A 'long run' of an hour

I ran for an hour today on the treadmill at the swanky gym. I'm trying to get my time back up again, and that's at least a start.

It was nice because initially I was planning on running for only about a half-hour, then 45 minutes, then I figured I'd get the whole hour in. It got easier, and I love that feeling.

One thing about the swanky gym is that it's a bit of a "scene," which I always notice. The nice thing about the location I went to today, which is near one of the big L.A. universities, is that it's a scene for people twenty years younger than me. So I could work out in peace.

Swanky gym workout

I periodically luck into something with work that gives a fun benefit. For the next couple of months, I've got a membership to a fancy health club.

I went there today and ran on the treadmill and used the weight machines. Overall, I spent about an hour. My run was 15 minutes. I really don't like running on the treadmill, but it got me some running time.

Races: I'm breaking down and signing up for some races in June. Which might succeed in helping me get more motivated. One race is in Anaheim (the one that was my first race ever last year) and one is -- heaven forbid! -- local. It goes right past the church we went to when we first moved to L.A. I have some children participating as well.

Exercise update and the Internet was out!

I cannot believe how I've been neglecting to mention that I've actually been moving this week! First, I ran for a half hour on Tuesday. Then, I walked for 45 minutes with Paul last night.

Today, we had drama, though, as I woke up to a broken Internet. I was stuck in the house from 10 a.m. until 4, waiting for the repair guys.

In a lot of ways, it was good, as I cooked up a storm -- calzone, chicken masala, chicken soup and chicken fingers with Panko breadcrumbs baked in the oven. My 11-year-old suggested I add coconut to the breading, which I think would be a nice touch.

I've been making Jamie Oliver's salad dressings. I'm hoping to get completely out of the bottled dressing market, except for Paul's Thousand Island.

Welcome Turtle Fans!

Welcome readers from the Running Circles Around the Turtles blog! I feel Robin and I are kindred spirits, although she's a much better blogger than I am!

Quick info about my blog -- I started it to document my exercise efforts and also as a way of talking about some of the side effects of dramatic weight loss. I also explore some of the reasons for weight gain. I gained weight much more slowly than I lost it, and it became disconcerting when I was suddenly treated so much differently, particularly by men, as my size dropped.

I also learned something. As a married (and not obese) woman, I had to be much more careful -- because the fact that I didn't do better with men when I was younger had more to do with the way I was acting and my personality rather than my being "too fat," which had always been my assumption.  Oh, it was true when I was obese that I was too fat, but I had thought I was unattractive when I weighed 150 pounds. My self-image as someone who was not at all attractive to men was rocked when I lost some (and not all) of my weight. I had to change the way I carried myself and behaved.

I got into running to start focusing more on what my body can do, rather than its appearance or any of the psychodramas that I was creating for myself.

I've never been an athlete, and it's been fun and challenging to learn the ins and outs of training my body. The great thing about running is the competition against oneself!

Hearing about other people's stories also inspires me. Thanks for reading!

How to be an Annoying Internet Presence

By popular request (OK, a couple of readers), here is my advice regarding using email and/or the Internet to be intentionally unattractive. I'm sure this would work with texting and the phone as well, but since I'm not a big text or phone person, so I rely on email and Facebook.

1) If someone says something like, "Kathleen, I'd love to hear what you're listening to right now," that's in the realm of normal. If someone says, "I'd love to be deluged with all that is Kathleen" after all kinds of semi-inappropriate stuff, that's moving into weirdness. So I go way, way beyond. Yes, their inbox gets completely flooded. With Every Single Music Or Literature Recommendation I've Made For the Last Three Years.

Paul says he doesn't understand what that accomplishes. It succeeds in being overwhelming -- and makes the guy question my sanity/intelligence. Which leads to No. 2 ...

2) You want to appear At Least a Little Bit Crazy And Not in a Fun Way. Men hate that. The problem, of course, is that although I have my moments, I'm generally rational. I'm not opposed to doing a bit of acting, however. I guess this is my passive-aggressiveness. I know how to ick-out men with something cringe-inducing. And I don't mind going there, if the net effect is I'm going to scare them off. When I get old flames writing me and acting pathetic, I'll share my blog because it's where I let my little bit of Crazy And Not in a Fun Way out.

3) One thing men do is romanticize women, particularly if they don't know them that well. I had one guy, who doesn't know me well at all, send mash email notes about how unusually deep and intelligent I am. That, of course, was my cue to be really shallow and silly in my communication with him.

I don't hear from him any more.

I don't mean to give the impression I have all that many inappropriate things happen anymore; but when they do, I know how to nip them in the bud.

The results!

I lost exactly 0 pounds in the last month.

I also didn't run much or do much other exercise, although I ate pretty darn perfectly.

I think too much eating out, though. I'm really "good," but there's undoubtedly extra fat in restaurant food.

Jamie Oliver results: My kids love, love, love chicken nuggets. They won't eat McDonald's ones (they saw "Super-Size Me"), but they had been liking Dinosaur chicken nuggets from the grocery store. And they were easy for me. Just put them on a pan and heat up.

The last few days I've been messing with various recipes. First, I did a straight flour breading and pan-fried them. Next, I blended up some oats into a fairly coarse flour and dipped them in egg before pan-frying. Both versions were hits. I'm going to try baking the nuggets next.

My 11-year-old noticed how it didn't even take very long.