Happy New Year!

With the holiday season officially wrapping up (I don't think I could've taken my Christmas tree down quickly enough), it's time to get back to a normal schedule now. I spent too many days being up late not because I wanted to, but because I came down with the worst stomach flu of my life! Still feeling the remnants, but definitely much better than what I was. On the bright side, I was able to catch up on all my "movie watching". I definitely got my lifetime supply of crappy chick flicks in. Well, maybe they weren't all crappy. I did watch them from beginning to end - but I also didn't have any where else to go, either. :-)

Yesterday was my first day back to exercise after taking a week and a half off to recover. Boy, did I need it! I was getting completely cranky and my sleep was suffering. Getting my heart pumping on a regular basis is extremely imperative to keep my sanity! I went to the gym: 30 min. on the cross trainer, 15 on stair climber and 15 on bike. Used upper body weights. I walked to and from the gym - 5k. Then after lunch, I went for an easy 5k run. I definitely see an improvement with my mood this morning and no soreness (hooray). I really despise going to the gym - especially, this time of year when cold season is rampant. I feel like I may as well go around licking everyone for the amount of germs I'm being exposed to. It's like hanging out in a flu fortress. So, I make a point to washing my hands in between machines and wiping down the equipment before and after use. Sounds a little OCD - but I like to think this works for me (and I'm a poet and didn't know it).

As it's the new year, I did see a spike in the amount of people there. Which means, I saw a spike in ladies loitering around and gabbing by machines. I also see many on cell phones chatting away. "Oh my God. Seriously, she said that? Wow. Like... wow." Is what I could hear right behind me. I've picked up the phone when I'm in the middle of a work-out, to take a quick call. Not sit there having a long, drawn-out conversation. Yuck. How relaxing is that? It's like bringing your 2 year-old with you to a massage. lol.

I would really like to find an additional cross-training exercise that I can do and enjoy. There's a lot of them out there, so it's just a matter of finding one I like. There were a few I tried in the past and was considering, such as swimming or hot yoga, but I don't really love either. So I'll see what I can come up with over the next few weeks... should be interesting. Like a lot of people, I like to use the New Year as an excuse to trying new things (like being less stubborn). Last year, one of my resolutions (that I actually stuck with), was to keep a journal - and I did. Had 246 entries for 2011! I used this website to log them. It's called OhLife. They send you an eMail everyday (or less frequent if so desired) asking how your day went and you just hit the reply button and write as little or as much as you like. I think my longest entry was a few paragraphs and my shortest was 2 words (Today sucked). This was also another way to log my runs and any grueling workouts.

On that note, here's a few funny videos:

Thoughts of a Marathon Runner
Sh*t Yogis Say

I'd like to wish everyone a happy, healthy New Year!
Thanks for reading!