Kate Can Cook

Long weekends are usually good weekends, especially with my crazy family. On Sunday, I bent down to grab the Wii balance board from under the couch. Dylan the doxie, who had evidently had about enough of my shenanigans, (accidentally) head-butted me in the eye/temple.

I woke up on Monday with a swollen, slightly black eye. That’s right, my 12-pound dog gave me a shiner. And it won’t go away. I do a great job hiding it with copious amounts of concealer and powder, but every night I wash my face, and there it is, mocking me.

After the smackdown that I took at the hands (paws?) of my dog, we (Jazz, my brother, and I) went to Old Town Alexandria for some thai food, a trip to the Christmas store (much to the dismay of my compatriots), and some Ben and Jerry’s. While waiting in line at the B&J’s, a man with very high-waisted, tapered leg, white jeans came in. It was James Carville!

(On a side note, I don’t understand what it is with mildly “famous” people and bad fashion. About a year ago, Jazz and I saw Joe Buck at the Pentagon City mall wearing horrible “light denim” tapered-leg jeans. Bootcut is your friend, guys!)

This weekend, I showed my brother the Wii Fit. This was interesting because I found out that my brother is almost obese. He’s 5′11″ and has long, lean limbs and an almost-flat stomach, and he is almost obese. He’s training for a marathon to happen in November, and he’s almost obese! As I told him, “If you’re almost obese, what hope do we mere mortals have?”

The three of us also went running. It’s a little intimidating to go for a run with someone who regularly runs 10+ miles. We really, honestly, had a wonderful run. My bro helped us with our breathing, gave us overall pointers, and generally just gave us a gently nudge. I really focused on how much I have improved over the last few months, and the run went and felt amazing. At the end, my brother said, “I think you’ll catch up to Popsie sooner than you think.” That vote of confidence was great to hear.

I do think that my mind holds me back a great deal more than my body. If I push myself, I can do amazing things. Hm. I think that goes for everyone.

My dad, brother, Jazz, and I ran in the Lance Armstrong Livestrong Challenge today. We all woke up around 5 this morning. I then proceeded to make a short video (with Jazz’s video camera) talking about how tired I was. And then I accidentally left the video camera at home. Oh, brother. (I also accidentally left my iPod in VA, which was irritating but perhaps better. I need to start training without my iPod, because many 5Ks don’t allow them.)

I drank a bottle of water and ate half a banana, and by 5:30, we were off! We arrived around 6, way too early, and milled around the Livestrong Challenge tents. We then went over to the start area for the opening ceremonies, and saw Lance (Armstrong) arrive in a helicopter.

They had four groups of cyclists: 100 miles, 70 miles, 40 miles, and 10 miles; and then us 5K-ers. The cyclists went first, and the 100-milers didn’t even get going until around 8, so our time was obviously pushed back a little. Lance rode at the head of the 100-mile pack. The downside to waiting is that the sun came out and started heating everything up. At 5 it was beautiful weather for running!

The challenge starts down a long chute (think of a cow corral) before it opens up into the street. Both the runners and walkers start at the same time. There are some pros for this, in my opinion: it takes the pressure off those of us, like me, who won’t run the whole thing. It’s also good because this is a charity event, not a competitive event, and the walkers help to solidify this. Now the downside: nobody told the walkers to try to stick to the back or to the right. Going down the chute became a painful experience. Imagine a corral of people, all going in the same direction, some people running and some walking. The runners (me included) had to bob and weave around bunches of walkers. At moments, there were so many walkers across the chute that there was only room for one runner at a time to pass by. I’m a little shocked that nobody fell over. I’m slow, so I tried to land myself around the middle of the pack, and I always hung to the right, practically grazing the sidewalk.

The first mile was great. I was running at my pace and ran almost the whole thing, stopping only once for a second or two. The second mile started decent, and then we passed the water station. I had told myself, multiple times, not to get water at the first station. If I drink water when I run, I cramp up instantly, so I don’t ever anymore. But for some reason, I grabbed a cup of water and before I knew what I was doing, I took a gulp and swallowed. Instantly knowing my mistake, I spit out what I could and threw the rest of the cup on my head.

And then the cramp hit. My right side felt like someone had jabbed a knife into it. I couldn’t breathe. It was horrible. I walked as fast as I could, but I felt like I was hyperventilating. I tried desperately to calm myself down, and it worked. The cramp turned into a dull pain, so I tried to run, and the cramp flew back. I started walking and got very, very angry at myself. This anger turned to pure disappointment, and I started gulping for air. And then I thought of my uncle. He passed away from colon cancer a couple years ago. He was such a funny, great guy, and cancer took him in less than a year. And I just thought, Here was this carefree guy who didn’t have a choice. You have a choice. You can either get upset and slow down, or you can give it everything you’ve got, even if all you’ve got isn’t as fast as you want to be.

I wish I could tell you I ran that entire third mile. I wish I could tell you that I was 100% happy with my performance.* I wish I could tell you that I kept up with my dad.

I can’t.

But I will tell you this. Getting toward the end, I didn’t think I had anything else in me. I thought I would barely make it to the finish line. We (Jazz stayed with my the whole time) had made it back to the chute, and I saw the sign that said 100 meters. And I flew. I don’t know where it came from. If you believe in angels, maybe it was my uncle’s wings that pushed me. Or maybe I just had more in my muscles than I thought. Regardless, that sprint felt amazing.

So what now? What next? Well, I’m happy to report that I found a 5K on September 20 that I think I will enter, plus one on October 26. That’s right, I’m sticking with this thing. My brother told me today that the hardest part of running, to him, was getting over the fear of not being able to do it. I have that fear, but I’m working to get over it. I’m going to do it.

*I don’t know what my time was yet, because they didn’t have any sort of clock and the times aren’t posted yet, but I will post it when I find out.

I think I need to do an update at some point, so here goes:

1. San Diego Comic Con was amazing. It was the best vacation I have ever had. I met some truly amazing people, saw some truly amazing stuff, and really got to know my (truly amazing!) inner child. If anyone has ANY shred of desire to go, and the money to go, I HIGHLY recommend it… even if you don’t like comics. I don’t read comics, other than Mouse Guard, and still had a great time.
2. The 5K is on Sunday. Egads, Brain! My first goal was to run the entire thing, but I’m not going to make that. My stretch goal now is to keep up with my dad, and I’m not entirely sure I can do that, because he’s a fast 56-year-old bugger. My goal now is to lace up my running shoes and do my absolute best. This should have been my goal from the beginning!
3. Jazz and I started the South Beach (SB) diet on Sunday. He doesn’t really have that much to lose, but I do. My first goal is 20 pounds, and then we’ll see where I go from there. To be my “ideal” weight, I’d need to lose something like 70-80 pounds, but I think as long as I move from obese to overweight, I’ll be happy. For the first two weeks on SB, you don’t eat very many carbs. Breakfast thus far has meant eggy muffincup thingies, and I am SO SICK of eggy muffincup thingies that I feel like punching the next one I see in it’s eggy mouth.
4. I’ve been studying for my GMATs, which is equal parts frustrating and completely AWESOME. I’m a nerd, in case you couldn’t tell, and standardized tests are fun for me. But this one is slightly annoying. Why do I need to know how to calculate the volume of a cone when I’m going to BUSINESS school? Don’t they know that MBAs get their peons to do their mathz for them?! ;o)
5. Wii Fit has fallen to the wayside for awhile, mostly because I’ve been in San Diego and training for a 5K and starting South Beach and studying for my GMAT… and working, too. But it will come back, just get me through Sunday.

Your regularly (not really) scheduled broadcast has been preempted by this important news bulletin:

Naked Guy has been replaced by Ultra Naked Guy™! As you may remember, my cubicle faces an apartment building, and Naked Guy periodically gave me modest nudie shows once in awhile. A few weeks ago, Naked Guy moved out and the apartment building cleaned and renovated his apartment. But I need not be upset, for Ultra Naked Guy™ has moved in! UNG walks his entire apartment naked with every blind up. I’ve seen him drink coffee naked, read his newspaper naked, and do jumping jacks naked. Okay, maybe not the jumping jacks. My retinas thank him.

Put your blinds down people!

I’ve been more or less trucking along with the Wii Fit exercises. I’ve opened up many of the higher reps and advanced exercises. I’m starting to actually like strength training, too! One great aspect is that when you get past the advanced step exercise, you open free step. This means that you can watch TV for 10, 20, or 30 minutes, while stepping, and the Wii Fit will count that time and those steps. I added something like 3200 steps while watching 30 minutes of What Not to Wear.

The first picture is me in the middle of boxing. The boxing is fun but rather confusing. I actually prefer the Wii Sports Boxing to the Wii Fit boxing. I think the workout may be better, and you don’t have to figure out weird (albeit short) boxing choreography.

The second is of the snowboarding game. I am awful at both the snowboarding AND the skiing. This just solidifies my view that I should never be allowed to go cavorting down mountains at breakneck speeds on two skinny board or one slightly fatter board.

The third is of me in the middle of the tree pose. I love the yoga poses, but I don’t have very good balance or enough strength to properly hold some of the poses. BUT! I’m getting stronger.

The last picture is my trainer. You can choose between a male or female trainer. She’s sort of boring, actually. Also, it’s annoying because she’s digital, so obviously yoga poses are no big deal. In strength training, you can open challenges where you compete against your trainer in certain exercises, such as the jackknife. I was thinking, “What? There’s no way I’m beating a digital trainer.” Oh, but Wii has you covered. The trainer “struggles” to compete 10 jackknives the first time you challenge him/her, and then “barely” finishes 20 the second time. Can I guess that next time she will “almost pass out” after 30?!

All in all, I’m glad I got it. I needed something to push me to strength training, and this is it. I don’t think this will work for everyone. It takes time, especially when you get started. Like any exercise, you have to commit to it. Also, you get out of it what you put in. There are ways to “trick” the Wii into thinking you are exercising when you aren’t. For example, I quickly figured out that I could shake the Wiimote during the running, and the Wii thought I was running quickly, even though I wasn’t. (I don’t trick the Wii though, that was just an observation.)

Bottom line so far: it is pushing me toward gaining strength, and I can see the results in my strength improvement. No weight change, but that’s okay. I’m having fun, and that’s the purpose, after all.