I Swear I'll Never Give In, I Refuse

Holy hell. This week is never ending. And what's worse? I am in a rut. A workout rut. I worked out today for the first time since Saturday and it was a pretty pathetic attempt. Half assed at best. I don't know what my problem is, but I just cannot get back in the swing of things coming back from this past weekend. Normally it takes me a day or two to get caught up on laundry, cleaning ect...but come Tuesday this week I still wasn't ready to face the gym. I have a bunch of things going on in my head that are driving me mad, and usually working out helps with that. However now, my immediate response to stress is to sit on the couch and knit. Which I mean it could be worse, it could be to sit on the couch and stuff my face. Still, I have worked too hard to just say oh well it's winter, and the days are shorter and it's cold out. More importantly it is just not me. I go to the gym, I run. It's who I am. So tomorrow morning, we're hitting the gym...hard. I don't care how many excuses my brain comes up with to go back to bed, my ass will be at that gym at 5am. I don't care if I cry about it the entire way there. Because I refuse to walk out my door staring at this and feeling guilty anymore.

I refuse to give into my excuses again. 

Anyways! On a happier prettier note, Jessica over at The Embellished Life is having a fabulous giveaway! One lucky reader will get a product line from Paul Labrecque ! Go scope out her blog and enter to win, your hair will thank you ;)

Cheers!

Marisa

title lyrics: Foo Fighters-Best of You

Longs Peak

So my vacation/adventure in May involves hiking a mountain. Longs Peak to be exact, at least that is the plan for now. I've never hiked a mountain, before. Actually I've never been in the mountains before. The highest elevation I've ever been at is the elevation of Broomfield, CO plus 10 floors up in my room at the Omni (which by the way I loooooovvveee. I fully intend on eating brunch there. ) So needless to say I"m excited/scared and more importantly I'm exhausted. Because apparently you can't just be like, I'm going to climb a 14,259ft mountain today! (The summit of Longs Peak) It's hard work, it can be dangerous, and you have to be prepared. So my preparations started last weekend with the purchase of my pack and boots and hiking at Ledges State Park in Madrid Iowa. It may come as a surprise to you, but I'm no outdoorsman....outdoorswoman. I have a North Face jacket and I thought that gave me some outdoors cred. Turns out The North Face is the brand preferred by people who don't spend a lot of time outdoors. Sads for me. So I tried to branch out, ask the advice of real outdoor people on packs and boots to see if I could at least look legit while stumbling up a mountain and wishing for sea level grade oxygen. Turns out, I'm just a yuppy at heart.

(The North Face Jester Daypack )

To my defense, I tried various other packs, but I kept coming back to this one as it was most comfortable and met my requirements and I didn't get it in pink. I'm trying to look like a serious mountain hiker here. As far as boots go, I tried many different ones too, at a local outdoorsy place, Sports Authority, Scheels and finally ended up at Bass Pro Shops where I met a nice guy who broke my heart when he informed me the Columbia boots I had my heart set on were not sturdy enough for Colorado mountain hiking. I can't hate him though, as he ran back and forth many times getting a zillion different pairs of boots for me and finally helped me pick them.  

(sorry, crappy BlackBerry pic taken at the store.)

I finally settled on these Mountrek boots as they were super comfortable and again met the requirements. Apparently. I wanted the pretty Columbia ones :( I also picked up a pair of SmartWool hiking socks. I am in love.

So I've got the gear, now I've just been working my ass off to get in shape for this little expedition. I don't do things half assed and I reallllly want to get to the summit. Although I am fully aware that 1. weather will be a determining factor 2. I have absolutely zero high altitude experience and oh yeah have never actually been on a mountain before. and 3. The scramble to the summit is one of the most difficult of the Colorado fourteeners. Wikipedia told me so. So don't worry Mike I will accept the limitations as they come but that doesn't mean I'm going to set the bar low.

So stay tuned as I continue to prepare for my trip. Only 9 weeks left!

Mountain Man Cheers!

Marisa

I'm sorry that people are so jealous of me....But I can't help it that I'm popular.

First things first. Hitting the gym hard and keeping up with household chores is hard work. I had a list of things I wanted to get done before heading to the gym this evening hoping that I would still be able to make it at a reasonable hour. As I was getting outta my car I was mentally preparing myself to dive right in and resist the urge to sit in front of the computer, when I walk in and see the little broseph-in-law already doing the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen table. Made my day.

Anyway, so last night at the gym post work out I'm in the locker room bundling up, I over hear a convo between a 4th grader and 5th grader. We shall call the 4th grader "popular girl" or PG for short and the 5th grader "unpopular girl" or UP for short. It went something like this:

PG: So do you have a boyfriend?

UP: No, I've never even kissed a boy.

PG: (In utter amazement) Really!??!?

UP: Yeah I'm waiting until marriage.

PG: Wow, I've already kissed like 7 guys. ( Which I'm pretty sure means about 1.)

PG: Not to brag but I'm kind of like little miss popular.

UP: I'm like miss unpopular 'cause I don't have a boyfriend.

I was cracking up at PG and felt bad for UP. I wanted to be like don't let that little skank get you down, girl has probably never kissed anyone either. But I didn't know if their moms where around and I didn't want to get the rep around the Y as the girl that calls a 10 year old a skank.

Next up: Deception of the worst kind. My bathroom scale and I are not on speaking terms. Bitch has been lying to my face for I don't know how long. Weighed myself at the Y on their fancy doctor scale and resisted the urge to scream WTF?! since I was in the family locker room. 6 lbs heavier than what I've believed I weighed all this time. SIX POUNDS! It's not so much the weight, I know I'm not fat blah blah blah, but I've been living a lie. On tomorrows to do list: Buy new scale.

Thanks for reading my crazy gym shennanigans. I'm sure there will be more to come.