28 May 2010

Around mile 5 of my walk today I headed down one of the bike/walking paths nearby, and I came around a curve just in time to see a slender tuxedo cat stalking a bird that was very nearly its own size, and within a few steps it leapt high, paws and claws out, and took the bird down.

I was both fascinated and repulsed when it sunk its teeth into the bird's neck, the surprised WTF?! last squawk of the bird and the twitching as it died.

I kept walking towards the cat, though, because dead giant bird or not, that was the direction I was headed.

The cat didn't seem to be bothered by my presence; instead of running like hell at the sight of a strange human, it walked toward me, dropped the bird on the sidewalk, looked up at me, and meowed.

A more sane person would have just kept on walking, but I paused and said, "Good job, kitty."

Meow?

"Uh...I had lunch already, thank you. Why don't you take that back to your people? They'll be proud."

Damned if the cat didn't meow one more time, pick the bird back up, and trot off, apparently quite happy with have some praise.

I started back up, hoping like hell that no one saw that or heard me praise some strange cat for the offering. I hope more that the next time I walk down that way I don't get offered something grosser...

25 May 2010

I may have mentioned that I'm walking this October in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk for the Cure. Just one or twice, maybe. And maybe, it's a longshot, you've followed along so far on my training blog.

On the training front, things are going swimmingly. I'm not in athletic shape, I'm still all blubbery, but I'm holding my own.

I'm going to be able to do it. Sixty miles in three days.

So now the fundraising begins. Face it, one of the major points to this is to raise money. My goal is $2300.

Now...I have some pretty incredible friends. Knowing that I get a kick out of blog giveaways--we've done it a couple times on max;s blog--they've offered up some really nifty prizes to be used as donation bait.

And come on...if you're going to part with some of your hard earned cash, you should have at least a chance at getting something for it. I am promising much coolness over the summer, from handcrafted-with-love awesomeness to whoa-dude-I-want-that! spiffiness.

So starting tomorrow, check out Rockin' the Pink-Raisin' the Dough where the first prizes will be showcased.

And donate generously. Because the more you donate, the more chances you have to win something.

Rockin' the Pink-Raisin' the Dough

22 May 2010

Five and a half miles into my walk today I was passing McDonald's, and since they have all-size drinks for a buck, I paused my timer and went in to get a soft drink.

There was a guy in line ahead of me and he looked at me, looked puzzled for a moment, and then asked, "Haven't I seen you all over town today?"

I acknowledged that I'd walked a good part of it.

"Are you lost?"

No, not lost.

"Because if you are, I'll give you directions. I know where everything is around here."

The idea that I was just out walking seemed a little foreign to him, but at least he was nice enough to ask.

Because if I'd really been lost? Directions might be nice.

19 May 2010

The Spouse Thingy walks these ramps at the hospital a lot.

They run 2 to a floor, and go up 8 stories; when he has a quiet night at work, he walks them. This afternoon he needed to go to the UCD bookstore across the street from the hospital, and took me to the ramps.

It's like voluntary torture, but now I really want ramps of my own. Doing that 2 or 3 days a week would give me killer calves if nothing else.

My heart rate definitely went up while I was walking up them...probably too high. I get into the high 150s on the Trikke and have gotten into the 92% of my max HR range before, and I'm pretty sure I edged a little over that, just going up them once.

I need something, in any case. Tomorrow I take my "official" weight for the week, and I'm going to be up again.

My diet is good; I don't blow over my calories for the day. Between the walking and the Trikke at least 4 days a week I'm chewing through 700-1000 extra calories.

Yet, I'm gaining.

I think I'm at the weight I was last December.

I'm getting very, very frustrated, and very, very pissed off.

15 May 2010

Things one ponders while walking:

• If you just let your dog poop in the grass, and you didn't bother to clean it up, don't look so horrified when the tattooed lady spits a mouthful of warm water onto the grass.
• Why don't they make doggy jockstraps for intact male dogs? I saw this gonadally gifted yellow lab running with his owner, and that poor thing had to be hurting.
• If you see someone walking towards you with a determined stride and ear buds in ears, why bother asking "Going for a walk today?" because it's kind of obvious, isn't it?
• For the love of God and peoples' shoe soles and senses of smell, don't let your dog poop on the sidewalk, and if you do, pick it up. Cripes.
• Whoever designed our little town had walkers in mind. Wide sidewalks, and tons of them.
• Really, that poor dog had to be in agony...

13 May 2010

Ok, this is farking annoying. I'm up another 2 pounds. I didn't overindulge in anything--my daily calorie counts were pretty much right on the money--and I worked out; when I worked out, I pushed a little. I had honestly expected to lose the 2 pounds gained last week, not add to them.

I don't think it's gained muscle; I've been doing cardio work, not even light weight training.

I am not happy. Nope.

11 May 2010

You know, when you're already feeling cold, the smartest thing you can do is get yourself some frozen yogurt, right?

And when you're having that frozen yogurt and get that knife-through-the-head icy cold headache, the smartest thing you can do is to keep eating it, right.

I am a freaking genius.

10 May 2010

Partly to keep training clutter off this blog, and partly to give myself a place to keep track, I'm starting a blog to chronicle my efforts to get in shape enough to survive walking 20 miles a day for 3 days. A Wabbit Walking will be the main place I talk about the walking, how I'm doing, any progress, and any frustrations.

That doesn't mean I won't mention it here, but I also won't inflict it on everyone on a daily basis.

It started today with the purchase of walking shoes.

Yep. Walking Shoes.

Like I don't walk in the shoes I already have every day...

9 May 2010

Personal revelation, probably not something my kid wants to know about me, but I'm sharing anyway, because it's marginally relevant to the topic at hand.

My boobs have hurt for the last 25 years. It's not agonizing, and compared to Fibromyalgia and arthritis, it's just an annoying ache, but they still hurt. And there have been periods of some significant pain. Enough to seek medical treatment that didn't work: estrogen blockers, androgens, the pill. I've learned to live with it, always with the message in the back of my head, something repeated to me often: breast cancer doesn't usually hurt.

I've always taken some comfort in that, the idea that yeah, this is annoying, but the Big C doesn't typically cause pain when it's in the breasts, at least not at first. Yes, there are some forms of it that do, but typically...not.

That doesn't mean the what-if isn't hovering in the background.

I've known many women who have gone through the agony of breast cancer; from the anguish of the initial diagnosis, through treatment, surgery, more treatment, it's a roller coaster of constant emotional and physical pain. The unfairness of it all; the uncertainty of it all; the stripping of femininity that can come with mastectomy, with chemotherapy.

And the most unfair of all, when treatment doesn't work.

When I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 1997 I sought out information about it online, and found a newsgroup filled with people who shared the pain. One of those people was Anne Burkinshaw; we became part of an email ring and became friends. We shared a birthday, albeit a few years apart. When he couldn't find it in North Dakota, she sent the Spouse Thingy real English Breakfast tea. We shared a love of convertibles.

About six months before I was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. And right about the same time I got the good news about my tumor--it wasn't cancer and probably wouldn't ever return--she was given the all clear.

She'd beaten breast cancer down, and won.

Until she didn't.

In 2002, she was going to be fine; she was going to live.

In 2005, she was gone.

She was only 50 years old.

Anne Burkinshaw had so much to live for. She had a family that loved her like crazy; her sons were grown and getting married, starting families. She looked forward to retirement with her husband Dave, and to being a grandmother. She'd gotten her coveted convertible, and just wanted beautiful days filled with enough sunshine to ride with the top down.

She wanted to live.

She died when she was 50; I'll be 49 on my next birthday.

Yesterday, in a comment on Max's blog, I was invited to participate in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk for the Cure in San Francisco on October 1-3 as part of a team. I was filled with two things when I read the comment: an immediate sense of wanting to do this, and pure terror.

I flipped back and forth about it all night and most of today. Walking has not been my friend for a very long time. It hurts. Between FMS, myofascial pain, and arthritis, it just hurts.

What hurts more is the idea that there are more women like Anne out there, women who want nothing more than to live, and who won't.

So I'm going to suck it up and train for it. On October first I will be there for the start of the Susan G. Komen walk in San Francisco, and I'll give it everything I can.

I'll walk for Anne, and for all my other friends who have battled breast cancer.

Here's the thing about walking for things like this. They require money. I have a goal of $2300, and I'm determined to make it.

Most of the fund raising will be done through Max's blog; over the next couple of months I'm hoping to come up with some fun ideas, and some worthy prizes. But I am not opposed to outright donations.

I'm easy that way.

Link is in the right sidebar.

My boobs thank you in advance for your support.

8 May 2010

For years, I have resisted the wearing of shorts. For one, my legs are blindingly white. I have the kind of white legs that people can't help but comment on and make fun of... “Are you part albino???” That doesn't bother me because, hey, they are white.

But...I also have fat calves. No, that's not a self-involved slam on my weight and a whine about chunkiness; my calves have always been fat. Even when I was training in TKD and was thin, fit, about 15% body fat, I had fat calves. They were big enough then that I had issues with shin guards and getting a pair that didn't cut my circulation off.

I hated shorts back then, too, because cripes, who wants to show off albino-white flabby calves?

Hell, who wants to see that?

When I was younger, I could handle the discomfort of summers spent in long pants, but now? I went out this morning to Trikke, it was only 70 degrees, but I was in jeans and after just a mile and a half realized I was miserably hot. Hot and getting nauseated. I sat on the first bench I found, slugged back some Power Aid, and really began to wonder how the hell I was going to make it home.

I did another mile and was really feeling it; it might have only been 70 but the sun was eating down on me and it felt like 85. I stopped to drink more, whined to myself that the giant bottle I thought I had didn't really hold much, and started kicking myself for forgetting my earphones so I could Trikke to some music (that helps, it really does.)

So I headed home. I only got a total of 3.25 miles in, but was overheated enough that I felt sick to my stomach.

Later, when the Spouse Thingy was awake and wanted to take his Trikke out, I threw some shorts on and went with him. It was warmer by then, but I had my tunes, and I had on shorts, I didn't feel the heat at all.

I felt the wind...holy crap I felt the wind...but I didn't overheat and didn't start feeling nauseous.

So. I really have to get over this thing about my calves and just wear the damn shorts. I will never have slender calves, not ever, and I'm not typically one who gives a damn about what other people think, so I'm embracing the comfort of blinding the world with my abject whiteness.

This would, however, be a good time for you to invest in sunscreen stock. Probably Coppertone or Banana Boat. I'm gonna be buying a lot of it.

6 May 2010

Today's weigh in was not a happy one. I expected the results I got, but still.

Two pounds up.

Part of it I blame on the Spouse Thingy's birthday; the Boy's homemade pizza was especially good, and there was cake. And because it was his birthday week we let ourselves slide off the dietary wagon a little bit, trying out a new Chinese restaurant, and then going back because it was so good.

We balanced the increased food intake with some hellacious working out; we both Trikked quite a bit (he more than I, admittedly,) we spent a couple of days going up and down ladders as we primed and painted the kitchen, and worked our asses off doing other things around the house. We spent a day walking around Six Flags, and if we didn't get 5 miles in that day I'd be surprised.

We burned a lot of calories, a nice balance to the indulgences.

But...I've also been off my HGH for 3 weeks. We have both civilian medical insurance and military medical, and between the two things got hosed up and no one would pay for it. We sure as hell weren't paying out of pocket, not for a $1200 a month medication. The problem with not taking it is that no growth hormone circulating in my body = inability to create and maintain lean muscle mass = lower metabolism = adding body fat.

If I'd been on it the whole time, I suspect today's weigh in would have been a break-even kind of thing. And I would have whined about that, too. Because if it's not a loss, I whine.

Hold the cheese.

The insurance has been straightened out, for 3 months anyway, after which I think we go back to square one, but at least I can go back on it until then and hopefully regain some lost muscle and burn a few more pounds of fat off.

I'm pretty far behind where I wanted to be; I had hoped to hit my goal in July, but with just 3 months to go and over 35 pounds, it doesn't seem likely, not even if I kill myself on the Trikke.

Which I might.

It would be a hell of a fun way to go.

4 May 2010

1 May 2010

:::Whispering because the official cast list has not yet been released, but:::

My kid totally got cast as Mercutio!

The play runs in August at the Harbor Theater in Suisun City, CA, and as luck would have it there will be some weekday performances so the Spouse Thingy will be able to see it (and more than once if he wants...)

When he said he was auditioning for that part, I got a little excited because my gut feeling was that he'd be a great Mercutio...so, yay!

Everyone is invited, but you gotta pay your own way...

26 April 2010

A couple of weeks ago, right after I got the Trikke, I was told about this nifty little device that would help me keep track of the distances I go, time it takes, and more importantly, heart rate and calories burned.

Out of all of that knowing my heart rate has been important; a few times I've had to stop and cool down a bit because I've exceeded my max HR, though not by much. What I've liked most about it is knowing how far I've gone and how fast--seeing that I can shave some time off my distances--and the calorie burn (used to justify a burger, of course...)

But then I discovered I can do this:



Clicky to see full page

I can see maps of where I've been, my average paces, sweet little graphs.

It's awesome.

And because it maps my whereabouts and I can share them with the world, I'm likely to expand my distances, because my ego is that big.

Barring rain, over the next 10 days the Spouse Thingy and I are going to check out some other places to Trikke (because he has a few days off...) and we'll probably do some other things, but dangit, I want to make my maps all squiggly with red lines.

And then, justify a burger and fries.

A really big burger and fries...

24 April 2010

Odds n Ends #987,267

• I am having way too much fun with the Trikke. I managed to get it going fairly easily when I started, which made me happy, but tiny little, nearly invisible inclines were kicking my ass. Now I can get up with with only marginal effort.
• I'm up to 4 miles at a time on it; yesterday (with frequent water breaks) that took me an hour. Today I did it in 50 minutes, with a couple of water stops and a couple of stops to answer questions from curious people.
• I did not mind; one of those people seems to want one, the other was just curious about it, but it was good to stop to get my heart rate down a little, as it was a touch over what I think my max should be.
• I need a bigger water bottle. I could have stayed out a little longer today and gone further, but I ran out of water, and for me that's a big no-no.
• I wore shorts. That's a Big Farking Deal.
• Only lost one pound last week, but that's all right. If I can get back to a pound a week, I'll be happy.
• I shaved my legs so I could wear shorts...that might be a pound right there.
• I may not resist the temptation to go back out later for an easy. Just for fun ride.
• I want cake.

23 April 2010

Max needs an iPad, too...

19 April 2010

Tell me why someone would wear this t-shirt to a TV interview about one's little brother who is recovering from a coma?

I mean...really?
Made me LOL, but...really?

16 April 2010

I had honestly expected that by now I would have reached my goal weight; we started this back in July and I was losing weight at a pretty good clip thanks to Jenny Craig, and I did reasonably well on my own after being booted out of the program—right up until the beginning of 2010. Since then, I've lost a grand total of 3 pounds, and to say I'm discouraged is an understatement.

I wasn't overeating; if anything I was under-eating, but adding a couple hundred calories a day to my diet didn't work. I was having some serious medication issues—my DDAVP was working too well, and I had to skip it a couple of nights a week in order to shed added water weight—but that shouldn't have affected my metabolism.

Other than jacking up my activity level, I'm stumped. At my height and weight, with the calorie level I've been taking in, I should be able to drool and burn body fat.

Hence, the Trikke. It's a very low impact, full body workout, and something I can do every day, especially now that I can really get it moving. I had it out for an hour this morning and half an hour again later this afternoon, and was on it for an hour yesterday...but if I don't start losing weight again, I swear, I'm throwing in the towel and going on a pizza and Sees candy diet.

I should have reached my goal by now, and frankly, I'm kinda pissed that I haven't.

14 April 2010

Just to show I can... ;) (and I apologize for the crappy video quality...it was taken with my iPhone...)




And because I was having so much fun The Spouse Thingy decided he'd give it a try, too, and damn if he didn't really get it moving his very first time on one:

13 April 2010

Sweet...I actually have a workout tool that's fun. The Spouse Thingy and I headed out this morning, him on his skates and me on my Trikke, and we zipped around the park for not quite an hour, and late this afternoon we went back out for another almost-hour. My legs are like rubber right now and my arms ache, but I had a blast. I think I've really got the hang of it; I doubt I could go uphill yet, but that's not because of not knowing what to do, it's being in such piss poor shape.

I'll get there, and it beats going to the gym by a long shot.

He may give the Trikke a try tomorrow to see if he likes it...but if he does we're buying another on because I'm not sharing. I'm mature like that.

11 April 2010

I like spiffy toys, that's no secret. My scooter, my Kindle, my new Trikke...very spiffy toys.

Someone made the mistake of pointing out a new spiffy toy that would have me surely coveting, and they were right. I want.

I'm going to share because I'm betting someone else will want it, too.

It's a StreetStrider, kind of a bike/ellpitical/jogging hybrid. Major calorie burning potential here.

The countdown to my birthday begins...now.

9 April 2010

The day before yesterday, after the Spouse Thingy nicely assembled my Trikke, I tried riding it in the court out in front of the house; the problem is that the court is just not an especially level street surface, which is not ideal for learning on. It crowns in the middle, and slopes a little bit downward on one side and upward on the other. I needed flatness, so we headed for a grade school parking lot, where I got the thing to move, decided I wanted to expand a little bit, so we went to the park where I could go round and round on the sidewalk. Flatness, other than the annoying seams in the cement.

Today I took it back out to the court, determined to figure out how to ride it there, getting it up the very, very slight incline, and still maintaining some speed.

I knew I had to lean, that's what makes it work. It finally clicked that it would move and accelerate if I rode it like I was taking a motorcycle through a slalom of cones: back and forth, weaving through the imaginary cones. It worked; other than a few times when I lost momentum because a car came onto the court, I zipped around for a hour, and only stopped because I didn't want to overdo it.

My legs are feeling it now and I may be sore tomorrow. But, this is what I wanted—a workout I would actually look forward to doing. It's supposed to rain this weekend, which is bumming me out. Not only will the Trikke stay put, but I finally got my scooter back after being in the shop for 2 weeks, and I might not be able to ride it, either (ok, I could ride in the rain, but that doesn't float my boat...)

My goal: to be able to use it as transportation, and get it over to the frozen yogurt shop where I can negate all the calories I've burned.

Everyone needs goals.

8 April 2010

Last night's freaking odd dream...

Funny: I was living inside The Big Bang Theory.

Not so funny: the Spouse Thingy was Sheldon.

7 April 2010

WooHoo. I got my new toy.




And I got it to move. I was worried because I read a ton of "I can't get this thing to move at all, what am I doing wrong?" on Trikke forums and blog posts, but part of it is not unlike being on a motorcycle--as long as you're not afraid to lean, you can make it go. To turn on a motorcycle, you have to lean; forward movement on this, you have to lean.

But dang, it is a full body workout...just what I needed, to be sure. I think I have a favorite new toy, after the Spouse Thingy and my scooter.

4 April 2010

Thanks to rain, I still haven't had a chance to take the skates outside and risk humiliation and multiple fractures. But! Thanks to the rain I've had a chance to do other things, one of which reminded me of this really cool scooter I once saw on TV, which compelled me to get online and research it.

And, well, me being me, and me being a toy whore, I developed a mad case of the Wants.

It's a Trikke. A Human Powered Vehicle. And from everything I've read, it's a bitch to learn how to ride, but once you get the hang of it, it's a royal blast and one hell of a full body workout.

Oh, yeah, I wanted once even more. Hard to ride? Phfft. Surely I would be a natural and take to it like a duck takes to water, except for that one weird little duck that used to wander around the air force base pond; all he ever did was hump other ducks, and I don't think I ever saw him in the water. I can ride a motorcycle, I can get the hang of this thing.

I hope so, anyway, because mine gets here on Wednesday...