Ahh, the dreaded vendor lunch. Pizza and dressing-drenched lettuce sit in my stomach like half-set concrete, and I’m pretty sure it didn’t taste good enough to be worth it. The Sprite was pretty delicious though. Tonight is book club, and I’m going to have to be good. (No baked brie! /sob)
Our book this month was about a woman who sets out to recenter herself by hiking (most of) the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs roughly parallel to the better known Pacific Coast Highway. Two important points of distinction: the trail is for pedestrians or equestrians and it RUNS ALONG THE CREST OF THE MOUNTAIN RANGES. The endeavor is serious business. And the idea that it’s something I need to accomplish was firmly planted in my mind. Then I found these fun facts:
The Pacific Coast trail is not unique! and is actually the "intermediate" one in the Triple Crown of Hiking.
Appalachian Trail is 2,184 miles long and gets several thousand thru-hikers a year (about 450 complete)
Pacific Coast Trail is 2,663 miles long and gets about 300 thru-hikers per year (about 180 complete)
Continental Divide Trail is 3,100 miles long and gets a couple dozen per year (completers in the single digits)
Hiking the Continental Divide Trail is totally on my bucket list now. It goes through my claimed-home state, Wyoming. (I was born in Utah, but didn’t live there long at all.) And I’ve wanted to go on an extensive backpacking trip through Yellowstone ever since reading accounts of its early explorers in school. I almost feel like this is what it will take to prove I’ve accomplished my goal: to be in good enough shape to do anything I want to do.
Bobby’s comment made me chuckle: “How about you lower your sights there Sacagawea, and we hike the narrows from start to finish?” The Narrows is a 16-mile trail. (In my head, I'm thinking, "Pffft, is that all?" but I've never hiked more than 7-9 continuous miles. 3100 miles in the Rocky Mountains? Am I insane?) My picture today is me picking my way carefully through the water in The Narrows, which is the name of the river trail at the north end of Zion National Park. It can be treacherous if there’s a lot of rain up river, but it was just muddy that day.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Zombies, Prisons, and Kayaks; Oh My!
The house is on the market! It has been for a while, actually, but we weren't taking appointments. Now we are, and I'm so relieved. Yay! I really hate the instant, "S**t, did I leave any underwear on the floor?!" when I accept a same-day appointment from work, though.
Apparently being unreasonably irritated by small things is a side effect of being overly stressed. Knowing that is NOT helping me stay calm about my boss crunching through his daily bag of Doritos. The work itself is a little better, if only because the things going on now are mostly things I can't do anything about. Frustrating, but not as bad as feeling like I have 85 things to do RIGHT NOW if I want to have a job tomorrow. We're down to a mere 8 active projects from 21 as well. That's still considered an over full workload for a project management team, so before it was just insanity.
I skipped my class at the gym all week last week: for a birthday, then because I'd spent hours and hours on the floor scrubbing baseboards and tile grout, then because I'd had a beyond awful day and wanted to hide all alone in a dark room. I went on Saturday, and how I hurt! It's not bad today (good thing: I have class tonight!), but Sunday I was hobbling around like an arthritic 80 year old, and Monday was only a little better.
I've only got 11 days left before my obstacle course race. A similar race in Ft. Worth had a drowning fatality last weekend, which was a little alarming. The one I'm doing isn't on the same scale, though, so I'm not in danger of anything except looking like an idiot. Bobby is trying to talk me into doing one in Austin where zombies chase you. (www.runforyourlives.com) It sounds awesome, but I am way freaked out by zombies, and I don't think I could handle it even if I were in superb physical condition. I think an attempt could, quite literally, trigger a heart attack. I had to be removed from a haunted house when I was 9, because they thought I might have a stroke or something. (In my defense, it was in the Wyoming Territorial Prison. The place was creepy when it wasn't occupied by Halloween scare junkies.)
I bought a groupon this morning to do a 3 hour nature tour in a kayak. I mentioned it to Bobby, and he seemed really excited about it, so that made me really happy about it. I already know he'll outpace me easily. Him: works for FedEx hefting boxes around 6 days a week; Me: professional desk wimp. But it will be fun anyway. We have 6 months to use the voucher, but I'm kind of hoping I won't be too sore after class to use it this weekend (for my birthday).
When I bought the voucher, it popped up a bunch of other things. Scuba certification course! Standup paddle boarding! Zomg! The scuba one is out of my budget, but if a sailing one pops up, I'll be all over it. I learned to sail at a summer camp when I was 14 or so, and have been wishing ever since I could do it again. I really want to learn to windsurf, and Texas does have an abundance of lakes...
Current weight/pounds lost? Oh, who cares.
Apparently being unreasonably irritated by small things is a side effect of being overly stressed. Knowing that is NOT helping me stay calm about my boss crunching through his daily bag of Doritos. The work itself is a little better, if only because the things going on now are mostly things I can't do anything about. Frustrating, but not as bad as feeling like I have 85 things to do RIGHT NOW if I want to have a job tomorrow. We're down to a mere 8 active projects from 21 as well. That's still considered an over full workload for a project management team, so before it was just insanity.
I skipped my class at the gym all week last week: for a birthday, then because I'd spent hours and hours on the floor scrubbing baseboards and tile grout, then because I'd had a beyond awful day and wanted to hide all alone in a dark room. I went on Saturday, and how I hurt! It's not bad today (good thing: I have class tonight!), but Sunday I was hobbling around like an arthritic 80 year old, and Monday was only a little better.
I've only got 11 days left before my obstacle course race. A similar race in Ft. Worth had a drowning fatality last weekend, which was a little alarming. The one I'm doing isn't on the same scale, though, so I'm not in danger of anything except looking like an idiot. Bobby is trying to talk me into doing one in Austin where zombies chase you. (www.runforyourlives.com) It sounds awesome, but I am way freaked out by zombies, and I don't think I could handle it even if I were in superb physical condition. I think an attempt could, quite literally, trigger a heart attack. I had to be removed from a haunted house when I was 9, because they thought I might have a stroke or something. (In my defense, it was in the Wyoming Territorial Prison. The place was creepy when it wasn't occupied by Halloween scare junkies.)
I bought a groupon this morning to do a 3 hour nature tour in a kayak. I mentioned it to Bobby, and he seemed really excited about it, so that made me really happy about it. I already know he'll outpace me easily. Him: works for FedEx hefting boxes around 6 days a week; Me: professional desk wimp. But it will be fun anyway. We have 6 months to use the voucher, but I'm kind of hoping I won't be too sore after class to use it this weekend (for my birthday).
When I bought the voucher, it popped up a bunch of other things. Scuba certification course! Standup paddle boarding! Zomg! The scuba one is out of my budget, but if a sailing one pops up, I'll be all over it. I learned to sail at a summer camp when I was 14 or so, and have been wishing ever since I could do it again. I really want to learn to windsurf, and Texas does have an abundance of lakes...
Current weight/pounds lost? Oh, who cares.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Is this thing on?
I tried all week to make a post to no avail. The test post I made this morning worked, however, so I'm trying again. The below is from Friday. Ahh, wouldn't it be nice if today were Friday and not Monday?
We'll see if this post makes it live; lately I get an error to try again later when I try to post a blog. Very frustrating. Work is still effed. I held back several posts in the last few weeks, because they just seemed so depressed. I'm stressed, and I don't cope with it well. 'Nough said.
We signed paperwork to sell the house last Sunday, and Bobby started freaking out on Wednesday after the realtor put a for sale sign in our yard. It was listed officially today. I've taken it pretty well, all considered. There IS still a lot to do, but there's also a lot we have already done, and that feels good.
I signed up for the intermediate level of the class I've been taking, and I love it. Most of the treadmill stuff was pretty boring, now we get to use weights and machines and lie on the floor. (Oh, my aching core.)
This morning, I went to the gym for a fit test. I last did one in January 2011, and I have made a fair amount of progress since. I'm still obese, but only by 1.1 BMI points. If I've done my body composition math right, I've lost 16 lbs of body fat and gained half a pound of lean muscle. I've doubled my flexibility score, increased forearm strength, and my cardiovascular system is more efficient. If that's not a list of NSVs to be proud of, I don't know what is.
22 [19 now] days until my race! Are you excited? I'm excited.
We'll see if this post makes it live; lately I get an error to try again later when I try to post a blog. Very frustrating. Work is still effed. I held back several posts in the last few weeks, because they just seemed so depressed. I'm stressed, and I don't cope with it well. 'Nough said.
We signed paperwork to sell the house last Sunday, and Bobby started freaking out on Wednesday after the realtor put a for sale sign in our yard. It was listed officially today. I've taken it pretty well, all considered. There IS still a lot to do, but there's also a lot we have already done, and that feels good.
I signed up for the intermediate level of the class I've been taking, and I love it. Most of the treadmill stuff was pretty boring, now we get to use weights and machines and lie on the floor. (Oh, my aching core.)
This morning, I went to the gym for a fit test. I last did one in January 2011, and I have made a fair amount of progress since. I'm still obese, but only by 1.1 BMI points. If I've done my body composition math right, I've lost 16 lbs of body fat and gained half a pound of lean muscle. I've doubled my flexibility score, increased forearm strength, and my cardiovascular system is more efficient. If that's not a list of NSVs to be proud of, I don't know what is.
22 [19 now] days until my race! Are you excited? I'm excited.
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