Chi Running Class

Gratuity: Thanks to my husband for driving me to Ballston Spa in bad weather so I could go the Chi Class.

Goal Work:  If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.  -- Henry David Thoreau

Considering I am such a slow runner, I have been on the lookout for something that will help me run faster.  I read about Chi Running and thought that a change in technique may be what I need to make a tremendous leap in speed.    I read the book and tried the technique and ended up hurting my knee.  I signed up for a seminar hoping that the seminar would make everything crystal clear.

The seminar was a great introduction and I left with a few minor corrections and a bit more understanding but I did not leave with knowledge of what I was doing wrong to cause my injury.    I am therefore still a bit nervous about attempting the Chi Technique again.

The interesting part of the class was meeting all the fellow runners.  There were twelve of us.  Eleven Women and one man.   I guess "Chi" must naturally appeal to women.  All of the women were older.   I would guess I was of average age with half the class older then me and half younger then me.  I believe most folks were starting to struggle with injuries and recovery issues associated with older age and hoping to find a way to continue running without injury.   Most folks were very fit.  There was one inspiring woman who started running after she retired at 62.   There were a number of marathoners and triathletes and personal trainers.   One triathlete shared her race secret.   Lip Gloss.   Without fail she applied her lip gloss minutes before she crossed the finish line.    Their enthusiasm was inspiring.  I learned about another shoe called the Newton, about sprint triathlons, a New Balance 780 shoe, and heard real life experience with foam rollers.   I do wish I had a way to stay in touch with some of them but that did not happen.

Choice:  I've been having some difficulties with my knee and chose to rest it this week.   I still did my TaeKwonDo and Yoga this week.  I also added a small bike ride to the mix.    Next week I plan to start my running back up but I don't plan on doing speed or hill work.   I will just do my fun run and distance run.   After each run I will also try ice baths for recovery.    I think this is a good choice.  At my age just ignoring the pain could cause a more severe problem and I may end up not being able to run at all.

Awaken: 08:30AM
Today's MIT: Internship, Bike Trial, Research Bike Routes
Yesterday's MIT: Pretty Good.
Fruit: Banana,Kiwi,Pear/grapes/banana
Salad: Breakfast,Lunch/Dinner
Water:1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1

Winter Streaker

Gratuity:  Thanks to Ginny for inviting me to do the streak and to all my fellow streakers (Mom, Linda, Deb, Val).

Goal Work:  "Only one thing registers on the subconscious mind; repetitive application - practice. What you practice is what you manifest - Fay Weldon

If you need a reminder of what I mean by streak, refer to the following blog post.  The streak I have been participating is helping me understand the psychology behind some of the choices I have been making over the years.   A number of times this month the desire for diet coke has overwhelmed me.  Usually it is because of some stress at work.  In the past I would usually succumb, justifying that it is only this one time.   With the streak,  I had the strength and commitment of my team and the knowledge that one time would blow it for everyone.    Each time I chose not to drink the diet coke,  I grew stronger in my conviction.  The streak was  a tool to help practice dicipline.  I found that I did not need the diet coke and now that the month is over I really feel a sense of power over the Diet Coke.   I have come out the winner!   A great feeling I hope to emulate in other aspects of my life.

I am hoping to streak next month.  Hopefully others will join me and hopefully we will find a great cause to contribute to.    I plan to repeat the omission of Diet Coke from my life but also plan to remove "take-out food" from my life unless it is associated with a non-nuclear family social event.

Choices: Yesterday Allen and I were in Ballston Spa.  After my Chi Class we went out for lunch.  I was feeling a little stressed.   The type of stress that social situations often give me as well as stress caused by the  disappointment that the Chi Class did not give me the answers I was seeking.  Stress for me, as for many, often causes us to make poor choices around food.    Allen and I went to a cute eclectic restaurant with lots of Mexican Fare.  A great Corn and Black Bean Quesedilla, Chips and Guacamole, even a Shrimp Fajita looked enticing but would be way more calories then I could afford considering I am trying to lose weight.   I ended up choosing a Salad with Tortilla Crouton and Tomato Balsamic Vinegar on the side and a glass of water.  Th choice was made a little easier because I had just come from a room of fairly fit women who obviously made physical fitness their priority.   I hope I would have made the same decision anyway.   The salad and glass of refreshing water were absolutely delicious and totally satisfied me.   This is a good choice that I want to keep in my memory and eventually show on my body as I become thinner and healthier.

Awaken: 07:00AM
Today's MIT: Chi Class, Clean Kitchen, internships
Yesterday's MIT: Good Job
Fruit: Banana, Apple, Banana, Banana, Apple, Kiwi
Salad: Lunch, Dinner
Water:1/1/1/1/1/1/1/1

Our Choices

Gratuity: I love the snow but I am ready to run outside.  I am thankful for this strong rain that will probably wash the snow away and before long I will be out running and biking on the rail trails of Dutchess, Ulster, and Putnam counties.

Goal Work: “Until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise” Stephen R. Covey

Our life is really just the summation of the choices we make each day.   Some of the choices are obviously life changing.  These include who we marry and what type of employment we acquire.   Other small, but often  repetitive choices, made in a second can also add up to substantial effects.  They can add up to either unwanted pounds or to a fit healthy physique.   It's your choice.  They can be the difference between an organized life and a train wreck.  Again - It's your choice.   I want to become more aware and accountable to those small choices and I plan to share at least one choice a day.   For example the other day I told myself after this one Chinese takeout extravaganza, I was going to swear off take-out.   The next morning when I opened the refrigerator, the lone Shrimp Toast called my name.    I had to choose to throw it out, give it to the dogs or eat it.   Unfortunately I chose to eat it.   Needless to say the rest of the day went downhill from there.  I think I ended up with Indian take-out that evening.   Next time my choice will be to give it to the dogs.   Buy their love; that's the ticket.

Awaken: 07:45AM
MIT: Book Hotel, Gather Chi Running Stuff, Water Plants
Diet: Fruit: Melon/Orange Smoothie=2,1/2 Melon=1,
Salad: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Water:1/1/1/1/1/1

Instead of denial

Gratuity: My sanity

Goal Work:  "Choose well. Your choice is brief, and yet endless."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

With my latest dieting I am trying to stay away from the mind-set of denial.  Instead of avoiding sweets and chips and fourth meals, I am adding delicious salads, sweet fruit, and refreshing glasses of water.   Instead of avoiding the internet and television, I am adding Yoga, TaeKwonDo, and Piano.   It really is just a mindset.  I will succeed and so can you.

This is a reminder that I will be sure to add 8 glasses of water, 3 servings of salad, and 5 pieces of fruit a day to my diet every single day.  Hopefully the good will crowd out the bad.

Off the tracks

Gratuity: Ice packs for my swollen knee

Goal Work: "There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results." - Unknown (thanks to Linda V)

Have you missed me?   Yes I have gone off the tracks.   No longer living conciously of my goals,  I have been allowing myself to be succumbed to THE excuses.  Thanks to my sister for a little inspiration and reminder of what commitment really is, I am ready to to get back on the tracks, get back up on the horse, get up and dust myself off, ya ya ya.....no excuses; only results.

I will remember routine, water, salad.....................................................

Tomorrow MIT: Clean Den, Make Salad, Start researching a bike plan

I have a fan

Gratuity: Musical Cats
Goal Work:
 Yes the Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat —
And there isn’t any call for me to shout it:
For he will do
As he do do
And there’s no doing anything about it!  -- from Cats (musical)

 I have really enjoyed my new 15 minutes a day playing the piano and my cat Morgan does also.  She is my best fan.   I usually end up playing much longer than 15 minutes (maybe that is why I am missing the completion of my MIT (Most Important Things).  For some reason piano seems easier to me then in the past.  Maybe it is like learning to ride a bike or maybe my brain has not atrophied as much as I thought.

Yesterday's MIT and Goals:  Day went quick.  Tough day at work.  Good with exercise and food.  Did not get to all my MIT's.

Today's MIT: Look up NC flights, Clean Den, Shopping for Vegainaise and making potato salad

Did I really just do that?

Gratuity: Kale and Garlic Soup

Goal Work:  If you keep on believing, the dreams that you wish will come true. - Cinderella.

I can't belive I really signed up for the Disney Half Marathon.  It is official.  I was so nervous just signing up.   I can imagine I will be a wreck on the big day.   On October 1 starting at 10:00PM I willl run 13.1 miles thru ESPN Wide World of Sports, Animal Kingdom, MGM and end up in the Worlds section of Epcot.     Word of warning:  I must maintain a 16 Miles per hour pace throughout the entire race.   Anyone not able to maintain a 16 minute per mile pace may be picked up and transported to the finish.   Oh dear.   I better get training....


Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon   

DISNEY WINE & DINE HALF MARATHON
Saturday, October 1, 2011
10:00 p.m.
Start: ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
Finish: Epcot® World Showcase
The Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon will be run on a brand new half marathon course at the Walt Disney World® Resort, and it will be run at night!  Where else can you run a half marathon at night?  Running through theme parks and world-class Disney entertainment along the way will make the miles fly by, but what could motivate you more than finishing inside Epcot® to an exclusive after-hours party inside the Epcot® International Food & Wine Festival?

This race experience will be the ultimate "Runner's Night Out". Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon features:

• Nighttime half marathon
• 13.1-mile course through Walt Disney World® Theme Parks
• Disney Entertainment on-course
• Exclusive After Hours Epcot® International Food & Wine Festival for participants and their families
• Event Weekend Transportation from the Event Host Resorts only

Each participant's Disney Wine & Dine Half Marahon registration includes:

• Champion® Race tech Shirt
• Half Marathon Finisher medal
• Official Race Program Guide
• Goody Bag
• Personalized Bib (Must register by August 1, 2011 for name to appear on bib)
• On-course and Post-Race Refreshments
• ChronoTrack D-tag timed race
• Personalized results website
• Access to the exclusive after-hours Epcot® International Food & Wine Festival
• One (1) Complimentary "Taste" and one (1) Complimentary "Sip" at the Finish Line Party

Yesteday's MIT and Goals:  I went to TKD and played piano and did my 15 minutes cleanup but I never got a chance to work on any of my MIT.  Not sure why.   I guess I worked longer than normal and watched Jeapordy and NOVA Watson (both a great use of time) so I am okay with missing my MIT.

Today MIT and Goals: Make Kale Soup, Bring Cookies to Derek, Look for flight to NC

Glucosamine Chondroitin

Gratuity: Modern Health Care; Considering I've had 3 ectopic pregnancies I know I would not be alive if I had lived in a different age.

Goal Work:
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all - Jefferson Airplane

I pride myself that I do not take any medication   No prescribed, over the counter, or illegal drugs.  I used to take a one a day vitamin but became convinced I was just pissing it away.   So my decision to start taking the over the counter supplement called Glucosamine Chondroitin really is a big deal.    Studies are not very conclusive that it is anything more then a placebo but anadoctal evidencs suggest that it is helpful for joint pain.   The consensu is that it is safe and so I will begin my own experiement taking two pills a day to help compensate for the pounding done to my knees by the increased length and intensity of my running.

Yesterday MIT and Goals - Good for everything except I ended up eating a cheese sandwich for my forth meal.
Today's MIT and Goals - Clean Den, Make Kale Soup, Sign up for Disney Half Marathon

My miracle shoes

Gratuity:   Options - even when I get frustrated with the many available.

Goals Work:~ Out of difficulties grow miracles. ~  Jean de la BruyËre

It is the time of year for me to buy my new running shoes.      I go to the shoe store, my old running shoes in hand, as well as a list of my concerns organized in a articulate cognizant manner (or so I think).  Just as the obese girl goes to the dietitian hoping for the miracle diet, I go to the fancy running store an hour away hoping for the miracle shoe. The shoe that will make me run faster,  make me run longer, make all my pain go away.  The  attendant, an educated runner himself, looks at my old shoes, and brings out his recommendations, he then looks at my feet and decides to bring out something else.   He appears to be recommending certain shoes but I don't really understand the logic of his recommendation.   When I ask him for the logic behind his advise, he seems to change it.  To me his advice seems to boil down to getting somethings comfortable but I am not sure if that makes sense to me.  My Ugg's are comfortable.  Should I run in them? Although he really tries hard, he is unable to read exactly what I am looking for.   I realize my miracle shoes will not be found today.   I settle for something similar to what I have already.  Good enough I guess.

The sneaker world is full of conflicting advise.   Do I buy shoes for stability, or pronation,  a highly padded shoes, or a minimal shoe.   Is an expensive high end shoe really better or would a Walmart shoe be just as good?   Maybe orthotics are the way to go.  Should I really buy new shoes every few months or is barefoot running the way to go?   There are many articles like "Running Shoe Myths" and Barefoot running articles that often say conflicting things.

Right now I buy expensive shoes but only once a year.   I do feel pain when I run so I often think I should try something else.  Of course it could be worse.  There are many with pain so bad they can't run.  I don't want to be in that position.

Today in addition to the expensive padded ascis I bought, I also bought a pair of  Nike Free sneakers.   These are the minimal shoes that I have seen recommended by others.  There were other minimal shoes available at the store but I was given no logic for buying them over the Nike Free so I figured I would buy the brand I had heard of.  They all felt the same to me.   I plan to slowly break these Nike Free sneakers in and see if maybe after the muscles in my feet adjust they become the miracle I long for.

Awaken:08:30AM
Sunday Weigh-in: 207
Yesterday MIT and Goal Work:  I'm a bit out of sync
Today's MIT and Goal Work:  Go to Cookie Walk, Buy Sneakers, Make Salad

One step back, two steps forward

Gratuity: Home Movies

Goal Work: Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.  ~Ovid
 

My mind and spirit had concocted a plan for my 10K race, a plan that had been researched strongly and weight against what I felt were my abilities and limitation.   Now those plans seem to no longer be valid,  My training plan for my10K has left me with major pain in my right leg.   My knee hurts, my foot hurts and the tendons in the back of my leg ache.   It is more than an ache.  It is sheer pain forcing  me to wolf down aspirin even as I lie down trying to relax.     My body is boss when it comes to physical capabilities.   My mind and spirit were obviously  out of sync with my body.   My spirit wants to ignore my body, it wants to soldier on.   My mind now realizes that is a mistake.  My mind says no.   My mind says I need to rest.   My mind says I need to rest and slow down. 

Therefore I have taken Thursday and Friday off from running this week.  Next week I will go back to my plan on all days except Friday.  I will rest on Friday again.   Although I am a little disappointed in this setback,  I really feel I will overcome and be back to my plan in no time.  Maybe running faster and longer then ever.

Yesterday' MIT and Goal: Nice Job; Broke my TKD board using a elbow strike
Today's MIT: Make Salad, Clean Den, Look into Youth Hostel for Bike Ride

Oh the place you'll go

Gratuity:  Letters, phone, Internet, IM, sametime; all ways to make the far seem near.

Goal Work: "A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints" - Wilfred Peterson

PLACES I WANT TO VISIT  (list always changing)
First Tier
Russia/Lithuania/Prague - St. Petersburg/Moscow
Galapagos Islands
Amazon Rain Forest
Safari in Africa
England/Scotland/Ireland
Italy
Soap Lake Washington/Seattle Washington/Oregon Coast
Outer-banks

Iowa
New Mexico
Sedona, Arizona

Second Tier
Brazil
China
Antarctica
Sydney Australia
Dubai
Paris France
Taj Mahal, India
Greece

Awaken: 08:03AM
Yesterday's MIT Goal Work: Good Job
Today's MIT: Clean Den, Send in paperwork for dental reimbursement, transfer money

Lighthouse Run

Gratuity: A safe, secure, home; especially during a storm.

Goal Work:: “The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach” Henry Beston

A nervousness is in my stomach as I line up for the Lighthouse race.   My sisters smile at me and wish me luck as they eye the front of the pack.   I look unto the bridge and take in the beauty of the ocean hoping it will give me the power and strength to run this 10K in a respectable time.   No unexpected injuries, maybe meeting of some fellow runners at the back of the pack, maybe inspiration for those who have started walking yet have no desire to be passed by this fat chick.   My three sisters meeting me at the end of the run, and encouraging me to sprint to the end just as that had done earlier in the race.

I excitedly think about my 10K Lighthouse race that is in Wilmington North Carolina.  It will be nice to see my mom and step-dad as well as my three sisters.   We will celebrate that we are all healthy enough to participate in this adventure and ponder the similar character traits that brings us simultaneously to this point in our respective journeys.

The website's interpretation of the Lighthouse run

The point to point course visually delights participants as it winds through neighborhoods with sprawling oak trees and Yaupon Hollies,and then suddenly opens up to the beach, ocean and sounds of seagulls.  During the last segment of the 10k course, participants will find encouragement as the Oak Island Lighthouse stands before them, beckoning them to the finish. 

Awaken: 08:15AM

Yesterday's MIT: Everything good except I am starting to get up a little later as a result of going to bed a little later.  I need to stop this before I end up back to the fourth meal situation.  Shepherds pie turned out well but I need to stay away from it as it is the type of thing that is hard not to grab seconds on.   If I wait long enough I think Heather will finish it off.

Today's MIT:  Grill Asparagus, Laundry, Look into PMI re-certification requirements.

Cleaning up because the house cleaner is coming

Gratuity: My dogs greeting me whenever I get home.

Goal Work: “Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day” - Simon de Beauvoir

I hired a house cleaner and sure enough I find myself cleaning up before she gets here.  Who does that?  So embarrassing.     I will know that I have achieved my house cleaning goal when my house is kept so clean every day that I no longer have to clean before the house cleaner comes.   Meanwhile the impetus that her arrival brings to my actions moves me slowly toward that goal.


Awaken: 07:50AM
Yesterday MIT and Goals:  Nice 50 minute run but I am sore as can be.  I need to rethink my training plan.  I did not do my yoga but plan to do it on Monday to make up for it.   I did  not make any MITs yesterday.
Today's MIT and Goals: Make Shephards Pie, den, yoga

Training Schedule

Gratutity: My Uggs

Goal Work: A goal without a plan is just a wish - Antoine do Saint-Exupery

My 10K running Plan

 Yesterday's MIT and Goals:  Easy Run.   Everything else okay.
Today MIT: None

Sign up for a Race; It's Amazing what it will do.

Gratuity: Goals - some achieved, some in progress, some maybe unachievable;  They help me get up in the morning, they keep me excited.

Goal Work: The miracle isn't that I finished.  The miracle is that I had the courage to start. - John J. Bingham

Until my family had nudged me into attempting and completing a 5K, I had only dreamed of running in races.    My attempts to run prior to that had never achieved anything greater than a fast walk.   I had told myself I would sign up once I was able to run the entire 3.12 miles in a decent time, but excuses would take over, and I would never really train, so I never signed up.   I was always too busy, too tired, too out of shape.   I continued to gain weight.  I continued to grow less healthy.  All those excuses were sweeped under the rug when my family pride forced me to sign up for that faithful race in June of 2009.   It is amazing what the fear of failure and the satisfaction of success will do.  

I wonder what my new goals of running in a 10K, a 15K and a half-marathon will do for my running?    Hopefully it will help me lose weight, maybe get faster, and mostly just keep up the consistency and satisfaction that having a goal tends to instantiate.    It is a fact I have dragged myself to the gym a few times because of the 10K looming in the near distance.  It is a fact I have forgone a second helping or sometimes even a meal because I hoped the weight loss would help me run faster or longer for my 10K.  It is a fact I am thankful for these goals.

Awaken: 08:30AM
Yesterday MIT and Goals: Getting a bit tardy with going to bed early and getting up early.   Must take control.    Loved my piano playing.  My 15 minutes turned into a half an hour and I could have gone longer.  My fingers are actually a tad sore.  Poor me.
Today MIT and Goals:Yikes I did not make any today.

Big Bike Ride

Gratuity:  Wikipedia

Goal Work:  No coasting. There is only one direction you roll in when you coast, and that is downhill - Regina Thomashauer, writer and founder of Mama Gena's School of Womanly Arts.

Yesterday I signed up for the New York City 5 Borough bike tour. Excert from the tour below.

 On May 1, more than 30,000 cyclists (and me) will experience New York City from a perspective unlike any other: pedaling down 42 miles of car-free streets through all five boroughs, taking in views of iconic landmarks like the Empire State building, Brooklyn Bridge, historic Harlem, and the Statue of Liberty.  Taking place the first Sunday in May each year, the adventure starts in Lower Manhattan. The ride heads north through the heart of Manhattan into Central Park and continues on to historic Harlem and the Bronx, returning south along the East River on the FDR Drive. From there it crosses into Queens and then Brooklyn, where cyclists take over the highway before making the thrilling climb up—and down—the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island.

 I had heard of this tour many years ago and it sounded enticing but I never followed up on it.  A friend went last year and encouraged me to go.  I encouraged another friend to go and then found out some other friends are also going.  It seems to be the rage.  Sold out in two days.

A training plan is in the works.   I need to get my bike fixed up or possibly purchase one that is more comfortable. I need to complete a 3 mile bike ride, a 10 mile bike ride, a 15 mile bike ride, a 20 mile bike ride, a 25 mile bike ride, a 30 mile bike ride, and a 35  mile bike ride.   The tour is on May 1 which means I should start my training March 5th so I can do a bike ride each weekend (excluding the April 16 10K weekend).

Wish me luck; I'm psyched

Awaken: 08:03AM
Yesterday's MIT: I did not go to Karate as I had preconceived ideas that it was going to be cancelled because of the weather.  I know the form and I just did not want to go out into the awful weather.  I also sent my husband out for Chips and Heather asked for Oreo's which I ended up partaking in also.   Hmmm blaming my husband again....
Today's MIT: Den, Den, Cooking Scalloped Potatoes.

Ode to Joy

Gratuity: Music; all kinds - classical, country, rap, rock -n- roll, contemporary, acoustic, me in the shower...

Goal Work: "Music speaks what cannot be expressed, soothes the mind and gives it rest, heals the heart and makes it whole, flows from heaven to the soul." - author unknown

I have no musical talent but I enjoy listening and I enjoy playing a few notes on my piano.   For some reason, probably associated with my inability to progress in my playing, I stopped playing the piano a few years ago.  One of this years resolutions was to pick it up again.   My plan is to play for 15 minutes a day.   Since for me, playing the piano is not like riding a bike,  it seems I will have to start all over again and refresh myself on the basic notes.   My favorite tune to play is Ode to Joy and hopefully in no time I will be hitting the keys to that tune and sound a bit like this.

Leonard Bernstein talks about why he loves Ode to Joy.   Listening to his explanation I realize why this song has always touched my soul.   Leonard Bernstein says,

"In other word this music in not just indefinably durable but perhaps the closest music has ever come to universality and that dubious cliche about music being a universal language almost comes true with Beethoven.  No composer has ever lived that speaks so directly to so many people; to young and old, educated and ignorant, amateur and professionals, sophisticated and naive and to all these people, all classes, nationalities and racial backgrounds this music speaks a universality of thought, of human brotherhood, freedom and love. 


In this 9th symphony for example where Beethoven has set Schiller's "Ode To Joy" .. the music goes so far beyond the poem.  It gives greater dimension and vital energy and artistic spark to the quaint old lines, "All men become brothers; All yee million embrace yea; Oh world you sense your creator".


In other words this music succeeds even with those people for whom organized religion fails because it conveys a spirit of godhead and sublimity in the freest and least doctrinaire way.  That was typical of Beethoven.  It has a purity and directness of communication which never becomes banal.  It is accessible without being ordinary......We can not listen to this 9th symphony without emerging form it changed, enriched, encouraged."

 I think he articulated well why this song always gives me a warm feeling.

5 reason to play a musical instrument.

Awaken: 08:10AM
Yesterday's MIT: I ate a little more then I should have (Mexican chips and guacamole anyone?), but I was really proud that I did my yoga at home considering we were snowed in.  I also figured out how to deal with my distaste for straightening the den.   I am only going to do it in 15 minute intervals so I no longer have an excuse not to start.  I spent 30 minutes straightening the den yesterday.   It will get done.  Slow but sure (hmm I think that is becoming a theme).
Today's MIT: Straighten Den, Organize my Piano Practice, Solidify a 10K training plan

Penguins

Gratuity: Folks who run slower then me!

Goal Work: I'm Slow; I Know; Get Over It - John "The Penguin" Bingham

This post is for my fellow "Penguin" runners.  We are slow but we work just as hard as the speed demons.  While researching for yesterday's quote I was reminded that I am not the only slow runner.  I am not alone.  I have found my flock.

A link selling Penguin Gear
Penguins, Track, and Running 101
You Run? No, really, you run?
slowgirlrunning.blogspot.com
ChubbyChicksRunToo
John "The Penguin" Bingham Blog
penguinrunner.blogspot.com

Awaken: 07:30AM
Today's Goals and MIT: Sign up for 5 Boro Race, Clean Den, Clean Den
Yesterday's Goals and MIT: Nice Job

My Race/Tour Schedule

Gratuity: Good Friends who are always cheering for me.

Goal Work:  it may take a while, but I will make it...Slow Girl Running Blog

 I do like to make lists but who would have ever thought a few years ago that I would be making a list of the races and tours I planned on participating in this year.   Here it is:

April 16: 13th Annual Oak Island LightHouse 10K run
May 1: NYC 5 Boro Bike Tour
June 18: Treetop To Rooftops 5K Bridge Run
July 10: BoilerMaker 15K
September 18: Dutchess County Classic 5K
October 1: Disney Half-Marathon Wine and Dine

Video of the Disney Half-Marathon - Love you to join me!

Awken: 08:10AM
Yesterday's MIT: On target, Ran 5 minutes warm up 40 minutes Run with 5 minute cool down for a total of 50 minutes. 
Today's MIT: Sign up for Oak Island Light House Run, Pay CSA Bill, Clean Kitchen