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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

C25k Stuff

I know, I know.  I've held three C25k classes so far, and have yet to give you an update.  Shame on me!  (Seriously though, things have been BUSY!  Death gym/bike rides on Mondays and Wednesdays, C25k on Tuesdays and Thursdays, throw in some softball, and sheesh.  Its hard enough finding time for the boring stuff like laundry/dishes/food, let alone blogging!)

So last Tuesday was the first class.  I woke up and it was pouring.  Seriously.  Crazy rain everywhere.  I got to work and had a couple emails asking if the class was still on.  I basically told everyone that unless there was thunder or lightning or torrential downpour, that we'd be running.  (Yep.  I'm a bitch like that.)  Running in the rain is refreshing and kind of fun, and part of being a runner.  Luckily, by noontime, the skies cleared up and the weather was perfect.

Until I got to Riverview park, and roadblocks were set up.  I had completely forgotten that the road by Riverview floods in tons of rain and they close the road.  The park is still accessible if you drive around the roadblock, but I had no clue if anyone else knew that.  I started having a minor heart attack.......

Until I saw a bunch of cars pull into the lot!  We had 14 runners for the first session, and I was so happy I recruited Bob and Gayle to help out!  There was such a wide range of abilities....people who are in shape and have run before to people who haven't exercised in ages.

I hung with the slower group, and Bob and Gayle went with the speedier peeps.  And things went well.

I'm tweaking things as we go.  I have a group that wants to stretch after the warm-up walk, and a group who doesn't.  We've had some issues with timing and remembering when to turn around.  But I'm trying to communicate with everyone, and let them know that I'm open to any suggestions.  I send them emails with little pointers/tips/reminders, just to keep them engaged.

I think my biggest fear is that I'll be unable to keep it interesting.  But, I also have to remember that they're shooting for a goal here....finishing that 5k.  That, along with the fact that they're doing this with friends, will provide tons of motivation.  (I hope.)

I have some other completely fanatbulous news.  I wasn't sure if I should share this or not.  Initially, I was going to post it on Facebook.  But, well, a couple of people I'm friends with on Facebook also work where I work.  So I didn't know if I should post my news in such an open place.  (Yes, I realize this blog is just as open.  But to get here, you either follow my blog, or you had to care enough about me....or be nosy enough about me....to click on the link I shared and read all this.)

Anyways.  After discussing it with a couple people, who I do not work with, we kind of decided that blogging about it would be mildly safer.  I felt like the news should be out there, but maybe not "on Facebook" out there.

Ha.  I bet you think I'm pregnant!  Fat chance.

Here's my news: I had a Wellness Committee meeting today and was telling everyone how things have been going with the C25k Program. And the head of the committee said that they did a secret vote, and decided that I should get paid for running the class. (The other fitness instructors get paid, but when I pitched the idea to them I didn't want to get paid b/c I'm not certified as a coach or anything. I'm just me.)

That's my huge news.  And holy crap. Getting paid for doing something fitness related! A huge goal of mine realized, while helping others reach their goals!

People need to realize that they can reach their goals, or some variation of them.  I played around with the idea of being a personal trainer or exercise instructor (step would have been awesome before my knees got fucked up), but well, something always held me back.  Partially the money for certification.  Partially because I look nothing like your average trainer/fitness instructor.  Who the hell would want to take a class led by me?

But joining the Wellness Committee practically fell into my lap.  And the idea of running a C25k program just seemed like fun.  And now, I'll get paid to do it.  I have no clue how much I should ask to be paid, but I have some time to figure that one out.

The bottom line is.....I'm so flipping excited!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Old News is Still News!

So for those of you who are my facebook friends, you already know this....


See that little ribbon with the heart in it with "winner" next to it?  Yep.  I was one of 50 winners!  Apparently, 60,000 entries were received, and with all your help and votes, I was one of 250 finalists.  After that, an independent panel of judges picked 50 winners, based on various criteria (impact of makeover, story, etc.).

How funny that I decided to have a friend do a Mary Kay makeover on me only because she was trying to reach 50 makeovers by a certain time period?  I figured, ehhhh, I like makeup, why not?  Little did I know it would be entered into a contest that would get Girls on the Run of Lehigh County (the very deserving charity I chose) $5,000!

Enough with all that basking in my beauty (lol)....

I have just about a week until my first Couch to 5k class starts!  I have about 12 people signed up with completed waivers, with another 7-ish interested.  I'm thrilled.  It isn't a super huge number, so things should be quite manageable for my first go-around at this.  I'm just happy some people in the County are willing to take part in this.  And if word gets out that it is fun, I'm hoping it will grow as I continue it.

I have to say, I'm pretty excited.  I had an employee contact me and say her doctor said she needs to lose weight, so she's going to give it a shot.  Someone else will be celebrating a Birthday around the time of the end-of-season 5k, so her goal is to finish the 5k for her Birthday.  Someone else simply said, "I need to get off the couch."

This could be some seriously life-changing stuff.

I'm sure by next Tuesday, I'll be feeling like I have to vomit.  But for now, I'm pretty calm.

In other news, I'm still playing this softball stuff.  And still really liking it.  This past weekend, we played in a pretty cool tourney to benefit the Miracle League of Northampton County.  It started off with a women's tourney at 9:00 at night, and it went on all night!  (I didn't play in this one....holy crap those chicks are good!  I'd have to play for probably a bajillion years before I could crack one of their lineups.)

The coed tourney was supposed to start Saturday morning, but it was pouring.  Seriously pouring.  Long story short, they changed it to a one-pitch tourney.  Yeah, you read that right.  One.  Pitch.  For someone who still sucks at hitting in game situations (I can hit like a mofo in batting practice, figure that one out), a one pitch tourney messes with your head.  You either swing and hit the ball, walk, or strike out.  All in one pitch.

Not only did I have that going for me (please note the sarcasm), but the first game was played in this awful rain.  The field was a disgusting, slippery mess.  I've never played in rain before.  (Hello!  First year playing!  Haven't even played in a drizzle.)  Let's just say it was interesting.

We lost our first game, but after that, things picked up.  We ended up playing a total of five games in the tourney before we lost a second game (and came in third).  But my big news was that I played all those games in left field...and played my best games yet!  I had a ton of catches!  My teammates were saying they could have done a highlight reel of all my catches!  I was jacked.  I felt on fire!

I do have to share this though....this is what happens when you catch the ball with your arm instead of your glove:


Luckily, I made that mistake early in the tourney, and proceeded to use my glove for the rest of my catches.

After the tourney, we had to skiddadle out of there and down to our league game.  Yep, after five games in the tourney, we had to play another one (a playoff game, no less).  I was SORE.  This was officially the most games I've ever played in a day.  But I gave the league game my all, had a nice catch out in left, and we won.

Overall, a pretty decent weekend.  Monday was a desperately needed rest day (oh, yeah....I played two pickup games of ball on Sunday afternoon, and caught in left field during batting practice).  Today I got a massage, so I should be fresh as a daisy for a bike ride and Death Gym tomorrow.