I get it now. For all practical purposes, a spring nor’easter is actually a squall. Running outside today? Not so much. I ran on the treadmill today and my feet were really bothering me. I have known for a while that I need to invest in new shoes (I’ve had mine for over a year and a half) but since there isn’t actually anything “wrong” with them, I have been reluctant to dish out. I did some research and discovered that I’m actually long overdue for some new kicks. Apparently, the useful life of a running shoe is between 350 and 550 miles. So, if you’re running 15 or 20 miles a week (between 2 and 3 miles a day), you should change your running shoes every 20 to 30 weeks or so (every 5 or 7 months). Interesting. My next big purchases were going to be a new pair of jeans and a new cell phone (mine is embarrassingly archaic), but I think new running shoes now trump those. If you need to find me in the next week, I’ll be the one with gleaming white new shoes. It should be especially easy to spot me against the grayness of the squall. I’ve always, for some unknown reason, found new, ultra-white shoes really embarrassing. I feel, though, that this is a common conceit.
friday the 13th April 13, 2007
It has been a bit dreary here in New York lately. I feel like the city is in a collective slump. Everyone I have talked to over the past few days has been in a less than lively mood. Lots of emails with “blahhhhhh” and “mreh” as the subject line, lots of droning voice mail messages. Funny how much weather can change your outlook. We were absolutely dumped on yesterday and the temps are definitely sub-Spring. And apparently we’re getting a “nor’easter.” Lots of talk of the nor’easter. Coming from California, I’m not entirely clear on what a nor’easter is, but it sounds ominous, like it hails from Mordor or Middle Earth or something. Beware, the nor’easter. Anyway, I just changed my screensaver to beach paradise in a desperate attempt to channel some warm weather into my life. Very depressing. On a happier note, I got up early today, got a lot of things done that I have been putting off (uh, taxes?) and stuck to the Challenge eating plan–woo hoo! I’ve also been drinking tons of water lately, which has definitely improved my workday energy. And now I’m off to yoga!
Month 2 take 2 April 13, 2007
So I haven’t posted in a while. Between the move and having visitors in town, sticking to the diet (and to blogging) has been a bit tough. Lots of ordering in and eating out. I’ve been okay about exercising, but not stellar. I have, however, been sticking to yoga, which I am loving! On the cardio front, there’s not a branch of my old gym anywhere near where I now live in Brooklyn so I just recently bit the bullet and signed up for the Crunch in my neighborhood (after what I’ll just call the “adventures of getting out of a gym membership”). I like Crunch. I like their slogan “No judgments.” Especially when I do things like fall off the Challenge bandwagon for two weeks. No judgments. Anyway, enough of that. I changed my week back to week 5 so I can re-start month 2 fresh again. New apartment, new challenge month, new goals. Fresh start. I’m resolved to stick to this getting up early and working out thing so many people rave about. The few times I have done it have been amazing. Actually, revision, the one time. I felt like I was more productive that day. In my quest for finding ways to drag myself out of bed in the morning, I came across this gem. Clocky, is its name. It’s an alarm clock that literally jumps off your nightstand and hides when it goes off in the morning. I must invest. I also read an interesting post regarding how to become an early riser. It says that it helps to go to bed whenever you feel tired (reading, he suggests, is a good gauge of this–you go to bed when your eyes get heavy on the page) and then get up at the same time every morning. I’m going to try this for a while. I’ll let you know how it goes.
