Me, Backwards

As I’m getting into running 3 days a week, I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with what to wear.  Burbank mornings are in the high 40s; here in Oakland it’s been down closer to 40.  I think I got it right in Burbank last week, with a sleeveless compression top with built-in bra, and a long-sleeved shirt (wicking, of course) over the top.  I’m chilly when I first start but comfortable-to-warm towards the end.  Last couple weeks in Oakland I’d tried a fleece hat, and that proved to be too much, so today I pulled out my fleece head/earband and that seemed to be just right.  I wear two full long-sleeve layers here, though both are fairly lightweight.  I think I had just about the right balance this morning.  There may be colder mornings, but I don’t recall it getting a lot chillier than this down here.

Edited 11/27 to add that I found a pair of running “tights” that I actually like … they’re a good weight for this climate and not too, and they have pockets - nice to have a place to stash a key.  I found ‘em at Sports Authority and was hoping to find them online for a better price, but they don’t seem to be sold anywhere else - must be a Sports Authority house brand or something.  The brand is “Aspire” and they’re called the Quest Run Pants.

About five months ago I blogged about changes I was seeing; noticing more and more lately, so maybe it’s time to check in again. Read the rest of this entry »

… was actually pretty successful.  I need to do a few things differently (like remember to bring my Netflix so I have something to watch in the evenings!), and remember the most efficient ways of packing, but all in all, it was good.  I especially feel good about how I was able to keep up good eating and exercise habits.  I worked out Monday afternoon, and Tuesday-Thursday mornings.  Monday and Wednesday were gym workouts (thanks to Noah for the ideas) and Tuesday/Thursday was running - with this morning’s workout I managed to complete Week 3 of Couch-to-5K; now it’s on to Week 4, which I must admit looks a bit daunting.  Then again, I thought Week 3 looked daunting … and I managed to do it. Read the rest of this entry »

By next Thursday I will have made three round trips to Southern California in just over a week.  Our trip to Elsinore has been planned for a while (Sean’s going for the entire week for the wingsuit bigway event, I’m popping down just for the weekend).  The work trips to Burbank (two days this week, four next week) came up afterward.  I thought briefly about combining the trips, but since the flight is so short and I don’t have a car in Burbank, the idea of not dragging all of my skydiving gear along on the business trips is more appealing. Read the rest of this entry »

Starting this week, it looks like I’m going to be getting back into semi-regular business travel.  I was reminded immediately today how tough it can be to stay focused and vigilant while on the road, with schedules disrupted, and fatigue being a bigger factor. Read the rest of this entry »

I decided early in the week that what my body needed was a mostly-lazy weekend wherein I didn’t try to skydive, and I didn’t try to do anything too taxing to my body. Since I got my cold about a week and a half ago, I’ve only done my workouts with Noah - none on my own.  Yesterday morning I stopped taking cold meds, and I seem to be doing just fine, so I think other than a bit of lingering snot, I may have finally bid sayonara to the cold. Read the rest of this entry »

Below is a link to an ad that I did for Performance Designs, which makes my new canopy, the Pulse. It appeared in the October issue of Parachutist magazine, which is sent to all USPA members.  ‘Twas a lot of fun to do and it’ll be interesting to see if it pops up in other issues or publications.

PD Pulse ad
(fair warning it is a 2+ MB PDF file in case you’re on a slow connection).

I realize I haven’t blogged in a while, and I think today I diagnosed something of the malaise I’ve been feeling - I feel like right now my life is a little out of balance. Some of it is good, some bad, some just neutral, but things aren’t humming along like they had been and I’ve been feeling it for the last month or so.  At any rate, lots to update, so fair warning this’ll be a long post. Read the rest of this entry »

People have asked me how far I have to go till I get to my goal weight. I don’t know because I don’t exactly know what that weight is. It’ll be the weight that I can comfortably maintain without 1) starvation 2) impractical amounts of exercise and 3) white-knuckling / otherwise obsessing about food. It won’t be a number on a chart, or a clothing size that society says I “should” fit into; it’ll be where my body wants to end up when I take good care of it most of the time. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, here we are and I’ve gone over a week without blogging.  That week includes two days at the dropzone (Labor Day Monday, and the following Saturday) several days of work (yawn) and one day of being pretty darn lazy (Sunday).  Last Saturday’s weather was nutty; with forecast blue skies but what turned out to be quite a weird front moving through bringing with it clouds, rain, and crazy winds for about the first half of the day.  Still got in three jumps, and did my first coach jump work, when I briefed and supervised a student doing her first hop & pop.  I put her out at 5,500 feet and continued to full altitude to jump with my group. Labor Day was especially fun as we were getting extra altitude (15K) all day; took advantage of that for five fun jumps of varying size. Read the rest of this entry »