Going For a Bike Ride

My friends and I decided to do a 50 miles bike ride. We didn't train. But it wasn't bad! If was part of the Natchez Trace Century ride. Only training consisted if my 3-5 spin classes I teach each week. Everything was good until about 40 miles in. Then things got a little rough.

around 31 miles here and going strong!

 Finally, after we were about half way, we decided to take at least one picture. And there you go. Still all smiles! Well, mostly all smiles. Donna was thinking about smiling....but once we were done, she was all smiles! hehe

Finally Smiling!

I have to say, Ridgeland Parks and Rec can put on a heck of a race! Afterwards, Coolwater Catering had a full lunch and all the Michelob you could stand! Lunch wrapped up around noonish. Headed home for a quick shower and a nap, then Madison and I went back to the afterparty in hopes of wining a super awsome bike they were giving away. No luck on the bike, but we did have a few Tin Roof Juke Joints!

=

mmmm....gotta love an IPA.

Post Race After Party

Three

Holy Cow. Three Years?! Really??

Ok, so the last three years were some of the most stressful years of my life. Now that I've moved on, I see that. Oh well.

I'm still teaching class. Though, I need to update that schedule. I've run 6 half marathons. Lost is long gone. And I now have two dogs. Friends have come and gone. And we sold our house and live in my mother-in-law's condo. House is being built.  Life is moving on.

All caught up. Now that I have time in my life to think about things that I like again, I may try to get this blog going once again. Maybe even update some pictures. Here's my corgi, Leni, when she was about 7 weeks old. Good stuff.

I'll be back.

The Lakehouse by James Patterson

The Lake House by James Patterson





I bought this at a library sale for $2. Guess I'll see if there was a reason why they were purging it...




This book was just okay. Kinda stupid storyline. Pretty predictable ending, saw it coming from the first chapter. I suppose it was worth my $2. If you want it, let me know.




View all my reviews

Stella and her lazer eyes...

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Well, Hello....Its Been Awhile

Hi Blog World. Yes, it has been over 2 weeks. Alot has been happening. I finished painting my living room on my time off between jobs. It looks fantastic, if I do say so myself.... Then started my new job this past Monday. So far, it is all good.

I have been slacking in making any new Spin profiles lately. For one thing, I haven't come across any great new music to inspire me, and Two, I haven't had alot of free time lately. I know, I was off for work for 8 days plus 2 weekends, but the first weekend was Labor Day and we went to visit my parents for a long weekend. The second, Jonas and I went to Houston, TX to see Dave Matthews at The Woodlands (which was AWESOME), and then to stay with his dad for a night. But the show made it completely worth the long 2-lane, backroad drive we had on the way to The Woodlands.

Anywho, that is what I have been up to lately. I hope to soon have some kind of inspiring super ride profiles to give out in the near future....

Weekend Workout - And I Ran!

I had a very productive weekend workout this past weekend. I usually take Friday and Saturdays off. But for some reason, I was itching to go Friday after work.

I started off warming up on the treadmill for about 8 minutes because I was planning on working my legs. But after my 8 minutes had passed, I figured I would jog for a little bit just to get my heart rate up some more before I started my exercises. 50 minutes and 4 miles later, I realize that this is the longest and the furthest I have ever ran in my entire life! I know, You are thinking, WHAT?! That's crazy, right? Because I am a Spinning instructor, and teach about 5 classes a week. Four miles should be no big deal.  But no. I have always hated running with a passion. It usually makes my ankles hurt, my knees ache, and my lower back throb as soon as I start picking up the pace. But for some reason, that stuff wasn't bothering me, and I think I was actually enjoying myself! But I stopped at 4 miles because my cross-trainers were starting to rub my ankles, not exactly the best running shoes. I hopped off the treadmill feeling pretty proud of myself for obtaining that small goal, and proceeded to my leg weights. I was still sore this morning in the calves from that run. But good stuff!

Saturday morning, I headed over to the Madison 51 Courthouse to sub a Spin class. Great group over there, we had a good class and I think I may have taught them a thing or two.

Sunday afternoon, I was back over at the Lakeland Courthouse for my 2:45 hour Spin class. I had spent the previous hour making a new playlist on my wonderful ipod 4.0 (see previous post about why I hate the upgrade). Synced the ipod. Got to the gym, and looked at playlist again, and only half of it was there. Wonderful. Had to throw some random songs in a play list and wing it. By the way, nobody at the gym could find the key to open the spin room, it took 15 minutes to find the key, so at least I had a little time to make up something to do in class. Went a little late to make up the time so that my people still get their Sunday hour of spinning in, then worked my shoulders and arms.

All in all, very successful weekend workout! And had myself some chocolate ice cream Sunday night. (Yes, it was Edy's Slow Churned with 1/2 the fat, but it was still ice cream!)

As of Monday morning, calves are still sore from that run on Friday! Might just have to do that again sometime....

Breaking the Rule

So I'm breaking the the unwritten cardinal rule to never blog about work. It is never, ever a good idea.

But I only have 2 days left at ESF, today and tomorrow. I have to say, it is bitter sweet. I have been here for over 5 years. This is my second home, here in my little grey cubicle staring at my double monitors working on various student loan issues. These people are like family. I definitely see them more than my own family. Occasionally, we wear jeans to work, and flip flops on most days. We even have cake once in a blue moon, and today since they are sending me off with a few extra hundred calories to celebrate my contribution to this place. We all have our cell phones conveniently placed beside our keyboard in case we get a personal call. Ipods and headphones are sitting around most desks as we make sure we have some tunes to listen to throughout the day - which is where I get more of my inspirations for new Spin classes. At any point in the day, you can hear people sitting around talking, and more than likely not about anything work-related. We all talk about what we have eaten for the day, the workouts we had the day before, some talk about their kids, others talk about somebody else's kids.

Needless to say, ESF has been such a great first job, and it was an extremely easy transition from full-time college student to full-time employee working 8 - 5. I am a little reluctant to leave the familiarity and the ease of this place, but it is time to move on. I would have been stupid not to take the opportunity that presented itself.

I start my new job on September 13th, and in the meantime, I will just be here and there. I have aspirations to paint the living room while I'm on vacation, but that probably won't work out since Labor Day weekend is coming up, and a final trip to see Dave Matthews is the following weekend.

As of Tuesday afternoon at 4:00, I will no longer be reporting in at 7:30 in the mornings at ESF. :(
To all my friends there, I'll see you when I see you, and Good Luck!