I'm moving!

I was going to wait until everything was unpacked and put away before sharing the news, but it's taking awhile to get settled in and I just can't contain my excitement any longer!

Come check out my pad at:
http://ratherthecouch.wordpress.com/

I'm still completing renovations so bare with me as the paint dries. I had a few reasons for switching to WordPress. Nothing huge. But I figured the sooner the better. I haven't been blogging for very long and transferring everything over has already been a bit tedious. Anyway, let's stay in touch!

Now that's impressive

I like to think I can do a thing or two. For starters, I can run. I can also do those cheerleader jumps where you stradle and touch your toes. I'm fairly good at balancing on one leg. And can even pull the other one in various directions at the same time. Can you roll your tongue in a loop? Well I can roll mine in three.

But there are some things I can't do. Like whistle. Or raise one eyebrow. Or wink. I just can't close one eye without the other one feeling left out. Also, I cannot sit up. Who knows how I manage to get out of bed each morning...

I only recently discovered my handicap and I'm still coping with it. Kelsea (my good friend and fitness hero) told me about the two hundred sit-ups program and I immediately jumped on board.

The first step of the program is the "initial test." All this test consists of is doing as many sit-ups as you can in a row. Way back when I tried out for cheerleading as a high school freshman I did 80+ sit-ups in one minute. And this test didn't even have a time limit. Piece of cake.

I did 22.

That was Friday. Come Tuesday I was ready to start Week 1.

I did 2.

Wow.

The best day ever

That was yesterday. I ran 9 miles and it was AWESOME. First off, my knee didn't hurt. And that was AWESOME. I'm finding I can eke a few more miles out of my knee if I go really slow. And let me tell you something about running slow. It's AWESOME.

I had the highest of runners' highs. I've heard people say you're running too fast if you can't talk and too slow if you can sing. Well, I could sing. I know this because I actually did a few times when a good song came on. I was just so happy! So happy I could have cried. A few tears might have even leaked out in front of the Taco Bell while I was waiting for the light to change. (Don't tell.) Endorphins and good music - that's one lethal combination.

But wait, that's not all! Jason and I celebrated one year of marriage last night. This year has flown by and I can't believe our anniversary is already here. We had such a great time eating, drinking and, of course, enjoying the best of company.

Once upon a time

The marvelously authentic Cynthia at Adventures of a Pretend Cook tagged me with this bad boy.

And since I'm not at all stylish I decided to make this post about something else. These "seven things about myself" are organized by emotion. Seven (or more) profound moments in my life. (Warning - these are personal. Please don't make fun of me or go posting them on the internet or something.)

Embarrassment
I hated my life in Junior High. Didn't everybody? I had no self confidence and a few friends that didn't have much confidence in me either. There was one girl in particular who was especially bad for me. I think she kept me around because I made her feel better about herself, and I hung around because she did things like sit at the right lunch table. In retrospect I can't believe I was friends with her. Then again, I also feel proud that I was able to recognize the situation at age 14 and make a very conscious decision to find myself a completely different set of friends. (And I did.)

Anyway, I pooped at her house one time and clogged the toilet. She kept exclaiming, "Gross! Who clogged the toilet?!" (Which was so ridiculous because she clearly knew it was not her and, therefore, me.) I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Sadness
It just goes to show how lucky I am. The fact that my only memories of overwhelming sadness have to do with a boy. Oh the drama...too much to write about on a blog. I used to say that I didn't believe in soulmates because it was too depressing to think that you had found yours and it didn't work out. But life continued on. I was blessed with another great love - my husband - and I am emphatically aware of all the reasons why he is better for me.

Surprise
Walking up to the list of girls who made the cheerleading squad my freshman year of high school and seeing my name on the list. They overlooked the pretty and popular requirement the year I tried out.

Anxiety
I have had one panic attack in my life. It was a couple years ago, and it had to do with work. I'm not going to get into the details, but my company took a big loss and I felt responsible. I thought I was having a heart attack. And then I started panicking about that. It wasn't fun. I wouldn't recommend having one.

Regret
When I was in the seventh grade I watched a boy try and talk a girl with down syndrome into eating a cookie that had fallen on the ground. Okay...but it was almost completely covered with ants. I was appalled, but I didn't say anything. Nobody said anything, but that isn't really an excuse. I still feel sick thinking about it.

Joy
I'm going to skip over the obviously joyful moments like my wedding and mention a few of the seemingly small, but quietly significant, moments in my life.

The first note of the first song, during the first All-State Women's choir practice my senior year of high school. Sitting in my car on an autumn day my junior year of college, listening to Chanticleer and watching the leaves fall from the trees. Talking and laughing with friends after high school choir concerts. Every single one of them. Driving through the Colorado Rockies, listening to my amazingly talented friend sing along with the CD player. He will be famous one day. The clank of heels against the hardwood stage floors at piano competitions. Opening night of our high school musical productions. Closing night of our high school musical productions.

Anybody notice a pattern?

Pride
Jogging two laps around the track without stopping for the first time.

I tag 5K Rae. Mostly because she has no idea who I am or that I read her blog. What do you say Rae? I totally understand if you don't want to write the post, but let's hold off on the restraining order until we get to know each other a little better.

This post is about yoga

I was all set up to tell you about our ski trip Friday. About how I was surprised with free ski rentals, and how my knee didn't start hurting until the afternoon.

That's not me. Please. I have too much fear for those shenanigans. No, I make desperate pleas like, "Let's just not go on a black for the first run," and then try to keep up when the adrenaline junkies don't listen. I'm far better at these kinds of poses.

But I didn't get around to blogging on Saturday. So then I was going to tell you about my (what turned out to be) 7.7 mile run on Sunday. I was going to tell you how I stocked my iPod full of soothing music and made myself run slow. About how I didn't feel any knee pain until mile 7.25.

I would have mentioned that my training plan (the one I put together before the reality of my limitations set in) called for 8 miles. I so badly wanted to finish! But I reminded myself of my goals and stopped when a twinge turned into something more.

I even considered blogging about breaking out my new headlamp for a fast, pain-free 3 mile run tonight. And how I SWEAR it started to snow! Ever so slightly...

But all I ever write about is running. So I've decided to make this post about yoga. Yesterday - after waiting in line 15 minutes to change into a sports bra and an itty bitty pair of shorts - I realized I left my water bottle in my car. Have you ever worked out for 90 minutes in 105 degrees without water? I have now.

Cheesy boobs

I was so busy telling you about my 2011 fitness goals, I didn't even mention we went to Hawaii over New Years!

For a wedding...

Say CHEEEESE!!!

And then one of my "cleavage" just for fun.

The weather was so BEA-U-TI-FUL and we had an amazing time! There may be a few people out there who would give me a hard time for saying I'm FREEZING back here in California!

In other news, I went for my first run since that really bad one the other week. A friend and I had been planning on starting up weekly track workouts in 2011 and today was the day. It was just what I needed! I feel so much better after running and so much more optimistic about my knee! It didn't hurt at all until the very end and then only a teeny tiny bit. It seems like I'm pretty set for 3 miles. Who knows, maybe 2011 will be the year of the 5K...

My 2011 fitness goal dissertation

Happy New Year!

Yeah, yeah. I know it's January 5th. But you have no idea the hours upon hours I have spent dreaming up, analyzing, re-working and prioritizing my 2011 fitness goals. Now I can only hope that it won't take you equally long to read this post. (Sorry!)

These goals are in a particular order.

MY MUST MEET GOALS

1) Be smart about injuries. This used to say something like "injury free." But why not set myself up for success instead? And since I believe goals should be measurable, "smart" means the following:

• No running in pain. I'll tolerate a little twinge here and there, but no aggravating an injury just to get a run in.


• Strength training. Some of my muscle groups are definitely stronger than others (i.e. I can barely fit my rockin' calves in ski boots, yet strain my hip muscles every other time I run up a hill.). I'm also aware of a few left vs. right side imbalances (besides just my lips). I'm hoping tackling some of these issues will ultimately help heal and prevent injuries.


• Vitamins. Believe it or not, I didn't even think about this until Page made the recommendation. And seeing as how she could probably run a marathon in the time it takes me to tie my shoes, I'm going to listen. Thanks Page!


• Stretch and ice. I accidentally just typed pie instead of ice. What do you suppose that means?

2) Keep running. No longer than one week without going for a run. It doesn't matter how fast or how far, I just want to keep running.

Note: I may need YOUR help next year remembering how to count (i.e. 1 comes before 2, which comes before 3, 4 and 5 etc.).

WHAT I'D REALLY LIKE TO DO IF MY KNEE LETS ME

3) Complete the Northern California Half Marathon Series. In order to complete the series you have to run four out of about a dozen half marathons in Northern California. I'm pretty much set on running the Oakland Running Festival, the Healdsburg Half Marathon and the Walnut Creek Half Marathon. The jury's still out on half marathon #4, but I'm leaning towards the Lake Chabot Trail Challenge.

4) Run a full marathon. My first marathon...whoa. "Wait a second!" You might say. "I've seen your sidebar and there's a marathon there!" Okay, yeah. That's true. This is the one and only marathon I have ever entered and I did, in fact, complete it. But it was far from ideal. I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was happy to cross it off my bucket list and vowed never to do one again.

Well, I've changed my mind. I need a redo. I want to wipe that race from my history and run my first marathon again. And let me be clear. My goal is to run* a full marathon. Not walk a full marathon. Not race a full marathon. Not finish a full marathon.

*Walking through aid stations is acceptable.

5) Beat some times. Before "the knee" I had the times below in mind. They felt a little intimidating, but I also felt excited for and up to the challenge. I typically set time goals I know I can achieve and purposely decided to shoot for the numbers I really wanted instead. Unfortunately, hitting these targets would require some serious training that is not currently happening due to said "knee."

• Run a half marathon in under 1:50
• Run a 10K in under 50:00
• Run a 5K in under 24:00

MY BACK UP PLAN

My stupid knee is forcing me to do something I am really bad at. I mean worse than peeing while standing up kind of bad at. And that is - drum roll please - going with the flow. But my knee isn't really into being predictable. So I'm tossing a few ideas around in case I have to throw out goals 3-5.

• Lots more yoga. I've done a 30 day challenge, but maybe I could do a 100 day challenge or something.


• Learn to swim and/or bike since I am, after all, intrigued by the concept of a traithlon.


• Join a cheerleading squad. Say what?!?! For those of you that don't know, I was a cheerleader in a former life and actually coached high school cheerleading for a couple years. I considered trying out for this squad for a couple years, but never took the plunge.


• Try something completely new. Like ballet.

One cannot go wrong with a Harry Potter reference

It's January 3rd and I still haven't posted anything about my 2011 goals. Hard to believe considering they were selected, chiseled in stone and sung by a fat lady about a month ago. So what's the hold up? My stupid ass knee. That's what.

Up until my last run I was under the delusion that a month of light running and yoga would be remedy enough. But it wasn't. So I'm rewriting my goals before I fail.

Giving up before I even started is a bummer. But that's life, right? Nothing, especially a training plan, goes as planned. What's worse is the panic that seems to have taken hold of me. Maybe there's a vagabond dementor camped out on my couch that my muggle eyes can't see. Or maybe my company's safety slogan has finally sunk in: "What's the worst that could happen?"

Because all I can seem to think is:

WHAT IF I NEVER RUN AGAIN?

Pretty please - with sugar and a cherry on top - tell me I'm being ridiculous.