(G): As of today, September is half over and the seriousness and salads are still rolling even though at times I really tried to get in my own way.

I can be my own worst enemy as I build up in my head that a workout is going to be too hard, I am too tired and then I remember I am too squishy and I get down to business.

S is for Salad!
I made some great tasting and, if I do say so myself, great-looking meals in the last week. A little sampler to feast your eyes upon.
I am quite the pretty salad-maker and veggie-preparer.

Power outage
There is nothing quite like being stood up by your husband and a power outage to get you to do a long-procrastinated workout on a Friday night. OK so I wasn’t exactly stood up. He asked me if I wanted to go to dinner on Friday, I said yes and then later he said, oh by the way I work on Friday. So stood up in slow motion 🙂

So there I was, in the dark, a Friday night and I couldn’t even blow it off by going to the grocery because I didn’t have a working refrigerator to put the recently purchased groceries in plus having traffic lights out at rush hour makes what should be a 7-minute trip, a 45-minute excursion.

No internet, no TV, no other distractions so work out I did… in the DARK!

Chafing
Yep, I have an ongoing battle with basically rubbing the skin off my back right at the bottom of my sports bra. It’s not pretty but it happens. I have tried everything but after you sweat enough off comes the body glide, trail toes or whatever else as does some skin too. OUCH!
This week, Swaggy J talked me into putting Band-Aids on my back. To be honest, I was skeptical. How were these not going roll up and peel off. But instead they stuck to me like glue. YAY! That was until I had to get them off. Imagine scraping 32-year-old wall paper off the wall. Yes it was like that.

Acupuncture
Still not running with the semi-sore foot so I am doing all my miles walking. That’s a bit of a downer but I am actually starting to realize I may have been a little burned out so, as with many things, it may be a blessing in disguise. In the meantime, to speed the healing I continue with my weekly acupuncture. It feels a little luxurious to go every week but then once I sit down in that recliner awash in Kundalini chants I think: totally worth it. Stick those needles wherever you like.

(L)  As we often tell you, G and I share a brain.  So, when I logged in to type my torture report I saw the title included Darkness and I immediately thought she anticipated what I was going to say or perhaps she was just giving me a head start on my blog.  You see the night before she told me she liked me when I was “dark” and apparently I have been “dark” for awhile now.  Being “dark” means that when I send her texts I am not so much negative as I am SUPER SARCASTIC.  I know, it’s hard to imagine what that might be like.  Anyway, I have not been exercising in the dark or anything crazy like that, I just have an attitude…whatever.

I have continued my 3 miles everyday and it’s time to up the mileage or the intensity.  I guess I need to talk to my my workout partner.  I am not sure either of us are into motivating the other now in terms of exercise, but we make for great therapists!

I also bought a kettle bell as a new workout device.  It seems like a pretty good overall workout and people rave about them. Don’t ask me who, just people.  Now the trick is to not give myself a concussion as I swing that thing around.  I mean seriously, I am considering moving my workout to the afternoon when my daughter is home.  If I hit myself in the head with this thing I could be on the floor for hours before someone found me!  Anyway, I just started using it so I will let you know how it goes this week.  It could provide for an interesting torture report.

Don’t worry about me though because G is already working on our race schedule for next year.  She started ticking off the dates beginning in April 2016!  She is a planner!  Now, I just need to become a doer!

Sunshine & Sarcasm,

Lowi & G

The Torture Report began in January 2014 as a weekly update of our journey to completing a 50-mile race. Since then it’s continued on to become a chronicle of how we try mightily to find fitness, health and sometimes the finish line. We aren’t always successful but we keep showing up and telling you all about it on Tuesdays.