Updates and last week of vacation...

A couple of updates are called for:
My Car: even though I didn't really write about it here, I have a 1999 Saturn and last week we took it in to our repair guy because the AC was having problems and I found out I had a 1) busted fan and 2) ruined AC compressor so no wonder it didn't work! I opted to have just the fan fixed because I had been thinking of getting a new car anyway soon and figured I could drive around without AC for while while I figured it all out.

What was I thinking?

Sacramento in the Summer and No AC?

Well the next day I was back on the phone begging them to order and put in a new AC system since we figured I could probably use my car for another year so I could be in no hurry about a new one and get a better deal that way. Also that way I could wait til the 2012 Prius came out and check that out.

So now I just have to wait until Wednesday when they can work on my car. It is still pretty hot driving around without the AC so in the afternoons Andy has graciously said I can use his truck which has lovely AC. I was a little apprehensive about driving it since I never had, but we went out the other day with me driving it around and since he was still willing to let me use it after that test drive I figured I would be OK!

Fitness:
Along with my changing in eating (which BTW, showed up as a whopping 16 pound weight loss @ Kaiser last week from last December) I need to regain some fitness. I have let all my former gym memberships go since I rarely went and I never liked going anyway unless I was getting personal training but that was pretty pricey. So along with learning about Paleo/Primal eating I have found out a lot about CrossFit (a lot of people seem to be into both as a natural progression of their health). I checked out one place near me but it was too small and too new and I didn't feel they could be very supportive of a total beginner. Then today I went over to American River CrossFit off Howe Ave. and took their free Intro class which wiped me out! But they were very nice and very supportive of my inabilities so I think I will do the beginner class with them, which will start in September. In order to work out at any CrossFit gym you need to take an "On-ramp" or beginner set of class to learn the basic movements and how to do everything properly before you get into a normal class. The August one is already half done so I will wait for the next one in Sept.

Meanwhile, if nothing else, today taught me how little I can actually do. For example... I could not run 200m without having to stop and walk part of it. And after 3 sets of basic box jumps (for me, box step-ups), push-ups, sit-ups and squats, I was wasted. The plan was 3-5 reps of each just to sort of test out your own fitness and most of the people did all 5 but me. On the other hand, most of the other people who showed up to the Intro class today were already very athletic in other sports and in great shape and just wanted to learn about CrossFit. And of course most of them were at least 20-30 years younger than me!

But I was not discouraged. I know now where I am starting from (can you say Ground Zero?) and need to go from there.And maybe I can finally learn what to do with the Kettlebell Andy gave me for Christmas last year!

Last week of vacation: School starts on the 15th. Started fixing up my room last week a little. Need to go back out to school a couple of times next week and finish getting ready. I am actually excited about starting a new school year. I am hoping with my new energy I can stay excited longer into the year this time!