3/29/12

No Mandate? Tough Tooties–Suck it up & Die

live-free-or-die

The Mandate. Let’s say, for argument sake, that the federal mandate that everybody purchase health care or pay a penalty for not doing so is, in fact, unconstitutional. So, we scrap it and also probably throw the baby (healthcare reform in its entirety) out with the bath water.

 

Who cares that there has been no real stab at reform since and probably won’t be anything done about it but more bitching, whining & fear mongering for years after we get rid of it. Why should our elected officials give a rats ass whether the rest of us minions go bankrupt just trying to get healthcare coverage or pay for the care we get when they have the best care on the planet paid for by the minions.

 

Just Suck it up and Die, won’t you please.

 

Never mind the fact that in order to buy a car, register it and get tags you are REQUIRED – MANDATED (granted by the States) to have insurance. True, you can opt out by not even purchasing a car. You don’t really HAVE to buy it – walk or public transp, right. However, let say you get your car, cancel your insurance cause you can’t afford it or didn’t want to buy it in the first place and then you have an accident, totaling the car. Can that person still tow their busted car (sick body) to the repair shop (hospital) and expect it to get repaired (treatment) for free? HELL NO! Tough Tooties – Suck it up sucker – you’re out a car and probably still have to pay the bank for that car.

 

Never mind the fact that in order to buy a house – get a mortgage – you are REQUIRED – MANDATED  to have home owners insurance. True, again, you can opt out by not buying a house. Rent. Let’s say you do rent, but you opt out of not getting renters insurance (your not required to do so) even though you have some nice stuff. What if you get robbed or worse – your rental burns to the ground with all your stuff inside. Can you walk into a clothing store/furniture store with a jar of your ashes and expect to get your stuff replaced for free? HELL NO! Tough Tooties – Suck it up fool – you S.O.L., sitting on a milk crate wearing hand me downs aren’t you.

 

Not so with healthcare. When did healthcare, treatment become a right and if you can’t or won’t pay for it then well, you have the right to get at least basic care for free (while the rest of us pay for that freebie with higher premiums, lifetime maximums, pre-existing condition exclusions, etc)??? You may not get advanced care, but if you sit in that emergency room long enough you WILL get care.

 

I say, HUMPH. You want the liberty and freedom to not be told you have to pay for healthcare? FINE. You want to decide if you should have healthcare coverage – you want the option of saying no thank you, I got this. FINE. Suffer the consequences of that decision then. I don’t want to pay or suffer for it. You don’t have any coverage, you get sick, in an accident or just run your body into the ground cause, shit, you want to eat, drink, smoke, drug yourself into the walking dead…then Tough Tooties – Suck it up or Just Die.

 

…and those of you that simply can’t afford it because you are on minimum wage, work part time or your employer doesn’t provide it – so sorry. Tough Tooties – Suck it up, pay out of pocket for what you can and for what you can’t – just die then. Or petition Congress for some of the money you send in to pay for their Cadillac Health Coverage. That should work.

 

Harsh? Unfair? Lacks Empathy? *Shrugs* Yep. While everyone is screaming from the rafters about the constitutionality of “Obamacare”, how tyrannical, costly & disasterous it is/would be, nobody (particularly the GOP candidates) – NOT NEAR ONE – is screaming about how tyrannical, costly and just downright WRONG the current system is OR even has a suggestion at an alternative. Honey Badgers - Who gives a damn. They certainly don’t.

 

We have the right to life, liberty & happiness…not healthcare. Unless, of course, I missed something. If you want a RIGHT to it, please explain to me you plan for paying for it. If “ObamaCare” in its entirety is the harbinger of the angel of death, then what do you think is the solution to our current broke down, on a respirator healthcare system?

 

Or are you like the Honey Badger – you just don’t give a fugg (as long as we get rid of this plan)

3/25/12

Run Like the Wind - ChiRunning

IMG_0364

Yesterday, I attended the MultiSport Expo in Bethesda. I manned the TriUnify Booth, walked the floor/booths and attended the ChiRunning 2 Workshop.

 

As a side note…I came across this booth exhibiting a accessory/apparel  line that I absolutely fell in love with – PURE MADNESS. Pure madness most aptly describes what most people think about Triathletes. What it really is about – “Pure - stating healthy and Madness - the dedication it takes to compete.” Nicest man in the world and I just loved the gear. Check him out at www.puremadnesswear.com.

 

In between checking out the other booths, meeting other triathletes and talking about my Tri Club – TriUnify, I took a workshop on ChiRunning. I was game for anything to help me with my running, improve my time/technique. ANYTHING to make it less drudgery and more enjoyable.

 

The 2 hour workshop was awesome. There was a lot crammed into the 2 hours. The most important things I took away from the workshop was 1. Focus on my posture, 2. Relax, 3. Keep my Feet UNDER my body – in alignment (going back to posture) and 4. Cadence.

 

Today, I decided that I would work on/focus on a few of the 10 Components to Good Running Technique (go to the ChiRunning website to see all of them). I focused on the following:

 

  • Good Posture – “Your running technique is totally dependent on your posture. The efficiency of your running technique is directly proportional to the quality of your posture”
  • Cadence: “Most people have too slow of a cadence. When you run you want to spend the least amount of time on your legs as possible. The longer you take with each stride, the more time your foot spends on the ground, and the more energy your legs have to expend to support your body weight. Even if it's a split second during each stride, it adds up quickly when you're talking about 1200 steps per mile. Strive to maintain a cadence of 85-90 strides per minute with each leg. If it's difficult to do, shorten your stride length until if feels more comfortable to hold the cadence.”
  • Staying relaxed: This includes having a good sense of humor and having the ability to observe what is going on within you and around you and responding wisely to those observations
chirun2

 

I used my tempo trainer (see the yellow thingy clipped to my hat) to keep cadence. I did the 1st 5 at 90 strides per minute and then changed to 85 for the second half. I ran about 95% of the entire 9.2 miles today. Don’t get me wrong…I had to concentrate, I had to stay focused on my body position and keeping up with the tempo trainer…but a 2 hour workshop seemed to payoff. It took me 2:06 to complete 9.2 miles. I compared that to my last 2 long runs and here is what I got:

  • Today      9.2 miles = 2:06
  • Mar 4th   8.9 miles =  2:07
  • Feb 24th  8.4 miles = 2:01

I covered (while not a huge amount) more distance in relatively the same amount of time. WOO HOO. I was less winded and my legs didn’t hurt as much as they used to. SOLD.

 

Practice. Practice Practice. I so want to run like the wind.

 

Have you tried ChiRunning? Has it worked for you? What are your thoughts?

GTFOOHWTBS–The Killing of Trayvon Martin

no-bullshit-300x300

Just stop. Stop with all the bullshyt.

 

Those of you that think if Trayvon had just stopped and answered Zimmerman’s questions and confrontation…

 

GTFOOHWTBS.

 

So, am I now supposed to teach my children (my 20 year old son) that if a STRANGER is following you, stalking you and then confronts you…A STRANGER THAT IS NOT EVEN IN A POLICE UNIFORM…that they are just supposed to stand there and let said STRANGER do, say, touch, harass them with all the deference, respect & yes, sir’s that they can muster as if this was the 1950’s? ARE YOU FUGGING SERIOUS??? So, if a stranger is following me; harassing me, I’m not supposed to run? What if that STRANGER turned out to be a serial killer or rapist?  Wouldn’t you be calling me fugging stupid for stopping to talk to with a STRANGER?

 

GTFOOHWTBS.

 

What about MY RIGHT – what about Trayvon’s RIGHT - to stand our ground? Oh…Okay. The one with the gun is always gonna win that one, huh? What if Trayvon did fight back – against the pursuit and confrontation of a STRANGER!!!??? He didn’t have the right to stand his ground, the right to self-defense against that idiot, Zimmerman? Of course not. Like I said, the gun wins.

 

GTFOOHWTBS.

 

I simply can’t wrap my mind around the idea that Zimmerman, who had almost 100lbs on Trayvon, felt that his life was in imminent danger from a kid with a bag of skittles and a can a tea to fight with. SELF DEFENSE MY ASS. There is NOTHING you can tell me, nothing you can say that will convince me that Zimmerman was the victim here. Zimmerman was the one that called 911. Zimmerman was the one that followed that kid despite being told not to. It was Zimmerman that got out of his car and confronted Trayvon, once again, despite being told not too. Who was the aggressor here? Zimmerman started it and he finished it…and now his little vigilante, racial profiling, stereotyping, over zealous azz is still free to roam the street.

 

GTFOOHWTBS.

 

…and you know as well as I do, that had Trayvon had a license to carry a concealed weapon, stood his ground when Zimmerman confronted him and was the first one to get off a shot, that Trayvon would have been hauled off to jail while they “investigated” his claim of self defense. And I’m sure the outrage would have been just as loud to convict him for shooting Zimmerman instead of backing off. You know it, I know it. I willing to say it to your face. Makes you uncomfortable. Too bad. The truth hurts.

 

As for Geraldo Rivera’s assertions that if Trayvon has not been wearing a hoodie, this probably wouldn’t have happened like it did…

 

GTFOOHWTBS.

 

How about that for stereotyping and racial profiling. That is just about the same thing as saying that if women didn’t wear the pencil skirt then they wouldn’t get raped. Really? Geraldo – SHAME ON YOU! That was just dumb, asinine logic.

 

GTFOOHWTBS.

 

As for those of you that think that we all should just shut up about this since there is so much other similar tragedies in the the world…NO. I won’t. Don’t take issue with me for staying on top of this injustice, talking about it and calling it for what it is – MURDER, plain and simple. Do I care about the other injustices in the world?  YES. I’m sick of it all. Take up the lack of coverage for many of the other social injustices with the media. Those that scream the loudest seem to get the attention…watch the power of any special interest group. That Stand Your Ground Law is some bullshit, plain & simple. Where is ya’ll girl, Nancy Grace? Mmmm Hmmmm.

 

GTFOOHWTBS.

 

You know, if enough good people just keep silent, refuse to throw a flag on the play or call BULLSHIT when they see it…then well evil, injustice will win every single time.

 

GTFOOHWTBS.

3/21/12

Wardrobe Malfunction–Swimsuit Edition

Yesterday was another comedy of errors training day.

 

I was SUPPOSED to do 4x750 working on form and scheduled myself to meet Becca at Wilson’s Aquatic Center to get it in followed by a Bikram Yoga Session – gotta stretch it out.

 

When I packed my suit (a tri-like top with a swim skirt – yeah, I use what I got at hand) I noticed that the skirt looked like it was about on its last legs, but I figured I could get one or two more workouts in it before scraping it and breaking down to buy a new suit or at least new bottoms.

 

NOT SO MUCH.

 

I got the Wilson’s got my suit on and immediately felt something was amiss. The skirt which normally sits just above mid thigh was damn near at my knees. DA HELL. I just hightched (not a word, but you know what I mean) it up and went to get in the pool.

 

About 150m into the swim, I was like HOLD UP…where da hell is my skirt going? I was feeling a little too much water and cold in the nether regions. My skirt was falling off. It was so loose that the simple motion of moving forward was causing the skirt to float off. OMG! I stopped at the wall to take stock of the situation and, well, the elastic (ALL OF IT – from the seams to all the material) just gave up the ghost. I tried to tie knots in the waist in an attempt to keep my bottom covered and finish the workout.

 

NOT SO MUCH.

 

I did another 200 and kept having to stop to pull on the skirt, tighten the knots. I got tired of all that and did 300 with a pull buoy just to keep that damn thing from sliding off into the deep. SIGH. I gave up with all this after only one set of about 800 – which was taking FOREVER with all the wardrobe adjustments.

 

I took the suit off, got dressed for Bikram and took a good look at the skirt…

swimskirt swimskirt2

All those white dots…that is the elastic/stretchy stuff in the skirt…it just disintegrated into nothing. Exploded, failed, quit. So bad that you could freakin’ see through the material.

swimskirt3

Poor skirt. So stretched out that it is now a dress. Well, it is now in the trash…gone on to triathlon training bathing suit heaven – where all bathing suits that have been chlorinated & washed to death go to rest.

 

I did make it to Bikram Yoga –which always presents a challenge- MUST STRETCH MORE!!

 

And to top it all off…I got a parking ticket. SIGH.

 

Have you ever had your bathing suit just give up the ghost and quit on you?

3/16/12

Happy Founders Day

ThePlain Today is the 210th Anniversary of the Founding of the United States Military Academy (West Point)…My Alma Mater.

1802 – 2012

I’m am a proud part of the Long Gray Line.

The Corps and The Corps and the Corps.              

Today marks the 210th Founders Day. May 29th marks our 25th Anniversary of our Graduation. WOO HOO!


Tomorrow, I will be celebrating our Founders Day at a Gala in Virginia with the West Point Society of DC. Fun times.

                  RON STEPTOE 024 RonLisaFirstiesRON_LISA

And the Winner is…

thankspptstaff

NOT ME. The GirlzNGear Average Superstar Contest Winner was announced and well…moving on.

 

I’m not sure how they did that new math, but if you were supposed to combine two different voting mechanisms, I would have taken the straight percentages from each divided and arrived at the overall winner.

 

Winner had 33% votes on FB, 50% of votes on website. That would come to an overall 41.5% of the vote.

 

Me – I had 56% of vote on FB, 39% of vote on website for an overall 47.5% of the vote.

 

Well, new math is in these days and there must have been another method of calculating and there you have it. ALAS.

 

Nevertheless, I had to thank all of you for your voting, voting and voting again and again. Thank you for the notes, the support and encouragement…my favorite being “Sweetie, you are far from average at anything, but you got my vote everytime.” I LOVE YOU GUYS! Thank you!

 

Back to my regularly scheduled training…

3/15/12

Everything Ain’t For Everybody

try_umph

I haven’t had much to write about this week. I’ve been focused on WINNING the GirlznGear contest and Judy seems to be rallying the troops for the closest race ever to the finish. You would think this was for some multi-million dollar contract the way I’ve been stalking recruiting people for the vote.

 

It is gonna be tight.

 

I signed up for a Groupon for CrossFit. HUMPH. After just 2 Basic classes where you do a short workout and the trainer teaches you some of the moves, I have decided that CrossFit just ain’t my cup of tea. I have absolutely NO interest in ever trying to jerk, clean, snatch a gazzillion pounds over my head or the bear crawl, climb rope or any of that stuff. NONE. NADA. And if you thought Triathletes have a lot of “shit” we say, we got nothing on the CrossFit people. Cult like if you ask me…but the same could be said about the sport of Triathlon’s.

 

I tried it. I gave it some of my UMPH and well…NO. I’ll be saving my UMPH for the Triumph for Swim, Bike, Run (…and jump, kick, box something as one of my friends is always saying to me- “Did you jump, kick, swim today?”)

 

Everything ain’t for Everybody…and CrossFit just ain’t for me.

 

I have been a swimming fool this week. 2100 yards with Becca on Tuesday and 1850 this afternoon. Some long sets in there. Let me tell you again – I LOVE MY SWIMp3 player. LOVE.

            swimp3  swimp3a

The music is just the ticket to keep your mind occupied on ANYTHING other than swimming forever – back & forth – FOREVER and EVER. It gets lots of stares from people in other lanes. WHATEVER! Go get you your own. HUMP.

 

Recently, I have been the recipient a lot of “Wow, I could never do that.”, “I’m just too busy, I don’t have the time.” or some variation of how crazy I am and that they would NEVER do ‘that’.

 

BullshitExcusesMy response – “If you think you can’t, then your right – you can’t.” or “Busy people find the time to do the things they want to do/are important to them.” As for the crazy…Yep, I am. I resemble that remark. Towards what they would never do…Good, you’re in my age group. One less person I have to compete with.

 

Shrug. Everything Ain’t for Everybody…and excuses are like belly buttons – everybody has one.

3/9/12

UPDATE!!! - GirlzNGear Average Superstar Athlete Contest

Lisa6VOTING CONTINUES UNTIL THURSDAY!!! 


I'm not sure what is going on, but the online poll at www.girlzngear.com "appears" like you can vote multiple times and I'm getting smoked. PLEASE VOTE like 10x per day until Thursday. Also...if you have a Facebook account, there is an online voting poll there at https://apps.facebook.com/opinionpolls/poll?pid=AB987Ygypo0 . Log into FB, click link and vote for LISA. 


Hopefully, between the website vote and the FB vote, I can take this puppy home.


Thanks for all of your help & support!

I was selected as a finalist in the Girlz N Gear(...inspiring the athlete within) Average Superstar Contest. They realized that the majority of women running are NOT superstar athletes with super skinny body types. They are just average women, moms, wives, grandmas, etc, with exceptional goals to accomplish and they will sponsor one Average Superstar in the race of her choice.

Here is the story I submitted for the contest (a shorter version is on the site):
Dear Girlz N Gear,
Once upon a time (like 30 years ago), in a land far, far away I started running because, well, I had no choice. Run & run fast enough to pass the Cadet Physical Fitness Test or don’t graduate. Not graduating from the Academy simply was not an option, considering I got engaged to my classmate and, according to my mother, somebody was getting married after graduation whether it was you or not. I had to get my workout game on, so I ran.
I was running. I ran throughout my Army years; however, the minute I produced the first heir to the empire and we left the service, I hung up my running shoes. I worked out, of course. I had to keep in shape. I taught kickboxing and did other gym activities, but that was about it.
Then life started to get interesting. My home became a halfway house & retirement community. Three kids, a niece, my mother, my sister & her husband all living under one big A roof. My nerves were getting bad and self-medicating became a viable option. I picked up my running shoes and started to get high on endorphins, clearing my mind and solving the worlds’ problems (although I couldn’t seem to remember the solutions afterwards). It is awesome. Then I started entering races and soon one of my friends suckered me into doing a triathlon. I was hooked.
IMG_3476…and somewhere in the midst of all of the training & races, I noticed that my friends started making random comments: “Are you always color coordinated?”, “Do you always wear lipstick during a race?”, “You sure are sparkly!”. Well, that was the OD (Original Diva) in me and my mantra’s were born – “I may be slow, I may come in last, but I will look GOOD while doing it.” and “It takes just as much time to put on red lipstick/gloss as it does to put on chap stick. Why not!?”
As a 46 year old mother of three trying to keep her sanity by self-medicating with running, swimming & biking (as well as the glass of wine or 2 or 3…) and looking absolutely fabulous while doing it all, it would be the ultimate (honor & just plain hoot) to tell the world that this slow, plump, middle aged momma has a SPONSOR for her endeavors. Girls NEED Gear! – and Girlz N Gear is just the kind of sponsor this sparkly runner & triathlete would love to represent.

PLEASE HELP ME become the AVERAGE SUPERSTAR ATHLETE!
VOTE EARLY! VOTE OFTEN!
http://www.girlzngear.com/

3/6/12

Compress It, Compress it Good!

compression

If it can be compressed, compress it. Good advice from the ranks of shit runners & triathletes say. I’ve been coveting compression gear for a long time – LONG TIME. The stuff is expensive and I have never seen any of it on sale.

 

My BFF, MsPattey and I talk about compression socks, pants & sleeves with the hushed tones and stifled giggles of glee for something highly revered. We kept each other posted about possible sale sightings, articles and little known facts regarding compression.

 

Then my girl had to have some surgery on her legs and was prescribed compression hose from the doctor. She wore the hose to the gym for a short stint on the treadmill and was absolutely convinced that we HAD to get on the compression tip…but hey, while we get out nickels together, the compression hose from the doctors would/should do.

 

Mkay…I got some compression hosiery from when I had surgery. How about I put it on under my running tights and WHA LA! Compression.

 

NOT SO MUCH. I pulled them out before a track run a few weeks back and it was a continuous comedy of errors. I got them on after about 20 min of pulling, tugging, jumping on these things. I fell onto the couch  in a heap of sweat with the FireMarshall looking at me as if I had lost my mind with a nonchalant quip “Are you supposed to sweat like that while putting on hose?” Sometimes…

 

I stood up and the circulation at my knees was being cut off. I couldn’t even bend my knees to walk let alone run across the room. Falling back down on the couch, I solicit the help of the FM to peel these things off my body.

 

Surgical Compression Hose is just that…for surgery. NOT fitness.

 

Sometimes being cheap is just that. CHEAP…and dumb.

 

However, a few days later, God showed mercy on my foolishness and a Swaggle Deal for compression socks/sleeves came out. BOOYA!!! Gonna get me some.

 

And they came last night. I put them on and just walked around the house and did just house stuff for the evening. I’M IN LOVE! My lower legs felt SO good. I have got to get me some compression shorts and tri suit. HAVE TO!

 

If it can be compressed – COMPRESS IT!

 

Any of you guys have compression gear? What do you think?

3/4/12

IM70.3 National Harbor–Sicko

On the training calendar for today was a 10miler. I was bound and determined to get it in, despite the fact that I got some kind of hairy fur ball lodged in my chest trying desperately to become bronchitis or worse.

 

Maybe that run was not such a good idea after all…but I got it done. I’m taking another day off and then doing workouts inside until this clears up.

 

Pushing yourself is one thing…pushing till your injured or so sick that you down and out for the count is another ball of wax.

 

Stay healthy, stay strong…in it to finish it!

3/3/12

Sick & Shut In Randoms

funny-pictures-your-cat-likes-laying-around-all-day

Apparently I caught some cooties from somewhere that decided to take up residence in my throat & lungs on Wednesday and it progressively got worse till I came home from a business dinner on Thursday night with no voice & collapsed in a heap across the bed.

 

I so appreciate the FireMarshall running out to the store at 10pm to get me some meds.

 

I don’t appreciate that he felt the need to take his time while he picked himself up some ice cream and various other snacks too.

 

Cough. Hack.

 

That one dose Zi.th.ro.max is the BUSINESS!!! Only problem…you can’t leave the house or go to far from the bathroom. 2grams of A.zyth.ro.mycin with clear your intestines out of EVERYTHING.

 

TMI?

 

Being ordered to take a day off from (to quote my friend) running, swimming, kicking & fighting everything, everywhere was AWESOME! I tried to go from the beginning of the internet to the end, but stuck with my goo.gle reader instead.

 

JustStop

I so wanted to just unfriend some people today…so entrenched in their rhetoric, bullshyt & soundbites that they are almost rabid, but if I did that, then that would be one less voice that challenges the crazy instead of co-signs it.

 

SIGH. Some people just make my head want to explode. Just..Just Stop.

 

I bought a dress to wear to an event this month…damn thing fit perfectly – EXCEPT…when I tried to get both girls inside it.

 

Seriously. Wall slide of depression and self loathing.

 

Then…I had to take my measurements for Coach Torture Lionheart and while I only lost 2 1/2 lbs, I did talk off a total of 4” all around, (1/2+” from calves, hips, waist, arms).

 

I’ll take it…and I’ll take that damn gown back too! HUMPH.

 

I didn’t get into the Warrior Dash this year…all the times were sold out for Saturday. Guess I’ll go ahead and register for the Philly Tri (Olympic or Sprint…that is the question).

 

Olympic…probably.

 

I want a runDisney medal…BAD. That’s some awesome race bling. Jan 2013…right MsPattey?

 

I love Pan.era Breads Tomato Soup. Delish!

 

I’m going to see Diana Ross and then run a half marathon next month. Gonna go see The Boss then BE the boss all in one weekend. Mad Excited about it.

 

What shall I “Cook with Love” tomorrow night for our friend & classmate? Hmmmm…

 

The cocktails are always the easy part.

 

My SwimP3 headphones (ones you can wear in the water) are EVERY.SINGLE.DAMN. THING. PERIOD. Nothing like swimming a mile to Adele & Tina Turner.

 

My meds are kicking in…sleepy time.

 

Anything happen random or made you go…hmmmm, lately?