It’s been awhile since I wrote about flyball. And I’ve probably never mentioned flyball and our Belgian Malinois, Rebel, in the same sentence before… and with good reason.

Rebel’s Story

In 2006 it became rapidly apparent that we were going to have to adopt another dog to save our marriage. It was originally DH’s idea to get a dog, and he found it devastating that our dog had become my dog. Because we’re not a great multi-tasking family, we needed to find a dog that was going to be able to do the same sport that Magnolia already did. That meant we were in the market for a flyball dog.

But not just any flyball dog. We needed a big manly flyball dog. Between me and our trainer, we eventually came up with a Malinois as the breed of choice. With that out of the way, we immediately went to the ABMC Belgian Malinois Rescue, knowing full well that neither DH nor I could handle trying to potty train a pup with our crazy schedules. After scrolling through the available for adoption dogs we came across “Oscar.” Oscar seemed completely perfect… ball drive and all!

Applications were filled out, home visits were made, and when we went to go meet Oscar he actually jumped in the car and “chose” us. We didn’t even know we were going to be taking a dog home with us that evening! And then Oscar became Rebel.

Rebel hasn’t had it easy. He’s the product of two backyard breeders thinking they could make a ton of money breeding their two Mals together. Rebel had been one of the guy’s favorites and he tried to “keep” him when all the other dogs got packed up to the shelter. Rebel lived in that guy’s basement for the first five months of his life and never saw another dog. Poor guy!! Sadly, that’s the time when dogs need other dogs around to teach them the ropes of what it means to be a dog. As a result, Rebel doesn’t interpret dog language very well… and he thinks that most dogs are out to get him.

This fear aggression coupled with his intense prey drive made training flyball interesting to say the least. It took two long years to get him able to even practice with another dog in the other lane. Slowly we had to work him up to passing another dog, starting with easy (his Dalmatian “sister”) and then moving up to harder and harder dogs. The biggest obstacle that he’s had to overcome were Border Collies.

Necessity Breeds Opportunity

Rebel has been doing really really well in his training sessions. So well that we had slated him to debut at the Clean Break Flyball, March Madness Tournament next month.

Last weekend we headed up to Philly one team member short. Unfortunately, she was in a car accident (pretty serious, but she’s on the mend) and was unable to attend. In light of that, our captain decided to go ahead and roster Rebel on the team with the intention that we’d just put him in during the warm-ups so that he’d get a little taste of what it was like to be at a tournament without the stress of actually having to compete. Near the end of the day on Saturday the conditions were finally right to be able to put him in for warm-ups… and he did beautifully.

Sunday morning came around and after the first race of the day the super awesome Boston Terrier on our team came up with a worn down pad. Not a major injury, but he was uncomfortable enough to not want to put his foot down. We had a few options, but based on the excellent warm-up performance we all agreed that it was the sink or swim moment for the Malinois! Rebel was going in!!

It was simply amazing. That dog was so focused that he didn’t even know there was another dog in the other lane! He ran down there, got his ball, BOOKED it back and got his duck and was ready to go on for more!! What’s even more impressive is that he ran the whole circuit in 4.4 seconds!!! That’s a ball-breaking speed for a dog that’s never run in a tournament ever before… and it’s close to the speed of the fastest dog on our team.

Rebel continued to run lightning fast with only one tiny little bobble and a mistake for the final 3 races of the day (9 heats all together) and earned himself a whopping 200 points for his first tournament ever. He was awarded the Flyball Dog (FD) and Flyball Dog Excellent (FDX) titles… and he’s just a mere 300 points shy of his third title!! Way to go MALINOIS!

We’re all so proud we can hardly believe it. Only problem is… Beltway Bandits just lost their full time box-loader! Congrats to Steve & Rebel for a job well done.

Related Posts

• February 5, 2010 -- [Material Girl] Feet, the way God intended them
• June 22, 2009 -- In flyball, it’s all about the Box Loader
• March 3, 2009 -- A Day in the Life of a Flyball Dog
• March 2, 2009 -- What is this thing you call “Flyball?”
• December 3, 2007 -- Flying Dalmatian #2

Recently, four fantastic little Moleskine notebooks showed up in my mailbox. These particular Moleskines are from the new Passions line. I am completely excited about these little books, and as always I opened the cover and filled in the very important “In case of loss…” information. But when I got to the blank requesting what reward I would offer if some kind, generous, upstanding samaritan would find my Moleskine and return it to me I was sort of baffled. I always want to put something creative in this blank, something that showed my appreciation more than a mere monetary reward, but I’m almost always at a loss for what to fill in.

So what could I do but turn to my faithful Twitterati! I posted a very quick tweet…

Hey @moleskine users!! How much of a reward do you offer in the front of your journal? Tag with #MyMoleskineReward

I have been tickled pink with all the responses. Some are down-right hilarious. And I realized… this type of creativity definitely deserves some acknowledgement! Therefore, I am holding the first ever MyNeChimKi Blog Contest. The booty? One Moleskine Passions notebook of your choosing.

The Details

From now (February 18) until the last day in February (since this is not a leap year, that would be February 28) tell me how you reward the Good Samaritan who returns your moleskine.

When

From now until February 28 at 11:59pm. The winner will be announced on March 5th via every social media mechanism I have.

How to participate

Choose at least one of the following methods of subitting your über creative reward for your lost Moleskine. Entering more than once might increase your chances… Depends on how creative you are! You’re on your honor to submit actual rewards that you would really write in your Moleskine. (It’s irrelevant if you’d actually pay out $1 Trillion or other insane things for your lost Moleskine… Just looking for how much you value it at.)

• Follow me on Twitter & post your reward to Twitter and tag it with #MyMoleskineReward.
• Add a comment to this blog post detailing what occupies the reward blank on your moleskine journal
• Become a fan of My New Chimerical Kit on Facebook and post a comment on the wall telling me what your Moleskine is worth.
• If your one of those left brained people, post a shot of your moleskine where you’ve actually written your reward on the My New Chimerical Kit Flickr group. Tag it with “MyMoleskineReward”. Be sure that the reward is actually legible (I totally understand if you want to blurr out your address… This is cyberspace after all!).

The Win & The Booty

All the entries will be judged by a neutral 3rd party. In the event that we unable to choose between multiple creative, awesome rewards, we’ll put them all in a hat and draw a name at random. The winner will be contacted via social media profile or email (depending on how their submission was sent to us).

The winner will be able to choose one of the six new Moleskine Passions Journals.

If you have any questions about this contest, I’m happy to help out in any way I can. Just shoot me an email to me [at] whitneyclaire [dot] com.

Good luck… and may the best Moleskine lover win!

Random Posts

• November 21, 2007 -- Oh the evilness….
• February 23, 2006 -- NYTimes.com – in desperate need for spoiler disclaimers
• October 17, 2004 -- High School Rivalry
• March 9, 2009 -- Doggie bike riding 101
• January 15, 2009 -- The Anticipation of Wood Floor Buffing Season

I considered posting at the end of Week 1, but to be perfectly honest I was embarrassed… disappointed in myself even. With the impending 2nd dose of the region’s “snowpocalpyse” I hurried off to the gym the eve before we were supposed to get dumped on by snow. I was excited. I felt awesome after the first two days of Week 1. But something terrible happened. It sucked.

For some reason I really felt off my game through the whole run. In the middle of run three I got caught up in my headphone cables and my iPhone went flying. I tried to catch it, but no dice. I ended up hitting the stop button because I didn’t know what else to do (silly me, didn’t think to just step on the side rails). When I retrieved my iPhone from the floor (thank goodness I’ve been encasing it in the OtterBox iPhone 3G, 3GS Commuter Cases [3 Pack]) it wasn’t damaged, but when I plugged the headphones back in my running music never came back on. I also didn’t think to pause my #c25k app so I was all off on the run/walk schedule. And then the worst thing happened, about 20 minutes in my chest got really tight and I was afraid I was going to have an asthma attack so I had to take a couple of puffs on my inhaler. Oh the defeat.

So the worst of the worst could happen. I’ve been going great guns and and feeling awesome and then BAM I felt like crap… just like I did when I was younger and trying to run the mile. The only thing that would have made it worse would have been a scary gym teacher barking at me.

Week 2 – Overcoming the Odds

With that awful run closing my Week 1 I was a little more than nervous about Week 2. After all, Week 2 ramps up the running just a tiny bit.

Week 2, Day 1

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes. Five-minute cooldown walk.

I knew that when the going gets tough I have a tendency to tense up and get scared – especially when it comes to exercise. But not today… today I had to triumph. Or at least I had to try.

But I didn’t just try… I made it. And I made it with EASE! The running part was awesome. I’ve been listening to an iTunes genius mix of Nickelback’s “Burn it to the Ground” but I thought for today’s run I needed a change of pace… something inspirational. The only thing it could be today was Black Violin. I had also armed myself with a Belkin Sport Armband Plus to ensure that I didn’t get myself tangled in my own headphones again.

I’d like to say that everything went smoothly, but I wasn’t completely thrilled with the armband (more to come on that later) and my Nike+ sensor essentially crapped out on me. I was hoping that this wasn’t a sign of things to come. And it certainly wasn’t. Black Violin didn’t fail me. I get absolutely consumed by their music. Brandenburg came on in the middle of my first run and I just giggled… out loud! It was so much fun!! And then before I knew it, the voice prompts were telling me that I was halfway finished. And then almost right after the app was telling me that I was about to start my last run… I was heartbroken! I wanted to go longer!! But I stuck to the program because I didn’t want to kill myself just when I was starting to feel great again.

Continuum Transfunctioner of Running?

I’m just totally confused how I could feel so crappy at the end of Week 1 and then feel so fantastic after the first day of Week 2. Kind of feel like Jesse and Chester from Dude Where’s My Car? and my running is the Continuum Transfunctioner – whose mystery is only exceeded by its power.

If anyone has any suggestions about why this anomaly occurs, please feel free to post a comment! I know that to really figure it out I’d have to probably track my sleep, my meals, and all kinds of other factors to determine why I felt crappy one day and not another. But it seems contrary that when you ramp up in your training program that you’d feel better and it would be easier than the level before it…

Related Posts

• February 5, 2010 -- Couch to 5K
• February 5, 2010 -- [Material Girl] Feet, the way God intended them
• February 3, 2010 -- [C25K] I Ran TWO Miles!!!!!
• January 15, 2010 -- [ICB] Couch to 5K in just 9 weeks

It’s no secret that I love Moleskine journals. It probably originally began because I wanted to use the same gorgeous journal that ilk such as Van Gogh, Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and Bruce Chatwin used. But once I opened my first journal and my pen hit the page, it was love at first stroke. The pages are like silk, the binding is strong, and the secret pocket in the back holds treasures unimaginable. In short, it is the perfect journal.

I make it a point not to go without at least two on my person at all times; one never knows when inspiration might strike.

However, it wasn’t until today that I found out exactly how much I am in love with my Moleskine journals. Sure, they’re pretty and functional but I have a whole new respect for them. Because they can survive a Malinois. Last night I left our dog, Rebel, out of his crate. My DH had gone out to plow snow in the third of a series of snowpocalypses that I’ve seriously had enough with. I always feel safer when the Malinois is out; just in case someone decides to break in… he’ll make them decide otherwise.

When Rebel gets bored he usually makes his own fun, which usually consists of destroying something. In the past it has been blankets, pillows, clothing (including some very expensive items), shoes (his total of destruction comes to well over $400), crates, drimmels, cardboard, paper, wallets, drivers’ licenses (OK, just one, and there were really only teeth marks). This time he had his eye on one of my Moleskines. In fact, it was the Moleskine that I use to record our Scrabble Tournament scores in as we go!

It looks a little worse for the wear, but it is entirely still functional. Not a single page missing! The elastic band needs a little repair work, but I think with a little duct tape it will be good as new. You’ll see from the photos below that the top part of the binding is what took the most abuse. A little black duct tape there and you’d hardly know that it was attacked by a viscous, Moleskine-killing Malinois!

Now, more than ever, Moleskine will be my go-to journal for all “analog” writing!

Here are a few of my favorite Moleskine products:

Random Posts

• October 16, 2007 -- Who couldn’t be intrigued…
• April 17, 2008 -- Genealogical Woes
• August 17, 2006 -- More evidence for the love of archaeology
• August 25, 2004 --
• March 23, 2009 -- Bibliophile: Amazon Kindle iPhone style & Tom Robbins’s “Wild Ducks Flying Backwards”

I used to keep a dream journal. At it’s peak I was recording 3-4 dreams per night in it. It has definitely fallen by the wayside, but occasionally I wake up and remember something of one of my nocturnal stories.

Yesterday I woke up and the only thing I wanted to do was find my cat. My fluffy, horribly groomed, Mac the Cat. And when I found him I secretly thought to myself that I didn’t care if he likes to poop next to the cat box, drag out litter and cover it up on the floor, I was just happy I could hug him and hear him purr.

Here was my dream from the other night:

We were on vacation at this really bizarre commune. There were little cottages that you could rent, but there were also permanent residents that lived in tents and little structures that looked like something out of Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and Sherwood Forest. The attraction of this commune as a vacation vista was that there was a live mystery role playing game. Think Myst meets Journey to Wild Divine. DH and I were there with some of our flyball friends.

We were in this big tavern looking place that had a huge fireplace. I think part of the game was for us to build a fire or something in the fireplace. I looked over my shoulder and Rebel, our Malinois, was in the fireplace… among the fire!! DH didn’t seem very concerned. We got him out of the fireplace and he looked OK, except there were these weird pinkish spots on his back. Kara said that she thought he’d been burned and she began to put salve on him and wrap him up.

About that time I realized that Solomon my cat was walking around outside (because suddenly we were outside). Without having seen what had happened previously, I had known that we brought the cats to the vacation with us and that the door to our cottage had blown open and he had walked outside. Some of the commune members thought he was cute and they were playing with him. They dressed him in a t-shirt. He didn’t seem to mind.

I returned to the cottage to meet our flyball friend Deb. I was telling her about Rebel and about Solomon and about how the door kept blowing open. She was going to stay in our cottage. I wasn’t worried she’d let the cats out because I knew she was mad when her roommate let her cats out. About that time the door blew open and out ran Mac, my other cat. I started to follow him, but Deb said he was just peeing in the yard out front. I knew that I could probably retrieve him easily because he always came when he was called. But when I went out to get him he was no where to be found. I started calling his name, screaming, “Mac!!!! Mac!!!!” over and over again. Nothing. He was no where to be found.

I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye so I called harder. There was something darting around in the shadows but whatever it was wasn’t interested in coming near me. I was starting to loose my voice and I was starting to get panicky. Then I saw what I was sure was my cat on a low hanging branch near the left side of the cottage. I ran over to it calling Mac’s name. When I got there I saw it was a kitten, and it looked completely scared that I was screaming like a lunatic. Mac was gone. I knew I wasn’t going to find him. It was pouring rain and I could hardly bear the thought of my fluffy cat out there.

In the back of my mind I heard DH saying, “At least we won’t have to pick cat poop up off the floor anymore.” And as enticing as that sounded it just sparked another bout of my screaming for my cat.

I heard DH (in real life) holler “ENOUGH!!” and I woke up, suddenly terribly embarrassed, thinking that I had really been hollering for Mac! As it turned out, he was hollering at the dog to quit whining and barking. I got up and there was Mac lying under the laundry hamper. I picked him up and was never so happy to hear him purr and feel his fuzzy fur tickle my nose.

Random Posts

• March 12, 2009 -- The things you learn when you panic…
• May 28, 2005 -- Much needed flattery
• February 23, 2006 -- NYTimes.com – in desperate need for spoiler disclaimers
• February 20, 2009 -- TAA – Twitter Addicts Anonymous
• December 18, 2004 --

Vibram Five Fingers – Nature’s Best Shoes…

Since August I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about Vibram Five Fingers, these relatively new, innovative barefoot running shoes. I have literally had more than one revolutionary experience while wearing them. There are a bunch of new studies coming out that say barefoot running can significantly decrease the possibility for ankle, knee, and hip injuries. The basic premise behind it is that running without all of the cushioning, padding, and extraneous stuff that are often built into running shoes forces your foot to work the way God intended it to (or nature intended it if you’re not into the spiritual stuff). Our lower body is not designed to withstand constant heel strikes while running, which is exactly what traditional running shoes cause your feet to do. Barefoot running, in theory, will allow your feet to work in the completely opposite way, with the ball of the foot striking first and then rolling back to the heel acting as a shock absorber for the rest of your leg.

Some Links…

• Shoeless Joe from Outside.com
• To Run Better, Start by Ditching Your Nikes from Wired.com
• Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners from Nature Journal of Science paid access is required to read the full study
• Barefoot Running at Harvard
• In Running, Is Barefoot Best? from Harvard Magazine
• Daniel E. Lieberman, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Coming from a background in Anthropology I can completely get behind Dr. Lieberman’s theories regarding barefoot running in correlation with human evolution. I just makes sense to me.

The Plunge

I was originally unconvinced that barefoot running could even be an option for me because I have incredibly flat feet. After having been to so many orthopedics and all of them insisting that orthodics were the way to correct my problem (none felt my flat feet or my pronation was bad enough to warrant expensive and painful corrective surgery), I had just given up. I’ve been buying shoes at exorbitant amounts of money that do not in any way shape or form meet the criteria of “cute” for a twenty-something-almost-thirty-year-old-woman. Comfort has been my only objective for the last 10 years.

On a whim I decided to try these Vibram Five Fingers. Actually, I decided after having seen a guy wearing them at our County fair and he didn’t get beaten up. I figured if he can walk around the County fair in these crazy looking shoes, then I should be able to wear them in public and not have too many problems. After a single day of wearing them around I was 100% sold! After a normal day of walking around I usually had pain that was probably 7 out of 10 radiating up my legs and into my lower back and hips. After wearing the Vibrams around I can honestly say that I had ZERO pain. At first I thought that maybe it was a fluke but after continual wear I noticed that my pain had been significantly reduced, if not totally eliminated.

But… that was not one of the two revolutionary moments that I experienced. That was merely an added bonus to make me not want to ship them back despite my DH calling me “Gorilla Feet.”

Revolutionary Vibram Moment #1

I’ve talked previously about flyball, that high-adreneline dog sport that DH and I play. My first Revolutionary Moment wearing my Vibrams came during a flyball tournament. I purchased my first pair (yes, I said first… and yes, I own multiple pairs) right before a flyball tournament this summer. I wanted to test them out at top speed.

I’ve mentioned what the dogs do during flyball, but I’ve never really talked about what the people do. It’s not just a sit back and watch the dog perform it’s “trick”; there’s quite a bit more movement involved. What the human does is quite a lot like running suicides. There’s a quick sprint up the lane after your dog (who runs it quite a bit faster than you do) and then upon reaching the start/finish line there’s a really fast pivot and you run back enticing your dog to chase you back down the lane. Depending on where you release your sprint could be 50+ feet or it could be less than that. The quick pivot has been known to bring down the most agile of flyball handlers, simply because you’re also usually dodging the dog that is coming back the same time you’re running up after your dog. It’s enough to throw just about anyone off balance.

That first flyball touranment I ran in my Vibrams was a life altering experience! The first “real” heat (because you rarely really run in warm-ups) of the first race of the day something miraculous happened. When I ran up and then pivoted to turn and run back my baby toe did something it has never been able to do before… it stabilized my pivot. I was turning on a dime and I felt every single one of my toes do exactly what they were intended to do. I couldn’t believe it! I was faster, more agile, more stable, and my feet were actually working for me. Suddenly I felt sorry for people that didn’t have all of their toes because all of mine were doing something to help me make that sharp pivot turn.

I have since tried to get Vibram Five Fingers to be our official club shoe. Sadly I have not convinced everyone.

Revolutionary Moment #2

Revolutionary Moment #2 came just the other night when I started my C25K program. Of course, I’ve done tons of reading that says that when you run in barefoot technology shoes that you naturally revert to the rolling motion that your foot should do, rather than striking on your heel. But I’ve been running (or trying to run since I’ve never really succeeded before) for nearly 30 years now. Heel-Toe is just the way it’s done, right?

Wrong.

Not in the Vibrams. Suddenly, I was running in a natural gait that felt wonderful. It wasn’t jarring, it didn’t feel like I was going to shake my head loose and my feet felt awesome! I truly never want to run in any other shoes ever again. Never never never again.

So… you want a pair now, don’t you?

There’s lots of places on the internet that carry Vibram Five Fingers. Among them, I’ve ordered pairs from REI and Kayak Shed. If you’re in the Washington, D.C. metro area and you want to try a pair ON, you can head over to downtown Frederick, MD to The Trail House. A woman in my yoga class purchased hers from there and was very pleased with her experience; I have yet to go up there but I plan to in the next couple of weeks.

A little note about the sizing. A lot of online sites try to “make” the Vibram Five Finger sizing fit to US or Euro sizes. And frankly, it just doesn’t translate. They use a modified version of the sizing based on how long your foot is, measured from heel to your longest toe. I highly recommend you checking out their sizing instructions on their site before you order a pair.

Click the pictures below to see them full size

At the moment I own a pair of Classics, Sprints, and Peformas (which I kind of wish I had ordered in something other than black). To be quite honest, I’m not enamoured of the Classics. They have a drawstring elastic that runs through the shoe and tightens at the back on your Achilles tendon. To me, it pinches and digs in no matter how I adjust it. Just not comfortable. Surprisingly, I haven’t noticed the Performas doing this, even though they’re the same shoe basically, just in leather. But right now, my very favorite pair are my Sprints. They’re not a lot to look at, but they’re the most comfortable and I’m able to get the best fit because of the different velcro straps across the arch and at the heel. If I had to recommend a pair, I’d say get the Sprints. I’m hoping to get a pair of either KSOs or Flows to wear this summer when we go canoeing. But what I’d really love is for Vibrams to come out with a pair of KSO Treks for women.

I was very disappointed that their new line did not include a women’s version of that style. I’d love to wear them hiking because I like the idea of having the added balance with all your toes working for you, but I’m pretty sure that the soles of the regular Vibrams wouldn’t be enough to protect my feet from any pokey-outy (yes that’s a technical term) rocks that might be on the trail. I’m hoping that they’ll see how great they are and then put out a women’s version of the Treks soon!

I have not been compensated, nor will be, in any way by Vibrams or their affiliates. I was not instructed to review this product in a postive light. All observations are my own. I am not an affiliate of the Vibram company and do not receive any compensation for click-through links contained in this specific post.

Related Posts

• February 12, 2010 -- [C25K] Beginning of Week 2
• March 4, 2010 -- It’s all about the Malinois
• February 5, 2010 -- Couch to 5K
• February 3, 2010 -- [C25K] I Ran TWO Miles!!!!!
• June 22, 2009 -- In flyball, it’s all about the Box Loader

I feel…. FANTASTIC!

After some serious thinking about this C25K program I got really scared that if I started on March 1st I was nearly positive that I’d fail… quit… or otherwise completely flop. So, I decided the best thing to do is start early; it’s now or never. So, if not March 1st I wanted to start on February 1st. The only problem was, by the time I got to the gym it was closed.

So I got more and more anxious. I’ve never really run a day in my life. I was always the last kid on the track when we had to do the mile for the Presidential Fitness Test. And by last kid on the track, I don’t mean that I got to watch the other kids play Four Square… I mean that I was the last kid on the track and everyone else had already gone back in to class and it was just me and the gym teacher telling me to pick it up. But my exercise-induced asthma always flared up when I tried to run. Running a mile has always seemed like an incredible feat.

Tonight I ran TWO miles

Yes folks, that’s right… yours truly ran not one, but two miles! And I feel fantastic. After 17 minutes one mile had passed and then before I knew it, two miles… TWO miles!

I am so psyched after Week 1, Day 1 that I cannot wait until my next run. I cannot believe that I feel so free. I completed tonight’s workout in my Vibram Five Finger Sprints, and my feet felt fantastic. However, the Vibrams are so awesome that they really require a whole post all to themselves, so watch for that soon!!

Related Posts

• February 12, 2010 -- [C25K] Beginning of Week 2
• February 5, 2010 -- Couch to 5K
• February 5, 2010 -- [Material Girl] Feet, the way God intended them
• January 15, 2010 -- [ICB] Couch to 5K in just 9 weeks

Last year, Christina and I developed a blog meme that we called “Individually Collective Blogging” or ICB. We originally developed it in preparation for writing our Collective NaNovel for NaNoWriMo. And while collective noveling didn’t go as swimmingly as we had thought it would, collective blogging is still fantastic.

2010 should be a fun year of collective blogging. If you’re a new reader you can check out last year’s posts in the my ICB Archives and Christina’s ICB Archives.

Visit Christina’s blog to read about her take on C25K: here.

I can’t exactly remember when it was that I heard about #C25K, but I’m pretty sure it had to have been from Melissa. She is my hero. Just recently, she finished her very first marathon. I cried when I read her post. I don’t know why… other than that you could just feel the sense of accomplishment that she felt. Part of me wants to experience that too… that feeling that against any odds you did it!

I should take a moment to mention here that I have exercise induced asthma. I should also mention that I have never been able to run a day in my life. In school I was always the kid that was still on the track long after everyone else had finished their mile run. I repeat… I am not a runner. However… I want to be a runner. Maybe it’s just the fact that I can’t do something that makes me want it even more, or maybe it’s just that I love the idea of getting out there all by yourself and it’s just you and the road, but whatever it is, I want to run… like the wind.

So I’m pretty sure that on Melissa’s journey to becoming a marathoner I may have mentioned my desire to become a runner. And I’m pretty sure that she’s the person who first put the bug in my ear about Couch to 5K. But it wasn’t until Melissa’s friend Amy started posting some tweets about #C25K that I really got jazzed about the program. I was just about to resign myself to just take the plunge and do it when I saw this post from Christina:

I was thrilled to see that my best buddy (and best blogging buddy) was interested in the same training program that I was! What an opportunity this could be!!! Of course, there’s a bit of a distance issue in training together, seeing that we live nearly 300 miles apart. We certainly won’t actually be able to train together, but we can keep ourselves honest with our blogging updates!

Official Start Date = March 1

About the Training Program

The C25K is designed for non-runners to make it to their first 5K race safely and successfully. The program is broken down across 9 weeks, training three days a week. What’s three days? It’s not even the majority of the week! Directly from their site they say:

C25K, is a fantastic program that’s been designed to get just about anyone from the couch to running 5 kilometers or 30 minutes in just 9 weeks….Its secret is that it’s a gentle introduction to getting the body moving, starting off alternating between walking and running small distances, and slowly building up until after 8 weeks, you’re ready to run 5 kilometers or 30 minutes non stop.

It sounds easy. Although, I’m sure it’s not quite that easy. I expect to have challenging days and I expect that more than once I’m going to want to quit. But I’m not going to. And I challenge you, my faithful readers, to keep me motivated! Please feel free to post comments on my #C25K updates and keep me going. I’m going to shoot for weekly updates on my progress. Please, cheer me along, jeer me along (maybe), offer advice if you think I could do something better… anything. I welcome it all! Whenever you see the little “anti-couch potato” icon next to a post, you’ll know it’s a #C25K update.

Why #C25K?

So if I’m not a runner and have never been a runner why do I all of a sudden want to embark on a running training program? I have major reasons. In no particular order they are:

1. Christina’s getting married this year and I’m a bridesmaid. I’m so excited to be able to stand up for her at her wedding like she did for me at mine! But (or should I say BUTT?) I’m a perfect size 10 for the dress she picked out except for my hips. The top is already going to have to be altered a bit and I’ll be damned if I’m going to have to have it let out around the hips! So I’m about to say good-bye to at least 10 pounds!!
2. I already mentioned that I was so moved by Melissa’s marathon run that I want to experience even just a little bit of that… even if it is just a 5K. That will be so much more than I’ve ever accomplished before in my life.
3. I have a New Year’s Resolution to become in the best shape possible. After all, I’m at some point going to be biking 30 miles a day on that awesome trip I won from Ciclismo Classico! I figure a little running to strengthen my cardio routine can’t hurt.
4. The next time Bluemont Vineyards has their 951 5K & Uphill Time Trial I want the hardest part to be the uphill time trial. The last time I participated (back in 2008) I walked the entire thing. And to be quite honest I thought it might kill me; especially the uphill time trial. I’d love to not be the last person in the pack the next time I do it. I was so sad about my inability to really give it a good effort that I didn’t even do it last year. Now, the last two years they’ve had it in April so that will kind of be in the middle of my whole training program. It’s likely I won’t be up for making a real “go” of it this year. But if they have it I’ll enter and use it as part of my training. And then 2011… baby here we come!

The Tools

Since running has never been a top priority for me I know that I’ll only stay motivated if I have some great gadgets and gizmos to keep me interested. I think that these terrific tools, paired with your support, I’ll do just fine. So what am I using?

MapMyFitness.com

I’m going to start utilizing MapMyFitness.com more. They’ve got a ton of great tools available to members and I think they will help keep me on track. I really like the mapping feature that their iPhone app has, and I’ll likely use this app for my outdoor training sessions. Their training calendar integrates with lots of other systems, like Nike+, Garmin and others.

In addition to the regular training calendar, I created a C25K group to track our progress. You can follow along with our training progress on our MapMyFitness C25K training group. If you’re not already a member of MapMyFitness.com, you should join!! It’s awesome… and they have iPhone apps! Don’t get lost in your training, become a MapMyRun.com member and get access to free training plans and printed run routes.

Nike+

I’ve been a member of Nike+ for several years now. I originally joined to track my milage for my dog’s distance logging program (long story, maybe another blog post). It’s been a laughable adventure since I don’t run. Also there was a period of time that I completely boycotted Nike+ because they weren’t offering support for the iPhone. That has all changed now with the release of the iPhone 3GS and built in Nike+ support!! I’m so excited!! I’ll be using Nike+ for all my indoor runs.

C25K app

The C25K people have create an actual iPhone app to track your training. It looks pretty cool, but I’m kind of afraid to really play with it until our training session starts. So I’ll let you know more later how that interface is working for me.

Challenges I anticipate

I said that I thought I’d probably want to quit more than once… and that’s no lie. Here are a few of the challenges that I think I’ll have:

1. I hate to pay to sweat. However, our start date is going to be in the middle of what can potentially be our rainiest season in Virginia. So I’m going to buy a gym membership so that I have no excuse to skip a training session
2. I’m going to the Virginia DAR State Conference again this year. And it just happens to be March 11 – March 14, smack dab in the middle of Week 2. This is probably when I’ll want to quit the most. The Richmond Marriott and I have confirmed that they do have a fitness center. The question is whether or not I’ll be able to drag myself in there to do my training session after I’ve done a full day of paging duties.
3. My asthma and my feet are not my friends. I’m going to be trying to do the whole training program in my Vibrams and I will refill my prescription for my inhaler… just in case.

Related Posts

• February 12, 2010 -- [C25K] Beginning of Week 2
• February 5, 2010 -- Couch to 5K
• February 3, 2010 -- [C25K] I Ran TWO Miles!!!!!

If you have ever taken a moment to peruse the pages of this blog you would have noticed a page called “Scrabble Tourney ‘09.” And if you happened to peruse it recently you would have noticed that it’s titled has been changed to “Scrabble Tourney ‘09 – Final Score!”. Well, folks, the results are in. Actually, they’ve been in since before the clock stroke midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Rather than assign a traditional winner and a traditional loser to the tournament (and every place in between) I thought it might be more appropriate to issue titles based on the performance of each individual.

Gary Most Scrabble Wins 2009	Jean Worst Scrabble Tiles 2009	Steve Most Improved Player 2009	Whitney Highest Cumulative Points 2009

And in commemoration of our year long adventures in Scrabble-Land I purchased everyone shirts. Personalized with their titles! If you’re ever in need of personalized apparel, Zazzle.com does a really good job. And (as cheesy as this sounds) there’s no minimum order!

click each picture to enlarge

We’ve started up again for this year, so be sure to check out our Scrabble Tourney 2010 page. I’ll be updating our progress and players stats throughout the year.

Random Posts

• December 22, 2007 -- Merry Christmas!!!!
• August 9, 2004 -- I suppose the worst is over…
• October 17, 2008 -- Welcome to my bizarre Friday
• December 21, 2004 -- Facinating people
• July 12, 2004 -- hate it…

Last year, Christina and I developed a blog meme that we called “Individually Collective Blogging” or ICB. We originally developed it in preparation for writing our Collective NaNovel for NaNoWriMo. And while collective noveling didn’t go as swimmingly as we had thought it would, collective blogging is still fantastic.

2010 should be a fun year of collective blogging. If you’re a new reader you can check out last year’s posts in the my ICB Archives and Christina’s ICB Archives.

Visit Christina’s blog to read about her experiences being a geeky kid: here.

Last January I produced incontrovertible evidence that I have an inner “Ross.” Actually, I think it’s probably more like an outer Ross…. but that’s beside the point. The point is, I don’t believe that one becomes a “Ross.” Rather, I believe that one is born a “Ross.” In my previous post I talked about worshiping Stephen J. Gould and my love of dinosaurs at the tender age of perhaps six (Kindergarten). I was also a voracious reader all through elementary school, being in the top reading groups, topping the charts at the local library for most books read during the summer, and just in general being kind of “bookish.” However, nothing is as fantastic a story to illustrate my geekiness as a kid as the time that I took plastic wrap to show -and-tell.

The Plastic Wrap Story

This was the crowning glory of my geekiness as a kid. It took place long before I ever thought about worshiping Stephen J. Gould or before I could even read. I was probably four-years-old and I was in Preschool. At that time in my life the only thing I cared about were commercials. I would run around and play during the programs and then come screaming back in, eyes glued to the TV, when the commercials came on. I think my parents had dreams of me being n amazing advertising guru.

One day I was at the grocery store with my mom and she was replenishing her stock of plastic wrap. As she reached for the Saran Wrap I said in my tiny, four-year-old voice, “No mom! You should buy Reynolds QUALITY Plastic Wrap!” I’m not sure how I knew that she was buying Saran Wrap instead since I couldn’t read; possibly she was reading her shopping list aloud, or possibly I just recognized the packaging. Mom kind of gave me a funny look, but rather than disappoint her tiny daughter she obliged me. (Note: the key word in the name of the brand that I implored my mother to buy is “QUALITY” and you have to say the full name, Reynolds QUALITY Plastic Wrap, with the emphasis on the key word… else it’s just not right.)

When we got home I was so excited to show my mom why it was essential that she immediately switch to this new plastic wrap. I asked for her to tear off a sheet of Saran Wrap and then to tear off a sheet of Reynolds QUALITY Plastic Wrap (RQPW from now on for the sake of saving me from carpal tunnel syndrome). In one hand she was to wad up the Saran Wrap and in the other she was to wad up the RQPW in the other. “OK, now let go of them… the Saran Wrap is gonna un-wad, but the RQPW will stay all balled together!” I announced happily.

My mother gave me a bit of a worried look and prayed as she set her hands with the wads of plastic wrap in them down on the counter. She was praying that her poor little four-year-old daughter was not just prey to some advertising conglomerate’s smoke and mirrors trick. And whether it was an act of God or whether RQPW was really just that good, we both watched in amazement as the Saran Wrap wad unwadded itself and the RQPW stayed tightly balled up. I smiled. My mom looked pleased at her new favorite product.

And that’s when I announced that that is what I wanted to take for Show-And-Tell that week.

Mom carefully labeled an envelope containing a square of Saran Wrap with a big “S” and an envelope containing a square of RQPW with a big “R” on it (remember, I can’t read at this point). And I went happily off on my way to Preschool. When my mom came to pick me up she asked me how it went. I hung my head and said, “Not so good…” Worried that maybe the experiment had not gone the same way as it did when we had tried it at home my mom inquired about the results of the Show-And-Tell with my teacher. To which my teacher replied:

Oh no, it went exactly like Whitney said it was. Unfortunately the finer points of plastic wrap are lost on most four-year-olds. However, I for one, will never again buy Saran Wrap!

Following up about RQPW

A very sad thing happened this year. Reynolds quit making their QUALITY Plastic Wrap. According to their website:

Discontinued Products

• Reynolds® Hot Bags
• Reynolds® Seal-Tight Plastic Wrap
• Reynolds® Handi-Vac® Vaccuum Food Storage System

Unfortunately due to low consumer demand, we have decided to discontinue these products and all inventory has been depleted. We regret that we cannot make this product available to you and apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

I think that my mother and I own the very last three boxes of Reynolds QUALITY Plastic Wrap in existence. We got them for Christmas this year. It was the best gift anyone could have ever given us!! Reynolds… if you’re listening… BRING BACK THE PLASTIC WRAP! I promise, there is a consumer demand!!

And now I’d like to present my readers with a special treat… here, hosted on My New Chimerical Kit is the very experiment that I performed as a Preschooler for Show-And-Tell nearly twenty-six years ago! Roll ‘em!!

Note: My mom is so awesome. We did that video in one take and it was completely unscripted. Did I mention that she’s awesome?

Random Posts

• March 23, 2009 -- Bibliophile: Amazon Kindle iPhone style & Tom Robbins’s “Wild Ducks Flying Backwards”
• January 1, 2009 -- Scrabble Tourney 2009
• April 24, 2004 -- something seriously wrong with this quiz….
• May 22, 2004 -- You might have negative boobs if….
• November 5, 2007 -- Weekend update