When I bought my new shoes on Saturday, I decided that if I was going to spend that much on shoes, then I might as well go all out and really get something useful.  So I broke down and got the Nike+ Sportband.  It’s like a wristwatch that connects to a sensor in your shoe and tracks your distance, speed, time, and calories burned.

The cool thing about it is that you just pop the face off (the black part with the time in the pic above) and plug it into your USB port on your computer.  That’s how it charges, too.  They also have kits where you can use your iPod or iPhone, but since I’m all anti-iAnything, I went for the Sportband.

I still need to calibrate it for my own pace and stride length, but it sounds like the best way to do that is to map out a mile outside (where you know for sure that it IS a mile) and do a test walk/run.  I haven’t had a chance to do that yet.  So when my Sportband said that I had done 3.1 miles, my treadmill said that I had only done 2.8 or something like that.  Not that I particularly trust the treadmill, either.

But I wasn’t taking any chances.  When I was done, my Sportband said that I had done 3.62 miles and my treadmill said that I had done 3.23 miles.

It’s really easy to upload your runs to your computer.  I mentioned that you just plug the face into the USB port on your computer.  Well, as soon as you do that, it launches the program and throws you into the Nike Running website where it uploads all of your runs (you can store more than one run on the band and it keeps them separate).  I say run, but I’m obviously using it for walking and you can see it works fine for that.  The little dips up on the graph above are where I actually jogged a bit.  ME!  Jogged!!

So I’m immensely proud of myself.  And actually it was watching Biggest Loser last night that did it.  When I saw that woman in the gray shirt finish the 5K, I was like I know I can do it.  She had me about in tears – especially when she said that she can’t even walk around Wal-Mart without getting one of those motorized carts.  But she finished it!  I don’t know her, and have never met her, but I’m so proud of her!

So here is me afterward in all my sweaty, scary glory.  Notice the signs on the wall above my head.

Of course, this doesn’t mean I plan on doing it again anytime soon. 

PS:  ***NOTE:  I paid for and purchased both my Nike Air Structure Zoom Triax+ shoes (talk about a mouthful) and the Nike+ Sportband out of my own pocket.  If you want more info or to see a video explaining how it works, click here.

PPS:  My feet appear to be doing okay so far.  They were sore yesterday and were a bit sore when I first started tonight, but they’re doing okay now.  Hopefully they will keep getting used to these new shoes.

Happy Thursday!  8 DAYS UNTIL DC!!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

I Just Did a 5K!

Sometimes I love my job, sometimes I love the work I do.  Other nights, not so much.  Tonight was a “not so much” night.  Of course, I’m always happy and thankful to be employed.  I’m a hard worker and I enjoy doing a good job.  I know, I know, I’m one of “those people.”  But tonight was so bad that I was about ready to crawl into the fetal position and cry for my mommy.  (Hey, I never claimed not to be dramatic, did I?)

But you know what I’m doing about it?  I’m beating the crap out of my treadmill as I write this.  Hopefully the sweat doesn’t screw up my laptop.  Maybe I should invest in a plastic cover like some ladies do for their couches.  LOL  Now, if I can get a punching bag, I’ll just be set.

I’m determined to have a loss on the scale tomorrow.  If I can have a loss after everything that has happened this weekend and tonight, then man, I really feel like I’m making progress.  And you know what?  Even if I don’t see a loss, I didn’t binge.  I’m doing damn good.

By the way, I love your comments on my post from yesterday!  Y’all had to go and make me all teary-eyed. 

So in the words of The Biggest Loser, what have you done today, this week, this month to make yourself proud?

Update:  I’m now hopping off the treadmill after 71 minutes!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Just An All-Around Bad Day

First, I think my body has gone into rebellion mode.  I think it’s been saying to me lately “Screw you!  I don’t care what your work hours are.  You’re going to sleep when and as much as I want you to!”  Or maybe it’s my brain.  I’m not sure.  But my sleeping the past couple of days has looked like this:

Toss.

Turn.

Repeat.

In fact, this morning I went to bed around 5:30 am.  I woke up at 8:15 am.  I didn’t fall back asleep until about noon, and then had to wake back up for work at about 2:00 pm.  ARGH!

It’s amazing that I can actually type a coherent sentence.  Or maybe I can’t and it just looks like one to my sleep-deprived eyes.

Then I left 15 minutes early for work and hit every single light red so that I ended up getting here at exactly the same time that I always do.  Don’t you hate that?  I mean, what was the point?

But I actually had to turn the air on in my car today!  It was only 70 degrees, but my black seats tend to emphasize the warmth.  I also loved that it was 70 degrees out today and there were still small piles of snow everywhere:

Work has been insane all evening, but luckily, things are starting to chill out.  (Obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this!)

So now onto the important stuff.  I weighed in today at  1.7 pounds down!  I’m verra verra happy with that (sorry, I just finished a book with a Scottish guy in it).  I’ve also updated my progress chart above.  I’ve now lost a total of 88.3 pounds since I started and broke the 15 pound mark from when I recommitted at the beginning of February.  Though I think I’ve decided that after this week, I’m going to try and only focus on how much total weight I’ve lost.  I personally think that is a more important number.  It may not be the 160+ number that it was before, but 88 pounds isn’t anything to sneeze at!  (what an odd saying)  Here is what my weight chart looks like now.  I’m loving the downswing at the right, but am hoping that this doesn’t turn into a pattern.  If it does, I’m praying that the peaks get shorter and shorter each time.

I also added my earned Activity Points to my progress chart for last week.  31!!  That’s a new high for me!  My previous high was 29.

I have completed 9 days of my 21 day treadmill challenge  (43 minutes last night).  I’ve been watching “Ice Age:  Dawn of the Dinosaurs” the past couple of days.  I should finish the movie tonight.

On a very cool note, I got this in the mail today:

From the moment I got our treadmill hooked up, I was eying it with images of planks of wood and duct tape to wrangle it so that I could use my laptop on it.  Luckily, I decided to do an internet search first before breaking out the saw.  I came across this fancy item and debated for a couple of days on whether to get it, because it is kind of expensive, but I broke down and ordered it here.

So when I get home tonight, I’ll hook it up and let you know how it works.  Anyone else have one/tried one?

By the way, you may have noticed (if you visit my site) that my blogroll to the right —-> has increased tremendously.  I’ve been doing my best to update it.  If you don’t see yourself, let me know!  In my scatteredness, it’s possible I’ve left someone out and I’m sorry if I did!  I’ve also left up some people who haven’t posted in a while – I refuse to give up hope that they’ll wander back in at some point!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Weigh In 3/23/10 and Odds ‘N Ends

Just wanted to post an update on my 21-day treadmill challenge.  I just completed 45 minutes tonight by finishing up “Madea Goes to Jail.”  Great movie!  Seriously, at one point, I had tears about to stream down my face and then the next I was cracking up.  It was awesome.

Anyway, that completes day 7 of my 21 Day Treadmill Challenge.  I hate to say that I’m proud of myself again – I seem to be saying that a lot – which, believe me, isn’t normal for me.  But I feel like I’ve accomplished SO much lately.

• Third week that I’ve stayed within my points completely (well, so far – still two days left for the week, but I’m confident that I’ll make it)
• I’ve worked out every day for an ENTIRE WEEK!! (Do you realize how monumental that is for me?)  I’m also 1/3 of the way done (Thanks for pointing that out, Christy!).
• Not only did I work out for an entire week, but the total amount of time I worked out over those days equals about 6 hours and 34 minutes! (I’m a total stats geek)
• I admitted to my mini-binge on Friday and didn’t let it slide me off track (also majorly monumental)!
• I’ve posted on my blog every day for 14 days – two weeks!

Okay, so that’s it.  I’m done bragging on myself.  Geesh, I’m starting to annoy myself. 

But I credit you guys a lot.  Thanks for everything!

1. 3/14 – 61 minutes
2. 3/15 – 55 minutes
3. 3/16 – 35 minutes
4. 3/17 – 59 minutes
5. 3/18 – 77 minutes
6. 3/29 – 62 minutes
7. 3/20 – 45 minutes

Post from Uncovering Pamela

One Week Down!

I just got off the treadmill – haven’t even hopped in the shower yet – but I wanted to share this with you.

While working out tonight, I was watching my latest Netflix acquisition:  Madea Goes to Jail (haven’t quite finished it yet).  Okay, first I have to say that I originally didn’t think I’d like Tyler Perry’s movies, but to be honest, I have loved every single one that I’ve seen.  The man goes from humor to drama with barely a blink, but it’s so seamless than it seems perfectly natural.

I did discover, though, that drinking water on the treadmill while watching one of his movies is a dangerous, dangerous thing.  I’ll just say that Madea came on screen and was her usual self.  ‘Nuff said.

But when I got off, I checked to see if Tyler Perry was on Twitter and he was!  The first thing I came across was this message that he posted on the 17th.  Please, please read it!  I think we can all relate to some of the things he says.

And remember, “don’t stop believing!”  I’m certainly not going to.

PS – my planned 30 minutes on the treadmill tonight turned into 62 courtesy of Mr. Perry!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

A Must Read

So you all know that I bought a treadmill, right?

Did y’all hear any cussin’ tonight?  That would’ve been me and that would’ve been why.

We finally got the treadmill put together on Sunday.  Let’s count:  Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  That’s five.  Five freaking days that I worked out in a row!!

Here’re the stats so far:

• Sunday – 61 minutes
• Monday – 55 minutes
• Tuesday – 35 minutes (okay, no comments!)
• Wednesday – 59 minutes
• Thursday….well, you’re gonna have to wait to find out.

Wednesday night, I spent a great deal of the time editing my post from yesterday and watching Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” which is a fantastic movie, by the way.  The rest of the time, I restarted “Lbs.” (yes, for the fourth time, but we already covered that yesterday). 

Earlier today, I mentioned to a friend that I was looking forward to night five on my treadmill.  He suggested that I challenge myself with a 21-day challenge.  All I have to do is work out for 30 minutes (get my heart rate up) every day for 21 days.  So I figured, what the hell, I’m already on day five.

Tonight, I decided that I would finish “Lbs.” while I walked.  My goal was to do about 45 minutes or so.  At about minute 35, I was thinking things along the lines of “kill me now” and “f-ing hell.”  Yes, I’m not afraid to drop the f-bomb from time to time if I need to, and tonight I needed to quite a bit.    I was also pushing myself a lot harder than usual – fluctuating between higher and lower speeds and messing with the incline (just walking really fast, though).  But somehow, I was able to break through that barrier, that “wall.”  I even bumped the incline up to 8.0 for a couple of minutes.  Ha was that funny to see, I’m sure.  Luckily, no one was around and I didn’t do that for very long.  I don’t think I’ll try that again.

Unfortunately for me, the movie wasn’t as close to the end as I thought.  Of course, it wasn’t because I didn’t want to see more of the movie, but I was ready to get my ass off that damn machine.  But by that time, it was a point of pride.  I’d said I was going to finish it out and I was.  I finished it right at about 77 minutes.  (Confession:  I did fast forward through a couple of seconds toward the end because the scene always disturbs me.)

Now, we’ll see if I can move and/or walk tomorrow.  Right now, I’m trying to keep from getting a cramp in my foot.  Oh yeah, and I definitely need a better pair of shoes.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to push myself too hard too fast (though I did push that barrier a bit tonight – but I just wanted to see if I could do it) and am probably going to cut back a bit tomorrow.  But it will be at least 30 minutes.  I want to make it to Day 21.

By the way, in watching pounds again, I realized that while I’ve raved over Carmine Famiglietti’s acting and Matthew Bonifacio’s directing, I haven’t raved nearly enough about Michael Aronov, who plays Neil’s drug addicted best friend, Sacco.  Oh wow, can that man act.  On the official “Lbs.” site, I remember seeing him described as a chameleon.  And that’s so true.  In fact, he is in “Amexicano,” too, and I think I was well into the movie before I realized that it was the same guy!  Anyway, he’s great, and I’ll be looking for him in other things, too.

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Oh Yeah, I Rock

I think I may take tomorrow night off, just so I don’t overdo it and do too much too quickly.  But I plan on being right back on it Wednesday night.

Tonight’s hour actually went by faster than last night, because I was watching a movie.  Last night, I had kind of a hard time hearing the TV over the treadmill and the sound of my feet, and I didn’t want to turn it up too loud since it was kind of late.  So tonight I got creative.  I dragged out my portable DVD player, plopped it down on the book holder, pulled out some headphones and went to town.  I watched the movie “Chooch.”  Since I thought Carmine Famiglietti was awesome in “Lbs.” and “Amexicano,” I decided to bump up “Chooch” in my netflix queue.  Here’s the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAK6Yyla_dE

Carmine was great, as always, but the movie was…interesting.  When I saw one of the first scenes in the movie, my reaction was “um, I don’t know about this” and to be honest, could have totally done without that scene.  If you’ve seen it or see it, you’ll know which one I’m talking about.  But I have to admit that while a bit cheesy, the movie turned out to be completely different than what I expected based on the beginning of the movie.  I was pleasantly surprised as it actually had quite a few touching scenes.  And as I said, Carmine was terrific.  He’s got a bright future.

I think I’m going to buy “Amexicano” soon and “Lbs.” for sure when it is released on DVD, but I think I might pass on this one.  (Editor’s note: I lied, I ordered it today) Of course, Carmine wrote both “Amexicano” and “Lbs.” (co-written by Matthew Bonifacio) and both were directed by Matthew, so that might have something to do with the quality of the stories.

In other “Lbs.” related news, I got up this morning (well, yesterday now) to see the cast preside over the Nasdaq opening bell (for the all of 10 seconds that they showed).  Here’s a link with pics.

Anyway…today’s weigh in day.  Keep your fingers crossed for me and I’ll check in later today with an update!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

On a Roll

My schedule (working nights, sleeping days) tends to royally jack with my system.  I was tired Friday night, and knew we were thinking about going to the zoo on Saturday (which got rained out), so went to bed around 3:30 am.

What time did I get up?  5:30 am.  No, that’s not a typo.

I dawdled a bit that morning, checking e-mails and other such stuff and then made a breakfast burrito (I’ve discovered that I actually like doing this!).  After that, I got ready and we ran a whole bunch of errands, two of which are worth noting:

• We went to Sam’s Club – on sample day, and while I looked, longingly, I didn’t touch a single thing!

• We went to Kmart and took advantage of their sale to get this:

I’ve been wanting one forever, and it was on sale, so we decided to go for it!

The guys at the store loaded it into the car, but then we had to get it into the house and into our basement….boy was that a fiasco.  After resting for a bit, my mom and I sat down and watched “Amexicano” (my 2^nd time, her first), which she really liked -  she got so involved in what was going on!  It was great.  Even I caught some things I didn’t see the first time around.

After that, we ran and did grocery shopping and then when we got back, I made a homemade pizza for dinner (my parents got Pizza Hut and I didn’t eat a single bite!) and started rearranging boxes in the basement.  It was set up as a bedroom for my brother way back when, but has just been used for storage mostly over the past few years.  Lots of boxes – mostly clothes that I need to get rid of.  So I condensed and shifted, and got them well out of the way.  Now, we’ve got a nice area with the treadmill, elliptical (which I have trouble using because of my knee) and the tv/dvd/stereo, etc.  Perfect for working out.  Oh and a loveseat to crash on when we’re done.

On a side note, when I was going through stuff, I found my old phone and discovered the recording I made after my brother died of his voicemail message.  It brought tears to my eyes, but also a smile to my face to hear his voice again.

It took me until well after midnight to get all of the moving done, and then I got my dad to help me move the treadmill box into the basement (luckily, he seems to be doing okay with his epilepsy from all of the extra work he did this weekend).  But damn, those suckers are HEAVY!

After that, I had a hard time winding down, even though I was exhausted (2 hrs of sleep, remember?) so I played on the internet for a few more hours and finally went to bed around 5 am this morning.  Yes, very close to having been up for 24 hrs on only two hours of sleep (even with the time change)!

I got up around 11:45 this morning and we started around 12:20 with trying to put the treadmill together.  I tell you what, I am sore from my head to my toes!  My poor hands are still so tender and were pretty red towards the end of the project (my hands were even redder than in the picture when we were done).

We finally got it done around 4pm, but had to go buy a surge thingie for the wall and then ran to Wal-Mart for some loose ends.  But it was together.  The worst part was that the grounding screw didn’t fit into the hole, so after trying for eons, we finally ended up having to drill to make the hole a bit bigger and it finally went in – I think figuring that out took us over an hour!

Then, because we had to unplug the TV and everything to plug in the treadmill (closest properly grounded outlet), I had to redo the entire entertainment center connections to get those plugged back in.  I got that done right at about 6:50 – just in time for Amazing Race.

At this time, however, I decided to go ahead and take the trash out for tomorrow and make the Cheeseburger Pie from the latest WW magazine recipe.  It makes 6 servings at 5 pts each.  This was my second time making it.  The recipe recommends cooking it at 375 for 25-30 minutes, but I put it in for 27 last weekend and it seemed way overdone.  This time I tried 24 and it was better, but still a little bit too much.  I think next time I may bump it back down to 350 and check it more often.  It has an interesting flavor – my dad thinks from the Worcestershire sauce (side note – I LOVE the smell of Worcestershire sauce.  One of my favorite smells).  I think that it’s a bit on the dry side but I don’t know if that’s the recipe or the cooking time.  Of course, my dad smothers it (and everything else) in ketchup.

And since I was doing this, I missed most of Amazing Race.

After that, I decided to try out the new treadmill.  A little bit of Finding Nemo, a little bit of Roseanne, a little bit of M*A*S*H (gotta love TV Land), and 61 minutes later I was done!  I really pushed myself.  No running, just walking, but I was worn out by the time I was done.  I kept the speed at 2.5 for most of it – not much, I’m sure, but I did bump it up to 3 every once in a while and even tried the incline up to 5.0 (but couldn’t take that for long).  At the end, I just kept telling myself, we’ll go to 45 minutes, and when I hit 45 minutes, I told myself, let go for 50, and that’s how I hit an hour.  So I’m kind of proud of myself right now.  Okay, I’m freaking proud of myself right now!  Remember, this is the body that has seen VERY little exercise in the past few months.

So now, I’m showered, have thrown the laundry in and am sitting down to write you all and watch the newest Star Trek movie with my dad again.  Finally, I feel like I’m relaxing.

I’m hungry and have a couple of points left over.  I obviously don’t really feel like cooking anymore, so I’m having one point worth of tomato soup (a great low calorie, organic one I got at Whole Foods), and one of those new Bagel Thins with a little packet of WW 1 pt cream cheese (which is almost too much cream cheese).  As I was finishing spreading it, I noticed that my plate was sticking its tongue out at me:

I’m planning on getting to bed earlier than usual tonight (yeah, right, that’s what I say now), because I want to get up and see the “Lbs.” cast ring the NASDAQ bell in the morning.  I’ll go back to sleep afterward, of course.

As far as the scale, I’m not sure what is going to happen this week.  I’ve been perfectly within my points all week!  In fact, I only have to make it through tomorrow, and I still have 25 of my flex points left!  Isn’t that insane?  I was so busy Saturday, that I actually had one of my daily points left over that I didn’t use!  I don’t think that’s happened in over a year!  (Besides the fact that that just seems SO wrong to me  )  So between that, and the workout tonight, your guess is as good as mine as far as the scale is concerned.  Especially when it was actually showing me as being up on Friday.  Picture me shrugging.

I had a couple of “down” moments last night (long story), but overall, I’m very happy.  SO many non-scale victories this week!

Anyway, sorry for the long post – I hope you all had a FANTASTIC weekend!

PS – don’t forget to let me know how I can find you on Twitter!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Holy Cow What a Weekend

So there, it’s acknowledged.  And hopefully, number 1,000 will occur long before another two years have passed (oh yeah, I also passed the two year mark on January 8th of this year).

Now, on to the Wii Fit Plus.

Hooooooo boy, am I going to be sore tomorrow!!!!!  Er, later today that is, as it is now 3am. Now, keep in mind that this body hasn’t worked out in months, except for a bit of walking/hiking on *some* weekends.

My parents got me the Wii Fit Plus for Christmas and I finally broke it out tonight to test it out.  I used to be an avid fan/addict of the Wii Fit Plus, but that took a nosedive at about the same time my weight went rock climbing.  Although, it was easier than rock climbing, so I’d have to say my weight took an express elevator to the nth floor.

I’ve always loved that little Wii Balance Board guy that greets you – except when he feels the need to inform you that it’s been a while since he’s seen you – 76 days to be exact.  But he’s cute, and honest, so I’ll forgive him.

Now, I’ve stated that I loved the original Wii Fit.  Well, the Wii Fit Plus I’d have to say I adore.  It’s got so many cool new features on it.  And not only does it still have a lot of great physical activities on it, it throws in a bit of a mental challenge on some of the games.

I haven’t tested out the yoga, strength training, etc. activities yet.  Tonight, I decided that I would focus on the games and decided to try out each and every one of them.  I was sweating by the time I was done, and like I said, I’m going to be sore tomorrow!  Most particularly my legs.  Although there is one game that brought the “I have bat wings” to a whole new meaning.  Yes, you get to flap like a bird!

You can check out the site here to see all the new games (and a few familiar ones that have been revamped).  I think two of my favorites are “Perfect 10″ where you swing your hips right, left, forward, or back to hit mushrooms.  These mushrooms have numbers on them and you have to light up the ones that equal the number ten; and the other is “Rhythm Kung Fu” which is exactly like what it says.  You make Kung Fu moves in rhythm with the onscreen characters.  The snowball fight one is fun, too.

There are even some videos of the games on the link above.

Another cool feature that I almost forgot to mention is that not only does it now track how many minutes you actually worked out (41:10 tonight), but it also calculates *approximately* how many calories you burned based on your weight, which exercise, and time (218 calories tonight).

Anyway, I haven’t and won’t be compensated by Nintendo for this post – I just wanted to share the fun I had tonight.

Has anyone else tried the Wii Fit?  Have a favorite game?

Post from Uncovering Pamela

Wii Fit Plus

Congratulations, also, to Perry for posting my 1,000th comment.  Thanks, Perry!  I wish I had a prize for you!  (Of course, all of you wonderful people contributed to that!)

Also, I meant to include this picture with my post about all the hiking I did last week, but somehow it got left out:

Kung Fu Panda is one of my favorite movies EVER.  If you haven’t seen it, see it!  It cracked me up.  I gave my mom a list of books that I wanted for Christmas, and then realized on Christmas Eve that I already had one of them.  Sure enough, it was there when I opened my packages on Christmas morning.  So I took it back and got a Kung Fu Panda calendar.  This is the picture for February and has been my mantra for this month – hence the pushing myself in the hiking department.

Which leads into why I need smacked.  I’m a crazy person.  Last night, before I went to bed, my throat was really dry.  The kind of dry that just doesn’t go away no matter how much water you drink.  The kind of dry where you end up cussing ‘cuz you know what’s a-comin’.

This morning it was still there.  I also started to feel that weird unexplainable feeling in your head that just reinforces what you know is coming.  But did I stay home?  Nooooooo.  Did I stay in bed and rest and take care of myself?  Noooooo.  I decided to go ahead with my hike, although I did stop and pick up some Zicam.  I’ve never used it before, but everyone I know raves about it, so I’ve decided to give it a shot.

So I hiked.  Three miles, I hiked.  Did I mention that the crazy part about it was that it was 20 degrees when we started and only 30 when we stopped.  I felt like a popsicle.  I’m a nutcase.

I took a nap this afternoon for about an hour while my mom was getting a massage, and then took about a three hour nap tonight.  When I woke up from this last nap, my throat was feeling even worse.  Damn it!  I don’t want to get sick!  I’ve had various stomach ailments, but haven’t had a full-blown cold in over two years.  Interestingly, not since I started Weight Watchers.  In fact, both of my parents were down for about a week last year with a terrible cold, and while I got the sniffles a bit, I never got it like they did.

So while going out in freezing weather for a three-mile hike probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do, I’m fighting this with all I got.  If the Zicam doesn’t help my symptoms at all, I’m going to fall back on my old standby:  Tylenol Sore Throat (liquid).  Man, I love that stuff (as much as you can ever love cold medicine).  If you ever have a sore throat, I highly recommend it.

So please keep your fingers crossed for me!

Now, back to my day.  It was really nice.  I walked a one mile easy walk with my mom, and then went and walked the one mile tougher trail.  When you add the extra distance from the cars to and from the trails and then between the trails, I’m sure that added another mile. I also thought about and tried to channel Diana and Carlos and MizFit and all of those other crazy workout demons out there that inspire me to keep going.  I really pushed myself.

When I first started up the big steep hill that starts the advanced trail, I got a pretty good scare.  I heard a rustling and saw a big bushy tail go bouncing into the woods away from me.  Yikes!  We’ve never seen any animals out there (except for dogs with their owners), but they have signs posted around informing you of the different trees and animals you may run across (such as bobcats and copperhead snakes).  Unfortunately, as my mom and I have discussed several times, none of these signs tell you what exactly you should do if you should happen to come across such animals.

So I stood there for a moment, wondering if I should continue on my hike or turn back and go the other direction.  Getting mauled didn’t sound like my idea of a good day.  When, all of a sudden, I heard the rustling again and this time, it was bouncing towards me and then off to the side.  It was a deer!  A deer with the bushiest longest tail I’ve ever seen.  Feel my relief.  The funny thing is that my mom and I had just been talking that morning about whether we would ever see any deer out there.

And not only that, when I was almost at the end of my hike, I was calling my mom to find out where she was and heard a rustling again.  This time, two deer walked past me behind some trees to the trail.  I quickly got off the phone with my mom and snapped a couple of pictures.

(click on images below to see larger images)

And then, while one of them walked on, the other one started walking down the trail TOWARDS me!  I think that if I hadn’t started backing away, it would have come right up to me.

It was actually kind of a cool experience.

So that was my day.  Ate WAY too much, and am starting to feel crappy, but got lots of exercise!  We also had a good day remembering my brother.

Thanks again for your thoughts!

Post from Uncovering Pamela

I need smacked