Archive | May, 2013

30 of 30

30 May

Holy crap I did it! I actually completed both of the 30 Day Challenges! How is that even possible? That is so not a me thing to do, and yet, I did it! Yah!! 😀

shock! complete and utter shock I finished both challenges!

shock! complete and utter shock I finished both challenges!

For anybody who has no clue what I am talking about, I did a 30 Day Ab Challenge and a 30 Day Squat Challenge. You can read on the page just above here titled ’30 Day Challenges’ my day-to-day tracking of the past 30 days (if you want, no pressure or anything 😉 lol)

So how do I feel? Honestly right now I feel tired and sore lol and elated and shocked and kinda proud. I know it’s a silly thing to feel pride about, I mean, people do far more amazing things daily, but I don’t care, I am just gonna feel the pride and let it give me a happy boost. 🙂

My knees will be oh so happy the squat challenge is over, they freakin huuuurt! They did so well though, didn’t start giving me trouble till I hit 220 squats. From that point on however they were slightly problematic and have required some pampering. I don’t want to quit doing squats on such a regular basis but I am going to give them a rest for 2-3 days so I can give my knees a break from them. I feel so old complaining about my knees but whatever, I have bad knees, it’s just the way things go. 😛

The ab exercises sucked. I have such a weak core that working it out, while I know is a necessity if I want it to get stronger, is sooooooo hard and I’d rather work on pretty much any other part of my body because working out my core makes me feel really weak. *rolls eyes* Kinda ironic I suppose, the only way to make my core stronger is to work it out but the act of working it out makes me feel even weaker, sigh.

I won’t know until tomorrow if there were any noticeable changes to my body since tomorrow is when I take my ‘after’ pictures…which no, I won’t be posting any of the ‘before’ or ‘after’ pictures to the blog because I took them in a sports bra and underwear and nobody needs to be seeing that!

I had a minor problem with my ab work this evening, and it’s such a weird you’d never guess this problem in a million years kind of thing lol Last night I dropped something very heavy on my right foot, it landed on the top of my foot with the edge of the object and caused a severe amount of pain, deep breathing, squeezed shut eyes and massive effort to not swear at the top of my lungs because it was late and I don’t know how well sound travels but just in case it travels well I didn’t want to disturb the people above me lol I actually worried for a bit I might have broken something the pain was that intense. It immediately started swelling and walking was a special kind of torment. Oh, and sleeping wasn’t that great because the top of the foot couldn’t stand even the light pressure of the blankets buuuuuuut if I put my foot outside of the blankets it got cold, oy! Such a picky foot! lol

I was wearing runners for most of today (was working my second job) and boy oh boy that didn’t go well. Had trouble getting my foot in to the runner because of it being swollen, and once it was in the pain of being confined in the runner made the foot protest quite a bit. Not one to let pain get in my way I did my best to ignore it and go about my day. Thank goodness I dragon boat in flip flops! I was so grateful when I could take the runners off and wear something non-confining *sweet sigh of relief*

It didn’t look all that swollen at practice this evening so I thought it must be getting better, turns out it was the angle I was looking at it from, when I got home and sat on the floor and compared the two feet from a side view I saw the swelling it still quite apparent, go figure, shrug.

Here’s where the minor problem for my ab work came in. I tuck my feet under my living room chair and use the pressure of the chair to help me keep my form while doing sit-ups, like the equivalent of having someone sit on your feet. I got my feet under the chair but once I hit about the 30th sit-up and it became hard my feet started to strain upwards a bit putting pressure on the top of the foot. Oh dear god that was not pleasant! I wiggled the feet out a bit and figured for one night let the pressure hit more on the big toe area…which was when I found out the pain had actually spread down the big toe but I guess I hadn’t noticed because, well, basically, it’s just my whole foot at this point that hurts lol Why bother differentiating between toe and top of foot right?

Obviously I got the ab work done, like I was going to let a sore foot get in the way of that?! Nuh-uh! Gotta say though, I ended this challenge on a weirder note then anticipated lol 😛

I’m hoping my butt is perkier and my abs are a bit less squishy when I compare the pics I will be taking tomorrow to the ones I took at the beginning but I’m not holding my breath, I’m pretty sure I look the same everywhere, sigh. Oh well, it was still good to do the challenges even if I don’t get visible results, right?

I had also hoped that doing this would make my clothes fit a bit better but so far no-go on that, everything has still been fitting the same, double sigh. I think this means that while the exercises were good for me, and I know my thighs got stronger from all those squats, I’m gonna hafta kick it up a notch in the gym and increase my cardio…I may let that wait a day or two though in an effort to give my foot some healing time lol 😛

Final Verdict: Definitely worth it! These challenges provide structure, a plan, a goal, they help create a healthy habit of exercising on a routine of 3 days on 1 day off, and when you finish them, even if your clothes don’t fit better or you see any really obvious results you still feel good about having completed the challenges, and that my friend, is the best result possible. 🙂

this deserves a happy dance!

this deserves a happy dance!

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Thank You My Friend

29 May

I have been all kinds of lazy today, I did my volunteer work, bought take out when it was over, came home, ate way too much food, and then sat with the cat on my lap watching tv feeling gross. I felt gross in part because I ate too much, I ate take out, and I hadn’t done anything activity wise. Not shocking I didn’t feel well!

I still had to do my ab and squat work for my 30 Day Challenges but couldn’t work up the gumption for it. I needed help so I turned to facebook.

I posted a status saying “trying to work up the motivation to go to the gym instead of staying comfy curled up with the cat…could someone kindly come drag my lazy butt to the gym?”

My sister responded with a joke about cuddling burning calories, which while cute, did not help me at all! lol

However, a friend of mine, SL, posted a response encouraging me to go to the gym, reminding me there is still lots of time left in the evening so I can relax when I get home from the gym and I’ll feel so much better after I go and work out.

She was so Right!!

it's always good to have a friend that'll give you the push you need

it’s always good to have a friend that’ll give you the push you need

Thing is, I know that, you know that, we all know that. We know we’ll feel better after doing something active, we know we will still have time to relax after carving out time for a workout, we know working out is the right choice. Just because I know something though doesn’t mean I can always make the right decision on my own. Today, I needed help.

I don’t know why I had no motivation today, I just know I didn’t have any. I needed someone else to help me get to the gym, and thank goodness for SL. Thank You SL!! 🙂

I started with what I thought was going to be my lazy-day workout. I ran a 20 minute jog and while yes, I know I should have run for 30 minutes I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to make it to 20 minutes. Surprise to me when I not only ran the entire 20 minutes but felt good while running and knew I could for sure have done the 30 minutes if that was what I had programmed in to the treadmill. Next time I will run the 30 minutes. Then I went and did upper body weight work, something I always enjoy, oddly enough.

When I got home from the gym I did my squats and my ab exercises from the 30 Day Challenges then found I had enough energy that instead of going to bed or plopping down in front of the tv I did a whole bunch of stuff around the apartment. 🙂

I may have spent a good chunk of the day feeling lazy and blah but thanks to some motivation from a friend I ended the day feeling good about myself and all I had accomplished. Thank goodness for peeps who have your back!

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I Can Feel My Knee

27 May

How often do you feel your knees? I mean really, think about this, unless you have hurt your knees how often are you aware of your knees while going about your day?

no, these aren't my knees :P

no, these aren’t my knees 😛

I’m betting not very often, am I right?

Well, years an years an years ago I hurt my left knee. For the most part it is ok now but some days I have what I oh so affectionately call my “Bad Knee Days”. Those days my knee won’t really bend, or it reeeeeeally hurts, or the knee cap jiggles a bit and I worry that today will be the day it once again decides to pop out of place and go to the back of my leg…lovely image huh? 😛

Yesterday however wasn’t a “Bad Knee Day” per say, what it was though was a day where I was quite consciously aware of my knee. I was feeling my knee. No, not with my hand like I was rubbing it, lol, but everything I did sent my nerves firing and sending signals up to my brain that basically said “hey, I’m the knee, I don’t think things are going quite right today so I’m going to make you aware of my existence juuuust to freak you out a bit”. I did not like it!

It wasn’t hurting exactly, but it was…I dunno, something. It is hard to explain. Like an achey overly aware feeling, as if there is not enough cartilage and the bones are almost touching when they move. It’s like the precursor to the pain I am sure I will be feeling all the time when I am old.

This doesn’t happen often and I’m never really sure what to do when it does. I had already done my 220 squats for the day and it got me wondering if perhaps I had found my knee’s threshold for squats. Maybe 210 squats is ok but 220 sends it in to overload and this is my knees way of telling me no more? That would suck because there are 30 days in my squat challenge and as of today I am at Day 27, can’t quit now!

I decided to not freak out about it too much, just limp along and wait till I could go home and rest the knee. Since I didn’t know for sure it was the squats that caused it to act up I figured no point in stopping the challenge. I should just wait and see how my knee is the next day. Sounds sensible, right? 🙂

Today is the next day, dun-dun-dun!

The knee was ok, not great, but not as bad as yesterday. Instead of doing my squats on my lunch break like yesterday I did my ab work instead and saved the squats for when I was at home juuuuust in case my knee started to act up again. It did have problems during the squats, both of them did actually lol. I think the right started to act up because I was unconsciously putting more weight on the right leg  in an attempt to not overly strain the left knee. All this accomplished was both knees having trouble *rolls eyes* Try to do a body part a favour and this is the thanks I get! Rude! 😉

I’m not sure what to do now. Normally when my knee acts up I baby it for a couple days, I take it as a sign I pushed it too far so I give it a break but I am not quitting my 30 Day Challenges, not when I am thiiiiis close to the end! Soooo, I’ll keep doing my squats, but perhaps I will not do them all in one session, I could try splitting them up through out the day, that might help…or maybe it will just prolong the torture lol I’m just gonna play it by ear and see how it goes, cross your fingers for me I do ok! 🙂

 

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Gym Code

22 May

There seems to be this universal code when at the gym, unless you went there with someone, don’t talk to anyone, ever. Watch people but try to be subtle about it. Oh, and don’t make any facial expressions unless you’re a beefed up guy lifting a huge amount of weight and you do that grimace that makes you look constipated. *rolls eyes*

I don’t know where these rules came from but every gym I have ever belonged to, even the women’s only gyms, have these unspoken rules in place. I generally don’t mind since I don’t want my work out interrupted by someone trying to start up a convo, but at the same time, I don’t like when people are watching me from the corner of their eyes and don’t say anything. What are you thinking when you look at me? It’s creepy!…even though I do the same thing lol

This new gym I am at, apparently the rules don’t apply here…or at least not all of them all the time.

A week or so ago a guy spoke to me, he read my shirt out loud in a questioning voice so out of politeness I felt obliged to explain. Ah the wonders of Canadian manners! 😉 We spoke a bit but then I started stretching and my face was plastered against my knees so I couldn’t really hold up a convo anymore, or even see him lol so he went off to do his own thing.

Then today, in between sets in the free weight section this guy randomly says hi, asks if I am new there, and we started talking weights, length of time working out, all kinds of random exercise type things. I felt very awkward.

Over the course of my gym visit it seemed as if every new guy to come in there knew all the other guys that were already working out and they all did that guy greeting thing, where they kinda yell out something that doesn’t even make sense from across the room, then they fist pump, say something about how long its been since they’ve seen each other and make plans to get a protein shake and hang out after working out. Small world or just small gym?

I’m not saying it is a bad thing to have a friendly gym community but since this gym is 98% guys and the rare time I have seen another woman she (and I) do that girl thing where we pretend we don’t see each other because we don’t want to be obliged to smile or chat or be friendly to each other…girl dynamics are so weird! I don’t see how I will fit in to this friendly gym community. I actually felt more excluded in the free weight section once all the guys started being all buddy buddy then when we were all doing our own things and pretending each other didn’t exist. sigh.

Despite all that I had a really great work out. I focused on my upper body today, so back, shoulders and arms. I haven’t focused on those areas in a while so I lowered the dumbbell weight I was using by 3lbs just in case I sucked. I have no desire to drop a dumbbell on my face thanks very much 😛 lol The gym doesn’t have some of the machines I am used to from my old gym so I had to improvise for some things but that’s ok. I did a bit of improvisation but will have to youtube and google to find other exercises and ideas to help me work the muscles I want to.

Besides the gym work out I did my 185 squats and all my ab exercises (for my 30 Day Challenges), I know I am going to be feeling this tomorrow but it’s worth it! 🙂

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A New Way of Tracking Your Workout

20 May

I found a new app, well, in all fairness it might not be new but it is new to me. 🙂 It’s called runtastic. Not the most original name but who cares what the name is if it is a good app?

runtastic

I’ve only used it once so I can’t say for sure that it is good but here is what I know about it so far:

-you open it at the beginning of your workout, you tell it what type of exercise you are doing and it gps tracks your route, time and speed

-when you are done you fill in info saying what the road surface was like, how you feel, weather conditions, and there is a spot for notes

-there is a section for your heart rate but I don’t have that info

-you can save all the stats from your workout and go back and check them later, the app even oh so nicely dates the info so you don’t have to remember when each workout was

I’m going to keep using the app for the next little while so I can see if my running gets any better. It was also nice to see what distance I am running when I use the trail near my place. Normally I run on a treadmill so I can track everything about my run and I really like that. When I run outside, or go hiking, I generally don’t count it as exercise because I have no way to track it except for how long I do the activity for, not really a lot of information lol. But since I plan on doing a lot of outdoor running and hiking this summer I figured I needed a way to track it.

I was actually looking for a couch potato to 5km app that is free but all the ones I found you have to buy. You can install them free and use them for a little bit of time free but eventually it snags you for money and well, how rude is that?? So this runtastic app was sorta my second choice…after reading what it can do and trying it out today though I’m thinking I might have found something better then a couch potato to 5km. Sure, I won’t have a voice telling me when to run, jog or walk but maybe I can figure that out on my own?

I’m back on the wagon with my protein shakes, yah! I have had one for 4 days in a row and am planning on keeping it up! 🙂 They are so tasty I don’t know why I stopped them *rolls eyes* I’m using them as a meal replacement, gotta say, it’s my best meal of the day lol For the last 4 days I made the shake and took it to work so that I could avoid the food at work. I figure it is better to drink the shake and know exactly what is going in my body then eat the delicious food at work that is not cooked by me and is most likely not quite as healthy as I would like. I’m really gonna miss the food tho, *big epic sigh* 😦

On a completely unrelated topic, I am craving junk food like you wouldn’t believe! Even while making my dinner I was going through the fridge, freezer and cupboards looking for what I was going to eat for dessert…fyi, I found nothing. Nothing!! 😦 I don’t keep junk food in the apartment specifically because of days when I am craving it and won’t be able to control how much I eat but omg thought I was gonna go nuts from the wanting but not getting lol 😛 In the end I had a greek yogurt cup for dessert, sooooo not what I was wanting but a way better choice then the pastry or chocolate I would have happily jumped through fire for. I’m hoping that my not eating something high in sugar today when I am wanting it so badly will help me to resist next time I have a junk food craving…wish me luck! 🙂

 

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15 of 30

15 May

Today was Day 15 in both of my 30 Day Challenges. To see a day by day tracking of my progress go to the page at the top of my blog titled 30 Day Challenges, I update it every day with how it is going. 🙂

Today was really hard! I’ve been sick since yesterday which doesn’t help but oh well, I’m not gonna let being sick turn in to a reason to skip a day or quit altogether. I just worked through it, modified things a bit, and kept going. By modify I don’t mean do less work, I just mean taking slightly longer breaks between sets and doing the squats and abs at different times of the day to ensure I don’t max out my body all in one go. It seems to have worked because both days I managed to do everything I was supposed to.

What I reeeeally want to know is this: What sadist came up with these things?!?! And why was I dumb enough to decide to do them?!?!

I only sorta mean those two questions lol. 😛

cat sit up

These challenges are hard, and not like I thought I’d breeze through them but I don’t think I really grasped the concept of doing 140 squats, 70 sit-ups, 90 crunches, 42 leg lifts and a 60 second plank all in one day…what’s scary is that is just today, it’s just gonna keep getting worse more challenging from here on out, eek!

I don’t regret doing these challenges at all, even though all I’m doing right now is bitching about them lol They bring a bit of order to my life, which is weird, I know everyday I will at some point be in my living room doing my squats and my ab work (except for rest days of course!) and I am finding comfort in that. I’ve had days where I was so busy I didn’t get the exercises done until ridiculously late at night, and if I hadn’t been involved in these challenges I wouldn’t have done anything active those days, just shrugged it off as I didn’t have time blah blah blah and that is that. But I can’t do that for this month, I have to do the work! And by having to find time to fit the exercises in I am showing myself that no matter what you really can always find the time to work out. Sure, maybe you won’t always have the time to go for a 30 minute run, or hit up the gym to do some weight work but there is always something you can do.

Some things that I can always do?

– ride my exercise bike

– pop in an exercise dvd (I own like a hundred of the stupid things but never use them)

– do any of the various exercises I know that can be done at home (this includes core work, stretching, yoga moves etc)

– pull out my Wii Fit (don’t judge! that thing is so much fun and can really get you sweating!)

– if there isn’t time for a 30 minute run there might be time for a shorter run around the neighbourhood

– if I’m at work stay after my shift and run up and down the 11 flights of stairs a couple of times

– pull up a youtube exercise video

– play some music and dance while cleaning (you might be surprised how sweaty this can get you)

So right there, off the top of my head I came up with a list of 8 things I could do. You could probably do the same things, or mostly the same, so why not make up your own list? I know for myself, when I am tired, or don’t feel like exercising, or would rather be doing something more entertaining I draw a blank at exercise options that could fit in to my time frame, I think it is selective amnesia lol. To counter act this I am going to write out my list, and hopefully think of other things I can add to it, and stick it to a wall, or on my fridge, somewhere I can’t miss it so when I start to convince myself I can get away with no exercise for the day I will have right in front of me a list of things I could easily do, right then and there, and boom! can’t be a slacker if the list of activities is staring me in the face can I? Well, in all honesty I most like could, but hopefully I won’t! lol 😉

 

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Does It Never End?

15 May

I youtube a lot of exercise videos to get ideas for what to do at the gym, to make sure I have the right form for exercises I already do or used to do but haven’t in a while, for all kinds of reasons…youtube is a valuable resource in the journey to lose weight and get healthier. 🙂

Usually the exercises are being performed by someone in ridiculously good shape and watching them can give a person a slightly unrealistic idea of how well they will perform the exercise and also of what they will look like after performing those exercises for a while. Over time I have managed to get over the unrealistic expectations of how well I will perform the exercise when I first start but that doesn’t stop me from thinking if I work hard enough for long enough then maybe one day I will look like the person in the video, or my version of that person.

Well, something that was said in this video made me shake my head a bit and now I am wondering, when is enough enough? When will it be over? When will a person get a body that they can actually maintain instead of constantly trying to improve? When does the critiquing (either personal or from others) stop? Does the pressure to get the perfect body never end?

The convo I am referring to is during the time stamp 1:40 – 1:50. The trainer is talking about the woman who is working out, who from what I can see, is in excellent shape, if I could get in to shape like that I’d be so enamored with how I looked I’d spend all my time in front of a mirror! lol I mean come on, go look at the video, how does she have a flaw?

But the trainer is saying things like “we are trying to attack head on her problem areas” and mentioning her “saddlebags”. O.M.G. Seriously? Seriously??

To give him credit he does also say how she has a “great physique” but to me, that is over shadowed by the other comments. God only knows what he would say if I sauntered in and asked him to train me. He’d probably take one look at my untoned flabby body and run screaming *rolls eyes*

People are constantly judging one another based on looks, it’s just how we roll.  Thing is, I kinda thought if I managed to lose my excess weight, and tone my body, and basically, achieve the body I am  striving for, then it wouldn’t matter what people think or say about me because if they did think or say anything it would be good thoughts and comments, right? But here is this lady, who is in amazing shape, and she still has people saying un-positive things about how she looks. So I’m back to wondering if the negative comments will never end?

 

 

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A New Kitchen Toy

9 May

I bought a microwave. It’s still in the box, sitting on my kitchen floor waiting to trip me tomorrow morning, hmm, maybe I should move it to the side or something…

It’s not some super fancy microwave, it’s not even a brand I recognized lol but it was on sale, and is small, and is black, so there ya go. 🙂

what mine looks like

what mine looks like

I wasn’t intending to buy one, personally, I’d rather a new blender but my dear mom insisted I buy one, her dime, because I have been without one for quite a while lol.

My old microwave died an electrical smelly death randomly one day so I took it to the recycling place, where past their prime electronics go to pass on to their next incarnation. I almost felt guilty as it was a present from my brother, a reeeeeeally nice microwave, and so pretty! Stainless steel with black accents, sigh. Oh, and it was big, as in bigger then anything I would ever need lol but I live in North America so isn’t bigger supposed to be better? 😉 I had it for over 5 years though and it moved with me many times over those 5 years so I guess it did it’s job.

But yeah, so, old microwave died, and oddly enough I didn’t jump in my suv and go right to the store to buy a new one. I figured, sometime a long time ago people survived without microwaves right? So, theoretically, I could do that…I could survive without one…This would (1) save me the money of buying a new one, (2) give me one less thing to pack the next time I move and (3) force me to cook more using the actual stove. These are all good things!

Well ha-bloody-ha!

(1) I still ended up buying foods usually heated/cooked in a microwave but instead of stocking up on Lean Cuisine when it is on sale I was buying those pre-packaged at the deli meals at Safeway and Superstore, so even though I saved money on not buying a new microwave, my food bill went up a bit I am sure.

(2) I still own a lot of shit so seriously, packing one more thing is not gonna make that big of a difference lol.

(3) I ended up eating even less if you can believe it! If I didn’t feel like cooking something in the oven or on the stove top well, there was no other way to cook it, so I either ordered in take out or didn’t eat…and of those two options I usually chose the not eating. So by not having the microwave, I actually ended up eating less food because my laziness is just that impressive! *rolls eyes*

It was number 3 that got to my mom I think. She didn’t like the idea of me not eating soooooo she insisted on my buying a microwave. And! She knows me so well! When I said ok I would search to find one on sale she went and did the searching for me and then told me where I could find one for sale…I guess she figured out my “research” could conceivably take a long time cause well, I’d keep forgetting to do it. *looks guiltily at the ground*

I actually got the one smaller then the one she told me about, same brand, mostly the same features, but like I said, smaller and therefor cheaper. I would have automatically got the one she told me about but the friend I went shopping with noticed the smaller one and pointed out the smaller one would most likely be big enough for me. He was right, so smaller I went! With the money I saved I bought a food splatter thingy to put inside of the microwave, I feel so grown up now lol 😉

I don’t envision my eating habits changing a whole lot super quickly but I’m sure before I realize it I’ll be using the microwave more and more…if only so I can eat popcorn! Mmm popcorn… 😛

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Day 8 of 30

8 May

You may or may not have noticed I have  a page (just up top there) called 30 Day Challenges, on that page I keep track on a daily basis of my progress on the two 30 Day Challenges I am doing. I figure once a week or so I’ll do a little recap here to give my overall impressions of these challenges…and to let you know I haven’t quit or died. 😉

Today is Day 8, and for both challenges it is a rest day. The first rest day came at Day 4 and I felt that was too early but decided to follow the rules and not do the squats or abs that day. This time around, I am happy for the rest day, Go Rest Day Go!

Each day I convince myself that of course I can do the number of squats, sit-ups, crunches, leg lifts and planks that are required because it’s just a little bit more then what I did the day before and I managed those right? So far, that mentality is getting me through this, that and I hate failing at anything so at this point I won’t quit unless I sustain serious injury, or get way sick…hmm…is that a cough coming on? Dammit it isn’t! sigh.

Doing these challenges with a friend has made all the difference. It’s nice to go through something insane with a buddy. We text daily when we’ve completed our exercises for the day and help psych each other up for what is coming. He had to quit the Squat Challenge cause he hurt his knee at work so I’m doing them for the both of us – don’t mistake this as I am doing double, just that I am now even more resolved to not quit. (insert warrior chant here)

Even though the amount of exercise is increasing to a level that is hard I think this challenge is a good thing. I never would have thought I could do 80 squats in a day, let alone in one session! And yet, yesterday I did. I am pushing myself past self-imposed boundaries that I hadn’t even realized I put up, crazy awesome! Part of me thinks there is no way I will be able to accomplish Day 30 of either challenge, that day will be 125 sit-ups, 200 crunches, 65 leg raises, 120 second plank and 250 squats, oh and all of that is on a day I have dragon boat practice as well. When I think of that now my automatic thought is nope, not possible, I won’t be able to do it buuuuuut a little tiny part of me thinks that maybe by then I will be able to do that, and how great would that be? So for now, I am looking no farther ahead then the day I am on, tomorrow I will deal with how much I have to do that day, for today? I am just enjoying it was a rest day.

betcha the lion doesn't stress about it's abs!

betcha the lion doesn’t stress about it’s abs!

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1:00:98

6 May
Grr! I am dragon, hear me roar!

Grr! I am dragon, hear me roar!

Yesterday was the first dragon boat race festival of our season! 🙂 Soooooo much fun! I love race days! I mean yeah, I love practices too but it’s nice to go as a team and put all your hard work to the test ya know?

For this festival instead of the regular 20 person boats all teams were split in to two and raced in 10 person boats. So even though our team was still our team for this one day we split in to Team Blue and Team Black, not the most original granted but whatever, it’s one day! 😛

I was on Team Black which pleased me immensely since I look better in black, it’s oh-so-slimming 😉 lol

Each team had three races. Our first race didn’t go all that well due to technical difficulties with the boat. We finished…but that’s all I can say about it. *downcast eyes* We didn’t wallow though, we got back to the tent, had a debriefing and decided to forget about it, move on, make the next race count! And oh man did we ev-ah!

Our second race we came in first place with a time of 1:02 or 1:04, I can’t remember which…just focus on me saying the words “First Place” 😀 then picture a happy dance cause even though I am sitting and typing in my head I am so doing one teehee

Our third race we came in, *dun*dun*dun*…First Place!!!! wOOt! with a time of 1:00:98! Not only did we come in first place but we beat the boat that came in second place by a boat length (or so I am told, you can’t really tell when you are racing, you’re too focused on your boat). Aaaaaand, the other half of our team was watching and cheering us on (which fyi totally helps you push even harder) and one of the girls said a person standing near them who was also watching the race said something along the lines of “look at the team that’s in the lead, they look like a machine” O.M.G!! That’s so awesome! That is quite possibly one of the best compliments you can give cause it means we were all in time, we had a good paddling rate, good paddling strength and all of that combines to make us something to look at. 😀 *even crazier happy dance*

Talk about making a comeback, redeeming ourselves, showing we aren’t a team to be ignored! Can you tell I am still high from the excitement of yesterday? lol

It was such a great way to start the season. Sure, the first race didn’t go as planned but we regrouped, came together as a team, moved past it, and proved to others (but more importantly to ourselves) that we are a strong team. 🙂

We don’t have another race festival until June and that kinda makes me sad, it seems sooooo far away but we will use that time to get even better and who knows what we will accomplish there?!

After, the team did pizza and beer and chilled, the weather was gorgeous so we took advantage of it and stayed outside. We have a huge team tent so we had shade thank goodness. I was a sunscreen nut-job all day, applying and re-applying throughout the day. I was all proud of myself of not getting burned…then I got home and saw my scalp, ouch! Totally burned my scalp where my hair was parted, this is especially annoying (and painful) since I burned that same hairline two weeks ago and it hadn’t finished healing yet, oh dear. I’m a tad annoyed with Coppertone since I sunscreened the part in my hair multiple times throughout the day with their product and it apparently did nothing. Grr to Coppertone! Grr!

Minus the sunburn it was a perfect day – can’t wait for the next one! 🙂

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