The Quest for a Mile

Wow, 1:30! It's hard to believe that it was less than a week ago that I was only jogging for one minute at a time, and worried that I might not have been able to do it! I am seriously feeling very proud of myself, because I have wanted to do this for a long time, and for the first time it feels attainable. Some days are harder than others, even in this short time span, but I've only grown, and I'm feeling great. :)

Okay, my stats this go-around: I jogged for 1:30, walked for three minutes. I burned 266 calories, and ultimately walked 2.098 miles. It took me 48 minutes.

Might I also add that I did this exercise bout after taking my dog Lola for a walk and playing around with her for about an hour? Our walks are intense -- probably 45 minutes of that was walking her. She LOVES to walk. Remember how I commented a couple of posts ago about how I bought a toy that allows me to throw her a tennis ball and I don't have to bend over so far to pick it up once she brings the ball back? Well, she is a great fetcher ... until about the 4th time. Then she is bored with it and wants to go for a walk! I couldn't help but wonder why I couldn't have a dog that would let me sit in a chair with a glass of cool ice tea and just let me occasionally throw her a ball to exercise her. But ohhhhhh no, she wants me involved! I laughed and figured that was probably what I needed anyway. She's my buddy so I can't stay mad at her. :)

Well, until tomorrow, guys! I'll be inching my way closer to running for 2 minutes at a time! Hooray!!

Posted in: accomplishments, dog walking, fetching, goals on Saturday, July 25, 2009 at at 9:21 PM 1 comments  

Okay, so this post is a day late, but I haven't had internet access. I helped move my sister-in-law into her new apartment yesterday, so all day was a sweatin' kind of day. Around 9:45 when we were all done, I said, "Hey, let's go work out in the apartment complex's gym." She was all for that, so we went and exercised there.

Now let me stress to you that I was working out with my husband's sister. I have previously mentioned that my husband is the pinnacle of athletic perfection without even trying. His sister is no exception. (It occurred to me a couple of years ago that, when hanging out with my husband and his sister, I am suddenly the slow, fat kid with asthma, even though in a typical crowd I might not be stereotyped that way quite so fast!) She ran cross country in high school (even won state!) and she has kept up her slim-n-trim figure all through college. On a fat day, she is a size two (at a height of 5'7"), and this is no exaggeration. I even felt selfconscious walking next to her in her short shorts that looked perfect on her, and I was in my lightweight sweatpants that demurely hide the cottage cheese which lies beneath.

There were two treadmills in the gym; one was much more savvy than the other one. I let her pick, saying that she knows more about what she's doing than I do. She took the more technologically-advanced one. This was fine with me, even though after I started running it became painfully obvious that the belt needed tightening on my treadmill. I kept slipping on it! I couldn't really let myself go as I normally do at home (I suppose possibly for several reasons), and also my standard speed of 4 didn't feel nearly as fast as it did on my treadmill at home, so I went at a speed of 4.7 on this foreign treadmill. It was quite an adventure, let me tell you.

Anyway, it said that I burned 253 calories, but I don't know how well I trust the thing. How I missed my treadmill at home!!

At the end of the workout, she looked over at me and asked about my running pattern. I was telling her about it, and she seemed really impressed by how quickly I am picking it up. That made me feel pretty good, even if she burned more calories on the elliptical machine alone waiting for me to finish after she had already jogged her 3 miles at a 7.6 speed. Oh, well. You've gotta crawl before you can walk, right?

Well, I think I'm gonna go outside and horse around with Lola for a little bit, and then I'll come back inside and run my mile for today ... 1:30, here I come!!

Posted in: athletic perfection, belt slipping, fat kid with asthma, goals, sister-in-law, treadmill on at at 7:05 PM 1 comments  

Whew! So I just jogged for my first session. I jogged for one minute and walked for two minutes. It took me a grand total of 47 minutes (boo on that!). I burned 262 calories, and ultimately walked 2.065 miles.

It was rough, but it was do-able. I was feelin' pretty good until about the 5th round, then it started getting a little harder to breathe. Sure was happy to get to that last round!!

I thought it was ironic that on the 6th round, a commercial came on TV that was for helping people out with credit card debt. That in and of itself is not ironic, but the pitch for the commercial was. A very serious man in a suit was standing on a treadmill, and he said, "Does it feel like you are stuck on a treadmill?" Panting and sweating and jogging, I was like, "Well, good job, Detective Obvious!" He went through his spill, and at the end of the commercial they zoomed in on his face and he pointed out directly at me, serious as a hellfire and brimstone minister, and said, "Why wait any longer? Get OFF the treadmill!"

And I was like, "Et tu, TV?" That was just mean.

But anyway, I'm so happy to be done until tomorrow!! (Isn't that truly the best part of exercise?? Fo sho!) Until then...!

Posted in: goals, jogging, running, TV betrays on Monday, July 20, 2009 at at 3:37 PM 3 comments