Getting Uncomfortable

I woke up this morning about 5:15 am, which was 15 minutes before the alarm clock was scheduled to wake me from my dreams.   I said to myself, I’ll just go back to sleep, and I sorta did, at least until the alarm actually sounded.   Okay, I’m awake, no excuse not to go on this early morning walk with my girl.  After all it was my bright idea anyway.  I didn’t oversleep and I don’t feel overly tired despite working overtime yesterday.  But, it was still dark outside; which means you’re still supposed to be asleep….Right?  I’m just not a morning person.  Ultimately, though I couldn’t come up with a good enough excuse to stay in bed.  However, my brain does not function at this hour….why didn’t I pick out my walking clothes last night? Where are my tennis shoes?  Nyah calm down, stop jumping, I’m confused too, why am I stepping on dog food?!  … Where did this giant pimple come from on my cheek? Is it cold outside this early? Do I need to wear pants? Where are my freaking SHOES?!  I had to calm down.  I took a deep breath, rinsed my mouth out, didn’t care that my hair was standing on top of my head, and put on an uncomfortable pair of sneakers I found under the bed.  As I coached myself to the front door, I saw the unthinkable….RAIN! If you read my blog you know I hate rain.  It’s gloomy and wet,  it’s just ugh.  Well, I’m up now I rationalized with myself and I’ve stuffed my feet into these shoes, so I might as well run back up and get the umbrella.  Luckily, by the time I made it to my friend’s house the rain had stopped. 
She is the complete opposite of me, a total ray of sunshine in the morning.  She regularly gets up at 5 o’clock or earlier.  “Good Morning Friend!” She giddily exclaimed, “I’m so excited even though this is so late.” (It was only 6 AM y’all) Then she explained how she picked out a red towel for me to wipe my sweat because she knows I like red.  I could barely put on shoes, and she was up color-coding! LOL….  After a few minutes of walking around the park track near her house, I finally started to wake up.  She said “Carli, you have to get uncomfortable”  I was still grouchy and cut her off before she even finished her sentence.  Being my best friend and accustomed to my morning moodiness, she said, “No, just listen.  You have to get uncomfortable if you want to see a change.  Right now, you’re out of your element, but this is the sort of thing that’s going to make you to see a difference.  Right now you’re doing things that you’re comfortable with, and maintaining, but for the real change, you’re going to be uncomfortable.”  Her thoughts were profound.  It was the first thing that made sense all morning. Because, it was nothing but the truth that she was preaching.  If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got….We were able to power walk 2 miles, and catch up on life details, even though we talk daily as much as Oprah and Gayle. 

 I went to work feeling like the toughest part of my day was over, that was until I saw my co-workers congregated in the lobby.   “What’s going on? “ I asked.  They told me that all of the elevators were down.  We’d have to do the unthinkable, worse than getting up when it’s dark, worse than walking in the rain…we would have to climb 9 flights of stairs to the office.  I thought about how ridiculous it would be to stand in the lobby when I have two functioning legs.  Just show me where are the steps are.   I climbed all nine double flights,  198 stairs to be exact.  When I reached the top, winded and starting to shine, I wished I had my red towel.  I peeped my head in the HR guy’s office and panted, “I think I deserve over-time pay for this.”  He replied, “Oh, it’s part of the firm’s new Wellness program.”  Yeah okay, I laughed.  These slick lawyers always have the right thing to say! But, I can’t complain, because I knew for sure this time that the rest of the day would be down hill.

Working Hard

Hey guys, I’m working hard on the new 5K Bridge to 10K podcast.  I’ve been working on it for hours at a time.  I have most of the music picked out (I used many of your suggestions), and all of the weekly tips researched and written out.  Now I have to get all of the timing right, with the different days and routines…making sure it all makes sense, especially since I created my own 10K training program.  When I get in the studio to record, it should be smooth sailing.  I think you will really enjoy the finished product.  Anyway, there hasn’t been a lot of time left for blogging.  Although, I constantly think of new things to mention like Nyah only eating the dark colored beef flavored dog food pellets, and spitting the light ones on the floor, or my continuous battle against the bulge….But, I do realize that I do have to sleep….at least a little bit.  But, the podcast totally doesn’t feel like work, I have so much fun creating something that will help people all of the world (literally) accomplish their running goals.  I just wanted to check in.  I’m supposed to be doing an early morning 5:30 AM Wednesday walk with my Best Friend.  “Suppose” being the operative word….We’ll see!

A Week of Activity

I don’t feel really chatty today.  I think it’s because I’m tired.  I walked on Monday with Mr. Man, I went to extreme boot camp class on Tuesday with my girl from work, I did my normal weekly walk with my Best Friend yesterday and Boot camp again today.  It really pays to have a surplus of workout buddies.  If it weren’t for my friends, I probably would have only worked out 1 or 2 of the last four days.  If you ever feel like you need motivation to get in some extra activity find some fitness friends to help you stay on track.  My legs are looking tight and sexy, but I think I’ll take a day or so off, I don’t want to over do it.  However, I really do need to get back to running.  Walking in the park and pushups are a great way to stay in shape, but there’s nothing quite like running.   I want to be ready for my Sista Strut Breast Cancer 5K  in October.  And then take it to the next level.  I get emails everyday asking about a 5K bridge to 10K podcast.  Yes, it is coming.  It is a long process.  But the process has finally been started.  I created my own plan, because I couldn’t really find one that I liked.  I also have most of my weekly start up tips prepared.  And,  I have some great suggestions for music.  I’m working hard for you guys.  If you want to leave a music suggestion for the 10K podcast, just leave a comment here….Well that’s about it, short and sweet, I’m calling it a night girls and boys.  Bye!

2 for 1 Special

So, I’m calling it a 2 for 1 special, not because I did something really cool like work out twice in one day, but because I’m super busy and I’m putting two days of workouts in 1 blog post.   So yesterday,  Mr. Man text me and told me that he wanted to go for a walk again.  I couldn’t believe it!  Especially, since he said he was still sore from climbing the hill on Saturday.  I had a ton of stuff to do, but it’s so hard for me to turn down somebody who wants to work out, and he was willing to make the long drive to my side of the river.  It was a beautiful night, everyone is happy that the weather finally broke from one of the hottest summers on record.  We walked back towards the picturesque water basin & fountain.  There were couples everywhere…but gay couples.  Girls kissing girls and men on cute wine and cheese picnics together.  Love who you wanna love, but I think we missed the memo and came on Gay night in the park.


 
     Anyway, Mr. Man said this part of the park is so beautiful, that he could imagine that many guys propose to their ladies right here…..Hmmmm….. In my practical mind I said “pump your brakes dude, we’ve been dating for less than 2 months.”  But instead I said yea it is beautiful…hmmmmm…anyway, we had a great walk, I ran the hill, while he walked because I didn’t want him to over do it since he hadn’t “exercised like this since high school.” ……Once we got close to the car, I noticed he started to actually run, challenging me to a race!   “Ah naw!”, I exclaimed.  He wasn’t going to be beat me on my own turf.   I took off running and left him and Nyah in my dust. ….Much like my Lil sister left me on race day.  When they made it to the car, I said did you really think you could beat me running????  He slapped his hand on the hood of the car and said “Yep I just won”  LOL!  Cheaters never win I said jokingly, forgetting the childhood rules that you gotta “touch the base” first to win the race.
     As much fun as my walk was, I was totally unprepared for today’s boot camp class.  5 minutes in, we had already done 3 suicide runs spaced by jumping jacks.  This class made climbing that monstrous hill in the park akin to stepping over a rock.  Lyle was on a mission today.  There were about 12 of us in class today, so he gave us each an activity, sit-ups, jumping jacks, push-ups on “ The Perfect Pushup ”, Kettlebell squats, Jump Rope, Resistance Band pulls and more.  We each rotated to the next “station” until we completed 45 seconds at each activity.  And, when we finished the interval workouts breathing heavy and shirts soaked with sweat.  He said okay, let’s take a water break and repeat!  Seriously.  We had to do it all over again.  Then we ran a lap for the girl who was late.  My co-worker friend and I power walked, there was no running left in me.  Finally it was time for the cool down stretches and about 20 extra push-ups.  But we survived, just to do it all again on Thursday.

A Romantic Stroll

                                                                                              This morning, I missed the first wake-up call from Mr. Man.  He enjoyed our workout so much last weekend, that he wanted to go again.  Finally, I heard the phone ring when he was just 20 minutes away.  Still sleepy, I put on some shorts to go with the t-shirt that I slept in, as I fumbled my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash the cat butt out of my eyes.  Since he recommend today’s workout and he was such a good sport last time, I decided that I would take it easy on him this morning.  When we got to the park, I chose a more scenic route.  We walked towards the beautiful water basin where they have the paddle boats, it was such a beautiful scene I had to snap a quick pic with my cell phone.  I told him about Art Hill, the giant hill in front of the St. Louis Art Museum, where in the winter it’s covered with snow and ton’s of people come out and go sledding.  He said it looked like it would be a lot of fun.  And then a light bulb went off in my mind.   Why do we have to wait until winter to climb the hill?  He agreed, and we found the steepest part of the hill; we were ready for the challenge.  But, get this, he said he wanted to hold my hand on the way up!  He is so super romantic, and I’m so…. not.    I can’t even count how many roses  he’s bought for me.  Anyway, I know when you’re dating it’s not all about you, so I agreed to hold his hand and climb the hill regardless of how ridiculous it felt to me.  I held his hand and we climbed the hill together.  That hill was a lot steeper than I remembered.  He was holding my hand encouraging me, and once we got close to the top, he started dragging and I was pulling him up.  I said “Okay, Mr. Man, you’re a big dude, I can’t pull you up this hill!”  Neither one of us gave up, and together, holding hands, fingers locked, we made it to the top of the hill….awwwwwwww……maybe I liked it after all.  We were both breathing heavy and he and Nyah sat down at the foot of the statue for a break.  I really wanted to push myself, so I ran back down the hill and power walked back up to them at the top.  I was wiped after that.  But we still had to get back to the car.  We crossed a cute little bridge over a pond and saw couples and families enjoying picnics.  But, the next wire bridge kinda creeped me out.  Like you could see the water through the wire on the bottom.  I’m kinda scared of heights and weird stuff like glass elevators.  Anyway, he was really understanding about my crazy fear, and agreed to turn around to avoid that bridge.  In the end, we walked much further than we initially planned since we avoided the scary bridge.  After we walked and climbed the hill and avoided the bridge, we finally got back to the car about an hour and 15 minutes later.  I don’t really know how many miles it was since we weren’t on the regular path.  The hot summer sun was beaming down in full effect, and we were both sweating profusely.  I started freaking out, I still hate to sweat, and I really hate to stink, especially in front of guy.  He said, “it’s okay Baby, it’s a good stink.”  I said you know what, it is a good funk, because we’re working on getting healthy together, so we embraced our funk and sweat, but just not each other. LOL!  He’s so patient and understanding with me and all my quirks, I think I could get used to having him around. 

The Mouse Race Luau

I wanted to tell you guys about the charity mouse race on Saturday but, I never got around to it.  However, this morning, I was walking to my car and stepped on a rusted wire clothes hanger outside.  It did not cut or a scrape me, it actually went into my foot and I had to pull it out.  I took off my bloody flip-flop sandal, and put on my law firm appropriate shoes I had left in my car.  When I hobbled into the office, I immediately Googled “tetanus” and saw this picture

that totally freaked me out, I literally screamed out loud at my desk.  Anyway, I’m okay, I guess…because I got a tetanus shot back around 2006.  So, I said all that to say, I couldn’t go on my weekly Wednesday walk with my Best Friend with a little hole in my foot.

So, while watching Knocked Up, for the hundredth time (it’s still funny!), I decided to blog about the mouse race on Saturday.  Me, Mr. Man and my sisters saw signs pointing us to the right building.  Once inside there were these cute Luau decorations and even giant paper mouse cut outs with flowers. I told the director guy that I was a little creeped out about the mice, and he jokingly said they had an “incident” last year, but it “shouldn’t” happen again today. ……hmmmmm I was still nervous about all of this so,  I had my Little sister go ask the lady how it all was going to work, because she’s 16, so I figured she would look less dumb asking questions.   The Hawaiian themed dinner was served first and then put away before the mice came out.  I guess that made the most sense.  Then we got poker chips and a bid card with a list of all the names of the different mice in each race. 

 For the first race, I bid on Mickey.  How could Mickey Mouse not win a mouse race?  Well, he didn’t and I lost about 4 bucks.  But, it was so much fun though, we all huddled around the enclosed little race track and cheered for the mouse we put money on.  When they opened the mini doors, sometimes the mice run take off running straight to the finish line, and some would stop, while others would actually turn around and go the wrong way!  It was hilarious we had a fun time.  There was an open bar, so some people there had a “really” good time.  But, the funniest part of the whole night was the silent auction, when my Big Little sister ran up during the last 30 seconds and put a bid on a Spa Package and won it for about half price of it’s worth.  She was so excited, planning out her spa day massage, but we were both curious as to why we had never heard of the place.  So, she gets her pretty gold envelope, and opens it only to find that I was for a Pet Salon and Spa! There were pics of little dogs in bows.  OMG, it was so funny! She doesn’t even have a dog.   She got her money back and let the lady whose name was on the list before her have it.  At the end of the night, I ended up losing about $20, but it was for charity, and totally worth the fun & being able to say I survived a real mouse race!

Gold Star Day

I woke up this morning and got on the scale, and I was floored, shocked, amazed and disappointed.  I saw a number that I haven’t seen in a really long time.  I started praying to God to help me.  This weight loss thing can be so hard sometimes.   I know that I have a gift of helping people with their journey, but its so frustrating that my progress made a U-turn and is running in the wrong direction.  I started panicking, telling myself; I’ll never be able to make my fitness DVD, will my blog readers and runners start to think I’m a fraud?  And then I had to catch myself.  That downward spiral only goes down and nothing good comes from it.  I prayed God just help me with today.  I started remembering what my weight watcher leader and my Hollywood Aunt always say, just take it ONE DAY AT TIME.  I realized, that no, Running Into Shape is not a disaster because I gained a couple pounds and yes, they will still read your blog and  yes your family still loves you because you’re human, and we make mistakes.  I prayed again “Okay God, I’m serious, help a sista out, I can’t do it by myself.”  Instead of hitting up the deli shop at my job for a quick muffin, I took a vitamuffin top (100 cal) and a weightwatcher yogurt….(amaretto flavor, so delicious)…. Then I told my co-worker first thing, I’m eating a salad & water for lunch, nothing else, not negotiable.  She’s working on her weight too, and she signed up Lyle’s Boot Camp class with me!  I am so excited to have another workout buddy.  You know I live for a plan, so I found my next 5K.  It’s called the Sista Strut to help bring awareness to the startling number of women of color with breast cancer in my area.  It’s a walk, but it’s not until October, so I hope to run the whole thing.   

After work, I came home to let Nyah out and get dressed for class.  I picked up my co-worker friend and we were on our way.  We were just about 3 minutes late and already missed 3 exercises.  Lyle is serious about his class.  We joined in the jumping jacks and squat thrusts.  Then, he had us lay the mats on an incline and do sit ups and pushups and repeat.  That little hill made it that much harder.  But thank GOD, for a cool day, it was only in the 80′s with a cool breeze.  I’ll take that over ridiculously hot days we’ve been having.  Class was so nice to do with a friend, and have that extra encouragement during the suicide runs and planks.  I guess God was listening this morning, because I had a Gold Star day!

What Did Carli Eat Today?

B-Vita Muffin Top, WW Amaretto Yogurt (actually quite filling combo), Green Tea w/ Splenda

L- Fried Chicken Salad w/Fat Free Italian Dressing, Small breadstick & Water

D- Subway Sandwich & 13 animal crackers (I counted a serving)

Good Morning!

Last night, Me and Mr. Man went to a bar-b-que at my Big Little Sister’s house.  That girl has more BBQ’s  and “just because” parties than anybody I know.  After the party, we came back to my house and watched this semi-scary movie called “The Crazies.”  I love thrillers, but this one kind of missed the mark.  It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t that good.  Anyway, by the time the movie was over, it was after 2 AM and there was terrible thunderstorm that sounded like it was trying to beat down the windows.  Nyah was even a little scared of the loud thunder and lighting, so she curled up close under our feet…..  Mr. Man lives almost an hour away, so while we waiting for the rain to slack up, we both fell asleep on couch.  After a while I got in bed…..  Wait a minute y’all!  I said “I” got in bed by myself.  Get your mind out the gutter.  LOL!  I brought him a pillow and he slept on the couch…….I already knew I had a super busy Saturday ahead of me, so I’ve been planning my early morning workout to beat the hot summer sun.  

The storm knocked the power out for a few minutes, and my alarm clock was wrong, so I just let my internal clock wake me up.  When I woke up and looked at my cell it was a little after 7 AM.  I laid down for about another hour and then got up.  Oh no, I thought he’s gonna see my “morning face.” …..Nonetheless, when I told him it was time to get up and go workout, he looked at me quizzically, like I was trying to teach a dog how to play poker.  “Yes, workout, meet Carli the certified fitness instructor!”  He was a little taken aback, by my early morning aggressiveness, but I promised him I’d cook breakfast, so he was all good after that.  Me, Mr. Man and Nyah headed to Forest Park.  I asked him, “how far can you walk?”  He said “oh it doesn’t matter Baby”, I said okay, then 3 miles it is.  He said, well I don’t know about that!  I told him, that I would push him, but only to the point where he felt tired, but comfortable.  I think he thought it was going to be a romantic morning stroll.  Wrong!  I told him, “We’re working on getting sexy and getting healthy, come on, keep up!  All of the cheery morning people, were smiling and waving at us.   I was walking backwards facing him, and encouraging him.  I could tell that 3 miles would have been a little bit too much for him; so after we walked for about 1 mile, I told him where the turnaround point was for 2 miles and took off running.  He later said “I looked up and you were gone!”  I did the whole 3 miles.  Running and walking.  I didn’t have my podcast on, but I ran for a few minutes and walked for a few minutes and repeated until I got back to the car.  He was there waiting with Nyah.  He was only waiting on me  for a few minutes.  So, it worked out perfectly.  We just barely beat the real heat. We went our separate ways, just to freshen up and get back together for tonight.  Now, we’re headed to a charity fundraiser with my sisters.  And get this it’s a “Mouse race, Luau and dinner”….somebody was being really creative.  Like do I really want to eat dinner and bid on running mice at the same time???   Will they be in a box? Or a cage? Or have leashes or something? I mean one time I saw a dead mouse in my house and was literally scared to tears…..anyway, I could blog for hours, but tonight should be ummmm  interesting.  Well I’m off to put my money on the fastest looking critter!  Go mousey go!  (Maybe they’re plastic mice?)  I don’t know…..Anyway, I guess I’ll just go and have a good time.  Good Bye!