Read the newspaper early this a.m. and saw where rain is expected this weekend. So, I figured I'd better get a good, long training walk in today. I was successful in procrastinating until after lunch. I started out great with impressive winds nudging me on for the first mile. I remember thinking about the Irish saying "May the Wind always be at Your Back" and thinking this walk would be a piece of cake. Well, the winds changed and for the rest of the day, the wind was whipping in my face peeling my eyelids back! I walked to Crull Fitness and bought another bottle of water then walked on to my friend Doug's house for a visit. I finally got to meet his super sweet little rescue dog that is as calm as they come. After that, I walked on to the post office and mailed some thank you notes for donations from wonderful friends supporting my walk efforts. Then, I made my way home for a total 10.5 mile walk. Got home in time to take a shower and head to the Hyatt for the Richardson Chamber of Commerce's annual banquet. Kay Bailey Huchison was the keynote speaker and she shared some poignant thoughts about the stimulus plan under considaration this weekend. She was actually on the Senate floor at 1:00 p.m. and made it to speak at the banquet at 7:30 p.m. Wow... Thoroughly enjoyed the event as usual.

Training miles today: 10.5
Total "official" training miles: 38.5

Healthy Ideas: Dr. Andrew Weil was quoted as saying that if you had to pick just one thing to stay healthy, you should choose breathing exercises. From his website: "Practicing regular, mindful breathing can be calming and energizing and can even help with stress-related health problems ranging from panic attacks to digestive disorders." Here is a link to his breathing instructions (I regularly use Exercise #2) http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00521/three-breathing-exercises.html So, why not give it a go? What have you got to loose except stress and high blood pressure?

Thursday, February 5th
Met up with Janie at 8:30 a.m. at Crull Fitness. Julian our trainer asked if we were sore from Tuesday and we screwed up and said "no". Darn it.... we shoulda said yes, as that meant he was going to work us even harder. As he says with a grin.... 25 more repetitions. Easy for him to say, huh? I told him I was gonna bring a camera next time so I could post his photo next to ChaChi's. When I got home, I decided to get some walking training in as I hadn't walked since getting the headcold. So, sneakers on, water bottles filled and sidewalks calling, I went on a 5 mile jaunt. The weather was great and my feet and legs felt great too!

Miles walked today: 5
Total training miles: 28

Tuesday, February 3rd
Met Janie at Crull Fitness at 8:30 a.m. At 8:31 a.m. we were back on track, or should I say treadmill warming up for our hour and a half of fitness training. It was a good albeit uneventful workout.