"Lance Chance Workout"

At nearly the last minute yesterday, I texted Alba and asked her if she was busy.  I felt a pressing need to get myself out and work out. I'd talked to my son in the morning and he somewhat expressed an interest in participating in the Rudolph Run on December 3.  That's not that far away.  I am somewhat interested in it myself, although I'm NOT going to run.  I'm too big and don't feel like having all my body parts jiggling and dancing as I attempt to move quickly through downtown.  Nope.  Not me.  I'll walk it though.  Alba says I need to get my hind end moving at least three times a week if I plan on being prepared for it.  I need to get acclimated to the weather, etc. 

I sent a text message to Alba at 3:00 and asked her if she was available at 5:30.  Fortunately for me, she was!  She came over and we went over to the park.  I can tell I'm not in shape because a simple quick walk (not really fast, just a good pace) had me huffing and puffing.  Alba pointed out that I'm stomping a little too hard when walking, so we worked on improving my foot position.  What was really neat was that she knew which foot was hitting wrong, even without looking!
She walked me through the park, had me do several squats, then we hit the stairs and did MORE leg-work and push ups against the rail.  My arms are sore today, as is another body part, but it's to be expected.  I feel pretty good, all things considered.  She had me step out of my comfort zone and step up on the second step from the bottom landing of the steps.  I was afraid of falling, but she kept encouraging and kept pushing.  I finally got a song on my phone that had me going (Oingo Boingo's No One Lives Forever). I like the pace and the lyrics, so I worked my butt off to get up on that step.  It was a lot easier on my left leg (pushing off with my right leg), which means I have to do MORE work on my right side.

When we came back, we planned on meeting tomorrow morning at 8:00 am.  I WILL be up and we are gonna work!  It's a shimmy day!  I'm looking forward to it.  I love dancing and this will be awesome!!

One 5k down

This morning was a perfect morning for a walk. It was 60+ degrees when I left the house and went to the park to go walking. My friend was already there, so when I got there, he got out of his car and we took off walking. We didn't really check the time when we started out, but it was about an hour and ten minutes to an hour and 20 minutes for the walk. I'm guessing as I didn't time it either. Since we added in the lake lap, it was a full 5k.
We didn't run today, but as we're both getting back into the habit of walking, it was a good start. We both chatted as we walked. We talked about fitness plans, martial arts, etc. He's in better shape than I am since he has access to a fitness center at work and exercises there, but it was really nice of him to join me this morning. I told him that I plan on walking every weekend, plus I want to start walking at work too. I'm going to pack my clothes for walking on Sunday night so that I'm ready to go at work. I have a later lunch on Monday--I work 9:30 to 6:30, so I go to lunch at 1:30. That'll be a good time to get out and get a walk in. The other days, I go to lunch at 11:30. I'm going to be ready for it.

Since I've been out and walked, I feel like I've accomplished something. I set my mind to walking and I did. Now my next step is to get my time down from an hour and some to about 45 minutes or so. Even if I just walked for an hour, it'll be a bonus.

I also took the opportunity to have him grab me so that I could practice my Ho Sin Sul. I need the practice and he was there, so I got in the practice. I remembered 3 out of four of the Ho Sin Sul I did on Thursday, so I'm keeping up my plan to practice.

Sunday's cleaning frenzy?!

I went into a cleaning frenzy today. I don't know why, other than the fact that I had to clean up the floor in front of the television. We're having AT&T come in to install cable. (We caved in. We'd have had to pay $250.00 for the satellite dish we WERE going to get as part of our "security deposit". I'm so NOT happy about that! Oh well.)
While I was cleaning up in front of the television, I decided that I didn't need some old magazines that were over in a pile by the couch, so off to the trash they went. Then I asked Amanda if she minded if I tossed some of the stuff that was just laying around, things they're not playing with. We ditched old pencils, old pens, pictures that weren't useful, you name it. I found piles of mail on the table from I don't know HOW long ago--it was all junk. Old credit card offers, you name it. I shredded it. I ran through three bags in the shredder while I was at it. I'm a very happy person because I didn't let sentimentality get to me. I just jumped in feet first and shredded things.

I feel a super sense of accomplishment right now. I have been cleaning and changing the way the house looks. My next step is to go back to the garage and see what's down there, then ruthlessly toss things out there as well. I'll start boxing up books that I'm not currently reading and store them in the garage also. The better organized we are, the easier our move will be when our lease is up.