Treadmill Racing and Sad News.

I went to Nth Degree on Wednesday and the class was pretty small.  About five minutes before class, it appeared that the class would only be half full.  This means everyone would start on the treadmills and no one would start on the floor (the weight training portion).  I looked up and down the treadmills and was disappointed.  You see, I always want to workout next to someone faster and stronger than me.  It motivates me and I try to keep up with them.  I usually know who is faster, and I didn't see any of the usuals at class.

Then classmate #11 came in.  I don't know his name, but he's a guy (many are faster than me- but not all) and he is a good 10-15 years younger. BINGO.  I'd run with him before and I knew he was fast.  But what to do?  If I leave my treadmill, will he take my spot and leave me to do the floor workout alone?

I decided to put it all out there.  "I'll work out with you, ok?".  He looked glad to not be alone, but I didn't want the poor kid to thing some woman in her late 30's was hot for him.  "Your fast", I said matter of factly. "I'll be faster if I work out next to you".  He seemed to understand and seemed a little relieved.

It was a smart decision.  We flew through the workout at "sprinter" speeds.  Nth Degree instructions give three speeds, "walker", "runner" and "sprinter".  I started as a "Walker Plus".  I moved on to a "Runner"  then a "Runner Plus".  I'm now a Sprinter.  I'm barely a sprinter, but still, I'm a sprinter.This is a huge deal to me.

I also liked working out with this kid because he lifts heavy, as do I.  It really is so much more enjoyable to work out near someone who is also pushing themselves, and this was certainly the case.

Our usual dinner plans for Wednesday fell through, so we headed to a favorite local brewery.  The one that we go to every Thursday.  So of course, several members of the staff stopped by to say "You know today's Wednesday, right?.  Yeah, yeah, ha, ha.

I ordered the secret Boca Burger (it's not on the menu) with broccoli and a chipotle mayo.  I ate the sandwich open faced with a little of the mayo.  Yum.  We also ordered a pitcher of something dark.  I think it was a porter.  Absent the beer, it was under 300 calories.

I was off of work on Thursday, but sent the kids to daycare.  This was so I could work on painting the dressers and work table for my craft room.  I was busy from sun up to sun down.  Boot camp was canceled because most of the people couldn't make it.  Between spring break and  it being opening day for the Detroit Tigers, only Jenny and I could have gone.  We talked about working out together, but it was kind of chilly. In the end, I skipped my workout all together.

This was not smart, since Thursday is another night at the Brewery.  We met our neighbors there and they gave us some terrible news.  They are moving.

To some people, this would be unfortunate news.  To us, it's devastating.  They are some of our dearest, closet friends.  We had always hoped our boys would grow up together and continue being best friends.

We can't blame them at all.  They have been given an amazing opportunity, a great Northern Michigan town, a great job, great schools- their dream life. So are sad, but very happy for them.  We pushed aside our disappointment and focused on being happy for our friends.  We spent the evening talking about vacations we will take together this summer and when we will go and visit.

All this talk meant more beer.  A total of four pitchers for four adults.  How on earth did that happen?

Friday morning came way too fast.  I got on the scale and was 2 pounds heavier than the morning before.  great. Not entirely surprising, since I exceeded my daily caloric intake by 50%.

I did the work thing- it was a half day so that's good.  Tom was off and daycare was closed, so he was home with the boys.  After I got home, we had an opportunity to work on the paining some more.  The fat quarter of fabric also arrived.  The colors are all a match. Phew!

Here's a before picture.  I have to find an after...

I think we pretty much are done with the painting.  Now we have to do the poly and let it all dry.  I'm pretty pleased with how everything looks so far.

I planned to do 5 miles of fartleks, but could not think of a 5 mile route that I wanted to run.  I decided to break it up a bit.  I warmed up for a half mile and then did fartleks for another .75 mile, until I arrived at the local track.  There I did 2.5 miles of straights and curves (hard on straight-aways, easy on turns).  I wrapped that up and ran home at a "tempo" run pace.

Our middle school track is pretty crappy.

I stayed in lane 3 to avoid the potholes.  I had to take a picture of it for Tommy, since his favorite number, like all 3 year-olds that I have ever met, is 3.

For the straights and curves, my heart rate got to 160/161 for the straights and I made sure it stayed above 140 for the curve. This workout burned just over 500 calories for 5 miles.

The run itself was great, but there were a few distractions.  First, I am absolutely done and finished with headphones.  They drove me nuts.  Second, I lost my Lululemon headband.  Serves me right for spending $16.00 on a headband.  I retraced my steps and it was gone.  Someone else is now sporting a used headband. Enjoy your new find thief and may someone choke you with it. 

Afterwards, we hung out with the neighbors again.  We had cocktails and ordered pizza.  I don't even want to think about how many calories I went over. Still, it was a great night. Here's Mackie on Jenny's lap.  He just adores her! And boy does he need a hair cut!

It was a gorgeous evening, so I couldn't help but take a ton of pictures.  Mack was trying on Jenny's gardening gloves.

 Tom even got out his guitar.He needs a haircut too!

 Tommy was trying out his new shades. Oh, and yeah- haircut needed.

 And finally, Mack kicking back in the bed of the play truck.

I took a bunch of pictures of the neighbors too, but keep forgetting (or am to embarrassed) to ask if it's alright to post them.     I asked- here they are: