Saturday, October 10, 2009

Movie Night

AM: 45 mins. ellip
PM: Yama

Brooke was game for accompanying me to the fitness center this morning, so I took a gamble on the doors being open early and, to my surprise, they actually were. Thus, we were able to get in some quality elliptical and stretching time before I headed off to work for the majority of the day.

However, in yet another lucky break, we were overstaffed on a relatively slow Saturday, which meant that I got to leave at 3 instead of staying until close of business at 5. Since neither Brooke nor I had really eaten lunch, we opted for a late lunch/early dinner of sushi. This was followed by a blissful evening of toenail painting, wine and terrible Lifetime movies at home. One thing I realized while watching 5+ hours of Lifetime tonight is that their programs have gotten incredibly...well, how can I say this...slutty? I mean, the movies they were featuring on Saturday included sordid titles such as "She's Too Young" (about an underage girl losing her virginity), "The Painful Truth" (about an underage girl losing her virginity with, ahem, several guys...and she also has a cutting problem) and "Student Seduction" (about an underage boy attempting to seduce his incredibly attractive teacher (played by the actress known in equal parts for her portrayal as Jessie Spano on "Saved By the Bell" and as a stripper in "Showgirls")). Oh, and "Don't Leave the Children" or something like that about a young, nubile nanny who is trying to--you guessed it--seduce the wealthy, distinguished father of the children she watches over. I mean, the last time I watched Lifetime was around Christmas and it was all yuletide cheer and evergreen trees. At most there was one sexual assault per movie. But now? Well, it's certainly not material I would let my mother watch. It was just about right for me and Brookelet though.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Ladies Night

60 mins. ellip. incl. 25 min. "predator"
15 mins. core

Although yesterday I was sad to bid Jordan farewell, my frown quickly turned upside down knowing that my bestie Brooke would be joining me for the weekend. She will be in Charlotte Monday through Wednesday for business, so it worked out perfectly for her to come in a few days early for a visit. Our grand plan included Jilane coming down from DC, but she gave us some lame excuse about her parents coming to visit her and wanting free meals or something along those lines. Whatev. I'm over it.

At any rate, I was thrilled to pick Brookie up at the airport tonight, and even more excited to introduce her to some of my new friends from work. Our store owner and his wife graciously invited all the RFYL staff to Ed's Tavern for free-flowing drinks and appetizers, an offering in which I was understandably eager to partake. We had a great time but must not have snagged enough apps, because we ended up ordering a pizza upon arrival back to the apartment. Oops. Overall it was a fun night and the start of what promises to be a great weekend.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Another Week

Thursday, 10/8
AM: 25 min. run (3 miles); 10 min. walk
PM: 45 mins. ellip.

Wednesday, 10/7
AM: 27 min. run (3.5 miles)
15 mins. core
Chiro
PM: 45 mins. ellip.

Tuesday, 10/6
AM: 55 mins. ellip. incl. 6x3 mins. on, 2 mins. off
PM: 20 mins. ellip.

Monday, 10/5
AM: 25 mins. core
30 mins. pool
PM: 45 mins. ellip.

This week has been crazy busy, due to a combination of homework, working four days as opposed to my usual two, and other general activity. This morning I dropped Jordan and our friend Dave, a Princeton alum and Zap runner, off at the airport for their big Japan trip. Both of them will be competing on the Ivy League alum ekiden team in Izumo, a team that hopes to improve upon its mediocre at best showings from previous years (which both guys agreed was a much better position to be in than, say, defending champs). Dave drove down and spent the night with us last night to avoid a 4am departure time from Blowing Rock, and we had a good laugh remembering that the last time he was here, Dave played a key role (i.e. getaway driver) in what can only be referred to on a public forum as "the incident." Good times.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Week in Review

8 miles
7 hours elliptical
30 mins. pool
4 AFDs

Things are getting better, slowly but surely. The highlight of the week is definitely the fall weather. That, and my alma mater being ranked higher than Jordan's for the first time since we started dating.

Riff, ram, bah zoo
Lickety, lickety, zoo, zoo
Who, wah, wah, who
Give 'em hell, TCU!

Weekend Update

Sunday, 10/4
AM: 20 min. run (2.5 miles)
30 min. walk
PM: 60 mins. ellip. incl. 5x5 mins. on, 5 mins. off

Saturday, 10/3
AM: 45 mins. ellip.

Saturday was great times as I worked out in the morning, then met some of my fave OCOM peeps for breakfast at the Original Pancake House. Kim, Gunilla, Bess and Jason had just finished running Race for the Cure, which Jordan and I skipped out on due to the overall cluster effect of having 15,000 people converging on uptown Charlotte. That said, we were more than happy to meet them for a post-run breakfast, as were Jenny and Tanya. This was more or less the same group that I ran and breakfast-ed with last spring at the Great Harvest 5k, only we were minus Jeffrey this time. His presence and his stories about time in the slammer were sorely missed by everyone.
In honor of our favorite season and our favorite flavor, Tanya and I both ordered the autumn-inspired pumpkin pecan pancakes and were not disappointed.

Sunday I joined the team at McAlpine for the first time in who knows how long, with an ambitious goal of running 20 minutes. The hip was pretty tight throughout and didn't feel nearly as good as I hoped, but nonetheless it was great to run a few miles with the girls and enjoy the cool weather.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Run #2

AM: 25 mins.
3 miles
PM: 55 mins. ellip. incl. 25 mins. "predator"

I drove down to the bike path that's about a 5-minute run from our house so that I could meet Jordan for a few miles. The 5-minute section I skipped out on consists of an uphill section from our apartment, followed by a downhill section on the sidewalk, then an iffy street crossing to get to the bike path. Hence, I didn't want to waste what promised to be a brief run on crappy terrain. So Jordan ran from the house and I drove to the bike path to meet him. From there we ran to Freedom Park, where Jordan took a spin while I stopped and stretched the hip, then ran back the way we came. I'm not going to lie; my hip flexor is still very tight, but things felt about as good as they did a few days ago. Not perfect, but better than last week. At this point I'll consider that a success. As for the distance/pace, that's just an estimate as I didn't want to ask Jordan how slow we were running. I can't deal with that blow to my self-esteem right now.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

So You're Saying There's a Chance

Thursday, 10/1
AM: 25 mins. ellip.
25 mins. core
30 mins. pool

Wednesday, 9/30
AM: 30 mins. ellip.
20 min. run (!!)
2.5 miles
Chiro
PM: 40 mins. ellip.

Tuesday, 9/29
AM: 30 mins. ellip.
PM: 55 mins. ellip. incl. 2x6 mins. on, 4 mins. off; 5x1 min. on, 1 min. off

Yep, you read that correctly--I ran 20 minutes on Wednesday. It's a new record. And, to be completely honest, while I didn't feel 100% normal I felt about 10 times better than last week. Much less gimpy, more fluid, less uncomfortable. This was definitely a step in the right direction and the first time I've felt optimistic in quite a while. Even Jordan, who certainly does not go out of his way to spare my feelings in these situations, said my form looked almost normal.

With that in mind, I have set a rather ambitious goal of running 10 miles this week. Of course, this is pending how I feel post-run--so far so good--and how the rest of my body responds to the abrupt mileage increase. But I would love to crack double digits for the first time since returning to Charlotte.