After skipping karate Thurs and doing Yoga instead, and laying low this weekend (other than cleaning the house), my neck/shoulder feels much better! I think the acupuncture was KEY.

Monday I went out for a run, about 2.25 miles. At .75 my neck started to twitch but it wasn’t actually painful so I kept going and even added a set of pushups at the end without trouble. Tuesday night is usually karate, but it is a testing night so I figured I’d have one last day of recuperation. My sensei it seems had other plans. She called last night and said Wendy and I are both ready for testing. So quickly ran to a Monday night karate class with a different teacher to get some extra review in before the test. As luck would have it we were the only ones there and he helped us with technique one-on-one and found little tweaks here and there no one had found before. Because we usually practice in front of the same people, and learned from the same people, we made many of the same mistakes. Now I have to remember all the corrections for tonight’s test! This will take me to green belt. I probably won’t have photos this time. The other half of the family will be at the gym while we are testing. It’s a shame because there are at least 4 people testing for black belt, so they should be presenting some fun tricks tonight.

While we were in Tennessee, our sensei had a BBQ at her house. Because we missed it, and because she has been so generous with us, we’re having her for dinner Fri night. Another mom with 2 girls who used to be in the same karate school who I am friends with is coming. She and I enjoy cooking together. Indian food was requested - and curry and aloo gobi she shall get!

My laptop is dying. It’s quite sad. I thought it was totally dead, but it turns out it was the monitor, and when light hit it just right I realized it was working. So I am hooked up to an external monitor until the new one comes. I’m almost out of memory and it keeps doing weird things - 5 years old, it’s time. Thanks for some great time, Gateway, but I’m on to Dell now.

If you are in my area, a day-long health and wellness event will take place in St Pete during National Yoga Month. It’s called Energize Tampa Bay, and they’ve secured the PUSH dance club space for the day. I volunteered to design the logo and web site. The web site is a Wordpress work in progress, but check it out if you want…

I’m (not so) secretly hoping the Hoola Monsters will come perform!

Saturday I was out on a boat all day. I think the closest I got to exercise was climbing the ladder up and down the bridge to get cold water and munchies. It was actually a bit of an adventure. My husband and I were invited on a boat by a woman I just met for her birthday. Since we did not know her friends, it was basically a group of strangers. Sometimes Brian will shy away from a situation like that. In this case, we decided - what the heck?! and packed up some chips and salsa, tequila and run, sunscreen and towels, and hit Clearwater beach.

Sunday I woke up and did some gardening. Pulling weeds and steaking up tomato plants totally counts as exercise! And the kids are out of town, so I spent the rest of the day with Brian - just the 2 of us.

Monday I did a little bit of upper body, abs and Zumba. I learned the Shakira Waka Waka dance for the first time. It was also International T-Shirt day. Did you know that? Do camis count? I had on a white cami under my shortie jacket thing.

Today I have an appointment with an OBGYN who has laser hair removal in his office. I’m scared about the pain, but it’s nice that a real doctor is doing it! No karate tonight because it is a testing night (and I’m not testing). I could go through all the motions, but with Wendy being away I’ll just stay home with Brian.

I don’t think I missed a single Juneathon day last year, so I am a bit sad about missing last Sat. Oh well.

Sat/Sun - pushups and tub scrubbing

Mon - Full gym workout, karate at night

Tues - walking for an hour in the AM with a friend followed by core workout at the gym

Wed - Yoga at home (DVR)

Thurs - karate in the PM.

Just to keep Juneathon updated…

We just started a Netflix trial and I am watching season 1 of Weeds for the first time. Quite entertaining. I requested Time Travelers Wife, because I LOVE the book but never saw the movie, and Valentine’s Day. Lighter fair than the Action Adventure I usually enjoy. (Like the movie Memento. LOVED that! Have you seen it?)

I did not work out Thurs AM, but I went to karate Thurs PM. My friend has a daughter the same age as my daughter, and they used to take karate together in the same program Wendy and I take karate together. They got to the point of being Black Belt candidates, and then their schedules shifted, life got in the way, and they haven’t been in about 7 months. We asked them to join us Thurs night for a refresher. Mom said she was exhausted, but her daughter would come. But GO MOM, she kicked off her heels (literally) and did the 30 min warm up with us in her work clothes (whispering “Thank Goodness for Lycra” when doing the splits.) She left her daughter after that, and she worked on forms with our class all night. Our senei did not go easy on her or her memory (not that we expected her to.) I think we all had a good time and I hope they come back next Thurs when Wendy will be out of town and I have to go all alone.

This morning I hit the gym. I actually woke up too late for Fri Core Class, but when I got there and saw they were doing a paper plate workout I was fine with that. Hurts my back and neck!

I did bent over flies, pushpus on an upsidedown BOSU, a bunch of arm machines (wide chest press, incline press, etc.), practiced forms for about 15 mins, back to upper body with press and flies while lying on bench, bicep curls (with 20 lbs/ea for the first time!), seated tricep with one 20 lb weight, and some shoulders with 8lb free weights. For abs I did reverse crunch lying on the bench and inclined crunches with an 8lb med ball. Did a couple sun salutation stretches, some flexibility stretches, plank and side plank to finish off.

I’m used to taking the weekend off - but of course it is Juneathon, so I’ll have to find something fun to do tomorrow. Maybe gardening. Or bathtub scrubbing. (yipee)

TGIF Girls!

2010 goal update: 1370 crunches, 30 minutes of plank remaining

Today I went to the park to do the Week 1, Day 1: Speed Workout from The Fitnessista web site. I actually cut it a bit short, and did this:

5 min warm up
-Sprint for 45 seconds
-Jog for 1 minute
-Burpees for 30 seconds
-Jog 1 minute
-Walking lunges with knee lift 30 seconds
-Jump squats for 30 seconds
-Jog 1 minute
-Bench tricep dips for 30 seconds (use bleacher or do on the ground with legs bent or straight out in front)
-Jog 2 minutes
-Sprint for 45 seconds
-Mountain climbers for 45 seconds
-Jog or walk 2 minutes (easy)
-Sprint 1 minute
-Jog (easy!) 5 minutes

I wore Alice’s running sunglasses and her stopwatch. I also wore Yoga paws so I could do Burpees and stuff on the track around the park without getting duck poop or other stuff on my hands.

I was so lucky to get to the park and see my friend Julie from the gym walking, and she agreed to do the workout with me! I could have gone another 15 mins since I had a partner - I’m externally motivated like that. But we finished with a sweaty walk together.

I tried a new cami for karate last night (under my gi). It is from Maidenform. There is a shaping layer to keep you held in, and then another layer on top that is more flowy, and it has foam cups. I don’t know if it would be enough support for me to run in, but for karate it was great. I usually wear a bra, a tank and then my gi top, so this was like wearing one less piece.

Happy Juneathon!