Trash or Treasures?

Another morning was spent at the school cleaning. When I left yesterday I was left feeling a bit overwhelmed. Today, I was able to get through another filing cabinet, and most of a large standing cubbard.

It's amazing some of the things I am finding. You would have thought this teacher had never gone through some of this stuff in years. I was able to find some games from 1980, which isn't terribly old, but when you think about all the "cool" learning games there are out there today, those just weren't worth saving.

I also found some 45's... with some tunes to aid in learning the multiplication facts. I am very curious as to what the songs were like, but unfortunately I was not able to find a record player .... yet. I just may come across one before I am finished.

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Today was an easy swim. I am not too sore from lifting yesterday, but I could tell that it has been a while since I have last lifted. I didn't realize how heavy my arms were until I was in the pool... thus the reason for a short and easy swim.

OSN: 1000M, 10x100M with 1 minute RI, approx. 30 minutes.
W4D2 pushups: 78, with the 5th rep maxing out at 22!

Today's Song: O.A.R. (Of a Revolution) - Love and Memories --------->

60 minutes in the gym & music

I spent another few hours today at school. I was able to get through another filing cabinet and get rid of a handful of old books. Now, I am not one to throw away books, but when there are books on a shelf with copyrights spanning from 1954-1972, pages ripped, and coloring on some pages, I just had to toss them. They weren't worth saving. Now, if I can get the approval to have a few large items taken from my room, I can actually start re-arranging and getting things organized.

Afterwards I went to the gym. I wanted to get in a good run with some sprints, and then a heavy duty lift session working on arms and legs. By gosh, that is just what I did. Hopefully the lifting today won't affect my swim and pushups tomorrow!

As for the rest of the day, my Dad is in town on business and I look forward to joining him for dinner, a few drinks, and possibly catch the Twins game on tv. They beat the White Sox last night, who are in first place in the AL Central Division; Twins are in second. I am looking forward to them doing it again tonight... and the next.... and the next!

BTW, I don't know how many of you really look at my sidebar. I try to update the video every other day or so with a variety of music that I love to listen to .... if you are looking for something new. What I have up today is one of my favorite punk bands, Something Corporate ... enjoy.

ORN: 3.3 miles, 35:26, avg. 10:44/mile
(there were some definite sprinting going on)
Strength Training (ST) - arms & legs

Wedding #1 of 3

The quick trip, but long drive to a small town in MN for a couple of friends wedding was well worth it. The bride and groom were friends from college. My sister and brother-in-law met me there, and we were pleasantly surprised to see our friend from Cedar Rapids, IA, with his girlfriend as well. There were a few others that we knew as well, and it was wonderful to catch up with them. The wedding was beautiful, the food was good, and the dancing was necessary! It was a great time.
1 wedding down... 2 more left this summer!

It was nice to sleep in a little bit this morning, as summer school is officially over. However, I went into school today to start cleaning things out. I don't know if I have stated before, but I have moved into my own classroom, one that belonged to a teacher that retired and left everything. I was there for a little over 2 hours today and got through most of 1 filing cabinet (of 4). I am glad I have 3 weeks to shovel through things, rearrange furniture, and get organized before school starts!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

OSN: 800M, approximately 20:00, 2:30/100M
200M w/u
4x100M
200M c/d
W4/D1 pushups = 69

On the road again...

I must say, the past three days of workouts have been quite successful compared to the first two days of this week.

Wednesday I had a super successful swim, working on some super speedy sprints. Boy, that's a lot of ssssssss.

Yesterday I went out for a late run. I had gone to lunch with some teachers to celebrate the last day of summer school, which kept me from hitting the gym right away. Then, I had to let my mini burgers from Applebee's settle in... and didn't get out until 530. Probably the hottest time of the day, and did I feel it. It was a short run, but a run none the less.

Today, I was able to sleep in a bit, but got up early enough to hit the open road before it got too hot. When I left it was about 71 degrees with a mild wind of 6mph from the NW. By the time I was finished, I was pooped. It was 82 degrees with NW winds at 15mph. I had gone out on a route that our cycle group has taken, and got about 9 miles into it and had to turn around due to construction. I was fine with it because I wanted to do at least 15 miles. But, coming back was a total bee-yach. Pardon my foul mouth. I was going north and west for about 4 or 5 miles and it was brutal. The wind picked up and there was an extra uphill climb. But, once I got as far as I could go west on that road (before hitting gravel) I turned south and was happy! The wind was mostly at my back. I had to stop and take a couple breaks and thought I would give you a sight of my ride...I topped off the ride with W3D3 pushups... totaling 80 today. I barely made it through them.

Tomorrow... a nice early morning run before I head out of town again. Yep. 4 hour drive to a small town in MN for a friend's wedding.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Thursday: ORN 2.2 miles, 12:16/mile avg.
Friday: OCN 18.1 miles, 1:19:28, avg 13.7mph
W3D3 p/u = 80

****UPDATE*****

Today: ORN 2.5 miles, 30:00, 12:30/mile avg.
68 degrees, sunny, with 66% humidity

Super Stoked!

So one of my bestest friends (you read that right) emailed me last week wondering if I would like to go with her to hear one of the bestest (again, you read that right), and most hottest musicians ever! I am SUPER STOKED! We are going to hear Jonny Lang! He is a Fargo native, who started his career performing in bars at the young age of 16. Now he is pretty well known all over! We got to see him at a casino in MN many many years ago... and it was awesome then!

I am counting down the days until August 26th! That is the day the little kiddos start back up at school, but all is good. No worries. We won't be partying it up; we are just looking forward to an awesome show put on by a one-of-a-kind artist! No replay of our freakin' fantabulous times we had on that exact date a year ago... even if she is my whiskey drinkin' partner!

Did I mention he is quite attractive? With funny faces and all.
There are other attractive musicians that do the same... like, John Mayer. It's a sign that they are ... hmm... attractively-talented-musicians-that-makes-funny-faces?!

If he is coming to your area, seriously think about checking out his show. He is awesome!

Feeling "With It"

Softball went later than usual last night, due to us hanging out in the parking lot after the games and having a couple beers to celebrate 3rd place. Well, the rest of the team drank; I socialized. Honestly. I was good.

I couldn't fall asleep before midnight and was up early for work. Needless to say I was very tired this morning and didn't know what my swim was going to be like today. But, I remembered my bag! :)

Despite the late night and lack of 8 hours of sleep, the swim was great. It has been a week since I was in the pool and I was excited. At first I didn't have anything planned as to what I wanted to do in the water. But, as I was warming up, I felt it was a good day to do some intervals and work on some speed. I warmed up for 400M, then did 4x50M sprints with 1 minute R/I, another slow 400M, then 4x50M sprints again, and then a 400M cool down. It felt great.

I then came home to do my week 3 day 2 push ups. not the funnest thing to do after a hard workout in the pool, but I persevered and accomplished the task with a whopping 72 push ups!

If all goes well, I will be able to do a short run tomorrow morning as well as some strength training (focusing on the legs) on the machines before the last day of summer school with the little kiddos. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow and be sunny and warm on Friday.... when I plan to get in a nice LONG ride out on the open road!

OSN: 1600M (didn't even pay attention to the time)
400M w/u
4x50M sprints with 1 minute R/I
400M free
4x50M sprints with 1 minute R/I
400M c/d

What do they say... you get faster if you train faster?

Today ... will be a better day ...

Last night we had our softball tournament. I was quite disappointed with our short season to begin with, and then to finish it off with a 2-game tournament? Both our games were played against a division 3 team (and we are division 4). The first game we were able to get a good lead in the 2nd inning but the 3rd inning was out of control and the umpire was inconsistent with his calls and very blind. We are lucky a couple of our guys weren't kicked out of the game. The second game was just as rough, with some bad calls, but we were able to pull through and take 3rd place overall!!

It's funny because half of our team consists of teachers, mostly high school teachers. Last night our first baseman (who was a high school teacher but took a new job this summer), was hassled by a member of the other team. He had jumped to reach a ball, dropped it, and said "that's okay, we play fair" in regards to some bad calls. The member from the other team shouted "I saw the grade you gave my child!" ... he replied with "I saw the child who earned the grade." I can't believe a parent would talk smack like that during a softball game. I just had to chuckle at his response.

--------

Today, I have my gym bag packed for a long swim after work. I through the bag in front of my door, this way to make sure I don't forget it like yesterday. *see previous post*

Today, will be a better day!

Still Undecided

On my sidebar is this weeks "training" plan. Now, keep in mind I am attempting to train for the Lifenet Triathlon, although I haven't fully decided whether or not I am going to do it. I am leaner closer to the side of NOT participating. Thus, for the following reasons:

• They have upped the price this year
  
• The registration cite is still unavailable
  
• The training has been inconsistent...
• I have been gone for the past 3 weekends, and
• will be gone for 4 out of the next 6 weekends before the tri
• And it just been crazy busy with finding a house to purchase, finishing up summer school, moving into my new classroom for next year, and the meetings/training for this coming fall have just begun.

This week hasn't helped matters either. Sunday night I had my gym bag packed prior to heading to bed. On Monday after teaching the little kiddos, I was planning on hitting the pool for a short but quick swim. Then I was going to get on the bike and take advantage of the nice weather. Well, I had forgotten that I had a meeting scheduled with my principal to go over some things for the fall, and that didn't get finished before the lap swim hours were up. Damnit.

Then, I just decided to go for a run.

One would have thought I hadn't run in months. My legs were sore this morning. I packed my bag before work this morning with the idea of swimming today. I drove all the way downtown during noon rush hour, and realized I forgot to grab my bag as I left my apartment this morning. Damnit.

I didn't want to ride bike because I have softball tournaments tonight and like I already stated, my quads are a bit sore. I need them in good shape for sprinting the bases. Damnit.

I opted for a nice 3 mile walk.

This, my people, is why I try to make up a schedule, keeping in mind my work schedule, the weather, softball, being out of town, meetings, etc. And when two not-so-great days happen in a row, I can only imagine what the rest of the week will be like.

Blech.

I hope to be back tomorrow wiht a better attitude!

Family Trip in Pictures

This past weekend was wonderful. We have been to Lake Itasca State Park before, but it had to have been at least 15 years since! The weekend consisted of a lot of relaxing, a bit of walking and hiking, grilling, games, cards, ladder golf, rest, and a lot of laughs! Here's a handful of pics from my camera.


Mississippi Headwaters....
My family... minus me. hehehe.

The beginning of a 2 mile hiking trail... that was beautiful, but full of bugs!
Steph and I kayaking on Lake Itasca. It was a gorgeous evening!

Leaving for the weekend... again!

Tomorrow I leave town for a long weekend with the family. Me, my two sisters, and my parents will be spending the weekend at Itasca State Park. With that note, you will not see or hear from me in blogland until late Sunday.... I hope to get some great pictures this weekend!

On a side note, I checked me mail today and was pleasantly surprised at what I found. I received my gift from placing 9th in Viv's Weight Loss Challenge. What was my wonderful gift, might you ask? These beauties.....

I can't thank Viv enough for putting on such a wonderful challenge and Running Knitter for the wonderful socks! I am going to brag about them forever! They are so comfy and I absolutely LOVE the color! Thanks again!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. See you on the flip side!


Tuesday:
OCN - 19.5 miles, 1:36, avg speed = 11.8mph
Wednesday:
OSN - 1200M, 30:00, avg. speed = 2:30/100M

Yet Another Meme

The Streaking ended after 42 days. I took my first rest day in almost a month and a half on Sunday..... probably mostly due to feeling like crap after this. I am fine with being done with streaking... time to really focus on something else.

Yesterday I planned for a nice swim/bike brick as the weather was going to be pleasant. My swim was short and sweet. I was consistent with my breathing and strokes. Once finished I hurried home, changed into my cycling clothes, applied "sweatproof" sunscreen and got on the road before it was too hot. When I left my apartment it was 85 with UV Rays at a level 8 (high) and winds around 14 mph. There was 12mph winds when I rode last with the group so I figured I could handle this. I was only out for a little less than an hour and by the time I was home it was 89 degrees with SSW winds at 25 mph! I was dying but, I figured it would only make me stronger on the bike.

______________________

This meme couldn't come at a better time... I am still struggling with post topics. I think I was tagged by Brooke.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Ten years ago I was getting ready for my Senior year of high school. If I remember correctly I would already have had my senior pictures taken! I was working part time and enjoying my summer... looking forward to graduating in less than a year and getting the heck out of the Biz...

Five snacks I would enjoy in a perfect, non weight-gaining world:
1. French Fries
2. any form of chips, with a side of salsa or cheese dip
3. movie popcorn
4. any form of chocolate
5. chocolate cake

Five snacks I do enjoy in the real world:
1. strawberries, grapes, bananas
2. cheese and crackers
3. cereal (Cinnamon Pecan Special K)
4. fruit smoothies
5. oatmeal ... I know weird, but sometimes I crave it now.

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Travel the world.
2. Buy a home with cash.
3. Repay my parents for all they have done for me!
4. Do a race (run or triathlon) in every state.
5. Put money into different organizations ... St. Judes, Cystic Fibrosis

Five jobs I've had:
1. Assistant to a Marketing Director at a Music Store
2. "Ticket Nazi"... data entry/filing for the Parking Ticket Office on the campus of UND
3. Hostess at Applebee's... my least favorite job evah!
4. Server at Bucks Bar and Grill
5. Sales Associate/Assistant "manager" at Bath and Body Works for 5 years

Five habits
1. Addicted to Blogging
2. having a fresh glass of water at my bedside... every night.
3. play with my hair when nervous or anxious
4. I sleep on one side of the bed.
5. I have a hard time leaving dirty dishes in the sink, I usually wash them as soon as they have been used.

Five places I've lived:
1. Bismarck, ND
2. Grand Forks, ND
3. Fargo, ND
4. ...
5. .... wow. that's rediculous. Does it count that I lived in like 5 different apartment buildings in GF?

People I'd like to learn more about
1. you
2. you
3. you
4. you
5. and... you!

______________________________________________________________________
MONDAY:
BRICK
OSN: 1000M, 22:00, avg. 2:12/100M
OCN: 10.7 miles, 50:15, avg 12.7mph
______________________________________________________________________

Weekend in the Cities

A cousin of mine from the the Biz came through Friday afternoon and we drove together to the cities. When we left Fargo around 5pm, the weather was nice. About an hour and a half into the drive we came upon the worst weather EVER. We drove through rain, wind gusts from 65-85mph, and listened to multiple tornado warnings around us for about an hour. Total white nuckles on the steering wheel. I was afraid we were never going to get through the storm. It was awful. Supposedly a handful of twisters touched down that evening.

After we arrived safely in Chanhassen, we headed out for a bite to eat at B'dubs.Saturday morning Steph and I went for a nice long walk with Deja (puppy), grabbed coffee, got ready for the day and met up with a friend for lunch. It was great to catch up with her, even if it was for a short time.

Afterwards we headed back to Steph's and got ready for an awesome bachelorette party! In short, it was a super fun time! There were 7 of us total, 3 sets of sisters (my sister and I, and 4 of our cousins), and the bachelorette's step-sister. Here are a handful of pics from our night out.

sisters

sisters (bachelorette on left)Steph & I
The whole group

I can't wait to see everyone again in 6 weeks for the wedding!

Blogging Block, Updated

Do you ever sit down to write your post and have no idea what you are really going to write about, struggling with how you want to gather your thoughts and put them in cohesive order that makes sense?

Yeah, that was me today... and yesterday for sure. Thus, I haven't posted since Tuesday. I sometimes feel like my recurring posts about working out can be quite boring for y'all after a while. Maybe, I will find something interesting to blog about in the next few days... I will be heading to the Twin Cities tomorrow for my cousin's bachelorette party!

***

Last night I met up with a cousin of mine; the sister of the bachelorette. I was kindly reminded that I agreed to be the bachelorette's Personal Attendant.

What?

Supposedly, the night I was partially in charge of putting together a smashin' beer-pong playin' - strip-n-go-naked drinkin' - karaoke singin' - going away party for a couple paras from our school.... I had talked with this lovely cousin of mine via telephone ...as her and her fiance have just been transferred for work from England to Boston. That, my friends, was when she had asked me to be her Personal Attendant.

It totally slipped my mind... Why might you ask?

Because I was clearly intoxicated and she was taking advantage of the situation! Ha. I guess I was such a good PA for her sister a year ago that people just can't get enough of me! LMAO.

Then, of course her sister had to call the bachelorette and inform her of my memory loss due to being taken' advantage of under the influence of a lot of alcohol. The bachelorette then texted me.... and I had to remind her that I am totally looking forward to bending-over-backwards for her and wiping her ass if need be necessary!

___________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday:
OSN: 2200M, 60:00 ---> using the kick board slows me down a bit.
50M w/u with breast-stroke
500M free, 100M kick
550M free, 150M kick
650M free, 100M kick
100M sprint

Thursday:
ORN: 3 miles, 33:09, avg. 11:03/mile
--> Did on treadmill, too hot and humid to do outside. Felt good and faster!

UPDATE --- Friday:
OSN: 800M, 20:00, worked on speed and took about 1 minute rests between every 100M
OCN: 12.13 miles, 40:00, avg. 18.19mph
___________________________________________________________________________


Have a great weekend y'all! Hopefully I will have some fun pics to post from my weekend in the cities!

Peace :)

Rekindling a love/hate Relationship

I was hoping to get on my bike today but knew the second I was leaving for work this morning that it was not going to happen. Yesterday it was very humid and warm. A storm system came through and totally whacked up our weather. This morning when I left for work it was only in the 60's but the breeze/wind was cold. When I left work, it was 68 degrees with winds gusting anywhere from 21-30mph.

A constant breeze, or wind less than 15mph is do-able. This I have done before. But when you get those nasty gusts more than 20mph and you are out on the open roads with nothing but fields for miles... there is nothing protecting you. It would be a matter of seconds before you fly off the road!

I am just not hardcore enough to attempt this kind of weather... yet.So, even though I didn't get on my bike this afternoon, and was very pissed, very pissed... I waited all afternoon and headed to spin class this evening.

*Gasp*

rekindle
Yep. I haven't been to spin in probably 2 months and I realized how much I missed it. Some cyclists believe that spin class is nothing like riding the open roads. I agree. There are definite differences. But, I don't agree when some argue that it isn't a good workout. That is a load of bull crap! Our instructor knows her shiznit and kicks us in the ars... We work every part of the body, arms, core, and legs (obviously). Two minutes in I was dripping wet (good sign I am drinking enough water). I was dying by the time I was done. I need to get to spin class at least once every couple of weeks. It was so freakin' awesome!

OCN: 17.43 miles, 50:13, avg. 20.82mph
10 minutes of abs afterwards

Peace and Love

While at the gym today, I caught a glimpse of a news channel that was interviewing Ringo. Supposedly, today is his 68th birthday. What was on his wish list for his birthday?

Peace and Love. He just wants people to spread more peace and love... not too hard is it? Now I can do this!

Now go ahead and spread some peace and love!

Do it!

ORN: 3 miles, 33:16, avg. 11:05 min/mile
OSN: 1200M, 25:00, avg. 2:05 min/100M
1st 10 min: 450M
2nd 10 min: 500M
last 5 min: 250M

Playing catch up....

I just got home from a very nice weekend with the family in the Biz. We usually have a decent amount of family from my Dad's side down for the 4th, but this year it was just a small number... somewhat quiet and relaxing.

Thursday was nothing more than a nice relaxing day. I slept in, read my book, spent some time at the Art Fair in the park with my Mom and sister, and then we finished off the day with a nice walk around the neighborhood before the sun set. Gorgeous.

Friday morning my parents and I got up for a run before it was too hot. I only wanted to do a short distance and thought we were going to just do the 2.5 mile loop around the neighborhood. So wrong. We ended up doing the out and back path from home, and I knew that once we got to the 1 mile marker it wasn't going to be just 2 or 3 miles. Dad suggested going to the 2 mile marker and Mom was all for it. I grunted under my breath and went on. I just didn't have it in me for 4 miles. Once we were back home I was glad we went the distance. Oddly enough, after that run I am craving to get back out there and do some longer distances...

Later that afternoon a handful of relatives showed up. We grilled and enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. Later that evening we put on the layers to protect from the mosquitoes and watched our neighbors put on what seemed like a 2 hour firework show. It was crazy. We had a handful of our own, but it was nothing compared to theirs!

Most of Saturday was spent working on wedding programs. We had made the programs last summer for my sister's wedding and my cousin asked me to do hers. I couldn't turn her down. She was pretty easy to work with! It just took a bit longer than I was thinking it would. We finished them up this morning with the final touches. The theme was western, and I struggled a bit with it, but my favorite part was the boot stamp I found and then the little rinestones to put on the spurs!

We grilled again on Saturday, kabobs. It was soo good. Steph and Blaine were able to join us, but were apparently worn out from the late nights and little one's at Blaine's parents house. Poor kids.

Both Saturday and today I was able to sneak in a short walk with the family. Nothing too exciting, but it worked considering this past week was a week of recovery for me. I am looking forward to getting back in the pool tomorrow and on the bike Tuesday. I need to get back out there and increase those workouts!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Thursday Tidbits

This will be a quick post here as I am at home with the family in the Bis...

Tuesday morning I was out for a short 2.5 mile run, just under a half hour, and the weather was beautiful. It was nice and cool, about 63 degrees with a slight breeze, but the sun was still warm on the skin.

Yesterday I was up and to the pool despite the numerous drinks I had tuesday night. The drinks were not part of the plan. However, I was able to get in a very nice swim workout, working on speed with some intervals. It was just a short swim, but I consider this week to be a recovery week as the last four weeks of streaking were kind of intense at times.

After my swim I made the effort to do my pushups, 40 minutes of Turbo sculpt, and 20 minutes of Turbo Abs. When I got home to the Bis last night the family went out of a nice long walk around the neighborhood. It was absolutely beautiful out there...

I will probably be peeking in and out of blogland over the weekend, but don't expect another post from me until I get back on Sunday!

Have a happy 4th of July, y'all! Stay safe!
_________________________________________________________________________
TUESDAY
ORN: 2.5 miles, 29:00, 11:36min/mile
63 degrees, cool, and sunny
WEDNESDAY
OSN: 1000M, (w/intervals), 30:00
Turbo Sculpt
Turbo Abs
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Property Virgin

Like I stated in my post yesterday, I am in the process of trying to find a home of my own. This is a lot of work and I knew that going into it. I am still learning the ropes and all the technical jargon involved and trying to take my time. I know what I want and I most definitely know what I don't want! I have been addicted to HGTV in the past few weeks. One of my favorite shows is Property Virgin, where first time home-buyers are helped with the adventures of finding their first home.

Buying a home on your own, for the first time can be quite overwhelmed, and that is probably the understatement of the year. I definitely felt the side-effects of that yesterday. Let's just say my frustrations got the best of me and I ended up forwarding an email from my realtor on to my parents and sister, adding my own comments and questions, possibly looking for any advice they had. I couldn't have a better support group! Haha! Dad shot back a quit email calming me down, Sistah sent me an excel spreadsheet of my budget that I can play around with (yes, she is an accountant), and Mom called me later that night asking if I was okay. Love it!

This is just the beginning! Hopefully it won't be as bad as some of the horror stories I have heard!