8 Weeks of Boot Camp Complete!

I finished up my second tour of Boot Camp this past Friday… I have now completed 8 straight weeks of pain and agony at 5:30am in the morning each and every weekday. Truthfully, it has not been THAT bad…. I enjoy self torture tactics… no pain no gain, right?
I improved in all areas of my final PT test on Friday… I am most proud of improving my one-mile run by almost another minute! I ran it in 10:13 minutes… and I thought I was going to die! Sweat was just pouring off of my head… the salty stuff just stinging my eyes… I seriously need to invest in a sweatband. We get this coming week off and then start back on July 7. I am a little sad that we are not reporting back this week to be honest though… I have two big travel trips for work this month too- Denver all of the week of the 14th and El Paso most of the week of the 21st. But, the good folks at Operation Boot Camp are working with me on my crazy schedule and I will still get to boot camp all around my travel days. I just have to make sure I work out while out of town and on the weekends too.
In the meantime, after a nice ½ mile swim at the Aquatic Center this afternoon and our weekly trip to the grocery store this evening, I am preparing meals and such for the upcoming week. Oh and as of Friday morning (before the PT test) I am 21 pounds lighter and I am feeling great! Yes, life is good.

Burn Baby Burn!

I am feeling the burn this morning... What is the burn you ask? The burning in my legs, knees, feet and hips after running 4+/- miles this morning at boot camp! I only slowed from a run to a power walk on the two hills and then ran the entire trip WITHOUT STOPPING!! I am stoked at my progression in my running game! I never dreamed I could run non-stop for 45 minutes in my entire life. It is very exciting for me to achieve this and all of my other fitness goals. This Friday marks the end of my 8th week of boot camp and the last day of Month 2. I have a PT test on Friday morning to measure my improvements on running, push-ups, sit-ups and dips. After the 4 miles I ran today, the one mile on Friday should be cake walk. Can I get a Hooah?

Water Does A Body Good

I have another idea I wanted to share with my readers... it kind of goes hand-in-hand with the new Water Cooler concept at our home. In my quest to improve our diet habits, we have quit purchasing flats of bottled water and replaced them with our Camelbak bottles.



I have two different ones- a 24 oz. and a 32 oz. I try to drink at least 100 oz. of water a day. So I drink at least 4 of these a day...if not MORE. I fill up both of these before I leave the house for boot camp every morning and drink both bottles of water before I get to the office- that is 60 oz. of water before the sun even rises! I truly believe that water really helps boost your energy level throughout the day... so drink up!!

Lions, Coyotes, and Bears Oh My!

This morning I am pulling out of the driveway when I noticed Hubby had called a few minutes before... must have been when I was drying my hair. I returned his call and he told me to be safe on the way to work. I am thinking to myself, 'what is he talking about?'... I ask him what does he mean and he informs me that he heard on the radio on his way to work that someone had hit a bear in front of Lassiter high school this morning. I ask him is he is serious and he says yes about the bear and that he was joking about my being safe from bears... My only question is: What is the deal with all the bears in Cobb County these days?
I googled the Google News site and came up with this article just posted 3 days ago!

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Cobb County residents spot another bear
(Published June 20, 2008)
MARIETTA, Ga. — Residents in east Cobb County have spotted another black bear roaming through neighborhoods and commercial areas.

State wildlife biologist David Gregory says the 1-year-old male with a tracking collar was spotted three times on Thursday, but managed to elude capture.

A state Department of Natural Resources ranger fired a tranquilizer dart at the bear but missed.


The animal was spotted once behind an office park,at a workout gym's swimming pool and behind a woman's home.

The DNR averages about five bear sightings a year in Cobb County. This is the third one in the past month to be seen in Cobb County.

In late May and early June, bears were struck and killed on Interstate 75 at Interstate 285 and on Barrett Parkway at I-75.

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Well, I figure that the bear hit this morning must be the bear referred to in this article! Surely there is not another one running around our area. And I thought coyotes were ridiculous... now bears? It just does not make sense to me... I googled bears being actually "hit" in Cobb County also and two total have been killed by motorists on separate dates- May 30th and June 3rd. And now today's hit is # 3 in the past month! Can anyone explain this phenomenon to me?

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato Too

We planted some tomato plants and herbs a couple of weeks ago. With the rain the past couple of days, the cherry tomato plants are really "running"... they are running so fast that we had to go buy a tomato screen for them and stakes for the big tomato plants too. So today I spent some quality one-on-one time with my tomato plants.... showing the them the correct direction to run and soft-tying them to their supports. I also planted oregano and rosemary to try my green hand at herbs.

Death By Flip Flops

Sometimes it just seems like bad luck follows me every where I go... here I am at the end of week 7 of my "lifestyle change"... you know getting fit and losing some weight... and then I go and injure myself AGAIN. Yes, tonight I decided to run up the stairs from the garage to the den in flip flops no less... and then BAM I tripped at the last top steps and broke the top half of my big toe nail off! The pain was/is UNbelievable! I was dancing around whooping and huffing with Hubby watching me all along. Needless to say, my bloody toe looks awful and the throbbing has not stopped yet. This just proves my theory that flip flops are seriously dangerous and detrimental to everyone that wears them. End of story.

I Just "Flat Out" Love Them!

In my quest to get fit and find my inner-much-smaller Kelly, I am always looking for great products that fit into our diet and still taste good too! I wanted to share one that a fellow boot-camper told me about last month- they are called "Flat Outs". These are tortilla-like flat breads that you can use to do burritos, wraps, sandwich roll-ups, etc. And the best thing about them is that they are not just round like regular tortillas- they are more retangular round so they are long and you can actually "wrap" your food with no problem! Ever tried to construct a burrito at home and you just cannot fully close the burrito because the tortilla is just not big enough? Well, Flat Outs take care of that! And they are healthy and tasty! They come in different flavors and their website actually offers many GREAT recipes for not only burritos, wraps and sandwiches, but, they have recipes for quesadillas, pizzas, grillers, appetizers and baked chips- all made out of these amazing flat wraps! Oh, and they don't break when your taco sauce or salsa gets runny and mushy. Go check them out at this link: Flat Outs