Day 20!!!

Another gorgeous day in Flint.  Vanda and I needed to sweat out two "cherry blossoms" and two "mason/dixons" (but no SAKI BOMB!) that were a part of celebrating Leanne's birthday last night.  A fun night!!  Happy Birthday, Leanne!!

Okay, Vanda was in better shape this AM than me, but no matter.  I wanted to save up some energy for a long run tomorrow, so the Fabulous Vandella and I decided to go for a nice walk.  I found a new trick in my iMapMyRun iPhone app, where it calls out your time, distance and pace every minute.  So that added a bit more fun to our jaunt, watching how consistent a pace we could keep over our 46 minute tour of downtown Flint.

I also used our walk as a time to reinforce some good behavior traits in Vanda.  I've been gone a lot this last week and haven't had a lot of time to work with either dog.  And its showing.  So we got Vanda's "heel" back in some sort of order (it was never her strong suit).  Now its time to go work with Rupert, who has been getting very stir crazy from my week of back to back to back meetings.  Happy Saturday!!

Day 19

Its a beautiful Friday!  All day, I had planned to knock off early and go for a nice long walk/run with Ms. Vanda.  Somehow, even though I was ready to leave at 3, I still didn't get out of the office until 5.  But thankfully, we're on our way towards spring and there was still plenty of light for us to get in a nice, if not a shorter than planned, run through  downtown Flint.

We made our way up to the Court House, back to the river, then a short jaunt through UM-Flint campus to the footbridge, and back home again.  It was only 2.15 miles, and it took a luxurious 24:30 for an 11:15 min/mile pace.

Now, its off to celebrate Leanne's birthday!!  Hopefully, the fun won't preclude my ability to have a good workout tomorrow.  ;)

Day 18

Today was another one of those days that all I really wanted to do was come home after a long day and park it on the couch.  I had intended to hit the streets with VV for a much needed run, but I just couldn't get out of bed in time this morning.  A day full of meetings later, including a 5:30 public comment session for the clean up of Buick City, its late, its dark, I'm pooped and hungry, and the Olympics are on.

Luckily, I've got a few workout videos to fall back on, so I popped in the Shape pilates and did the arms and back session.  To be honest, I don't know that it was quite 20 minutes.  But today, its just going to have to do.

Now, I can enjoy a pot of calming tea while I watch Lindsay Vonn in the Super Combined. These winter sports are just insane!

Day 16/17

I seem to be worse at keeping up on this here blog than actually doing my workouts.

Yesterday was day 16, and I must admit it was a bit of a cheat day.  I got some walking in to and from work, took the stairs here and there.  I didn't have a focused workout, but it wasn't just sitting at my desk and sitting on my couch, either.  But I know I can do better.

Today was day 17, Yoga Day again!  I just love me some yoga at the Yoga Loft.  Today's session never really felt like work.  But by the end of the lesson my muscles were like wet noodles and I was having trouble just standing up.  Nice!  I think I'm going to start coming to class more than once a week.  I'm guessing I'll start seeing improvements a lot faster that way.

For tonight, its time to watch some Olympics and hit the hay.  Another busy day tomorrow.  Plus I need to get out for a run...as does the Notorious V. Hoping for good weather!

Day 15

Happy President's Day!  Today was not a day off for me or the FRWC.  Busy, busy day.  I knew last night that it was going to be like this, so I sat down and planned out pretty much ever minute of the day up until 9:00PM.  I did that, so that I knew exactly when and how much time I would have to get my 20 minutes in.  My window of opportunity was between 5:15 and 6:00.

Didn't get home until after 5:30, and I had to admit I was dangerously close to parking it on the couch for 30 minutes before I needed to leave again.  The whole "I'll just try to get something in when I get home" notion was pretty enticing.  But Vanda the Wonder Dog had been alone all day, and I was leaving her again for the evening.  So I tossed on my shoes, grabbed the leash, and V and I were off for a brisk walk to fill our short window of free time.

Our dusk adventure took us along the Flint River through the UM-Flint campus, up to the Farmers Market.  Most of the walks were clear, which is nice.  But crossing over the bridge on 5th Ave was pretty treacherous because the sidewalk there had not been plowed.  We had to walk in the street and basically caused a traffic back up until we got to the other side.  Come on UM-Flint, lets keep these walks clear!!!  We got a total of 1.7 miles in 30 minutes - could have sworn our pace was faster than an almost 18 minute miles...o-well!

Right when we got home, I loaded up Rupert and headed to SVSU for puppy class.  I got in a few extra minutes of activity, because we were running late and I had to park about a million miles away from the building.  Jogged most the way in with little Rupert in tow, and realized I forgot to lock the car.  So we trotted all the way back out, then back in again.  :)  That's got to count, right??

And just for fun's sake, I need to show off Rupert working with Claudia - look at that eye contact!  He did a great job working with a new handler.  Claudia is getting a Paws puppy in the next few weeks, and came to class to start picking up puppy training tips.  Her pup's name will either be Beecher or Flint, depending on which litter her pup comes from.  I love it!  (Claudia is a teacher in Beecher.)

Day 14 - Happy Birthday, Vanda!!

Its Vanda the Wonder Dog's Birthday (oh yeah, and Valentine's day...).  Happy Third Birthday, sweet girl!

We celebrated the occasion by going for a run with Cathy and her Crim training buddy Lisa.  Three miles (one mile for each of Ms. V's years) through the Collage Cultural neighborhood and the MCC campus.  It was a cold snowy morning, but we quickly worked up a sweat and were removing layers along the way.

Poor Vanda wanted to romp through the snow so badly, so when we got back Vanda and Cathy's dog Stella played keep away in the yard for awhile.  All in all, a fun way to start of the day.

In the past, I have had the tendency to be a lone runner.  But I'm coming to find that running with others makes the miles melt away in no time.  And having a "date" to go run really helps get my lazy butt out the door.  May have to rethink this whole approach to running.  Thanks again, Cathy and Lisa, for a great run this morning.  I hope we can do this frequently!

Day 12, no wait 13, no make that...aw crap

Okay, so Wednesday would have been day 12.  I actually did get some fitness in that day in the form of more snow shoveling, and some walking with the dogs.  But then I totally slacked on getting to the post.

Thursday and Friday...what happened to you?!?!  I'll tell ya what happened, I got busy and tired and blah blah blah and threw myself a pity party, that's what happened.  I'm not two weeks into my new adventure, and losing major momentum.  But I'm NOT giving up.


Today, The big V and I took a 27 minute walk on the UM-Flint Campus, up to the footbridge and back.  Only 1.2 miles, but it was a nice walk to get us moving again.  Just between us, we'll pretend Thursday and Friday didn't happen.  So this is day 13.  Woo hoo!

And we're back on track.