Harumph

It's time to keep going with the C25K training. It's already 90 (and humid), so running outside today during lunch isn't going to happen. (I learned that lesson the hard way) I wanted to head to the rec center instead and run in air-conditioned comfort on one of the treadmills, only to find out they're closed. City's website posted the following:

City Facilities CLOSED for Furlough Day May 28, Closed for Memorial Day Holiday May 31
City facilities will be closed on Friday, May 28 for the first of three scheduled furlough days this year, in an effort to address the City’s estimated $2.9 million budget shortfall.

This sucks. A three day weekend and I can't take advantage of the gym. And why did they capitalize Furlough Day like it's a holiday?

Wordless :( Wednesday

I Did It!!

Actually, we did it. It takes more than just me to get my butt to a 5K race at 7 in the morning. The Aussie, who is not a morning person by anyone's stretch of the imagination, was a sport. He said he'd go and offer support, and he certainly did! The weather was warm, humid and breezy. The sun kept peeking out, but, thankfully, it was in for most of the race. I couldn't imagin running a 5K in typical Dallas summer heat. It's still hot at 5am...

The race, Run For The Retrievers, was a benefit for DFWLabRescue. There were dogs everywhere. Talk about fantastic! Anyone who knows me, knows I love my dogs, and any dog rescue group should be commended Here's me and Nicci (@Nicci_NiftyEats). We met up and the registration pavillion shortly after 7am.

And we're off. That's me in the middle, behind the red shirts. The race announcer said that there were over 350 people registered for the event. I don't know if that was 5K as well as 1 mile fun run participants, but either way, for an innaugural race, it was a great turn out.

Lol! I'm smiling now... Remember, I've been sick since last Friday and haven't run a step all week.

Me crossing the finish line

My chip time was 41:02:70 and I came in 205th, placing 18th in my age group. Not too shabby for my first official 5K, and I did it before my 45th birthday! And it was great meeting Nicci in person. I love tweetups!

Me and Nicci after the race

And I would like to give a special shout out to "Alison." I didn't see her after the race, but she became my angel coach just before mile marker 1. I wouldn't have done as well without her support and pushing me to "keep going to the bridge" or "keep going to we get around the bend."

The One Where I Get My *ss Handed To Me On A Platter

Hubris. Dictionary.com defines this as excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance.

I really learned the meaning of this today. Yesterday I tweeted about running for 5 minutes straight, twice, when I was at the gym with my neighbor on Tuesday evening. Hey, I think to myself. I had no problem with it on Tuesday, so I'll head straight to week 5 training in the C25K program. Run 5 minutes, not a problem. Boy, was I wrong. There is absolutely no correlation between being able to run for 5 minutes straight on a treadmill at an air-conditioned gym and being able to run for 5 minutes straight on my neighborhood sidewalks on a hazy, hot and humid Dallas afternoon. Total. Fail. I barely made it through the first 5 minutes running. The second and third running intervals I couldn't do it. I couldn't make it all the way through either of them running. I walked. I finished, but I walked.

When I got back I took one of the "I just worked out and I'm hot and sweaty" pictures, but it was just too horrendous to post. I like pink, but that was not an attractive shade on me. So instead, I'll just show you a picture of the strawberry banana protein shake I made afterwards. My face was somewhere between the shade of the shake and the shade of the straw...



The next time I get my ass handed to me on a platter, can the platter at least match my decor?

The Tale of Two Fishes

I found the coolest thing at Kroger this week: whole trout. There was a package of whole trout that was marked down (it had to be sold by the next day) hanging out in the fish section. I think I've only ever eaten trout once, and that was dog's years ago, somewhere between Perth and Cape Leeuwin. The Aussie and I and some of his old friends decided to drive down to Cape Leeuwin and the Margaret River area for the day. We stopped for lunch after the "climb of my life." I had read about the Gloucester Tree , the world's tallest fire-lookout tree, and knew I had to climb it. It was worth it, but I was sore for DAYS afterwards. Needless to say, I earned my lovely trout lunch that day.

So, where was I? Oh, look. A fish.

Luckily, they were dressed, so I just had to figure out what to do with them. I asked around, got a few ideas, and came up with a parsley, arugula, garlic, lemon stuffing. First things first. Off with their heads. And tails. Then I stuffed them with the herbs, garlic and lemon. I drizzled a little olive oil on them, sprinkled a bit of salt on them and let them hang out in the fish basket and other grill basket while the grill got hot. (NOTE: OIL YOUR GRILL BASKET TOO. I'm a newbie griller, so I didn't think it would stick that much. My bad.)

Bring the grill up to 350, clean the grill, then pop them on and put the lid back down. Set the timer for 7 minutes. Spend the 7 minutes amusing yourself by taking pictures of a dog who doesn't want her picture taken.

"Mom. Stop it. I don't WANT my picture taken."

After 7 minutes, flip them over and set the timer for another 7 minutes.

Spend the next 7 minutes finishing up your lemon butter sauce. Go back outside. Take picture of the sous-chef who's stuck inside.

"Hey. Is it ready yet?"

Take it off the grill, turn everything off, and head inside to serve out. Yum.

Be careful. It's hot! (Yes. I did slightly burn myself...)

See what I mean about it sticking? I don't eat fish skin anyway, but it would have looked prettier if the skin stayed on. I served with rice and roast asparagus, and drizzled the lemon butter sauce on top. Very delicious.

The Word of the day

I re-started week 3 of C25K this morning. I was in between the running intervals 3 and 4 when my legs started feeling really heavy and I was dragging. I seriously was thinking about turning around when I looked down, and at the bottome of a driveway, just next to the sidewalk, I saw two pieces of red bark mulch in the shape of a cross. I paused and smiled. What immediately popped into my mind was Philippians 4:13. I can do all things through Christ, who strenghtens me. I picked up my pace and kept going, and that next running interval was one of the best I've done so far. So I have a new workout partner. I hope he likes running.

Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. ~ Hebrews 11:1

Things I hear on TV

Heard tonight on an episode of Top Chef Masters:

"I had a hard time figuring out which was the chicken and which was a mushroom."

"Chickens have legs. Mushrooms don't"

Back off the couch

This last week was hard. Not being able to run because of the gardening sunburn fiasco, my C25K program fell by the wayside. I noticed that my motivation for exercising started to wane, so I knew I needed to get back in the proverbial saddle. Today during my lunch hour I re-started week 2. (I was on W3D1 when I had to stop) The stats are as follows:

1.99 miles
28:23
282 calories burned (nike+ said only 204, but I'll go with my GoWearFit stats on that)

Wordless Wednesday