Sporadically Sandra

So, over the holidays I was super lazy when it comes to exercise. I did some jumping jacks, and some squats but no real cardio, nothing challenging. Now that it is January, it's time to get back in the swing of things. I've picked Couch to 5k back up, unfortunately my two and a half month break has done a great deal of damage to my stamina.

I started back on week 3 and after working on that for a couple of weeks I was ready to move to week 4. Until... I started running. Four minutes and then six and then four of running, sure there is some walking in between but that is FOURTEEN minutes of running. HOLY COW. I am NOT fit enough for that much running.

So, I start the first four minute run and I am doing GREAT. Four minutes? Pft.. that's nothing. That's only one minute longer than the three minutes I was doing before. Oh, now it is time to walk. Wow, those two minute sort of flew, but it's telling me to run again...

The entire six minutes I play this ridiculous mind game with myself "Thirty more seconds and if you want to quit you can"... And then, I hit the point of having ONE MINUTE LEFT and I want to die. I'm suffering, it's bad.

But, I can do ANYTHING for a minute. It's what I learned in week 1, actually, (of the original program, not the one they renamed "Ease into") where you have to run one minute and walk for 90 seconds. I learned, hey, I can run for a whole minute. WTF how did that happen? Good job legs.

And amazingly, this applies to all parts of my life "Ugh, I don't want to empty the dishwasher." Stop being a brat, I can do anything for one minute. "Bleh, I don't want to get up and get something from the car." It won't take longer than a minute!

So, when I'm jogging and I'm exhausted, if I can make it to the last minute, well then, I got this because I can do ANYTHING for one minute.

And, so can YOU.

211, 64, 33, 24, 26, 1987, 7, 145, 5, 105, 135, 16

All numbers that relate to me, all numbers that I let define me, define who I am. I refuse to be defined by a number. I am so much more then my weight, my age, how much I make, how tall I am. I am so much more than just a series of numbers that list random figures about me, but don’t speak to who I am.

I get so caught up in what I lose, what I gain, what I weight, how many points I ate, how I can’t run for five minutes. I let all these numbers just control me and it’s ridiculous. I’m a brilliant, kind, loving, caring, beautiful, talented individual and numbers don’t speak to any of that.

For so long, I was stuck on week 4 of C25K because there was no way that I could possibly jog for more than five minutes. There was no way I could possibly jog for eight, there’s just no way. So, I got rid of the numbers, I got rid of the structure, I removed the “I Can’t” and just focused on the “I Can”

Please, please, please, push me faster


I want to Fly


Please, please, please, push me higher


I’ve got to Fly

I can jog for a song and walk for a song. I can do just one more extra jog. I can jog two long songs in a row and hit ten minutes by barely trying and I can do it because I didn’t let numbers define me. It’s amazing what I could do when I forgot about the seconds counting down until I was done and instead focused on the music, my breathing and my posture.

C25K taught me some very important lessons. It initially taught me that I can jog for a minute at a time, 8 times a work out. It taught me how to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. But, it also held me back because I focused too much on “I can’t make it through five minutes”

What other areas of my life have I held back because of the numbers I feel define me, because my number is too high or low but never just right? I refuse to accept that. I refuse to limit my potential or who I am because my number might not be ideal for society, or someone else or even me. I want to be an extraordinary person, and I won’t be if I let numbers define me, if I let fear of not being the right person effect me. I’m so much more than just a number.

I think I wrote monthly goals once before. I don't remember if it went down well or not, but that's no reason not to try again, right?

Goals for June:

1. Get to week 5 of Couch to 5k
I've been stuck on week 3 for *how* long now? First a hip injury, then a closed gym. Well, the hip is better and the gym is reopened and I redid a day of week 3 today and it was awesome!

2. Complete 3 weeks of GSP Rushfit
Um, life gets in the way sometimes. But I really need to do this. It is great strength training for me and an awesome all over body workout. Plus, I need to spend more time with my boyfriend

3. Close on my house
Did I mention I'm in the process of buying a house? If everything goes well, I close on the 24th.

4. Move to my new house
Any strong men with trucks want some free beer and pizza to help me move houses?

5. Not kill my herb garden
I think this is my third year growing an herb garden and so far I've gotten exactly ZERO herbs from it. I killed a cactus once, true story.

6. Stay OP and track Everything
'Nuff said about that.

Wow where has the time gone? It has been almost two weeks since I last updated. I guess that goes to show how sometimes, life just gets hectic.

But, I'm back with a doozie of an entry. Today at 2:30 I participated in the Georgia Warrior Dash in Mountain City, Georgia. Oh man was it hard! Besides the fact that it was a 5K, which is really hard enough on it's own, it had obstacles.

It is weird that the obstacles I thought I would hate, I loved the most. Wading through water, climbing the cargo net and jumping over fire were so much fun. I really disliked walking all the hills, and the mud. I had one obstacle I couldn't do, but I did the rest so I'm still super proud.

It was a really fun time. I did the race with my husband Joseph, his some of his family (Stephen, Jasmine, Bobby and Michael) as well as another couple he knows that he coaches wrestling with.

The absolute best part might just have been the awesome water slide, where I went super fast. I have to say that as crazy as I was for doing it, I am super proud of myself as well as surprised by how much I was able to do. I only hope that next year it is easier for me because I will hopefully be in better shape.
So, now that I've completed a 5k, What now?

Well, I've realized that even if it is only for the t-shirt and finisher medal, I want to participate in more races. Ideally, I would like to get to the point where I can run a 5K, then maybe run a 10K, but I honestly, really enjoyed this race. I see many more in my futures

Pics to follow when I'm on a real computer.

Georges and I had our first date today.

I did GSP Rush Fit Strength & Endurance today. The warm up was awesome. It incorporated a lot of hard moves but in a way that made them seem doable. Georges was really concerned with making sure that I wasn't pushing myself too hard and having a great time. He was truly being a great date.

And then he made me do pushups.
And burpees.
And side planks.
And I told him we needed to "talk".

That sort of behavior was unacceptable, clearly. He wasn't concerned at all about my feelings or how I feel or what *I* wanted.

Then before we had a chance to talk, he wised up. And we did some standing up moves; lunges, squats twists. It was then that I thought, he might really love me.

And then, we took it back to the ground for a core workout. But, once again he redeemed himself just in time with some nice stretches and a cool down.

So, I think we are going to keep this up and see how it turns out. Perhaps we will make a great couple after all.

So, Georges St. Pierre, one of the best fighters in the UFC and some would say (as in Me) most handsome has his own exercise dvd workout.

So, some highlights (and pictures) of the weekend:

Besides having dessert every night, eating at Cow Licks a few times, having fried cajun shark at Aunt Catfish's and eating at Bubba Gumps, we did actually have time to visit the beach.

As well as visit the beach, Joseph and I climbed the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. This lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Florida. We climbed it just over a year ago and it was hard. I thought I would die, I wanted to drop dead from exhaustion *and* I was sore for days. This time around, I felt like I could have climbed it more than once, I had plenty of energy to walk around and explore the historical buildings and nature trail *and* I was barely even sore the next day. It is amazing how much I've changed physically to where climbing the tallest lighthouse in Florida was a peace of cake.


Joseph and I also jogged on the beach together. So much more fun then jogging on the streets of Georgia. I mean, I ran in the water, testing out the Vibrams. It was nice and breezy and beautiful. Besides that, my grand plans to work out while on vacation didn't quite come to frutition, but, I did exercise twice. I also did a lot of walking on the beach, crab hunting and sitting on the beach covered in sun screen.

Yesterday, Joseph and I woke up early enough to see the sun rise over the water before making a Krispy Kreme run (hot sign, what!). Then, later that day, he did something truly crazy.

"We have some free time, want to go buy yourself an iPhone?"
What kind of question is that? Why, yes, I do want an iPhone!

This morning, before leaving, I made sure to snap a picture of the sun rising. So, this was my last vision of the gorgeous beach:

Sadly, that is the only beach picture I have since taking my camera to the beach didn't seem like a great idea. But, I think my brother in law got some pics. So, I migth have to steal some of his pictures.

Now, I'm back home. Meals for the week planned, groceries bought. I'm about to throw a load in the wash as I avoid life going back to normal.

But, I got a ton of reading done, some additional writing. My whole mindset has been refreshed and in a whole new good place.

And, as sad as I was to leave, I'm a little happy to be home.

So at the beginning of March I made some goals. Let's review them, shall we?
Enjoy my Anniversary! - Easiest Goal ever. See previous Anniversary post to see how much fun we had on that!


Hike a Local Park - Never did this. Between injuring myself, rainy weekends and not having time, it never happened. *But* I did tour Turner Field, which I feel should almost count.

Continue with C25K - Back to the darn injury. That threw a 2 week wrench in my plan, on top of that the gym at work has been closed. I have been walking with coworkers and this past week was my first week back on running and considering th rain forcasted for this week, I probably won't get to run this week, much.

Move on to Level 2 of 30 Day Shred - Although I did this with semi regularity, let me remind you of the darn injury. Seriously, stupid hip! But I also bought Jillian's Yoga Dvd and switched the two out. Still on level 1 but not giving up.

Workout 16 out of 31 Days - Even with the hip injury I'm pretty freaking sure I completed this goal. I've learned to actually *enjoy* working out so I do make sure to do it at least 4 out of the 7 days of the week and most weeks at least 5 days.

Attend Church at Least 2 of the 4 Sundays in March - Done. We didn't go today and that makes me sad, but once we are back from the beach, Church is on the To Do List

Make the Bed Every Morning - This was such a failure, not even funny.

But, I have some goals for this week I want/need to accomplish:

30 Day Shred - I want to complete this on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for sure. Friday might be difficult since it will be super busy with depositing my dog at my mom's, packing up the car for the trip and getting my nails done, but if time permits, I'm pretty sure I can talk the sis in law into doing it with me.

Laundry - it certainly is one of those things that is never done. BUT, I need to get it under control. I need to make sure everything gets folded/hung in a timely manner and keep the dirty laundry to no more than 1 dirty load at a time.

Pack for my trip - The list of things I need to pack for this trip is ridiculously long. Since we are staying in a condo for the week, not only do I have clothes to pack, but both kitchen supplies and cooking ingredients. I'm also one of those people who simply cannot pack light. I have a packing list (considering how messy I can be, I'm very list oriented) and I just need to make sure to follow it and add stuff as it occurs to me.

Stay OP- Ever since my anniversary, I've had the hardest time not going over points. It doesn't help that I haven't done a lot of cooking, Joseph has. But, I've discovered that for me to be successful, I have to be involved in cooking. This week we are having Turkey Burgers, Scilian Rice Ball Casserole and Chicken Taco Chili. Super yummy foods that will make it easy to stay OP.

When you workout in a gym, on a treadmill, there are no worries that you will go so far that won't make it back to the start. When that gym is taken away from you and you have to go into the real world to work out, there is no guarantee.

Joseph today wanted to walk from work to Walmart and back again. That is 1 1/2 miles *one* way, 3 total. I told him I would only walk for peanut butter cups but in reality I was wondering what I was going to do if I couldn't make it. I mean, since working on being fit and getting healthy, the farthest I have gone is 2 miles. I know without a doubt that 20 pounds and two months of not working out ago, I probably wouldn't have done it, and especially not how well I did it. There were some hills, changes in terrain and a mixture of super cold wind and hot sun. Not only did I walk all 3 miles, and get my peanut butter cups, but I did it like it was nothing.

I wouldn't have known I could do that until I got rid of the safety net. Slowly and surely, I'm having to remove these safety nets I've placed around myself to keep stuff from being too hard, too challenging or too intimidating.

I went and Zumba'd with my best friend Sarah on Monday night. It was a huge group class with women of all shapes, sizes and skill levels. Normally I would be so concerned with how I look to everyone else to have fun; but that wasn't the case. I just worried about having fun and getting my burn on and I did have fun. I removed the safety net of worrying what other people thought of me and had a great experience.

At the end of May, I'm removing a huge safety net. I like to call it my "Crazy" safety net. Because it is what keeps me from doing stupid crazy stuff. Well, end of May, I'm participating in the Warrior Dash. That is a 5K (3.1 miles) with obstacles, including: running through fire, climing a cargo net, running through tires and wading through water. There are parts of this race that really worry me. Am I strong enough? Will I fall face first into the fire? Will I fall and die at the cargo net? But, I'm removing the safety net because it will only make me a better, well rounded person and I will be so amazed with myself when I finish it.

It helps that my sis-in-law has promised to stay by my side.

So, after weeks of not running, having stupid hip pain and feeling like a sloth (even with doing Jillian Dvds), I got to run today! Is it bad I want to leap around declaring in a singsong voice "I got to run!" "I got to run!"? I picked up on Week 3 of C25K. That was the last week I successfully completed before my hip gave out on me and started sucking it up. I wasn't able to run the entire last 3 minutes, but every single run seemed to be UP hill and I'm not going to sweat it. Because, I got to run!!

It is amazing how much I look forward to working out now that I do it regularly. When I started working out, it was a struggle. We are talking: whine, complain and moan; "I'm only going because I promised I would Zumba with you" And now? I'm like "Come on, lets go walk/zumba/run/Jillian! whatever. Additionally, I'm making hang out time with friends be fun workout time instead of eat food time.

I went with my bestie, Sarah, to a group Zumba class on Monday night and we had an awesome time. Firstly because Zumba is fun, I don't care who you are or how you work out, if you can NOT take yourself seriously it is a fun time. And secondly because she is my bestie and we get along so well. We were cracking up the entire time and getting to dance our bootys off, well, my booty anyways... And I've decided we absolutely *must* go again next week!

So, to sum up, I Love working out AND *I got to run!*