on monday i managed to squeeze out 3 mi. in 29 minutes. my x-country coach from high school must be rolling over in his grave. i did follow up with lifting for my bi's and tri's and then more situps on the incline plank.

and cancelled it all out by going out to dinner at the chart house. mmm...bronzed flounder. mmm...chocolate molten lava cake.

becky, good luck with the interview!! let us know how it went!

oh yeah, and a glimpse of the funny hat and wig party!

nina and the treadmill...take 2

i got on the treadmill yesterday for the first time in 4 years. i haven't been on one for so long because the last time (which was also my first time) i lost my balance, fell off, hurt my knee, my CD player fell off, the CD popped out and flew across the gym...all in front of the 10 rows of bikes with people watching the whole thing and saying, "ohhh that looked bad." NO $H!T!!

anyway, did a 12 minute warmup at 7mph. then did 2 sets of dumbell incline flies, chest press, dumbell curls, bicep curl machine, tricep extension cable, tricep extension machine, dumbell side and front raises and shoulder press machine, followed by 50 incline plank situps.

guns of steel, baby, guns of steel.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. KATE!!!

p.s. maraschino cherry challenge did not give me a terrible tummy-ache BUT did give me wacky nightmares involving the little dead girl from the ring that subsequently kept me up between 3am-4am convinced she was still in my room.

starting to slip...

after that grueling workout with ken i was unable to lean back without feeling like i was going to tear my abdominals. so i didn't do any physical activity until saturday when erik and i went to valley green. wasn't bad. did a 2-mile run, walked for a mile, then did a hard 1-mile to end. considering hitting the gym today before meeting up with the girls for vacation planning and sandwiches.

speaking of vacations...erik's family invited me to www.thesomerset.com at turk & caicos! they're going for 2 weeks in july starting on july 8th, so depending on where the girls and i go, i may have to leave a day early, or book a couple one-way tickets!

bermuda...bahama...come on pretty mama!

on safari at the gym in search of the elusive 4-pack

i tagged along with my co-worker ken to the gym yesterday and actually lifted for the first time in 5 years. and yes, some muscles have in fact atrophied.

ken put me on all sorts of oddball contraptions that are supposed to work on my triceps, lats, chest, shoulders, and back. i went on the inclined plank for situps and then he had me do approximately one million pushups. the pushups were tough. after a while when he told me to do 5 more i screamed "NO!", sat down, crossed my arms, and refused to do any more. guns of steel aren't worth THAT much pain.

beauuuuutiful weather

went to valley green yesterday after work and had a 35-minute run. i spent all morning trying to find a map of the trail so i can figure out how far i ran. i found a map, then realized that i had turned around at an arbitrary spot and didn't take note of any landmarks. started at northwestern ave. i think i remember seeing the valley green inn... maybe i did 3-3.5 miles? i think it's time to invest in a pedometer. anyway, i strongly recommend making the trip there because it is GORGEOUS, with the trees and the the creek and whatnot.

for any of you who like to listen to music while doing your running thing, i recommend motivation proclamation by good charlotte to start with. had futures by jimmy eat world and memory by sugarcult in the middle to keep me going.

considering exploring the gym at my work today. considering signing up for yoga classes. make me more bendy. heh.

erik and i went for a run on sunday along kelly drive (right smack during the crew race which was pretty nifty.) running with him is definitely a harder workout than with mariko. must be the longer legs. i considered briefly going with becky and cara for their 6 mi run, but thought better of it seeing that running for an hour straight would probably send me into the hospital right now.

however, it is my personal goal to one day run with the ladies of BRB. that's right. you heard it here. hehe, it's like running with the bulls for me. it's a far away goal though, since i counteracted all the physical activity by eating pounds of chocolate yesterday and polishing off a bag of chips.

on that note, i might hit up valley green today after work. this weather is just too good to pass up.

boredom...the key to getting in shape!

yesterday i was so bored at work that i left at 2 and met up with mariko to go for a run along boathouse row.

we went for a 30 minute run but unfortunately mariko left her pedometer at home. i would estimate we ran anywhere between 1 mile and 10 miles. we ended it with a full-out 200 yard sprint which felt AWESOME! i haven't sprinted like that in years. it was the longest run i've been on this year (out of a whopping 3) and the strangest thing is that i felt like i could have gone on for another 20 minutes. maybe it was the flat surface or the constant conversation that distracted me. we ended our workout with crunches and pushups. i did 20 regular ones and 1 triangle hand one that left my arms feeling like cooked noodles. not even al dente!

but what's even stranger is the other 2 runs that i went on didn't leave me sore even though i was soooo winded at the end. but this morning, after that awesome run, my body feels like it got hit by a truck. even darin commented that i was walking lopsided.

on a different note, i met up with steve stoltzfus last night. he's doing very well, even though he's a little flaky with wedding invitations. he agrees that there's something wrong with the drexel hill townies and that it IS contagious (eg. his wedding invitations.) anyway, i had intended to go home no later than 10:30, but since he so rarely gets to go out, mariko, erik, steve, and i danced until 12:30!

hmm...maybe THAT'S why i feel like i got hit by a truck.

p.s. he's still afraid of becky. but he thinks he scared her at my birthday last year when he apparently pinned her against the railing when he was dancing with her. heh.

What made me do it:

after adamently refusing to do anything exercise-related, besides skiing and other anonymous recreational activities, i finally caved and joined a gym.

but this didn't happen by chance...no, no, no...there was a cascade of events that led to my ultimate downfall.

1. i went shoe shopping and saw really cute sneakers but had a hard time rationalizing a need for them besides just strutting around the street. ("do i strut?" name that quote!)

2. the warm weather always reminds me of track when i was in high school and how much fun i had back then.

3. the other night erik flicked my belly fat and we sat there in awe as it rippled like wind blowing across a field of grass.

and so i promptly went out and bought those cute sneakers and dragged my equally out-of-shape boyfriend out for a run in 70 degree weather. we ran for about 20 minutes around my neighborhood and stopped because i was seeing spots and erik was hyperventilating.

it also helps that my current roommate andrea started working out and my prospective rooommate mariko works out. joy still doesn't work out.

but the kicker was yesterday. i was sooooo bored at work that i took a walk around my building, found myself in the gym, and before i knew it i was registered for a fitness assessment and an exercise prescription.

i'm pretty bored today too, as you can see by my lengthy post. i may be SO bored that i'll work out after this post, after i go to the post office. i'll keep you posted.