Omaha treadmills & Central time TV

I've been in Omaha now for almost 6 days and I have been sick the whole time! When I flew in on Wed, 3/4/09, I arrived at the OMA airport after 11pm, got my rental car and managed to drive to the hotel and get in bed by a little after midnight. The next day I went to the new office and started working in the training room to get it set up for my class. What that meant was tearing down 11 computer setups and rewiring most of the room. It also involved sifting through a lot of dust and ultimately getting really stuffy.

On Thursday, I thought it was just allergies, but on Friday I was barely able to breathe and then Sat was getting a sore throat on top of it. I called my doctor and asked for a Z-pack prescription. She put it in at a local Walgreen's and that night I went to bed around 8pm. I slept most of Sunday in preparation for Monday's class. I had half a voice on Monday and by Tuesday I was able to breathe with just a little coughing. So I found the treadmill at the hotel and climbed on.

One of the cool things about the treadmill was that it looked out the window at the cold snow (which I was NOT going to go running in) and also up at a TV. Omaha counts as Central time for major TV networks, which means all the prime time shows start an hour before they would back in CA. I got on the treadmill at 7:30pm and ended up stumbling on Biggest Loser (probably my FAV reality show right now- aside from Top Chef and ANTM) and got to watch almost the whole episode while walking. I ended up doing 5.12 miles and went for 1.5hrs total.

While I did walk the whole thing- I felt good for getting up and doing it. After being so road-worn and sick what felt like SO LONG- it was nice to feel my blood pumping again.
On the way out of the gym I noticed that my two traveling companions were having dinner in the hotel restaurant, so I walked over and joined them. It felt funny to be in gym clothes in the restaurant (do' rag and all!) but it was nice to eat a big steak in the company of two great ladies. Plus I DID NOT feel any guilt for the garlic mash and oddly seasoned, but super tender steak I had for dinner.

Back to work tomorrow- up again at 5:30am and down to meet the girls at 6am for breakfast. Then off to the office by 6:30a, arrive by 7:10am with Starbucks reinforcements and prep for class which begins at 8am. Still getting used to the time difference- feels like getting up at 3:30am. I doubt I could actually do this at home... something different about waking up in a hotel. You never really sleep as deeply as you would at home. Just 3 more weeks and I can sleep deeply at home again.

Talladega (Friday) Nights

One thing I have learned so far is trying to do more than 4 miles on the treadmill gets incredibly boring. Even when I alternate jogging with power walking, 4 miles still takes me 1+ hour. This week seemed so tough to squeeze any time in to go out for a walk or to even get a walk in at lunch time. I decided to sacrifice some of my date night and go to the gym after work.

My training had 3/5/3 on the schedule for the week's short runs. Then this weekend I need to try to attempt 8- even though I will be in Palm Desert for the Y! Sales Conference, I am still optimistic that I can squeeze it in. I am driving out there with my running partner, Hirono and she and I talked about carving out some time on Sunday to do it outside and enjoy the oasis they have us staying at. We haven't seen the agenda yet- but are sure they can't have us booked for every second. I expect the 8 miler will probably take me a good 2.5 hours or so. We'll see.

For tonight, I am just trying to get 5 done. So I go to the gym, get suited up in my running capris, strap 'em down bra, wrap-em-up knee braces (I love my new velcro brace with boning. Its been great for my left knee!) and my purple 'do-rag. (always bleeding purple!) I lace up my Brooks and get out to the treadmill.

The gym at my work has 4- 40" flat panel TVs up in front of a row of ellipticals, treadmills and bikes. The first one was tuned to TBS and I was quickly drawn to the movie playing- Taledega Nights. I turned on my iPod to record my distance but plugged my headphones into the TV. I started jogging at the commercial breaks- went for 4 mins on the longest one- and then speed walked during the film. Dammit- if that time didn't fly by! That movie is great for working out to! "Dear tiny infant baby Jesus..."

Needless to say, I was there for 1.22 hours and finished 5.07 miles. While my knees almost buckled on the stairs leaving, I felt really good for getting that in. Now its off to enjoy one day of weekend and on to the sales conference on Sunday! Hirono and I have to leave at like 8am to get there on time... ROAD TRIP!