building an ark

it hasn't stopped raining here since last thursday... ugh... we've accumulated over 10 inches of rain... lots of flooding everywhere, roads and the metro closed... even some of the gov't buildings downtown have been closed due to flooding in their basements... luckily i live on top of a hill, and we haven't had any problems with water... but several people have had difficulties getting to work... maybe the happy sun will come out today...

drumroll, please...

this princess has officially lost 50 lbs since January 12th, 2006!!! just thought i'd share since that's a pretty major milestone for me...

also, i had pretty much given up on the running thing... i had decided to just run enough to not have to walk the entire 5K, and not to worry about running for longer than 5 minutes at a time... well, saturday, i changed up a few things about my routine... wore different shoes, different/lighter pants, and chose a treadmill right under the fan at the gym... and ya know what? i was able to run for 8 minutes without any problem... after that i walked for a bit, then decided that i would try another 8 minutes, and i ended up running for 10!!! i was so excited... this love-hate relationship i have with jogging is back on the love train... woohoo!!!

i'm all geared up to have one rockin' week!

the waiting game

everything went well with all the hoopla i had to do to prep for my new job... the polygraph was way better than what i was expecting... i had been told that they ask a lot of personal, potentially embarrassing questions... but there were none of those... and the facilitator told me i gave strong reactions, so my tests will be easy to read... it will be 3-5 weeks before they know the results, but the preliminary look indicated that i did well...

the psychological evaluation wasn't all that bad... it's just weird telling a total stranger about your personal life... lots of questions about my parents, and my relationship with each of them... lots of questions about my relationship with chris... lots of questions in general about how i view myself and life... the dr. should have at least had to buy me dinner... LOL... but it has made me think twice about seeing a therapist to help me deal with emotional stress better... i think i would just feel odd blurting everything out... so i'll just stick with talking to friends and family (as long as they're willing to listen, anyway)... but, anyway, the dr. gave me a clean bill of mental health, and said he saw no reason that i would not be able to do my job...

so now i wait... wait for more investigating (don't be surprised if you get a call... several of you readers were used as references)... waiting for test results to be in... the HR rep said it would probably be the september/october time frame before i begin working... so i guess i just have to be patient...

in other news... well, there is no other news... i guess that means it's time for bed...

not dead...

well, jogging last night didn't kill me... i made it through the first 8 minutes, and struggled a bit at the end... but i only got 3 minutes into the second 8 minutes and was ready to pass out... i pressed on to 4 minutes, but had to stop and walk some... determined i was going to finish the time, i really pushed myself to jog another 4 minutes... kind of disappointing, and a little frustrated that after doing so well last week, and finally getting to the point where i was looking forward to jogging, now i hate it again...

i have decided that maybe the Couch-to-5K program is getting a little too aggressive for me... the first 5 weeks, it had 3 workouts a week, and each week, the 3 sessions were the same... well, now, in week 6, it has changed each time... adding more minutes than what my body is allowing me to do... so, i'm making my own program... i'm determined to finish the program, and run the 5K (even if i have to walk some), but as far as running after that, it's just not for me... i tried...

on a good (and totally non-workout related) note, i have found a place to live! no cardboard box for me... it's in a townhouse in Ellicott City, MD... i would be sharing it with one other gal... there's plenty of room for all my stuff, and it's less than 10 minutes to Ft. Meade... the big moving day is August 5th! my current roommate almost cried when i told her i found a place... she has known for months now that i've been looking, and would be moving soon... but has just been in denial about the whole thing... i feel bad for her, but not that bad... i'm ready to be somewhere else for a while...

oh, and keep me in mind the next couple of days as i go for my polygraph and psych evaluation! i'm pretty excited!!! i'll let ya know how it all goes...

update on the Cambridge job: the company is looking for someone with a valid UK work permit... oh well... i'll keep looking...

*heeeee-yah*

that's the sound of me kickin' it at the gym... hehe... last night compeletly rocked! even though it felt like a sauna in the cardio room, i still managed to get in a fantastic workout... which included 20 minutes on the elliptical!!! and i wasn't even out of breath... i could have gone longer, but i had an appointment with the trainer to get to...

the trainer showed me some strength training exercises on the machines to help me tone up some... the weights felt good, and i could definately feel my muscles working... and i'm not even sore today! so hopefully, i won't have wimpy arms for too much longer...

tonight, i'm training for the 5K... this session is going to really push me... i'm supposed to jog for 8 minutes at a time... and i'm trying to get myself pumped up for it... at least i'm not dreading it... 6 weeks ago, when i could barely jog 60 seconds without wanting to die, i never would have imagined that i'd be looking forward to jogging... go me!

well, while i have all this motivation, i should probably motivate myself to do some work or something...