Saturday, February 28, 2009

Another Biggest Loser Grrr Moment

The "Biggest Loser" contestant, Dane, who got voted off of last week's show, was taped "at home" completing a marathon with his wife in under four hours, impressive for anyone in my book, much less a first time marathoner! Well, it's been revealed since the airing of the show that they didn't actually run the whole marathon, but were picked up like three miles back and brought closer to the finish line to be taped running across the line and past the clock! Gosh, what a loser thing to do! I think I read it had something to do with needing to finish taping his marathon "journey," but that's not what he ended up running after being PICKED UP! They should've called it what it was, 23 miles of a marathon, instead of leading the viewers to believe he'd completed the whole thing. It's just another frustration to add to this past week's episode. Grrr!

Update: I read another online post about this issue and learned that something was wrong with the finish clock's lightbulbs, and Dane's finishing time was actually 5:53 instead of 3:53, and with a 6-hour time limit on the marathon course, the field producer wanted to tape Dane and family crossing the finish line while the (malfunctioning) clock was still up and running. Uh, so? Read more here.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Losing Weight, Gaining Perspective

George and I watched the show, "The Biggest Loser," tonight. First, we watched what we'd taped from last night, and followed it with tonight's part 2. We agree that it's probably our favorite season yet, but I'm still starting to wiggle a bit about watching it. It some respects, it inspires me to see people successful at losing weight. I also enjoy watching some of the workouts for ideas of things to do in the gym.

On the other hand, the contestants are taking time off from work, family, and extracurricular responsibilities to exercise several hours a day and be around others 24/7 who have the same goals. And they're dissappointed with weight losses of 5 lbs. or less in a week! I was also ticked this week because the teams got shifted this week, and a lot of air time was given to trainer Bob and his team getting really emotional about it all, when they were STILL on the show, STILL getting to work out with a trainer and each other, with the same medical and nutritional supervision. Golly, where's the perspective?! It just got on my nerves a little tonight! Maybe I'm not enjoying the show as much as I used to.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Another Race Under My Belt

I've posted my race report for today's Coach Bubba 20K on my other blog! Check it out here. Afterward, George and I had a yummy lunch at the Mellow Mushroom. It had been ages since I'd had pizza, so it was fun to have the treat AND sit down for a while!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Happy President's Day

Although not an official holiday at Duke, I decided to take it as a vacation day. George was off, so I decided it would be a good day to take off as well. We've spent some time together, but we've also had some alone time; both have been refreshing.

I've gotten some reading and genealogy done since this morning's gym workout. I'm also trying to get my main Yahoo inbox down to zero, one of the Lifehacker tips I've been hearing about and finally decided to work on. My main Yahoo inbox currently has over 5000 emails in it, but I've moved or deleted about 200 emails already, and have worked my way back to November.. It's going to take me a while, I know, but I'm not giving up yet.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Dinner at the Ronald McDonald House

This evening, I joined several other Junior League members at the Ronald McDonald House of Durham for our Extra Hands event, a short community service project that everyone in our Junior League chapter is required to do at some point throughout the year. This was my turn.

We had assignments to bring a crockpot of chili or baked potatoes to cook there. While the potatoes were cooking, the night manager showed us a short video about Durham's Ronald McDonald House, and afterward took us on a tour. I was so impressed, yet saddened to hear how many families they have to turn away every year. They're trying to raise $15 million to build a new facility in Durham that will be three times the size (much needed) of the current house, but the economic troubles of the nation have hit the Ronald McDonald House's fundraising efforts as well. This has really made an impression on me, because children just don't stop being sick with serious conditions that require hospitalization, and in some cases, longer term treatment.

After the tour, we joined the families in the dining room for dinner. Jenny and I sat with a little boy named Michael and his mother from Florida. I don't know what the boy's condition was (we enjoyed talking about other things--basketball, the weather), but after supper I saw him again with a face mask on. Another tug on the heart strings.

I wonder how I could help them. One thing I'm thinking about is using one of my races as a fundraiser, setting up an account through Firstgiving. Hmmm. I'll have to give some more thought to my big fall race this year.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Time Flies!

I've been much more aware of time lately, and it quickly it's going. At work, there are less than 5 months left in the fiscal year, so my group is starting to gear up for that.

On the running end of things, I can now say that my next big race, the Coach Bubba 20K, is next week, though it's a week and a half away, on Feb. 21. I'm not sure if I'm ready, but I'm going to go out and just do it! I have a good running base now, I think, and although I haven't run that distance since my half marathon, I've been close several times.

I continue to enjoy reading more these days, and wish I had more time for that. Sleep, work, time with George, and at least an hour of exercise every day. These things take time too. Who knew?!