OK first of all, Day 78.

“Row for Cal” turned out to be “Row for Calories.” So what the deal was, was that you rowed for a minute, wrote down how many “calories” you got to, then rested for 30 seconds, then the front squats, rest, then the kettlebell swings, rest, 5x.

It was THE BEST workout I have had, EVER, in Crossfit. OMG. I finished feeling AMAZING (and I couldn’t stand up at the end). I even took a photo of my results, because I was so so proud of myself:

The results read from right to left (because what you can’t see on the right side of the photo is the rower – e.g., I started closest to myself then “leaned out” as I went). I started with the 10 pound “swirly bar” for the front squats (the 2nd number in the row), but by the 2nd round I realized I could left more, so I moved to the regular orange bar (which is 10 kg). I used the orange kettlebell for the swings.

I really paid attention to pulling the kettlebell “down” in the “down part” of the swing, and boosting it up with my hips – so it wasn’t arms at all going up (or, that much). Check it out, too – my last was my best! OMG, it was SO HARD.

I did a TON more than anyone else. I mean, no one was CLOSE. Now, granted, I do know that my front squats aren’t as good as most folks, because I can’t squat all the way down. So that number is likely higher than for someone who can actually squat all the way down and all the way back up. HOWEVER, the kettlebell swings and the “calories” in the row were also strikingly higher than for other folks (as in, My total was what – I think 384? – the closest to me was 350).

Anyway – I really was proud of myself. I think Bo was proud of me too because he gave me that “good job” smile. He reminds me of H – man of few words, but in a good way.

Friday’s workout was:

For Time
15-12-9-6-3 Clean & Jerk 60/40KG
5-4-3-2-1 Rope Climb
Start each round w/400M Run

I did the clean and jerk with the orange bar – no weights, but the bar. I did the rope climb lying on the floor then “climbing up” the rope to standing and then back down. At the end, one of the gals told me that I was supposed to do 3x because I did it that way – I basically said “um, yeah, next time.” (laugh)

Saturday I had a bunch of errands to run – didn’t get out of bed until way late – and then we actually went and saw Ender’s Game and went out to dinner at the Basque place out past the JCC. The funniest part was that we’ve been wanting to go for a long time, but they have odd hours. They had great stuff that we like to eat – sweetbreads, tongue, liver, rabbit, etc. – but it was all sort of that standard “mediocre” cooking. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but H said “we should have stayed home, you cook so much better.” Of course that made me feel good 😉 But it’s true!

We’ll have tonight what I had prepared for last night before H said he wanted to do dinner/movie – London Broil marinated in a “tropical” marinade – so like pomegranate, persimmon, tamarind, garlic – then steamed chard sauteed in bacon fat, and sweet potatoes.

Today unfortunately my “job” was to take the fountain apart – because somehow it has a leak in the liner. ARGH! What an ENORMOUS pain in the neck. The good part? As you can see from this photo (I’m so silly I post all this stuff, but I’m proud of it!), I was able to do the “moving the stones,” cleaning out the fountain, etc. stuff squatting – and for CERTAIN 2 months ago there is NO CHANCE I could have gotten in this position – NO chance. Yes, my heels are actually on the ground. 🙂

I think that’s the thing about Crossfit that I have to remember when I get a little down reading about all these amazing weightlifting “feats” that other people have. Or when I can’t climb a rope. Or can’t do a pushup. Or a pullup. Two months ago, I could NOT have squatted like this. Not just “not have done it comfortably” – I couldn’t have done it. I remember when we were in Vietnam and Cambodia, this is how folks basically “sit” all day long. I remember trying it and falling over backwards, and my heels were up. Not only that, of course, is that I could stand up OUT of this position.

Let’s see, what else? TAR tonight – I’m really looking forward to it. Also the “Spanish Earworms” did transfer to Moddie, so she can work on that. On the downside, TAR extended their video intake through November 22nd. I’m not exactly sure what that means. My supposition is that they didn’t get enough videos that they liked. I don’t like that – because I of course want us to be one of the ones they do a callback on! I’m not quite sure when they posted that they were extending the deadline – I just saw it a couple days ago, when I went onto the page (curious if it said anything about callbacks, and then I found the extension).

I really have NO idea what they’re looking for – I just have to believe that we gave it our best try, GIVEN the fact that it was the day that they SAID submissions were due. We also made it EXACTLY 3 minutes – I have gone onto YouTube since, and there are ones there that are over – there are also ones that (lordie!) are SO involved and professional! I wonder if somewhere on their website, I could find the actual submission videos for folks who got ON the show. I’d love to see what they look like. Because if they’re all super duper professional, then I don’t know what to say. Granted, we WERE going to have one that would have looked a bit less “ghetto” than the one that we did (though that one STILL makes me laugh out loud at us!) – but it wouldn’t have been “super duper” professional. I don’t know what to think. I sure wish that they DID let you know if you were NOT picked – the fact that it’s just “oh, we must not have been picked because they’re starting up a new Episode and we’re on it” is just such a bummer.

I HONESTLY think that we did the best we could.

Oh – one of the errands that I did was to get my thyroid re-tested – TSH is ~worse~ and I’m on new meds! Not happy. I’m really tired of this weight around the middle. And being WAY heavier than I should be. Oh sure, I know, I know, I need to get more cardio, stop drinking wine, stop having pomegranate seeds and yogurt (hello…it’s not ice cream!) late at nice. I know. But I get depressed about how whatever I seem to do, whenever I am “extra good” for weeks, there isn’t a change. The doctor says it’s the hormone stuff, and so now I’m on bio-identical hormones (the non-compounded one were peanut- and soy-based), plus the thyroid, plus plus plus.

Ah, to be 35 again – !!!!

 

I’ve been running around all day. WELL, last night I drove down and was a keynoter, so I wasn’t home until close to midnight (LONG DRIVE), then had to get up and get to a meeting at 9 and have been running ever since! I have to do my SuperHero workout PLUS the Crossfit workout. And it’s now 5:20 (and Crossfit is at 6:30). Run Run Run!

BUT first, here is the review I got for the talk I gave last night at the Santa Clara Biltmore:

I wanted to thank you again for being at our event last night. Everyone learned so much and had such great compliments for you and the presentation! It’s the first time I’ve ever seen every person in the room rate the highest marks for the speaker (5 = perfect).

 I owe you a giant bottle of wine and a decadent meal… just say when and where and I’m in Marin to do it! It was so great to see you again!!!!

Yeah…I rocked it, M’wah M’wah kiss myself on my shoulders M’WAH (laugh).

Now Tomassa is here, so not quite sure how I’m going to do the SuperHero workout because part of it involves box jumps (e.g., the stairs). It is (for time):
30 hollow rocks, 30 lat jumps (30 each leg), 30 toe touches, 30 box jumps (together, or 15 each leg for stepping up). A “hollow rock” is when you hold your hands up and legs up, and “rock” back and forth with your entire body rigid (so like you are the rocker of a rocking chair). Lat jumps are when you jump over an object – a dumbbell, a bench, etc. (over and back = 1). Toe touches is like a hollow rock but you actually reach up to touch your toes, your toes stay in one place, your arms rock back and forth. Then box jumps are obvious – jumping up with 2 feet and down with 2 feet (or stepping down, or stepping up and stepping down).

At Crossfit, our WOD today is:

CONDITIONING
5 Rounds 1 min on each station w/ 30 sec rest between each station
Row for Cal
Front Squat 40/25KG
KBS 1.5/1P

SO, theoretically that means that we are done in…20-25 minutes?

I guess we write down how many reps we get to each time?

KBS is kettlebell swing – I can’t believe that 1P would be 1 pound (really?) – if that’s so they want you to get a billion in, in that minute – Front Squat is what it sounds like – put the bar across your shoulders, and squat (like THIS). If it’s really 25 KG that’s a bar (15 KG) plus 2 5KG plates. The hardest part is really keeping your elbows “pointing out” (like in the video) – oh and of course getting down that low (yeah, I can’t even get to 90 degrees with my knees much less past that!)

I gotta believe “row for Cal” means Cal like UC Berkeley – so that’s just rowing on the erg.

We’ll see.

It’s now 15 to 6:00 so I gotta try to do this SuperHero thing – maybe I’ll jump up onto some books. I better close my door.

Sometimes I think I’m insane. (I’m super sore btw from yesterday’s stretching and 5,000m row – omg my hammies!)

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POSTSCRIPT: I did the SuperHero workout in 3:59 – see that’s the thing. It doesn’t take that long if you JUST DO IT! I did jump up on the zafu for the “box jumps” – and I just LOOKED at the (tiny!) dumbbell for the lat jump and thought – no can do. So I did the lowest she suggested which is jumping over a crack on the floor!

Now time to go to Crossfit. Gotta go get H.

 

Yesterday, I did the deadlifts with 2 10 kg plates on either side and the orange bar (so I think that’s somewhere around 60 lbs) – the overhead squats, however, with the lightest (purple) band. Shoulder shoulder…H did rowing instead of running and was SO MUCH happier!

Today’s workout already makes me throw up:

CONDITIONING
For Time
800M Run
25 Pull Up
25 Push Up
600M Run
25 Pull Up
25 Push Up
400M Run
25 Pull Up
25 Push Up
200M Run
25 Pull Up
25 Push Up

The ONLY thing that keeps getting me doing this stupid stuff is the idea that we will be chosen for TAR>

Today have a speaking engagement I shouldn’t really have taken – it’s down in Santa Clara – that’s a bee-atch of a drive back, especially as it’s a dinner engagement (I’m the keynote – on contracts). The clientele isn’t really going to lead particularly to jobs, either – it’s a trade association for car detailers/fixers/wreckers/etc. (basically anything but car sales). I mean, WHAT was I thinking? I know…because I was asked, I am going. It’s good practice, I can add it to my list on LinkedIn – but honestly. I don’t think I start until about 8, so I MUST bring my iPod with me so that I can “sing to tunes” on the way back (or listen to “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” 🙂 ), that is for sure. I will take the van – that way I can actually have speakers (the BMW is so old it doesn’t liaise with my iPod).

Language tapes are too snooze-inducing 😉

Moddie and I went through Groupons that we had – we’re going to set time for that. I also started the Nutrition Certification – O-M-G it is SO HARD! I emailed Shendl so we can set some times for that, too – it is REALLY hard. I have an email in to the certification board because the first set of questions has NOTHING to do with what “went before” in the workbook, so either there are videos missing, or each chapter ALSO involves a lot of internet research. (Grrrrr….)

Got a few miscellaneous chores done yesterday – bothersome things like getting an RMA for a return and such. I am also now sitting actually at my DESK not on the kitchen table – moved the computer back upstairs. It’s so funny – H made this desk for me years ago, and made it JUST big enough to put the laptop on – because in his view, I “spread too much paperwork out” and he didn’t like it. So what’s THAT mean? I work on the kitchen table because there isn’t enough room at my desk! LOL! Mom is getting rid of her Selectric typewriter (that Jeff sold her when he was at IBM! OMG that was what? 30 years ago?!) and it’s on a special “typing table” and I”m going to get it from her – that will allow me to have a table i can put stuff on “next to” the desk. H wants to actually turn the guest room into my office – it’s SUCH a nice room and we NEVER really use it – and then turn this room into a full tatami room (and then have a futon for guests if they come). He has been saying this for years and I’m pretty much ready for us to actually do it. Not quite sure exactly how it will work, but the big thing will be disassembling my bed in there. The mattress is actually ALREADY a futon – that’s what’s on the guest bed. A super good quality (Sealy Posturepedic!) ~futon~. The nice thing about doing that is it’s actually a far NICER room – with all the work we’ve done to do it – plus it has the fireplace. His thought is that he wants to get a mid-century style desk for himself (downstairs, which we’re trying to really more convert to that style), and then I could have his big desk up in the office. It’s a beautiful desk – he found it in an old furniture shop and it was painted with black paint, and he re-finished the whole thing (it’s dark dark walnut) and then took the drawers on one side of the cubby where your knees go, and made it into file drawers and a place where a computer (as in an old-school desk computer) can fit, and you slide it closed and the front looks like drawers. Yes, he is so clever…

No word from the TAR folks yet. I’m sad that they don’t even send you a “thanks, but no thanks,” it’s just crickets. Then again per their website they have 1,000s of submissions, and I’m quite sure we’re not the only ones to do it last minute! They say they will be “reviewed in the order received” but it also says that callbacks were to have begun 11/5 (the day we sent in the video).

Funny thing happened Monday. I brought Rich (one of the super duper fit guys in our Crossfit box – married to Karen – the ridiculously fit gal) a bowl of venison stew, because I had a TON of it and I’m trying to do something nice for each of the super athletes in turn (laugh). I brought the bones from making bone broth soup to Michael, Jimmy and Sherri, one of my books to Margo, etc. Also Sherri, Michael, Jimmy, Margo and I did Tabata Friday (with my songs in the sound system), so that was another sort of “I am part of your team” thing.

ANYWAY – so I brought the bowl to Rich and his office is literally in the same office park as the box. I went up, and it was one of those office spaces with like 30 offices, all with a different person in each room. No receptionist – I walked in and walked all around, and finally found a gal (eating her lunch!) in her office. I asked her if she knew where Rich’s office was, and she pointed down at the very end of a hall – farther than I’d been. I went in there, and he wasn’t there, but there were pictures of him and Karen on his desk, so I knew it WAS him.

So he had given me his cell number, so I texted to him “Your lunch is on your desk, Sir – Sandy” – then in a few minutes I get a ping (when I’m at Trader Joe’s) and it is a guy saying “No matter how much I’d like to play with ya here, you sent this to the wrong number.” I had – I’d put a 9 instead of a 0. I thanked him, ending with “…well, I guess no venison stew for you, then.” I get a text back almost immediately that said “Wait! I take it back! You didn’t mention the stew!” – and suffice it to say since then, we’ve been texting back and forth a bit – it’s an older guy (meaning, my age-ish) named Michael, he’s in a band but used to work for Lucasfilm as a video editor, now on his own, etc. He’s REALLY funny. The funniest part was that I offered to bring HIM a bowl, but he was in S.F. and I wasn’t going to do that – but he was coming for a guitar jam in San Rafael that (Monday) night but not until 8:30 p.m. when of course it would be too late. It was SUCH a funny exchange, I’m still laughing.

Okay, that’s enough – I always get up early to clear email and such and wind up puttering around – bad me!

Well, one more thing. I’m REALLY proud of myself to have been doing this now for over two months! When I was doing the deadlifts last night – I was lifting the SAME as Herbert – I remembered that I started with the swirly bar (10 lbs) set on the PVC stands. I know I had good form, because this morning, no back issues. (I am having a little elbow twinge but I think that’s actually from the overhead squats). I feel very good about my deadlifts, and H even complimented me on them. And Bo – who of course NEVER really says anything – when I was putting my bar away said to me “Good job” as he passed me. It was funny he said it really low. Maybe he doesn’t want anyone else to know that he DOES compliment people. LOL!

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POSTSCRIPT:
Today instead of the WOD (I just couldn’t face it) I did 5,000 meters on the ergometer (rowing machine) at 10 (hardest pull) – I worked on keeping it at 30-33 s/m which meant I did the 5,000 meters in around 25 minutes. I listened to my own music on my iPod and put the ergo outside to be out of everyone’s way. Then I took sheets of the 4 shoulder and hip opening exercises I wanted to work on, and I did those. Michael helped me with one of the hip openers – OUCHIE OOCHIE! But it was SO great and he was SO great helping me! I felt super honored actually.

Told Karen LeF and Anthony that I PR’d my deadlift last night and when they said “how much did you PR by” (I guess that’s the key measurement) I said 10 kg and they were SUPER congratulatory. Whoot whoot!

Today’s Crossfit WOD (which H and I will be leaving presently to):

CONDITIONING
10 RFT
200M Run
10 Deadlift 60/40KG
5 OHS 60/40KG

It’s depressing – there are stars out! I HATE to go work out when it’s this dark. If it wasn’t for H wanting to go on T and TH nights (and being unable to do weekday mornings) I’d go to Amanda’s that’s now Tuesday at 9 a.m. (all the M-W-F 9 a.m. folks are going, per the board).

Today I also had my 2nd immune-booster flu “shot” of 6 (acupuncture), then after I went to Crossfit to change H’s membership from unlimited to 2 a week. It’s a lot less expensive, and he hasn’t even been making the 2/week! I thought I should do that. Then I practiced (in the empty box!) the rope climbs. I did the “prone” rope climbs, which means you lie on the ground under the rope, and climb “up it” with your hands until you are standing, then climb “down it” until you’re lying down again. I tried a couple times to get the “grip” with my feet for a rope climb, but honestly, without being able to even really hold myself up with my hands, that’s pretty premature.

I also did the “hardCore” workout today as I’m doing the Superhero 21 Day workout with Emily S. as recommended in the Girls Gone WOD Podcast. Emily is TOTALLY cute – Girl Crush! And she makes things look ridiculously easy. I mean – RIDICULOUS!

I’m not sure if you can see her here, but this is the workout for today:

http://superherounleashedchallenge.com/posts/20131112/

(It might be “locked” because of the Superhero challenge, not sure)

Today’s workout was 5 rounds of 5 burpees, then 10 pushups to plank to row, 15 situps.

The burpee is of course self-explanatory, though my home burpees pretty much look like stairclimbers – it’s not possible for me to jump my feet together up or back – I have to do one at a time. Pathetic. When I do burpees at the gym now, I go down to the ground flat, then sort of “pike up” – but at home, I’m doing the hop-ish up, hop-ish back version.

The pushup-plank-row was nasty. I did the pushups from my knees on a pillow – and REALLY concentrated on keeping my elbows next to my body instead of “winged out” (which is the biggest fault and can really get you hurt). Of course I couldn’t go all the way down but I tried. After the pushup, you get into plank position, and then you have 2 dumbbells under you – you row one up from the floor to your armpit, then you put that one down and row the other, and that whole thing is “1” count. You’re supposed to do the pushups ON the dumbbells, but, um, NO. Hurts my hands too much.

Because I did Tabata situps on Friday I have a big “rub” where my tailbone sticks “out” (yes, that’s me, see my tail) and so it’s hard to do situps. I did them on a pillow and sort of did more like modified “V-ups” because the pillow was too high and if I tried to go down into a situp, I was sort of back-arched “over’ the pillow and I’m not strong enough to get back up and over that with my abs. Pa-the-tic!

Moddie and I looked through the Groupons we have, to try to get some going. I also emailed Shendl re getting going on our Nutrition Certification. OMG I started reading the handbook and it’s HARD! I mean we’re talking like M.D.-level cell biology hard. Holy COW. Serves me right!

I gotta go kick H into action now. No word of course from TAR on our submission – I’m kinda bummed that you don’t even get a “thanks but no thanks” per their website. Fingers crossed! I think that we were super cute and so honest!

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Postscript – PR’d deadlift! 10×10 at 35 k (the bar is 15 k, I started with 5 k plates each side, thought it was a little light, so upped it to 2 5k plates each side). The great part is that this matched H’s weights, and he had to stop during the 10s tho I didn’t. SO HAPPY! Of course the Overhead Squats I had to do with the purple “power band” instead of a weight – so it goes…HAPPY re the PR!

Saturday (Day 72) I mainly helped H with our new “plaza” area – sanding in between the stones, then putting down the river stones. It really looks great. I also started soaking the venison for the venison stew that I would be making Sunday. I’m not exactly sure what else I did – laundry? – but I know that in the Superhero Challenge I’m doing (21 days) it had a big Movement (partner WOD) workout and I bailed. No point for that LOL. It looked like fun, but I really do take the weekend off.

I need to start hiking to the top of the hill across the way and back though during the weekend, at least ONE time. I need to break the hiking boots in more, or uncover if they are just not really “right.” I think I mentioned that they are fabulous for climbing boulders, going up, etc. but when I go down my big toe hits the front. H re-laced them, so maybe they’re better. I just need to get that going on my “list” as it were.

Oh – listened to the Earworms Greek when I was doing the stones – I REALLY LIKE the way that they do it. It’s fun. I can still remember a few things because of the way that they give you “mind pictures” for some things – e.g. wine is “grassy” (I don’t know how to really spell this because of course it’s audio) – picture a piece of grass in a wine glass – also 2 is “Theo” (imagine people worshipping a big 2…”The…Oh….2….”) and 4 is “Deserre” (Imagine 4 Desert Rats – “Dess-er-ay”). I wasn’t really paying attention but I do remember those 3 things, which is at least something 🙂 Gee if we’re in Greece on TAR I can order 4, or 2, glasses of wine LOL!

Sunday (Day 73) I was cooking basically all day. I put the photos on my Facebook page and Instagram – which was fun actually, taking photos as I went. I made venison stew, and then feta-stuffed baby watermelons for salad/dessert. It turned out FANTASTIC. One thing I did wrong though (stupid…) was I crisped up the sweet potatoes for the stew then put them all in. As H pointed out that’s fine for the first “eating” but today for example, they will turn to mush on re-heating, so all the crisping was in “vain.” Dang! Not sure why I didn’t “get that” but so it goes.

H had put all the sort of “side cuts” and “tough cuts” into a white butcher paper packet which was marked “stew meat” but in there were some beautiful cuts that are more what I would call “kabobs.” Today I’m going to have to get the extra stew (OMG a lot of it!) packaged up – some for now, some into the freezer – then I think I will make the little kabobs tonight for dinner. I might make a cabbage something to go with them, I have a green and a red cabbage from the Farmer’s Market.

Monday (Day 74) – today – Veteran’s Day – the WOD is one of the “Hero” WODS:

“Daniel”
For time
50 pull up
400M run
21 thruster 43/30
800M run
21 thruster 43/30kg
400m run
50 pull up

I am not sure why I keep forgetting what a thruster is. Probably my mind blanks it out on purpose LOL. There have been a LOT of people in the morning WOD – I mean a LOT. I’d like to try the pull ups the way that I was able to one time which was putting a box next to me and the black band, step from the box into the band. The problem is the band is so strong I can’t get into the band from the floor. But that means I am taking two “spots” on the bar – the box in one, the band and “me” in the other. I don’t think I can do that, which means I am doing the “box pullups” and I don’t like them as well in that they’re harder – not harder as in harder, but harder as in the movement sucks. You stand on a box, where, if you were standing up, the bar comes to about your elbows. So to do the pullup, you crouch down until your arms are straight, then push up using your legs, to do the pullup. The problem is that this isn’t really a “pullup” as much as the one is when you have the band assisting you (you put the band under a foot, then cross your other leg over that leg, the band assists you to the tune of how many pounds that band is – I use the black band which I think is 75 pounds, something like that). Using the band you’re really “in pull up position” – just helped by the band. But like I said, I can’t get “into” the band from the floor, so that’s a non-starter. Frustrating, but so it goes. I could do that in the p.m. WOD (T and Th) because there is usually only like MAX 6 of us there. And I mean MAX. But not in the morning, it’s gotten quite crowded in there – especially as you have folks like Jimmy, Karen, Ashley, Traci, Margo, Sherri, Rich, etc. all doing the Rx and more, and then all the rest of us Michael (because he’s injured), MarFur, the 3 new gals with blonde hair (one the nurse), Karen, Kara, the gal from Hong Kong with the new Australia shepherd puppy Ty, the gal from Venezuela, the new gal with thick dark hair (lordie – see, that’s just who I can remember!) all doing scaling of some sort. That is a LOT of people for our box!

HERE is what a thruster is. Oh yeah….yeah I remember. LOL. Last time I did this, because the coach was reminding me to keep the bar IN (not lift it “forward” of my body) and ending with my arms locked out and the weight behind my head, I drove up and RIGHT into my lip. And it was the day that Moddie and I were doing our video! Oh yeah baby, I REMEMBER thrusters….LOL!

SO on The Amazing Race yesterday, I thought the Baseball Bunnies were going to be eliminated (my favorite team left – I like the ER doctors too but the Bunnies are my favs) and though they came in last it was a NON-ELIMINATION round! Whoot Whoot!

They flew from Vienna to Abu Dhabi, and had to go to a huge mosque to get their first clue. It was beautiful – the women had to wear full black “coverups” (though their eyes weren’t covered). I think that one of the key things to have in the backpack is at least a sarong – I know that in Thailand, Israel, etc. you have to have your “crotch line” covered – so if you’re wearing pants, as a woman, you have to wear a sarong. You also need another one to put over your head and around your arms, because you can’t have basically a tank top or short-sleeved shirt. I got to wondering if one of the black coverups would be a better thing to carry – these ones were super light – I’m quite sure that they have them (just like in Thailand and Israel) for the visitors who don’t come “correctly attired” to wear. The Afghanimals were very much playing on the fact that they are “brothers” with the folks there – meaning, that they had some of the words (Salaam Alecheim….Alecheim Salaam), and were trying to tell the taxi driver, etc. “hey, you want us to win, we’re blood” basically. Hmmm. (I really don’t care for them.)

The teams had to then go and either build a fishing “trap” or arrange dates on a tray. The dates was VERY hard because it was a LOT of dates. And the fishing rig one was hard because it was out in the sun. I actually would have chosen the dates, I think, and I think that would have been the harder choice. It was VERY involved, as the tray was like the size of the top of a round coffee table, ALL dates, but all different kinds. I’d be curious what Moddie would have done – I think that in retrospect the fishing one was the better choice, though I’m not sure that it would have been obvious (as I said) from the outset.

Another thing (just not sure exactly what the order was right now) that the teams had to do was to get on a yacht and it took them to a destination. A high-speed yacht – really gorgeous. The Afghanimals got on the yacht themselves, as did (I think) the ER doctors. Then pinkie and the ex, and the ice girls, were on another yacht, and the baseball bunnies were RUNNING down the dock and they were all “CAST OFF! CAST OFF!” Which meant the baseball bunnies missed it by LITERALLY like 2 seconds, and then had to wait 5 minutes.

I happen to really like the bunnies. I think if I had been on that yacht (alone) I would have made the yacht wait. If it was the Afghanimals or pinkie and the ex running to us, of course, I’m not sure I would do that, but it was just mean-spirited in my opinion. I think anything mean-spirited pisses me off.

As an example, when the Afghanimals turned the Chico Boys around, if I had had the “extra express pass” at that point, I would have wanted to just tuck it into the top of the U-Turn so they wouldn’t have to go back. I know, not exactly the smartest move, but I felt SO BAD for them. It was just immensely unfair and mean-spirited. I guess I’m not the best tactical person on this thing, but I know what’s mean-spirited and what’s not.

Like I said, not quite sure what order all these things were, but the final task was actually being let out on a cable above a 300′ or so drop, and then you had to pull a lever to “drop” yourself and rappel down to the Formula One racetrack. It’s been interesting in that in the case of the fiance couple (oh, I forgot them in the above list – I like them too), he said “I’ll do it” but then he also said “I’m not sure why I keep always being the one to do the heights things, I hate heights.” So there’s something going on here that we don’t know. Do they have to take turns? This has been an issue on the TAR blogs – I think that basically by the end you have to have each done the same amount of single-person events, but I’m not quite sure, then, why it is that he would have “chosen” to do the heights thing. She did the singing (the last single-person event) – so it seems that they are going her, him, her, him…is that a rule that we don’t know? Because again, if he “hates heights” as he said on camera, why did he take this one then? It’s a puzzler.

Anyway, this event was doing the drop, then unhooking, getting into a Formula One racecar, and being driven around the track. I’m not exactly sure what the clue was, because it wasn’t explained very well. The cars drove past signs that had race car drivers’ names on them, and their times for the track. There were about 6 signs. I THINK that what they had to do was figure out who was the one who had the best time, and then repeat the name and the time.

When the Ice Princess did it, she couldn’t remember what the clue said. (Her teammate had it in her hand – because of course she had rappelled down to the car). That’s a toughie! So that’s a learning – perhaps reading through the entire clue and if it says something like “remember the times” or something, be sure that you put a paper and pencil into your pocket?? I’m not sure that would have helped, but it might have. Because she couldn’t remember what she was supposed to do. I’m not sure how she got the clue – her teammate was standing right there (sort of “pit crew” as it were) and so perhaps she screamed out “what am I supposed to do” after she came in and didn’t know anything and drove back off, and her teammate was able to tell her.

This was where the Bunnies almost caught up – because the Ice Princess had to go around a LOT of times – she didn’t know what she was doing the first round, then she did but didn’t remember the name or got the wrong name, then the wrong time, etc. Again, I wonder if in reading the clue all the way through, having a pencil and paper might have helped? Of course you’re in a Formula One race suit, big gloves etc – maybe not!

I SUCK at that sort of thing – super fast remembering of stuff – I wonder how Moddie is at it?

Anyway – so time to get off to Crossfit. But that was my thoughts on TAR. LEARNINGS:
1. READ THE CLUE ALL THE WAY THROUGH. How many times have I written this as a learning?!?! I think taking a second and a breath to READ THE CLUE ALL THE WAY THROUGH is huge.

2.  Perhaps bring a black outfit like the ones that they were given, so that you already have it? Definitely a sarong. I keep wondering back at the Norway/fish two-person one, where the Bunnies and the Oklahoma boys were carrying dried fish down off a rack – it looked like they couldn’t let the fish “touch the ground” but I wonder if the clue said you HAD to hang it on your teammate? If not, a sarong would have been a HUGE boon because then the teammate wouldn’t have been standing there with icky heavy scratchy fish around her neck. Just curious about that one. Also, whether it said that only one of you could climb up. If it said that the “fish after coming off the rack can’t touch the ground” and you had a sarong, if it didn’t say only one could climb, then BOTH could climb, and put the fish on a sarong.

3.  Don’t do something that’s just mean. I know that sounds silly, and who knows, it might have gotten me eliminated (I have to ask Moddie what she would do in the same situation), but I would have made the yacht wait for the Bunnies. Seriously. That was SO mean-spirited. If there were other teams on the same yacht and they didn’t want to wait, I would have gone out on the deck and hollered for them to hurry up they won’t let us wait the boat. Again – like my coming back to the idea of immediately giving the ER doctors the Pass because they read the clue wrong, or putting the pass into the top of the U-Turn for the Chico boys, it’s not very “game” to do that, but it just seems like the right thing to do. Need to get Moddie’s perspective on this – I know that Robbie would absolutely NOT have given the pass to the ER doctors right at the beginning because she said that they were obviously in it to win it, and it would be a serious liability immediately to have just given it up, instead, her thought was to give it to a team that could LEAST use it well like the Oklahoma Boys or the Chico Boys – which has some merit because, as you can see, they are already eliminated! I just am not sure that feels good to me.

4. I had a dream (this is so funny!) that Moddie and I got our thumbs shellac-manicured with the TAR flag on it (yellow with a red stripe) to REMEMBER to check for the TAR flag on anything we were doing (e.g., to avoid what happened to the Bingo boys when they picked a shoeshine guy who was NOT part of the game – OMG that poor guy! – or when Pinkie and the Ex were trying to put their fish on the rack and kept not picking a rack with the TAR flag on the end of it. I also remember back a couple seasons ago, when the “clue” to start was in I want to say Times Square in New York, and you had to see it on a billboard that was rolling through with different ads, but one of the ads had the TAR flag colors down the side, and if you actually read it instead of glossing over when you saw it that it was an ad, it was the clue.)

I think we did the best we could with that video. I have looked at a lot of videos on YouTube now and WOW they got a lot of info into 3 minutes. HOLY COW. We would have had more info had we done the video that we sent to my video editor, it had so much more about our backgrounds, because we had a TON and I mean a TON of more photos that we did narrations over, both single “backstory” ones and then of us together, and then we had the video of us together at the end. But I also wonder if this one almost isn’t better – I mean, it REALLY is the truth, talk about born out of adversity!!! It took me all day to come up with the “emergency script, ” and the photos we would cull to go into it, then Moddie put them together into the “collage” and then when she came over, I was trying to figure out how to hold the computer up to the cell phone video (which is what we did the video on) so we could narrate over it, she came up (GENIUS!) with doing the narration separately, then she actually figured out (she is so good at that stuff) how to put the video “front end” and “back end” in on top. OMG. She did that whole thing while I was making dinner for the 3 of us. I’m so impressed, she’s so great at that stuff. It also meant that we could do the “pre-photo-narration” and “post-photo-narration” in two clips, and she put them on the front and back of the “photos with the narration on top” – I had thought we’d have to do the whole 3 minutes all in one go because we were videotaping with a cell phone, I mean, come on! She totally saved our bacon.

We are a good team – I cancelled that day to come up with the Emergency Script and how to make it work (though she had been at work trying to make our video that we had send to the editor work – it just wasn’t going to work because it was already too long and I was going to have to have him cut bits out to get to the 3 minutes – it timed to 3’40”) – then we just got it done. She hadn’t even read through what we had to do until she got to my house, and then we worked on it feverishly, she realized she could do an “overdub” if I had a certain software that comes with Windows (I didn’t even know I had it!) – we watched the photos and put them on 4 seconds per photo and then again and again and AGAIN did the narration to get it to fit (it was a tiny bit off, but not much), then we literally did the front and back videos in one go.

Oops, gotta go to Crossfit. I was just so impressed with how that worked. I’m not sure they will call us – but they should. 😉

Today’s WOD was:

“Mary”
20 Min AMRAP
5 HSPU (handstand pushups)
10 Pistols (one-legged squats all the way to the floor)
15 Pull Up

I did 8 – scaled MIGHTILY…My HSPU was 2 10 lb dumbbells pressed from shoulders without legs (just “press up”), the Pistols I did 10 squats to the ground, heels down, back straight, chest up (super strict form – Bo kept correcting me which was good) – ALL the way down and ALL the way back to straight, and of course my pull ups were from a box.

Then I asked Margo if she wanted to do Tabata situps, and she got Michael to do them, and he got Sherri and Jimmy to do them – which was actually fun – we put the “Tabata Metal” song on the box sound system that I had, and away we went. I also played the first 3 songs on my crossfit “mix” and they wanted more metal. So I have to re-order LOL.

Today I’m going to also re-start the Jillian food logging. I have gone WAY off the ranch on that, and I know last night when I was munching on a teff tortilla with almond butter and butter (yes, really) that I gotta get control of myself. It’s fun to be doing the 21 day “thing” with Emily the Denver Crossfit gal, that keeps me honest. -1 point for drinking alcohol – boo! 🙂

So, we still wait . . . I keep watching our video because it cracks me up. It really does. I hope that it cracks them up too. I still can’t believe that we worked like demons to get a video together and though it wasn’t going to be the best video of all time, it would have had music, overlays, more full of our stories, etc. – I HAVE to believe that The Great Is “made” this happen because in actuality, the video we sent – which was off the cuff, no editing, me running back and forth to the freakin’ CELL PHONE that we video’d it on . . . shows how we’d be in a clutch situation!

H did Crossfit again yesterday and did too much – I think the final mile run killed him. He’s gotta figure out what’s up with his hip. He’s not happy. Of course, we could both lose some poundage and I think that’s sadly gotta be a CRITICAL thing I concentrate on for us. To wit – back to making veggie Nutribullet smoothies this morning!

(Funny – H comes in, sees my smoothie – says “Hey, how come MINE isn’t red?” I say “Because I left the BEETS out of yours, would you like some?” He backs away slowly…it was SO FUNNY. I think he thought I’d put like blueberries in or something. Definitely surprised him. His look was hilarious.)

CONDITIONING
For Time
Run 1 Mile
100 Squats
50 Push Up
25 Ring Row
50 Push Up
100 Squat
Run 1 Mile

Oh, Herbert is going to be SO HAPPY that he picked today to return to Crossfit (not!)

Yesterday on the way to my class (I’m taking a 6 week course on Ethics that gets me CLE – I’m up in January, and of course have done NONE and it’s November!) I practiced French, though afterwards my brain was buzzing so much from the class that I had to just drive home in quiet! LOL.

I’ve watched our video like a dozen times. I’m pathetic 😉 I think we have a shot. The most interesting thing is really how it happened. I was totally fine with not applying once R put the brakes on it. Then Moddie and I were lolling on the couch – HOLY CRAP was that really only Sunday?? – shooting the sh*t about funding non-profits for kids, and then I realized DING DING DING – ~we~ should apply together. When I broached the subject, she was ALL over it. I can’t believe what we got done, then undone, then done again – before the deadline on the 5th. Well, technically, the deadline is TODAY, but the TAR website states that they will “start callbacks on November 5th” – so it was my opinion we had to get our application in by then. But after today, that’s “it” . . . apparently they do in-person auditions too – where they come to your town and you go and talk to the casting director and pitch your story – but today’s the last day for folks who send it in online.

Turns out my cousins Christopher and James did one of those “in person” auditions – my cousin Robin told me about it, saying she “couldn’t believe they wouldn’t be picked,” but when I texted James about it, he said that really they did it more half-*ssed and there just wasn’t a chance from the start. Folks showed up with everything filled out, their story practiced, etc. – whereas they just sort of went in blind. Then again, to some extent that’s the “Shepard way” LOL.

Have a client meeting at 9:00 a.m. at their offices, then farmer’s market, an acupuncture “flu immune booster” appointment, and Crossfit this evening. What a Marin day. If it wasn’t for the fact that I don’t know where the next dime is coming from, it would be lovely and relaxing 😉

Have to get back to making my bone broth then dress to see the client . . . yes, bone broth. Yes, SO Paleo, I know 😉 I have some poundage to lose. My doctor says that my hormones are basically non-existent – thyroid screwed up, no estrogen/testosterone/etc. – and we’re trying to deal with that – but this ‘splains’ why even when I’m GOOD I seem to be creeping up the scale. It totally sucks. Pout.

Crossfit workout today:

CONDITIONING
25 Min AMRAP
10 Wall Ball
5 Toes 2 Bar
100M Run

I still can’t do Toes 2 Bar, but I can definitely get my knees up to “sitting” position while hanging from the bar. I could also swing back a bit today. 5 isn’t so bad – it’s just the perfect amount to do your best without having to drop off.

The Warmup included “Rowling” which is a new Crossfit ‘game’ combining rowing and bowling. The idea is that you sit on the rower, and you have 10 rounds trying to get the score to stop exactly at 100 meters. If let’s say it stops at 97, you get 3 points (100-97), if it stops at 120, you get 20 points (120 – 100). Obviously, lowest score “wins” (just like bowling). Getting it right on 100 gets you a “strike.”

Turns out if I row to about 80 meters then give one tiny “tug” more, I get it to like 97. I think if I could row evenly to 82 meters it would be about perfect. I did fairly well – I only got an 18 – and a few strikes in there. I did have a 96 which blew it for me – didn’t go over though. I can TOTALLY see that being a TAR event!

I did 11 reps in the 25 minutes, plus the wall balls, toes to bar (well, for me, “knees up”), and 50 meters of the run before Anthony called “time.” I wasn’t going to go out and bust it for the run, but I keep thinking “I HAVE to push harder than I think I can.” TAR training, bay-bee! When he called time I was at the 50 meter mark.

Now, we just wait. I’m not exactly sure what will happen – it makes it very clear on the “intake” form that you may not hear anything at all. Interestingly, the choice of law on the Arbitration clause for the Terms of Use was San Francisco, so I did a little more “digging” and found out that the address that’s listed is the CBS address downtown in the City! I think it’s right next door to the ABC studios where I used to go to do the View From The Bay tapings. That would be SWEET if the 2nd round would be here . . . I just imagined it would be in L.A. In my daydreams, they call us because what the Heck, we’re local (smile).

I went onto YouTube and there are a number of videos – GOOD ones – that come up with the link “The Amazing Race Application 2014.” Similar to what we would have had, they have a lot of “cool video” going on. In their Terms and Conditions, they state that the video belongs to them, though the photos, etc. in the video continue to belong to us. So “legally” from an intellectual property perspective, we can’t actually post something in a public forum because they “own” it. I’m quite sure of course that no one has read the Terms and Conditions (laugh) – they must not have, of course, because most of them use music that I’m sure they don’t have a license to, etc.! (Yeah yeah, I’m SUCH the lawyer!)

There is one part in the Terms though that states that they “may make us” post it – which was one of my thoughts when I saw a lot of Applications from previous years. I can see them asking potential contestants to post their videos, then “ranking” them in accordance with how many “Likes” or “Comments” they get. That would be super smart – in other words, if you get like 400 likes, versus getting 400,000 likes, TAR might believe that you would get fewer folks to watch the show than the 400,000 likes person could deliver. Heck, I’d stand on a corner or make a QR Code and make people scan it and just press LIKE if that’s what it would take…seriously! I actually figure if you take all the Teams we’ve been on and their Facebook pages, my Facebook pages, the SendOutCards pages, Moddie’s softball groups, etc. etc., plus telling everyone we know to SHARE it, that we could (hopefully!) get something to go viral. (Okay, at least like “catch a cold”… <wink>)

I think that I’d go through all my files, especially for clients I have done a ton of work gratis for. And I would send out a personal email saying – “Look, you and I both know I’ve done a ton of work for you for free. Now’s the time to pay the piper. I need you to spend at least the amount of time I’ve given you for free hawking our YouTube video to everyone you know. This is not a time to be embarrassed. You have an all-company e-bulletin board? Please post it. Have a morning meeting? Please mention it. I’ll give you the link, I’ll make you a QR Code, I’ll do whatever you want. But you’ve received a lot of free law help – here’s your time to pay it back.”

Luckily I don’t have anything on the calendar today until tonight when I’m starting a Legal Education 6 week seminar – at the Chabad House, of all places – it’s on Ethics which I actually think will be really interesting. I couldn’t do it at the Chabad House that’s near me because that one is on Tuesdays, when I have Crossfit. But this one is on Wednesday. It’s actually at the “big uber rabbi”‘s house for Marin – my rabbi said to tell him that he sent me so he gets some cred. (That made me laugh.) I really like the “uber rabbi” – I sat near him at a dinner once, and have seen him a number of times – he has an “Ask The Rabbi” booth at the Farmer’s Market! He’s super nice and I’d always get him some coffee. I’m a little leery only because he isn’t married (recently divorced) and in the Chabad space (which is fairly Orthodox) I’m always afraid of doing something stupid (touching a man, for example <smile>) and when there’s a wife there usually I just do what she does. But this will be a good training for me – doing something new and a little risky 😉

Moddie and I were talking about languages the other day. I want to start re-listening to the CDs I burned onto my iTunes from the Tiburon Library. As I think I detailed before, I just took my laptop there and sat there for hours, burning each one. I have at least a dozen languages in my library! I don’t think Moddie has a laptop so I’m not exactly sure how to get her the Spanish recordings (she said she wants to start with Spanish, which will be great – I will concentrate on French and German for now). I wonder if I can email them?

OK yeah I should go and see if there is any work in my email but I’m going to go try that first. Bad me. Obsessed, obviously.

I might post our video here, if Moddie says it’s okay. I need to ask her.

POSTSCRIPT: Just joined the “21 day Superhero challenge”: http://superherounleashedchallenge.com/learn-more/ – so did ANOTHER workout, this one the “Hot Potato” which was 10 thrusters/10 walking lunges with weight, 5 RFT. I did it in 3:something (I forget) but did it with VERY low weights (3 lbs) because I already did Crossfit today.

Yeah time for a shower 😉