15 minutes, but no fame yet

In 2004 I was running 5Ks, doing pushups, and generally feeling pretty fit. But apparently one yoga class a month wasn't enough to unclench all my muscles and I got plantar fasciitis which boils down to this: it hurts to stand or walk, let alone run. I had all sorts of plans to swim instead but I got lazy and then I got a new job and a new home. So now that I'm in my new space and have shoes or inserts that make my feet not hurt, I've been trying to get back into exercising. I've been more successful at falling asleep on the couch after work.

I haven't been totally unsuccessful either; I've been doing 2-4 workouts a week for the last several months. While February took foreh-eh-eh-ever, March was pretty much gone before I realized it started and I kind of fell of the exercise wagon in March. So far in April, I've managed to get a little back on track, and I've even gone running once. It was as hard as starting for the first time, but not as discouraging. Now at least I know that doing a run/walk/run/walk combo is actually an accepted workout pattern and it works much better than run/give up when I can't breathe.

I thought about running again today but the siren call of the couch nap was too strong to overcome. But now that I've reawakened for the night, I was able to get back on my little track, and did my 15 minute leg workout. I've been using a product called the BodyRev and doing the associated workouts. Normally my workouts are 45-60 minutes, but the "Essentials" comes with 4 - 15 minute workouts for Legs/Cardio/Arms/Abs. This month I've been successful so far in doing 15 minutes a day 6 days a week for all but one day so far. I admit that my motivation is partly because someone else in my book club was having the same motivational challenge and we promised to keep on top of each other for a week and it worked. So thanks, little (non-evil) doppelgänger!

Good things:

1. Got to talk to a friend in Boston. We don't chat much because she goes to be early and the 3 hour time difference doesn't facilitate us connecting, but it worked today. It was fun to hear about how she's managing things these days. I think I tried to fit a little too much into the conversation from my side, but she's used to to that. Or rather she used to be used to that when we went to lunch every day.
   
2. Did my 15 minutes of legs and I can feel it in my arms. I started using the BodyRev because I was frustrated with the arm workouts. And the 10 pound, center weighted, rotating weight has given me better definition in my arms, even while being chubby, than a year and a half of pushups and (weight assisted) pullups did.
3. Work has been fun this week. We're making progress on tracking down root cause on an intermittent problem, and I got to run all sorts of quick, fun experiments. And even better, did not get a null result! And defects make for better pictures. Got one that looked like a Rohrschach butterfly only colorful. It did not totally fit in the microscope's field of view or I would post a nice picture here.
4. I just figured out, when looking up Rohrschach, that the G.oog.le search bar in my F.iref.ox header is pre-loaded with common words. I've been going to dictionary.com which has a great thesaurus, but this means I don't even have to finish spelling the word before I get satisfaction. I didn't figure this out earlier because I don't like to miss the occasional pictures on the main G.oog.le front page like they put up for Cosmonaut Day today and little details like that make me happy.
5. Shasta is posting again.