tea berry-blue

So I totally fell off the fitness bus when I moved, although I bought a pair of wrist weights and have been wearing them pretty regularly.

Then last week, beatonna asked for folks who would join her in a Run For Congo Women. It’s a 5k run to raise money for women in the Congo.

I know, I know, I already posted about this, but for those of you who missed it or may have just been breezing by at the time, we would be mighty happy if anyone could give our team a donation at our team donation page right there.

Anyway, it’s a 5k race. And as most of you know, I am miserably out of shape. So, when I heard about the race, I started running.

I didn’t own sneakers or any running gear, so starting the first night, I did the running exercise on the Wii Fit, which I don’t even know if that counts as real running, but I figured it was something. I started with the “long” jog on the distance run and then worked up to the 20 minute jog on the timed run. I decided that one mile on Wii Fit is probably equivalent to about one kilometer of real running. I decided that each week, I’d increase by 1K. I have until September 25, so I think this is a doable timeframe to get ready in.

On Monday, I went out and bought myself my first pair of running sneakers. They were bright pink. And then I bought running socks! But I didn’t have any appropriate running clothes, and I wasn’t sure what to do about that. Then, yesterday, I was taking a walk to where Rina told me there was a Michael’s craft store, and, lo and behold, I saw it like a beacon in a storm: a big Sports Authority sign. So I trekked over to the Sports Authority, and when I got there, they were having a MASSIVE TENT SALE in the parking lot. Hooray! Unfortunately, the tent was not for sale.

I went into the mysterious tent, and when I emerged, I had bought two sets of running clothes and it had all cost me under $50. It was like a message from the universe, telling me that I should run! I was very excited! So I was telling Brendan about it at work today and he told me where there is a public track a few blocks from my apartment. So! I went to the track today.

It was a little weird, running in front of people, but I think it was a good experience, because it wasn’t as uncomfortable as I expected once I just sucked it up and did it. It is a big park with a lot of activities in it, and so there were a lot of people of all ages, and kids using the track to ride their bikes or skate as well as joggers. In fact, for most of the time, I was the only person really jogging.

I did five laps, or 1.25 miles, which is just a touch over 2k, and then I walked a bit to cool down. It was definitely hard work, but I also felt at the end like I could have done more. And unlike high school, I wasn’t winded after one lap of running, which tells me that the exercising I’ve done all summer helped a lot. So I felt like it was doable. Next week, I’ll try to work up to 3k, which is a little under 2 miles.

I’m still not sure about some things. Like, where do people put their keys when they’re running? I carried a little purse but it wasn’t the most practical.

All in all, though, this is a very exciting development for me!

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.

Whew, so I’ve barely posted for the past two weeks on account of moving and getting things sorted, so it gave me a lot of time to think about the comments on my last post, and I think I’ve come up with a workable solution for the folks who are uncomfortable with these posts.

I’ve paid my web host to set up a subdomain. This means that you can block images from this subdomain if you so choose, without blocking every single image hosted on my website. That means you can read my comics even if you block these images.

I also set up a little handy button right here that is completely and totally unremarkable so you can block the images without scrolling any further down the page and looking at pictures that might be problematic for you.

If you’re on a PC, you can right-click and block all the images on this subdomain. If you are on a Mac, hit CTRL-click, and then you can block the images. The subject line will always stay the same so I am hoping that will serve as significant warning to scroll past. If it’s JUST the images that bother you, then feel free to read!

Okay! Now that that’s done, on to the actual fitnessy stuff.

whirled started doing some good requirements that I really like. For example, she started drinking more water. I made a pledge to drink the required 8 cups of water a day…before I found out that they meant 8 8-oz cups. I well exceed that in a normal day, just from going to the water cooler at work! Our cups at work are 16 oz! So I was thinking I would have to drink 16 oz. eight times, but no! Just four times, which is way less water than I drink in a day. But I have been keeping better tabs on my water intake.

Moving put a damper on my exercising, and I can’t go home and exercise at lunch anymore, but I did a heck of a lot of packing and moving boxes and unpacking, and I did make sure I walked a lot, so I am betting that I got an equivalent amount of exercise. Plus, I am freaking covered with box-moving bruises (you can see a lovely purple one on my ribcage below) I am pledging to but myself either an elliptical or an exercise bike for the new apartment; I think it would be a good investment, and I have room for it now. But I do need to get back into doing exercising and stretching this week. I moved into a fourth-floor apartment, and even though it has an elevator, I’ve been trying to make myself walk the stairs as much as possible. And my new subway is an elevated train so I walk stairs there, too! The biggest problem is that that doesn’t help my arms, and my arms are really what need the most help.

I’ve also been committing myself to eating dinners I prepare myself, now that I have a real separate kitchen with prep space. I have been making food ahead so I can just pull it out when I’m hungry. Also, I made blueberry sorbet which is freaking delicious. The other thing I have to work on is my lunchtime meals, since I can’t go home for lunch anymore. It would be both more economical and healthier to prep lunch at home and bring it, but it won’t be as tasty, fresh or convenient. So I’ll have to figure that one out. In the meantime, I peeled carrots ahead of time so I can munch on them whenever I want, instead of buying the pre-peeled ones from the store.

One thing I need to work on is eating more protein. I eat a good amount of veggies as it is but I often forget the protein. I also need to start walking at lunch, I think, even if I have nowhere to go.

Pics this week are in new apartment! And once again, if you don’t feel you can look at the pics, you can block them without blocking anything else on my site.

Mirrored from Antagonia.net.