Legs @ MindSay 
hurt
But I dreamed it so intensely and vividly that about an hour after I woke up, I was puzzling over why my conviction that I had a tail didn't fit in anywhere with my other childhood memories or photos of me as a child, and I kept on touching my legs to see that, yes they were legs, not a tail.
Then the hour after that, I spent the time thinking about how I could turn this into a story.
The "stats" (as in mileage/workouts ect...) are once again laid out just below. I kicked off the past week with a very good and FUN (an important aspect often overlooked) long run. I had planned on only about a 15 or 16 mile long run, but got "lost" in the mountains when I was surrounded by nothing but stunning views and unrelenting uphill after uphill climb. It was quite peaceful...if you don't mind running through Mountain Lion & Bear country!
Tuesday's workout was far better than I would've guessed before hand. I felt rather sluggish during the warm up. Lorraine switch things up a bit and had me do a 2 mile to kick things off, followed by 2 x mile. She had Danny Abshire (link and more on him below) come out to watch/scout/critique me. It was very exciting as he had a lot of positive feedback for me and saw some room for improvement.
Rest of the week was pretty much status quo. I was looking forward to Saturday's workout, but it didn't go as well as planned due to my right calf. We're hoping to sort a few things out with my biomechanics in order to seas the strain on my calves when I really get up on my toes and get into spikes on the track.
All in all I'm feeling very optimistic. It's only the middle or March, and I know that I'll be a lot stronger and faster in 5 months or so (August 17th to be exact) when the heats of the Steeplechase go off in Beijing. The job right now is to do everything right so I can 1st QUALIFY and 2nd get there in the right mental & physical state to do something special!!!!
The final piece to the week came when Lorraine analyzed my running log and went back weeks/months to see how my mileage was coming along. She was essentially looking for any patterns to see where we could be more efficient. We sat and spoke and decided that starting this week (the one I'm currently in, not the one I just updated about) I'll cut my mileage down to about 90 miles per week (or 145k). I've been averaging about 105 miles per week now since October. That's more than enough. She also mentions that by cutting back my long runs to say 16 miles max, on top of also cutting the other 15 or so miles per week extra (from about 105 to 90-ish) I'll have more pop in my step and be more recovered. This is both exciting and great news. The way I see it...I've had some pretty good/solid workouts as of late minus the last two track attempts (with Saturday's still not being the worst EVER) with all this extra mileage, so once I lose that baggage, I should really fly!!
Alright as usual below is the week broken down. Enjoy....
Week (#40) March 9th - 15th
Sunday: Distance: 22.00 miles @ 11:40PM (48 degrees), Pace: 6:21 Run Duration: 2h20
Fantastic Run. Headed straight up to Chautauqua Park. Lost track of time up in the myriad of trails up near 7,000ft with stunning views. Felt really nice. Could've gone for 3+ hours but cut it short cuz I'm not insane.
Monday: Distance: 11.50 miles @ Hog backs + Red Rocks + Mt. Sanitas (hilly trail run). Basically same run as two weeks ago, just a bit longer. Felt good and calves weren't too troublesome.
Tuesday: PM: Workout @ North Boulder. 1 x 2 miles & 2 x 1 mile Road Repeats. With Lorraine & Danny Abshire present to test out some shoes & get some feedback on my form and biomechanics. 2 miles in: 9:24 (pretty even splits); Avg pace for Miles = 4:27 (4:30 & 4:24). Distance: 13.50 miles total for day.
Wednesday: Distance: 13.00 miles @ 8:30AM (44 degrees & windy) out & back on creek path + north boulder. Pace: 6:18.
Thursday: Distance: 4 miles @ 8:30 AM, out & back on Creek Path (41 degrees). 5 P.M 10.00 miles + core @ Rally Sports Gym.
Friday: A.M 8:15 Distance: 5 miles out & back on Creek Path (38 degrees). P.M Distance: 11.50@ 4:45 miles up & down creek path with Ed Torres (for 35 mins). Felt good, just sluggish running into the wind @ times.
Saturday: A.M 9 miles @ 10:30 (43 degrees but chilly). Easy out & back on Creek Path + North Boulder park Legs feeling pretty good.
P.M: (47 degrees!) Workout @ Fariview High School: 3 x 1000 meters (600m jog recovery) & 2 x 800 meters. With Lorraine, Harlan, Jasmine & her best mate: Chloe. Avg: 2:51.67 for k's but pulled the pin (yest AGAIN!) about 600m into the 1st of two 800's. I felt my right calf start to go somewhere during the 2nd 1000 meter repeat I did, and then again 50 meters (1/2 way through the curve on the track) into my 3rd 1000 meter repeat. By the time I got to the 800's I knew it was just a matter of holding on and grinding through it. I stopped short, because I realized that it would do more harm than good to push through it and risk pulling a muscle. Lorraine & I are working on getting my calves right when I'm in spikes. We'll see what the next week or so brings. Otherwise fitness is good. I felt very much in control during the k's, just got to sort out my calves/shoes/biomechanic situation soon though.
Week's Total Mileage: 110 (avg: 15.72 miles per day)
Thanks for reading...
Peace & Love
We had an interesting day today, let me tell ya! I was up at 4 am because I slept through my pain pill dosage and I tried popping up out of bed. Yay that was fun! We sleep on a queen size air mattress that sits on two twin size box springs. Really close to the floor! I had a folded over pillow under my knees and a huge comforter underneith my feet so I wouldn't feel the blood loss I tried to turn over on to my stomach and can we say I yelped like a cat who got wet the first time and rolled myself out of the bed! Randy slept straight through it! Even my muttering and cursing trying to find the wall that had the cane next to it! I found the cane and realized with my knee hurting and stiff there was no way I was going down the steps upright. I tossed the cane down the stairs and proceeded down the steps on my ass!
Anyway I got my pain pill, checked on the boys sleeping on one of the hidabeds and hobbled my way back up the stairs. Yes, I mananged to kick Randy with my good leg........by accident of course 
I again woke up at 6 am because I heard the subtle sound of the tv going from one channel to the other so realized one of the boys was up and around. I again slid my butt down the stairs and made coffee, gimped into the bathroom and grabbed a load of towels to start laundry and wondered into the living room where Austin was up and watching cartoons. He came into the kitchen with me and DeLaney wondered downstairs. Austin and DeLaney proceeded to make waffles while I busted out the apple slices and dip for breakfast. It was a nice morning .........no fighting! Having a kid in the hosue that isn't related to DeLaney does wonders to my mood! Finally Austin decieded Coltin had to get up so he went and put the kitten's butt in Coltin's face and threw a pillow on him to boot! Coltin came in grouchy as normal and I told him to stop and you know what that lil punk ass kid of mine said?!?
"You better watch out mom cause I will hide your cane and crutches on you!"
Dayum kid takes after me way too much! Finally about 8 am, Randy wondered down and grabbed a cup of coffee and a cig and wondered into the living room. Where he promptly challenged Coltin and Austin to a game of Halo 2! Then he had the nerve to tell me I should really sit down and get off my leg. I ignorned him liek normal:D
I just sat down at the kitchen table to enjoy reading the news, blogging on mindsay and drinking my coffee ......I realized that DeLaney and Casey (her friend that went to taekowndo with us) had Shondeen's birthday party at the Roller Rink afterwards and I had NO LITTLE GIRL gifts in the house! I hurried up called Brenda (Casey's mom) and asked her what she got because we do the cheap bday shopping at the same place. I have I said that I love Dollar General? Got the run down of what they got Shondeen and rearranged our plans to meet from our place to Dollar General.
I didn't want to mess with putting the ribbon on my cane that Randy got me so while DeLaney and I were choosing a variety of Faery and Princess items that didn't match what Casey got Shondeen I found myself some purple bows to put on the cane!
The whole time trying to walk as fast as I could up and down the toy isle at Dollar General and get in and out of Randy's big ass Truck! Again Randy goes you really need to sit down and get off that knee! I of course continued to ignore him!:D
We get to taekowndo. The girls rode with Brenda and the boys with Randy and I. Teri and her boys, Conner and Colin meet us up at the Academy. While the kids were busy breaking boards, Randy was busy playing on his cell phone, Brenda, Teri, and I were discussing the rowdiness of kids and what we were doing for the Eqouinoix (sp?) and ohing and awwwwwwing over the kids breaking their wooden boards. My cousin's boy Ryan came in for a private lesson to make up for all the classes he has been missing from football and harvesting and his brother Eric got himself a date tonight.........an older woman! He is a sophmore and she is a senior! Go Eric! Again Randy made a bid at getting me to sit down and this time I told him to shut up! Teresa, Ryan's mom, started laughing at Randy and said just be happy she is standnig in one spot! Brenda took the girls to the birthday party and we took the boys to Micky D's and then Austin on home!
Again where Randy got all uppity about me sitting down and taking a pain pill! Well I couldn't very well sit down after taking a pain pill because Brenda would be bringing DeLaney home! Doesn't that man know anything? So I did a few more loads of laundry, sanded and added soem more spackle to my hall way wall that had a hole in it and finally finished priming the kitchen and started painting the color on the wall! All the while gimping to and from the kitchen to the living room! Finally I had to go outside because Brenda showed up and Dooley was all tangled up on his chain and me and gravel just don't get along so I had to grab the cane again!
You should have seen me! Climbing up on a chair to get up high and then trying to figure out how to get down with out jumping on my knee! I figured it out though! Grab the non painted wall for balance and jump off with the left foot first! Finally after cooking dinner (Steak, Cottage Fries, and Tomatoes!) Randy grabbed my cane from me while I was sitting down and put it across the room! Theif!!!! Handed me a pain pill and said shut up, swallow the dayum pill and put your leg up woman! I love it when he gets all manly on me! 
The above pictures are of me finally getting off the couch after he got all manly on me and I was screwing around going "Look at my pimp walk!" Don't I have some sexy legs! And just for you pervs out there wondering! No, I don't have anything on under my tshirt! :D
Normally I don't follow the Hollywood scene all that much, but with all the uproar with Britney Spears' recent VMA flop, I find myself having something to say.
I didn't watch the VMAs, but my mother's friend did, and my mother was telling me about it the following night. The next day I saw a picture of Britney and the outfit she was wearing, and just now I pulled up a YouTube recording of her performance.
I can safely say that her performance sucked, period. We all know she lip-syncs (did I spell that right?), but she wasn't even trying to look like she wasn't. And not that I expect her to dance all the time, but she hardly even moved, and when she did, she looked like she had no energy whatsoever. But that's not what I came here to write about. She bombed her comeback performance, we can all agree. What I wanna bitch about is the thing that people are trashing her for the most. (People in general, not specifically people here on Mindsay.)
*ahem*
OH MY GOD, SHE IS NOT FAT.
I don't consider myself the most attractive or slimmest girl around, but I don't really think I'm fat. I looked at Britney in her sparkly bikini thingy and I was like, "You know, that's exactly how I'd look in a bikini, minus the big boobs." My people, if that's what it takes to be called "fat", then I guess I must be "fat" too. Which is actually kind of retarded, cuz I'm not fat. Hence my point.
I've always been the type of person that doesn't outright call somebody "fat", just cuz I think that's a little rude. That, and I'm really small person, so just about everyone is bigger than me. I don't really have a good comparison point to say, "Well, you're fatter than me." It's like, "Duh, I'm a size two, of course they're fatter than me."
Anyway, what makes me mad in today's society is that what the general public considers "fat" is what I look at and go, "Uh.....what the hell? She's normal size. How can you call her fat?" And that's more or less what I said whenever I saw Britney's picture from the VMAs.
Do I think she needed to be live onstage in a bikini? No, not really. If you wanna get that in detail about it, the outfit was very unflattering. The top was ok, as far as it goes, but she probably would have looked better in a matching pair of pants, or something. And I'll tell you exactly why: because the bikini bottom drew attention to the fact that her thighs have gotten bigger.
Oh my God in Heaven, somebody call Jenny Craig, she's gained weight in her legs.
See, going back to my original comment that her body now is similar to mine: I don't like wearing bathing suit bottoms outside the pool because I'm just self conscious about my legs. I like my legs, they're muscley and I think they look good in the right clothes, but I don't like myself being that exposed. Do I look down on people that do walk around in bikinis? No. I honestly could not care less. I only critique myself, just cuz I'm weird like that.
But anyway, I've been told repeatedly by the guys I've been with that there's nothing wrong with my body. Again, I don't consider myself Miss America or anything, but if I'm in the right mood, I can believe them when they say it. And sure enough, the part of me they usually like best is my legs. They all ask me why I don't show off my legs more often.
I'll tell you why: Cuz apparently the rest of the world thinks I'm FAT.
Britney made a poor outfit choice. It drew attention to her now-thicker thighs, which inevitably drew even more attention to her already-bubble butt, and it didn't look attractive. That doesn't make her fat. Oh my God, America, get over yourself.
Her performance was shit. She blew her chance at an amazing comeback. You don't have to twist my arm to get me to agree with those two statements. But if you want me to look at her now and say she's fat, you'd better think again. If I call her fat, I'm calling myself fat. But more importantly, since almost everyone I know is bigger than I am, I'm also calling all my friends and family fat. Which is not fair and also completely ridiculous.
I'm not a "Britney-lover" or whatever. I just get really livid when the media and everybody else starts criticizing a celebrity's body the minute they put on a few pounds. I think it's bullshit, and it pisses me off to no end.
Britney Spears gained some weight. She's not fat. Screw off, you thigh-haters.
Until next time,
TheFallenAngel
I recently returned from a near heart attack-inducing trip to the local branch of a nationwide discount store. I took my three doughnuts (I hate it when it’s spelled DONUT), pack of hot dogs, and two boxes of corn muffin mix to an express lane (20 items or less). I was the second person in line, so I figured I would breeze on through and be out in just a few minutes. I should have known. I should have known! When has anything ever been as simple as that?
Apparently the woman in front of me was a teacher because she was buying school supplies in bulk. In fact, a couple of people passed by and recognized her as such. She thought she was being slick by putting 20 composition books and 60 folders into two boxes, but they each had to be rung up separately, so that constituted 80 items, not two. Then there were all the pens and pencils, and pads. Even without the two boxes there were over 20 items. 20 items or less means just that. It can be 20 pencils or 20 TV sets, but 20 items means 20 items…and I know that if I had gone into the line with 21 items, they’d have sent me elsewhere.
I realize that a lot of teachers have to pay for their own classroom supplies—that in itself is reprehensible, given the exorbitant sums of money our state and local governments extort from us in the name of education—and I can certainly appreciate the sacrifice. But 20 items means 20 items!
Finally ready to pay, the lady pulled five gift cards out of her purse. Naturally only two of them scanned. The hapless soul running the register was utterly baffled, scanning each card innumerable times before it finally dawned on her to call a superior, who eventually arrived and proved to be anything but.
We were approaching the 15-minute mark at that point, but all of the other checkout lines were so full with other shoppers smart enough to avoid my line that I figured if I stepped to the back of another line, the problem with the gift cards would be miraculously solved, people would flock to that line, and I would be up the creek.
At the 20-minute mark, the cashier said to me, “Sir, would you mind going to another line? We’re having a problem here.”
No kidding. And yes, I do mind. Expletives deleted. I did say loud enough for any and everybody to hear, “This is ridiculous,” and went grudgingly to another line.
I could feel my face flush. My nostrils flared, I was breathing rapidly, and my heart was pounding in my chest. I stepped to the other line, holding my wares and staring at the floor. Pain shot through my left arm and…what was that in front of me?
My eyes drifted forward to a great pair of legs. Hmmmm. Interesting. I looked up to see who they belonged to and found the most adorable hourglass standing in front of me; long blonde hair and a pair of shorts and a tank top that were…revealing…yeah, that’s it. That 80 items or less line was soon forgotten, and I settled in to enjoy the view.
I finally got up the nerve to speak and said, “They sure like to take their sweet time, don’t they?” The guy turned around and agreed.
The paramedics checked me out and gave me a clean bill of health. I hadn’t had a heart attack, but I’d given my head a heck of a whack when I passed out into the shopping cart behind me. I called the wife and apologized.
I finally made it out to my vehicle with my corn meal, hot dogs, health, and very little pride. I’d abandoned the DONUTS at the register once the chocolate began to melt.
I went home and prepared some of Rachael Ray’s 30 Minute Meals oven-baked corn dogs for lunch.
Why was I not surprised that they turned out lousy?
© 2007 by J.D. Lewis
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