Day 208 = Gym + Stuff I Don't Like at the Gym

Sept. 30 - I finally registered for the Austin Marathon today. And just in time to save $10 on the registration. Hey, 10 bucks is 10 bucks.

This morning was another gym workout. I really do love doing the whole personal training thing. I've lost 5% body fat and my trainer wants me to lose another 5% by Thanksgiving. I have a similar goal. We are team on this.

Before the gym, I had yummy cheese grits, which is one packet of instant grits plus about 1/4 cup of 2% milk Kraft shredded sharp cheddar. Deeeee-lish. I mean, I can't really go a day without cheese, let alone trust any freak who does not like cheese (and they're out there, y'all, walking among us). But I want to try these "egg mugs" one day.

Anyway, back to the workout. While I like working out at the gym, there are some things I hate. Sometimes I think Regan makes me do these crazy exercises just for her own entertainment. Like how I am petrified at the thought of jumping up on a step. Whether it's 3 inches off the ground or 15 inches off the ground, I am so scared of falling. I'm a bit neurotic sometimes. So this morning she got out an aerobic step and wanted me to hop on one leg onto the step and then hop off on both legs to the other side. To see me attempt this (and I mean for each jump) you'd think I was psyching myself up to walk across hot coals. So each successful jump is a personal victory. I've seen athletes in the Special Olympics who have more balls than I do when it comes to hopping on a little step.

And then it happened. Ha! I told you so. I tripped over the tiny step. I caught myself, but I just know the cute guy working on his abs saw it all in slow motion.

Day 206 = Gym + Running + Whole Foods

Back at work and trying to give a shit. Makes me wonder what I want to do with my life should I ever find myself not sitting in a cube, which is just not normal, people.

After 5 days of partying, one thing I do know I want to do is not drink and to possibly embark on a week of two-a-days. This morning I went to the gym and then tonight I got in a run.

So to soothe my raging case of the Mondays, I stopped by Whole Foods for dinner. I just love living in the same city as the Whole Foods headquarters. I love their smoked mozzarella pasta salad, and while I was there I grabbed some triple-cream Brie. Hello, you.

Being a cheese buyer might be a career option, since I would not consider a shoehorn duct-taped to my mouth with a bucket of queso being poured down my throat to be torture. I once met the cheese buyer for Whole Foods at a party. Before you say anything, Mom, he's married. But you know that if I ever married a cheese buyer, I might as well clean out my closet and buy mumus. And I can just forget about ever seeing my feet or my vajay-jay again.

Day 201 = Gym + Long Night

Thank goodness I woke up at 5:30 am to get in my gym workout. It is a relief to know I got that out of the way because I didn't come home until 9 am.

Let's see, where do I begin? I'd say the long and the short of it is this, but there's a long version floating around that only a couple of people have seen. So you, dear reader, get the short of it.

Let me start out by saying I am not easily impressed. I don't care if you drive a fancy car or wear fancy clothes or carry an expensive purse. (Shoes? That's another story. I can drool for days over shoes.) But when it comes to people, I am impressed with intelligent wit, and sometimes fart jokes.

So there's this funny guy I've been wanting to get to know better just because I like to have a good supply of funny people in my life. And you know, who knows what else. And last night, I got the chance to see if he could impress me.

7:30 pm: First we met up at Deep Eddy Cabaret for some pool and beer. The idea was to shoot pool and the loser buys beer, but somehow, I won two out of three games and only bought one beer. Maybe it was my lucky green shirt I love so much.

10 pm: Next stop was Molotov Lounge. This bar used to be my favorite bar until it got all douchey. I only tolerate it now after a few drinks. OK, in my mind I own that place. In reality, the Austin Bachelor owns it and I. SAW. HIM. THERE. So in awe of that I just had to text Amy S. about it since two years ago we went on a pub crawl of the bachelor's array of bars, a pub crawl story that now lives in infamy of our inside jokes. It was also that night two years ago that I vowed to never drink again. Where does the time go? I just simply can't neglect a harmless Jagerbomb. Just sitting there looking all cute. And his friends, a Bud Light and a Lemon Drop shot.

Now, where was I?

12 am: We heard that Rain had karaoke night, so me, the funny guy and like 5 other people went over to Rain. I signed up to sing "Fancy" by Reba McEntire and he signed up to sing "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond. I think we both nailed our performances. That was my opinion after, what, 10 drinks. It was at this point I decided I was not going to get up the next day to run 9 miles.

1:15 am: On to The Aquarium, where I met and made more acquaintances of the night. I think this was like the third time of the night we heard "Don't Stop Believin'" - not only is the one song EVERYONE will sing in a bar, but one day if I ever run for President, that will be my campaign song. I just want to hear my crowd sing it. And then my friend Anne can come out sliding on her knees doing a sweet air guitar.

I was just having a great time and having fun hanging out with funny man. I had no idea what the night had in store honestly and I was just totally relaxed about it and not thinking too much about it. I was dancing and probably looked like a complete idiot. When the bar closed, we followed his friend and a couple of girls around the corner to the guy's house and I got in his friend's truck and he moved it somewhere - I think. His friend had a garden knome in his truck and that is when I took that picture of me.

2:35 am: It was past closing time, so funny guy hailed a cab. The issue in the backseat was do I go pick up my car and go home or go to his place? I decided to pick up my car and drive him home. For one thing, I didn't want to leave my car in a dark parking lot with my work laptop in the backseat and I also thought I could use some water before I make the 10-minute drive to my house.

So we go to his apartment and open the door and his little dog, who is like a miniature schnauzer or something had an accident on the floor. So he cleaned it up before I came in and he was kind of upset with his doggy, but I was like, slurring, "That is totally OK." I might have even given the thumbs up. Doggy knew she was in trouble so she kept trying to hide behind my legs. You know how you meet other dogs and you're like "that dog is nothing to my dog" and it's like you can't even bear to pet them or you think they're gross? Well, this doggy is not like that. She's such a cuddler and so soft and sweet. I sat down on one end of the couch and she pretty much laid next to me the whole time. "She vouches," I am told.

For the next 4 hours, we stayed up and talked and drank, yet, more beer and listened to music, and of course me, blowing his mind with my extensive knowledge of 70s music. Then I passed out in my clothes at around 7 am because I was barely hanging on by like one coherent thread. I'm sure you want me to fill in blanks, but it ain't gonna happen on this blog entry.

At about 8:30, I got a text from work, and that woke me up. So I got up and decided to go home. I whispered in his ear that I was leaving and then did the walk of shame to my car. Of course, not that I had anything to feel shameful about. I slept in my clothes, so I looked like I was going to work, for all practical purposes. It was SOOOO cold. F-ing cold front in September. Probably not to you, but to me, it was cold in the 50s in September in TEXAS!

So I went home and went back to sleep. At about 10:30am he texted me this: Dammit. And some texting ensued for the rest of the day. I was getting the business about being a bad influence. Who, me?

The verdict? Impressive.

Blog Name Contest

Are you a whiz at assigning nicknames? Can you look at a new product and easily identify its brand? Here is a contest for smart and creative people like you. I'm looking for a new name for this blog. Something that is brief and unique, yet embodies the essence of this blog. I started out challenging myself to workout for 90 days straight, and I've exceeded that and plan to continue this trend. Since the blog has evolved, and I want to find the right moniker for this baby.

Your Action: Read through the blog's archives; search on random terms to see what you might find; check out the "Workouts" section and read entries about each type. In other words, get to know the blog and see what you take away from it. Hopefully, you'll be inspired to name your heart out. The winner will receive a $50 iTunes gift card.

How to Enter: Just send an email to namethisblog@gmail.com and write your suggested blog name in either the subject line or body of the email. Think of the blog name as a domain name (URL). Feel free to provide an explanation for your name or a tag line. But what I'm looking for is a blog name that would also be used as a domain name.

Rules:
1. You can enter as many names as you want. However, multiple entries do not increase your chance of winning.
2. Winning name will be selected when blog author finds "the one." Blog author's decision is based on personal preference.
3. Entries may be submitted up until 11:59 pm on 10/15/2009.

4. Winner will be notified by 10/31/09.

5. Winner will be awarded with a $50 gift card to iTunes.

6. Winning name will be property of blog author and used to create a domain owned by blog author. The winning contest entrant agrees to relinquish all intellectual property rights to the winning name they submit if their entry is chosen.

7. Note that there may not be a winner if none of the entries are selected by the blog owner.

Thank you for entering and good luck!

Day 200 = Running + 200

There's a movie called 300, but I don't know what it's about. Don't care. Today is my 200, and I do care about that.

Over the last 200 days, I've set out to do something I never saw myself doing: working out every day. Naysayers and Oprah were like, "Girl, you don't have to work out every day to see results." And I was like, "Whatever." I proved them wrong. And I proved I'm right. I like when that happens.

So now that 200 came and went with a run through my neighborhood, I realized this is my life I'm building here. I can't imagine going a day without working out. I thrive on it. I think I've written about this before about how I clear my head and love that it's my "me" time, even though I get quite enough of that by being single. But this is part of my life like the way breathing and eating cheese are like everyday givens.

There have been days when I've looked in the mirror and said, "Bitch, get it together." But most days I can't wait to get away from the office and lace up my Brooks for a run or a walk along Mesa and the deer.

I have a running shirt that says "Running Is Cheaper Than Therapy." Es verdad. How many times have you heard people talk about the benefits of working out? It's like you know they're true but until you actually see them yourself then you really can't appreciate them. My resting heart rate is lower than it's ever been, my mind is clear, I'm focused, I'm less fatigued, my skinny jeans have come out of retirement. I'm generally a happy person, but I have never been happier than now. And not just happy - content. Ever since I started running over 8 years ago and then endurance running, I haven't needed anything "extra" to calm my nerves or help me chemically adjust. Running keeps me sane. This photo is from 3 years ago after I completed my first half marathon (Sunriver, Oregon).

This 90 day experiment has definitely changed my life. I challenge everyone to give it a try.

Day 199 = Gym + Chandler

This morning was more workout. MORE WORKOUT. I burned over 250 calories during my workout with Regan this morning. That's pretty good for lifting weights like a bad-ass. Helps me keep my pimp hand strong. Like at work. Like when I worked tonight until 8:30pm.

So.... my friends really don't know what it is I do at work all day. I'm like the "Chandler" of the group. Remember how on Friends how no one knew what Chandler did. That's me. Chandy.

What is it, you ask? I usually roll into the office at about 9 am. Really, it's more like 9:15 because I have to get to the Dell campus, park in the lot in building 3 and then walk across a street to building 2 and then walk up 3 flights of stairs to what we lovingly call "the penthouse." Then I check my email for about an hour and go over my "to do" list, which never ends. My basic goal this year is to put $22M in Dell's revenue pipeline. I'm only about $5M there so far, but that is just a "projection." I do this by buying and selling leads, like a broker of sorts. I buy the leads, nurture them and then try to sell them off to sales like they are the Glengarry/Glenross leads. So they can be closing. Always. Or no coffee.

Then I go to meetings for most of the day and have to literally block time on my calendar for "busy work." It's all very challenging. Very. Challenging. And my coworkers make it worth it. Well, that and the popsicles we keep in the freezer.

Day 198 = Running + Paperwork

I am convinced that I have dumped my weight in paper again. I've also got two piles waiting to be shredded. My paper disposal project continued today as I combed through the paperwork I brought in from the garage last week with the intention of pilfering through it at a later date. That date was today. I got to go through more bank statements, more 401(k) statements, more random notes from way back when.

I took at least half a dozen loads of paper down to the 90-gallon recycling cart in the garage. The recycling is picked up every two weeks, and my bin is already full. The next pick up is Oct. 1. It is fair to say that I've now come to the conclusion that I have a burning desire to document everything. Is this just news to me or was this a surprise to you, too, reader? Just from the reading I did today gave me the idea to write "Memoirs of a Serial Documenter."

After sitting on the floor numbing my ass for about 6 hours, I brought in a pillow and sat for another 3 hours organizing piles of trash/shred/recycle or save and file away. I cleaned out my filing cabinet finally. The pic is of the view I pretty much saw all day when I looked up from my work. That or the marathon of "The Cosby Show."

I finally decided to run tonight for about half an hour. Partly because I needed to un-numb my ass and partly because I've been munching on leftover chocolate-dipped strawberries and mini sandwiches today. But also because I'm so close to Day 200.