Sweaty (Schweddy) Bands

OK, maybe the title wasn't totally necessary, but seriously...I saw an opportunity to reference Schweddy Balls, and I went with it! We're not talking about ball, however...we're talking about bands, Sweaty Bands to be exact, and why I love them! (Follow the link for a little about their story.)

Taken today, post run.

I bought my first Sweaty Band at my gym, in the spring, when I started training for my 5k (using the couch to 5k program). Additionally in the Boston area, I know they're available at both Marathon Sports and City Sports, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

My hair is rather short, here's a recent picture of the length it's been hanging out a little more than a year.

Pretty short for a pony tail, huh? Well...pretty short for a functional with running pony tail given I don't want to use a can of hair spray and a full card of bobby pins every time I run. Enter the sweaty band: heavy fabric on the top, a no-slip velvety fabric for the under side, and some elastic for the base of you neck....GENIUS!

Top

Under-belly

It doesn't slip, it doesn't move, it doesn't pinch, it actually (shocker of shocker) DOES ITS JOB!

I've decided to make the Sweaty Bands my "trophies" for the 5ks that I've been doing. The pink and blue was for Spectacle Island 5k and the iridescent white shimmery thing was for the Chestnut Hill Reservoir 5k.

Now it's time to start shopping for the ones I will wear for October's events (Yes. I said eventS!!!) First, the Boston Walk for Animals and then The Blacklight Run a week later.

This is where you come in, beloved readers! Time to help me pick a Sweaty Band for each of the events!!!! All you need to do is pick one choice for Boston Walk for Animals and one for The Blacklight Run, and tell me your two choices in the comments. Simple, huh?!?!? Here are there choices....

For Boston Walk for Animals.... 1) Bite Me in green and pink, 2) Slow and Steady Wins the Race in green and blue, 3) Rabbits or 4) This Little Piggy.

For The Blacklight Run... 1) Strut Your Stuff, 2) Ghost in the Graveyard, 3) Out of This World, 4) Fabulosity in Gold or 4) Getting Groovy in black, yellow, pink, and blue.

Just so you know, you'll have until Sunday, September 8th to put in you comments. Happy choosing for me! :-D

Chestnut Hill Reservoir 5K

The beauty in my own "back yard".

HUZZAH! My second 5K is complete!! For several hours there I thought it wasn't going to happen, as a crowned tooth giving me FITS over the night before (I'll be seeing my dentist on Friday to see what's going on. Thankfully, I'm in MUCH less pain now.) I guess that sleep deprivation actually works for me.

This 5K was a COMPLETE different vibe from my first 5K: the Spectacle Island 5K. For Spectacle, I had to take the Green line to the Blue line, to a ferry to an island. For Chestnut Hill Reservoir, all I had to do is walk the 2-ish block that I normally walk. Chestnut Hill Reservoir is where I normally run.

Pre Race

This 5K was a lot less structured and much more lax of a race. There were no announcements and we all just kinda herded together towards the start. According to my race, the GPS ended up being 3.4 miles instead of 3.1...oh well.

I love running at the reservoir. The gravel is soft (yet it ALWAYS gets in my socks), there's fun wild life to watch, the people are always friendly, there's water nearby (given it's a...you know...reservoir), and it is quite literally in my back yard.

Holy geewillekers did I sweat! It wasn't all that HOT, but it was super sunny and I was DRENCHED afterwards. (As drenched as one can get in New England.) Thankfully, I remembered to wear sunscreen this time and escaped free from a Spectacle-esque sunburn.

Post Race

If I look super happy, it's because I am...and here's why: Spectacle Island 5K time - 50:06, Chestnut Hill Reservoir 5K time 44:57!!! That's 5 whole flippin' minutes. I didn't do anything "special" to improve my time, I just ran more. I still run like a turtle, but I'm a consistently improving turtle. Plus, if I take that much time off every 5k that I run, I would be a VERY happy camper. However, something tells more it's going to take a bit more than just "running more." A plan to be made later....

After the race was over...what I WANTED was brunch like booze...but since it was 9am, and we weren't in the city center, there would be none of that. Instead, we "settled"for breakfast at Eagles Deli. (On the way home, we picked up mimosa making supplies from the local liquor store and 7-11 and had the bottle of champagne polished off by noon. Hey! I head earned it!)

Pancakes with Nutella and fresh strawberries. YUM!

Since I have been overtly interested in running play lists and how they affect your performance, here was mine for this particular 5K:

1) It's Time - Imagine Dragons
2) Bulls on Parade - Rage Against the Machine
3) Come Around - M.I.A.
4) Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin
5) A Little Party Never Killed Nobody - Fergie
6) The New Workout Plan - Kanye West
7) Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
8) Can't Hold Us - Macklemore
9) Land of 1,000 Dances - Wilson Pickett
10) Titanium - David Guetta
11) Sandstorm - Darude
12) Infinity Guitars - Sleigh Bells
13) Thunderstruck - AC/DC

So what's next? It's the Blacklight Run on October 26th at Osgood Landing out in Andover. I think Mr. & Mrs. H-Bomb will be joining along with a very special guest. STAY TUNED!

Just Keep Moving On

"I chose, and my world was shaken - So what?

The choice may have been mistaken,

The choosing was not

You have to move on

Look at what you want,

Not at where you are,

Not at what you'll be..."

Don't you just want to give Mandy Patinkin a big ol' bear hug?!?

 Sorry for the long blogging absence, but life & work have been PRETTY hectic this month, but I am back. :) I'm back and have something actually not weight loss related to talk about: starting September 3rd I am OFFICIALLY headed back to school and couldn't be more excited.

That being said, the process of getting ready to go back to school both mentally, emotionally and tactically has been a bit of a doozey. Once I was finally registered for my class, "Move On" from Sunday in the Park with George immediately popped into my brain. "What the heck?", I thought.... but after a little more pondering, it came to mind...it was very sage advice, from a trusted mentor...finally registering some 3 and a half years later.

Something that I've learned about myself, and probably has a large deal to do with why I write this blog...is my overwhelming desire to help people, to make a difference...and to sound TOTALLY cheesy, to leave this world a better place than I found it. (Doesn't that actually have a name? I think it's a Hebrew term...cookie goes to someone who can tell me what it is...)

Could I have done that by being a musician? Yes. Being a music educator? Absolutely! In my current job? To some small extent, I surmise. As a nurse? ABOSO-FUCKING-LUTLEY!

(Oh, yeah...in case you've spent ZERO time around me or have no knowledge of anything I write on an social media outlet...I'm going back to school to first get my prerequisites and then go to Nursing School for an accelerated BS in Nursing. Right now I THINK I want to work in a hospital in either ER, OR, or Mental Health, but then again...I'm not naive enough to think that I'll go through ALL of my nursing program with the same wants, or that's where my job search will take me. For now, however, those are the goals.)

This is a long way from what my 18 year old self thought I was going to do. Eighteen is when you go to college, when you decide "what you're going to be", right? That's such a stupid notion, seriously...how is an eighteen year old supposed to be equipped to answer that? In many instances, our youth are asked to answer this question MUCH younger than 18. Shouldn't kids just be...oh, I don't know...riding their bikes or gossiping about boys...? You get my drift.

But I digress. I know that my circumstance is not an exclusively unique position, but it is unique in my little circle of friends: I have several friends looking for first time employment in their given field, one looking for new employment in the same field, one starting her doctoral degree and a husband who is employed in a field FAR from from his college degree.

I think I relish this territory. I get to figure this out on my own. This can be mine. 

At the same time, this really isn't all that unique. We take our life experiences -- our strengths, our weaknesses, our lessons learned, our battles fought and carry them around with ourselves every single day, into every single circumstance.

I think that's what I love most about life -- it is never EVER static. It's dynamic even when it seemingly at its most placid. Perhaps that's why I love the water so. It's a great metaphor for life. Honestly, have you every seen water be 100% still for more than a nano-second.

Life's about the journey, not the destination. This is true. Also, it's less about "what" you are and "who" you are. Why don't they teach that in public school curriculum? Yay! You got into a good school, but you act as a wretched human being... Please do not mistake what I am talking about...I'm talking about CHARACTER, not morality or religion. I don't know if character can be taught, but certainly it can be shaped...or nudged along.

Yet again, I digress. 

I do wonder what it's going to be like to walk into the first Human Biology class. Am I'm going to be noticeably and significantly younger than everyone, will they annoy me, will I find the class easy, will it be difficult? All this not knowing is simultaneously exciting and petrifying. If you know me well, you know that I thrive on the dichotomous existence. 

When I started my undergrad, I remember my mother telling me, "watch out for the middle aged ladies in your classes. They'll blow your curve."

Now I think I'm that middle aged lady. Woo-hoo!!!!

This whole going back to school thing has me excited, introspective, little nervous, proud. If I had to pick some emotions I'd be down with being for quite some time...those would be fine by me.

...Just keep moving on

Anything you do

Let it come from you

Then it will be new

Give us more to see..."

Running Playlist

Hello lovely readers! My apologies for my absence of late. Between my actual vacation, my mom and my sister visiting for ten days, and my bit of a hectic return to work....well, No Disassemble Charlie No. 5 had to take a little time on the back burner. Never fear...we're back!!!!

Something's fun on the horizon: The Chestnut Hill Reservoir 5k will be here in a mere fifteen days. I'm pretty excited about this race! I can walk to it from my house, as it is at the reservoir where I always run. It's a absolutely GORGEOUS place to run!! That being said, I really don't LIKE to run. I am learning to LOVE to run though...if that makes any sense. I love when I get to the point when my mind goes blank, I love that I'm doing that LAST possible form of exercise I'd EVER thought I'd be doing. That being said, how do I bridge the gab from "like" to "love"? Very simple: MUSIC!

Here's my list, that keeps me going....in no particular order.

1) You Can Do It by Ice Cube

2) Run the World (Girls) by Beyonce'

3) Draw a Crowd by Ben Folds Five

4) Extraordinary by Liz Phair

5) Crazy Bitch by Buckcherry

6) Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J

7) Survivor by Destiny's Child

8) Thunderstruck by AC/DC

9) Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leopard

10) Do It Anyway by Ben Folds Five

11) Free Your Mind by En Vogue

12) Starships by Nicki Minaj

13) Land of 1000 Dances by Wilson Pickett

14) It's My Life by No Doubt

15) Titanium by David Guetta & Sia

16) Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

17) Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson

18) Comfortably Numb by Scissor Sisters

19) Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin

20) Epic by Faith No More

21) Come Around by M.I.A. feat Timbaland

22) Riot Rhythm by Sleigh Bells

23) Soul Man by The Blues Brothers

24) Hall of Fame by The Script

25) Ducky Done Gun by M.I.A.

26) Lose Yourself by Eminem

27) Show Me How You Burlesque by Christina Aguilera

28) Infinity Guitars by Sleigh Bells

29) Breakin' Dishes by Rihanna

30) How You Like Me Now by The Heavy

31) This is the New Year by A Great Big World

32) A/B Machines by Sleigh Bells

33) Boyz by M.I.A.

34) Army by Ben Folds Five

35) Bang Bang by will.i.am

36) 99 Problems by Jay-Z

37) Fighter by Christina Aguilera

38) It's Time by Imagine Dragons

39) The New Workout Plan by Kayne West

40) It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N Roll) by AC/DC

41) Vanity by Christina Aguilera

42) Can't Hold Us Down by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

43) On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons

44) Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke

45) The State of Massachusetts by Dropkick Murphys

46) For Boston by Dropkick Murphys

47) Bulls On Parade by Rage Against the Machine

48) Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

49) Tell 'Em by Sleigh Bells

50) Girl on Fire (Inferno Version) by Alicia Keys feat. Nicki Minaj

51) Hearts On Fire by John Cafferty

52) Fly by Nicki Minaj & Rihanna

53) I Love It by Icona Pop

54) A Little Party Never Killed Nobody by Fergie


That's it folks!!! Does my list line up with any of yours? Is there anything awesome I'm missing? Anything you're stealing from me? Let me know in the comments!