May was a long, kind of rough month that also felt like it passed in the blink of an eye.   But enough whining, lets move on to the numbers-

Races-

Run or Dye–                   ?????
Bands on the Run 10K- 59:28

May turned out to be my lowest mileage for the year so far.  This was due to a variety of reasons but at this point I calling bullshit and saying that they were all excuses and poor planning on my part.  Which leads into my summer plans-

#noexcusessummer

As of June 1st, I am done whining.  This is going to be really hard so I may need your help.   🙂  What this means is that going forward I will do at least 10 minutes of exercise six days a week.  Doesn’t really sound like anything at all, but considering all I do right now is run and sit on my butt, it’s a step in the right direction.

• So I will run a minimum of 3 days a week, 4 if I’m feeling feisty.  But I will focus more on quality than hitting a mileage goal.
• The yoga DVD has made it’s way into the dvd player and will be done once a week, the kettle bell dvd should be done once a week as well.
• Also on the plan is to start using the gym I pay for but haven’t been to in 3 months. And by use I mean something other than the treadmill 🙂

As for the no excuses, I have made a lot of them lately.  Work was crazy, it was hot, my stomach hurt, I had the paper to work on, etc.   Enough is enough.   Work is going to be crazy until at least the end of the year, so I may as well get over it.  The heat?  As someone pointed out, I live in central California, it’s just a fact of life.  I should be thankful that we don’t have humidity.   I don’t know how anyone runs in that.  My stomach? Well, realistically, it’s never going to work right, I’ve been told that, so why wait in vain for it to be perfect?  As for the paper, it’s done and the class is done.  Not my best work.  😦

There are 24 hours in a day and really I have next to no obligations.   There is nothing stopping me from exercising before or after work other than my Slacker-ness.   While it may be hot in my home town, my work town usually runs about 25º cooler.  Granted, to run more than 4 miles I will have to find roads with actual shoulders but I’m sure it can be done.   And if not, well then there is the nice air conditioned gym.  🙂

In keeping with this new attitude, Sunday I completed the yoga dvd and day 1 of the AB challenge that is floating around right now.  After the race on Saturday followed by a 3 mile hike with my mom and the puppy that night, I gave my legs a break from running.  We did the same hike as the Firehouse 5K race, it’s still hard just walking.    But yoga equals exercise so day 1, done!

Monday was a vacation day for me, which was awesome.   I had planned to run 6 miles in the AM and followed by a busy day of errands and helping my mother with her tennis banquet that night.   I woke to find that day 2 was going to be a challenge.  My stomach was horrible and there was no way I was running then.  I did some thinking and knew I had a small window around 1:00 to squeeze in some miles, so I slept a little longer.  By 1:00, my stomach was barely better but I couldn’t quit after a 1 day streak so I went out for a slow run.  I kept it easy and walked every time it got a little worse.   I came to a complete halt at 3.5 miles for a few moments but I pushed though.  4.5 miles completed!    Normally, I would have blown off all exercise for the day.

I was supposed to help my mother hand out the awards during the banquet but the puppy was not doing well with the unusual crowd at the house.  Finally to calm her down, I took her for a walk.  It was supposed to be short, but she had energy to burn and maintained a steady pace for 2.5 miles.  She never does that!  So in a hap hazard way, I hit my mileage goal for the day anyways.  🙂  I only completed half of the ab challenge though, my stomach was in no mood to do sit ups or crunches.

Today was another vacation day, yay!  I met a friend for lunch to celebrate her birthday tomorrow ( Happy birthday ML!).  It was yummy.  My stomach is still not happy so I was planning on taking it easy and doing the yoga dvd in the evening.   Then I ended up helping my mother with tennis practice.    It’s spring practice for fall right now, and she has like 30 girls out there.  She likes when I come help because I am more of a drill sergeant out there.    I lost count of how many times I yelled bend your knees.   Even though that could have counted as my exercise of the day and Tuesdays are a usual running rest day, I couldn’t pass up a vacation day and not run.  So I set out for 4 miles.

I don’t know if it was my stomach or just because I mentally think of Tuesday as a rest day but it was hard.  I ran so slow.  Then I got stuck behind a truck doing an awkward 5 point turn in mile 2 and a phone call in mile 3.  Ok, I get it, not a fast run day, but still got it in.  🙂  So 3 for 3 so far!   Let’s see how far I can go!

It’s back to work for me tomorrow.  😦  Plus I have to get a few miles for National Running Day!   I might check out the gym equipment too.  But seriously? How do you use that stuff?

What are your goals for June?  

No really, any gym tips?

 

• Recap
• Run!
• Slacker