I May Have Found Mornings!

I am the queen of the snooze button.  So much so that it's a bit embarrassing.  I've set my alarm for 5:30 am for as long as I can remember so that I'll get something done in the mornings and for just as long I've hit the snooze button till at least 6:15. Sometimes I even go online and favorite a work out the night before that I pretend I'm going to do in the morning, which makes me feel like I tried a little bit even though I didn't. It's just so comfortable to lay around when I should be getting up!

Monday I set a date with my sister to go running on the beach. I had to get up and be there at the ridiculous hour of 7 am, after all she was waiting for me.  Mind you that meant actually getting up and driving there even earlier than 7.  But I had a great time. We saw dolphins, talked about our mud run next weekend, and generally talked crap.  I never, ever run in the morning so that night I felt like I was supposed to be running.  I even wanted to, but I know I'd regret running more than every other day let alone twice in one day.  My hips would so get me back for that.  So instead it was a glorious night of getting stuff done, (ya, glorious laundry. I never said I wasn't a nerd) messing around on the computer, and generally feeling like a senior ditch day. I knew it was allowed, but I felt kind of like I was being bad anyway.

Monday night I bought Zombies, Run! 2 (half off, now is the time to try it!) hoping it would help motivate me to run more consistently. Three times a week is my currently undone but suddenly looking do-able goal. Then just to be sure I called my boyfriend and asked him to please ask me if I had got up with my alarm  Tuesday, and if I didn't to please give me as  much shit as possible for it.  That's right, I don't trust myself so I have to drag other people into my lack of motivation.

It worked!  I got up, fed the dogs and went for a run.  Two miles with one short rest.  I should be going a lot further after all this time, but I keep falling off the running wagon and starting over.  Which is odd since I actually like running; I have a very strong streak of self-destructiveness.  It's one of those things that acknowledging just doesn't help. BUT.  I did the two miles and was back in the house by 6:02.  I didn't quite finish the Zombies, Run! mission because I was nervous I would run late getting ready for work.  I'll do the same one next time, it hurts the brain to leave it incomplete!

So long story short, all day Tuesday I felt great.  I had energy to spare and I came home knowing I had already got my workout in, I could get other stuff done. Just mopping the floors, but I was glad to get it done!

I think I may be hooked.  I'm seriously having difficulty waiting until it's time to run again even though I know perfectly well that running more often will likely lead to injury. My alarm will be set for 5 a.m. again tomorrow,  here's hoping the running bug sticks with me!

Back to Yoga!

Am I the only one who doesn't seem to be able to keep up with doing all of the things that I know I need to do, even when I'm only trying to do the things I like?

I love doing yoga, it somehow leaves you feeling relaxed and invigorated at the same time.  I don't even know how that's possible, but it is. I used to do yoga pretty much every day, sometimes as much as an hour but most days about 20 minutes.  In my humble opinion it cures pretty much everything.  Your back hurts? You're over stressed? Aching shoulders from working on the computer all day? Yoga can help that! In my case it's usually my hips that are sore, and pigeon pose and others like it are a god-send.

For probably the last 6 months I've only done yoga after a run, and even that has been getting rare.  But I found a pretty neat challenge that has me back in the right direction.  Even if I am a little late to the party (as usual).

DoYouYoga has all of the videos uploaded on YouTube for a 30-Day Yoga Challenge. I've only done the first 2 days, but I'm already hooked on yoga all over again.  I even got up only 10 minutes after my alarm went off to do Day 2 today.  If you knew me at all you'd know that is a major big deal.  I hate getting up on work days.  Funny enough I'm fine getting up early on weekends though. Go figure.

So far, after a big 6%(?) into it I recommend you try their challenge! It's a lot of fun, though I forgot what a challenge Warrior One could be.

Here's hoping that by the end of the 30 days it's easy again!

Early Morning Beach Run

My sister and I have been talking about meeting early Saturday mornings to run on the beach for months now. It has to be silly early, because she has 2 year old twins and we have to be back before they wake up. Yes, there are other people there to watch them if we weren't back in time, but you know moms are the ones who have to be up with the young ‘uns.

We finally made it out this Saturday, and I am totally hooked. There wasn't as much soft sand as I had hoped for, but I wouldn't have been able to run very far if there had been! The little bit of dry sand there was kicked my butt, as expected. But it was really fun to alternate between running on the road, wet sand, dry sand, and trails all in one morning.

An invitation to Run!

We even saw a few dolphins though of course they split when I pulled out my camera. Maybe next time...

I was a bit surprised that I was the only one running barefoot there considering a lot of it was beach; I’m beginning to feel like the only barefoot runner in the entire state of Florida. Thank goodness for online groups!

Since I ran so early, which I never do, Sunday I kept feeling like it should have been a run day. All day long I felt like I was cheating.

We’re not going next Saturday because we have the Mud Endeavor City Lights run that night, but after that this will be a definite habit. I wanted to go again the next day! Running like that makes for sore ankles though, and once a week is probably plenty to start. I’m already jonesing for the next time though. Life is good when you have things to look forward to!

How Spider Ants and Coffee Addiction Saved my Life (Probably)

I’ve decided its past time that I start preparing for the zombie apocalypse.  I’ve always been big on horror movies and especially love the monster movies, who doesn’t?  But some things have come to light lately that make me realize it’s about time to take this stuff seriously.   For instance, have you noticed the huge uptick in zombie movies? I used to be the only one, now everyone is talking about them. I figure it’s the government’s way of preparing us. Also, bath salts? Enough said.

What finally pushed me to get prepared was the little spider ants in my coffee pot.

Really, they were gross.  They moved right in to the actual coffee machine and then after a while they layed eggs or something and twice when I poured water into the top of the coffee maker spider ants came running out by the millions.  I didn’t count them, but it looked like millions. I didn’t get a picture of this unbelievable occurrence because I was much too busy waving my hands and jumping around like a two year old.

Obviously, I threw out 2 coffee pots.  I decided not to waste my money buying a new one because it seems Florida is just too weird to allow me to own one.  So now I blow 2 bucks picking up coffee on the way to work everyday and on weekends I go down to my dads’ and drink coffee with him and his friend.  His very-into-preparing-for-a-disaster friend.  Maybe you know someone like him. He’s the one who talks about how guns will be outlawed within the week (so you better go buy some), social unrest is causing a civil war next month (better buy lots), and a nuclear bomb may or may not be coming at us right now (not gonna help a bit).  But it’s all good, because unlike ME, he’s prepared. When I shamefully admitted that I run at night by myself without a gun he looked at me like I said I ran with nothing on but maybe a glow light strapped to my wrist. Where exactly am I supposed to carry a gun when I’m running?  I don’t even bring a key.

Well I HATE when someone one ups me (not really, but in this case) so I proudly announced how I’ll be just fine; I’ve been reading zombie preparedness sites. Another one of those looks.  And then he announced that when I have nothing and come knocking on his door I won’t be allowed in because I won’t have anything good to bring to the party. Well, that wasn’t the exact wording but there was mention of food.

FINE.  I will just have to prepare for my own party.  But since preparing for civil wars, social unrest and hurricanes is boring I’m preparing for the zombie apocalypse instead.  Some people better be stocking up on rum and coke if they plan on knocking on MY door!

As displayed by the fact that I’m still back down to running a mile after my last illness I like to take little steps in all things.  So my first step is to find a place to hoard water, canned goods, and other stuff to be determined.  I have a walk in closet that I haven’t cleaned since I bought the house 7 years ago and I’m working on getting it cleaned out to use a portion for storage.  It’s a bit more paranoid than my usual self but the idea of storing food and water in the sweltering garage sounds like food poisoning to me, so the closet will do.

I managed to get it almost half way cleaned out.  The goal is to finish clearing it out by next weekend and then start stocking it with very necessary stuff. Since preparing for the zombie apocalypse is almost as important as running I've decided to post updates about how the preparedness is coming. Sorry in advance.

Dog Smiles Rock

I really need to start taking my dogs for walks more often. I wish I could take them on runs with me but the fact is they seem to make a conscious effort to trip me so that’s out. The last time I took Lelo for a run with me I literally ended up on the ground. It seems adults are not supposed to do such things, there were 2 neighbors outside who saw me fly over my dog and they both instantly, casually walked inside. Wow. I must have the friendliest neighbors ever. But it did leave me laughing so hard I could barely get back up, really it's for the best that they went in.

I have a decent sized back yard for the dogs to run around in, so it’s not like they are put out by having to stay home or anything. But when the dogs see me open the closet where their leashes are kept they are instantly SO happy and excited, I really like taking them.

Usually such insanely-happy-dog-events are saved for the weekend so we can go over to the park across the road for our walks.

I think we can learn a lot from dogs, if we're willing. Take joy from the little things!  They are so excited when we go out to the car and as we get out of the car and start walking.  Everything is awesome.  Did you see that, did you smell that, did you hear that? 

I have an older dog too, who I can't take for walks anymore because her arthritis will act up and she'll have an even harder than usual time walking the next day if I take her out walking.  She has a horrible time just getting into the car some days.  But nevertheless, she gets upset when I take the other two out without her.

I finally found the answer to what to do with Lucky so she isn't always the one left home but she doesn't over exert her poor legs.  If I fold down one of the seats in the car she can get in by going from the floor on the opposite side to the regular car seat to the folded down seat and lay down there.  Since she is lying on the back of the folded down car seat she's up high enough to look out the window, but she can still lie down and not worry about her legs being unstable as I drive. She loves it!  We can go to the drive-thru at the McDonalds up the street, get me a coffee and her a cup of water (ya, she's that cool) and head home and Lucky is in dog-heaven.  She better appreciate that since I won't even take my kids to McDonalds!

Honestly it can really be a pain having dogs to take care of.  I can't pick up and take the kids somewhere for the weekend, even staying out the entire day requires calling someone to go by the house because the dogs need to go out and they need to eat and they simply need someone around. It's kind of like having 3 more kids, except they aren't welcome to go with me most places.

But at the end of the day I really can't imagine not having dogs around.  They have a simple joy for living that people just don't have, and it's happily contagious (or obnoxious as hell, depends on the moment).  If you don't believe that just show a dog a box of treats or walk towards their leash and ta-da, happiness and joy abound.

It's probably for the best that we people don't show that joy for the little things.  I'm pretty sure if I did someone would commit me anyways.

Kayaking and King

As much fun as it is to kayak on the bay I have to admit it can be kind of creepy. The water is hypnotic. You know that the little fact that you don’t see any life out there other than the fish jumping doesn’t mean there is nothing out there. There could be anything in the water, just beneath as far down as you can see. The bay water is pretty dingy so that isn’t very far down at all.

I like to paddle out and then relax in the kayak, letting the water take me where it will. There’s always a point when I’m just staring down into the water watching the patterns of the sun and the chop. I feel like I can almost see something in the water, it’s just not quite close enough to the surface to see what it is. The brownish patch sliding under the kayak could be a manatee, it could be a shark, it could be anything.

I know that what I’m seeing is (probably) the light refracted through the water, a bit of plant or sometimes maybe a school of fish but my mind always has to bring up Steven King’s short story The Raft. Seriously, every single time.

The funny thing is my friend and I where kayaking last weekend and after we passed a large patch of (creepy, oily looking) seaweed he admitted he had been thinking about The Raft too.

It’s amazing what a reach books have on how we see things. I’ve always been a huge reader and the stories I like the best have always been either scary stories or spy books. Or anything with a super-hero in it. There’s more but I’ll leave it at that.

Point being it is amazing how often in day to day life I am reminded of a book I read, a story I heard, or a movie I saw. Without all of these stories I’m pretty sure my outlook on life would be completely different.

It’s probably thanks to Outbreak that if someone coughs in a movie theater I have an instant urge to cover my nose and mouth and leave. If an old man dressed in rags at a gas station tells me I should turn left a bit down the road you can bet I’m turning right. Or, more likely, turning around and going home. I’ll sleep in my car before I’ll sleep in that creepy looking house that I just happened to get a flat in front of.

I did stay in a cabin in the woods up in Flagstaff more than once, but I did NOT open any boxes or look in any closets and if someone would have knocked on the door I wouldn’t have answered, let alone walk out into the woods to see if I could find them.

Jaws anyone?