Day 8

Frustration is setting in. I took a break from running because my shins couldn't take anymore pounding. This morning I went to the gym, intent on continuing my training. First round was great. I walked for 3 minutes and jogged for 4. I was huffing and puffing, but I managed to jog the entire 4 minutes with minimal pain. Yay! Time for round 2. I walk for 3 minutes and then I start jogging again. This time, I'm huffing and puffing like I'm a smoker and my chest is getting tight. WTH?!? My shins start twinging a little but it's not so bad that I can't press through. I get to the 3 minute mark and hit a wall. BAM! My legs wouldn't let me continue. I slow it down and walk so that I can catch my breath. I'm disappointed as hell. I don't know if it's a mental block but I can't seem to get to that 4 minute mark on a consistent basis.

I continue to walk and then decide to walk 2 minutes and jog 2 minutes. I figured that's better than nothing. I do this for 2 cycles and then I can't take it anymore. I hop off the tread at the 30 minute mark and go to the recumbent bike for 10 minutes. My legs are like jello and they are screaming!

Even though my race training didn't go the way I wanted to, I did have a great cardio workout. I finished off with abs and much needed stretching. I won't be running tomorrow cause I want give my shins a rest. I'll be back on Sunday.

The Great Gatsby

I've just finished reading "The Great Gatsby." One of my goals for 2009 was to read a great American novel. I chose "The Great Gatsby" because suprisingly, I never read it in high school. It was a suprisingly a short book - only 180 pages. But it took me two weeks to read it. It was hard for me to get entrenched in the book at the beginning due to the writing style of F. Scott Fitzgerald. But I pressed on and started to really enjoy reading it.

I couldn't get over the vanity and shallowness of some of the main characters - Tom, Daisy, Jordan and Gatsby. I felt pity for Nick as he seemed completely out of his element. I don't feel sorrow for Gatsby because I don't believe his love for Daisy was true. I think she was an obsession, an object that he wanted to possess. I enjoyed the book and I am happy that I chose it as my first American novel to read for 2009.

My next selection is "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. Another novel that I didn't have the pleasure of reading in high school. I'll probably start reading "Of Mice and Men" in March. Right now I need to start the VCA Good-Trash Reading Movement. I've received the first two books in the Casteel series in the mail so I need to get cracking. I haven't read VCA since I was a teen so it will be interesting reading her novels as an adult.

Winter decides to make an appearance

Right now it's snowing. We haven't had any measurable amount of snow all winter. Personally, I was hoping that we wouldn't get any snow during month of January. I was so close! Four days shy. Oh well, can't win them all. We're supposed to get 1-3 inches. That's not much compared to some areas in the country but for the DMV, that's a lot. We (collective) do not know how to drive in the snow. We don't know how to drive in rain, sleet, drizzle, bright sunshine. So needless to say, the afternoon rush hour commute is going to be horrendous.

Right now the snow is looking nice and pretty. I''m looking at it from my office at work. The cars on the street below are already struggling. It's only been snowing for 40 minutes. And i t's not a heavy snow! Sheesh!

Tonight the snow is supposed to change over to sleet and freezing rain. Good times. That should be interesting. Hopefully school will be closed tomorrow so I can have a snow day at home. Keeping fingers crossed. :-)

Slip Up

Today I don't know what was going on with me but I was letting little, tinny, insignificant things piss me off. One of my goals is to not sweat the small stuff. But today, that goal went out the window. I guess I was in a mood - maybe - and things were just getting to me. I went to the gym thinking a vigorous cardio session will help shake off whatever's bugging me. Did it work? Nope. Maybe a little but not enough. I'm still annoyed. I'm in my own little world because I don't want to snap at anyone. Hopefully things will be better in the morning.

Day 7 - Continued

I went to the gym tonight. It was packed. All of the treadmills were being used so I got on the stair climber for 15 minutes. Luckily a treadmill became free and I hopped right on it. I walked for 3 minutes and then kicked it up to start jogging for 4. And then the burn set in. Like this morning, my calf muscles were on FIRE! I could only take it for two minutes and then I had to slow it back down. The burn continued while I was walking. So after 15 minutes, I hopped off the Tread and got on the bike. I don't know what the heck is going on. I didn't have this problem Saturday. What's the deal? I need to find out because I'm not going to make any progress if this continues. *sigh*

Day 7 - Feel the Burn!!

Today is the beginning of week 3 training. And the training kicks it up a notch. A big notch! Even though the last 2 weeks I haven't been consistent with the training, I decided to go ahead and move on to week 3 training. Today I woke up at 4am to go to the gym. I am determined to get into the habit of going in the morning to 1. Beat the evening crowds and 2. Get it out of the way. Before walking out the door, I look at my training sheet and gasp. It says: "Walk 3 minutes, run 4 minutes. Try repeating this 4 times. Whaaaat! What happened to walking 4 minutes and running 3 minutes? They totally skipped over that! Okay, I can do this I tell myself as I'm walking out the door.

I hop on the treadmill and decide to skip the warm (bad idea) and walk for 3 minutes. I then crank up the treadmill to 4.5 and get my jogging on. So far, so good. I look at the timer and 2 minutes have passed. I'm thinking, this is easy. What was I worried about? Then I hit the 3 minute mark. And the burn set in. My calves were on fire! But I tough it out and after 4 minutes, I slowed the treadmill down and went back to walking. The burn continues and it doesn't seem like it's going to subside. So I pause the treadmill and stretch out my calf muscles. I resume walking and after another 3 minutes, I start jogging again. This time it's not easy and I'm grimacing the entire time. After 2 minutes, I slow it down and walk. After another couple of minutes, I get off the treadmill.

I don't know what was going on today but I could not muster through. The burn was too much for me to bear. Maybe I need to do calf exercises to build them up. I decide to weight train afterwards and I made sure to include calf raises.

I'm going to head back to the gym tonight and give it the old college try. Let's hope I'm successful.

Taste of Spring

Today Mother Nature is teasing us. It is 53 degrees and sunny. After weeks of bitingly cold weather where we were in the teen's during the day and had single digit temps at night, today we get a taste of spring. I curse you Mother Nature! Tomorrow it will be back in the low 30s. Damn! It was nice while it lasted.

Blog name change

You may have noticed that I changed the name of my blog. I thought that Adventures of the Whitmore Family was a little boring and deceiving. My blog wasn't totally focused on my family. So I hope the new title explains more about my life and what I want from life. I will continue blogging about family and my life and things that are important to me. To me laughing is the easiest thing to do. I laugh all the time. I laugh at everything. It could be the silliest joke, comment, or look and I will laugh. Not a little giggle, but I loud, boisterous laugh where people start looking at me as if to say: "It wasn't that funny". When we're emailing, IM-ing, chatting, or texting we use LOL with abandon. We use LOL when we have no other response to give. My goal is to continue to laugh out loud. I don't care if I get weird looks. Laughing lifts your mood. It keeps you young. It erases wrinkles. It makes you look good. No one looks good frowning.

So here's a big LOL to everyone. Don't just type it, Do It!

Day 6

Okay...so I'm still not back on track. But I'm slowly getting there. Seriously. I trained last night and it felt great. I added 30 minutes of walking and weight training to mix it up. This is how it went:

Walked - 30 minutes - 3.7 mph
Weight trained - 30 minutes
Treadmill again - running:
Walking - 5 min - 3.7 mph
Jogging - 2 min - 4.5 mph
Walking - 5 min - 3.7 mph
Jogging - 2 min - 4.5 mph
Walking - 5 min - 3.7 mph

I was tired when I was done but I felt great. My shins are still hurting. I don't know what to do about that. I've been stretching. I wonder if it's my tennis shoes or my running style. I don't know. I will be training tonight. The weather is going to be mild so I won't be afraid of going out into the brisk cold air. I hope to not let the weather deter me from reaching my goal. It's tough cause it's so COLD outside. You just want to stay inside where it's nice and warm. Hmmmmmm.

V.C. Andrews "Read The Good-Trash" Movement

I stumbled upon this challenge/movement while reading "Pop Candy" on USA Today.com. I remember reading "Flowers in the Attic" in middle school and becoming an instant V.C. Andrews fan. The book was as titillating as Judy Blume's "Forever". Incest, crazy grandmother, and a dead author who managed to continue releasing new novels posthumously. It should be fun reading her books again, as an adult, and see if they're just as good as I remembered. Probably not, but I'm looking forward to re-reading her books. I was supposed to start this challenge a couple of weeks ago so I better hop to it. I'm already behind. Yikes!

What - V.C. Andrews "Read The Good-Trash" Movement
Who - Hosted by The Chick Manifesto and Reviewer X

When - 2009
How - Read 1 book a month for 11 months of 2009
Why - To see if these books were as good as you remembered them to be.

Click here for the details. Also for a complete list of V.C. Andrews' novels, click here.

For this challenge I've decided to read the following books:

• The Casteel Series - Heaven, Dark Angel, Fallen Hearts, Gates of Paradise, Web of Dreams


• The Cutler Series - Dawn, Secrets of the Morning, Twilight's Child, Midnight Whispers, Darkest Hour


• The Dollanger Series - Flowers in the Attic

I vaguely remember the plots and characters of all the books listed above so it will be like reading them for the first time for me. I will be going to the library this weekend to pick up the Casteel series. Hopefully, they will have all of them.

Enjoy!

2009 Goals update

We're 3 weeks into the new year and I figured I'll provide an update on how I'm doing with my 9 goals for 2009. I've started a couple of my goals. I've started training for a 5k race. I was gung-ho about running and was going to the gym on a consistent basis. This lasted for two weeks. And then it started getting cold...really cold. I've slacked off and I'm really disappointed in myself. I am slowly getting back on track and I am trying not to let the winter weather prevent me from doing what I need to do.

I have made a conscious effort to stop sweating the small stuff and to be more positive. It's not easy. When I've slipped, I've acknowledged that I shouldn't have let something get to me. So I think that's progress. Normally I would fuss and steam over it for at least 30 minutes, if not the rest of the day.

I just received "The Great Gatsby" in the mail this week. It's much thinner than I'd thought which means I'll probably end up reading a couple of great American novels. I'm planning on starting TGG later this week.

I've started 3 of my 9 goals which isn't bad. It's only January. I have 11 months to complete my list.

I'm looking forward to becoming a better Marquetta.

Piece of History

The Washingpost put out a commemorative issue today celebrating the historical election of Barack Obama. I went to the store and purchased my little piece of history for $1.80. My plans are to frame it along with the commemorative issue on Election night, when Barack won.


I will be collecting all things Obama. This is history. I want to savor it and be able to share it for future generations. And say "look how far we've come."

In-AWE-guration 2009

What a day! What a historical, momentous day. I spent the majority of the day - starting at 6:00am - watching the Inauguration coverage. And I am overwhelmed. Seeing the thousands upon thousands of Americans converging on the Mall in the early hours of a bitter cold morning, carrying their American flags and wearing their Obama buttons, hats, and scarves, was powerful and inspiring. Even though I wasn't on the Mall with the masses, I felt like I was a part of it. The excitement vibrated through the television. Today was a great day for American and for the world. I hope the unity, inclusiveness and togetherness that was seen today continues. This is what America is about. We are one inspite of our differences.

I watched the Inauguration coverage wearing my Barack The Vote t-shirt that I bought early Spring 2008. I wore my t-shirt with pride and with some trepidation. I weathered the dirty looks that I would get when I'd wear the t-shirt out in public. I braced myself for confrontation. But I was not going to back down. I had faith in Barack Obama and wanted him as my President. No one was going to try to intimidate me to the point where I would be scared to wear my t-shirt. I sipped from my Inauguration 2009 mug while watching American history being made.

I am inspired and have renewed hope for our country and our future.

YES WE CAN!

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Today most of us are not at work because the nation is celebrating the birth of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King would have been 80 years old. If he were alive today, what would he think about the United States of America electing its 1st black President? I think he would be proud and knew that this day would come. As he said in his last speech before he was assassinated, "...I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!"

And we have gotten there. Tomorrow will be a momentous occassion in American History. A country built on the backs of slaves will be swearing in its first black President. But we also have much more work to do. I hope complacency does not take root. There is still much inequality in this country and we must continue to fight. Dr. King planted the seed with the Civil Rights Movement. The election of Barack Obama is a great foundation to continue moving forward. But we must not forget we still have a long way to go.

This is a great time in our country's history and I feel blessed to be a part of it and to share it with my family and friends. Darrius is especially excited about Obama and I love seeing the excitement in his eyes. I hope when he has kids that having a Black President will not be the exception but the rule.

Day 5

It has been bitterly cold the last couple of days. The temps have not gotten above freezing. With that being said, it's been extremely difficult getting to the gym. The thought of going out in the freezing temps has been keeping me out of the gym this week. This morning I braved the 8 degree weather and went. It was freezing! I couldn't wait for my leather seats to warm up because my tushy was getting frostbite. Once I arrived at the gym, I was happy to see I wasn't the only one to brave the subzero weather.

Today I walked for 5 minutes and jogged for 2. I had a 5 minute warm-up and cool down. The jogging was good. I didn't feel as out of breath as I did on Day 4. I'm hoping this means my body is getting used to the training which is great! Tomorrow is session 3 of the 5/2 training. Then starting next week, I amp up the jogging to 3 minutes. Wow. That seems like a lot but I know I can do it - one minute at a time.

I'm still have shin problems. The pain alternates from left shin to right shin. I guess when one starts hurting I adjust my running gait to ease the pain which causes the other one to start hurting. I'm continuing the stretching. I actually look forward to stretching now. It's no longer something that I do half-heartedly. Stretching feels GOOD. I also weight trained today. I need to tone my leg muscles and build up the strength in me quads so that my knees won't be affected by the runnning.

All in all it was a great workout.

Day 4

This week I've been slacking, BIG TIME. I was supposed to start my Week 2 training on Monday but the lazy bug infected me. And it's SO cold outside!!! It's hard to leave the comfort of my nice, warm home to brave the cold winter weather outside. But I finally did it - with a nudge and word of encouragement from my hubby. So today was the beginning of my week two training.

5 minute warm up
Walk for 5 minutes - 3.7 mph
Jog for 2 minutes - 4.5 mph
Walk for 5 minutes - 3.7 mph
Jog for 2 minutes - 4.5 mph
Walk for 5 minutes - 3.7 mph
Jog for 2 minutes - 4.5 mph

The two minutes of jogging nearly killed me. I was huffing and puffing and sweating. It felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. But I did it and I'm proud of myself. I've noticed that stretching afterwards has helped a lot. When I normally did cardio, I wouldn't stretch at all. Now I realize how important it is.

My second session will be tomorrow - hopefully. I need to make up for my laziness. It's nearly impossible for me to drag my behind to the gym on a Friday. Just can't do it. One of these days....

Now I'm going to continue to laze on the couch, drink my protein shake and figure out how to drag my weary body to the bathroom to take a nice, hot shower.

Side note: I really need to get that second pair of running shows. STAT!

Winter Basketball

Winter Basketball season has started. Saturday Darrius had his first basketball game. The boys - The Terminators - had a great game. They worked well as a team. They listened to their coach - who's a 18 year-old senior in high school - they passed the ball and they communicated. Darrius is the point guard and was not selfish about passing the ball to his teammates. Everyone on the team scored and they won! 44-8. Darrius had 2 points, 13 assists, 1 block (what! LOL!) and 1 steal.

A funny tidbit is the name of the plays that the coach has designed for the team. It was funny watching Darrius take the ball down the court yelling "Bacon!" Bacon? What? But it works. Their plays are Bacon, Oreo 1, Oreo 2, Motion and Free Throw. Whatever works. And the kids know what the plays mean so they don't have a problem with the play names.

Day 3 (unofficial)

It wasn't officially a training day but I took it upon myself to train off schedule and it HURT! My schedule is Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I went to the gym Thursday night to do my regular workout (weights and cardio). I hopped on the treadmill to warm up and get my cardio on when I decided I should do my interval walk/jog training instead. And on top of that, instead of running for 1 minute, I'm going to run for 1 minute 30 seconds! Take that! Ha! Annnd instead of doing the intervals 3 times, I'm going to do it 4 times. And after doing all that for a total of 45 minutes on the tread, I'm then going to hop on the stairclimber for 15 minutes for a total of 60 minutes of intense cardiovascular activity. Needless to say, at the 59:55 mark, my legs felt like wet noodles. I managed to stretch for 10 minutes even though I wanted to take a nap on the mat. The moment I got home, I flopped on the couch and did not want to move an inch. Of course, Darrius runs up to me and asks me to make him something to eat. Ugh! Can't you fix yourself a bowl of cereal? Mommy's legs are D-E-A-D.

While I was jogging, I started getting a pain in my left chin. I made sure to pay extra attention to it while I was stretching. I'm also taking MSM for my joints. I need to get a second pair of running shoes. The pair I have now is going to get worn out pretty quickly.

Next week I bump it up to 2 minutes. I can't wait! I'm enjoying this. I actually look forward to going to the gym. Imagine that.

Day 2

Day 2 of my training. It was tough. I don't know if it's due to me using a different treadmill than I did on Day 1 or what but tonight, it hurt. I was breathing heavier and at the one minute mark I slowed down to walking speed. There was no feeling of "oh, I can keep going" and "this feels good." I think my body has caught on to what I'm trying to do and it's starting to rebel. I was on the treadmill for 30 minutes - 5 minute warm up, 21 minutes of the walk/jog, and 4 minutes of walking. When I got off the 'mill I was drenched in sweat. The first day of training I barely broke a sweat. So what does this mean? I don't know. I do know that I stretched post-workout. And it felt good. My legs are still tight but I'm hoping they will loosen up as time goes on.

Today was an eye opener. This is not going to be easy especially when I start increasing the jogging/running minutes.

I'm feeling good....tight legs and all.

Looking for more races

Yesterday I spent some time on the internet looking for 5k races. I want to run a couple of 5k races before the Race for the Cure. I should be finished with my 10 week training by mid-March and would like to get a couple of 5ks under my belt. I found a great website www.runningintheusa.com. It lists all races - 5k, 10k, half marathons, marathons - by state. The list is not complete since we're only 7 days into the new year. There are a couple that caught my eye and I can't wait to sign up for them. One in particular is the Run Amuck race at Quantico Marine Base. It's a 4 mile off-road race where you navigate obstacles like hay bales, a tire challenge, and cargo nets. The race culminates with a 1.5 foot deep mud pit. It sounds fun and challenging and dirty.

Right now I'm really gung ho about this running thing. I know I'm only a couple of days into it and haven't done any real running as of yet. I hope the excitement never wears off because I'm excited and really looking forward to it.

Day 1

Today was the first day of my 5k race training. I'm supposed to walk 6 minutes, then run for 1 minute. I'm supposed to do this three times during one session, three times this week. After reading what I needed to do, I said, "Oh, this is easy. I can do that." And it was easy. I set the time on the treadmill for 45 minutes. The actually "training" aspect was only going to be 21 minutes and I still wanted to get my cardio in for the day. Because I'm so out of shape, I walked at only 3.7 mph and had to hold onto the treadmill for most of the walking part. I remember when I could walk at 4.0 mph. I'll get back to 4.0 before I know it. When I got to the 6 minute mark, I cranked the speed up to 4.5. I didn't want to overdo it. At 4.5 I got a nice easy jog. The first minute went by and I slowed back down to 3.7. I was breathing a little hard but that's okay. I have no endurance. After another 6 minutes, I cranked it back up to 4.5. This was a little more difficult because I was starting to get tired. I was breathing harder but finished the 1 minute jog. The last minute long jog, I felt great. I was in a groove. I was tempted to continue jogging past the 1 minute mark but I decided to stick to what I should be doing. I finished off my workout by walking for the remaining minutes.

When I got off the treadmill, I noticed that my legs were tight and that my left knee was a little sore. I've been having problems - nothing major - with my left knee since the summer. I stretched the best I could. I realized I need to become more flexible. I'm thinking I need to find a yoga class or buy a DVD that I can do at home. I think loosening my muscles will help me with the running.

Day One wasn't bad. I felt good. My legs were a little tight but I'm going to work on that with continued stretching.

Maybe this running thing won't be that bad.

Let me introduce myself...

I am 35 years old. I'm 60 pounds overweight. And I am not a runner. I hate running. I try to avoid running at all costs. I remember when I tried out for the volleyball team in 11th grade and we had to run laps and run suicides, I was seriously offended. I told my coach, "This is why I tried out for volleyball, to avoid having to run!" So how did I end up blogging about running my first 5k race? Well, it started when I was on the metro, on my way to work, and saw a sign for the Avon Walk. When I got to work, I went on their website to get more information. First the walk is for 2 days, which isn't too bad. But then I saw that you had to raise $1,800. If you couldn't get that amount in contributions, you had to make up the difference. I didn't think I'd be able to get that much money, not in this economy. So then I went on the Susan G. Komen website. I decided I'd sign up for the Race for the Cure. While perusing the website, a thought hit me. Ping! I could try to run instead of walk! Whaaaat! Is that me saying that? But the more I thought about it, the more I warmed up to the idea. I need to step outside of my comfort zone. So I googled "how to train for a 5k" and of course tons of information was at my fingertips. I printed off a 5k training plan that will take 10 weeks; plenty of time to prepare for the Race for the Cure.

Here I am...soon to be runner. A person who tells her husband almost daily that she hates running and she will never run. I am eating my words.