10 November 2007

It's a small world??? Not anymore!!!

Disneyland is closing down their It's a Small World Ride for 10 months starting in January to refurbish it. Seems that boats keep bottoming out in 2 places along the ride. When this happens they have to ask people to exit the boat to lighten the load.

Disney officials, being ever tactful, say it's because fiberglass has built up on the boats over the years. They would never say it's because people have gotten fatter!!!! They are going to make the flume 1" deeper and the boats more buoyant. Right, that doesn't scream you're too fat at all.

When they do ask people to exit the boat they don't try to make them feel bad though. They give them a food coupon for their trouble. I'm pretty sure that's the last thing they need.

09 November 2007

Stumbling into the lights of the city,

and then back in the shadows again
Hanging onto the laughter
That each of us hid our unhappiness in

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Name that song and win extra credit points.

So that's what I was doing this morning, stumbling into the lights of the city I headed out on my run before the sun was even peeking over the horizon. I shuffled my schedule a little. I'm doing a full blown, 1 hour weight/interval workout tomorrow, so I blew off the strength training today and decided to do a 5k. And it was awesome!!!

There was considerably less humidity than Wednesday so I had no trouble breathing. As I said, I headed out in the dark so it was nice and cool. And I was feeling strong and ready to go. I did the 5k in 38 minutes, 1 minute faster than Saturday - Woot!!!! And I really felt like I could have kept going, but I didn't want to push it.

Vickie's having the same problem I am, holding back. Except for my Monday run, I have been feeling so awesome that I want to go further. I have to force myself to stick to the program and not to try too much too soon. The body is feeling awesome, all the way from my plantar foot to my painful shoulder. I know that the way to stay strong and injury free is to take it easy and increase the mileage gradually. I'm holding at this mileage for another week then I kick into my 10k training for the new year. I believe my 10k, New Year's Day goal is 1:05. I know I can pull this off.

Celebrity blogger news. If you look at the comments for my last post, where I was whining about the humidity, a comment was left by BreeWee. Well, Bree Wee is a star in the local triathlon scene. She is amazingly fast (1st amateur at Kona last month) as well as a mother and wife. She did the Honolulu marathon last year in 3:23, 5 months after having her son. 5 MONTHS!!! This woman totally rocks. She and I have raced together in a number of races. We did the Tinman together, she came in 1st, I came in 1,000th. We did the Great Aloha Run together, she came in 2nd, I came in 1,500th. So, okay, she's a little faster than me, the real point is she is an amazing athlete and a nice person. So go, read her blog (she just started it), and comment. That way if she goes pro you will already be a close personal friend :)

08 November 2007

Did I tell you I ran yesterday??

Cause I did. And it was ugly. But it wasn't me this time. Well, unless you count my lungs as part of me.

Yesterday was weights and running. Now it has been raining here for like 4 days. It rained pretty hard a couple of days and the ground is wet. It will take the rest of the week for it to dry out, it rained that much.

So after my weights I looked out and saw that the sky looked pretty clear so I got ready to run. As soon as I stepped outside I realized this would be a tough one. It was just before 6 am and I could feel the humidity. This is not going to be good. I headed out.

I started slow because I just knew this humidity would be a problem. But the legs felt so good I kept speeding up. I would force myself to slow down but I inevitably sped up again. I got to the halfway point and turned around. I took a short walk break as I usually do then headed off again. The way back is more downhill and so I tend to go a little faster. I noticed I was going faster but didn't think much of it. After about a minute or two I had to stop and walk for a second. The air had gotten so thick, I felt like I was trying to breath water. As soon as I recovered I started running again - slowly.

I hit this section of the route near the end that's a pretty steep downhill. I sail down the hill and am moving at a good clip when I hit the bottom. I'm cruising along and suddenly my breathing increases and I feel like I can't get air. I stop running and stand there for a minute panting and trying to calm down. I have never had anything like that happen. It was horrible. I think I can understand what asthmatics feel now. That is not fun. And, as soon as I started to feel like I wasn't getting air I started to panic. I realized immediately it was the humidity and breathing too hard. I just needed to calm down and get my breathing under control. Which I did and finished my run with no problems.

We have high humidity here but it's not often it feels like it did yesterday morning. As you stepped outside it felt like someone was applying pressure to your lungs. I have to remember to go super slow on days like that. It was bad.

Today I did intervals on the bike in the studio. That was much better. Of course, it's not near as humid as yesterday morning. Okay, now you're all caught up on my life :)

07 November 2007

Lose it or pay

I was watching The Early Show on CBS this morning and they did a story on health insurance that I found fascinating.

It seems the cost for health insurance in Bentonville, Ar. county government was out of control. They were operating with a $50,000 deficit. They needed to do something to try and get these skyrocketing costs under control. They changed their deductible policy. In 2004 there was a $750 deductible. In 2005 they raised it to $2,750. A rather dramatic increase. But, they had a way for you to lower your deductible to $500 if you just did a few simple things. Got healthy. If you could pass a medical test that showed your cholesterol was below 160, glucose was below 126, blood pressure was below 140/90, and you didn't smoke, your deductible would drop to $500. This program not only worked, but after 17 months they had a $1,000,000 surplus in the fund.

They interviewed employees and they said when it first went into effect they were mad. They felt like their rights were being violated and they were being told how to live. The interviewer even said, you're, "forcing a lifestyle on your workers." I thought to myself, no they aren't. They are offering their workers a choice. If you continue living the way you are you will pay more. If you are willing to make some small changes, eat less-move more, you will pay less. This is, in my mind, very similar to a good driver discount on your car insurance. If you go for so long without an accident or a ticket you get a discount on your rate or deductible or whatever. I think that makes perfect sense, if you are willing to work harder you get greater benefit. Hmmm, sounds a lot like what this country was built on.

What really struck me about this story, and shows like the Biggest Loser, is that these people did it. I don't know how long they had been obese, I don't know if they ever tried to lose weight before. But they were faced with a choice, they made the choice and got to work. Nobody tried to sue, although I doubt they would have had a case as the county wasn't denying them health insurance, they did whine and moan, but they did it. All the employees they talked to have lost weight.

It really just makes the point I've made before, if you want to lose weight you will. People who say they can't lose weight are full of crap, they just chose not to try. Trust me, I know better than anyone that it is not easy, it's not fun, but it is so worth it. Just put down the donut and get off your butt, works every time.

06 November 2007

If I ruled the world,

so much of this stuff would be taken care of.

People are starting to come around to the wonderfulness that is chiropractic. TriShannon had her first visit today and was shocked by the improvement. I know many people don't like, believe, or whatever, chiropractic care. But I can't tell you how good I feel.

Okay, I was actually thinking about this today so I may as well do my post on it. The journey to wellness with chiropractic is not a straight, flat road. There are hills and valleys all along the way. For a few weeks I'd been feeling pretty good. 3 weeks ago I had an adjustment and for a few days after I felt bad. Things hurt. My back felt like it kept popping out of place and I had to do some yoga stretches to loosen it up. My shoulder was really bothering me. I thought for a while that I might actually have a rotator cuff problem. Apparently these passed.

I realized this morning that I feel good, really good. And I've felt that way for a few days now. Probably all weekend. Isn't that annoying when you hurt and it goes away and you can't remember when it stopped. So I've been feeling really good. I have tons of energy. I'm having some really good workouts (except that lousy run yesterday but that doesn't really count). I do not remember when I last felt this good. Which started me to thinking.

It's been almost 3 years since I felt this good. I think I was feeling bad for a really long time and it was dragging me down in ways I can't even remember. I think I was basically living in a state of constant pain and it was wearing me down. This led to less workouts which led to more pain. It's a vicious cycle. But now I feel great and I plan on never feeling like that again.

So there you have it. My brilliant revelation for the day. This morning I did some ab work and HIIT. And it stopped raining. Yea!!!

05 November 2007

Dreary Monday....

It's raining again today. Already I've had enough of this, some sun please!!

I did manage to get my run in this morning between rains storms. It was a tough, brutal run. I felt slow (I was) and tired and really didn't want to do it. But I did, I dragged myself 2.5 miles and I was glad I did when I was done.

Yesterday I went and got new shoes because of my knee hurting. I got the Asics Gel Kayano for their heavy duty cushioning. I wore them this morning on my run and it was great. The shoes felt good and my knee didn't bother me all day. So I think I solved that problem.

What else?? Nothing really. I'm tired of the rain and ready for it to be gone.

04 November 2007

Sometimes being right sucks....

I planned yesterday for it to be rainy today and is it ever. It's been raining, pretty heavily, since midnight. The way the sky looks and the fact that there's no wind makes me wonder if it's ever going to end. Maybe I should spend the day building an ark!

Looking out my window I can see the birds sitting on the telephone wires taking showers in the rain. How cute. Speaking of birds, you are now reading the writings of the new President of the Aloha Hawaii Parrot Association. We had a meeting yesterday and everyone wanted to do other things so I agreed to be President, unless someone comes along and wants the position :) The parrot club has been limping along for a couple of years now. For the last year or so 1 person has been running the whole thing. She has decided to step down and me and a couple of other people agreed to step up and help. The other lady, who is in charge of programs, has some really amazing ideas for the club. I really think it's going to be an awesome year. We want to build up membership and make the club something all bird people turn to. So this should be a fun year.

It's raining so much that the water is running through the area where I keep my washer and dryer. I'm a little afraid to do laundry because I don't know how wet it's gotten back there. I'd prefer to wait until it stops raining to run them. I'm really not in the mood for an electrical fire or shorting them out. So I can't do that. I could ride the bike on the trainer just for something to do. Hmmm....... I know, I'll go lay on the couch and read a book. I have a running book and triathlon book I want to look at. Plus it's only 7:45 a.m., I can wait a little longer.

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...