Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Something is wrong...

When I don't even want to blog... I think the earth just stopped revolving...

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Too tired...

I am too tired to function properly... I will update tomorrow... maybe... if I'm still sane... wait... was I ever sane to begin with? And barring that there are no badgers... are there badgers trying to eat me? Oh dear... hopefully there will be CF tomorrow... I'll make no promises... New CF t-shirts in today... hehehehe... have some Kool-aid! :) Hasta...

Monday, October 27, 2008

Sunday's workout, Stuart's birthday, my bathtub, craptastic tip crap, and Innuendo in CrossFit? Surely you jest!

So after missing my workout on Friday due to school, I was ready to hit the blue room yesterday. I really like doing barbell work and was thrilled to see it on the menu yesterday. But, my thrilled feeling sort of went away when I saw the workout. We were working on the push jerk yesterday and went through a progression. Then Jerry said we were doing....

For time
5 rounds
10 Push jerks (w 85 m 135)
20 KTE or 40 Abmat medball sit-ups

I really like push jerks, but man, I was just not feeling the abs on this burner. But you know, the good thing about CrossFit, is that usually I can find something to laugh at while I'm busy dying. And wouldn't you know, while I'm busy dying and throwing my medball at the wall, I started thinking to myself that man, there is a lot of innuendo in CrossFit. And that, well that just made me giggle. I mean seriously. Once I start giving you this list, you are going to swear that Freud himself had something to do with the invention of CrossFit.

Ok... so things you could hear at CrossFit that just might have the slightest of innuendos.
-Wow. You jerked that really well.
-Thruster? (I don't even know 'er!)
-Drive with your hips!
-Check out her snatch.
-That's a great rack.
-You really need to slam the balls hard.
-You gotta get vicious with your hips.
-Drive it hard!
-Get into the rack position.
-Squat down nice and low and open up those hips.
-If you butterfly your legs, it makes it harder.
-How much do you think she/he scored? (FGB)
-It's all about the speed of your hips.
-I just couldn't get it up.
-You need a wide grip.
-Make sure you get a firm grip.

Ah... hehehehehehehe... they made me giggle. My time overall was 16:14. Then I had to go to work last night. Work was almost ok. We've been dead (hey the economy is kinda sucky, I get it) but last night we got a little hit. I would have done ok, oh, right, except that the table that kept me at work past close, split the check and only left 1 credit card slip instead of 2. So guess who got no tip! On $100. Thank you, I heart you folks. Jerks. Anyhoo, despite only having 5 hours of sleep, I was up and at 'em for the zero dark thirty class. Today we worked on some front squats which felt so WEAK. I haven't done weighted front squats in a loooooooong time. Today just happened to also be Stuart's birthday... I love Stuart. He is seriously one of the coolest dude's ever. But after today, I don't like him so much. Damn you Stuart! :P Just kidding. I heart you Stuart. :) Anyhoo, today's fun looked like this.

Stuart's Birthday Workout
For Time
Front Squats, Chins, Box jumps
10, 15, 20
9, 14, 19
8, 13, 18
7, 12, 17
6, 11, 16
5, 10, 15
4, 9, 14
3, 8, 13
2, 7, 12
1, 6, 11

I was soooo smoked from the box jumps that the front squats felt like hell. Dude, I haven't done those exercises in awhile, just because of how my schedule has fallen and let me tell you, I didn't like that at all. Nooooo. But I stuck it out and I finished it. I finished in 34:12. Not to shabby, but should have been faster. I'm sure all the crazies after me kicked my arse. But I finished. Yeah.... word... :P

Now, let me tell you a story. It's a beautiful story... about my bathtub. You see, on Friday, I went to go shower... I do do that from time to time (I know you're all thanking me for that right now) but I went to shower on Friday morning and realized, all the shower water from Thursday was still in there. Well, imagine that nice shock. It was gross. So I bought some cleaner at 0630 from Safeway because I didn't want my roommate to have to deal with it, but no avail. The Drano didn't do the trick. We tried more later... no such luck. So, we were running the sink when we realized that the sink was backing up into the shower... huh? Ok, we had a problem. So, we survived the weekend by sharing a shower with our other roommate (she has her own shower), and I contacted the plumber today. But wait... how did I shower today? Well, I showered at Jungle's which normally is a $15 visitor fee... yup... for the shower. Anyhoo, the nice lady told me not to tell anyone, but she didn't charge me. (oops) She's on my Christmas list now. :) Anywhoo... I got ahold of the plumber, and they told me that they would be here between 430-600.

Parent teacher conferences started this week for me (not everyone else), and I had two after school. Well, I raced out of the building, and pulled in at 430. Well, I waited and waited and waited. Then called the company and finally got my plumber at 645 this evening. He quoted me to snake the drain... are you ready for this? $240. To SNAKE the drain. Jesus. Well, he starts and says he can't get through the clog. So, no clue what we had down there... then he starts talking about another $240 to cut the pipe!!! WHAT? $500? WHAT?! Well he tried one more thing... thankfully it worked, so we only got charged a whopping $270 for our clog. Nice huh?

I do have to stop and say thank you to my adoptive mother Susan and my girl Martha who both offered up showers this morning. But I was in a rush because of conferences and had to get a move on, but I appreciate my CFOT family being super super awesome! :) I heart you guys! Thank you!

Now, seriously... do you still wonder after reading all this why I am slightly crazed? :P
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Thursday, October 23, 2008

Heavy running Fran... and my people watching at the globo gym...

So today was another rough one... it was ALMOST like the fourth lady this week... but not quite. Today was a heavy Fran, with a little bit of my old friend RUNNING in there. I haven't run since the half so today was going to be a good test for me to see if things have fully recovered.

Today's WOD looked like this.

800 M run
21 Thrusters
21 Chins
400 M run
15 Thrusters
15 Chins
800 M run
9 Thrusters
9 Chins
Weight-75 w 115 m
Time 28:54

Haha... yeah... this felt as bad as it looked, because not only was it a heavy Fran, it was chest to the bar chins. Sooooo basically, go do Fran, and while you're at it, run a little bit more than a mile too. Oh, and it was freakin' COLD this morning too. Fall is here, which is great, because last year we never really got fall. It was 60-70 degrees straight up through November, so I'm totally loving it. But running in that this morning was CHHIIIIIILLLLLLYYYYY! BRRR!!!

The 21 thrusters took me a hot minute, but the other two sets actually felt ok. Not great, they were still sort of slow, but they felt ok. The chins man, those took me awhile though. The chest to the bar is only a few inches but it completely changes my form and so it throws me through a loop. I can't reset so I can only do a chin or two at a time. It's a lot harder than one would think. But, I got 'er done, and actually had a time that wasn't tooooooo awful bad, so I'm ok with my sort of fourth lady this week though. :)

Now, I have to say, for those of you who don't CF with me, you have to understand how the building that we work out in is set up. We are on the second floor of a globo gym, renting space from a Jiu Jitsu facility. (this is only for a short while longer though...... wwwwwwwoooooottttt!) Anyway, the globo gym is making modifications to their back entrance where we normally come in, so now we have to walk in at the back entrance, and walk through the side of the gym.

As I was coming through this morning, I started to people watch. The crowd at the gym at zero dark thirty is an interesting one. But I just couldn't help myself. I started staring. And I saw this guy.... he was doing bicep curls on a machine, completely leaning to one side and completely doing them wrong. I really wanted to walk over, smack the dude on the forehead, tell him to sit up straight and do the reps right, and then go about my merry way. But of course, I couldn't do that, so I settled for just making a bizarre face as I walked by and shaking my head.

But then a thought hit me. I'm never going to be able to date anyone who isn't a CF'er. Seriously. I know it. I won't be able to stand it. Said man will come home, complain about work (totally respectable, work sucks sometimes) and then will talk about the "workout" he did at the gym and the protein shakes he had for breakfast and lunch. I'm therefore going to be forced to keep down my lunch, and feel the need to harm him or myself. Then I'm going to be forced to leave, well assuming that it isn't my place. If it is my place, then he'd have to leave, in what I'm assuming will probably be a big sissy mobile that will match his girlie pants really well. Ugh. Really though... how can I respect a man who thinks that bicep curls are a workout? Seriously? For cereal... The only way it would ever work is if said dude is opening to a conversion. I mean like a "Pukie is my Savior" now sort of conversion.

It will have to be an honest and real conversion of course. None of this CF two days a week and then oh, I think I'll skip CF and go to the globo gym today and eat a power bar. Nope, no way. He would have to prove himself CF Legit. Luckily for him, I have 34 ways to know if you are CF legit.... ;) LOL.... oh yes... indeed... I do have the most random thoughts sometimes... ahhhhh until manana! :)

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Grace... is my middle name...

So, it was Isabel, Cindy, and now Grace... you'll have to wait for the details... but I'll give you a little taste...

I did not do prescribed weight (85lbs) for Grace.... now you ponder what that means until later... :P

You know, I'm not going to have time to write out all the sordid details before work tonight... so... just watch the video instead... the embed is being silly... so just go here... it's the top video... THEN.....

Jerry caught a little bit of Isabel on film the other day... I thought he was taking pictures... eh... oh well.... :P You can watch that video too if you want... :)It's the second one... :)

Monday, October 20, 2008

"Oh Sandy... er... uh I mean, Cindy..."

Oh Sandy baaaaaby, I'm alllll alone, I sit, I wonder why-iiiiiiiiii oh why... you left me... Oh Sandy baby... uh oh, crap I mean Cindy, I mean, why am I singing Grease? I mean, DOH! HA, have I mentioned recently that I am a complete and total nerd? Cause I am... in case you hadn't noticed.

Ok, so bad John Travolta singing aside, today was an alright day. I have to say I was wicked sore today from Isabel. Jerry says that means I was doing it right. Dang, I thought it just meant I lifted a bunch of heavy weight! :P LOL... I know I know, I'm a complete smart aleck....

But so seriously, when I walked in and saw that it was Cindy today, I cringed a bit. I'm still not really all that good with push-ups, so it was hard to get excited for this one. Cindy of course is

AMRAP in 20 minutes
5 chins
10 push-ups
15 squats

The last time CFOT hit Cindy, I missed the workout for some reason, and I made it up at home in PA at a globo gym. Definitely a very different experience, and I think the old guy that was watching me do it was totally floored. Anyway, I managed to muster about 11 2/3 rounds that time, and was pretty disappointed with that. So today, I was just aiming to beat that, and beat it I did. I went a full round and 2/3 more than that so I was pretty stoked. I finished with 13 1/3 rounds in. Not too shabby for a girl who still really stinks at push-ups. :P

I'm pretty excited for tomorrow though. Jerry gave us the head's up that tomorrow is another named WOD. So it will be Isabel, Cindy, and then Grace all back to back. WOOT! :) I can't wait to try to tackle Grace. I've never done her either so two new ladies in one week will be quite the feat. I'm excited to see how this one goes. Clean and jerks... yeeeeeeahhhh buddy! :) Woot woot woot! :)

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Invite only blog...

I posted up a blog last week about opening an invite only blog to my regular readers... if you're someone who's been around for awhile and you'd like an invite, please just shoot me an email and I'll add you. Some of you may need to look in your spam boxes for the email that came from blogger....

For those of you who got invites but were having trouble, you apparently have to go to blogger and sign in first, before you accept the invite (I don't know why) but Cara was having problems with it and gave me the heads up. So, sign in, then accept. If you tried that and it didn't work, let me know and I'll see what I can do to fix it.

I've been posting lots of my own writing there, and would love to let you read it if you're interested. Questions? Let me know! :)

Snatch me if you can....

Ha! Get it? "Snatch me if you can?" Like "Catch me if you can?" Uh... yeah... that's right... I'm a total nerd... So, between my slllllooooow healing from the race last weekend and the Blackberry Phantom, I haven't been able to get into CF much this week. So I really wanted to get in today and hit a workout and boy am I glad I did. Jerry had another workout that was right up my alley.

Today we started with some PVC work and really dialed in on snatch form. In the past I've felt like I have had pretty decent snatch form, but today was really great. We did a bunch of different moves and it was great for muscle memory. After about a half hour or so, Jerry flipped the board and told us we had a choice of two workouts, each of course involving snatches. We did a workout awhile back where we did 75 push presses with 75 snatches, so I felt like doing "Randy" which is 75 snatches for time, would be a repeat, even though it wasn't exactly the same. So, I chose the other workout, which was Isabel.

Now, Isabel is only 30 snatches for time, as opposed to Randy's 75. However, Isabel is with a much heavier weight. Whereas Randy is 75 snatches using 55 lbs, Isabel is 30 snatches using 85 lbs. I will be the first to admit that 85 lbs sounded very intimidating to me. After a few warm-ups with some weight on the bar, I hit 55 and then thought I'd give 85 a try. The highest I've ever actually snatched was 65lbs. I've never hit a max snatch. So, I loaded the bar, and barely got 85 to my nose. Jerry looked at me and told me that I was strong enough but that I wasn't diving under the bar, and I wasn't lifting with confidence. Wow did he ever hit the nail on the head with that. I was "giving it a try" but not really thinking it was possible. So, he told me to back down and go with a lighter weight, but still work heavy on the 30.

Now, if you've been reading my blog for sometime, you know that I have a stubborn streak about as long as the Mississippi. I really didn't like giving up on the 85, so I gave it one more go. I got under the bar that time, but boy did it feel heavy. I asked Jerry if he would watch me do it a third time, and so he watched me while I threw 85 lbs over my head. He told me form looked good, and so I decided to give Isabel a go. I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Isabel was going to be a good challenge (strength wise) for me. But, Jerry was right. Going with the heavy lift, it's really all about confidence. One I hit a few reps of the 85, I was sure I could keep going with it and I did. Isabel is supposed to be a power snatch from the floor, but I wasn't comfortable with my power snatch form. It was just unusual, and so Jerry said it was fine to go from the hang instead of the floor. So technically my Isabel wasn't RX'd, but I used RX'd weight. Isabel did push me. I started out in sets of 2, but by the last 10 was down to singles. Everyone was cheering me in, so when I got to the last 4-5 I was really pushing them in. Jerry got a few pictures, so I'll have to see how they turned out. My overall time was 9:29. Not too bad I thought. 30 reps in under 10 minutes at a heavy weight. I'll take it....

I can't wait to get back into the blue room tomorrow.... :)

Friday, October 17, 2008

The case of the Blackberry Phantom... Mystery Solved!


I didn't make it to CF this morning, largely because I didn't fall asleep until after 1am (I have no idea why) but also because after I did fall asleep, I was awoken by the Blackberry Phantom at 2am. What is the Blackberry Phantom you ask? I will tell you... but not now because I don't have time... but seriously... it's one of the most random things ever and I swear... no one else in this world has as many random things happen to them as I do... I swear! I'm going to start a book about this.... seriously... :P For cereal...
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Ok, so lately, I've been making a serious effort to get to bed at a decent hour. I was really pushing the limits with the schedule I was keeping, and I've been trying to change that. I went to bed last night early (like 930ish) and I was convinced that I would lull myself off to never never land. Well.... 930 came, and then 1000 came, and then 1030 came, and I stared at the ceiling... and then 1100 and 1130... and so on until about 130. I finally fell asleep. It was then that the Blackberry Phantom struck. In the middle of the night, he snuck up on me. Not long after, my phone rang. This is odd for many reasons. The first being that I very, very, very, VERY rarely ever have my ringer on. Secondly, no one in their right mind calls me after 10. So imagine my surprise to be woken up by my phone.
Well I answered it, in a sleep induced haze, and woke to a man's voice. Now, the man asked for me by my full name, which was enough to wake me up right quick. I don't give out my full name to anyone. You know me as Katie, not my real name, and certainly not by my middle name. So, needless to say, I was a little bit freaked. He asked me then if I'd lost a Blackberry. He said he found it in the cab. And I said no I hadn't, and then he kept going. Are you sure you don't know whose it is? I'm trying to be a good citizen and blah blah blah. I get that he was trying to be nice, but most people wouldn't call at 2am. They would wait until the next day. Anyhoo, he kept going, are you sure you don't know? Your name was in this phone. The phone call continued for about 5 more minutes before I politely reminded him that it was 2am, and no I didn't know whose phone it was.
He had said he found the phone in the cab and was just trying to return it and since I didn't know whose phone it was he was going to throw it away. Well after I hung up, I was really freaking out. I never thought to ask his name or where he was or anything of the sort... cut me some slack! I had been dead asleep! But anyhoo, so few people know my real name that I was just well, floored. I wondered what in the world had happened. Well, needless to say, my freak out kept me from immediately falling back asleep again and I didn't hit sleep until around 3. When I woke up this morning though, my wits were a bit more about me. I checked the area code on the call and found out it was registered to a Michigan number. Well, I thought that didn't really help. But then I thought about who I knew who actually owned a Blackberry. So I emailed my sister, and lo and behold a few hours later, she let me know she had indeed lost her Blackberry.
She called the guy this morning and thankfully got her Blackberry back, thus saving her about $300... and thus relieving my semi-panicked self... I swear though... why doesn't stuff like this everyone else? The Case of the Blackberry Phantom has been solved... but I'm going to go to bed early tonight... WITHOUT my ringer on.... :P

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Still recovering...

I like this picture!!!! Two guesses why!!! The first one doesn't count!!!!!!
I'm going to head to CF tomorrow and see how I feel but I'm still recovering from the half. My feet have really been bugging me. The swelling in my knee finally went down, but for some reason my feet are being about as stubborn as I am! :P Anyhoo... hopefully I'll be able to regale you all with more CF tales tomorrow... :P

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Strict, Push, Jerk...(updated)

Holy cow! I looked ripped!

Yup... that's 110 lbs over my head... ;)

Ohhhhh... this so had my name written all over it.... :) I will try to update later... but I will preface this blog by saying the next two days are going to SUCK immensely... do you like meetings? No? Ok, well in the next two days I have 5, PLUS, I am going to be observed and videotaped tomorrow in between all those meetings... doesn't that sound like good FUN? No? Well, you're right... I agree... it's not going to be... so bottom line, if the post doesn't make it up later, it's probably because I electrocuted myself in a bathtub with a toaster... ok ok... fine... it's probably just because I'm really busy... :P

And PS I totally stole the toaster bit from my friend Foamy... if you are in dire need of distractions at work, my stupid sense of humor finds these very funny... my favorite one is Five More Minutes... and I just found the best ones ever! Foamy has been around for awhile but they have archived his old things. The Foamy Fan Mail series was hysterical... well at least to me... just be forewarned that he swears a lot...

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So, let's be honest here, we're all friends right? So my knee and my feet are still hurting like a mother. I'm not kidding. Whatever I did is quasi-serious. It's not uber serious, cause I can still walk, but I'm walking with pain (more severe in my feet than in my knee) and I'm actually considering *GASP* calling a doctor. Say what? Did I? Oh you read that right... I did say I actually considered calling a doctor. Have I ever mentioned that I don't like doctors? I don't. Nothing good usually happens when I go see them. But, my STUBBORN self (I know you're having a hard time imagining me being stubborn) is actually considering calling one. I'm sure that whatever happened to my feet and knees is probably related, but I just don't know what I did. I'm practically sleeping in ice and being sure even to ice at school... YES... the old lady keeps an ice pack in the freezer for these such occassions. But regardless of all that, I still went to CrossFit this morning. :) Oh yes indeed, I just can't stay away.... :) But that's ok, because today was something that actually wasn't too bad on the knees or feet... there were a couple times when the jump to land caught me with a grimace on my face, but for the most part, I felt pretty good.... know why? Of course you do... because I got to throw heavy weights around today. :)

So... the fun today looked like this....

1-1-1 Strict (working to heavy single)
3-3-3 Push press (working to heavy 3 rep max)
5-5-5 Push jerk (working to heavy 5 rep max)

Ok, I didn't CF last Thursday and they hit a max clean and jerk and I was so sad that I missed it. I was inconsolable. Ok ok fine, maybe not that bad, but I was bummed, so today sort of made up for it. I was just happy that I wouldn't have to modify the whole workout like I did on Monday... just kinda made stuff up as I went.... :P But anyhoo, here's what my lifts looked like today.

Strict
90- 92(F)- 91(F)
Push Press
110-115-120
Push Jerk
105-110(SOF)

Ok, so clearly, I was happy with this workout. Last week I finally broke through that 90lb strict press barrier, and then today, I hit it again. I didn't really expect to max on the strict again, although it would have been nice to meet it, so I was sort of bummed that I couldn't nail down 93 again... Boo pants, but I was happy that I hit 90 again. So, then I moved onto the push presses... I know that I can push more than I can strict, of course since we use the momentum from our legs, but I wasn't quite sure how much more since it was a 3 rep max and not a 1 rep max. I knew I could at least hit 95 because I can do 95 lb thrusters, so I just used the bar that I already had loaded from the strict presses and started my way up. I won't lie, by the time I hit my 3 rep max on the pushes, I was pretty tired. To do all the stricts, then work up on the pushes, it was taking a little out of me. But, BUT, I still put up 120 X 3, so I can't argue against that. I was pretty pleased. I think I could have maybe done 125, but I was pretty smoked so I think that would have been the end of me for the day.

We did realize today though while using the uber heavy weight, that I'm not locking my core for push presses. I was leaning a bit forward and was losing core tension with the heavy weight. A minor form fault when you're using 65lbs, but a more major one with a pretty serious load over your head. After the stricts though it was off to do some jerks. I was pretty wiped out after all those presses, but I did a decent job with the jerks. I put up 105X5 which is really nothing to sneeze at, and then did 110. I'm sure you're probably wondering what SOF means. Well in Katie terms it means, "Sort of Failed". I did 4 out of the 5 reps and had the other one 3/4 of the way up and lost core tension. Were I not already a little bit spent, I would have had that easy. So, I say I sort of failed... because I still got 4 up... :P So... a good day in the blue room... it feels good to be back... I just wish this stupid stuff with my feet would go away. I still have a goal of a handstand push-up and thirty chins to work on. Now that this half is out of the way, it's full speed ahead on those! :P

Never a dull moment folks... never a dull moment.... LOL.... :)

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Bugga...

The knee is still feeling out of sorts, so I took a rest day today. I thought about going in and doing all arm stuff again, but the shoulders are a bit sore after that workout yesterday. I'm not sure why I thought doing strict presses and push-ups in the same workout was a good idea. Perhaps I didn't think that through quite fully did I? Hmmmmm..... hindsight is really always 20/20 isn't it? Yar... curses... :P

Monday, October 13, 2008

So much for being a spectator...

Well, my plan today was to go into CF and be a spectator. Truthfully, I'm still not walking right and am still having a lot of pain in my knees after the race. But, when I got to the room, all I could think about was finding a way to modify and get a workout in. It killed me to miss so much time the last two weeks, and I'm really raring to go. Now it's totally bumming me out that I can't just jump right back into things. But seriously, the knee needs ice and some time to heal, so I need to be smart and not my usual stubborn stupid self.

But regardless, I was determined to get a workout in, so I modified. So, when all was said and done, this is what my workout looked like today.

1 round for time

20 Chins
30 Strict press (55lbs)
40 Push-ups
50 Abmats
40 Push-ups
30 Strict press
20 Chins

Time-22:00 yup... on the button... :)

The original workout called for two runs between the 40's and 50, but no way could my knees take that. My knees also could take the high pulls, slamballs, and box jumps, which are what I subbed out. I kept the chins though, so it felt good to be back on the bar today. I know that I probably seem crazy, but CF is hard to give up for me. So, I really wanted to be back at it today.

Since we're off today, I'm probably going to spend some more time icing down my knees in an attempt to make the swelling go down, and hopefully I'll be back ready for a real CF workout by the end of the week. We'll see.

Thanks again to everyone who signed my shirt and supported me and congratulated me on my race! I'm so glad I did the race, but I'm glad that it's behind me now! LOL.... :)

Saturday, October 11, 2008

The Baltimore Under Armour Half Marathon... UPDATED


Wow... you know... this whole race thing is amazing to me. I've spent so much time waiting for this race, agonizing over this race, worrying about this race, that now that it's done, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. :P Actually that's not true, I know what I want to do with myself. I want to lay on the couch and heal up, and then get back to CF. :P

I was really super worried about this race. I had no doubt that I would finish, but I really didn't want to walk. I wanted to run the whole thing. And you know what? I fell JUST shy of that goal. My first 7 miles actually felt pretty good. My knees were bugging me a bit, but I fell into a pace and just kept at it. I forgot my watch so I have NO clue what that pace was (Brilliant I know!) but I just sort of fell into it. Along the course people were commenting on my shirt and I had a lot of other people say that it was their first time too, which was pretty cool. I could have picked a flatter course for my first time, but eh, hindsight is always 20/20 right? :P

Around miles 8 and 9 I started to slow quite a bit. What bothered me, wasn't that I was slowing because I felt the pace was too fast, it was that my knees really started to bug me. Quite frankly, they were throbbing. I had anticipated that miles 8 and 9 were going to be my sticking point, and they sort of were, because I also started to cramp up in my calves, so I had to pull off the course and stretch for a little bit just so I could keep going. I slowed my pace considerably but was able to keep running. My REAL sticking point came later.

The people along the race route were great supporters, but man by the end, I was so tired of them saying "It's all downhill after this" I wanted to hit them. Because they kept saying it, and then I kept seeing ANOTHER freakin' hill. Yar! Anyhoo, they were great, but to be honest, I also slapped hands with some pretty scary Balitmorians who looked like they hadn't quite made it home after a heavy night of drinking yet. Either that, or they were getting an early start on college game day! :P Anyhoo, after I hit the mile 10 marker, I really started to feel like I could really finish this thing. Until that point, my knees were hurting so bad that it really felt like it was in question. I kept my pace slow and stayed to the side trying to stay out of other people's way. People who were going waaaaay faster than I was. But then again, a lot of those people had a goal time and were out to push themselves. My goal was just to get to the pretty balloons at the finish line. :P

As I came down the final slope into mile 11 my knees were throbbing. I had taken medicine before the race, and back on mile 8 and I was feeling it. They hurt like a mother. So I had to back the pace off to basically a light jog. It bothered me that the reason I had to slow down had nothing to do with my breathing or my pace, but had more to do with my body. It was very frustrating. I really wanted to quit. On mile 11, I wanted to throw in the towel. But I couldn't let myself do that. 2 miles seemed so far, but was so short when I considered how far I'd already come. I REFUSED to let myself quit. I forced myself to slow down and walk. So between miles 11 and 12 I did my only walking of the race basically (water stations not withstanding since I couldn't run through those). I walked maybe and I mean MAYBE a quarter mile. It wasn't consecutive either. I would walk a little and then run again. I would walk a little and then run again. I was just trying to give my knees a bit of a break.

Once I saw the marker for mile 12, I started to feel like I was really going to finish (again). I was really going go to do this. The final mile was flat and I was never so happy NOT to see another hill. :P It's a bit deceiving though because the street is straight and there are people lining the sides to cheer you in, but then you go into Camden Yards and you're all by yourself because spectators aren't allowed in. So just when you feel like you're going to finish and you feel this surge of adrenaline, it sort of dies a little when you're all alone again. You see the kids fun run banner so you know you're close to the end, but you're still NOT there. But then, you exit Camden Yards, and come around the corner, and you can hear the announcer.

An annoying loud man has never in my life sounded so good. And then just like that, as you round the corner you can see the final crowds. You can see the final mile markers telling you that there is just .1 left to go. You can see the balloons. You can hear the announcer and every emotion that you have fought during that race seems worth it. You are proud of yourself because you know you did what you set out to do. You are proud of yourself for accomplishing a goal. You are proud of yourself for not giving up. You are proud of yourself because this whole thing was about you and showing yourself what you can do. You are proud of yourself because you were right all along. You DO have heart. You DO have guts. You DO have pride. And more than anything, you DO have strength.

As I started to come into that final homestretch, I nearly started to cry. My eyes welled up and I had the biggest feeling of pride and relief. But it's sort of hard to run with a giant lump in your throat, so I had to knock that off, and keep running for the last .1 mile. I got my medal, and my sister and I plus her boyfriend who also ran the half, all got our pictures taken at the finish line. I can't wait to see the pictures. More importantly, I can't wait to see my chip time. All in all, there were 7500 half marathoners yesterday and 20000 runners in total, including the relay and 5K. That's quite a few times to keep track of. The tracking page is not up yet on the marathon site, but will hopefully be up later today or tomorrow and I can find out what my time was exactly. I know it was close to my goal time, but we'll see. As I crossed it was roughly 2:39 and some change. But the half-marathoners started in waves, supposedly separated by 5 minutes. If this is true, then I should be just under my goal because I was in wave 3 (10 minutes behind the official start of the race and the clock). Not only is that 10 minutes from the first wave to the second, I also was a little bit towards the middle of my pack, which should allow me another few seconds if not a minute of lag time until I chipped in. If the times are off, well, I may not have hit my goal time, but I was pretty close, and you know what, I'll take it! :) So, here's to accomplishing a goal. I earned this one! :) I AM A FINISHER IN THE BALTIMORE UNDER ARMOUR HALF MARATHON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
****UPDATE****
They finally posted up the chip times. My official chip time... wait for it... wait for it... wait for it!!!!!!! 2:26:36!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOT! That's right within my goal time! I was aiming for somewhere between 2:20 and 2:30. I also finished 1837 out of 3673 women, and was 468 out of 898 women. It doesn't get much more in the middle than that!!! :P My mile pace averaged out to 11:12. I wanted to stay within the 10 something miles, but I'll take it. In my goal time, and right smack in the middle of the ladies. Not a bad showing. Maybe next year.... ;) Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Friday, October 10, 2008

If I thought it was good yesterday...



It's even better now! :) Thank you to everyone who took the time to sign my shirt! I know there are many that I missed and I'm sorry. Were I more organized this week I would have done this earlier and had more time. :( But a HUGE thank you to everyone for their love and support! I don't feel quite so alone anymore!!!! I will be running with about 30 of my friends on my back. :) That's a great feeling... :)

Thursday, October 9, 2008

It's ready...




The hours, minutes and seconds are ticking by and race time is drawing ever so slightly closer. I spent my evening being productive... ;) I made my t-shirt. :) So you should all come to CF tomorrow am just so you can sign it! :) When I am on the course all by my lonesome and I start to think that I won't make it, I will think of all those signatures and know that my family, as well as my friends (especially those from CFOT) are pulling for me. That will be all I need to get me to that line. Well, that and the promise of my super cool medal, and my T-SHIRT! :)
As a special reminder to myself, I also bought some team bands. You know, those rubberband things that people wear around their wrists? I'm not a huge proponent of stuff like that, but today, when I was standing there looking at the package... a lot of the words hit home with me. I put them on as a reminder to myself. The ones I chose to wear I think reflect qualities that I have, but sometimes lose sight of. The ones I will wear through race day quite simply are: Heart, Pride, Guts, and last but not least, Strength. Least I forget, I shall be reminded. It doesn't hurt that the colors will go well with my race day outfit, which I also bought tonight as well. See? I told you it was a productive evening. :)

Being smart...

So, no one ever accused me of being the sharpest knife in the drawer, but nonetheless, I'm trying to be smart this week. (This may be a first, you might want to write this all down.) Saturday is the half. I'm terrified quite frankly. With all the school stress and doing 5/6 days at CF the running sort of fell off. I am fairly certain that I'll be able to make it through about 8/9 miles. After that, I have a feeling all bets are off. Those are going to be my sticking points. Honestly, I think CF has me in much better shape than I realize, and I think me taking time off these last two weeks has actually helped me. I'm not achy, I'm not sore, and I think I'm actually a lot stronger than I realize. So, I know that I'm in good shape. The problem is, I'm not necessarily in great 'running' shape. So I have a feeling that what's going to happen is I'm going to hit a wall on miles 8/9. And I'm just going to have to rely on sheer grit and stubborness (which AMAZINGLY I have in ABUNDANCE) to get me to the end. This is NOT the best plan to have when you go about running a 1/2 marathon... just FYI for those of you who were ever thinking about doing it... :P

So anyway, the point is that in my being smart, I'm taking these days off CF. I really wanted to go yesterday and even thought about going this morning, but had we done anything with legs, I'd probably be screwed for Saturday. And you know, with all the stress and with getting sick etc. that I've had going on lately, maybe some time off isn't such a bad idea for me anyway. Holy crap... did you feel that? I think the Earth just shifted... :P LOL. I know, me, the CF addict is taking time off. Don't worry... I'm sure the world will only be out of sync for a few days... I'm sure by Monday of next week it will right itself. I actually said I wanted to go to CF on Sunday, but I think I'll still be with my sis in B-more. Besides, chances are, I'm not going to be able to walk on Sunday anyway... :P Ah... yes... fun times. BUT I get a cool shirt for this! And a medal if I finish... WOOT! T-shirts and medals... that's what it's all about! :)

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

No CF again...

So last night at work I was feeling... off... not quite right. Not really bad, just not my normal self. I felt sort of warm, but attested that to the fact that I was wearing a lightweight jacket over my uniform because normally it's freezing in the restaurant. Well, I thought, maybe they finally turned the heat on and I'm being uber sensitive. So I took the jacket off, got cold, put it on, took it off, put it on... I think you can see a pattern here... anyway, at the end of shift, I decided to go purchase a new thermometer since my old one tanked on me.

So I went to the 24 hour CVS where luckily I also remembered that I needed soap! :P So I bought my thermometer and lo and behold when I got home and took my temperature there was a very slight fever. I attribute it to several things... school stress, long hours (it was 11pm by this point and I had been up since 445), and poor diet. So, I went to bed, and set the alarm for CF anyway. Well, I had a wild series of dreams last night that involved me on a train to Connecticut... WHAT? Where the crap did THAT come from? And woke up feeling even worse this morning. My fever is now slightly more pronounced and I'm actually willing to call it a low grade fever. So I opted to take off from CF... but nonetheless the fearless teacher is at her desk and ready for another day. Were I not so completely unorganized this week due to my crazy hectic weekend of work and run watching, I probably would have taken a sub. But my plans for today are so scattered, I can't leave another human to deal with this mess. So... off I go, ready for another fun filled day. Regardless of how close to death I feel... the 1/2 t-shirt will be purchased today... mark my words! :P I think I may even bring it to CF to have people sign... just a thought...
Until next time, the feast is mine! Yikes and away!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

For the regulars... any interest?

For my regular readers, this post pertains to you... and by regular readers I mean those of you who are floating around in blogger land but comment to me regularly and talk to me frequently... :)

I'm thinking about posting up an invite only blog. Not because I'm not going to continue with this one, I am, but just because I want to be able to do different things with my blog, like share writings and post other stuff besides CF stuff. Sometimes I have things I really want to share, but the fact that this blog isn't set to private makes me a little leery. I'm afraid that my sense of humor may get me in trouble sometime.... (what? jokes about oversized cucumbers aren't appropriate? oh... ) :P Anyhoo... if you'd be interested in being on the list for the "by invite only" blog, please let me know. Just shoot me an email and I'll add you... I think I have to have your email to add you just FYI... to email me, just use that handy dandy little email me link on the side of my blog... oops I lied... you have to click on my profile and it's on the side there...:P

Be Smart, Be Strong: Blue Room Total (updated)

Coming soon... but ps... there was a strict press PR in there this morning... ;) yeah buddy... it's about time! :) That one's been staring me in the face for awhile....

Oh come on... you knew I'd be back in the Blue Room soon! :P It's not quite the CrossFit Total, but still a good workout for me to hit today... felt a little weak (may be my lack of eating these last few days) but we'll discuss that all later...
I hate when your schedule is so hectic that you don't have time to go to the grocery store... you wind up eating the most ridonkulous things... oh come on... like you've never had a dinner of nuts, hot chocolate and cheese.... :P not to mention, those chow downs on some seriously non-zone friendly foods that have been hiding in the cupboards... how did that Noodles and sauce get in there? Ramen noodles too?.... coffee? Mmmm... coffee.... surprisingly enough though... man cannot live on coffee alone... :) (I bet if you ask Steve though, man can live on tea alone... ;) ) but man Starbucks sure is tasty... not to mention addictive... they really need to stop putting drugs in their coffee... :P

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Alright... so last night I passed out easy but about 930. I was just flat out whooped. Long nights at work mixed with school stress just have a way of taking it right out of me. I was bummed that I missed CF yesterday, but you know, I said last week that I need to start being smarter and I really do. There are things I need to take into account with my body and let it rest. I was awake at the behind crack of dawn today though, which is really about 0400, and was rarin to get to CF. We hit a sort of CF Total... but this was just the Blue Room total. Which I like better anyway... I'm very partial to the Blue Room. :)

Blue Room Total
Max DL
Max Strict Press

Total 286

I should have DL'd more. I only hit 195 today and I felt myself round. I lost core tension and don't know why. I've gotten so much better with my core tension on the strict press, but I can't get it on the DL's for some reason. It's weird. But really, all the work I've been doing on trying to really work on tightening my core today paid off big time because I got a strict PR by 4 pounds, and if you strict press, you know that's hard. Once you get close to your max, to go up weight is tough because you can't use momentum and elevation to get it up there. I was pretty stoked all things consider because my new PR is... wait for it.... wait for it... 91 lbs!!! WOOOOOT! I've been wanting to break 90 for what feels like ever... I kept getting stuck on 85. But I think the core is really key. No neck twinge thingie either, which is what happened to me a few times ago if you remember. I do because it hurt like a mo' fo'. So I was really pleased with that, but not so much with the deads. But deads and I, well we don't get along too well. She's a fickle friend. So seriously, what can you do? But it was good to be back after the hiatus, and I feel rested, sort of, and feel ready, sort of, to head into the half. My goal for tomorrow after school is to buy my t-shirt. Oh yes, there will be a half marathon t-shirt. You want to know what it's going to say? :) Of course you do!!! :)

On the back it will say... *ehem* Be gentle... it's my first time.... ha!!! Hahahahahahahaha.... wooo... oh dear me... that's just too funny... Ok, maybe, not really that funny, but it makes me giggle. :) I'm so easily amused. Georgia would be proud of my innuendo. :) She loves it when I do that. :) Anyhoo... I'm off for a few... until next time... the feast is mine! Yikes! And away... :)

Monday, October 6, 2008

No CF today...

I had a case of the Mondays today... not to mention last night was inventory night again at work... have I ever mentioned that I hate counting beer I can't drink? :P What a downer...

Sunday, October 5, 2008

No CF today...

I went to watch sister run in the Army 10 miler. Due to my poor planning, I didn't really "see" her persay, but it was a nice morning for a run!

Friday, October 3, 2008

The return of dooommmmmm...

Ok, so me returning to CrossFit isn't really like the return of some sort of immenent doom... but it sounded kinda funny, and hey, we all know by now that I'm easily ammused... For cereal though, Stacey needs to stop working out at 530... seeing her kick my ever loving backside is sooooo worse than just reading about it later... yaaaarrrr! *sigh* I'll update later... for now... the feast is sort of mine... yikes! and away!
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Hmmmmm... so I've finally returned to regale you again with my AMAZING CrossFit abilities... LOL. Ok, so not so much. It felt good to get back to CF this morning, but again, at the same time, two days off back to back always makes me feel sluggish. At least if I'm a little sore, I don't feel like jello. I feel tight. When I take two days off, I always feel Jello-ish and have trouble locking stuff out. For some reason today, I had a really hard time keeping 25lbs overhead for the walking lunges we did.

Today was a bit of a longer workout, and unfortunately I just didn't have time to finish the whole thing but got in as much as I could. So, today's fun looked like this:

For time
Buy in
20 K2E
1000 Meter row
60 Abmats
10 rounds of
10 OH lunges (25lbs)
10 Push-ups
10 KB high pull (55lbs)
Cash out
60 Ab mats
1000 Meter run
20 K2E

I got through everything except the run and 20 K2E in 37 minutes. Like I said, I really was feeling pretty froggy today and I needed to get headed to work. But I'm glad I got in and got some work in. The next few CF workouts will be my last for awhile because I'm going to try to be smart and not kill myself before the half. Like I said, I don't doubt that I can finish. In the worst of worst case scenarios, I can walk. I really don't want to do that, but I can. But it will be much harder to finish if I am already sore and worn out from CF. So, Sunday should be another fun one, and then Monday and Tuesday before I max and relax before next week.

I made it through another work week... sort of unscathed... yay! :P Well, it's about time that I get to bed... until the next time... the feast is mine! Yikes! And away! :)

Thursday, October 2, 2008

No CF today...

In keeping with the idea that I need to be a whole lot smarter about things than I am being right now... I gave myself an extra hour of sleep last night (first night I've had 7 hours of sleep in a loooong time! woot!) and came straight to school today. I know I have class today after school for three hours and won't make it home until late, so I'm taking it easy on myself. That may be a first... I also know I am going to again have meetings today that will pull me from my class for probably 2 hours, and frustrate me beyond belief. I need to be prepared for those and make sure my head is screwed on straight. I will return to CF tomorrow rarin' to go. :)

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Yesterday's shoulder smoker...

So, ok... I got home late from work last night (and by late I mean around 11). Hey, when you have to get up early (read 0500) 11 is late, especially when you've been up and at 'em since 0445. So, the blog took a hit yesterday... but I'll get it up soon... ha! I said get it up... LOL... oh that was such a sexual innuendo... Georgia... are you proud? hahahaha...
**********************************************************************************

Ok, so here I am, ready to regale you with my amazingness that was yesterday's workout. Actually, I don't really know what the crap I'm talking about. My running yesterday was slower than molasses! But wait, you're thinking, didn't Katie say shoulder smoker? Oh indeed Katie did. Why is Katie now referring to herself in the third person? Katie doesn't know... perhaps it's the frustration that is her school year causing her to go mad... that's probably more like it.

Anyhoo, working out at zero dark thirty is great. I can get my workout in and then still get to school by around 7, eh... ok, I'm fibbing... it's usually 0715. But anyway, the zero dark thirty class really works well for my schedule. The only problem is that at zero dark thirty, my brain doesn't work so good. Jerry put up our workout yesterday, and then I got one of those ideas. You know, the ones that sound really good at the time, but usually wind up being anything but? Yup... one of those... :( Oh no... So yesterday's fun looked like this:

800 Meter run
21 strict press
800 Meter run
21 push press
800 Meter run
21 push jerk
Men-95
Women-55
Crazy Katie-70
Total time: 23:18

Sooooo... about that brilliant idea... ummmm... yeah.... we're going to need you to come in tomorrow? Sorry, little bit of Office Space there. But seriously, you know, I thought 55 seemed light for me. I'm not trying to sound snobbish or anything, but the last time I pushed jerked, I pushed jerked 120lbs on the 6th round of a circuit, so I thought going heavier would be a good idea. I also thought that man I really need to work my strict presses (still a weakness) so 70 would be a good strict weight.

Well, I was running really slow, then headed into doing the stricts, and was the last one out the door. They took me a hot minute, and from there, I was behind. I hate to admit it, but I'm very competitive. It really irks me sometimes when I think I do great, but then see that I've been slaughtered by the other classes later. It really irks me sometimes too to get slaughtered during my class. So I wasn't really pleased about that. But nonetheless, I came back, flew pretty quickly through the push presses in two sets, and then hit the run again. I came in and Lt. Dan and Stacey were already done, and I felt bad enough as it was, so I tried to kick it in gear and get the push jerks out so my time wouldn't look too ridiculously bad. It didn't help much, because it's still a full 5 minutes behind Stacey and Dan. Oi.

I came to the conclusion last night after work, after nearly picking a fight with my pirate over something stupid, that a few things are going on with me... one of which being that I'm way overtrained right now. Especially with the half marathon next week and the schedule that I'm pulling, I need to be careful, and I'm not. I'm not even being close to smart. I'm working out sore, working out when I KNOW my body is past it's physical limits, working out on 4 hours of sleep... I need to be smarter. Otherwise, my pirate is going to get the service end of my nasty tired temper (which is a lot worse than my just annoyed temper). Luckily, I have the most awesomest pirate EVER, and he is very supportive and wonderful... but nonetheless, I don't like to let him see me act like I was last night. I was whiney and cranky, and seriously in in a bad way.... but nonetheless, it's hard for me to be smart sometimes.

I am a nerd, and I will wholeheartedly admit that, and I really actually wanted to try to figure out how much time I spend working (cause right now it feels like waaaaay too much) so I actually sat down and wrote out my schedule for a day, and I realized how insane it is. I don't really have a solution to change it, but here is what I came up with...

0445-Wake up
0500-Out the door for CF
0515-0600 Work out at CF
0600-0615 Drive home from CF
0615-0630 Shower and change
0630-0645 Grab breakfast/lunch/snack from fridge
0645-0700 Commute to school
0700-0825 Prep time (no students)
0825-1520 With students
1520-2030-2100 Work time in the class (no students, sometimes a dinner run in there)
2100-2115 Commute home
2115-2300 Assorted odds and ends (read mail, check blog, talk to pirate, a load of laundry, make breakfast/lunch/snack for next day)
2300 Bed

This is pretty standard, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Tuesday is a little different because I leave school at 1600 to get to second work by 1630, and then get home at about 2245 and then do the assorted odds and ends until about 2330. Why I just did this whole thing in military time I have no idea.... Does this seem abnormal to anyone else besides me? This of course isn't counting any hours I spend on the weekends writing lessons, buying materials, or grading papers... is it any wonder I'm starting to feel the way I do? Hmmmmm.... thoughts to ponder as I get back to work tonight....