We had a thick drizzle this morning and even though I shouldn't have two days in a row I decided to fire up the ol' C25k again because nothing looks cooler than a person running in the rain. At first the people in cars that drove past saw my acting skills as I made it look like I had been running a really long time. I wanted them to think I was a dedicated runner who was either soaked from the rain or her own sacrifice of sweat. After the performance for the third car I realized how much more energy it was taking to use theatrics so I gave up that quest and no longer cared about the impression I was leaving on people.
My route this time was much more planned than yesterday's aimless jaunt. My husband showed me his 3 mile route that he has been using. I did really well. There was one time when my shoe came untied during the "walk" session of the routine, but I cleverly waited for the "run" part before I slowly stooped to tie it. And I did see a screw in the street and selflessly picked it up during another "run" session. (You are welcome to the person whose tire I saved.) I thought I found a penny during yet another "run" session but it was a leaf. It was interesting and needed further study until my "walk" session began and I had to toss it back to the ground. I was a little late getting started on the start of the next "run" because it had stopped raining so I had to gaze at the sky for a while to make sure it had actually dried up. That was followed by my next "walk" time being interrupted by an elderly man who was saying something to me. I took out my earphones and told him that I begged his pardon but I didn't hear what he had said. He said he was making sure I was okay because I looked like I was going to fall over. I can't be certain, due to the sound of the rushing of blood in my ears, of the tone in which he said it, but I think he was an elderly man with a smart mouth. I'm pretty sure if I would have had the courage to look back after I passed where he was sitting in his driveway I would have seen him laughing and pointing at me. My route brought be back in front of his house again so just to spite him I ran hard all the way through another run session. I was too busy looking to see if he was still outside and it was still hazy from the rain so I didn't see the silver car careening over a hill until I was already crossing the street. It was nowhere close to hitting me as I crossed in front of its path but since I didn't see it to begin with it startled me into a sprint like I've never sprinted before. I don't want to brag but I think I would have left Secretariat in the dust as I scrambled to the other side of the road.
I can't understand why, but the program ended after I had covered only about 2 miles. Since 5K is actually 3.1 miles I see that there could be a problem with the program. I think it was poor planning on the app writer's part to claim it would train me to run 3 miles and I'm only covering 2. The program left me on a cool down walk about a mile away from home. The elderly man who had shown so much concern about my ability to stand had already gone inside so I couldn't ask him for a ride back to the house. Good thing I still had another Cadbury egg stashed in my kitchen. It beckoned me home and I will be forever grateful. It's the simple things in life that make everything worthwhile. The simplicity of a Cadbury egg and a house that I wasn't locked out of made the rest of my day quite lovely.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
The running adventure continues
I began the C25K program a month ago. I should be on week four and able to jog in five minute segments. But I just did my second round yesterday. Yep, a month later and I started day 2 which means I can jog for 60 second bursts. (more or less) Yes, I'm a slacker and I will eventually get over the disappointment in myself. . . and now I'm over it.
Yesterday went pretty well. Unlike the last time the voice on my phone never sounded snarky when it directed me to either run or walk. I think I showed it who's boss by not using it for a month. Also unlike the run last month, I am back on the Cadbury Eggs and I told myself I could have one if I completed three miles. That might be why the venture went better yesterday. I knew there was a Cadbury Egg waiting for me back at home. Don't judge me.
I ran aimlessly for what I felt was surely more than 3 miles. I was back at my house long before the bell sounded for a cool down. It was torture to keep going when I was so close to home where in my secret hiding place I would find a Cadbury egg. But I did continue. I walked/jogged to the end of the street and back again and again until the cool down bell sounded. Then I plopped down in my front yard and looked at the mileage I had covered. Are we sure this whole GPS thing is accurate? Has it really been tested? I was disappointed that I had covered only two miles, but it was a fleeting feeling because does the mileage really matter? It is more important that I tried and who cares about giving or taking a mile or two- I was still worthy of the chocolate reward. The chocolate egg was so close, but I knew I had to turn my frantic gasps for breaths into regular breathing before I could truly enjoy the creamy milk chocolate melting in my mouth. So I sat in the shade of my front yard until I worried that my muscles would lock up and I wouldn't be able to get up.
Once I was breathing normally again I headed for back door. For reasons that are still unclear, I found myself locked out of the house. My chocolate reward had to wait until I had found an unlocked window, heaved it open as far as I could with exhausted jelly like arms and crawled through. If any of my neighbors saw me, it wasn't a pretty sight. The upper half of my body cleared the width of the open window easily but as I was in a weird belly sprawl position halfway through it became obvious that my lower half was a few inches too wide for the window gap. There was no energy left to go backwards out of the window and open it wider. I sat in that A type position for a few stunned seconds and realized I had to push through and find whatever hidden strength I had left. I somehow managed to use my legs which also felt like jelly after the workout to heave my lower body up in an inch worm type move and wedge myself in the window jam. Then using that last reserve of adrenaline that is the highlight of every story about people in desperate situations I converged my body in a upwards motion until the window gave and shot open wider so unexpectedly that I tumbled inside head first. I'm not sure how long I laid on the floor with my left leg pinned against the wall bent back in an angle over my head in a temporary binding sling that had been created when I got tangled up in the curtain in my frantic scramble as I fell down. But a locked door wasn't going to keep me from the sustenance that my body needed to have replenished and neither was a curtain. Victory was mine in the end. I am the master of my own fate, the guide of my own path, and conqueror of curtains! Fear me if you stand in my way of a Cadbury egg! I will succeed!
Running really is a good boost for one's self-image.
Yesterday went pretty well. Unlike the last time the voice on my phone never sounded snarky when it directed me to either run or walk. I think I showed it who's boss by not using it for a month. Also unlike the run last month, I am back on the Cadbury Eggs and I told myself I could have one if I completed three miles. That might be why the venture went better yesterday. I knew there was a Cadbury Egg waiting for me back at home. Don't judge me.
I ran aimlessly for what I felt was surely more than 3 miles. I was back at my house long before the bell sounded for a cool down. It was torture to keep going when I was so close to home where in my secret hiding place I would find a Cadbury egg. But I did continue. I walked/jogged to the end of the street and back again and again until the cool down bell sounded. Then I plopped down in my front yard and looked at the mileage I had covered. Are we sure this whole GPS thing is accurate? Has it really been tested? I was disappointed that I had covered only two miles, but it was a fleeting feeling because does the mileage really matter? It is more important that I tried and who cares about giving or taking a mile or two- I was still worthy of the chocolate reward. The chocolate egg was so close, but I knew I had to turn my frantic gasps for breaths into regular breathing before I could truly enjoy the creamy milk chocolate melting in my mouth. So I sat in the shade of my front yard until I worried that my muscles would lock up and I wouldn't be able to get up.
Once I was breathing normally again I headed for back door. For reasons that are still unclear, I found myself locked out of the house. My chocolate reward had to wait until I had found an unlocked window, heaved it open as far as I could with exhausted jelly like arms and crawled through. If any of my neighbors saw me, it wasn't a pretty sight. The upper half of my body cleared the width of the open window easily but as I was in a weird belly sprawl position halfway through it became obvious that my lower half was a few inches too wide for the window gap. There was no energy left to go backwards out of the window and open it wider. I sat in that A type position for a few stunned seconds and realized I had to push through and find whatever hidden strength I had left. I somehow managed to use my legs which also felt like jelly after the workout to heave my lower body up in an inch worm type move and wedge myself in the window jam. Then using that last reserve of adrenaline that is the highlight of every story about people in desperate situations I converged my body in a upwards motion until the window gave and shot open wider so unexpectedly that I tumbled inside head first. I'm not sure how long I laid on the floor with my left leg pinned against the wall bent back in an angle over my head in a temporary binding sling that had been created when I got tangled up in the curtain in my frantic scramble as I fell down. But a locked door wasn't going to keep me from the sustenance that my body needed to have replenished and neither was a curtain. Victory was mine in the end. I am the master of my own fate, the guide of my own path, and conqueror of curtains! Fear me if you stand in my way of a Cadbury egg! I will succeed!
Running really is a good boost for one's self-image.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
I Wish Face Book World Could Cross Over Into the Real World
Jason plays WOW (World of War Craft for you lucky few who don't know what WOW stands for) He plays it alot. I used to make fun of him and tell him he was going to turn into one of "those" people who have trouble distinguishing between real life and the imaginary world where blood elves and tauren could jump out from behind any rock. (on a side note while I was typing this I asked Jason what those ugly little bull things are called that he plays in WOW. He indigently responded that they were Tauren and they weren't little or ugly. They were huge and they were a proud race. He might be one step closer than I thought to not being able to distinguish reality from Azeroth, but I have no time to worry about that now.) I can no longer make fun of him and his love for the MMORPG (again for those of you lucky enough not to know that means: mass multi-player online role playing game.) I can make fun of him no more because I too have an addiction with an online world.
My signing up for Facebook didn't begin as an addiction. In fact, I would log in once a day when I thought I had enough time to piddle away. But then I started finding more and more old friends in the social network and began finding news sources and other resources that I could follow. Suddenly I was logging in several times a day. At first, I kept my pride. I would refuse to post a comment on someone's status until hours had passed. I would post a status only once in a 24 hour period. I would wait an appropriate amount of time before responding to anyone's comment on my status or any messages they sent me. Then the hours long wait turned into just a few minutes. Suddenly that morphed into abandoning all regard for others' opinions about my FB habits and I would respond within nanoseconds of people's posts. I was status updating several times a day. Something would happen and my first thought would be, "I'm going to facebook about that." I know that makes me look like I live on FB and I just don't care. (notice I just use the initials FB, as if we are old friends-- Facebook and I.)In fact, not only am I unashamed about the frequency in which I FB, I wish real life could be more like FB.
THE LIKE BUTTON
There are so many times in life I find myself just wanting to give the thumbs up signal. Many times I find myself rushing through the grocery store searching for that one forgotten item from the last trip and wanting to get out of the store as quickly as possible. Then out of nowhere there is someone I know wanting to chat. I wish I could just flash them the "like" sign as they told me all about their planned vacation or their new found love of basket weaving. How much time would be saved if I could do that and keep right on walking? Wouldn't that make a lovely world where giving a thumbs up without further comment didn't seem rude and was actually accepted AND appreciated? Imagine if the thumbs up in all aspects of life could be taken as me saying I like you, I acknowledge that I care about your life, but this is all I've got right now.
There are times when I want to just use that signal before a face to face conversation even begins so the person doesn't notice that it's past noon and I still haven't put on makeup, or fixed my hair or brushed my teeth or changed out of the same clothes they last saw me in. Just a quick thumbs up and I'm on my way and the other person is appeased because I did indeed notice her, I just had nothing to say.
A Mormon at the door? A group of Jehovah's Witnesses congregating on your porch? A new church down the road that is trying to find some new members? A crack of the front door wide enough to stick out a wrist with a thumbs up to them means I'm praying for you, you can pray for me if you want in your own time as long as you don't take up any of my own time, I'm not going to be debating you, don't you dare leave that booklet in my mailbox and I already have plans on Sundays, now be on your way.
Sometimes I just want to use the "like" signal when someone is talking and I'm in a listening only mood. There are occasions when I love listening to what the person is talking about, but I can't think of anything to add to the conversation. When it comes to that awkward moment when she is waiting for me to add my two cents I wish I could just do a thumbs up to let her know to continue on without her feeling like I am bored. Think of all the pressure in a conversation the thumbs up could alleviate.
HIDE
I've used this lovely little feature often in FB. The intended facebook peep sees everything I do and can comment at any time on my page or about my posts. But I don't have to see his status updates feeding into my page. I use this usually when someone is going through a divorce and every post is bashing the soon to be ex, which results in the in-laws jumping in and defending the ex, which leads to her getting in on the action and sharing with everyone some deep dark secret about him that no one either needed or wanted to know. I admit, sometimes that is fun to watch. It's almost like a Jerry Springer episode only much more sad because you know that the FB peeps aren't acting. Despite me wanting to comment how stupid the person was for not blocking the ex and all the soon to be ex-inlaws and friends I usually hide those people for a while and then go to their page to test the waters to see if the worst has passed. If so, I unhide them and they are never the wiser.
I also hide those people who I like, but whose annoying status ratio far outweighs their entertaining or enlightening ones. We all go through those periods in our lives where we are annoying to others. Which leads me to wonder how many times that hide option has been used on me.
UNFRIEND
I haven't used this one, but I think some have used it on me. From what I understand when this maneuver is employed the intended un-friendee can no longer see the page of the un-friender but can still see his or her comments on another's page and can still look them up on facebook or send messages to them. I think it's used when someone's feelings are hurt and it reminds me of the Jr. High days when one friend didn't agree with another so they stopped being friends for a while, but made sure each other could see all the fun they were having without them. Eventually the animosity subsides and they approach each other and want to be friends again. This is a measure some use because they can still get a friend back and pretend that FB messed up because they would "never actually unfriend anyone." I think this has been used on me, but I don't have the desire to send another friend request or message after they send me another request to find out. It's been a long time since I was in Jr. High and I have no desire to act like that again.
BLOCK
The mama jama of FB features. The BLOCK! I've used it when I get a message or friend request from someone that I have no clue who they are and suspect that they are spammers. I've NEVER used it on anyone that has made it to my friend's list. But I have used it recently to hide the comments of someone who I didn't even know. He would pop up from time to time on other pages and I got tired of seeing his stupidity so . . . BLOCK! Now I can't see him and he can't see me on anything. Unless I change that setting he can't even look me up in a listing on Facebook. It's as though I have disappeared unless I decide to reappear. How I wish I could use this in real life. No more playing nice or tolerating someone because I have no other choice but to see them often. Just BLOCK and the blinders are on and we don't even know each other is around. Why would someone want to be around me if they don't like me? Why should I have to be around someone I don't like and even if I did like them, why would I want to be around someone who didn't like me? You see? It's a win/win. If I could do a real life BLOCK, I wouldn't have to be the hermit I look forward to becoming when I am old. I could just keep my friends who understand that I still love them and find them fascinating even when all I ever give them is a thumbs up 'like' motion without going into in-depth conversations with them. I would gladly keep those friends who know that on my cantankerous days they will be hidden from me for a brief while and are fine with that and will not hesitate to do the same to me. Then I could just block everyone else so they don't have to worry about pretending to like me and I don't have to concern myself with trying to hide the fact that I don't like them. How great would that be?
But all that is just wishful thinking so I must hold on to the face to face social skills I have left. Hopefully Jason and I can get a grip on our on line worlds before they cross over into real life. I'm not so much worried about myself. Flashing a thumbs up signal or smushing my face into a cereal box at the grocery store so I don't have to see someone isn't all that hard to explain and can just be blamed on stress. But if Jason begins trying to shoot fireballs out of his hands in an attempt to use his avenger shield on someone he doesn't like followed by screaming "For the Horde!" as he begins digging into their pockets to collect the "spoils" then we might have a problem on our hands.
And for the record Jason has completed *two quests in WOW as I typed this entry and I have checked FB at least a dozen times. And Abigail has been sitting on her chair with no other option but to watch cartoons as her dogs are gathered around her. I'm pretty sure she's scheming a way to train them to go outside with scissors and cut the cable/internet line so she can have her parents back.
* After Jason read this he said, again with indigence, that he had compelted at least 10 quests and he had moved up 1 level. He also couldn't understand why I didn't mention that his Tauren was a Paladin. I feel like such a failure now as a wife. How could I not have known all that?
My signing up for Facebook didn't begin as an addiction. In fact, I would log in once a day when I thought I had enough time to piddle away. But then I started finding more and more old friends in the social network and began finding news sources and other resources that I could follow. Suddenly I was logging in several times a day. At first, I kept my pride. I would refuse to post a comment on someone's status until hours had passed. I would post a status only once in a 24 hour period. I would wait an appropriate amount of time before responding to anyone's comment on my status or any messages they sent me. Then the hours long wait turned into just a few minutes. Suddenly that morphed into abandoning all regard for others' opinions about my FB habits and I would respond within nanoseconds of people's posts. I was status updating several times a day. Something would happen and my first thought would be, "I'm going to facebook about that." I know that makes me look like I live on FB and I just don't care. (notice I just use the initials FB, as if we are old friends-- Facebook and I.)In fact, not only am I unashamed about the frequency in which I FB, I wish real life could be more like FB.
THE LIKE BUTTON
There are times when I want to just use that signal before a face to face conversation even begins so the person doesn't notice that it's past noon and I still haven't put on makeup, or fixed my hair or brushed my teeth or changed out of the same clothes they last saw me in. Just a quick thumbs up and I'm on my way and the other person is appeased because I did indeed notice her, I just had nothing to say.
A Mormon at the door? A group of Jehovah's Witnesses congregating on your porch? A new church down the road that is trying to find some new members? A crack of the front door wide enough to stick out a wrist with a thumbs up to them means I'm praying for you, you can pray for me if you want in your own time as long as you don't take up any of my own time, I'm not going to be debating you, don't you dare leave that booklet in my mailbox and I already have plans on Sundays, now be on your way.
Sometimes I just want to use the "like" signal when someone is talking and I'm in a listening only mood. There are occasions when I love listening to what the person is talking about, but I can't think of anything to add to the conversation. When it comes to that awkward moment when she is waiting for me to add my two cents I wish I could just do a thumbs up to let her know to continue on without her feeling like I am bored. Think of all the pressure in a conversation the thumbs up could alleviate.
HIDE
I've used this lovely little feature often in FB. The intended facebook peep sees everything I do and can comment at any time on my page or about my posts. But I don't have to see his status updates feeding into my page. I use this usually when someone is going through a divorce and every post is bashing the soon to be ex, which results in the in-laws jumping in and defending the ex, which leads to her getting in on the action and sharing with everyone some deep dark secret about him that no one either needed or wanted to know. I admit, sometimes that is fun to watch. It's almost like a Jerry Springer episode only much more sad because you know that the FB peeps aren't acting. Despite me wanting to comment how stupid the person was for not blocking the ex and all the soon to be ex-inlaws and friends I usually hide those people for a while and then go to their page to test the waters to see if the worst has passed. If so, I unhide them and they are never the wiser.
I also hide those people who I like, but whose annoying status ratio far outweighs their entertaining or enlightening ones. We all go through those periods in our lives where we are annoying to others. Which leads me to wonder how many times that hide option has been used on me.
UNFRIEND
BLOCK
But all that is just wishful thinking so I must hold on to the face to face social skills I have left. Hopefully Jason and I can get a grip on our on line worlds before they cross over into real life. I'm not so much worried about myself. Flashing a thumbs up signal or smushing my face into a cereal box at the grocery store so I don't have to see someone isn't all that hard to explain and can just be blamed on stress. But if Jason begins trying to shoot fireballs out of his hands in an attempt to use his avenger shield on someone he doesn't like followed by screaming "For the Horde!" as he begins digging into their pockets to collect the "spoils" then we might have a problem on our hands.
And for the record Jason has completed *two quests in WOW as I typed this entry and I have checked FB at least a dozen times. And Abigail has been sitting on her chair with no other option but to watch cartoons as her dogs are gathered around her. I'm pretty sure she's scheming a way to train them to go outside with scissors and cut the cable/internet line so she can have her parents back.
* After Jason read this he said, again with indigence, that he had compelted at least 10 quests and he had moved up 1 level. He also couldn't understand why I didn't mention that his Tauren was a Paladin. I feel like such a failure now as a wife. How could I not have known all that?
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