Couch to 5K Q and A

The Couch to 5K really is a neat program so it's pretty cool that there are a few of us who may do this "together".

Therese said: This is exactly what I have been looking for!! Thanks Jamie! What days will you be running and will you be running in the morning? Land or treadmill?
I totally want to do this with you! Well, from afar!

Yes, Therese, join! Join! I talked with Jason and we figured out that I can go exercise as soon as he gets home from work on Mondays and Wednesdays and my third day will be Sundays. The workouts are about 30 mins. I plan on jogging outside in my neighborhood as long as the weather is good. If it is raining or something I can always use the treadmill in the garage, but I really prefer to be outside.

As far as morning exercise, I DO like exercising in the morning however I just don't have the willpower to wake up before the kids. I know that if I structured things around morning workouts that I'd only last a week.

Lauren said: wanna do it. 5Ks are my kind of race. the last time i did it was when h was just a baby.

i'm gonna try and locate my 6 year old running shoes!

Very cool! I've never done any races before so this is a totally new thing for me.

Here are some upcoming events that look like fun-
Family Fun Run in San Dimas
Turkey Trot at Bonelli Park

Shannon said: Can't wait to hear how it goes ... and wowee - your first race is even a week earlier than mine! You're my hero! ;>

(Just finished W2D2 workout today ... so far, so good!)

P.S. If you have an iPod, there are FREE podcasts designed specifically for this program. Then you don't have to worry about keeping track of the intervals - the music cues you! podrunner.com is one, but there are others if you google it. Oh, and there's a Couch to 5K group on FB, too! :)

Hero, ha ha! Since I won't be all the way through the program when the first event comes up, I'm thinking that I might just do whatever workout I'm scheduled to do for that day. I'm looking forward to these new experiences though!

Thanks for the iPod and FB tip. That's really great. I'm asking for an iPod for Christmas. Believe it or not I'm still sporting a WalkMan. It's ridiculous. So I need to get with technology and figure out how to download songs and stuff. I'll get there!

Jason surprised me with a cool gift today. It is a Sportline Fitness watch that has a stop-watch feature so I can keep track of my running intervals. And it's purple too :)

Iris said: I saw the schedule, very briefly. So are you working on the schedule at your own pace? Or are you in a group?

I'm doing this on my own but I'm going to follow their workout recommendations. It says that if you get to a certain week and it starts getting hard, to just keep at that level for as long as you need to. I plan on doing that if I need it.

Sonja said: Obviously, I'm drunker than I thought, but I want to do this with you. Maybe we can do our workouts separately during the week and then together on Saturday?

LOL :) No you aren't drunk, just random remember? I'm going to do the weekend run on Sunday because I switched my class day from Sunday to Saturday afternoons. Last Sunday I went at 8:30 am. Let me know what you think.

Couch to 5K

Friend and fellow blogger Shannon has inspired me to do this Couch to 5K program.

It is appealing to me because the workouts seem very manageable and something that I can bring into my life without taking so much time away from the family. I don't have to join a gym or buy any special equipment. I also like the idea of running in city sponsored 5K events just to have that goal and a reason to keep exercising beyond just personal fitness.

From the website: "Too many people have been turned off of running simply by trying to start off too fast. Their bodies rebel, and they wind up miserable, wondering why anyone would possibly want to do this to themselves.

You should ease into your running program gradually. In fact, the beginners' program we outline here is less of a running regimen than a walking and jogging program. The idea is to transform you from couch potato to runner, getting you running three miles (or 5K) on a regular basis in just two months."

From couch potato to runner...I like that.

I'll keep posting about my progress.

Article- Mothers Beware! Resist the princess!

(This hits my funny bone being that at one time I did think I would be able to "resist the princesses". But alas I am too weak in the face of my daughter's devotion. I have been able to keep the flood at bay by keeping her room decor princess-free, but the damage has already been done I'm sure. har har.)

From the Los Angeles Times
Resist the princesses
Watch that little darling -- corporate Fantasyland has matricide in mind.
Rosa Brooks

March 27, 2008

Mothers of America, Disney wants to destroy you.

You hoped your little girl's Disney princess obsession was harmless, didn't
you? You chuckled over the picture of Sleeping Beauty on your toddler's
pull-ups, and you told yourself it was "just a phase" when your 5-year-old
insisted that she needed at least 63 Disney princess dress-up costumes.

But don't be fooled by the sparkly magic wands, the pint-sized tiaras and
those cute little "animal friends." The Disney princesses aren't sweet and
innocent. They're a gang of vicious hoodlums, and they're plotting against
you.

Start with some light feminist analysis. It will not have escaped you,
Mothers of America, that Disney princesses -- Snow White, Cinderella,
Sleeping Beauty and the rest -- rarely slay dragons, play sports, pilot jets
or do open-heart surgery. Instead, they fiddle with their coiffures, linger
over invitations to the ball, flee ineffectually from evil crones and swoon.


You don't have to be Gloria Steinem to realize that these are not, for the
most part, useful professional skills in today's world. So I was not
thrilled when my 3-year-old informed me, over lunch, that she wants to be "a
pwincess" when she grows up, and I was unhappier still when her 6-year-old
sister expressed a similar ambition.

"Girls," I said, "you can do anything when you grow up! You can be
scientists or ski instructors or hedge fund managers -- I beg you, be hedge
fund managers. Why would you want to be passive, anorexic princesses?"

They looked at me as if I had gone mad. "Because princesses wear pretty
dresses, Mama," they explained.

I tried another tack. "Not all princesses prance around in ball gowns," I
remarked, and showed them some educational photos of Britain's 57-year-old
Princess Anne, clad in hideously sensible tweeds. The girls denied that Anne
was a "real" princess.

I tried again. "Girls," I said gently, "I don't want to shock you, but
historically, princesses have not always been popular. Consider the Russian
Revolution. Or the French. Does the word 'guillotine' ring a bell?"

"You are a commoner!" my 3-year-old shrieked, and adjusting their glittering
tiaras, the little darlings ran off to watch "Disney Princess Enchanted
Tales" for the 10-billionth time while I glumly cleaned the kitchen.

It was not always thus.

Sure, fairy tales have been around for centuries, little girls have always
liked pretty dresses, and even most of the Disney princesses should, if
there were justice in the world, be using Botox by now. (Disney's Snow White
was a teen in the 1937 film, which would put her well into her 80s). But
once upon a time, the Disney princesses lived their separate lives, waiting
innocuously for their princes to come. You could buy a "Cinderella" book or
a "Little Mermaid" doll, but, when you did so, you were establishing an
allegiance to a particular character's story, not to an abstract "Princess
concept." The princesses lived separately and were marketed separately.

As Peggy Orenstein documented in a 2006 New York Times Magazine article,
that changed in 2000, when Disney decided that, henceforth, the princesses
would collude. They went from princesses to "Princess" -- as Disney execs
call the fast-growing product line marketed collectively under just that
logo. Merged into a sort of uber-princess, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine and the
older members of the gang formed a vast global conspiracy to turn a bunch of
aging animated films into cold, hard cash -- faster than Cinderella's fairy
godmother could turn a pumpkin into a coach.

Like an Al Qaeda sleeper cell, the princesses were activated -- and once
activated, they would quickly dominate the world. In 2001, sales at Disney
consumer products were a lethargic $300 million. By 2007, Disney's
"Princess" franchise was raking in $4 billion. And who could stand in its
way? With the "Princess" brand on baby bottles, sneakers, pencils, candy,
T-shirts, everything, you and your little darlings don't stand a chance,
Mothers of America. Your little girls will be brainwashed -- and you -- you
... .

Ah, yes. What happens to you?

You didn't think Disney was going to stand idly by while you engaged in
those little feminist critiques, did you now? Pause for a moment to consider
the fate of the princesses' mommies in those Disney movies. "Cinderella" and
"Snow White"? Mothers killed off by mysterious illnesses. "Beauty and the
Beast," "The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin"? Mothers all missing; presumed
dead.

Disney really has it in for mommies: Even when you leave princess-land, it's
the same pattern. Bambi's mom? Shot dead by a hunter. Nemo's mom? Eaten by a
barracuda. Of all the major princesses, only Sleeping Beauty (a.k.a. Aurora;
like all criminals, she often goes by an alias) has a nuclear family, not
that it does her any good. But given Disney's track record, I wouldn't want
to underwrite her mother's life insurance policy.

And hey, ever notice how, in group photos, the Disney princesses never, ever
meet each other's eyes? Why won't they look at each other? Why do they still
pretend they don't know each other? Is something troubling their
consciences?

Mothers of America, watch your backs.

My Bicycle Guy- On Top of the World

I just have to write a post to say how proud I am of my dear Jason for his GREAT accomplishment of making it all the way to Mt. Baldy on his bike. This is a big deal since he hasn't been up there in 15 years. Since his return to cycling 4 years ago it has been a goal of his to make the journey to Mt. Baldy once again but he just wasn't able to do it...until now!

Spaghetti Dogs

I have stumbled upon a lot of really neat craft/kid blogs lately. When I saw this post, it struck me as gross enough and weird enough and easy enough that I had to try it! Frannie enjoyed the novelty of skewering the spaghetti noodles into the hot dogs and both kids enjoyed the snack. I'll do this again the next time I have a hot dog or two left over from a BBQ.

A Natalie Post

Nicknames:
Nattie (me)
Nettie (me)
Netta (me)
Tweety-Pop (me)
Nate-Dog (Jason)
Natie (like Katie- Jason)
Now-wee (Adam)

Frannie is the only one who calls her Natalie I think.

She's my little pumpkin pie, oh yes she is! (She's kind of sleeping through the night too which is a new experience for me. I'm used to having babies who don't really sleep through until something like 15 months!) She's growin' and changin' every day. She's now rewarding all of us with the precious smiles that crack her face open so big and so wide! Joy!

Video- Getting on the Floor with Nattie

The kids love to get down on the floor whenever Natalie is down there. Adam especially will stop whatever he's doing to crawl down onto the floor and put his face next to hers. He wants to play with her and interact with her in whatever way he can which sometimes translates to being a tad rough with her arms or feet. I grabbed the camera for this moment because he had been getting next to her feet and then jumping up with excitement whenever her foot brushed his cheek. It was so cute. He is doing it a little here but not as much. You can see how delighted both Frannie and Adam are over their baby sister.