Holy Rain much????

I know I live on the "Wet Coast" but holy rain batman!  It's been raining pretty much since 8am this morning, and not just a light little sprinkle but a downpour most of the day.  I gave my umbrella to a train buddy this morning as she forgot her's and had several meetings she had to walk to in downtown and at that point it wasn't yet raining.  I knew I had another one in my desk drawer so I didn't think it was that big a deal.  Until the train pulled into the station, I got off the train and as I was walking to the escalator the heavens opened.  With no umbrella I decided to cheat and take the skytrain to work.  I can walk to work from the train station in about 14 minutes, the sky train takes bout 8 minutes, not much of a time savings but the pay off is the time spent outdoors.  The skytrain station I get off at is underground and when I get off and walk through the underground mall, I literally pop out across the street from my work buildings back door.  Nice and easy for when you don't want to arrive at work looking like  a drenched rat!

I've challenged myself to get out of my office and walk for at lest 30 minutes each day on my lunch.  I really, really, really debated doing it today.  It seemed like every time I looked out my office window, the rain was coming down sideways.  I'd look down onto the street (I'm on the 3rd floor) the water was running down the street.  I finally decided to heck with it, a little rain never hurt anyone right?  Right?  Well now it didn't hurt but I was soaken wet, and cold when I got back to the office from my walk. My umbrella was soaked, my jacket was soaked and my shoes were squelching there was so much water in them.  But I walked, for 32 minutes, I got up off of my chair and moved my body! 

When it came time to come home and I put my runners back on they were still quite wet so I figured what the heck, my feet are already wet and I need to get my daily steps in so I walked down to the train station.  Even with my umbrella I was a drowned rat by the time I got to the train.  The rain even affected my commute home as the train had to crawl along the tracks at a couple of places due to issues with the tracks.  I got into my home station cold, wet and hungry.  I decided to bypass my usual Thursday night gym workout and just go home I was feeling so miserable.

I got home and was starting to feel guilty about not going to the gym when I realized I had a workout at home I could do.  A few weeks ago at Costco I bought a kickboxing/killer abs dvd set and I hadn't yet cracked it open.  It's 1 20 minute workout so I could easily fit it in while dinner cooked.  I'm so glad I did!  I had such a good workout from it.  A much better choice then sitting on my butt on the coach feeling guilty.  Yeah for healthy choices!!!!

Big fat Liar!

I am a big fat liar and I have to apologize. After saying I would be better at blogging, I didn't blog at all.  To be honest the work change was at first hard, longer hours to start with.  I leave the house at 610am and I get home around 630pm.  BUT I love what I'm doing and I would not change the last 10 months for anything in the world. 

I also wasn't blogging as I wasn't doing anything.  I was the queen of denial....I had NO time to work out..I didn't NEED to be accountable....I didn't HAVE to stay on track....   We all know how that goes and it just simply is BS.  Full of denials and excuses. 

Well I'm back on track.  I went back to Weight Watchers in January and started walking from the train to my office and back in the afternoon ( I had been taking the sky train so I only had to walk about a block.  I'm now walking a little over a kilometre each way).

I've been really successful since my return to WW and to my activity.  I still don't get to the gym often but I'm walking and I'm moving and to me that's what counts.  I found a great website called mapmywalks.com  it gives me a detailed map of where I can walk, tracks the mileage and when I get back I can enter my time and it tells me how hard I'm working.  I actually just downloaded their APP the other day so now it maps me when I walk with my phone in the my pocket.  The only problem is that I don't have an iphone or android so the app is a little shaky when mapping me out.  From looking at the map,  you would think I walk like a drunken sailor trying to find his sea legs :-)

Once I figure out how to embed the map I'll do so, but for now you'll have to take my word for it ;-)

How's it going?

Hi Everyone,
I know I haven't been the best at keeping my blog up to date, but life has been difficult the past few months. I'm finally organized and happy and back on the fitness and exercise plan so all is good.

I've had a hard time with work the past few months, I just haven't been happy and work has, well it's been work. My mom always said that when work become work, it's time to find new work. I wasn't exactly looking for work, but it just so happens that a tremendous opportunity came up. After a lot of consideration, a lot of conversation with my awesome husband, and the advice of a couple of people I made the decision.

After 18 years of working in the Travel Industry, 15 of it with the same company, I've taken a new job. Not just any new job, something entirely different.

Now any of you who have been hanging with me for any length of time, know about my passion for the battle against breast cancer. I've walked the 60k's in 2 days a couple of times. I've been a team captain for several years for the CBCF CIBC Run for the cure. I've volunteered for them for a few years and I have been the volunteer run director for a couple of years.

Well, as of April 18th, I will be joining the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation for a 14 month contract as their Manager of Volunteer Development. I am so excited about my new role!!!

I'll be working in Vancouver, and thanks to the West Coast Express, I'll be having a great daily opportunity to get in daily exercise. The train station is about 15 blocks from my new office. Almost 2km's in each direction, I'll be walking (quickly) as I'll only have 20 minutes from train arrival to start time to make it in on time. As well, from what I've been told taking your Lunch break is required and there's a ladies only gym just 2 blocks from my office so I should be able to fit in a minimum of a half hour work out each day.

I'm so excited about having this built in daily exercise. I can hardly wait.

I promise I'll update more often, as I'm back to my old self, happy and healthy. Take care....Katie

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy New Year Everyone.

I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year!

May 2012 bring all you ask of it.

Katie :-)

Been a while....

since I posted. I'm doing pretty good, I'm back into the swing of things and I'm enjoying it. My husband and I have joined a Gym! Yes, a real bonnified gym. It's a far cry from the REC centre that's for sure. There's no waiting for machines, no waiting for weights.

The gym is three levels. On the bottom level, they have more cardio equipment than I have ever seen before. There must be at least 30 treadmills, 30 ellipticals, 15 stair climbers, 15 bikes. I've been there when the parking lot is full but it's not packed it's amazing! The second level of the building is the weight zone. They have got three of every machine! THREE!! They have a tonne of free weights, the have three sections for the circuit. There is no waiting for anything and none of the intimidation that I felt at the Rec centre. It is great, then just for us ladies, on the Third floor, that's our area, we have a cardio area with a lot of equipment, we have a circuit area and we have a free weight area.

The best part for me, is they have actual change rooms! At the REC Centre, there were no change rooms, you had to go into a bathroom stall to change. At this gym, they have hundreds of lockers, they have 12 shower stalls (including a handicapped stall) there is a ladies Sauna in there as well, there are two large private change rooms in the back ( if you're modest like me, or rather afraid of people seeing me in all my glory). They have even provided hair dryers. There's 10 of them around the dressing room.

It's a great gym, and I'm really enjoying going there. I've just printed of their class schedule (their classes are actually included!) I'm thinking I may just take my chances and attend a Zumba class....maybe we better not test fate yet. The leg isn't 100% yet but it's getting there.

I hope you all enjoyed your summer, now that fall is coming, it's time to get back into the swing of things.

Take care my friends....talk to you soon!

Hi There~~~~

It's me the infamous missing Katie. I've been around, just not blogging. Pretty much because I don't have anything to blog about. Weight loss has stopped, exercise has stopped and I got tired of my own whining so why make anyone else listen to it or read about it?

It's been a rough few months, injury to my knee in March knocked me out of the gym, the thing was, I didn't get back into the water. I had a bad experience and didn't want to go back.

Now, I have no choice, because the extremely klutzy Katie came and paid a visit a little over a month ago. The visit lasted only seconds, but the results are as blatant today as they were in the seconds after the visit.

You see, klutzy Katie, didn't lift her leg quite high enough when she was entering the back door, causing herself to trip over the sliding glass door runner, sending her flying into the bed where she knocked her pretty little head and landed in a heap with 300+ pounds landing on her left hip. This has resulted in a small fracture in the hip, a deep bone bruise and something going on with the muscle in my thigh that my doctor isn't paying attention to and is driving me crazy.

It is, I can't get into the driver seat of the car without having to pull my leg into the car, I can't lift it more than a couple of inches without hot stabbing pain in my thigh. It's not my hip, it's my thigh and no one is listening to me! It's driving me crazy. My husband wants me to go to a walk in clinic as my own family doctor has told me, "it's osteo arthritis, you just have to deal with it" I would believe him if the pain was in my hip, but it's no it's in my THIGH!!!!

Anyway, enough was enough last week when I stepped on the scale for my at home weigh in and I had gained another 8 pounds, a talk with my husband and about 60.00 later, I have started going back to Weight Watchers, I need the accountability. I need to know that someone is looking at my little book, and accessing how I'm doing. Note I said accessing, not judging, but I need that.

I also need to get moving again, walking isn't working right now and the Grouse Grind Goal I set for myself back in January, well that's going to have to wait as I can't lift my leg the height of a step.

But I'm here, I'm determined and this will happen.

Stay tuned. I'm around, I just get tired of my own whining. I hope you are all doing all right, I've got a lot of reading to make up for. Talk to you soon!

Ugh!

I'm feeling horrible right now. It's after 11pm and my stomach hurts, it's upset and there is no way I'm going to get any sleep for the next couple of hours, at least. I've been doing really good lately, no I haven't been blogging, mostly because there is nothing to report, go to work, eat dinner, go to gym or walk dog on long walk, go te bed, and repeat. I figured it would make for some really boring reading, so really who wants to read boring.

My husband left on a business trip last night, I came home from work, took the dog for a walk, and couldn't decide on what to have for dinner. I made a salad and grilled a chixken breast and sat there looking at it in disgust. This wasn't what I wanted for dinner. So instead of eating my healthy dinner, what do I do? Really what do I do? I head to McDonalds, with the thought of getting a large Ice Tea, because you know for a $1.00 what the heck...yep...an ice tea, one dollar, a six pack of chicken nuggets, large fries and a 1/4 pounder with cheese later...here I am. after 11pm, feeling disgusted and annoyed with myself with the inside of my body lieterally jumping around...waving it's fist in the air, yelling at the top of it's lungs..."WHAT THE HE** WERE YOU THINKING YOU CRAZY WOMAN!!!

I don't know what I was thinking...was it because there was no accountablility...knowing full well that if my husband were home we would have had salad and grilled chicken breast but because he's away I felt justified in going on a fast food binge? I don't get it...when will I get to the point when I can stop the insanity, the absolute ridiculousness of what I do to myself sometimes?