Mondays are for Birthdays and Running Workouts…the Perfect Combo, Right?!

So what have I learned on this fine Monday so far? 1) All that excitement about seeing a peek of sunshine on Saturday apparently scared it back into hiding. 2) Doing a hard workout on the treadmill is made all the more excruciating when done to the annoying clucking of Kathie Lee Gifford. Thankfully there was a brief appearance by Jimmy Fallon that offset her a bit. (PS-I wasn’t the one holding the remote, sadly, that was the lady on the elliptical next to me.)

3) BUT the biggest thing is…MY LITTLE SIS TURNED 16!!! Wow, I can’t believe it, I was nine when she was born and I used to take her around to all of my school events and then meets so much that she became sort of the little mascot for a few years. I just hope that she’s far better on the road than me, (let’s all send her a collective good luck on her driver’s test today…I failed my first one, btw, which shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise.) my very first time behind the wheel with my dad I popped the tire.

Back on track here, my baby sis! Well, this is just yet another time when I REALLY hate the fact that I live up in OR and them down in CA. 🙁 Not able to make it down for her three day fest-a-palooza, what with the fam bam on Saturday, friend party on Sunday, and the actual bday today. But I’d like to think I’m there in spirit…plus, I’m sure at this point she wouldn’t want me crashing in on the friend thing. So she’s saved the embarrassment. Anyways, I made her a little piece of art that she may or may not feel like actually hanging up somewhere (don’t worry it came with a cash-stuffed card too!) and I’ll share it with you. The little pup in the pic is hers and she’s quite obsessed with her…made the pup its own Facebook page and all. 🙂



Backtracking a bit to the Jimmy Fallon thing, he was on talking about his new ‘Thank You’ type book. I usually don’t watch his show (for shame, I know, but I caught him on his good old SNL days) but he does some segments that send random thank you’s to people. One was the thank you to families that hold hands in a long chain, walk at a turtle speed, and are completely oblivious to the fact that they are blocking your entire path in the parking lot or on the road. You then are forced to move your car up inch by excruciatingly slow inch behind them until you get to a parking spot.

In honor of his little book I’d like to send a few thank you’s out myself, if they aren’t already in there. Thank you to the people who play every game and take EVERY quiz out there on Facebook in rapid-fire sessions so that they clog up the entire feed reporting their results.

Thank you to the parents who have never heard of the word discipline. I’ll also send a shout out in thanks to the fact that their kids must be brimming with self-esteem.

Thank you to the geriatric actors who play in the Life Alert commercials. This one is actually genuine because an old person laying face down on the ground crying, ‘I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!’ never fails to make me laugh. Is that really mean of me?

At any rate, one last thing that crossed my mind on the good old treaddy today. Has anyone had those cross country races where it gets to the point where it’s hurting and you start to question whether hurling yourself into a big prickly bush would be less painful that motoring on to the finish? Of course you don’t actually DO it but the funny mental pictures often helped distract me from the burning in my legs for a time and lighten the mood I guess. Anyways, had a similar thought today about just letting the treadmill belt shooting me off the back end and crashing into the bike behind me. The looks I would then get would have been priceless. I guess it may be a little disturbing sharing this and wondering what that says about my psyche…that this little mental image made me crack a smile and got me through to the end. Without becoming bike food either. But, like I’ve said, I like to make fun of myself and I do laugh at old people, so there ya go.

Lastly, since I kind of feel weird just sharing random babblings from my head and not sharing something of some kind of worth, I feel I should try to give out any advice I may have. I’ll toss out a workout that I really like doing and may work for you. I do get questions from people who are just starting to run, maybe have run for awhile but want some ideas, so I’ll post one. (Also, if anyone has any questions or want to suggest a topic for me, let me know and leave a comment!)

A break-down run. This goes by tons of different names, after a warm-up (aim for at least 10 minutes) you’ll basically be doing a tempo run but you’ll start out ‘slower’ and gradually pick up the pace until you’re going much faster by the end. Think of negative splits, which is also the smart way to go about any kind of workout/race because physiologically your body will burn fuel much more efficiently and you’ll feel MUCH better than if you were to run in an opposite manner and go out way too fast. I’m sure many of you can attest to that. So pick a distance or time for your tempo run, we’ll make the example here 20 minutes. You want to start out at a pretty decent effort, not loafing but controlled, and then pick up the pace every three minutes or so. (or 1/2 mile if you’re going for miles) Then really push those last few minutes, and they should feel like you’re going faster than 5k race pace, not all out but getting there because you’ll be fatigued by this point. If it helps, picture yourself being hurled off the back of the treadmill or flung into a pile of spiky bushes if that takes your mind off things and helps you push to the end. 🙂 What also helps me is I don’t think of the whole thing, but take it in the three minute chunks one at a time. Focus on just getting through this three minutes, anyone can do anything for three minutes right?

Anyways, be sure to finish with an easy cool-down, don’t let that lactic acid just sit and pool in your muscles! Work it out, baby! Alright, rounding out this epic post I’d like to again send a shout out to the best sis in the world…(sorry folks I may be a bit partial here!) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 🙂



1) What thank you would you like to send out?

2) Ever been thrown off the back end of a treadmill?

Once when I was about 7, my dad was working at a fitness equipment store and I wanted to see how fast it could go. Carpet burn.

3) Got any questions for me? 🙂