weekend round up

Friday: SNOWPOCOLYPSE!

OK, for Alabama it really was a lot of snow.

Saturday: Two 5Ks on the same day!

The first 5K went right in front of our house. My time was 28:58.

The second 5K I actually did a tiny bit better, 28:48.

Sunday: Hugs, Kisses, and Susie came to live with us.

We are all still missing our dog, so we went out and adopted some .13 feeder fish. We love them very much and their names are Hugs, Kisses, and Susie. Teddy bought me that little fish tank for our very first Valentine's Day together (10 years ago)! This is the first time we've gotten it out in several years and we are all really enjoying the fish (please don't die).

(please don't judge my entirely paneled, very 60s kitchen...)

Blogoversary.

Today is the one year anniversary of when I started THIS blog because THAT blog got hijacked by creepy stalker. I love having a blog and I love having my tiny community of friends that come by and cheer me on, or come by and offer support, because to me, that is what it is all about. I read on a friend's blog recently that there has been some competition in the "pain Olympics" and I'm always afraid when I post something that someone is going to come around and tell me to stop my whiny whining because there are hungry kids in Ethiopia or something but you guys never do that and really you are all just lovely and I want to give you a big hug.

Since I've started this blog I've taken up running, Teddy got into the PhD program, we moved, my baby turned three, I was job searching, I got a job and I'm still job searching, my dog died, and I've committed to wearing a bikini for the first time ever! There has been lots of great times, and also lots of challenges, I'm sure life will continue much the same BUT it is nicer knowing you guys will come by and check on us.

In completely unrelated and unabashed parental gloating when I dropped Eli off at daycare this morning his teacher told me that Eli is by far the brightest child in her class. It made me ridiculously proud (although I will admit the other kids are sort of dufusy so I'm not sure this is a HUGE compliment).

I ran a 10K this Saturday (my time was 1:03 so I did not hit my NYR goal, BUT the last MILE was uphill so it was still pretty awesome time) and a 5K on Sunday. I feel awesome and my sister and BIL were right there with me so they are awesome too. We are doing two 5Ks next weekend on the same day! My friend said we need "runners anonymous" but it really is fun!

What's your favorite color?

Dark chocolate and mint 3 Musketeers minis.

Earrings made from recycled magazines.

Buddy the Elf Holiday card, that talks.

Starbucks ( I know, my love has no bounds) acrylic coffee cup with screw on lid and straw for homemade ice coffees.


Bullets:

• My job is definitely good and bad. It is good in that it has relieved a lot of my stress about finances, but bad because I feel resentful that I don't think I'm being paid what I deserve, but who is? I am doing counseling for people who are newly diagnosed with HIV. The grant I'm working for pays for 6 sessions per newly diagnosed patient. There are other bits and pieces to the job too, but that is the main responsibility.
• I had wanted to do a 12K today but I was too lazy to sign up and drive an hour at 6 in the morning so I just did one on my own. It took me 1:08, which I didn't think was awful.
• Elf is my very favorite Holiday movie ever.
• The cookie and candy eating is out of control...I definitely think once you start it is harder to stop.
• We finally got Eli to agree to a picture with Santa for our Holiday cards, but we had to agree to be in the picture with him. We went to the mall today and had the picture taken and now I don't want to send it out because I think I look fat. The fat hatred just never stops.
  
  

fat pants

I recently went through my closet to get rid of all of my clothes that don't fit anymore. I took all these pants off the hangers to give away, and then after thinking about it I folded them all up and put them back in my closet. The pants are all too big. They are mostly size 10s and 8s and currently I'm in a size 6. I started in a size 16.

When we were moving I got rid of all my size 16s, 14s, and 12s. I think I would have tried to hang on to them if we weren't moving. I'm still not convinced that I'm not going to get fat again. When I was going to get a bag to put all the pants in I started thinking how crappy it would be to get fat again AND have to buy new clothes...that is when I put the pants back in the closet.

My weight loss journey is sort of on hold right now. I'm still journaling all my food, and running but I think I'm going to wait until the New Year and then try and lose the last 10 pounds. I am going to try and hold at my current weight until then.

This last weekend was my first race. I did a 10K with my sister and her husband and it was awesome. I finished in 1:04 and I was 19th out of 43 for my age/gender. I was stupidly excited to be number 19! It was such a rush to finish and to beat people who were younger and skinnier than me. I loved it, and this morning I spent time looking for the next race. I think I'm going to do a 12K in December called the 12 Ks of Christmas!

Anyway, I got off my point...the pants...what should I do with them?

too bad I'm so stupid, but atleast I got a lot of exercise

I really liked my sister's post of her jogging route and I decided I wanted to do a similar post today. I went jogging this morning, but I decided I am too uncoordinated to take pictures while I jog so Teddy agreed to walk the route with me in the evening so I could take my pictures. We went and walked the route and I took some beautiful pictures, and then deleted them all on accident. Ugh, I'll try again tomorrow.

P.S. I'm going to try and buy a car tomorrow. I am ridiculously stressed about it, wish me luck!

Things I'm not clever enough to write whole blog posts about.

1. Remember this? Now look at it. This is equally exciting and terrifying...OK maybe not equally maybe leaning more toward terrifying but still exciting. OK maybe more like 60% terrifying and 40% exciting ..Mmmmm maybe like 70/30...OK maybe more like 100% terrifying until we move, unpack, I get a job, and we are all settled in. THEN it will be mostly exciting....Like 80/20.

2. This is also terrifying me, looking at these boxes...that I've packed...because we are moving. ACK. I'm not trying to be over dramatic but twice today I've looked at that stack of boxes and felt a wave of nausea so strong I had to sit down...Oh I just LOVE being me sometimes. (Eli LOVES that pink cat carrier... I have never seen him play with anything as much as he plays with that. He carries a stuffed cat around in it and just really amuses himself.) (Oh that reminds me we went to Target yesterday and I told him he could pick out some Band Aids and he picked out the Barbie ones.)
3. At Target yesterday I got ANOTHER bottle of this:
I am now obsessed with having tan legs and I moved on from the light version to the medium. I think I may have a problem and I might need an intervention soon. I had a friend who once told me "tan fat is better than pale fat" and by Jesus she was right. It also has FIRMING. I have no idea if it is actually firming anything, but I like to believe it is.
4. There are (hardly ever) benefits to be married to a dude that writes about children's music, but we got a free copy of Mr. Leebot's new CD and it is awesome. I totally would have even paid for it, which is saying a lot because I never buy CDs.
5. I have still been jogging, at least 4 times a week and usually about 20 miles a week, but I haven't been losing weight. I have been journaling, but not staying with in my Weight Watchers POINTS ( I have no idea why that is all caps but on the WW site it is always written like that ) This has been the first week, in weeks and weeks, I stayed with in my POINTS and I'm hoping to finally have a loss.
6. TLC is killing me. I mean it. I can't stand to see another ad for I didn't know I was pregnant, because it makes me want to punch someone in their chocha. I have been pregnant, and I don't buy it. And I know, I know that your sister's, cousin's, friend had a baby in the toilet because FOR REALS she didn't know she was pregnant and I'm calling BULLSHIT. Anyway, now there is 650 lb Virgin, and I just can't bear it.

I think that is all I got for now...although I could write more about my love for House Hunters and any documentary about someone getting murdered, but I'll save those topics for later.

Thirty-two

As I was running today I was thinking about how I am in the best shape of my life. This both makes me really proud, and also frustrates me. I was thinking about how I spent my twenties drinking too much, smoking too much, and eating too much ( do you sense a bit of an oral fixation?)...although there is not much I would change about things, since ultimately all those things led me to where I am today, but I do wish I would have taken better care of my body.

I was also thinking about how this is the happiest I have ever been. I still have days where I feel depressed, or unbelievably anxious, but overall I feel happy. I have a great husband and a wonderful son. My parents are alive and although they are both alcoholics, one functioning, one in recovery, they are in decent health (presumably, since neither one will get a check-up). I'm really excited about the upcoming move and spending more time with my sister and her family.

I'm in the process of buying my first car. This is really exciting to me even though at my age I'm sure most people have owned their own car before. I am looking forward to a new job, I don't know if I'll get the chance to change careers or if I'll end up doing something similar to what I'm doing now, but I'm excited to find out. I spend most nights watching House Hunters and making fun of what people wear (tiny shirts over inexplicably bigger shirts) and say (man room!), and I'm really happy.

Teddy and I have been talking about how this area can really beat you down. I feel like there is always this competition to do better, and make more, and do more, and be MORE FABULOUS, and it has just been really getting to me. I felt like I could never keep up and that real happiness was just out of my reach, like if I could just make more money, or get a better job, or find a bigger apartment then maybe I would be happy, but I always felt like I was chasing something I just couldn't reach...now I feel like I'm going on a permanent vacation where people are just happy to BE and it isn't always a competition.

I've always been anxious and I go through bouts of depression but I feel better now than I can ever remember and I'm starting to wonder if it is all related to my health (some of you are probably shouting DUH! YOU FUCKING IDIOT!) . I'm hoping to keep up my running schedule and I would still like to lose another ten pounds, but for just today I'm going to be happy.

Jogging Blogging, part three: Invested.

One of the reasons I decided I would start jogging is because it was "free." I laughed at this the other day when Teddy and I were in our local Fleet Feet...all the sudden my free exercises has started to get very expensive. I have now invested in running shoes, running shorts, a running headband (worthless because I think my head is either too small or too big and it always pops off), my Nike+, and special no chaffing stuff for my friend's big fat thighs. (not pictured: lots of colorful sports bras, and several pairs of yoga pants)

The reason I'm mentioning these things is because Bea recently asked me what my motivation is to keep up my running schedule. I thought about it for a while, and really right now my motivation is I spent money on this shit and I'm not going to waste it. I'm too stubborn and I would feel stupid if I spent money on expensive running shoes, and then never wore them.

I don't have a specific running schedule, I just go outside and run at least every other day. Some days I run as fast as I can for 30 minutes, some days I run slower for 45 minutes, and some days I pick a distance and I don't stop until I've run that distance. I keep doing it because I'm terrified that if I don't I will become fat again almost instantly. I have this vivid imagination of me wearing a giant flesh colored body stocking thing that is holding in all my fat. I imagine the day I stop running this thing will burst at the seams and I will instantly gain back the 50 lbs I've worked so hard to lose.

Bea also asked about how do you run faster, and the best advice I have for that is something I read on another website (I think it was about.com) and the advice was "just run faster." It feels uncomfortable and like your lungs are going to burst, but after a couple of days it actually helps increase the speed of your comfortable jog...does that make sense? For example I was running a 9 minute mile, and then for a week I ran as fast as I could for 30 minutes and I was averaging around a 7:45 mile, well then the next week when I went back to a comfortable pace I'm running about a 8:15 mile now...see?

So to wrap it all up I have some real inspirational words for you: Run even if you don't want too, just run faster, and buy some expensive shoes. There, after three months I'm a jogging guru.

jogging blogging, take two.

This is my second installment of jogging blogging. If you want to catch up you can read here.

I have been jogging, rain or shine for over three months. I have never gone more than one day in between running and I have done a fair amount of research over the Internet on jogging, and YET I'm still an idiot.

I'm not kidding when I say I have been jogging rain or shine. I have gone when I am sick, that month I had my period EVERY day, when I am cranky, when I don't feel like it, and when I'm tired. I have gone in the pouring rain, in the drizzle, in the driving rain and while I was on vacation. I have gone in the heat and the cold, and once again I must tell you I'm an idiot.

When I started jogging I was just using a pair of Nikes I had that I bought because they were silver and pink and PRETTY. While doing research on jogging (how often, how fast etc.) I constantly read that you should be properly fitted for running shoes, and you should change out your shoes, on average, every 300-400 miles or so. I have about 200 miles on the Nikes I am currently wearing but I wore them for months before I started jogging, and I also wear them just to walk around town. I decided that Monday while we were out and about, I would be properly fitted and I would buy some new running shoes.

We went into a specialty running store and they had treadmills set up with cameras directed at your feet. There was sign in sheet and you had to sign in and wait for it to be your turn to jog on the treadmill in front of everyone waiting (this is lunchtime in NYC there were several people waiting). I felt like a complete tool so while I was trying to decide if I was going to sign up or not I browsed around and looked at their selection of shoes. There shoes were OK, but none of them were pretty or PINK. I decided not to be fitted there and told Teddy I would try out the running store by our house instead.

Last night I was browsing around the Internet and I found a pair of running shoes that fit all my criteria: they were pink, and pretty!
I have never tried them on(!), I bought them because they are pink (!), and I have never worn this brand (!). When I'm complaining of blisters and various injuries, remind me how pretty my shoes are, and that I'm an idiot.

I also have a really embarrassing question that my friend wants me to ask you. She has been running every day in yoga pants but now that it is starting to get hot she wants to buy some shorts because the yoga pants start getting so fucking hot and stuck to her legs with sweat she feels absolutely disgusting (that is what she tells me). ANYWAY, her problem is that her thighs rub together and chafe and this is also terribly uncomfortable, is there any way to prevent this?

15 years...are you fucking kidding me?

I got an email today that my 15 year high school reunion is this October. Oh...oh my. I really can't believe it.

I must continue on my way to being skinny and hot (well for me anyway), but does anyone have any suggestions on how exactly I'm going to get rich and successful in four months? What if I have to tell people I moved from NYC back to Alabama and I don't even have a job yet? Awesome. You know what, I'll just show them a picture of the most.awesome.kid.ever. and then punch them in the face and run away, that should do it.


*******

In regards to jogging... Ashley and HP, I know you guys are right and I need to do intervals BUT damn that is not what I wanted to hear, I wanted you to say that I should probably eat a bunch of candy and try and sugar shock my system into losing more weight...or something more along those lines. I am getting increasingly bitter that I still have to do MORE to keep losing weight, I am hungry and tired goddammit why isn't that enough?

I really need to say that I just don't understand those of you who don't like candy...like you wouldn't eat a package of Skittles OR you just prefer chocolate...if you just prefer chocolate, that is fine, if you can't be bothered to eat candy, well I don't know if we can be friends.

holding pattern

I haven't lost any weight in four WEEKS. I have been jogging at least 4 times a week, but I think all the extra jogging is making me HUNGRY, or at least that is what I am going to use as my excuse. While we were at my sister's house I ate a movie theater sized box of candy A DAY. I don't know how exactly this happened but candy kept appearing, and I kept shoving it in my mouth. I'm not even sorry, it was delicious. I am a huge candy fan..Skittles, Twizzlers, gummy bears, whatever, I love it...give me a bag of sugar and a spoon and really I'd be happy. Teddy really only likes chocolate candy, I don't understand this.

Speaking of jogging I have been really frustrated with it lately. I have been jogging fairly frequently for about 3 months now, and I still don't really like it. I like the way I feel when I'm DONE but for a majority of the time I am actually jogging I'm pissed that it sucks, and I don't enjoy it. I find myself hating the stupid fuckers in line at the Mr. Softee truck because goddamn it I want to be in line at the Mr. Softee truck not running around in circles like some sort of sweaty douche. I don't know if I will ever like it, but I keep doing it, and that does make me proud.

*****************

Since Eli's second Birthday (which was 9.5 months ago) I have been contemplating the big 3 of toddlerhood for our family.

1. Get rid of the pacifiers
2. Potty Train
3. Big boy bed

I have been really hesitant about these things for one major reason->I LIKE TO SLEEP. I am afraid doing any one of these things is going to end up ruining my sleep.

We made a big step last week and we ordered Eli a toddler bed with the Christmas money my dad gave us over Memorial Day (yeah, that is how he rolls). The bed came on Friday and Eli was so excited Teddy put the bed together for him and he insisted on sleeping in it. So far it has actually gone better than I expected. He gets up and wanders around a lot, but honestly less than I thought he would.

The next step is potty training...I honestly have no clue where to even start. We want to try and have him potty trained before we move. The pre-school we have picked out for him wants the kids to be potty trained for the more advanced class, the remedial pee in your pants kids have to be in a different class and I don't want poor Eli to miss out on the fun stuff because he is in the pee pants class.

The pacifier...ahh I don't even know. It is really his comfort item and I sort of hate to take it away before such a big stresser for all of us...I will focus on potty training next and when that is over I'll start thinking about the pacifiers...

******************

This weekend Eli and I were chilling on the couch watching Oswald and Eli turned to me and put his hand on my check and said "you're a sweet girl."

Jogging Blogging

My sister wrote a post today about what to do if you get really thirsty while you are running which made me think of several other questions I have about jogging/running/plopping (that is what I call what I do "plopping"). I would love for you veteran joggers and new to jogging joggers to tell me how do you solve a problem like diarrhea (oh if you knew me you would know that I'm laughing and laughing because I sing that last sentence to the tune of that song from The Sound of Music and I think about how clever I am)?

1. One day I was out jogging on a really nasty, cold, drizzly day and there was really NO ONE else out. I was running around the pier and I noticed a group of about 6 or 7 junior high kids riding BMX bikes and I really didn't think anything of it. Well, as I got around the pier towards them one of them thought it would be funny to play a game of chicken with me and ride his bike directly at me, something in my head snapped and I lunged towards him and tried to push him off his bike when he barely swerved to miss me. His buddies laughed at him and they all rode off but I looked around and there was no one else around, and I don't carry a cell phone with me while I'm jogging. Do you ladies carry your cell phones or pepper spray or anything if you are out jogging by yourself?

2. Last Thursday I got a delicious lunch of Migas. They were so good, and I ate all of them but for the rest of the day my stomach sort of blurbled and I felt a little nauseous. By that evening I felt OK and decided to go for my run. I got about 20 minutes from my house and I knew things WERE NOT GOOD. I some way knew that as long as I kept running I would be OK but I had no keys so I couldn't run home, I had to run to find where Teddy and Eli were playing and as I suspected the second I stopped BAD things started happening and I wasn't sure if I was going to throw up or have diarrhea. I got the keys and started sprinting home (which FYI it seems the adrenaline of running stops the diarrhea/throw up reflex..it must have something to do with fight or flight). Anyway, I'm not sure I have a question here other than what exactly should you do if you realize that you need to use the bathroom IMMEDIATELY. I guess run home is really the only answer.

3. This Sunday I made an extremely poor decision to go jogging around 11 AM when there was absolutely no shade along the river and it was getting hotter and hotter by the minute. I had not drank very much water and I realized once I was about 15 minutes away that I was dehydrating quickly and I started to feel nauseous and panicky because I was afraid I was going to pass out, or vomit, or both. One thing about me is I can go from zero to HOLY SHIT PANIC OH MY GOD I'M DYING in about .2 seconds. The panicking about passing out was making it worse and I was so thirsty and dehydrated but they don't turn the water fountains on until after Memorial Day (yeah, I don't know) and I didn't have any money for a drink or my cell phone. Do you guys carry money or cell phones with you? What about water? Do you carry it in your hand while you run? That seems very annoying to me, and I am LOATHE to wear a fanny pack I honestly can not do it, so where the hell am I supposed to keep a cell phone or money?

HELP ME. I AM STUPID AND WILL DIE ALONE ON THE ROAD BECAUSE I HAVE NO WATER, CELL PHONE, PEPPER SPRAY, MONEY, OR IDENTIFICATION.

Polar bear, take 3

May 2007

May 2008

April 2009

One of the things I was thinking about as I was jogging this morning (HOLY HEAT! How come no one told me jogging in the heat is a whole new ballgame? I thought I was going to die, or throw up, or maybe pass out and it was only like 80 degrees) is that I really love traditions and that is something that makes me sad about moving.

I know we will get to make new traditions with more family and I think it will be very good, but I will miss the Spring trip to see the polar bear, and the annual Mother's Day picnic on the pier, and Eli's birthday at the sprinklers, and the same mall Santa we've seen for the last three years...and well anyway, you get my point...

Next year maybe we'll drive to Atlanta, they probably have a polar bear there...

ETA: I just checked the Atlanta Zoo website and they don't even have a Polar Bear, now I'm sad.

side effects

I started a new birth control a couple of weeks ago and I HATE it. I have been feeling depressed, mopey and weepy for almost a week now and I have been bleeding EVERY day since April 7th ( is that too much information? I thought we were girl friends so I thought we could talk about this kind of stuff, maybe I'm wrong). I have absolutely no libido, but even if I did, the non stop bleeding sort of puts a damper on things.

Part of my job is to talk to patients about medication side effects and I know with a lot of medications the side effects can go away after the first month or two, but I just don't know if I can take it that long. Teddy and I still want to revisit the second child issue after we are moved, but right now just isn't a good time for us financially or emotionally. I'm afraid that once I decide it is a "good time" that I'll be too old, but that is a whole other blog post for another day.

I am pleased with myself that I have continued jogging even though I've been feeling crappy and depressed. The jogging actually seems to help with the depression a little. I have been able to jog for about 40 minutes continually. I am really pleased with my body because it has adapted fairly quickly. When I first started I was able to go about 15-20 minutes and I have been able to push myself to 40 minutes in a fairly short amount of time. It feels good and I am actually starting to enjoy it, rather than just wish I was dead for 40 minutes. I do have a post coming about all the other joggers I encounter on my runs and the categories I like to put them in to amuse myself.

I lost two pounds last week and I was very pleased with that because another possible side effect of this birth control from hell is weight gain. Great. No wonder it is 99% effective is because I will be a fat, bitchy, depressed, bleeding, basket case with no libido so actually having sex is really not even an issue.

Crunch time (maybe literally)

I found out yesterday that Eli's swim lessons start on May 9th. Oh dear. I'm not quite ready for bathing suit season yet, and I was thinking the earliest I would have to be in a swimsuit would be Memorial Day.

I did not lose any weight last week even with jogging four times. I'm still feeling in a bit of a slump and it is the same story as always. I have lost 42 pounds and dammit I'm STILL fat. What the hell? I'm feeling emotional and fragile and I look at my body and it still does not look like I want it to, and I'm JUST NOW starting to realize that maybe it never will.

We are looking forward to Easter and because we do not follow any religion Easter to us is the Easter Bunny and CANDY. I told Teddy that I am having some candy (dammit!) and then it just makes me feel guilty because how am I ever going to look like a Victoria's Secret model if I eat candy, and then I remember OH YEAH I'm 5'2" I'm probably not EVER going to look like a Victoria's Secret model.

In moving news: OH MY GOD WE ARE MOVING! That is about it. We are starting to figure out logistics of actually physically moving our shit and damn it is a pain in the ass. We were all set to hire a moving company to move every scrap of our life from NJ to AL and then did you know it can take weeks (!) for them to get your shit to your house? I don't even get that? What am I supposed to do without my clothes or a bed for weeks (!)? We finally asked my BIL to help us out (yay for family!) and thankfully he has agreed. Now that I have a house to live in, I am starting to get really anxious about a job, because you know houses aren't free and who the hell is going to get a job in this economy?

My anxiety will never end, and I'm starting a new birth control and I saw that one of the side effects is weight gain. Ugh. Now I am actually stressed about that. Why, why can't I be a normal person?

The harder it is, the better it is in the end...

ha ha ha, I am really cracking myself up over that title, I thought of it hours ago.

Yesterday was a not my favorite day. I woke up and it was dreary, chilly and raining and it automatically put me in a sour mood. I went to work and put up with normal work bullshit but then I had to go to a meeting afterwards. Imagine you were a lawyer (I'm not) and you have to go to a meeting where the presidents of the International Lawer Society (ILS) were there and there was also a bunch of bitter people that had lost their court cases and you were the only lawyer in the room and the discussion for two hours was Hey! lawyers suck! They are all mean! and horrible! and they don't want to help us! Let's have more meetings and make the lawyers come so we can tell them about how sucky they are!

Then I finally got to leave to go stand in the rain for 30 minutes and wait for the bus. It was just as awesome as you would imagine. The bus finally came and I went home and ate a nice healthy dinner and had some cantaloupe and sliced apple for dessert. I was so thankful for the day to be over and I climbed into bed. A few hours after falling asleep I heard the horrible barking seal cough of a croupy toddler. I went and got Eli and sat with him in the bathroom with the shower running while he sobbed and sobbed. I finally calmed him down and got him back in bed and then I could.not.sleep because Eli was probably dying so I had to keep getting up every few hours to check on him but I couldn't sleep in between and I laid there feeling anxious and exhausted, only to realize a few hours into it that Hey! guess what, my throat is killing me. Yay!

I spent most of today exhausted and kind of dragging through my day but when I got home Teddy and Eli were ready for us to go out to the park for me to do my jog, and you know what, it sucked. It was hard and I was so tired but I did it and I felt great afterward. I was so proud of myself because the old me would have said "fuck it" I had a bad day I'll go home, eat some snacks and take a nap...but this is better because the harder it is, the better it is in the end...(oh man, that is still cracking me up)

Copy iCat

I totally copied my sister and Bea and if you look over there----> and down I added my own Nike + girl. I have to admit, I love it. A couple of weeks ago I bought a pedometer and it was clunky and awkward to look at while I was running. This is great and I love how the sexy lady comes on and tells me how long I have left, that in itself was worth the 30$.

I just got it today and wanted to go ahead and see what it was all about, so I used it with out calibrating it. I really do not think I ran 3 miles, but I figure they are set to much taller people. The next time I go out I'll calibrate it to get a better idea of how far I really went.

I have a question though, do I have to set up play lists in order to not have to listen to shuffle? Also those of you who jog (or used to jog) how long did it take before you weren't sore afterwards?