Legend of O.T.

70 + or - years, 1 lung, and a new shiny knee. What do these add up to? Three losses on the racquetball court to (wait for it) a man that is around 70 years old, has one lung and a complete knee replacement. It was hard to tote such a beating. The closest I came to winning was 5 points. I see O.T. at the gym every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and all he plays r-ball(slang for racquetball). Well today I was abandoned by my posse so without the usual motivation I managed to make it to the gym anyway. I planed on or shall I say dreaded a long slow run on the trace. Once I got to the gym I ran into O.T. and he was telling me how he didn't lose a game today and then told me how he didn't play any either. Partly because we were 2 of the 6 or so people at the gym. So he and I chat a bit as we get ready and he was telling me his weekend plans of going to the coast and trying his luck. I wish him luck start toward a run that I know will be tough since I have no one to chase, cause I am the slowest of the group. Except for Richard but he doesn't count because he doesn't run. Anyway I look back and see these puppy dog like eyes glaring at me and decide to ask him if he would like to play a couple of games. Man he perked up and said "you beth ya". Little did I know I was going to get taken behind the woodshed. I knew he had some game, but seriously! I though if anything I could just out run him on the court and I did. He took very few steps partly because he can't and mostly because he didn't have to. I on the other hand was all over the place slamming into walls and doing everything I could to return a shot. I could tell he was reveling in his victories and even if I could have beat him would I have taken that from him? HELL YEAH!!!! But I will wait for our next match and try to regain some esteem on the court or I will just play Richard on Tuesday.



Oh by the way, not me in the pic but that is how I felt.

The First One is Free.........

The second box will cost ya!

On our vacation a few weeks ago we stopped at the local grocery to pickup a few things. As we so often do we like to look around to see what "real" grocery stores offer because we just don't have any good ones around the house. As we check out the deli section the nice Baker behind the counter decides to offer the kids a cookie and of course they accepted. Was a little upset about it not because I didn't want them to have a cookie but why couldn't I have one. Oh well. Now every time I take my 2 year old to the store with me she goes crazy to get to these deli counters. Jonesing for that cookie I suppose. Not just the counters with the baked goods. She expects it from the Butcher and the plate lunch counter. Thanks nice deli guy. Now I am buying cookies every time I have the kids with me.


I am also going to have to give props to the stores who invest the few hundred bucks and get the kid friendly carts in the store. Although not always as easy to drive they do tend to distract kids long enough to actually get everything on the list. Again coming back to my local grocery store (no cool carts) my 2 yr old now thinks that every place has them. I have tried to sit and have a rational conversation with my daughter and explain to her that no matter how many buggies she pulls out, none of them will have the cool car attached. It didn't sink in.

So after finally getting her away from the carts and the counters I successfully failed to get everything I need and had to catch the looks from everyone in the store as my child yelled the entire time. Lesson learned. She doesn't get to go back to the store till she is 4. Yeah I know, we will see.

Checked out but getting ready to check in

It is just so DANG hard to focus on work before a vacation. We check in on Thursday but I believe I am already check out of work. It is a little lack of motivation and a little of not wanting to start anything new so there is nothing to break right before I leave or while I am gone. So if you think about it, all of it makes sense. Or I have justified it. Any who just ready for some fun and sun...........well looks like lots of rain too. No biggs. I can relax and have fun no matter rain or shine.

Sand should be a very interesting factor on this trip. And NO I am not talking about chafing. Ella, my 2 year old does not care a whole lot for the gritty stuff. When she comes in contact with it she tends to hold her hands as far away as possible from her body as not to infect the rest of her. Last year she sat in a beach chair with an umbrella over head and was just about as content as one could be. Now she is a year older and much more active, we will just have to wait and see. However there is a lazy river (my personal fave) and pools so I believe we are covered either way.

Bottom line I am pumped up and ready for the trip. Don't expect me to be super enthusiastic about work this week.

Keep your head up.......NO NO NO

Not that I am a fast swimmer or even an average swimmer but I am getting better. To my understanding, the idea is to keep your head down then turn your head to the side and breathe. This works great for about 30 yards then I get tired lose form and throw the head up. I feel like I would look like the loch ness monster cruising through the water. Assuming she did in deed exist.....or does she. Anyway, the form is getting much better and a bit of comfort is setting in. However it is still hard as hell. I managed to swim abut 750 yards(not with out breaks) in my allotted time. It is a little intimidating to swim next to the Hulk (Chris) who is swimming at least 3 laps to my 1. That's ok because I know that if i work hard enough one day I will still not be as fast as some of these guys. I'm good with that as long as I continue to give it my all.

Exercise and Weight Loss

So I get up this morning with plans to hop on the bike and ride for about 30 min before getting back home to make breakfast for girls and get ready for work. Doing something I vowed not to do I snoozed the alarm clock so was already running late. No time for a decent ride, I figure lets work on something I have been wanting to practice for a while. Jump rope. I know it takes a bit of skill and coordination but with practice i should be able to get it down. After about 10 minutes of awkwardness I was able to successfully jump that evil rope 25 times with out tripping. I think i will dedicate 5 minutes every morning after my ride/run or whatever to fine tuning this skill. Knowing that 15 min was not enough to count as a workout so I busted out a quick 1 mile run just to make me feel better about my morning.

185.....That is the magic number I set as my weight loss goal. For this run I started at 198. I have been bouncing around between 194 and 198 for a month or two and ready to see some more loss. Currently I am at 193. Several Colleagues and myself are in a competition based on % of loss. It is only for 1 month. We started on May 1st and it will end on June 1st. So far I have lost about 2 pounds a week which is a pretty healthy number. If i can continue that I should end up around 190 hopefully 189 by competition end. This will be the first time I have seen that weight since I blew past it about 9 years ago. I allowed myself to bloat up to a staggering 235+ before deciding to make a change. The + is there because I don't really know what my true weight was, 235 was when I quit weighing.

But since then I am down 40 pounds or so and am looking to drop about 10 more then I will reassess. Back to the challenge, there is a slight problem. It ends on June 1st. Well on May 21st my Family and some Friends are going on a vacation to Orange Beach AL. We will come back on the 25th. Vacation=fun, sun, some drinking and LOTS of eating. So 5 days left after that not to try and drop more last minute weight but to get back to where I will be going into the vacation. Fingers crossed about 190. Good news they have gym facilities on location. Bad news I don't fair well out of town. I will need to get out of the vacation mind set and remember my goals. That means rolling out of bed and hitting the treadmill or running around the property since I don't think splashing around the pool counts as swimming. I am going in with the expectation of returning home with a minimal gain. 2 pounds max.

EPIC DAY!!!!!!!! Part Deux

What once started out to be a once a month thing has now turned into a weekly event. Participation is growing by leaps and bounds with verbal commitments from others to join at later dates.

This EPIC day was a bit different from last week. We started out with 20 reps of lunges up the bleachers and up the entire lower deck compared to last weeks running up the stairs in the middle sections. Almost twice the steps. At the bottom we alternated box squats and push ups to complete the rep. Then it was time to head down to the field for abs. 250 crunches or obliques how ever you could stomach them. The bicycles were axed this week and rightfully so. It did make it a bit easier last week. Time to get off the ground and move into some foot work. James decided that we would throw in a curve ball and instead of just sprints we went with a 20 yard sprint followed by 20 yards of grapevine/crossovers(whatever you want to call them) 20 yard sprint then switch sides on the grapevine and then sprint it out for the last 20 yards. 3 of those and the next one replace the grapevine with skipping, completely James' idea. The last one was an all out backwards run for the full 100, which i won and then a slow.....did I say slow jog back to the PC for a shower and then off to work for a nap.

Great day of working out. My opinion may change tomorrow when I can't stand upright due to the box squats and lunges. But it is swim day so all I have to do is not drown. Simple right.

Early to Rise

This is day two of my initiative to get up earlier as not to be so rushed to get out of the door. I am also trying to get in an extra few minutes of physical activity to get the blood flowing and to drop a few extra pounds. Yesterday I reluctantly rolled out of bed and rode the bike for about 25 min. That seemed to work pretty good. As not to tire out the legs I was going to find something else to do this morning but was a little achy and decided not to exercise. Last week I overworked myself (in the gym not at my job) and suffered through the entire week. So I am trying to ease into my new routine. This is also in efforts to get down to 185 and win the office "Biggest Loser" competition. The number 185 is just a goal, however the office challenge is a competition. It is a month long event that started on May 1st and will end on June 1st. Upside, I am the favorite to win. Downside, that means I am the fattest. I think I can handle the pressure.