• I have an irrational fear of my exercise ball now.  At the end of my pregnancy that was the only seat in the house I found comfortable so I spent a lot of time bouncing on it.  An exercise ball suddenly becomes a “birthing ball” when you are in labor.  When my water broke that Saturday morning, I remember sitting on the ball at the end of my couch rolling back and forth in extreme pain.  All of this to say that I am very hesitant now to do any videos using the ball.  It just takes me back to a place that I don’t want to be anytime soon.
• I missed my long run on Sunday morning.  I really meant to get out there but Lewis slept really poorly for a stretch and that means that I slept poorly too.  I didn’t wake up until nearly 10AM after The Mister took over baby duty.  I was actually looking forward to running…which is a great thing.
• I was randomly watching The.Brian.McKnight.Show (longtime fan of his music but comes across so phony on camera!) last weekend and Tatyana Ali was a guest.  I started reminiscing and pulled out her Kiss The Sky CD (yeah I bought it LOL).  Remember this song?
• There is another season of High School Reunion on TVLand now.  My DVR started recording it because otherwise I’d have had no idea it was on.  I love this show.  It really goes to show that most people never change…no matter how much they think they do.  The nerd back in the day still craves validation from the popular people.  It is amazing.
• I’m only halfway through last night’s LOST premiere.  I will cut anyone who spoils it for me.
• CrossFit bootcamp was awesome this morning.  I gave it my all especially during the Helen workout.  Three rounds of a short 200m sprint (more like a jog LOL), 21 kettlebell swings with 25# and 12 band pullups.  My time was 8:38 and for once I was not the last one to finish!
• My major diet struggle is wanting dessert every day.  Dessert can be a 100-calorie pack but I still want it.  Fruit alone is just not a dessert to me (unless it is floating in sugar and butter and covered in pie crust).
• Monday I had a fruit rollup for “dessert”.  Tuesday I did not have dessert.  I didn’t really want it.  I wonder if that means I’m getting better?

My father is a model! Talk about random! My sister ran across this gem while browsing job ads. My parent’s are off having fun in Mexico right now so we have no official explanation of how this came to be. Well, he does work at the hospital so I guess it isn’t so far-fetched. It is still funny though!  Job Description

Daddy getting a checkup apparently...

I am Netflix’s dream customer. I pay my monthly fee and hold on to my movies for 3 months. $15 for two movies for 3 months?!? Since there is hardly anything on TV during the summer, I’m about to recoup my Netflix losses over the past few months and watch everything in sight.

I dusted off my red envelope to watch “Spirit Of The Marathon” on Saturday. This movie documents 6 runners as they prepare for the 1999 Chicago Marathon. There are two elite runners – one Kenyan and Deena Kastor who at the time had not won an marathon yet. Then there are the regular joes – a married couple of experienced marathoners, an older gentleman and his daughter, a first-timer running solo and another first-timer running with a group.

I love documentaries and this one did not disappoint. It featured interviews from a host of running luminaries and talked about the history of running and the marathon. I especially loved the tidbit about how women were banned from participating in track events over 800m at one point for fear that their uterus would fall out.  That reminds me of how my grandma thought my running would shake my babies brains out LOL.

The movie follows the runners through training to the actual marathon day to crossing the finish line. We get to know the featured runners and their struggles, their injuries and their fears. We find out what running this marathon means to them.  I may be hormonal but I totally cried as each person crossed the finish line. The movie took me back to my marathon and all the emotions that welled up for me that day.  It was funny that of the random people they showed at the finish line, 90% of the women racers were crying too.  It is such an emotional feat.

Someone in the film pointed out how running a marathon is one of the few things we can do in life that is a concrete example of overcoming some metaphorical obstacle.  You can’t just wake up on Friday and run a marathon on Saturday (unless you are an elite runner or crazy ultrarunner who regularly runs 150 miles a week anyway). You have to train and you have to prepare for a long time. The distance truly demands everything you can give and you are guaranteed to be pushed to your limits – physically and mentally.   I don’t think anyone has ever run a marathon and found it to be an easy endeavor.

Watching the movie made me really miss running…and start plotting on my triumphant return to form.  I’m thinking of doing the Thanksgiving Half Marathon as a walk/run event (maybe run 10K, walk the rest) and God help me the full ING Marathon in late March.  Talk about a way to get my butt back in shape post baby.  I won’t be looking to set any records with either race, but sometimes just finishing is everything.

• Amel Larriuex has a new single out and I’m digging it! She is my favorite artist ever and I tend not to play favorites with music (and food) because there is just too much good stuff out there. She gets a pass.
• Honeycrisp apples are gone for the season and this saddens me. I tried a Gala today and it was just not nearly as good. I’d rather skip apples entirely until Honeycrisps resurface.
• Navel oranges rock! I don’t know if it is a pregnancy thing or what but I must have one every day. A glass of OJ just cannot compare to the sweet goodness of a fresh orange!
• I didn’t run this morning because I got home really late last night. I had to sleep in because I’m not right anymore without 7 hours.
• The “Meet The Doula” event last night was cool. I am 100% convinced that I want one at my birth and met a few women last night that seemed like good candidates. The Mister isn’t quite so convinced yet (but he’s coming around a bit). He thinks having someone else there will take his place or ruin “our” experience. I disagree. He’ll go along with it if that’s what I want, but I want him to feel good about it…otherwise, I’ll feel bad about it.
• Tomorrow is gonna be hectic. Make-up run + CrossFit + Swimming.
• I worked on the elementary backstroke in swimming on Monday. I liked it because I didn’t have to worry about breathing (and possibly swallowing water). I think feeling secure with this will be just the ticket for me to let go of my fear of drowning and venture into deeper waters.
• I am coming to appreciate Ross Dress For Less and Marshall’s more and more. I needed (bigger) bras and (bigger) workout pants and I’ve gotten plenty of both at great prices. I’m not a fan of the “rack room” style of the place but sometimes you have to get over that stuff to save a few bucks.

I mentioned that I might upload this in my last post and here it is. Please excuse the extreme close up of my big head and the lame ending (hey I tried!). I literally had 10 minutes to figure this out before I had to leave for Sunday step class (‘cuz Amber’s class rocks and I don’t miss it unless I absolutely have to). I wanted to appear on the blog with my hair down (although not “done-done”) for once because y’all always see me sweaty and crazy looking LOL.

I make a big announcement in the video and I am referring this post about my goals for the year. Enjoy!

Please excuse…trying to win a prize! You should try too if you don’t own a food scale!

Check out the scale giveaway on Roni’s Weight Loss Blog! I can win an Affordable Food Scale from Eat Smart and so can you! Click here for contest details!

…listening to this song and I don’t even know what its called (“Down In Mexico”) or who sings it (originally done by The Coasters but that’s not the film version). The breakdown at 1:40 – bouncing in my seat!

Curse you Quentin Tarantino and your crazy “Death Proof” movie that I had to pull myself away from watching.  It is all your fault.  You do, however, get a props for the hot dance routine to the song I can’t stop listening to.  I’m absolutely stealing parts of this for class one day!  That girl who got killed off of CSI:NY worked it in her flip-flops.

The July Cathe Road Trip went down this weekend and I had an awesome time! All of my “nervousing” was for naught (as a whole lot of worrying tends to be). I made it through 5 classes with Cathe in three days and lived to tell the tale (even though my legs were soooo sore yesterday!). I met a group of really cool chicks on the trip and got to meet and greet some of my fitness sheros in person.

I was so embarrassed to pose with her for a picture but everyone was doing it!

Cathe is just as fit and energetic as she seems in the video. She is in awesome shape and has great legs (no homo LOL). She happily posed for picture after picture and was so fun and interactive with all of us Road Trippers during the classes. The energy in the room during step and kickboxing classes was amazing. Since there were almost 105 of us in every class (except for one) none of the routines were too difficult so I definitely worried about that for nothing. Brenda, Cedie and Jai joined in for kickboxing class and took their spots up front with Cathe. It almost felt like I was in one of the videos that I do so often (and I screwed up in all the same spots…I really don’t like kickboxing grrr!).

I *had* to get a picture with Lorraine!

Cathe's Crew

This trip did manage to shatter my pipe dreams of ever appearing in a workout video though – unless I lost about 35 pounds! As fit as all of the ladies appear in video they are very, very small in person. All of them were just as muscular as they look on TV but proved that the old camera adding 10 pounds thing (to people who aren’t at all fat!) is so true. Cathe looks like a 90 pound ball of muscle in real life! Ja.ri Lov.e must look like death warmed over in real life because she was scary thin in the one Rip.ped video that I managed to get through. I’d hate to see what some of those skinny starlets look like in real life too because they don’t even have a healthy dose of muscle – just skin and bones – yikes!

With Tracey Staehle

Tracey Staehle (who totally made my day by complimenting my arms!) was on the trip as well. She was adorably fun and lively in person and clearly just as thrilled to meet Cathe as the rest of us. Like the Cathe crew, she was mini-sized in real life as well. She has hardly any hips to shake as she is so fond of saying in her videos LOL.

I managed my way through the social scene just fine thanks to Diane, Lisa G and Lisa R. A good many of the women on the trip were present last year or participated so heavily in the Cathe forums that they were like old friends. I’m just an occasional forum lurker so I felt a little left out at first. Once I found my own little clique of other similarly “left out” people I happily became a part of the problem instead of the solution LOL . Don’t get me wrong – people were nice and all but it was a little like trying to find a table on the first day of lunch at high school. Since I am not really extra outgoing this took some getting over.

I was surprised by the average age of the group which I would estimate at 35. Almost everyone was quite fit and muscular totally proving the benefits of weight training. Seeing tons of 40+ mothers with bodies much tighter than mine made me realize that this stuff does work and that I need to stay on this path for the rest of my life. Aging and motherhood do not present an excuse for letting yourself go to pot. It doesn’t have to be that way – I’ve seen it!

Would I go next year? Probably not. I had a great time but it is sort of been there, done that. My fan girl curiosity has been satisfied. I’ll be content to sweat with Cathe from the comfort (!) of my living room from now on.

Well, maybe not for diet or exercise but for my mind and spirit – awesome! I had so much fun this weekend during my bachelorette party. My sister and a friend organized it and put more care and thought into it than I could ever have imagined. There was a whole slate of activities from Friday to Monday and a whole bunch of ladies came out to help me celebrate.

Keyalus and Richard B

One major highlight for me was dinner at Home, the restaurant headed by Richard Blais from Top Chef. I’m a huge fan of the show so naturally this was on my short list of restaurants to try. We had a private room in the basement and our waiter pulled Richard down to come meet with us after dinner. He was greeted with a wild burst of cheers and applause from the ladies which moved him visibly. He was so cool. He chatted with us for quite a while, posed for photo ops and answered our questions about the show. He even came back later and made us a round of liquid nitrogen margaritas on the house. After tasting that drink, I don’t think I can ever drink a regular margarita again!

Liquid Sunshine!

The second highlight was the pole party at the studio where I take classes. I was so eager to share how much I get out of those classes with my friends and family. Everyone had a great time learning a little lap dance and pole routine. At the end of the night, my new stage personality, Minx, was somehow coerced into giving a command improv performance. Talk about nerves! I don’t remember everything that happened but the crowd seemed to like it and Minx received about $300 (in fake bills) for her hard work LOL.

Minx doing a Shooting Star

This was seriously the best weekend that I’ve had in as long as I can remember. I’m sure it will only be topped by the wedding on Saturday.

Real sisters and now “pole sisters” as well

I’ve loved this show since Season One. In the past seasons, I really admired Jackie for her success and her drive. However, I must say that Jackie has become absolutely insufferable this season. Was she always like this and I just didn’t notice? She comes across as so self-centered this time around! She doesn’t appear to really care about her trainers, about the Sky-Labbers or about anything other than expanding her brand. When she does to get her head out of her own butt and manage to appear concerned about someone other than herself, she still appears phony.  Like the time she chatted with Erica about possibly having an eating disorder relapse – you could almost see her checking the conversation off on her to do list for the day. Sheesh!

I finally caught up on the last episode and was disgusted by the way she breezed into the video meeting more than an hour late. She was just so unapologetic about it – like “I’m here now? What?” She goes on and on in other instances about professionalism and she can’t even be on time for a meeting? Whatever lady! I was excited about getting the video but now I’m not so sure that I want it.  I know the show is edited, but if all the material they’ve found just makes her look bad – the problem lies within.  We all go through phases and maybe this is her selfish phase.  Hopefully, seeing the show will give her a chance to reflect on how she comes across…because it ain’t pretty!

The good thing about the last episode was the behind the scenes look into the making of a fitness video. I am a workout DVD junkie and I would love to be in a fitness video (step or strength) as a background exerciser one day. Watching the filming made me really recognize the difficulty of that whole process. I definitely appreciated the work that must have gone into my Cathe workout DVD a little bit more than usual this morning.