tone it up.

I love these girls!



They border on being ridiculous (boobs hanging out, hair and makeup always done to the nines), but they really do have a lot of good tips and easy recipes on Youtube.



I know these moves work because Booty Camp has made me Queen of Squats. I remember thinking during the first class that I wanted to punch the instructor in the mouth if she managed to find another squat variation to make us do. I know SO MANY now. They don't call it "booty" camp for nothin'.

One Nation, Overweight.

I'm 6 minutes in to this one hour special "One Nation, Overweight" and I'm already upset.

This refers to the United States, but I'm sure a lot of the statistics transfer to Canada...

Maybe I am feeling a little self righteous because I'm not overweight. But I don't eat McDonalds every day either.

They're showing a gentleman who is 350 lbs and had 80% of his stomach removed to try and help him lose weight. He was suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, and he'd had bypass surgery on his heart. The surgeon described the surgery as reducing the size of his stomach from the "size of an NFL football" to "the size of a banana".

64 days after his surgery, he died from a heart attack. He was 62 years old.

I've blogged about childhood obesity before. Now they're talking about junk food in schools. Hoo boy.

"Obesity rates have tripled in one generation."

I can't help but watch!!! I'm drawn to this stuff like a moth to a flame...

On another note, I love Michelle Obama.

P.S. It pisses me off when they refer to obesity as a "disease" or an "epidemic". I don't care how many papers are shoved in my face regarding genetic predisposition to obesity, 1 in 3 children do not get obese from genetics.

Booty Camp recap.

Eight weeks of Booty Camp are COMPLETE!*

I had my final weigh in tonight.

*For the sake of accountability, I must confess:
Out of the eight weeks, there are 24 classes. Two a week with an instructor, and one on my own. I missed at least 7 classes (between vacation, laziness, and working late), 4 of which were with the instructor and 3 on my own. I could have made them up by going to another class, but to be honest I couldn't be bothered.

Here are my final numbers:

I lost 6 lbs total (5 of those in the last month.. not sure how that happened!), and 8.75 inches!!! GO TEAM RACHAEL. It must be the crazy headbands. Today my headband was zebra striped.

Did you think you were getting a photo of me WEARING the sweaty zebra headband? Hahaha. No.

I've decided that she grabbed muscle when she was measuring my thighs with the fat calipers. Because those babies are JACKED. And there's no way I went down almost an inch in both thighs in the last month, but gained fat. Nope. If that's what happened (and they're my measurements so I'm changing them as I see fit.. ha!), that would explain why my body fat percentage went down.. although I lost weight? This junk is all so confusing.

Oh well. I know I feel better, I can now do 15 man pushups instead of the pathetic 2 I could do when I started, and I actually did a few with a foot in the air today. PROGRESS BABY.

I've signed up for 4 more weeks, so we'll see what these measurements look like in a month!

Also, I'm racing a 5k in a week and I haven't run since the 10k. Just throwing that out there.

Saturdays = love.

What a fabulous day, and it's not over yet!!

I got up "early" (for a Saturday!) and headed to the park to make up a Booty Camp class from the past holiday Monday. It was sunny, and hot, and beautiful!!!

Then I headed home and resisted the urge to run past Starbucks for a $5 frappucino.

I made iced coffee instead.

And then I made some fruit salad for my adventure.

Adventure = driving to the beach!!

Just look at that sand.

My toes were happy!!

I lasted 30 mins in a swimsuit. I'm so impatient for summer!

What the heck, it's here already.

Private dock.

Look at that blue water!!

Beautiful.

I never feel more at home, and more myself, then when I am at the beach. The sound of the water lapping at the shore, the smell of the salt water and my tanning lotion, the warmth of the sun on my skin, the gritty sand blowing through everything... I love all of it!!

SATC 2.

I'm going to see SATC 2 on Sunday!!



I am soooo excited.. I feel like I should buy this when it comes out just so I can pause it and stare at their glorious ensembles. Let's face it, no woman watches the show because of its realistic storylines.. it's the equivalent of a Disney movie chocked up on booze and debauchery.. and clothed in Chanel and Louboutin. It's a fairy tale for adult women.

Can't wait!!!

crazy for this girl.

Humor me. Let's go back in time, oh, about a decade:

Click this beautiful photo to be transported back in time.

2000 was a good year. Thirteen was not my particularly favorite adolescent year, but swooning over good looking singers and cheesy pop music like this helped me through it.

Plus, there were TWO of them. It's not only men who have dreams about twins. Just sayin'.

pet peeve..

..when I send someone an email and they send it back to me, addressed as, "Rachel". My name is Rachael. Not Rachelle, or Raychel, or Racheal. RACHAEL. When I send an email from my work account, my name shows up THREE TIMES in the email. Once, by the address, once when I sign it, and once in my signature. I have spent a lifetime correcting people, spelling it before they start writing, and they still get it wrong. But nothing irritates me more when it is written right there, so obvious, and people are so assuming and flippant that they won't even double check to see if it's spelled correctly. SO IRRITATING.

hey now.

Remember how I said I was ranked 109/375 in the Women's 20-29 age group for my 10k? Turns out they rank us by "overall" time. My overall time is 3 minutes slower (1:00:26.8) than my chip time (57:07.4) because it took me 3 minutes to actually cross the start line after the gun went off. Now, I'd be much more upset about this if my chip time told me I'd placed in the top ten.. but I still feel a little indignant. When we're ranked according to our chip times, I move up 21 places and now I'm 88/375! One disadvantage of being in a larger race I guess..

*Update*: New "Personal Bests" page (above my photo)! Check it out!

when's the next race???

I just ran a sub 1 hour 10k for my first running race ever!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time: 1:00:26.8
Chip Time: 57:07.4
Weather: sunny and beautiful!! ~17 degrees C? maybe?

The difference in the times is because it took me 3 minutes to cross the start line.. because there were 2636 other 10k runners running with me!!!! TWENTY SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY SIX!! In comparison, there were something like 330 marathon runners. The 10k is the most popular race.. by far!

My category was Women 20-29, and I came 109/374, and 326 out of 1456 women.

I passed what I thought was the halfway mark (my watch said just over 34 minutes) and the volunteer holding the arrow said, "Good job everyone! Keep it up! 6k down, 4 to go!" and I just about fell over when I realized I could run a sub 1 hour race!! The one nasty hill (Nantucket) was behind me, and I booted it to the finish!!

I will recap it more later, but for now I will leave you with these!

At the start.. can you see me?

Possibly my favorite photo of the day.

Who knew pace bunnies actually wore bunny ears??

After the race.. so many hungry runners!!

My parent's BBQ and the sunshine beckon.. enjoy your day!!

now that's my kind of chocolate.

Pre-Race Jitters Chocolate Smoothie

Ingredients:
- 15 cherries, halved and pitted
- two handfuls spinach
- 1 banana
- handful frozen mixed fruit
- 1 cup unsweetened Almond Breeze
- 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

Makes two glasses.

Tip: Place lighter weight ingredients in the blender first (spinach, cocoa) so they don't fly up when the blender is turned on.

pictures!!

After a great morning with my friend Rebecca at the Farmer's Market, I headed on my way to the Bluenose Expo to pick up my race kit!

Along the way, I found a balloon artist... on stilts. No big deal.

Once I made it to the convention center, I followed the signs!

This is so exciting!!!

...WHOA. That's a HUGE list of registered runners! I wonder if I'm there!!

Yup!

I should mention that the list on the wall was the pre-registered 10k runners.. this doesn't count the people who sign up today!

Here is where I picked up my package.

You bet it is!!

I have been waiting for this photo forever. My NAME is on my bib number!!!!!

Uh oh. Shopping?

A fanny pack made for runners?! Yes please!

I took this for my brother, who's in the reserves :)

This was me creeping on this dude wearing a kilt...

More races? Sure!

On the way back home, I saw a bride and groom and their entourage! Beautiful day for photos!

Then I spied the UPEI bus! Not sure why they are here...

Sunny day + lots of runners in town = packed Lululemon!

NERD ALERT.

Taken from this CNN article:

Craig Venter, the U.S. genomics pioneer, announced on Thursday that scientists at his laboratories in Maryland and California had succeeded in their 15-year project to make the world's first "synthetic cells" -- bacteria called Mycoplasma mycoides.

The bacteria's genes were all constructed in the laboratory "from four bottles of chemicals on a chemical synthesizer, starting with information on a computer," he said.

"Venter is creaking open the most profound door in huma

nity's history, potentially peeking into its destiny," said Julian Savulescu, ethics professor at Oxford University. "This is a step towards ... creation of living beings with capacities and natures that could never have naturally evolved."

Craig Venter.

Check out the article in Science for more information.

Two comments:
- There are 24 authors on the article in Science. That is a lot of authors. However, the project has been around for 15 years; I am wondering how many people were actually involved (lab techs, Master's and PhD students, etc.). What a crazy amount of work!!
- HOW COOL IS THIS?!? I know that it's diving into the realm of "playing God", but it's incredible that science has come this far!!!

Watson and Crick proposed the double helix structure of DNA in 1953.

Focus people: NINETEEN FIFTY THREE. That was less than 60 years ago!!!!! Craig Venter was playing with slingshots and jacks. Now we are making our own cells?!?! Science never ceases to amaze me!!

Speaking of ethics..

Nun excommunicated, loses hospital post over decision on abortion

I love this stuff. Ethics is where it's at.

i can't think of a title.

My leisurely jog took me around Citadel Hill and down around the waterfront. Lovely!

Stats
Time: no idea
Length: 5ish km
Training plan: tapering?
Weather: 16C and BEAUTIFUL evening!
Feeling: free pizza and cake at work.. ugh

And now I am watching this INTENSE Grey's Anatomy season finale and I officially am not blinking anymore. I have to remind myself to breathe. Aaahh!!

P.S. I got my official bib number for the 10k!!! So excited!!!

goooooood morning!

You know summer is coming when you have a few extra unwanted houseguests.. the other day this little guy got a peep show when I went to jump in the shower..

Can you see him?

Eeeek!

I usually flush spiders, but this guy was too big so I tossed him outside.

Then, this morning, I had one leg thrown over the side of the bed when in my fuzzy-eyed stupor I saw a moving black spot on the floor.. I quickly pulled my legs back up onto the bed and grabbed for my glasses. It was a GIANT beetle belly up, flailing his legs around trying to get righted. Whew... that gives me some time, says I. I looked around for an appropriate vessel for which to trap him, and I locked eyes with my full water glass. Beside my bed. For my dentures. Okay that last part was a joke. I grabbed it, chugged the water, and plunked the glass over Jiminy Cricket.

Please excuse the water drops on the glass, I was in a hurry to contain this behemoth of an insect.

He is currently still in my room. He has exactly ten minutes to pop out some sage advice or he a) dies from lack of oxygen or b) gets tossed outside.

summer weather!

I ran through the park tonight, it was beautiful!

Stats
Time: ~45 mins
Length: 7.0 km
Training plan: shorter runs from now on.. we'll call that my taper...
Weather: 18C and sunset!
Feeling: heavy. this is why I should never eat supper before running, even 2 hours before!

Safeway Father's Day Walk/Run.

I've signed up for the Safeway Father's Day Walk/Run. It's a 2.5k/5k walk/run in support of prostate cancer research.

Facts:

- My dad will be away at work during Father's Day

- My grandfather is currently undergoing treatment for prostate cancer

- I love to run

What better way to honour the men in my life than by attending a fundraiser specifically directed at men?

Please click here if you're interesting in supporting me.

Thanks!

pee ess.

I signed up for the June session of Booty Camp.

SUMMER HERE I COME!

..and by "summer", I clearly mean, "bikini".

accidental vegetarian.

I don't normally calorie count, but I was curious as to how much I ingest on a daily basis. I know it varies a lot from day to day (not good I know!) and it definitely depends on what I'm doing during the day (working, lounging at home, exercising, etc.). I used this Calorie Counter Database to find the approximate caloric value of the foods I ate yesterday, and the calories are listed below in paratheses. I also didn't include the fat content (that would be far too much work for today!). Bear in mind this is an exceptionally "good" (aka low) day!

Breakfast:
- 3/4 cup oatmeal (225), 1 tbsp ground flaxseed (40), 1 tsp cinnamon (15)
- coffee (15) with 1.5 tsp (50) honey and 1% milk (25)

Snack:
- 1 banana (120)

Lunch:
- 1 PC Thin (170) with black bean/chickpea burger (170) and 2 slices tomato (8)
- cucumber slices (20)

Snack:
- almonds (150) and dried apricots (80)

Supper:
- homemade tortilla pizza: one ww tortilla (150), 2 tbsp BBQ sauce (50), sliced onion (15), chopped garlic (5), spinach (7), tomato (15), artichoke hearts (30), pepper (5)
- soda water with lemon juice (2)

Yumm!

Snack:
homemade cocoa - almond milk (50), cocoa (50), 1.5 tsp honey (50)
8 graham crackers (220)

Total calories: 1737

Exercise: 1 hour Booty Camp workout, ~300 calories

First of all, veggies have like NO calories in them!!! Jeeepers. Who knew?

I was feeling really "snacky" last night and I probably would have been satisfied with just 4 graham crackers. Had I had a box of Oreos in the house I would have eaten the whole box. I'm not kidding.

I also seem to apparently be going vegetarian.. and almost vegan (except for the milk in my coffee.. and honey.. if you care about insects).

Let's just say this day evens out the days when I overeat...

alarming.

I've been writing a lot of posts with pictures in them lately. Wouldn't want to stop that now!

I have an obsession with freakishly large sea creatures. Like this oar fish.

These babies can grow to be 36 feet long.

Or giant squid.

Ewww.

Or the blue whale.

Can you imagine swimming along and this thing rising up beneath you?

That is all.

a 65-year fast?

I was surfing CNN.com and I found this interesting video:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/05/17/wv.yogi.fasting.cnn?hpt=C2

A yogi has claimed that he has gone 65 years without ingesting food or water, which has prompted a flurry of activity involving scientists investigating his claims. There is currently no proof this is true, but scientists intend to study him and see if there's a possibility that what he is saying is true.

I am 100% sure this man is lying. Every scientific bone in my body is rejecting the idea that this is possible. But yet a little piece of me is intrigued. The most movement the yogi did in the video was blink, or move from sitting to lying down. If it is possible, he must not have moved more than that in the past 65 years, which means he probably didn't have much of a life. There's no way he'd be working, making any offspring, or doing any sort of daily activities while operating on no food and water. The closest I've ever been to nirvana is when I'm moving as fast as I can (see yesterday's post), so I don't know why anyone would want to NOT move for 65 years.

Interesting..

thanks Eminem.

Stats
Time: 61 mins
Length: 9.4 km
Training plan: 1 week until the race!!!!!!!!!!
Weather: 13C and overcast
Feeling: Kenyan.

When I started this run, it was with the intention of seeing if I could get anywhere close to my race distance and see how I felt. Missing two weeks of running less than a month before the 10k has got me feeling nervous for how my body will take it. I know I will finish the distance, but I want to walk as little as possible. My role model for this run was this guy:

"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.."

And I shuffled along, taking it easy, enjoying the scenery. Once I hit the halfway mark, Eminem made an appearance, and I don't know what it is about men yelling in my ears, but I kicked it up a notch and even got a full on hand-wave from a runner dude with really, really nice quads.

Thanks Em.

I blazed down Cogswell street (km #8.. and a sweeeet downhill) and seriously, this is the closest I've ever come to feeling nirvana. Or Kenyan. There is just something about the heady endorphin rush, the music BLARING in my ears, and the rush of the outdoor air that gets me all excited and my insides feel like they're going to BUST OPEN from happiness and I almost started crying because I didn't know what else to do. It's wonderful!!! I wish I could share it with everyone!!

Also, I've been wondering if I should be worried about tapering. I designed my training plan so that the week before the race was a bit easier (the long run today was supposed to be 7km), but my time off has sort of thrown that out the window. I don't think I'm going to worry about it (Booty Camp doesn't end until the 31st anyway, so I'm not letting up on the strength workouts), seeing as I just ran 9 km after sitting on my butt for 2 weeks. I think I'll worry about it more if I race a longer distance in the future.

confession.

I have always heard people talk about having a "type" when looking for a partner.

I don't think I have a "type". I know what it isn't..

Too greasy.

Too dirty.

Too ... *shudder*.

I've had crushes on every type.

In the past:

I know he looks like a girl. Go ahead, judge me.

First posters on my bedroom wall were of this hottie. Thanks Tiger Beat!

I had (have?) these teeth too. Total soulmates.

I had a thing for curly hair. And, I mean, look at that piercing gaze..

Okay, so looking back on it, that theme was "Dirty-blond Girly White Boys". Whatever.

And more recently:

I know he's gay. So what.

My brain is mush. So manly.

Tattttooooos.. and dreads.. and that raspy voice..

See? No themes. None. I have no explanation.

I should point out that I am most attracted to this guy:


Who is about the manliest man I could find. So maybe the Ricky Martin obsession is for when I'm feeling especially pre-pubescent?