Well, I made all my planned morning runs (MWF – 3.5miles) but not much else. No lifting, no weight work.

I’ve run 10.5 miles this week so far. And walked an additional 3.5 miles. That’s 14 miles on these poor little feet. I’m hoping to put another 7 miles (hopefully all of running) on them tomorrow. I plan to run to the dog park with Little Dog and hope to run back with Mr. Dog. We’ll see. 21 miles in a week isn’t too shabby. I think I may aim for the same mileage next week.

I had to retire the bootcamp shoes for this session. And probably forever.

With three dogs it is just too hard on them and on Joshua to go to the dog park alone. They’re hard to get into and out of the dog park. And the timing sucks. Bootcamp is 530am to 630am. The dog park time is best this time of year from about 6am (when the dog park opens) until about 7am. Maybe I can head back when winter comes and the sun isn’t up until almost 7am? We’ll see.

So meanwhile, I’m upping my mileage as the weather has cooled down a bit (it will probably not break 100 this week, maybe, if we’re lucky!) and doing a lot of running with Little Dog. Her behavior (i.e. gnawing on my head or picking fights with the boys) is better with more exercise. So, this week’s goal is to run her to the dog park (about 3.5 miles) MWF and walk her on TR mornings. I may throw in some evening runs too, depending on my energy level. My energy level is getting better but still is not at the level I’m used to as I’ve been sick.

3.5 miles * 3 = 10.5 miles
I’m also going to try to run TO the dog park and then BACK from the dog park on Saturday for my long run so that is another 7 miles — 17.5 miles of running this week.

I’m also going to try to walk a couple of miles this week…maybe bump it to 20 miles of total foot time?

So I got an email from recruiter today about a Molecular Biology Laboratory Technician position.

I miss Molecular Biology.

However, this does make me wonder about pursuing an ASCP-MT certification. If I were to go back to Molecular, it’s not really necessary but if I were to stay in the clinical side of things, I’d really like that certification.

Of course, there is no guarantee that I could get this job given that my molecular skills are better than 5 years out of date and were never that impressive to begin with. Oh well.

To reply or not to reply?

Back home from Maine. I miss the weather and my friend. But not the cold weather or the couch. I liked Maine but home really is best. It’s where all my favorite things are – including the hubby (though he’s sick) and the doggers (even though they are insanely spazzy having been home with a sick hubby all weekend) and the cats (one of whom yacked something truly vile on the floor in my bathroom).

While in Maine, I did some shopping in the Old Port part of Portland – that was fun and a little spendy (I like to buy stuff!). I had a delicious lobster roll at Becky’s Diner followed by a whoopie pie the size of my face. YUM. I love Whoopie pie! Then we stopped at a little mom and pop pizza joint on the way home and I had pesto and chicken pizza.

That was Friday. On Saturday, I got up around 9am (after 10 hours of sleep) and went for a run. It’s SO friggin’ nice to run when it’s about 50F. I am simply dying for October/November in AZ when I can run at 50F and NOT at the 80F I was running at this morning! After my run, we went to Fort Williams (see pictures - but note that they are all just smashed in there, unsorted) and saw the lighthouse and the fort and played in the REALLY REALLY cold ocean at Willard Beach. Dinner was a delicious lobster tail and bacon-wrapped scallops feast. Yeah, with no veggies. Or carbs. Just protein. YUM!

Sunday I ran again and then we went to Freeport for more wandering around shopping fun (and more whoopie pie action). It was actually quite chilly there – maybe 70F at the warmest part of the day so I required my fleecy jacket. I’m very glad I remembered that – which is harder than you’d think given that it was nearly 100F when I left Phoenix at 10am on Thursday. Your brain often forgets things like jackets or warm socks when it’s 100F. My friend made dinner – stuffed shells lasagna. MMMMM!

I left on Monday and spent the day trying to recuperate and clean the house up a bit. The hubby has been sick since last Monday (he’s at the doctor now) so not much happened while I was gone. I did go running again this morning – further than I went in Maine but way more uncomfortable. It was 84F and 54% humidity at 5am this morning. I took Ripley for a 2.5mile jog, came home and got Indiana and went for a 2 mile walk with him. Then I came home and got Wylie and took another 2.5 mile jog with him.  That was about 7 miles, 90 minutes and 1100 calories. And here I am again, back at work. Go me!

*sigh*

I want to be a fit-blogger like Roni, the PastaQueen, Mizfit, etc, etc. I want to help people, share fitness/weight loss tips and hear from readers about their lives.

I suppose I could do it. I guess. But I don’t really know how. Or how to find the time. I would need to actually post more often and more in depth. I would need to be amazing, amusing and inspiring (more so than I already am, that is) and I would need to read and comment on other people’s sites. Especially if they commented on MY site. And I think I might have to leave Xanga to actually get anywhere.

But right now, for all that I WAAAAANT this, I think I will choose to continue on Xanga and live my life as it is now. It’s a bit full currently anyway. Maybe eventually I will make time for more bloggin?

Currently, I am:

• Integrating a new dog (Wylie) into our pack. That brings us to three cats and three dogs. It has also necessitated uping Little Dog’s exercise level. So I’m trying to take her jogging with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 0′freakin’dark’30 for a couple of miles. Tomorrow I’m going to try to jog to the dog park with her – 3.5 miles. And I’m trying to walk her at night – 30 minutes or so. This on top of her dog park (30 to 60 minutes a day) and playing in the backyard (15 minutes in the am and 30 minutes or more in the pm). She’s a machine.
• Getting ready for a trip to Portland, ME to visit a friend. Little Miss Amy there has been my friend since forever and a day and she had her baby boy about 8 or so weeks ago. Here’s hoping he’s outgrown colic! I’m planning to run every morning (maybe with her dogs) and maybe go for a walk with her in the evenings. I hope to go to the beach as well and maybe walk and/or run there just for the hell of it. I will also be eating a LOT of food. A LOT of it being seafood – lobster, clams, mussels, scallops, etc, etc.
• Waiting to hear about the program I applied to at Phoenix College. Applications are actually due September 11th (I turned mine in more than a week ago) and hopefully I should hear from them sometime SOON after that. But I’m not going to hold my breath to hear before October. Which may kill me yet! I want to get into the program (which starts in December and runs for 15 months) and get things sorted out for my life! At least this part of it, that is!
• I am still in bootcamp three days week. It’s hard, sometimes brutally so, but it is good for me, especially given that I haven’t been eating well or training much for my half marathon (benefits of having a pushy-ass dog that I am going to take running with me in the mornings, I guess, since she will be a spazzy BAD dog if I skip my run). Assuming I get into the program mentioned above, I will likely cease with the bootcamp sometime in November and have to go back to fitting in the gym and running as I can around school and work.
• I have instituted a chore list at home. It’s a little depressing but it is intended to keep me on track for doing about 10 to 15 minutes of housework in the morning and then the same amount (or maybe a little more) in the evening – but doing this amount EVERYDAY. In theory, this should prevent me from ever having to do hours and hours worth of crazy person style cleaning and should mean the house is nearly always guest and company ready. We’ll see how it goes. It’s been almost a week but now that I’m going out of town (from Thursday until Monday), it may be harder to get back into the swing of things. The best thing about it is the fact that I get to check things OFF on the list. It gives my mild OCD a boost and makes me happy (sort of). I also really really think that with having the new dog (I love Mr. Wiley!) and potentially getting into school, that I will NEEEEEEEED to have a very very strict regime at home to actually get anything, including homework accomplished! I must admit to being a little bit nervous about it right now – going back to school that is – it’s been a long time since I’ve gone to school and I’ve NEVER done it while working full time!

I think that’s most of what is going on right now. Anything new and exciting going on with you?

In the Kingdom of Kelly-dom, I’ve instituted a new policy while at work. It’s called taking it easy.

I’ve stopped (or at least tried to) cleaning up all the other messes in the lab that aren’t my responsibility. Even if I eventually have to take care of the problem, I’m now waiting until someone ASKS for help. No more being proactive about EVERYTHING.

I’ve also started taking 30 minutes for lunch as well as 2 – 15 minute breaks during the day. Rather than working for 8.5 hours straight, forgetting about lunch and wondering why my stomach hurts, I am now setting myself a schedule in which I stop every two hours and go outside (even when it’s 111F) and have a sit down with my book, a soda and a snack. This morning I had frosted shredded wheats and a Coke Cherry Zero on the steps outside while reading Dean Koontz.

Hopefully these two steps will help me being to stop dreading work quite so damn much. I may have to take other steps as well but this is a start!

Guess what?

We’re going to adopt Wylie!

Want want want want.

I’m supposed to call someone today who is interested in my foster dog.

And I don’t want to.
I have only had him for two days and I want him. Dammit.

So – what to do? Joshua hasn’t even met him. Shit, shit, shit. Do I want him just because I’m selfish and he’s cute? Or do I want him because he actually belongs in our little pack?

Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with mushrooms, spinach, feta and peppered turkey breast, served with bing cherries and french bread. And G2 gatorade from bootcamp.

Snack: 650mL sun tea (made in 30 min or less, I love AZ sunshine!) with two packets of True Lime and two packets of Splenda.

Lunch: Homemade chicken marsala (needs more mushrooms though), butternut squash with cinnamon butter, broccoli slaw with LF honey dijon dressing, raw veggies (mushrooms, carrots and orange pepper) with LF ranch dip. Bottle of water.

Snack: Krispy Kreme donut (yeah, like you could resist this either) and a Curves bar. Bottle of water.

Dinner: I haven’t had it yet, but I’m planning to have my feta and bacon stuffed chicken breast (new recipe that is GOOOOOD), french bread, raw veggies and either oriental veggies or peas from the freezer.

The weather must be cooling off because I feel like cooking more often!

Had my vacation. I love the White Mountains.

Took some pictures while on the 7.5 mile hike that became the 11 mile hike from hell…

Got a really nasty sunburn. I got burnt on Saturday. This is Monday evening. The burn is still maroon in places and hasn’t blistered or peeled yet.  Tomorrow going back to work is going to ROCK since the one time I put a bra on yesterday I nearly cried…is it appropriate to go to work without a bra?

Some pictures — I put them all up on Facebook and if I’m motivated, I may try to stick some up on flickr….