Running My Heart Out

Good morning!

Oh, wow, it was a zoo in our house last night…that’s for sure!!! Our tiny apartment might be a tad too small for three pets and I think now I ruined all my chances of convincing Ryan to get a puppy. 🙁

To back up a little bit though, as you know Ryan and I were asked to pet-sit Mikan and Mikey because my parents were spending another night in Vero Beach. Now, Mikan and Dexter get along great but when the little kitty stepped into the picture Dexter immediately transformed into that mean kid on the playground and him and Mikey spent the entire night under the bed growing and hissing at each other. I guess it was because Dexter isn’t used to another cat on his “turf” but needless to say, we really didn’t get too much sleep. When Mikey wasn’t under the bed being hissed at, he was hiding on top of bed on Ryan’s head. And of course Mikan was under the sheets by our feet. It was a full house!!!

Ryan left at 7 am to go spearfishing again in the hopes of catching our dinner for this week and I finally rose at 7:30 and made breakfast.

A smile for Sunday 🙂

These French Meadow Hemp Bagels really DO do a great job of keeping my full and going all morning long. Not too hard to believe though with a whopping 19 grams of protein per bagel! And what isn’t good when smothered with raw almond butter and raspberry preserves?!

Speaking of raw almond butter, I forgot to tell you!! Last night when we were picking up pizza from Greenwise I found Maranatha on sale for $4.90!!!!!!!!!!! Can you even believe it??! I’m sort of kicking myself now for not buying more.

After dropping the kiddies back off at my parent’s house I headed to the gym to try out a new activity…...pool jogging!

Here’s some quick facts about the exercise:

* pool jogging improves your cardiovascular fitness

* it lowers your blood pressure

* it lowers your cholesterol

* it raises your energy levels

* it helps you lose body fat.

Basically, it is a low impact workout that doesn’t stress your body, therefore making it the ideal exercise for athletes coming off of injury. Apparently you can even use pool jogging to train for a marathon!

The folks over at Aquajogger.com, the premier source for pool jogging gear, were kind enough to send me a complete women’s fitness kit after hearing about my shin split woe. The sad news is that I actually received the system the day that brother passed away and, therefore, it has unfortunately been sitting in the trunk of my car for six weeks now. I stuffed it in there on the way to the hospital and totally forgot about it until a few days ago when a little bell went off in my brain about it!

After yesterday I was just dying to get back into the water already so today I busted out the Grandma belt and hopped in the pool.

Okay, so I got a few questions about it by lap swimmers and I took the opportunity to tell them how I’m training for a half marathon, have shin splints, am waiting on orthotics and pool jogging is one of the best ways to get the benefits of running without actually being on the road. Then I was on my merry little way. It was pretty easy at first but then I could actually feel myself BREAKING A SWEAT in the pool and had to keep splashing water on my face. I could feel my legs starting to burn and my little heart was pumping like crazy. I actually didn’t notice though how much my heart rate was up until after I stopped, 10 minutes later, and got a sip of water. I couldn’t stop panting!!

I ended up doing 10 minutes of pool jogging, 10 minutes of swimming laps and 10 more minutes of jogging for a great 30 minute workout. Yay!

I will definitely keep up this non-impact jogging because I feel like it can really help me improve my running. Our condo is actually on the same level as the pool so this would be very easy to just run out the door and do for half an hour in the morning.

When I got home I was very ready for lunch and super excited to finish off the other half of my individual sized pizza from last night!

With a juicy nectarine for dessert—-

So, I’m actually heading out the door right now to participate in an all afternoon class to get re-certified in CPR. I get certified every three years by The Red Cross and its something I’m pretty passionate about, especially after all that’s happened in my life lately. I like to know with absolute certainty that if something happened to someone I could be there to maybe even save their life. If you aren’t certified I urge you to look into it. Yeah, its a long 4 1/2 hour class but its a really good thing to be ready in any emergency situation. Today worked out that I do this because its sort of a crappy day outside and Ryan is with his guy friends about 15 miles out in the gulf, hunting more hogfish. 🙂

It also works out that I do this today because the class is in St.Pete and this evening Ryan and I have to be at a Cuban restaurant down there anyways for a birthday party. Yay for rice and beans and plantains again! I could eat Cuban food every day and be a happy camper, I swear.

Off to go kiss mannequins! 😉 Have a lovely Sunday!