New shoes! Great fortune!

Despite some rather shitacular things happening this week —mostly involving work and arena planning, nothing directly related to my dedicated albeit sometimes nutty co-workers—I stumbled across a bucket o' luck today. All in relation to REI, which I mentioned earlier.

So I ordered an impressive amount of socks from REI when their winter clearance began, beginning of February-ish. Lame, I know, but I love great socks and they had tons of SmartWool pairs on clearance. Both Dicky and I can go through an enormous amount of good boot socks in a week. Something got jacked up with my REI accounts; the package got shipped to my mother's old house in San Antonio, was delivered to a person.. yet the people there (who I managed to get in touch with) swear they don't have it. I mentally labeled them sock thieves and called REI to see if there was anything I could do, as my mother urged. They refunded my money, sent me the two pair that were still in stock, AND gave me a 20% off coupon. Brilliant!

So what did I do?

Bought shoes!

The shoes from the prior post! Originally $126, I got them for $66!

The only drawback.. If it can be considered a drawback.. Is that I bought them in the most heinously vivid color imaginable. Because it was on sale. Because clearly nobody wanted to buy it. I present:

The exciting news being, I was feeling impulse-y at my optometrist appointment this week and bought bright coral glasses. (Train of thought: "I love my CK tortoiseshell frames, but they're kind of mellow. Ah! Hot pink! Much better! I'll just never actually wear them!") So now I have matching.. Glasses and shoes? Whatever. 2012 is turning out to be quite a fortuitous year in terms of weird purchases!

So, on to the actual exercise log today. I was on my favorite workout machine for 30 fierce minutes after work in this stunningly perfect pre-spring weather. Observe:

Liking this riser pad; wish I'd gotten it in black.

And after finishing up with Bandit, I took the pups up to Mt. Vesper. A nice, getcher-heart-pumpin' hike to the top and meditative walk to the bottom. 

Felix takes a look-see out at the Guadalupe River.

I've been enjoying the buddhify app. One of the goals I set for myself last summer was to begin to practice meditation, which I've tried before and royally sucked at. I put buddhify on my phone a couple of months ago and have begun using it again. Each meditation runs between 5 and 10 minutes; I think you can download longer ones. Each one delivers a meditation exercise catered to your current situation (walking, sitting, working out, etc.) with a clear purpose and simple rhythms. I love it. Great way to wind down and stay out of my head while trying to meditate. 

Can I just say, I'm feeling fantastic right now? I want to feel like this always.

Dailymile.com article; sweet Merrell barefoot shoes

Dailymile.com - Mind Over Matter

As I said in my first post, I don't believe that I am cut out to be a runner. Nor do I have the desire, at this point, to endeavor to make myself one. I am not doubting the benefits of running for a moment, but of the other physical and competitive goals I have for myself, running isn't up there.

That said, the above was a great article. I'm so quick to excuse myself from going a little bit longer, or even making the effort at all, because my body is tired from a particularly long work day, or I don't think I have the mental energy to put myself together again before bed and get my thirty minutes in. But I find when I set myself up with optimism and a no-justifications-for-not-doing-it mindset, I don't even get into the cycle of questions and complaints that keeps me homebound.

Now, back to the thought of being a runner. It mostly appeals to me in this moment because I am lusting after these and holding a 20% off REI coupon:

The Merrell Lithe Glove Cross-Trainer. I own two pair of Merrell barefoot shoes, a simple Mary Jane style. Wear them all the time. Not the prettiest things in the world but the shoes I'm happiest to walk all day in, and I've been doing my workouts with no shoes or my Merrells.

I want a pretty wacky color, too. Why not? I just bought hot coral pink glasses. Now I need matching shoes.

Reporting from the workout room

Took an after-work nap. (So what?) Just finished a late 40 minutes of treadmill--- incline walk mixed with lesser incline speed bursts of 5 mph. Weights now. "Say Yes To The Dress Atlanta" episode 2.



Dicky decided to give up candy for Lent. I'm on board.

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Day 1: Ellipticalling

I realize "ellipticalling" is not a word, but it feels so good to type.

I spent 35 minutes on the elliptical machine today. Partially because I discovered how great the WiFi connection is in the workout room at work, meaning I could prop my iPad up and catch up with Parks & Recreation. Nothing like some Leslie Knope action to bring out the tiny shred of Type A personality within me.

Of course, I had company. The view from my machine:

 

Please note that the Reese's peanut butter heart wrapper is not mine. I believe it belongs to the children of my boss, who was spinning four hours yesterday. He's in training for his second Iron Man, so, I mean, I really have no excuses..

Finished up with a little under ten minutes of free weights for my arms and back.

Day one, complete!

23 and 1/2 hours

Take nine minutes to watch this video, entitled "23 and 1/2 Hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?"

This was, in no small part, the inspiration behind this blog.

Obligatory introduction, and what's heart thirty?

 

So, I'm the person up there on the left. The female.

The other human is my husband, who is relatively awesome. 

And I'm in the process of creating this blog with the intention to change my image a little bit. 

By many accounts, I'm pretty healthy.

I lead a fairly active life, and I work outside a lot.

Most of my hobbies are physical. Horseback riding. Hiking.

I eat a lot, but I manage to eat pretty well a large percentage of the time. Mostly vegetarian, but I am not strict and I do eat seafood any time it looks delicious and in front of me. (So, flexitarian.)

(The rest of the time, I'm eating all the chocolate and candy my spouse likes to keep around. I don't discourage him, so no blame on him.)

I read and hang on every word of Michael Pollan. That counts, right?

My life is incredibly blessed, and I have nothing to complain about.

But with that contentment has come a certain amount of discontentment with my physical appearance. I know that I lie somewhere north of 175 pounds, because 175 pounds is the heaviest I have ever been weighed at, and I'm wearing a similar size in clothes.

I have counted calories, and considered Weight Watchers. I do an obsessive amount of reading about nutrition, and have very strong (and relatively well-educated) opinions on what foods are worth eating and what foods should be spared. But with that reading, and through twenty-five years of knowing myself, I know that beyond a strict diet, the most important thing I can do for myself is to make purposeful exercise a daily part of my life.

The fittest I have ever been (and coincidentally the thinnest and happiest with my physical appearance) was when I ran and walked every day in college. Not crazy miles.. 3 or so a day, tops. I generally managed not to bathe in cake for meals, and was a strict vegetarian at the time, but I really didn't count calories or skip eating out with my friends. I just made exercise a five-days-a-week, very-few-excuses-count kind of deal. And it worked for me.

Unfortunately, I really hated running. It was kind of fun in my tiny college town of Alpine, Texas because that short a run took you through most of town and back. It was mountainous, scenic, and I could do errands on the way. I was also single, living in a solitary apartment, and poor, so it was a great way to get around, see people, and get off of campus. 

So no more running. I've tried it a couple of times, and it makes me really dread working out.

But I am going to commit thirty minutes a day, five days a week to doing something.

Anything for a raised heart rate. And a little sweat.

I already get that many minutes exercise, and more, through my job— but doing repetitive tasks over and over means my body is pretty much used to the rigor of walking the pasture, feeding horses, lifting, saddling, and all those stable-maintenance things. I'm used to it. It's a plateau.

It doesn't matter what time of day. I have a funky schedule and I work a whole lot of hours, simply because I live where I work and animals and children always need caring or instructing.

So I'm going to do my thirty minutes at heart thirty time, every day. Starting now.