Ionic Foot Bath

I got an email right before my bday from Cristy with a Groupon gift certificate for 10 Skyburn workout sessions.  I thought it was super thoughtful and was excited to try out this wkout. It's a boot camp style workout at a trampoline park.  We went to the 6:30am class and since we were a small group we got a great workout with a lot of attention.  You do push ups, jumping jacks, weights, and use resistance bands while jumping.  It's tough!!

 

The next week we went again but were the only two, therefore we had an hour with 100% of the instructor's attention on is.  He had us do this one circuit of medicine ball slams, hi knees, rope drills and then sprint to wall climb and hop back top the start line and do it again. Mind you we are doing this on a trampoline the whole time. It was INTENSE!  It was so intense that both Cristy and I couldn't walk normal for a couple days.  I think it was the 90 calf raises that pushed us over the edge.

 

I decided to take advantage of another online group discount of acupuncture, massage and ionic foot bath to help my tight calves. I've never had a ionic foot bath.  You put your feet in this warm water and this ionic thing is placed in the water.  It is supposed to draw out toxins from my body and I can tell where the toxins are coming from depending on the color change.

 



The brochure showed some disgusting pictures of color change, especially from people who smoke and water turns murky brown. Ick!

Mine was turning orange which is indicative of joint toxins.  The tech asked me if I workoutit was toxins from that.  I honestly felt the swelling in my calves go down afterwards.

Surprise!

My love brought in the groceries and said he had something in the car that I was going to love more than him. 

*heart melt*

 

UCLA Tri

My first official tri!  Santa invited me to compete with her in the UCLA tri to celebrate her 32nd bday. When we first signed up we had planned to meet up once a week to workout and put many dry runs under our belt before the big race.  Unfortunately, our crazy work schedules didn't allow us to do so.  The week before we both got super sick.  I called off from work 2 days.  I know I needed the rest and my body needed the healing time.  I felt bad because we were short staffed at work, but I couldn't imagine getting better working 12hr graveyard shift. As the week went on I was afraid we weren't going to be able to do the triathlon.  However, I felt good enough to do the race.  I invited my family to cheer us on.  God knows we both needed it!!

 

I sent this the morning of to my fam so they can easily ID me.

 



We stopped by a Starbucks on the way up to the race.  Man, this place was NICE! It had a cozy fire and comfy chairs.  We enjoyed pre-race breakfast as we laughed about our jitters.

As we got on campus, we made a left up this street and it was this never ending hill.  We got a little nervous when we saw cones and thought "is this part of the race?" I seriously had this nervous, uncontrollable laughter.  Santa looked at me and I knew we were thinking the same think... "what the F did we get ourselves into???" 

Most tri's have only one transition area, but his one had two. For our first tri we picked a confusing set up and hilly course. The race started off with 400m swim into transition area #1.  Every person has an individual start time.  Santa and I were in the 2nd wave of competitors and damn near the last to enter the water.  When it was my turn to jump in the water I jumped in and froze.  I sunk to the bottom and landed on my knees. OUCH!!!  That snapped me out of it and I started to swim.  At turning points it would get congested and at one point this one SOB grabbed my legs twice and pulled me under the water.  I kicked him and said something vulgar.  I was in the slow lane.  Hello GO AROUND ME!

(These are my knees later on that night)

After the swim, we did 4 loops through the campus totaling 13 miles.  After my first loop I spotted my family.  I yelled out to them and they saw me.  Before I got too far away, I yelled "you will see me 3 more times!"  Seeing them made me feel pumped.  I looked done at my watch and set a goal to see them every 12 mins.  Knowing they were there helped me up those hills.

After the cycle portion we finished off with a 5K run.  I cam in before Santa, so went back and ran in with her. 

Can you believe medals weren't given out? This was a special occasion... our 1st triathlon, so I had custom medals made.  I ran around to sport stores, Michael's, Things Remembered and Tah Dah... this is what I came up with.

And... the icing on the cake, I came in 1st in my age division. Oh happy day!!

Afterwards we enjoyed yummy food at Newsroom cafe where we spotted Pauly Shore a few tables over.  We window shopped at some yuppy children clothing store and headed back home to rest up.



Active Friends

In my early 20's whenever a birthday rolled around it was all about eating good food, finding a hip bar, club or both and partying the night away.  Now a decade later and things have changed.  Don't get me wrong, I do like to have a good time just in a different way. For my 32nd bday I ran a 1/2 marathon.  After the relay triathlon my friend Santa said she wanted to do a full sprint tri.  She found one the weekend before her bday and asked me to compete with her. I love that my friends want to go out there and be active.

I've trained but not 100%.  I worked a crazy work month with a lot of OT.  But all things considering I know I can and will finish the race. The main thing I am worried about it not know my bike and gears yet. 

Did I forget to mention I got a NEW bike.  A Jamis Venture Sport Road bike.  It's the 2012 model so got a killer deal of $525! And I have my loving hubby to thank for it because it was part of my bday gifts.  The race entry was also a gift.  THANKS BAY!

At first I really liked the model up from this one and a 2013 model, but Jay had a good point. I am new to the sport, I am not a cyclist so why spend a ton of money on a bike not knowing if I am going to train more after this race.  True... very true.  I went with reason and ended up with a pretty cool and fast bike none the less.  I went on a 11 mile bike ride the next day and was pleased.

I also got new shoes in the mail yesterday.  I had given this running store a second try after having a bad experience with them in the past and they failed miserably!!  They got me in the wrong shoes 3 times and I have the blisters to prove it.  After the last return I opted out of an exhacnge and I went online with the newest version of my last 3 pairs of running shoes.  I don't have time to break them in before the race.  Not only because the race is 4 days away but because I have come down with a yucky cold.  I am a walking mucus machine. Ick!

Wish me good luck!

It's the thought that counts?

I have had two people in my life that gave me a card in the last year with a promise to do an event/activity with me.  One was a graduation gift and another was a bday gift.  What is the protocol to cash it in? It's somewhat awkward to say "hey, you know that gift you promised me?"
Jay was like "what type of shit is that?... "I want to be able to do that." It made me feel like
1.) They didn't have money to buy a gift, so why bring it up now in case that is the real reason
2.) They didn't take the time to get a gift so this was a last stitch effort 

Isn't this why gift cards/certificate were invented?  I mean I am super excited to get my massage/Spa day and trip to Catalina Island, but I guess I am SOL right?

Is there a protocol for asking for the gift or is that tacky?  Shouldn't the other person just bring it up??? HELP!

I did it!

When I turned 30 I went on a family hike because I wanted to start off my 30's healthy. Two years later and staying active is still the way I like to celebrate my bday.

I ran 13.1 miles with no training and after working a 12hr graveyard shift. Yay me!! My goal was to do it under 2:30 and barely made it with a finish time of 2:27!

I was losing steam around mile 8.  My legs were cramping up and fatigue had really started to set in. Jay has gone on pack runs around our house so when I saw some one running it reminded me of him and I quickly picked up my speed.  My legs felt heavy but I followed this Army ROTC member has he rapidly weaved in and out of groups.  I was extremely motivated!  I was able to keep up for almost 3 miles. 

And here are my result.

But I didn't finish this race without some clear evident of my lack of training and breaking in new running shoes.  3-4 blisters on each foot (gnore my sock fuzz).

 No pain, no gain... right?



Call it a bday gift to myself

On a brighter note... I decided to run a half marathon in 3 weeks.  It's totally out of the blue.  Kinda. It's one that I have been wanting to do and I think about often.  I told myself in November, if it wasn't sold out I would sign up.  I didn't sign up.  Then I told myself that same thing aftermy 2 pay days. Finally I did sign up after talking to my sister Jess about really wanting to do it.  I haven't trained.  It's on my bday weekend and if I run that one and another in May, then I get another cool medal because I complete this challenge. I know it's ridiculous that I would pay up the wazoo to run, but I guess there are worst things to spend my $ on. Plus, I notice I am happier when I work out.  I have been making small goals here and there.  My most recent one is to run 8 miles within 60 mins.  Yesterday, I came close to my goal and that made me smile. 

 



Life after college

I've been bummed lately. I was hoping to find a full-time job with great benefits right after graduating. I started applying to government agencies a few months before my last quarter. Unfortunately, for government jobs there are tons of people who apply and some job postings are open because the agencies has to run the position even though they might be hiring within. I am getting a lot of reject letters that the position has been filled, canceled or I was not selected to move forward. I miss the days when getting an interview was much easier. I am used to being a shoe in after the interview, but nowadays it feels impossible to get my foot in the door.

I went to a test a few months for this one position. At the test they said the anticipated an opening in 6 months, so this test was just to have an eligibility list ready to go for quicker selection process if the opening occurs. I thought that was extremely inconsiderate! I had my hopes up high and so did so many others for a possibility half a year later?

I really, REALLY want to pursue working in a crime lab or investigating crimes as a forensic technician. If I get into that I want to become an entomologist. Knowing the insect life cycles and being able to determine time of death based on insects fascinates me. However, I don't want to jump into taking a bunch more classes just to end up in a non-related field.

Today I took another test for another position. I walked away feeling hopeful...

I also went to an interview about 3 weeks ago. I had just finished a graveyard shift and wasn't feeling my best. I literally was dragging my feet to go because the bed seemed to be calling my name. I went through and did okay. Surprisingly, I received a letter that I was going to the next level and was currently ranked #1. That did boost my spirits which needed much boosting.

I'm now having a regret. I didn't apply for the full-time position at my work. The reason I didn't apply was because it's a position working for the State. We are having a huge budget crisis and employees here get a raise every 6-8 years. Two other part-timers were applying and I knew they wanted to work here and would be here for quite some time. Me on the other hand would be here for a short period and would be unhappy about my pay. Hindsight, I could've worked on a second Bachelors or my Master's degree. The state allows for college tuition assistance in the CSU system. But I wasn't thinking of what is best for me; instead I was thinking what was best for my co-workers and employer. *shoot me*

Nothing I can do about it now. Only think "well it wasn't meant to be!" Another door will open.