A few days ago

This week's prompt for the Group Blogging Experience is "Two Days Ago"

I am changing my theme to a few days ago because it took me some time to consider this post.

Permit me to take you back to Sunday, June 15, 2012

Happy Fathers Day, Dad!!!

I visited my currently favorite metro park to complete a 3 mile walk/jog.

At regular intervals of about 1/5 a mile I stopped and completed an exercise I learned with my Personal Trainer.
Mountain climbers - on benches
Assisted push ups - on benches
Prison squats
Walking Lunges
Knee lift with chops down (sounds weird right)
I really wanted to do some squat thrusts but too many dog-walkers do not feel the need to clean up their doggie poo.
Yes. My plan was pretty ambitious. My Trainer did not give me homework, I just really want to get into shape. And I voted for the last levy and dammit, I am going to get my money's worth.
I started the running application on my smartphone and set off in my expensive running shoes and wicking running clothes.*
I observed some things during this adventure. I spot an older gentleman with his little dog during my first 1/2 mile. He informs me that this dog found a baby toad. He picks up the thing to show it to me. I am relieved that the creature is still alive after being sniffed by the dog. I leave the man to seek out other small creatures in the grass.
I see nothing more exciting than walkers, joggers and runners out for a nice stroll before the thunderstorms began by the end of mile number one.
I round the corner back toward the entrance to begin my second mile and I see that more people have arrived.
First, three boys have found something interesting by the shelter-house.
I noticed them yards before they saw me.
I knew it had to be something gross. They had too much excitement for it to be something as simple as a monarch butterfly.
I had to ask.

Yep. They were proudly presenting a discarded snake skin to me.
I told them that the were lucky to have found it.
They excitedly pointed to its original location.
I suggested that the snake used the rough surface of the shelter-house to make a break in its skin in order to sloth off its old scales.
I am at heart an educator, after all.
One young man interrupts my lesson to say.

Then his friend says,

The boys then run off to discuss the identity of the lucky bastard who found the nasty thing.
I continue my work-out.
I stop near a tree to complete some high knee lifts.

I see this

I want you to know that the top most gum looked gooey.
As if it had been affixed to the trunk just a few hours before I saw it.
I gotta wonder.
Why?
Seriously...
Why?
Look at it again.
It is a picture of a series of dried pieces of gum stuck to an innocent tree. What did the tree do to deserve such treatment?
And in answer to your question, YES. I will be tracking the progress of the gum line as I visit the park in the future. NOT because I am curious but because I appalled.
Completely grossed out.
Around the 2.5 mile mark I finally see a orange butterfly but I am too focused to stop and take a picture. So here is a cheat I found on the official metropark website.


I got pretty tired after that second mile and my walk/jogs became more walk/walk intervals between the breaks where I completed some silly exercise to impress my Trainer who will never really be impressed with my progress. He irks me yet I cannot quit him....
Back to my story....
I was so pleased when the running app RunDouble chimed "slow down for your cool-down."

As I completed my casual stroll to my car equipped with a long-range car starter (think air conditioning) I spot this pretty thing

I hope it lives long enough to become a butterfly and no little boys, gum chewing runners or dog-walkers destroy it.

The thunderstorms began about 5 minutes after I exited the park.

My final stats  from  C25K Couch to 5K by RunDouble for Android on AppBrain

Stage	Distance	Time	Pace
WarmUp	8 yards	0:05	19:16
1	3.00 miles	65:47	21:55
CoolDown	233 yards	5:00	37:37
Total	3.00 miles	65:47	21:53
inc WU/CD	3.14 miles	70:53	22:33

 
 *I  think a future post will focus on my search for the perfect sports bra. Perhaps the theme could be "Trial and Error"

Your thingy won't go down

This week's GBE2 word prompt is judgment. I had been working on this entry for a few days and realized that it expresses several definitions of judgment.

judgment: An assertion of something believed. (Life is better with chemistry)

I have mentioned a few times that I am back at the gym in another attempt to shed these Paxil pounds I gained back in 2008 and the Prozac belly that followed them. (Acquiring central obesity while in a mellow mood was less satisfying that being anxious and slightly overweight). Fortunately, I have not give up on addressing my PMS and SADs . Whether it is tea, exercise, sex, or a pill, I don't want to be high strung anymore.


I work-out in the recreational center at the local university. Yes, I get sweaty and winded around the beautiful people. Young men and women between 18-24, whose bodies have not acquired the stretch marks that identify the departure of the 20's or the shift of fat that takes place just before one achieves 40 years of age. I am at that age where the simple long-arm wave or high-five gives me pause.
I will wait for you to do the visual on that one. Don't judge me, I have arm fat.

judgment - the cognitive process of reaching a decision or drawing conclusions (the great bag search of 2011)

After some consideration, I realized that this new routine required a new gym bag.
I have been researching gym bags for the past two weeks.
OMG
Selecting the correct gym bag requires careful consideration. You would not believe the technology that goes into a simple gym bag.

1. Ventilated shoe pocket (Keeps dirty shoes from my wet clothes)
2. anti-microbial pocket (to keep wet clothes from becoming smelly wet clothes)
3. Water bottle holder (There's nothing worse that making that 200 yard walk from the car to the gym floor only to realize that I forgot my water bottle)
4. Pocket for mp3 player and wallet (The extra pocket for the items which individually cost more than the bag)
5. U shaped opening (Hot dog! Opens up like a suitcase)
6. Durable self repairing zipper (Self-repairing means that if the zipper spreads open below the slider, you can simply pull the zipper back down to reseal the teeth.; I had to research that one)
   
7. Padded shoulder strap (The bag be heavy, yo)
8. Large enough to hold a towel, makeup bag and shower kit (I can work-out longer if I head straight to work)
9. Lots of handles (Makes it easier to pull out of the locker)