A good day.

Yes. It was a good day. The lump in my foot from the O2 tank is going away. I got all my work done at, well, work. My hair looked fabulous, dahling. And I got to knit while sitting around watching Battlestar Galactica with my friends. What more could you ask for? Perhaps the ability to run a marathon...but I'm working on that one...

Powered Paragliding by Rob Part 3 of 3

continued from last time...

Health benefits: you have strong legs, you have reasonably strong arms, and you are fairly well coordinated. You burn more than you tan. You look good in a flight suit and helmet though (especially to little leaguers, coaches, and soccer moms/dads). You look for flying shoes. You now take time to see the little things. You pay attention to the weather. You wonder why in the heck cows always get to have all the good fields. You’re slightly more spiritual. You have been awakened. Red pill, or blue pill? Red! Drink Me, Eat me? Okay, let’s not get carried away… (We’ll leave that to Alice)…lol.
You know things. You know things you didn’t think you’d ever know before, but you really don’t know how to say you know them. You think a little bit ahead.
You don’t wonder what it would be like if you were flying a kite and a particularly strong gust came along and pulled you and the kite away. You’re willing to take risks, just little ones; really this sport is safe. The rewards far outweigh any risk. But just like any other “extreme sport”, accidents can happen. Of course, accidents can happen just walking down the street. We’re all going to die and it’s not our death that defines us, but our life. I say live.

Crudelius est quam mori semper timere mortem - It is more cruel to always fear death than to die. (Seneca)

It all starts right now.

So thanks to Rob for the great article! Maybe when winter is over I will look around for a powered paragliding club and check it out myself. If you have questions or want to know more about this sport, contact Rob at
ValkingWinger@aol.com.

Wow! It just keeps getting better and better...

...now that I've dropped an oxygen tank on my - you guessed it - right foot. Sweet biscuits!

Poop-poop

Alls I can do with this stinking foot is arm exercises, and I can't say I'm giving that my all. My sweet sweet Garmin is just waiting patiently. Over there. On the table. Maybe just a short jog...So I've gotten several e-mail requests for my iPod playlists (specifically for running). I have many lists, but there are several songs that stay in heavy rotation that are great for the road, so here they are: "Mama Said Knock You Out" - L.L.Cool J, "Elevation, Beautiful Day & Discotheque" - U2, "Honey" - Moby, "Mortal Kombat" - Utah Saints, "Where's Your Head At" - Basement Jaxx, "Butterfly" - Crazy Town, "Gonna Breakthrough" - Mary J. Blige, "Be Good To Yourself" - Journey, "Rainy Monday & You Are The One" - Shiny Toy Guns, "Galvanize" - Chemical Brothers...etc, etc...If you know of some good ones for running, drop me a line. And if you think people shouldn't run with headphones - tell someone else, I'm not in the mood to argue right now.

PS: Here's my TV run down for the week -
Grey's Anatomy - I really don't know if I can stand a weekly cry fest anymore.
The Office - I need new episodes, people!
Frisky Dingo - Season finale rawks. And they signed on for a 2nd season!
BSG - Oh snap!

Just Shoot Me

I've gone and hurt my leg again. It's ice packs and pain meds for me this week. I'm pretty bummed about it, so send me jokes and funny things, please. I need a laugh...
...and by laugh I mean shoes...

More holiday pics

These are some shots from Christmas night. In the first one, you can see I've just been given some Battlestar Galactica DVD's for my birthday. Clearly the gift reduced me to silly faces. It was beyond awesome - thanks again, guys. And in the shot on the right I'm converting the non-believers (hi C & A!) with my new U2 iPod and a little Frisky Dingo. My buddy, A (the photographer) was amused to see that I don't need the sound anymore to be entertained- I've been assimilated by the Borg - we don't use headphones. Nothing says Christmas like a little sci-fi and technology.

Today's workout: 2.25 miles on the treadmill with a little HIIT up front.

Battlestar Galactica starts up again tomorrow, people!!!!

Today's workout: Sleeping until there ain't much sunlight left. I'm not getting off on the best foot, but at least my abs are really really sore, so I guess my slow start isn't so bad after all.

Today's workout: um....guess I'm startin' off with every other day and buildin' up from there. Tomorrow, I run!

Powered Paragliding by Rob Part 2 of 3

Sorry this is coming so late, but here you go...
Previously on Part 1: “Powered paragliding isn’t each of these; it’s a piece from each of these. […and next week I’ll explain how]”
And here’s how: First let’s take the roller-coaster. Take off in a powered paraglider is just like that first giant climb on a roller-coaster, heading up above the trees and reaching the very top of the coaster before that first huge drop that is the beginning of most really good coasters. You have a moment to look around as you slowly gain height and take in the wonder of it all. Once above the trees, it’s more like a cable car (you know, the one that takes you from one side of the amusement park to the other over the top of everything), just puttering along, letting you see the sights pass below as you float over, only slightly detached from the reality of it all. This is the real magic of this kind of flying. The feeling that you can turn the world into a model train set that you can explore from all sorts of angles, ( yes you occasionally do get that giggly feeling that you get in a cable car when it crosses the towers that the wires run on). Keep in mind the whole time you’re doing this you’re only going 26 miles an hour, about the same as riding around on a moped or scooter. Now take that giant swing set and think of the swinging motion as you make a turn. The harder you turn, the more you swing out. This is because you are acting as a pendulum under the wing. If you turn gently and slowly you’ll feel almost no swing at all, if you turn quickly and aggressively the swinging motion will be the same. It’s possible under some circumstances to get yourself completely sideways in a really good turn. This can be considered “yanking and cranking”.
So you get the basic idea. You’re busy puttering and around the sky under a parachute with a motor strapped to your back, happily burning about a gallon an hour when you decide that ice cream place you just flew over his calling your name. Conveniently enough it’s located next to a park with a large field as well as having a reasonably sized parking lot. You decide both are plenty large enough to land in, and to head back to see about putting this puppy down. Think of that escalator at the mall now, as you shut off the engine and glide gently down, ending your flight in only five or ten steps, much to the amazement of the little league baseball team that also heard the ice cream place calling its name and arrived only a minute or two before you did. You are now a superhero and world domination is within your grasp, many cool points are awarded... As you land and slow to a stop, you turn, look up, and watching your wing as it collapses, backing away, allowing it to stack neatly in a pile nearby where you’ll collect it in a moment. (Note: nothing ruins superhero status faster than having a parachute fall from the sky draping over you and your equipment making you look like a jellyfish on the beach or THE BLOB from the 1950’s)
Unhook your wing and mushroom it ( pull all the lines together to make a parachute ball), take off your motor, set the two together where you can see them, and go get a peanut buster parfait.

Keep an eye out for Part 3 coming soon!


Today's workout: Arms 'n Abs + 20 minute uphill walk. Not bad.

Shoe of the Week - Issue #29

I decided to put these up for the first shoe of the week of the year since these boots are pretty much a staple of my winter wardrobe. I call them my Hitler boots. It's a crappy pic and the angle makes them look really short - then again *I'm* really short... BUT anyway here you have the "Wonderful" black, knee-high boot by Naturalizer circa somewhere around 5 years ago. They get 5 stars...love them, love them, love them. Great winter look: wear your knee high boots with long shorts and leggings (to keep your knees warm), awesome. Happy new year shoe-hunting!

I admit I stole this from a friend's site, but everyone must watch this video:
Charlie the Unicorn


Today's workout: "...best of intentions, really..."

Game Day Photo

This is the post race pic from that half-marathon relay I mentioned a while back. Realized I never put it up, and pictures are just fun, no?

Today's workout: None. I'm sooooo sore. Upper body tomorrow (maybe :)

Someone finally smiled...

So I started up with the running again yesterday, and all in all, it was good. Except people on the trail weren't very friendly. I try to wave to my fellow runners as we pass, as if we're in some kind of secret club, but mostly they just ignore me, or they snarl. And there was alot of that yesterday. So I went out again today, and I tried really hard to be crusty, but I couldn't stand it and started waving again. This time I had several people nod and/or wave back. Felt like I was back in the south again. I'm either going to start a trend, or I'm gonna be the weird girl in the park that waves to strangers. Either way, I got to try out my Garmin GPS. Here's a tip for anyone thinking of buying or using one: you must hit the stop button when you are finished running and NOT after you have gotten back in your car and driven several miles. Your results are somehow inaccurate that way. It is because of this that I can't say really how I did yesterday and I'm calling it a warm-up. That means today I'm officially back in the business of working out and trying to get rid of the pesky pounds. And I'm going to start posting the day's workouts at the bottom of the posts. We'll see how long that lasts.

Today's Workout: ~4 miles in 45 minutes (obviously walking/running) There is much work to do. "...Cap'n, there be whales here!"

Material Girl

I'm so bad. Where do I even start? In some ways that was the absolute worst birthday/Christmas/New Year's, whatever, that I have EVER had. But in some ways it was pretty good. Like I realized what good friends I have. They even gave me BSG DVD's...(That's Battlestar Galactica, for those not in the "know") Thanks, again, guys! SO...what else did I rack-up for gifties? Well, I got that U2 iPod I wanted. In fact, I got three of them - Be careful what you ask for! I traded one in for the Garmin GPS I wanted. SO, now my life is complete, because I can go running anywhere, anytime and find my way home all the while listening to any and all episodes of BSG. Sweet. So, far in this new year I have yet to work out. (How's the grammar there? anyway...) But when I do, you'll hear all about it. Also, like I said, we have new shoes coming up, and I will also be posting Parts 2 & 3 of Rob's Paragliding article. If you have any ideas or thoughts you want me to run with, as always, leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

OK, everyone has been getting on to me about not posting, so I'm back! Happy New Year to everyone! Hopefully we'll get back on track with a routine here sometime this week...and yes, the new year brings with it new shoes and plentiful pounds.