Month: September 2015

Boot camp is back!

On By DGThomaIn Exercise, Family, Friends3 Comments

Hooray!  I think…..

Previously, we had a boot camp class at my office after work.  We worked out downstairs in the courtyard.  I loved the convenience; especially on days I had to go back to work after the workout.

It enabled me to take a break and still get work done.  A little over a year ago, we lost our trainer.    When he left, we had trouble finding someone who would come to our location.  We couldn’t to keep enough people interested to make it worth their while.  Interest fizzled.

But a few weeks ago, we got word that a new coach had been found for boot camp.  After a flash of excitement, I immediately remembered how long it had been since I did a real workout, with a coach pushing me to my limits.

Class began on Thursday night with six people, which was promising for a first class.  I soon realized how unprepared I was for the workout.  We began with jumping jacks for 1 minute.  I thought, “this isn’t too bad”, but as we transitioned to kicking our feet front to back and hands moving side to side I faltered.  Coordination has never been my strong point.  I tried not to fall on my face, as I did some semblance of throwing feed to chickens while stomping out a tap dance with my feet!  We immediately moved on to squats which weren’t too bad, but as we transitioned to mountain climbers, I had forgotten how much fun they could be.  I mean a plank is a ton of fun by itself, but throwing in some quick movements, pulling alternating knees forward, sort of like laying down while running, well that’s just peachy.

My abs were on fire, which I guess means I was doing something right!  Knowing I had really accomplished something close to a miracle, I sucked down a gallon of water in anticipation of more fun.

At least every time we finished a set, I knew we were hacking minutes off the hour.

Back to my mat, I arrived in time for Coach Travis to call out, “It’s time for groiners and then we’ll add groiners with a twist.”  Oh my!  I didn’t want to know what this was going to be.

Surviving groiners, straight leg marches and follow the leader, I was huffing and puffing.  Travis was our leader and we ran through obstacles, around the building and up three flights of stairs where we finally got to stop and stretch.  That was great until Travis said, “Move to the rail and put your foot on the top rail.”  Right!  My foot found its way close to top, hovering   dangerously on the third rail while I tried to keep from falling over.

After some wonderful (yes that’s sarcasm you hear) stretching, Travis instructed us to hurry back down to grab some water.  “The faster you get down the more time you have to drink your water,” floated after us as we trooped “quickly” away.

I sipped water and trudged back toward my mat to collapse, relieved that hour would soon be over, as Travis shouted “Warmup is over!  Let’s get started on the workout.”

What???

Friday, I woke, proud that I wasn’t too sore.  At least I wasn’t sore until I sat up in bed and my abs complained.  Then walking up the stairs, my calves reminded me they were a little bit sore as well.  As the day wore on, I found lots more spots that reminded me I had worked out.

Tuesday evening, found me back at boot camp with nine other hopefuls. Ready to accomplish miracles with my poor tired muscles I prepared to start.  Encouraged that I talked myself into coming back, I gamely tackled new exercises, got eliminated in the second round of the fitness challenge, but  still felt successful.  Ron and I totally represented in the medicine ball toss and finished more reps than anyone else.  Baby steps, small victories.  There’s always Thursday night!

Take Me Home Country Roads, to a place…….

On By DGThomaIn Animal Stories, Family, Food, Musings, Travel, Writing2 Comments

I belong….

Last Friday evening, my husband and I traveled to Houston, Texas.  We stayed in a lovely hotel near the George R. Brown Convention Center.  The hotel joined the convention center via a skywalk, which made getting to our conference a breeze.  Houston is a large metroplex, nearing 2.1 million in population.  There is plenty to do and see.

Houston 2

We had a wonderful time on Saturday and it was great being able to access the conference without venturing out into the Texas heat. As we drove away from the conference on Saturday afternoon, the traffic was heavy and the roads were speckled with construction cones.

While we searched for a nice place to eat, all I could think was “How soon can I get back home?”  We found a nice hibachi style restaurant and happily celebrated my husband’s birthday.  And then we headed home…..

Sunday morning, we slept in until 7:30 AM before rising to head outside for a run down the country road near our house.  It was a cool 64 degrees and I couldn’t help but contrast the bustling streets and bright lights of Houston to the quiet country lane.

Purple hued morning glories bobbed in the light breeze, waving a good morning as we passed.  Knowing the short lived blooms would already be fading by the time we passed back on our way home, I savored glimpses of them as I ran by. Morning Glory

 

 

We passed these beautiful horses peering over the fence curiously as we neared their pond.  I’m sure they were wondering where we were headed and if they might come along.

White Horses                                             More white horses

The vultures watched carefully from the tree tops but I assured them we were still alive and well!  I encouraged them to move along as we weren’t done in just yet!  They were certainly not intimidated by this makeshift scarecrow!

Vultures                                       Scarecrow of sorts

I enjoyed the trip to Houston, the conference and I met many wonderful people; but there is no place like home.

Running down a country road is where I belong…..  with the roadrunners!

11-4-11-DJ-roadrunner31

A Bit of Whimsy on North Lamar

On By DGThomaIn Humor/Light Hearted, News and Reviews, WritingLeave a comment

Driving to work during early morning traffic in Austin, TX is seldom boring.  You never know which route to take until you actually approach the outskirts of town.  As many people who live in the surrounding area, we have a fairly substantial commute, depending upon the traffic.

Our normal commute is about an hour, but it can range more or less depending upon the circumstances.  I’m often a passenger rather than  driver and find myself peering at any changes happening outside my window.

20150909_074137

If the interstate is backed up, which is the norm; we drive to North Lamar and head into downtown.  Recently we  noticed that someone had put skirts on several of the light poles along Lamar.   That’s really not terribly unusual for Austin.  Austin is filled with a lot of incredibly talented and bright people but for some reason I was intrigued by those whimsical skirts wrapped around the light poles.  At first there were only a couple of the skirts near Shoal Creek along Lamar.  I began to watch with interest each day as we drove down Lamar, looking for a new skirt blowing in the breeze.  20150909_182544

I couldn’t help myself; I started to imagine the shoemaker and the elves.  I wondered what sort of elves were showing up overnight to drape fabric around the naked light poles parading down the sidewalk.

It was a couple of months ago the skirts started appearing.  I thought about taking pictures, but I always spotted them while we were driving past.  It was never an opportune photo op.

This morning as we were driving by  I noticed a new skirt had appeared on North Lamar.  I determined to take a few pictures on my way to work today, but as we drove along I found that the original skirts were all missing!

Regretting that I hadn’t stopped to count the skirts previously, I was only able to find two of the skirted poles remaining.

As we left work, I went in search of more skirts to see if I could find anymore.  The two were all that remained.  Circling around I finally managed to take a picture.  It was a lot of fun watching for new skirts to appear and I will miss the adventure.

I don’t know who is responsible for the entertainment I enjoyed, but I do thank them.   Tomorrow I will be in search of the next entertaining project, but whatever it is, it will have big skirts to fill.

Finding the Sunshine

On By DGThomaIn Exercise, Food, Gardening, Humor/Light Hearted, WritingLeave a comment

I’ve been so busy and absentminded lately!  Today I was particularly scattered.  I began the day with my supervisor standing in the door of my office with a major problem.  I spent the first half hour of my day researching the details of his issue only to find out everything was fine and there really wasn’t a problem after all.

When I finally got to my computer, I checked my calendar for meetings.  The first one was scheduled for 10:00 AM with another one scheduled immediately afterward.  I had just enough time to get a few things out-of-the-way first.

At 10:00 AM I headed off to the meeting, stopping by to grab my staff.  They informed me I had been looking at tomorrow’s calendar.  The rest of the morning, I kept forgetting it was Wednesday and tackling Thursday’s tasks.

I was sure I was going to forget to pick up my vegetables from the Farm to Work program which is delivered on Wednesday afternoon.  The pickup time had changed from 2:30 PM to 1:45 PM.  Finally I set my alarm for 1:45 PM and got back to work.  I kept thinking about the pickup time and watching the clock until finally the alarm went off.  I realized I had forgotten to bring a bag for the vegetables!20150902_205124

Digging through my office, I finally found a bag with some books in it.  Dumping the books out, I rushed down three flights of stairs and hurried to the courtyard to pick up my vegetables. I had been so busy I had only left my desk one time to get a glass of water.  Walking through the fresh air and sunshine was revitalizing!  When I rounded the corner of the building at 1:46 PM, no one was waiting, no vegetables were lined up for collecting and I didn’t see the farm truck parked in its spot.  I took a seat at the picnic table and enjoyed the sunshine.  After five minutes or so I began to wonder if maybe I was confused about what day it was, although I was pretty sure I had already established it was really Wednesday.

Reluctantly I left the warm sunshine and headed back up the stairs to re-check my email.  When I opened my email, I saw that at 1:15 PM I had received a message about the vegetables arriving early.  The vegetables were in the Wellness office. I headed back down the stairs, back into the sunshine in search of vegetables.

As I filled my bag with the lovely fresh smell of cucumbers, sweet potatoes, jalapeno, squash and more I was smiling.

I didn’t forget my vegetables, I got more exercise by doing the stairs twice and I had some delicious vegetables to use as weights on the way back to my office.

Even the view outside my window looking at downtown Austin, TX looked just a little bit brighter.