the years - all of which I have been able to eventually fix on my own). I spent about 2 hours between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning trying to fix it. It would show glimpses of working, and then spaz out on me again. I surrendered. I called the Apple store at Southdale. I made an appointment for that afternoon. I walked in and got to see my guy right away. It took him 20 seconds to discover it was wet. He starts clicking away on his phone, and tells me they can get me a replacement for free. FOR FREE!!! Now I don't know about you - but that doesn't happen to me. I am guessing that when he scanned the serial number it showed them how many devices I currently own (3) and how many I have purchased over time (10+) and how many dollars I have spent on iTunes (45 bajillion). It was supposed to take 7-10 days, and it took one. The moral of this story is: Don't sweat on your iPod, but if you do Apple might just be awesome about it.

Hope you are all having a great week!