Jul 27
Why would you want to spend time working out inside when you could wake up and work out on these? Yeah, that’s what I thought. You wouldn’t waste your time inside either. Of course, when it’s freezing, I’ll be back at Scott Fitness where there’s no contract ever, and you can start and stop as often as you like. For now, I’m on the “stopped” phase. (And no, it’s not like I get any sort of bonus for linking to their site. I just like them.) Since I’m not at Scott Fitness, over the last few days I’ve spent a LOT of time on these stairs. Forget counting how many steps I’ve taken – that’s one area the machine definitely has the advantage. I just go by the number of songs I listen to while I run up and down the stairs. It helps if I pick fast songs. I definitely would NOT recommend climbing them to Jordin Spark’s “No Air.” (My mom loves working out to that song. I will NEVER understand that.)
My running has been sporadic over the past few months. I was blaming that on my fooorever long commute, but since moving to KC three weeks ago, I still wasn’t feeling it. For some reason, Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” as my alarm doesn’t help me vault out of bed. And if I don’t work out in the morning, it’s probably not happening. I am SO a morning person. Last week, I changed my alarm. Nickelback. Just about anything from their Dark Horse CD makes me jump out of bed. Problem solved, and I am back on the wagon. It’s a good thing too – I unpacked my scale this week. Of course, given that I’m taller than I thought, that number isn’t really as bad as it could be – I’m only six pounds off from the range that I give myself. Give me a month and I’ll be back on track. For now, I’m just extra bootylicious. That’s hardly a bad thing.
This morning I talked my roommate into going with me. Let’s call her Juarez – that’s where her family’s from, but it’s not her real name. (Roommates are almost family, but they get some level of protection. Come on, that’s only fair, right? Reece wishes he was my roommate.) We’ve actually got another roommate who will be joining us in a few short weeks and we can’t wait! Maybe we’ll rope her into early mornings too. It’s always more fun to run with someone else. Even when you’re not running “together.” (That wasn’t a problem today. Juarez is shorter than SixFour.)
Take a look at how beautiful it is out there in those early morning hours. Care to join us?
Tagged with: exercise • juarez • kansas city • kc • kcmo • mom • reece • running • sixfour • stairs • working out
Apr 17
I’ve got a friend who I’m going to call “SixFour.” He’s not family, so we’ll stick him with a nickname. “SixFour” seems fitting given his incredible height of – you guessed it – 6’4”. Insert sigh of jealousy here. Not that *I* want to be 6’4” – can you imagine? – but sometimes it’d come in handy. Like when I need something off the top shelf at the grocery store. I always have to ask the SixFours of the world to help when I really want that last hard-to-reach salad dressing. (Salad dressing sounds much more virtuous than the last bag of cheetos, right?)
Anyway, we’ve been working on a political campaign for Kansas’s 20th District Republican Primary. Since I had plans to run after our morning of walking the district (we knock on doors and encourage people to vote in the August primary) SixFour offered to be my running partner when we were done. After a quick change into some gym clothes (we don’t knock on doors wearing them of course!) we met up at the postcard (also known as Loose Park) where we proceeded to run “together.”
Have you ever read the definition of “together”? Here it is – “into or in one gathering, company, mass, place, or body” or “into or in union, proximity, contact, or collision, as two or more things.” That said, there was NOTHING “together” about our run today. SixFour blew through four laps in the time it took me to do three. In other words, I got my apple kicked.
Of course, when you think about it, I would have run the same pace – maybe slower! – without him running circles around me. (And no, that was not literal. I would have told him to go away if he was really running circles around me as I went around the loop.) So I’m happy I went. There’s something about running that helps clear my head and I’m sure I’ll head back to the postcard soon… However, if I’m looking for an ego boost, there’s no way I’m running “together” with SixFour.
Tagged with: cheetos • loose park • postcard • running • sixfour
Mar 29
Today I went running in a postcard. Well, not really – but doesn’t it look like it should be one? When you’re in Loose Park, it feels like you’re miles away from the city. You’d never guess that it’s just a few minutes from my office. It was beautiful outside today (a WELCOME change from all this cold!) and since I’m thinking about a half-marathon in September, I thought it was a perfect time to get away from the treadmill and onto the pavement. Because really, who LOVES the treadmill? Certainly not yours truly. When I’ve got to exercise inside, I’m more a fan of the stairmaster – we’ve carried on a love affair for quite awhile. The treadmill and I have more of a hot-and-cold relationship. Mostly cold.
Running today made me want to create my OWN postcard property. Not this week of course. But I think one of these days (when I get that space of mine that I’m still pining for), I’m going to put together a really great running trail so that I can have a postcard in my own backyard. Or in my front yard. Or all around my whole house. A few lilac trees, lots of roses, a grapevine or two… It could be Totally. Freaking. Awesome. Oh yeah, I can see it all now. (And no Mom, I did not forget a water feature – it’s totally got to have a water feature.)
Until I’ve got my own postcard, I’ll stick to running in one of Kansas City’s. After all, it’s looking like the perfect place to steal ideas from.
Tagged with: half-marathon • kansas city • loose park • marathon • running • stairmaster • treadmill
Nov 07
Therefore, I like to exercise.
I love food, but when you are only 4’10″, your calorie intake is kind of limited. (For some reason, when you are small, your body doesn’t need quite as many calories to run as someone who is tall.) I made peace with my height a long time ago. After all, it hasn’t changed since I was about 12 years old. So I know where my calorie intake should be and how to adapt my workout for the days when my love of food might take me over the top of that.
I love all types of food – mexican, italian, american, greek, middle eastern, japanese (including sushi!), chinese, polynesian…. Seriously. I make sounds when I eat. Can’t help it – I’ve done it forever I think.
At my house, food has always been one way we all come together. When I was growing up, we actually all sat down together to eat. For a family of eight kids, that was always a fun rowdy time. Now I make it home most weekends, and we still all eat together. What a life :)
Tagged with: exercise • fitness • food • health • running
Sep 30
photo from imapmy.com
One of these days I want to run a marathon. You know, just to put it on the list of “really cool things I’ve done.” The problem? Well, I’m not much of a runner. I hate the treadmill. I’d much rather do the stairs. If I’m going to run, I want it to be a little less tedious. (Somehow, the stairs are never as boring as the treadmill.) I think that I might have found the answer to my problem – the iMapMyRun app for the iPhone keeps track of me as I run using GPS. I never have to measure how long I run or keep track of my time – it keeps track of all that, PLUS it calculates my pace. I can be outside and just run… I love it! As long as the weather holds out, I think I’m going to be outside. Running.
Tagged with: fitness • imapmyrun • iphone • mapmyrun • running
Why would you want to spend time working out inside when you could wake up and work out on these? Yeah, that’s what I thought. You wouldn’t waste your time inside either. Of course, when it’s freezing, I’ll be back at Scott Fitness where there’s no contract ever, and you can start and stop as often as you like. For now, I’m on the “stopped” phase. (And no, it’s not like I get any sort of bonus for linking to their site. I just like them.) Since I’m not at Scott Fitness, over the last few days I’ve spent a LOT of time on these stairs. Forget counting how many steps I’ve taken – that’s one area the machine definitely has the advantage. I just go by the number of songs I listen to while I run up and down the stairs. It helps if I pick fast songs. I definitely would NOT recommend climbing them to Jordin Spark’s “No Air.” (My mom loves working out to that song. I will NEVER understand that.)
This morning I talked my roommate into going with me. Let’s call her Juarez – that’s where her family’s from, but it’s not her real name. (Roommates are almost family, but they get some level of protection. Come on, that’s only fair, right? Reece wishes he was my roommate.) We’ve actually got another roommate who will be joining us in a few short weeks and we can’t wait! Maybe we’ll rope her into early mornings too. It’s always more fun to run with someone else. Even when you’re not running “together.” (That wasn’t a problem today. Juarez is shorter than SixFour.)
