This week has reminded me to never, ever become a shopaholic!!

So this week has been non stop shopping, and not the delightful, wonderful shopping that includes pretty dresses and great tops. This is the kind of shopping that all but the most stout shoppers hate.

I went shopping for my huge camping trip to Yellowstone National Park. This meant trips to the following stores:

REI

Target

Wal-mart (yuck! yuck! and double yuck!!)

Albertsons

Sunflower Market

Trader Joe's

Back to REI

Back to Target

Sunflower again

The worst part is watching the dollars drain from my account directly into the hands of huge corporate companies. The second worst part is having to pack, and pack very economically at that, all the stuff I just bought, as well as pack for my two mildly independent ten year olds.

You see, trusting ten year olds to pack well for a vacation is like trusting an alcoholic to not drink in a bar. They say that they have packed, but when their bags are checked they have taken every available mini teenage mutant ninja turtle and no clothes. Or seven shirts and no pants. So in conclusion, supervision is required at every step of packing.

The good news of the week? I made it to four crossfits and finished the week off with a 5k run, the very first one for me!!

CrossFit Burpee Demo

Heaven or the devil?

I'm sure that everyone has had days when their energy levels are so low it's hard to get motivated to take a shower much less be active in any way, shape or form. Before I started crosssfit I had more low energy days than highly active days.

But these days, my energy level has been given a boost by workouts like "Snake oil; the one time cure" and "Back in Black".

The workout yesterday was "Snake oil" and it definitely cured me of complaining about a measly ten burpees. The prescribed number of burpees was 150 (OMG!!!) and 150 toes to bar (Umm. . .ow). Feeling intensely intimidated I only did 100. The workout for me goes something like this

10 burpees

40 toes to bar (or for me; knees to. . as far as I can get them to go up)

1 rope climb

20 burpees

30 toes to bar

1 rope climb

30 burpees

20 toes to bar

1 rope climb

40 burpees

10 toes to bar

1 rope climb

Pass out on the floor with exhaustion while puddles of sweat form around inert body.

For those of you not in crossfit or basic training a burpee is a six step exercise that starts from a standing position, then a quickly as possible goes to the plank position then your whole torso touches the floor before jumping back to standing and clapping above your head, making sure your feet leave the ground when jumping up. Just trying to explain it is exhausting! I added a video above that explains it much better (by the way I don't look anything like that doing mine, I look more like. . well not like that).

The good news is, I have tons of energy these days!! So the burpees are from the devil, but the way they make me feel afterwards is amazing!!

No team player mentality here!!

So, if you read this blog you must have some sort of basic knowledge of who I am. I'm finicky and bitchy and I'm definitely not a team player. At school I thrive on projects that I can do by myself. At home, I love to spend time by myself (mostly being very, very lazy) and when working out I seem to get ultra competitive when partnered up with someone!

But today in Crossfit I had my first team workout. As a team we had to complete 500 sit ups, 400 front squats, 300 box jumps and run

200 meters to set the pace for the rest of the team. I absolutely loved the workout today because it everyone wanted to have the highest time, everyone was equally competitive and everyone was really encouraging!! Not only was it fun, but we had the second best time!!

Granted my whole body is sticky with sweat, I smell like a men's locker room and all I really want to do is eat everything in my refrigerator, but at least I'm working my booty off (both literally and figuratively)

Running (at least for me) works the way. . .

Garlic does for vampires. I hate it. Just thinking about it gives me a queasy stomach and weak knees.

You may ask, "Why in the world are you comparing running to garlic and yourself to vampires?"

Well reader, I'm comparing them because I ran today. Not gracefully or quickly, but I ran. In fact I ran a mile. I realize that loads of people run 26.2 miles all the time. And I'm aware that Forrest Gump ran across the country and then back again. But. . .I am not Forrest Gump (not that anyone actually is I guess), and I'm no marathon runner (unless it's a marathon of some TV series).

I almost didn't go to crossfit today because I knew there would be running. Spurts of running, outside, in the heat. I almost threw up. Literally. In fact as I was headed to the grocery store to buy myself a protein packed dinner I did vomit a little bit. It was gross.

But when I started this workout regime I couldn't even finish 200 meters and that was only three weeks ago! Talk about results (and extreme bouts of hunger)! I feel pretty good right now (although during the run I felt like the dog in this pic. . .a bit out of shape).

The crossfit revolution!!

So a few weeks ago I started doing crossfit. for those few of you who read this blog crossfit is taking something hard (working out), making it harder (pardon me but is 70 pull ups insane or what?) and timing you, making sure the one doing crossfit is always moving and doing something really, really hard. For example. . .the workout today was crazy single armed dumbbell lifts (21 of them) then 21 pull up, the those crazy one armed lifts with the other hand then 21 pull ups. THREE TIMES. I did it in 26 minutes and was soaked from head to foot by the end of it.

Why does one submit to the horrendous torture that crossfit is you might ask? Truthfully? Before I go to class I get so nervous that I have butterflies in my stomach and my bladder goes into overdrive, which crossfitters term the nervous bladder. But it is addictive. Crazy addictive. Having someone pushing you and telling you to make yourself work harder, be better is so addictive.

So until school starts the blog will be about my workouts, lame I know, but it fulfills my need to constantly be on the Internet, while feeling not horribly lazy.