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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Boastful or Motivational?


That is a picture of my "bling board."  It used to hang on the wall right next to my desk at work when I was in the courthouse.  Looking at it made me happy.  Plus, when attorneys or the public needed to sit at my desk, it gave us something to talk about while I was entering info in the computer.  So it served a purpose.  (Other than the self-serving purpose of making me happy.)

When I left that job for my short stint at the prison, the dismantled bling board stayed at home.  Trust me, when you work at a prison, you want NOTHING personal hanging around.  The less they know about you, the better.

The medals are now scattered in random places throughout the house, my Tough Mudder headbands are in my car, the pics and other fun things are probably in the same bag I put them in to bring them home from work.

Now, my dilemma is this: do I resurrect the bling board, or just hang up a plain old bulletin board?

There is a ton of blankness on the walls in my space at Gracedale.  I brought in just the bulletin board and need to hang it.  But I don't know what to put on it.

I was talking to one of my new co-workers, and telling her how I like to run, and lost a bunch of weight, and like to do crazy things and call them fun.  I told her how at my other job, I had my bling board and that it not only made me happy, but served a dual purpose.  I then told her I wasn't sure about hanging my bling board, with my medals, at my current job because it would appear boastful.

She looked at me like I was crazy and said she didn't think it would be boastful at all.  She thinks it is motivational.

What?

Really?

What do you all think?  I don't want to look like an asshole at my new job by hanging a bulletin board and putting my medals all over it.  I don't really have many people from the public at my desk, so the only purpose it would serve is to make me happy.

Does that make me boastful?  Or just someone who enjoys looking at what she's done?  I have to admit, I am proud of that stuff.  But would hanging that stuff at work make me an ass?

Opinions please!

(Ha.  Like how I almost force you to reply to this one?)

Monday, November 26, 2012

Holy Back Craziness

I don't mean to keep going on about this, but I really need to share.

I am utterly amazed at how well my back held up this weekend.  Like I mentioned in my previous blog, I spent a decent amount of time hacking away at some trees with both an ax and a hand saw.  Most of the axing was done to branches that were overhead, and a bunch of the swinging motions were awkward, simply because of all the branches that were hanging everywhere.  During most of the hand sawing, I was hunched over, trying to figure out the best way to balance the logs I was cutting through.

Not the best situation for someone who randomly has crazy back problems that freeze up my neck and make it impossible to turn my head.

I thought for certain I was going to wake up this morning, laying face down, unable to move.  Seriously.  I thought I wouldn't even be able to lift an arm if I had to call out of work.  Remember, I'm the chick who took batting practice at softball about a year ago, and after ten swings, threw my back out and had to go to the chiro for an adjustment.

So, imagine my surprise when I got up this morning and had no problems.  None. At. All.  In fact, the sorest part of my body were my hands!  I have a weak grip, and apparently did a great deal to help strengthen it this weekend!

Obviously, my point in this blog is not to gloat.  (Okay, maybe it isn't obvious.  I just hope I don't sound like I'm gloating.)  My point is this.....if you would have asked me a year ago to go out and chop wood and swing an ax and use a hand saw for several hours, I would have laughed in your face.

Now, I feel strong.  I had no clue how much my back/shoulders/arms have been changing.  I know that since my hobbling I've been focusing much more on the upper body lifting-wise, but didn't realize what a difference all that lifting has done.  I have to admit, while I was swinging that ax, I was much more aware of my body....tightening my core, planting my feet, my shoulders helping control the swing.  With the hand saw, well, I could feel my lats and traps pushing and pulling to help with each swipe of the blade.  Plus, it helps that I'm semi-ambidextrous; I could switch which hand I used with both the ax and the hand saw so I got a fairly even workout.

Anyways....don't doubt yourself.  And don't ever give up.  I could have curled up in a ball, holed myself away, and done nothing since July.  And where would that have gotten me?  Certainly not chopping wood for a couple hours.  I may not have been able to kick as cardio-wise, and I definitely put on a bunch of poundage, but I've noticeably made gains elsewhere.  And now that I can slowly be more diligent about adding in the cardio and running, I can work on decreasing that poundage.

This isn't an all or nothing deal.  This is life, with ups and downs.  And although they past couple of months have definitely had their downs, I'm now realizing that some good have definitely come from being hobbled.

Oh, and by the way, I'm released from physical therapy!  I still have to take things slowly, and I won't be able to run outside for a while yet, but I'm making progress on all fronts.  Yay!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Wood Chopping Fools

I probably should have done a Happy Thanksgiving blog.  Or a day-after-Thanksgiving blog.  Or something like that.  But I got lazy.

My fam comes to our house for Thanksgiving dinner, so things are stressful enough.  The hubbs is an awesome cook, and we had some very tasty food, including smoked turkey!  He got up bright and early to put the bird in the smoker, and a bunch of hours later we had tastiness.  The fam did their normal bickering, and I told them all that next year, they are either doing a shot  when they walk through the door or taking a Xanax, just to mellow out.

Aside from turkey day, I've had a couple of fairly active days, which is quite fabulous because it makes me feel like I'm getting back to my old self.  On Wednesday, right after physical therapy, I went on an hour long bike ride with a friend.  Friday, another bike ride.  Saturday was a bike ride to Death Gym, a Death Gym workout, another short ride, and then a couple hours worth of chopping/hand sawing (no chainsaws allowed!) wood.  Our local bike path has trees and branches and all kinds of crap blocking it.  And because of DD's crazy loopy run (ooops, I'll have to explain that one to some of you), a friend and I decided to hack away at some of the debris to help clear things up.

See what we had to contend with?  What a mess!  We left the big, huge logs, and trimmed away all the gnarly branches.  So now the path still isn't passable by bike, but DD's loopy run can happen!  (Yes, yes, I'll explain it!  Sheeesh, give me a second!)
Please note....there are NO CHAINSAWS in the above pic!

Gayle, hacking away at a log.

It seriously took me 40 minutes to hack away at this!  See the splintered hunk of wood in the upper left corner?  Yep, that's what the bad boy I'm holding was attached to.

This is just some of the wood we collected.  We also had two decent boxes of kindling, and ended up tossing a ton of logs to the sides of the path.

Today, I went to the gym and did 3.4 miles of walk/jog intervals on the treadmill, and then went back out and hacked away at more trees for another hour!  Surprisingly, my arms aren't nearly as sore as I anticipated.  I figured I wouldn't be able to move today.  I'll have to thank trainer Frank for all the lifting we've been doing back/shoulder-wise.  Which is something else....my back didn't get wacky at all during this venture.  Sweetness.

Now, back to DD's loopy run.  There is this bike path nearby that has a 4.3 mile "hilly loop."  Actually, the first two miles are flat, and the last 2+ miles are hilly.  Nothing deadly, but enough to keep it interesting.  Anyways, DD is a crazy fellow.  (Hello, he ran a 100 miler, and he's done the Rim to Rim to Rim Grand Canyon crossing.  He's certifiable.)  He's going to have everyone start a lap of the hilly loop at 7 am on Saturday.  You have to finish within the hour, or you're disqualified.  Then at 8 am, they all do another lap.  And at 9, another.  And they'll keep going on until everyone drops and there is one person left.

Personally, I think it sounds like fun (don't let him know I said that), but because I'm just coming back from being hobbled, I'm going to hang out and heckle.  I'll bring my bike so I can get a ride in, and maybe I'll bring the hyena for a bit so we can walk the hilly loop, but I'm not participating in the race.  But it was nice to help clean things up and make it a little safer for everyone!

Ohhhhh.....and guess what???  Friday started my Month of Mayhem.  That's what the hubbs and I are dubbing Nov 23 - Dec 23....the time that we're tracking our fitness minutes.  So all this chopping wood helped me out in that aspect too.  ;)

On Tuesday I have an appointment with the ortho.  I'm pretty certain I won't have to go to PT any longer, so that will free up more time for me.  I just have to be diligent about keeping up with it at the gym.  (You hear that Chris and Kimberly and Melissa?  You all better get on my bum about keeping up with it!)

Back to work tomorrow.....boo.  Hope you all had a wonderful holiday, and that you're as optimistic about the upcoming week as I am!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Confession

I am an oaf.

Seriously.

I joke, and say the hyena is an oaf.  I am no better.  At least, as of this week.  I've been exhausted.  No clue why.  But when I'm exhausted, I want to sleep in.  And when I sleep in, I don't have time to work out.  And when I don't work out, I feel like a slug.....that wants to sleep in.

Stupid vicious cycle.

Plus, I think I've been taking my eating clues from Bobifer's diet this week.  I won't bore you with all the specific embarrassing details, but dinner today was a dessert apple.  No, not an apple with a cinnamon-sugar topping.  Not even a slice of apple pie.  A dessert apple.
Yep....that's just a fancy way of saying "candy apple."  But not just any candy apple.  One coated in caramel, and then chocolate, and then almond toffee, and drizzled with white chocolate.

At the farmers' market I bought a loaf of bread from my favorite bakery.  Chocolate cherry sourdough.  Yep.  At least I didn't eat the entire thing.  Yet.

The hubbs and I went out to dinner on Friday with Kimberly to celebrate her Birthday!  Dinner was fabulous, we had tons of fun, and I finished off with this...
Yeah.....this shit has got to stop.  I feel like I'm self-destructing.

At least I got a bike ride in today.  And I walked the hyena yesterday.  But that's still a far cry from the running I was doing before being hobbled.

I feel ginormous.  You would think a fear of going back to being fat would help keep things in check.  (In my defense, my clothes still do fit, although they are a tad more snug than they were a couple months ago.)

Anyways.  The hubbs and I have decided to play a little game between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Because we are both out of control.  And he wants to seriously make some changes and be healthier too.  Yay!

I'm going to make up a calendar, and starting on black Friday, we're going to track all our fitness minutes from then until the day before Christmas Eve.  Just a little competition to see who can rack up the most.  We toyed around with miles, but he likes to swim, and comparing swimming miles to biking miles just seems unfair.  Plus, this way we can count Death Gym and lifting too!  So we figured we'll just roll with minutes.

(We both decided we didn't want to focus on weight......weighing myself makes me nutso.  I think if I were to step on a scale now, I would probably have a nervous breakdown.  Seriously.  In my mind, I've convinced myself that I'm probably back over 200lbs.....but if I saw confirmation of that, well, I'd probably cry.  Seriously.  Just let me take solace in the fact that my clothes still fit *snugly* and that I need to do something about the snug part now.)

I would also like to come up with something that can help us stay focused food-wise, especially with the holiday parties coming up.  Any ideas?

Monday, November 12, 2012

Perspective

I tend to do most of my "deep" thinking while working out....whether it be walking, biking, running, whatever.  I have these meaningful and insightful thoughts while I'm out and about, and think, "Wow.  I should really blog about this."

Then I get home and completely forget what I wanted to say.

However, while Kimberly and I were exploring Riverview Park, we had a discussion about perspective.  Maybe actually talking to someone out loud about it made the topic stick in my head.  Who knows? 

Anyways.  You know how you go to the gym, and you check out the peeps around you?  Not just check them out how they look, but watch what they're doing?

Now I know I'm not the only one out there who is a people watcher.

I watch the meatheads grunting and lifting and slamming and throwing their weights around.  (Do they really have to slam them?  Every? Single? Time?)  The older ladies who stroll on the treadmills and chat away.  The crazies who sweat all over the stair steppers for hours at a time. 

You don't?  Oh.  Well, I do. 

My point is this.  I really need to stop comparing myself to them.  And I really have to stop thinking they're comparing me to them.  Confused?

Two weeks ago, when I was still allowed to do my walk/jog intervals, I wore my Tough Mudder shirt to the gym.  Now.....it is a bad ass shirt.  To earn one, you have to be pretty bad ass.  To wear it means you are a bad ass.

And there I am, on the treadmill, walking for two minutes, then jogging for two minutes, then walking for two minutes......

Not very bad ass.

I picture all the peeps around me thinking things like...
"Where the hell did she find that shirt, because you know she didn't run a Tough Mudder."
"She must be wearing her man's shirt."
"Look at her, she can't even run five minutes....she's not a Mudder."

While I'm thinking this, I get very self conscious.  So I have a pep talk with myself.
"Who cares what they think....they don't know your story.  They don't know you had your knee scoped less than two months ago.  They don't know that a week after your first Mudder (you know, the one where you fell from a cargo net and gave yourself whiplash...yeah, that one) you ran the Philly Half in less than 2:30.  That IS bad ass.  So fuck them.  They don't know YOU."

It helped to put things in perspective.

So remember this the next time you're out on the bike path and see someone walking while you're running.  Or when you're at the gym and notice someone doing crappy intervals while you're flying along.  You're not better than that person because they're not running....maybe they're injured.  Maybe the person doing intervals is just starting out at running, and you've been doing it for years.

Remember that we are all at different places in our lives.  We need to respect each other, no matter what stage we're at. 

Sunday, November 11, 2012

What a Weekend!

Before I get to the meat and potatoes of this blog (yum!), I have to share something with you......I have three followers!  How cool is that?  There are people out there who actually made the conscious effort and have enough interest in what I write to push that little button and follow me.  Yipee!

This weekend was honestly fantabulous.  And....it isn't over yet.  I'm off tomorrow for the Veterans' Day holiday.  Yay!

Yesterday started with a bike ride from my house to meet up with the best running group ever, the Breakfast Club Runners.  I was going towards all the runners on the bike path, so it was great to meet up with a group, slow down and chat, speed up to the next group, chat, and so on.

The only problem was.....I had no way to get to breakfast.  No...I was not about to ride my bike to Jersey, on highways and all that nonsense.  I suck on the bike.  I belong on a bike path, and only on small, back roads.  Nothing busy.

Luckily, Frank came to the rescue, and put my bike in his car.  Yay! 

After breakfast, I went to Bacon Fest at the Easton Farmers' Market.  I tried a cinnamon bun with bacon in it.  It was decent, but nothing I'd write home about.  I bought some spaghetti squash, some acorn squash, some pears and a loaf of bread from my favorite bakery, The Flour Shop.  They have the awesomest breads and pastries.  Seriously.  They know what they are doing. 

I had originally planned to ride back home from Bacon Fest, but my backpack was super-loaded, so Frank brought me (and my bike) home.  I know.....not terribly bad-ass, but since my back is about the only part of my body feeling good, I didn't want to mess that up.

Today, I got up bright and early, and went with Kimberly to the South Mountain 5k/10 Miler.  No sillies, I didn't run!  We volunteered!  (On a side note, this time last year, we were running in our first Tough Mudder!  Holy moly, where did this past year go???)


Here we are, under the pavilion, taking a break from handing out race shirts.  After we finished here, we manned a water stop at mile 3/7 of the 10 Miler.  I never realized how wet you can get working at a water stop....that stuff splashes everywhere when a runner is trying to take it out of your hand.

After our volunteering efforts, we headed to Riverview Park to check out the storm damage.  We started out at the halfway point of the hilly loop, and walked it in the opposite direction of what we normal go.  (You know, change of pace and all that.)

We ventured down a decent slope, went around a bend, and came upon this:







These trees were decently passable; we only had to climb around a little bit.

We carried on, and most of the path was fairly clear.  Even with the downed trees, there was still room on the sides to go around everything.


 (The picture below is of the same trees above, I just thought they looked so cool.)





We came across this super scary looking bug.  I have no clue what it is.  Chris said it is a cricket-spider, but I've never heard of such a thing.  I just hope I never see another one of these again.


Things were decent, until we went up the super big hill (usually the very last long downhill if you're doing the hilly loop in the normal fashion).

It didn't look too bad from a distance....


But upon closer inspection, things got more difficult.


Of course, we didn't let a few sticks stop us!



Towards the end of our jaunt, on the clear part of the hilly loop (which is actually on a road), we saw some deer.  If you look VERY closely, in the center of this pic, you can kind of see one of the deer.


Oh, and this weekend, I went on a minor cooking storm.  Things I have made the past two days:

Acorn Squash: Trim off stem and cut the squash in half.  Scoop out the grossness.  Spray with cooking spray, and liberally sprinkle seasoning salt on the cut side.  Place cut side down on baking sheet, and roast in oven (350 - 400) until it becomes soft.  You can either scoop out the yummy goodness and eat just that, or eat the skin as well.

Apple Cranberry Baked Oatmeal: (This link will only work if you have a Taste of Home log in ID, so I'm also posting the recipe here.)  Please note that I sometimes use dried cranberries instead of raisins.  In either case, I do NOT soak them.  I also omit the salt, the butter and the walnuts, but that's just me.

Ingredients
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 cups oats
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups fat-free milk
1 medium apple, peeled and finely chopped
1 Tbs butter, melted
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Places raisins in a small bowl.  Cover with boiling water; let stand for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, pie spice and salt.  Stir in the milk, apple and butter.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Drain raisins; stir into oat mixture.

Transfer to an 8-in squaare baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with walnuts.  Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 30-35 minutes.  6 Servings.

Slow Cooker Balsamic Chicken

Spaghetti Squash: Nuke for a couple of minutes.  Scoop out the nastiness.  Place cut side down and roast in a shallow pan with water until soft.  Prob around a 350 degree oven.  Use a fork to scrape away the "spaghetti" strands.  Serve w/ Slow Cooker Balsamic Chicken.

Banana Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Chicken Salad (with Greek yogurt instead of mayo....mayo makes me ill): No recipe, look below in comments for how I made it.  Next time, I'll probably mess around more with the yogurt, like add lemon juice or something.

This is all stuff I have made so I can pack my lunches and breakfasts ahead of time.  I do so much better when I can grab and go!

I just realized.....I guess I can't claim I don't cook.  ;)

Finally, a question for you all.  I had someone comment on my previous blog that they couldn't see my pics.  There was a link for them, but the link took them nowhere.  Does anyone else have this problem?  I've uploaded the pics differently in this blog, so hopefully, everything works!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

A Reason for Why I Blog

Like you even need a reason!  I'm entertaining, engaging, and interesting.  (Ummmm.....I hope.)

Honestly, there are tons of reasons why I blog.  But my biggest reason is just to reach out, let people know I'm a normal person, and through candid storytelling relaying of the events in my life, create something that others can relate to. 

Earlier today, I got a notification on SparkPeople that someone had commented on my blog.  (I post a link to this blog over there, that way the peeps there who are interested in my life can still keep up with me.)

This is part of what she said: I am recovering from a running injury too so I really look forward to reading your blogs. It is nice to know that you are not alone.

And you know what?  It IS nice to know you're not alone.  Don't they say that misery loves company?  Well, so does fighting with a purpose, overcoming challenges, and kicking ass.  That's why I share the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Because if I was perfect, I'd be boring...and couldn't call myself Moxie.   

On to some fun things.  Those of you who are my Facebook friends already saw this, but honestly, it isn't too often that I feel really pretty and have that captured in a picture.  And the awesome feeling lasted all day.  So you get to see me again:
IMAG0422.jpg
I don't know where the feeling came from....maybe because I'm trying to have a more positive outlook, maybe because I'm trying to eat better, maybe just because my hair and makeup looked good....but  I was rolling with the feeling. 

Another fun thing....after Death Gym (I updated my workout page....hope it isn't too confusing) the hubs and I stopped by Redners to return a Redbox movie.  I walked in the door and it smelled so good.  Why?  Because there was a huge display of this:
IMAG0428.jpg
But as soon as I saw that, I was like YUCK.  For some reason, working out makes me want to not eat junk.  So even though I'm once again not allowed to run, I have to stick with the bike riding and get back into swimming and keep up with the lifting.  Because the eating like crap MUST STOP.

Anyways.  Today was a fantabulous day.

Monday, November 5, 2012

And the Saga Continues

No more running.  For now at least.

Blah.

I tried the dreadmill before work this morning.  Five minute walk, jog for a minute and a half, walk for two and half minutes, repeat five or six times.  By the end, I was hurting.  Not death pain or anything like that, but yeah.  I then rode the bike for ten minutes, just to loosen things up a bit.  That kinda helped, but not enough.

I went to PT after work, explained to them last Thursday's fiasco, and my normal two PT's were so apologetic.  I told them it wasn't their fault, but they were so nice about it.  At least I got that going for me.

They did the little ultrasound thingy on my knee, I did some leg presses, some hamstring curls (they had me turn my foot in, which really helped with the issue in the back of my knee for this exercise), I did some assisted gait stuff, and then they wanted me to do step ups.  I started, and although they felt not so hot, I knew I'd be able to do them.....until they asked me how I felt.  I told them it hurt, but it wasn't death pain or anything like that. 

See....this is my problem.  I'm so used to pushing myself.  If I'm running and feeling an issue, I carry on, assess the issue, decide if it is something that will work itself out or if it is something that needs to be addressed immediately.  When I'm lifting, well, a certain amount of struggle and pushing is necessary.  So, if I'm doing step-ups, and feel a little "something," I tend to carry on.  Because it isn't debilitating. 

I really gotta get that out of my head.  Especially because I've had this set back.  The PT told me to stop, and that I was done for the day.  She didn't want me aggravating things worse than they were.  I can definitely understand that, and I gotta say.....now that I'm home, I'm glad she made me stop.  Because I'm kinda hurting!  So I continue icing up.

I can ride the bike tomorrow, but no running.  Seriously.  NO RUNNING.  They must have repeated that like ten times.  Oh boy....guess they really know me, don't they?

Enough about that. 

Yesterday, I volunteered for the D&L Heritage Marathon/Half Marathon.  Of course, there was press there, including WFMZ, our local news station.  The camera guy got all kinds of shots, and then he set up the camera behind me.  I tried to be nice and told him I would get out of his way.  He told me he wanted to get my sound.  Lol, guess I have a big mouth!  Here's the video, and I'm right around 28 seconds....wearing the huge read volunteer shirt with the big blue hood on my head, cheering on the runners. 

What else.....

Today, my hubs made some super tasty chicken.  (Yes, I'm very lucky.  My hubs is a completely AWESOME cook.  Be jealous.)  He tried out some new bread crumbs.
IMAG0420.jpg

(Holy moly, that picture is huge.....I hope it shrinks down once the blog is posted.)

He thought he would have to trick them up a bit, that they wouldn't be spicy enough.  But wow....we were impressed.  VERY tasty. 

So let me recap for you.  Workout....check.  Eating well....check.  A television appearance....check.

Aside from the ongoing knee issues, today was quite a fabulous day!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Stupid New PT Chick

I really didn't mean to fall off the face of the Earth for almost a whole week....I promise!  But after that bitch I wrote about (remember Sandy?) I didn't have power for a couple of days....I was finally back on the grid as of 3:45 am Friday morning.  (Or Thursday night, depending on how you look at it.) 

Now, don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining.  Chris, the hyena and I are much more fortunate than a ton of others out there.  Our house is still in one piece (minus a few slates from our roof), and we're doing well.  But I have to admit......it gets freaking COLD without electricity.  I actually, for the first time in five years, let the hyena sleep in the bed with me.  Just to keep me warm. 

Anyways.....so this week was pretty much a wash for working out.  And I ate like semi-crap.  The whole lacking in working out seems to go hand-in-hand with eating crap.  Big surprise, right?

Ohhh....I did end up with a minor snafu in whole knee recovery nonsense.  (Sheesh....see what happens when I can't blog in forever....everything is all jumbled up in my brain, and I have no organization in how I want to get everything out.  Blah.)

Anyway.

Thursday I had PT.  With a chick I only had once before.  I wasn't terribly impressed with her upon our first meeting, and this meeting was simply the icing on the cake.  First, let me start with Thursday morning.  I went to LA Fitness (which will forever be referred to in subsequent blogs as simply "LA") because they had power and I really wanted to shower with lights on.  So I did my walk/jog intervals on the treadmill.  I started off with 5 minutes of walking, then jogged for 2 minutes, walk for 2 minutes, repeat for 20 minutes.  By the end of that, my knee was feeling it, and I knew pushing any further would be asking for trouble.  I hung out on the elliptical for a bit, then went about my business and on to the rest of my day.

See how I ramble?  I know.  Just deal with it.  :)   (I've learned that if you say anything with a smile, people are much more receptive.)

As the day went on at work, my knee felt better.  I headed off to PT, and explained to this new chick that I went to the gym in the morning, did the whole treaddy thing, and it felt sore at the end, but was decent now.  I went about my business, and after the squats on the Bosu ball, figured I was done.

Wrong.  She wanted me to get on the treadmill.

I questioned her.  The other PT's have told me that they don't really like people running on the treaddys there because they're super hard.  They're more for walking.  I explained this to her.  I asked her if she was sure she wanted me to run on it, especially since I was on the treadmill in the morning, and fully intended on going back to LA Friday morning.

Her response was to get on it and see what happens.

Fine.  We'll see what happens. 

Here's the thing.....I am already good at pushing myself and working past my limitations.  I don't need someone who doesn't know me, trying to push me to do more....because, quite frankly, I'll up the weights and all that on my own, because I know what I can do and what my body can handle.

I start off walking, jog for 2 minutes, walk for 2 minutes, jog for another 2, and am DONE.  Seriously.  Toast.  I limped to my car, did some serious icing once I got home and was PISSED.  Friday things were really sore.  Saturday I had an impromptu Death Gym workout, and tried riding my bike there.  That actually worked out well, and once I got back home I made sure to ice up again.  Things are still kinda sore, but I'm going to try out the treadmill again tomorrow morning.  If it hurts too much, I'll go back to the elliptical, but I gotta try it out before I go back to PT tomorrow evening.

And trust me.....EVERYONE is going to hear about the misadventure with the crappy PT chick.   

(Wow, in hindsight, this blog is so not motivational.  It happens.)