Odds and ends

Refrigerator Envy

The other day I went to Sears with my mother to look at refrigerators; her much-loved 20-year-old fridge is on its last breath and she is looking for a replacement. (I need a new fridge too, although I suspect my eventual selection will be more modest than hers!) We ran across the most amazing refrigerator you could possibly imagine. What are its features, you may ask? I have no idea. Keeps things cold, I suppose. No, what is so wonderful about this refrigerator is its surface finish. It's called "black pearl" and it is as reflective as a mirror. But not just any mirror, an amazing miracle mirror that makes you look at least 20 pounds thinner. Okay, 30. I looked like Katie Holmes! Except for my hair, of course. I was so entranced, I was like Narcissus looking into the pool. My mother almost had to drag me away. I wanted her to take a picture with her phone, but I didn't know if there would be enough light inside, and the salespeople were starting to look at me funny anyway. (I don't suppose I could have a black refrigerator in my yellow kitchen... hmmmm....)

Back on track

On a somewhat related topic, the Y reopened Tuesday after its annual week of closing. And since "summer vacation" is also over, I've recommitted to a more vigorous workout schedule in addition to my running. And yes, that includes Pilates boot camp (actually it's just Pilates, the "boot camp" is my opinion). I'm a little nervous because I'm afraid my abs have had quite a holiday. I'm sort of foreseeing myself lying on the floor in severe humiliation. Not to mention residual pain for days thereafter, which manifests itself in completely unexpected ways. (You wouldn't imagine that sore abs impact your ability to do pushups/plank, would you? Well, they do.)

And speaking of pushups, I went back to yoga on Tuesday for two separate classes, and there is a new morning instructor who was using several poses I have never heard of (or done) before. The crocodile pose? Well, this definition describes it as a resting pose which seems quite nice. But the instructor seemed to have us doing it as more of a chataranga position, which is much more difficult. Or maybe I just misunderstood and was making things hard for myself for no good reason. And we did a lot of plank repeats, and this crazy downward dog standing split pushup which I really thought she had made up, where you go into downward dog, lift one leg into a standing split, then lower the front of your body into a pushup and back up again. I exchanged a glance with the guy next to me which clearly said, "She has got to be kidding!" I did ten on each side but I don't think my arms bent hardly at all. Apparently it's supposed to look like this video—the middle part after the easy beginning before he gets to the insane "sideways kick" portion.



But other than the crazy push-up variations (and my shoulders were sore this morning), it was good to be back in yoga again. Especially the evening class, which is my favorite and always has lots of twists, hip stretches, and resting positions, including one of my favorite back relaxers, the sphinx. One of the things I love about yoga is that it includes lying on the floor resting! And they still call it exercise! I still do look at my watch a lot, I think because I have trouble quieting my mind and can't help twittering over things, like everything I need to do before I can go home and have dinner!

No more sugar and crap food

To build on the previous topics, I am saying good-bye to all the cake and nonsense that permeated the summer, and following a strict Dean Karnazes style diet for the foreseeable future. (And I am not talking about the all-night-running diet.) On September 11 I am assessing what to pack for my trip to Maine, and I don't want to be ruling out the jeans! Unless it is for packing efficiency purposes alone, of course.

Good run

I have managed to recover from Sunday's long run (and Monday's recovery run) sufficiently enough to have a very satisfactory run this morning. Wednesdays seem to be good for me. I did my typical 2-1-1-2 intervals (two miles warm up, one mile faster, one mile recovery, two miles faster) and I would say my "fast" miles fell into solid half-marathon pace. (My splits—11:34, 9:51, 9:06, 9:57, 9:12, 9:03 and the final .63 at 10:11 pace.)

Nike Human Race 10K

I opted myself out of this one in favor of the long run instead, but tons of people (millions, I suppose) participated throughout the world, including a stellar, PR-making performance by Lisa! Go Lisa! I definitely would have run if I'd had a site that offered all the swag that her local RoadRunner did. Or if I'd been personally invited to participate by Lance Armstrong.