I forgot how good it feels

I am missing 2 weeks of running with the group. The first was last week. I ran 5 miles by myself in San Francisco. The weather was wonderful. It was about 57 degrees in the morning when I ran. It was great to get out of the heat and to know that the only thing I had to battle was my own physical abilities, nothing added to that.
The run in SF went OK. It took my watch about 1.5 miles to find a satellite and figure out where I was. I walked for a long time waiting and then decided to start and let it catch up with me. The plan was to run by the Pier and water. Well that didn't work so well because I turned the wrong way on Market Street. I figured ii out after awhile. It wasn't worth turning around and my watch still didn't know where I was so I kept going. A few blocks before Market started going straight up my watch kicked in. I turned around and headed towards the water. By time I got there my knee had started to hurt and I didn't care anymore. I did see the water but turned around and started back to the hotel. I ended up taking a wrong turn so I went about a half mile out of my way. Good thing the weather was nice.
Tuesday I went to the Torture Lady. My last ditch effort to figure out if the knee was really a problem. I'm sure I've mentioned the Torture Lady before. But if not she is the one that does the weird massage torture techniques on my to make my muscles act right and take my pain away. Anyway, she worked on my hamstrings and IT-band. She was using what she calls the poky tool. Thing thing is terrible. It hurts so much just when it touches you. It's unbearable when it digs deep in your thigh. I digress, the thing was she managed to stretch everything out so I can walk again and more importantly I can run again. The only side effect is I have all of these bruises on my legs where she poked me.
I ran 6 miles this morning. It was amazing. The first mile was kind of slow because I kept expecting to have problems. Guess what, the problems never came! I took it real slow and easy but it felt so good running without pain or issues.
Now for the disclaimer, my legs get very stiff after sitting for awhile so that initial few steps I do end up limping. But once things loosen up a little it great.
Here's to you Torture Lady!!!

Side note: The modeling picture is on the website if you want to take a look. (I had been asked to let people know when it's up).
http://www.austinboxingbabes.com/classes.php#bootcamp
Scroll towards the bottom.

I'm a model.....hahaha

This morning when I got to boxing, Julia was waiting for me with a camera. I was quite surprised to say the least. She is putting together a boot camp for women over 50 and she wanted to use my picture on the ads. No I'm not over 50 but since I'm close and she doesn't have many women in my age group or over she was looking for models. This was so funny to me but I agreed to be photographed. All during class I was followed around with a camera. The good thing was I smiled a lot more than I usually do and the smiling would make me laugh. So the pictures will at least look happy even if at some times I felt like crying.
All in all boxing is going great. Since I'm still nursing my knee I have to take it easy with some of the activities. But I'm having a ball. Today was good. The boxing is getting better but I keep forgetting to get my hands up to guard my face.
Now I did say I was nursing my knee so this next part is not going to make sense to you. I trudged 3.5 miles with about half of it being rolling hills (half hills) with the running group on Saturday. That went about as well as it could. I wore the knee brace so my knee was OK during the run. There was a little swelling on Sunday but I iced it and that helped a lot. So far the group of ladies in my group is up to 4. One didn't come back last week but I got 2 more so I'm still up. They are so excited to be out there. It's nice to see and it helps me to keep moving while I help them.
The next 2 weeks I'll be out of town for the long runs so I will have to trudge by myself. I'm not looking forward to that but the distance isn't that far.

This day sucked but had a happy ending

Running was so hard today. The running group started up again so I'm getting back into the grind. The heat wasn't too bad but the humidity made it awful. I'm glad I had my handkerchief or better known as my sweat rag. Boy did I need it today.
I had three newbies running with me today. None of them have run a half before. It should be fun.
The knee brace is working pretty well. I tried it out in CA last week. All I could think while running was this was so much easier in Costa Mesa. The humidity made my lack of conditioning feel really bad. The last mile was really hard and we only did 3. That is so sad.
On a more interesting note. I bought a scale! Yes, I have never owed a scale before. The only reason I have one now is because of the contest I joined. Co-workers are doing a Biggest Loser contest and convinced we to join. So I need the scale to be able to consistently track my percentage of weight loss. It should be an interesting journey. We weigh-in every Monday so I'll let you know my percentage then.
I cleaned out my drawers. It's a beautiful sight to behold. I should take a picture. Now I just have to keep it that way. Next up, the chest and the closet.