Don't Know How Far. Plus a Fox Came Over!

Last night's workout was spectacular! I convinced Jesse Van Halen to go for a bike ride to see something cool. An entire half-mile later, we stopped so I could show him a retention pond full of weeds. Then we made that excruciating half-mile return trip.

Tonight I did either 301 or 401 ab crunches, 100 chest pulls (with resistance band), 100 shoulder presses (band) and 100 with weights plus squats, 100 shoulder raises (three positions, with weights) in lunges, 50 balance thingies (25 each foot), and a run of unknown distance. A fox walked in front of me and then stood waiting for me to catch up; it got bored waiting for me to get the camera ready and wandered away... can you see it?

I'm Baaaack!

It has been a while since I have checked out the blog...and my goodness, look at what happens while I am away?!!

Lynndi starts going for runs where there are condoms and hypodermic needles on the ground and then is viciously attacked by the concrete!  Punky Drewster better hone his boxing skills and run with Lynndi as her Bodyguard.  Oh my goodness, it would be just like Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner except Lynndi is still alive (and is white) and Punky would be protecting her not from a stalker but from a sidewalk.

As for me, I have only been battling the sun.  I ran today at 5pm and it was still 90 degrees.  Thankfully, most of my run was in the shade so it was manageable.  I have also been swimming this summer.  I am still not great at it, but I can swim 0.5miles without having to stop (that is big progress for me).  I think the swimming has done more for toning my arms than all the bicep curls and triceps dips I have been doing up until now.  And hey, I have one heck of a tan (compared to how "pale" I was prior to the summer).

I am super excited about Thursday when I will do an all day run with random breaks to visit friends along the way...including a visit with the always glamorous Lynndi Lauper!!!!

I Wanted You to See this for SO Long

They're not cigarettes!

Getting Serious over at the GNC

Punky seems kind of mad. I want that punching bag.

Fait Accompli!

On Saturday, the bunheads issued a challenge: because I can't do much more than run and ab crunches, they wanted to see 504. So I went for a run and then did 304... On Sunday I could barely stay awake and mostly stared at my finger and wounds. But today I did it. After the usual fun run, during which I was careful not to wipe out, I did all 504 of the crunches! Take that, little ballerinas!

Splat

Last night's workout was supposed to be a run, then a bike ride, then shoulders and legs... Instead I ran about half a mile and was unexpectedly attacked by the sidewalk.

But I did run home from Convenient Care, and I added a couple of miles. It felt good to have endorphins and to let gravity pull my broken finger down into a less painful contortion, but then I wasn't sure how to take a shower. Also I learned something about brain activity during meditation... not sure what it was.

Boring

Just running and listening to podcasts. Not even in the Newtons tonight! But I did find Punky Drewster at the GNC, where we tested the punching bag and gloves, which I so desperately want for my birthday or perhaps Bastille Day.

California

Tonight I didn't do much because we were weeding and pruning and planting and crying over it, but when I did workout, it was (in groups of 25 or 50 reps): bench press (with heavier weights, for me that is), chest flyes, skull crushers, overhead triceps, tricep dips, chest pulls (?, you know, with the resistance band), jumping jacks, scissor jacks, tons of ab crunches (variety). The podcast was about whether California is really going to fall into the ocean, but I got so distracted by counting to 25 and 50 that I don't know how it ended...

It's Really Only Monday?

Lauper, checking in. Tonight was a short run cause I started so late and ended with shopping. But after the shopping, I did biceps and back, not much variety but adding more weight at least.

Sunday Funday

An eleven-year-old told me that a key to homo habilis' success (and the subsequent success of its surviving descendants) was perspiration. Thanks, earlier primates! Because we can sweat to cool down, we can run several miles at a time, even for hours, eventually catching up with our faster but furrier prey and stabbing it with a sharp tool or just snapping its neck as it pants and passes out and then enjoying a high protein, high fat meal or two. So that's what I did today. I ran for an hour, all the way to OPH for a delicious meal of eggs, mushrooms, broccoli and coffee, just like Homo Habilis used to eat. I even had a little bit of pancake with sugar free syrup and lots of butter. Later I did these, 25 or 50 at a time in circuit until I was done: 100 pushups; 200 various ab exercises; 100 shoulder raises (three positions) (low weight dumbbells); 50 of that other shoulder exercise (low weight) that includes plie squats and alternates a press at chest height; 50 lateral shoulder raises with a twist (25 to each side) (low weight); 100 squats with weights; 50 of some other thing I have now forgotten. And then we saw Prometheus and ate again because I was still sweaty.

Look What I Saw on a Run

In a beautiful park in a ritzy neighborhood on a sunny Sunday morning, I was so happy to see that people still enjoy a picnic now and then. P.S. This weekend I learned from one of my podcasts (the voices of my run/workout playlist, which are sometimes louder than the usual voices in my head, which if given center stage will constantly point out problems with shoelaces, elastic, beads of sweat, greasy fingerprints on sunglasses, unpleasant fabric textures, uneven pavement, etc. and make the run a nightmare) that the introduction of coffee and coffeehouses in Europe appears directly linked to the burst of creativity associated with the rennaisance, because before coffee, all they had to drink was mead, wine, and similarly sedating beverages because the water was too nasty. Then suddenly coffee comes along, and everyone gets to sit close together at starbucks and synergize the brainstorms that had previously caused drunken hallucinations or barroom brawls. P.P.S. Someday, I will figure out how to upload the video I shot during a run along the highway a few weeks ago, where it appeared that the syringe delivery truck must have flipped, spilling its contents and then getting the heck out before anyone saw.

If You Dare to Take a Vacation

After abandoning the house and non-human residents for an entire week, we dared to come home. This roommate complained for a couple of days and then decided to forgive. But he waited until I was trying to work on chest and triceps and then sat there for a half-hour making his point.