Monthly Archives: November 2013

The Tale Of Two Fitness Studios (or Knowing Where Your Home Is)

Posted on November 15, 2013 | Comments Off on The Tale Of Two Fitness Studios (or Knowing Where Your Home Is)

Yesterday I had adventures at two different fitness studios.

First, I went to SoulCycle for my spin class. I seriously love being there. I walked it and people know who I am. They ask me how I’m doing and how my job situation is. They really do know me there.

My class was with an instructor who hasn’t taught at my spin studio in a while (she teaches at Beverly Hills but was subbing for another instructor yesterday). Even though she hasn’t seen me in months, she remembered me. She asked me how I was and mentioned that I had looked good in class.

When I was leaving class, another instructor who’s class I’ve taken was there. I had talked with her a few months ago about my hip issues, and as soon as she saw me she had asked me about it and if I had my next hip surgery scheduled.

Then as I was leaving, one of the front desk people who I know was outside and we chatted for a minute. I mentioned how my dad is coming to town this weekend (as you are reading this I’m probably getting him at the airport) and how he is coming with me to SoulCycle on Saturday. She got so excited and told me that she would be working on Saturday and was looking forward to meeting my dad.

It feels amazing to work out somewhere where people know you and care about you.

On the somewhat opposite end of the spectrum, I went to a grand opening of another fitness studio last night. I’m not going to mention the name of it because I’m sure what happened last night is not representative of what it will be like there and I want to give them another chance.

But I went to the opening night event, and there was nothing there for me to do. There was no information about the studio and the classes. No schedule to look at. And even in the swag bag, no free pass (I’m sure that was an oversight and I tweeted at the owner to see if I could come check out a class for free sometime).

I didn’t feel like I belonged there at all. I think most of the people who were there were friends and family of the owner and instructors and for the first 30 minutes that I was there I didn’t talk to a single person!

Finally, another blogger who was there came up to me and we started chatting. Turns out, she felt just as left out and alone as me! And she’s also a SoulCycle person! She and I both ended up leaving early because there wasn’t really anything to do there except drink and have the appetizers that were being served.

It was just such a funny contrast between the two places. I don’t know if the second studio will feel more comfortable to me one day after I take a class or two.  But what I do know is that SoulCycle feels like home to me and I’m so unbelievably grateful for that!

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Default ThumbnailI’ve Got Some Follow Through (or I Said I’d Do It So I Did) Default ThumbnailFeeling Like I’m Home (or My Return To Spinning) Default ThumbnailSharing My Soul (or My Dad’s First Spin Class) Default ThumbnailSpinning Machine (or Continuing My New Healthy Addiction) Default ThumbnailKicking Butt (or Feeling Extra Tough In Spin Class) Default ThumbnailTrying A New Spin (or Knowing When A Place Does Feel Like Home)

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

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Building Momentum (or Remembering High School Science)

Posted on November 14, 2013 | Comments Off on Building Momentum (or Remembering High School Science)

Think back to high school science for a minute. Do you remember Newton’s first law of motion? In case you don’t, here’s basically what it is. An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion.

First of all, Mom and Dad, aren’t you proud that I remember something from high school science? Secondly, I’ve been trying to use this principle in my life a lot lately.

I’m not just talking about the obvious movement of my body with the workouts I’ve been doing lately. But yes, I am having an easier time working out the more I do it and I’m able to push myself a lot more than I used to.

But I’m also noticing that some things that have been very tough for me to deal with in the past are getting easier (and fun) once I start doing them. I don’t know if it’s because of my panic disorder or my touch of OCD, but I have an issue with change. I’ve mentioned this before when I couldn’t bring myself to buy a new alarm clock (I still haven’t been able to do that). But recently, my e-reader died and I had to get a new one. I used to have one by Sony, but I switched to the Kindle because there are more books available on Amazon than Sony. But the change was tough. I did have some minor panic attacks about the new e-reader, but now that I’ve had it for almost a week, I really love my new Kindle.

I’ve also talked about my issues with getting rid of clothes. But I’ve made some serious steps there as well. I’ve got one bag of old clothes in my closet that I will be taking over to Goodwill soon and I’m going to work today on getting rid of more clothes.

And I’ve even been able to get rid of other things in my life I don’t really use anymore. I had a Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit that I used to love to use (now that I’m more into spinning and my 5Ks I haven’t used it in a while). Well, did you know that Amazon allows you to sell them your old electronics? You just submit the items online that you want to sell, they give you an estimated price and free shipping label, and after everything is reviewed, they credit your Amazon account so you can use that money on a future purchase. I sold Amazon my Wii, Wii Fit, and some old DVDs and got enough to pay for half of my Kindle! And just yesterday I sent Amazon another 25 DVDs that I don’t watch anymore!

While I’m decluttering, I’m also trying to be careful and not too over zealous. At some point while I was living at my last apartment, I accidentally got rid of a box that had all the pictures I took in high school and college (I didn’t own a digital camera until my senior semester of college). I don’t know how I got rid of it, but I’m thinking it might have been misplaced when I moved to my house.

I don’t want to get rid of memories like that again. So while I am staying in motion right now, I’m also trying to stop and make sure that I’m not doing something I’ll regret later.

But I do have to say that I’m really loving having extra room in my closet and dresser and it’s nice to also not have as many DVDs on display in my living room.

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Saving

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The Sorority Nobody Wants To Belong To (or Getting Support From Strangers)

Posted on November 13, 2013 | Comments Off on The Sorority Nobody Wants To Belong To (or Getting Support From Strangers)

I wanted to share another story from the weSPARK 5K this past Sunday.

After the 5K was over, I spent some time at the expo by the finish line. I was having some serious shin splints (I think it was due to the crazy hill) and I wanted to stretch for a bit before I sat in my car to drive home.

I decided to watch the medals being given out to the winners of the 5K and 10K and the top 3 finishers in each age group. They didn’t announce the times for the winners, but I know that they finished extremely quickly.

As I was watching, the woman who got 2nd place in her age group approached me and asked me if I would take a photo of her and her friend. Of course I said yes. The friend of the 2nd place winner (sadly, I never got either of their names) had never done a 5K before this race, so they were both celebrating.

I congratulated them both and then noticed the hats that they both were wearing which said that they were breast cancer survivors. I mentioned to them that my mom is going through treatment for breast cancer, and it was like instantaneously we were friends.

They both asked me what type of cancer and what stage it is. They wanted to know what treatments she’s had already and what treatments she has coming up. And they wanted to know how she was doing. I shared her information with them and they both shared their stories with me.

While I’ve noticed that since I’ve shared my mom’s story with others that people have been sharing their stories with me. There are friends that I never knew had family members with breast cancer who have told me how well their family members have been doing. I know this might sound horrible, but it’s almost like now I’m a member of a secret club or sorority. As soon as someone who has gone through this learns what my family is going through, they take me under their wing.

It’s kind of nice because this is a big unknown for my family and I appreciate getting advice and hearing stories of how well people are doing after cancer.

I know that sometimes it seems like everything is about breast cancer and not about other cancers (and I’ve read plenty of stories about pink items not going to support breast cancer charities). But I appreciate that so many people are willing to share their stories with me and giving me and my family support.

And to the ladies that I spoke to on Sunday, I’m sorry that I didn’t get your names and properly introduce myself. But thank you for sharing your stories with me and for wishing my mom the best.

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Posted in Family, Health, Tough Stuff

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5K #8 (or I Conquered The Big Hill)

Posted on November 12, 2013 | Comments Off on 5K #8 (or I Conquered The Big Hill)

This past Sunday was 5K #8, the weSPARK 5K at Universal Studios. This was my 3rd year doing this race, so I felt pretty prepared for it. This was also the end of my crazy 2 weeks doing 3 5Ks.

On Saturday after my work shift, I drove out to the valley to pick up my race number.

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I noticed while I was picking up my number that the race course was different from the past 2 years. This year, I wouldn’t get to walk past Bates Motel/House (where I worked at Halloween Horror Nights for 3 years). There was also some changes to the giant hill. The start/finish in the past were right next to the hill, so you went down it at the start of the race and up it at the very end. This year, the hill was toward the end of the course. You went up it and immediately down it toward the finish line. Also, in the past there was a flat street that you walked on in the middle of the uphill, this year it was during the downhill.

I was a little annoyed by the course changes, but since I knew this course had the hill, I wasn’t planning on worrying about my time so much this race. I got my PR a week prior and this time all I wanted to focus on was taking one break on the uphill (the last year I took 2 breaks).

The morning of the race was very cold, but bright and sunny.

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I knew it would warm up quickly so I wasn’t wearing a sweatshirt or long-sleeved shirt. Before I knew it, the different groups were getting organized by the starting line. I found the area for 5K walkers and got a quick before picture in.

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The race this year started by going next to the LA River. It isn’t very pretty, but it’s relatively flat. Next we went past Amblin/Dreamworks. There were security guards yelling at everyone that there were no pictures allowed, so I couldn’t get a picture of the E.T. crossing sign like last year.

Next, we headed to the backlot sets. We went past the courthouse from “Back To The Future” and there was one of the DeLorean out there for a photo-op. There was a huge line, so I took a photo while walking past it.

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We did more walking around the backlot and sound stages (I was focused on walking and didn’t take any pictures for this part). And before I knew it, the giant hill was approaching.

It starts out like this.

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You go around a corner and think you are getting close and then there are about 4 sections that look like this.

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It was a much longer hill than the past years (due to not walking through the Bates Motel/House section). We also walked up to the top of the hill instead of stopping toward the top where the finish line used to be. My hips were killing me and I was pretty out of breath, but I kept going. And before I knew it, I saw where everyone was turning around. I seriously appreciated the cheering section at the top of the hill by the water station. I turned around to go back down the hill without ever taking a break!

On the way back down, I noticed a golf cart heading by me. Lea Thompson, who was the celebrity who started the race, was in the back of the cart and waved right at me. Of course I took the opportunity for a picture while I walked behind her.

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I’m kind of curious to see how the official race that was taken at this moment will look.

We walked through the little Europe section and I knew I had to be close to the finish line. I looked at my watch at realized that I was going to finish either right at or right under an hour. That’s significantly faster than I though I could do with the hill.

Finally, I made it to the end! My watch said 59:37, but I know that I started it a little early and stopped it a little late. So I went over to where the printed official race results were posted (which, by the way, I love that this is being done at the race now).

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59:27! Another 5K in under an hour! It’s only about a minute slower than the Hard Rock Cafe 5K and that one was on a very flat course!

I got a quick victory photo with my medal.

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I’m so happy that I got 5K #8 done and with an amazing time! My next (and probably last) 5K for the year isn’t for a few weeks, so I have time to recover and hopefully get a bit faster. But for now, here’s to #8!

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By the way, there’s still some time to help me reach my fundraising goal for this race! Donations are being accepted though the end of this month!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff

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Acting Like A Duck (or Reminding Myself That Positivity Is Important)

Posted on November 11, 2013 | Comments Off on Acting Like A Duck (or Reminding Myself That Positivity Is Important)

I know I’ve had a pretty bad attitude for the past week. A lot of that has to do with being sick. I’m a big baby when I get sick like that and I definitely get into a funk. I’m almost better now, but I’m still taking some decongestants at nighttime so I can get as much sleep as possible (I’m waking up in the middle of the night out of breath because I close my mouth and try to breathe through my nose).

But this week, I’m trying to get back into the positive mindset that I want to be in. Even though my work situation is still pretty bad, I’m going to keep my head down and ignore the names my co-worker calls me throughout the day. My boss has said that the next time he hears her call me a name she’ll be fired. But my co-worker now calls me names quietly so he doesn’t hear her. And yes, I’ve thought about running a tape recorder the entire shift hoping to catch her, but when I’ve tried that in the past it didn’t pick it up.

New job prospects keep coming my way. I’ve now done 3 phone interviews for 3 different jobs. 1 job has had me do a writing test and I’m still waiting to hear if I made it to the next step. Another job has also had me do a writing test and I’ve made it to the next round, but they don’t know exactly when they will be getting to that. And I’m taking time every day to apply for more jobs so that in the near future, I can be working somewhere where I am respected and not verbally harassed during my shift.

And while I’m still dealing with a little guilt about not being near my mom while she goes through her chemo treatments, I can’t do anything about that either, so I need to get past that feeling. I talk to my mom pretty much every day, so I’m being there as much as I can. And I will see my dad this upcoming weekend so I can be supportive for him too.

And finally, the thing that really turned around my bad mood into a good mood was the 5K that I did yesterday. I will do a full recap tomorrow, but I’m beyond excited that even though the race had the killer hill, I did another 5K in under an hour!

So while sometimes it seems like everything is keeping me down, if I stay down and work hard, all that negative stuff just runs off my back and the positive stuff stays with me!

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Posted in Family, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

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2 Out Of 3 Done (or I’m Surprised I’ve Done Well So Far)

Posted on November 8, 2013 | Comments Off on 2 Out Of 3 Done (or I’m Surprised I’ve Done Well So Far)

Back when I signed up for 5K #6, #7, and #8 I had no idea how close together they were scheduled. I wasn’t really paying attention to the dates. But once I realized that all 3 5Ks would be within 2 weeks, I started to freak out a little.

I’ve never done so many races in a row. And this grouping included 2 races within the same week.

Now, I do walk around my neighborhood and get close to 3 miles when I walk, but there’s something different about a race. You are all hyped up and push yourself.

And I was scared that I would push myself too far and wouldn’t be able to do all 3 races.

Well, besides this killer cold I have right now, I’m feeling pretty awesome! I thought I’d be sore, but I’m making sure I take a pain pill before the 5K so I don’t hurt too much afterwards.

I’m not sure how I’m going to feel after Sunday, but what I do know is that if I feel horrible afterwards, it’s more likely due to my cold and not from the 5K. If I can do 2 races in 1 week, I can do this next one which is just over a week after the last.

I don’t think that I’m going to be making weekly 5Ks a regular occurrence. First of all, they are a bit expensive. Each race is about $30 and that adds up. Also, there aren’t that many races that I want to do. I’ve been on the lookout for 1 more race to add this year (so I can do 10 in 2013), but honestly, all the races I can do don’t seem interesting to me (or are on crazy hills). Also, with some of these 5Ks, I’m missing days at work. While my boss doesn’t mind, I’m basically losing money by doing them. This might change when I find a new job, but for now I have to work around the schedule I have now.

I have signed up for 2 races for 2014 so far, and it turns out that they are within a week of each other. So I know I’ll have another back to back race adventure in the spring, but I’m going to try to be a bit more mindful of race dates in the future.

Wish me luck with 5K #8 please! It is the one with the crazy hill and I’m still not able to breathe through my nose yet. I promise to recap the race next week!

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Laying Low (or This Will Be A Boring Post)

Posted on November 7, 2013 | Comments Off on Laying Low (or This Will Be A Boring Post)

I wish I had something interesting to say today, but sadly, I don’t.

I’m getting better from being sick, but I’m still very congested. The one thing that is worrying me is that I’m having trouble catching my breath right now, and that will be bad if I’m still like that on Sunday when I have my next 5K.

I went to work yesterday, and even though I felt pretty sick, I got through the day. I only worked a 5 hour shift so it was manageable. And I was the only person working yesterday (besides my boss), so nobody was there to mind that I was coughing and blowing my nose every few minutes.

The job hunt for a new job is going well. I’ve now had 2 phone interviews and for both of those jobs, I made it to the next step. Both had a next step of a writing sample, and I completed both last night. Now I just have to wait and see.

While I’ve been sick, I’ve been checking in with my mom as well. I feel horrible complaining to her about me being sick because I know she’s going through something worse than me right now. Fortunately, my mom doesn’t seem to mind that I’m whining about a cold and a fever while she’s tired and achy from chemo.

I’ve also been off on food and workouts lately because of this cold. While I’m sure I could workout, the fact that I’m having trouble breathing while sitting down makes me think that hard cardio probably wouldn’t be the best choice for me right now. I’m hoping to get in a spin class before the 5K, but I’m not too sure that will happen.

Food is another weird situation. I’m barely eating right now (I’m not hungry and food tastes weird), but I’ve gained 6 pounds since Monday. I know that it must be water weight (or sick weight) but it bothers me. It seems like everyone else in the world loses weight while they are sick, I have to gain it. So I’m trying to avoid the scale until I feel 100% better.

That’s my update for now. Hopefully I’ll have something more interesting to share tomorrow!

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff

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Taking A Break To Be Sick (or Hitting A Road Bump)

Posted on November 6, 2013 | Comments Off on Taking A Break To Be Sick (or Hitting A Road Bump)

On Monday, I woke up feeling a bit funny. Since I had a late start to my shift that day, I figured I’d spend the morning taking it easy and hopefully would feel better before I had to leave.

I went to work, but my head felt fuzzy and I just didn’t feel right. I spent most of my lunch break sleeping in my car. I also started to feel a bit feverish (I was shivering like I was cold but when I touched my skin it was burning up). After being at work for 4 hours, I told my boss that I had to head home.

To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember driving home too much. But I do remember taking my temperature as soon as I was inside (it was 102), and then going immediately to bed. I slept on and off all night, and when I woke up yesterday, I still felt awful.

So I took another day off of work. I still had a fever and I know that my boss doesn’t want anyone sick to be in the office (because we all seem to catch illnesses from each other).

I tried to stay productive while I was home, but while I had the fever it was difficult. I did have a phone interview for a new job, and that went well enough that I made it to the next step (which is a writing sample test). I have until Friday morning to complete the next step, so I’m going to take him with that.

I also got some e-mail responses to other jobs I’ve applied for. I should have at least one more phone interview this week. That’s making me happy.

Before I left work on Monday, I did talk with my boss again. I had to ask him if he would be my job reference for my current job. He finally did realize then how serious I was about having to take myself out of the situation at my job. He asked me to promise that I would at least stay there through this week, and I know that I will do that.

But I’m still working on putting myself first. I’m doing that by looking for a better job and I’m doing that by taking time off to be sick. As of right now, it is my plan to go in for my shift today. The fever is gone and while I’m still congested, that can be managed with medicine. But at least I did get some steps done while I was out to make sure that I am on the road to a better day job for me.

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff, Work

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5K #7 (or I Was Prepared For The Worst And Got The Best)

Posted on November 5, 2013 | 4 comments

This past Saturday was 5K #7, the first annual Hard Rock Cafe Hollywood 5K.

But before I talk about the 5K, I want to come clean about something on here. I’ve been posting about 5Ks for a while now, but I’ve never discussed my times on here. I’ve only mentioned if I got a better time than I did previously. That’s because I’ve been embarrassed about how long it takes me to do a 5K. I have lots of friends who do 5Ks and they talk about how they want to get under 30 minutes or 25 minutes.

Well, I’ve been dreaming about getting a 5K under 1 hour. I haven’t had a 5K under an hour in a very long time (possibly 4 or 5 years). Most of my 5Ks this year have been around 1:01 or 1:02, so I’ve been close (5K #6 was at 1:03:15 with all the hills).

Now that I’ve come clean about my race times, back to my race recap!

I had signed up for this race a while ago because it sounded fun and had almost of the same race course as the Hollywood Half 5K (which I really enjoyed). But the week before the race, I noticed in an email that they had sent to me that there was a 18 minute mile pace requirement! Based on my past 5Ks, I’m closer to a 20.5 minute or 21 minute mile. I’ve seen the sweeper vans pick people up from the course on other races, but it’s never happened to me before. But now I was terrified that I was going to be disqualified due to my slow time at this race. I tried to forget about it, but I was seriously having nightmares about it.

On Friday after work, I went down to Hollywood and Highland to pick up my race number and shirt from the Hard Rock Cafe. I had a chance to talk to one of the race organizers, and she reassured me that they would not have a sweeper van coming to pick up slow racers. I didn’t have to worry about the 18 minute mile pace time. As long as I could finish within 2 hours I was ok.

I was much happier after hearing that and was starting to get excited again for the race.

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The race had a 7am start time, plus I needed to give myself enough time to drive over and park, so I was planning on getting up pretty early (at least for me). I was terrified that I was going to oversleep, so my alarm looked like this.

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Fortunately, when the 5:00am alarm went off, I jumped out of bed. I was still a bit nervous for the race, but I kept reminding myself that I didn’t have to worry about pace time.

I drove to Hollywood and Highland again for the race while it was still very dark out. But many of the buildings on Hollywood Blvd. were lit up so that was pretty cool.

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I got a pre-race photo (I look so red because I am illuminated from the Hard Rock Cafe sign).

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And before I knew it, we were lining up at the start line to start the race. Just before the start gun went off, the sun started to come up.

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It was actually really nice! A majority of the racers were runners, so pretty much everyone was either in front of me or passed me as some point. Since the race was an out and back one, I watched people as they flew past me headed toward the finish line (the guy who got 1st in this race did it in under 15 minutes).

I focused on keeping a steady pace and not stressing about my time. I was so focused that I actually missed seeing the 1 mile marker! I like to check my time around then just to get an idea of my pace. But when I saw the turn around point, I checked my time. And shockingly, I was on pace to be at just under an hour!

I didn’t want to get too excited, but I focused on maintaining the pace that I had done the first half with. I just paid attention to my music and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

All of the sudden, I thought I saw the finish line coming up ahead of me. I checked my watch out of curiosity, and I was still on pace to be under an hour! Somehow, I sped up in the last part (maybe because of the excitement), and I crossed the finish line. The official clock was somewhere in the range of 59 minutes, so I knew I had done it in under an hour for sure. My watch said 58:34, but I wanted to seem my official time.

First, I had to get my super awesome medal.

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Best medal I’ve ever gotten!

Finally, I headed over to the board with all the official times on it. And when I found my name, I knew that my time was amazing!

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I did this 5K in 58:32! That’s almost 5 minutes faster than the 5K I had done 6 days earlier!

I’m still in shock that I got my 5K under an hour! I have another 5K this upcoming Sunday, but since it’s the weSPARK walk with the crazy hill, I’m not too focused on what my time will be (I’m still hoping to get closer to my fundraising goal if any of you can donate a dollar or two).

I was so prepared to be disqualified for this race and it ended up being the best race I’ve done in a very long time! I’m so happy that this was a positive experience and I plan on doing this race again next year!

5K #7 is done!

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Low Key Halloween (or Costume Flashback)

Posted on November 4, 2013 | Comments Off on Low Key Halloween (or Costume Flashback)

My Halloween wasn’t all too exciting. First of all, I had a full shift at work. We usually work evening shifts on Thursdays but we switched to an early shift so we’d all have time to go out after work (plus, we didn’t want to be calling people while they were out trick-or-treating with their kids).

Work was ok. The co-worker who hates me was not as mean to me as she was the other day. She still mumbled whenever I said something and made it seem as if I was completely unwelcome at work, but the horrible name calling did stop. I’m applying for new jobs every day, but it’s very hard to find something that pays enough and has the flexibility for auditions. But I’m trying.

I did dress up on Halloween. I figured why not? But I did pick a costume that didn’t look too outrageous while I was working. I decided to go as Minnie Mouse.

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Yes, I wore the hooded scarf I bought the last time I was at Disneyland! While I was working, I just kept the hooded scarf off to the side (I really couldn’t make phone calls while I was wearing it). And without the hooded scarf, my outfit seemed pretty normal so I blended in with my work (where only 2 other people dressed up).

This technically is a repeat costume for me since I went as Minnie Mouse for Halloween once as a little kid.

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I think if I could combine the dress I wore as a kid with my hooded scarf, that would be an amazing costume!

After work, I met some friends at Bodega Wine Bar (where I had my 30th birthday party). We were there during happy hour so we took advantage of the cheap drinks and food. While there were a couple of people dressed up for Halloween at the bar, not everyone was in costume.

After some drinks and food, we all headed home. I didn’t want to be up too late since I had an early shift at work the next morning, plus I wanted to be off the road before there were a lot of drunk drivers out. I was home around 9:30 and enjoyed the rest of my Halloween relaxing and watching “Grey’s Anatomy”.

While in some ways I wish I had had a crazy fun Halloween night, I’m okay that I did something low-key. Halloween can be stressful and right now, I don’t need to add any more stress to my life.

The only regret I have about my Halloween is that I didn’t get too many opportunities to wear a costume this year. I missed out on my favorite Halloween party this year so that was one fewer costumed outing than I thought I’d have this year. I’ll just have to make up for it next year.

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