Let's play another round of Weigh In Wednesday

I've been out of the loop for the past several days. 

Busy with kid things, husband things, life things, and....sickness things! What a surprise huh? I don't think I've ever been as sick as I have been this winter.  Sunday night I came down with either a stomach bug, or food poisoning.  I'm leaning towards it being something I ate, since knock on wood, no one else has been sick.  Sunday we were out and thinking of what to grab for lunch, and we were near a Chinese place that I heard good things about.  Mike and I were the only ones who ate it, I ordered steamed chicken and mixed veggies, which Mike didn't sample at all.  I ended up getting sick, so I think that was the culprit.  I'll spare you the gory details, but I was sick until Tuesday, and it wasn't fun.

Because of that, I figured I would have lost a bit since the last weigh in. But NO. I weighed myself first thing this morning, and the number was the same as last week.  Mike took today off, so we had a rare mid-week, child-free morning to spend at Starbucks, the Vet, the DMV, Target, Best Buy, and Wegmans.  While we were out, I had coffee, water and a banana, and when we got home, I went to take a shower, and I figured I'd weigh myself again. This time, I gained 2 pounds!  That's what I get for breaking the rule from Week 1...weigh yourself once, first thing in the morning, and that's it!

I'm sure I'm out of whack after being sick, so I'm just going with it. I'm going to run tomorrow, have to do seven miles on Saturday, and I haven't run since the weekend, so I need to get back on track.  I've been missing my chocolate, I'm a four o'clock sweets person, I like to have a little something to tide me over until dinner, and all those Easter candy displays aren't helping matters!  Not the chips, not the pretzels, the chocolate. 

This weeks question: what makes you happy, salty? or sweet? or the ultimate combo....salty&sweet??

and........week #3's weight loss factoid is courtesy of Jackie Warner: when choosing bananas, go for one that is perfectly ripe, or slightly under-ripe.  The riper they are, the higher the sugar content.

Above is the photo I took this morning with my phone, to chart my progress visually as well as by the scale.......still no camera, but I'm working on it. 

So how did my weight loss blends do??  Hope everyone's having a great week : )

bitter spray. and other stuff.

I broke my camera the other night. Mike and I were goofing around in the kitchen, and I put on Luke's winter coat to do my rendition of Fat Guy in a Little Coat.  Mike wanted to take a photo to mock me with on facebook, so as I handed the camera to him, it slipped out of my hand and bounced on the floor. It was pretty old, but I hate not having one right now, because I take photos almost every day.  Until the tax man sends me some cash for a new one, I'm going to have to make due with my cell phone.

Luckily, I had already downloaded a bunch of photos, like this one from the St Patty's Day parade. Mike has three kidneys, so I had to get one of this dancing kidney.

Frank the Tank chewed through another leash, so while I was out buying him a new one, I bought a bottle of this stuff called Bitter Yuck, which you spray on whatever you don't want animals to chew on.  And I can honestly tell you it tastes like crap. Want to know why? After I sprayed it on the leash, I took Frank for a quick walk, came inside, then made my lunch.  Only I forgot to wash my hands, so my veggie burger tasted like crap.  I did something similar once before with Ben Gay, so I guess I'll never learn.

They also have weird things like this at the pet store:

Thanks for the feedback on the television placement, everyone seems to like it above the fireplace.  But listen to this one, now he wants to buy ANOTHER television. He wants to move the one in the family room into our bedroom, and put the one in our room in the guest room.  Then he'll get "just a smaller" flat screen to fit in the space in the family room. Then mount the flat screen on the living room wall.  Got all that? 

I still want a new couch.

Mike sure is featured a lot in this post.

How good was The Office last night?!  I don't think my theory is correct anymore, I thought Michael and Holly were going to go off and have their own quirky traveling consulting company.  It definitely won't be the same without Michael, but I found a new show to make me feel better about him leaving. Last weekend while channel surfing, I came across this show called Portlandia on IFC, with Fred Armisen from SNL.  Watch it. It's hilarious. 

Okay, enough television talk.  

Crazy hilly training run #2 tomorrow morning! I'm actually excited for it.

Happy Weekend : )

Help me settle this television dispute

This is the battle between putting Mike's huge television on the wall, or on a LCD TV stand.

When we bought our house, (did I ever mention that we never saw it in person until after the closing? But that's another story) the main selling point was the family room.  It's a large, airy room, with french doors on one side, that has plenty of room for all the kids toys.  The ceiling is large enough for a nine foot Christmas tree, and the fireplace keeps things warm on Football Sundays. 

You can see that our television fits nicely into the built in shelves, and that Lindsay Lohan decided to go to trial. And that Eliza is still not dressed.  We spent all our time in this room until last fall, when Mike bought.....a 42 inch flat screen.

It doesn't fit into the family room shelves, so Mike thought we could mount it on the wall opposite the french doors.  But then we couldn't re-arrange the couches to my liking, and there was a glare. I like the fact that the way the TV is now, I can look into the room from the kitchen while I'm washing dishes, or cooking.  So the flat screen has been sitting in the living room, on the coffee table, for the past six months.

I think if we had some kind of entertainment center, or TV stand, it would bring order to the living room.  I mean, look at all those wires, and the printer just sitting there.  Mike still wants to move the flat screen into the family room, but I'm against it.  

Tell me what you think, so I can explain to Mike that I'm right : )  

Then I'm going to work on getting a new living room couch.  A girl can dream......

Weigh In Wednesday

How's it going weight loss peeps?  I for one am in a great mood, I must be doing something right, the scale didn't let me down this morning!

For Week #2, I focused more on my diet.  I kept up all my running, and although I wanted to do planks every day, I faltered a bit in that area. 

This is where I succeeded:

• I ate bananas.  I'm not a huge fan, I only eat them in smoothies, or sometimes I'll have half of one before a long run.  I'm always picking on my sis in law Jeannine, because she sometimes eats 2 or 3 in one DAY, but apparently they help keep you feeling full.  So I've been eating one a day, and they do seem to hit the spot.
• If I needed a little something, instead of having a cracker, I had nuts.  Peanuts and raisins is my new favorite snack combo.
• I also ate a Tic Tac if I had the urge to snack, but wasn't really hungry.
• I cut back on my wine.  Although I did have beers on St. Patrick's Day.
• Exercise wise, I kept up my running, but I also started tracking my walks with Frank, on Sunday I took him for a 2.5 mile walk.  I usually walk him three times a day, and that adds up to over a mile a day of just walking.

I weighed in this morning, and I lost.......FOUR POUNDS.  FOUR!  I weighed myself three times, and even moved the scale to different parts of the floor to make sure I wasn't seeing things.  I know that's a lot for one week, but I'm really motivated now to keep it up.

I'm going to continue with these changes, and exercise wise I'll be better about planks (did I mention I hate them?) and I'm going to work on push ups. I'm up to three sets of 10, with a few seconds rest in between, and I have to do the girl version. 

So my weight loss friends, I hope you had a great Week #2.  Since I don't go to a gym, I have to rely on floor work and DVD's to get my strength work in, and I would rather run than do that any day.  My question this week is....are you more of a cardio person, or a strength person?  If you had to do one or the other which would you pick? 

Here is another weight loss factoid, courtesy of Harmony at Keep on Keeping On:  Don't weigh yourself with wet hair!

Have a great week! : )

* I copied this Bloom County cartoon from my own copy of Classics of Western Lit by Berke Breathed. 

Cupcakes and Treadmills

I'm an official finisher of the Cupcake Marathon, running over 26.2 miles in five separate runs.  Aside from my run on Saturday, these were done on my basement treadmill, at an incline of .05, with a little help from MTV, VH1, Fuse, Fox News, the Today Show, Sister Wives, and Bethenny Ever After. 

Luckily I remembered to take photographic evidence, although Miss E wanted to take a picture of me and my race bib (with #23, which was my number way back when I played field hockey).    Note her cupcake jewlery box, which is the closest I came to a real cupcake, since I'm in the middle of my weight loss challenge.

Well, here are the results:

Run #1 March 14:

Run #2 March 15:

Run #3, March 18. You can tell this was the day after St. Patty's Day:

Run #4, March 19, my only outdoor run of the week:

Run #5 March 21:

My last run on March 22, I only had to do 5.2, but I forgot, and ended up with 6.2:

I gave myself a high five. : )

Big Thanks to Jason at Cook Train Eat Race and Christel at Silly Girl Running for organizing!!

Let's train, shall we?

I had such a great run this morning! Didn't matter that the temps were in the 30's, and there were a few snowflakes in the air.  It was the first of six training runs for the Mountain Goat 10 miler which takes place in May, and I kept telling myself that by the time these runs are over, spring is bound to be here.  I went over to the meeting place with my friend Heather, where we met up with Jeannine and Norine, and I spoke with a few friends from my running group.  It's so nice to be social at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday : )

I feel like I'm off to such a good running start for this race season.  I'm amazed that the work I put in over the winter has actually paid off. Not to sound like a broken record, but this next race is really hard.  Really hilly hard, hence the name.  Thinking back to how I felt this time last year (which, by the way, I can't believe it's already been a year) I feel so much stronger that I am on a total runners high.

The run this morning covered the first part of the course, at mile one you're faced with a steady climb of over a mile.  Climb is a perfect word for it.  I can't seem to break an 11:00 minute pace on hills, but I made up for it on the rest of the course, made easier by the fact that I was running with Jeannine, and we chatted the whole time, which always makes the time fly by.  We managed 5.72 miles in 55 minutes, which I'm happy with.  I then went for coffee with some of the girls, and I noticed some of my fellow runners with loaves of bread under their arms.  There is a place in Armory Square called Pasta's Daily Bread, they have the best stretch bread in the world, so I made a beeline for it, and snagged a loaf.  Not for me, for Mike and the kids : )

I'm so jazzed up right now.  Maybe it's just the coffee I just drank, normally I'm a one cup girl but when I got home I was so cold that a second cup was in order.  Maybe I should go run some more.  Or at least take Frank the Tank for a walk.

Oh! I also wanted to mention that I'm over on Jason's blog, Cook Train Eat Race today!  He posted my Shamrock Run Race Recap, which is very cool.  Jason is one of the organizers of the Cupcake Marathon, and I also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.  He comes up with some amazing meals, and is a great motivator in general, so go check his blog out.

Happy Weekend!!

Fire Up the Crock Pot!

Yay! One of my favorite days of the year, and the sun is shining! 

 

I've been productive this morning, I already made one of these babies:

My Aunt Linda's secret family recipe Irish Soda Bread.  I wish I had smell 'o laptop.



I have one of the three corned beef's started in the crock pot, the other two will roast on the grill. 

I went a little overboard on the cabbage:

 

This is my favorite pin, which was given to me by my Grandma. 

She brought it back from Ireland when I was a kid. 

 It has so much sentimental value that I never wear it, because I'm so afraid I'll lose it:

 

I've posted this photo before, but I love it, so I'm posting it again. 

It's my Great Grandfather William who came to America from Ireland in 1906:

These are two of my favorite Irish Blessings, I tweeted one of them this morning:

May the best day of your past, be the worst day of your future.

and

May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!!



weight loss week #1, it is DONE

Well ,Week One went by fast....only 10 more to go : )

I made a few changes last week.  One, to keep a food diary, two, stay away from chocolate, and three, stop the mindless picking at everyone's plates. 

So how did I do? I lost one pound. 

I'm good with this.  I didn't change my diet much, I ate my fruit and vegetables, and three of the days I refrained from meat.  It's not unusual for me to have meat free days, but two of these days were for Lent.  We're good about not automatically ordering pizza on Fridays during this time, we had salmon burgers one night, tilapia another, and blackened salmon another.  When we make choices like that, I feel free to enjoy meat when I do eat it, like on Saturday.  We went to an Irish bar/restaurant for lunch after the parade, and I had an open faced reuben (I was surprised it wasn't giant sized, it was a perfect portion)...AND beer. 

I'm keeping these changes in place for week #2, and I'm going to add a fitness goal.  I despise planks, I know they're a really effective core exercise, but I'm more of a crunch girl.  So, along with my daily stretching, I'm adding daily planks.  Ouch.

Okay, for those of you participating in this challenge.....how did you do???  Let me know what change you made during Week 1, and what your goal is for Week 2.

I'll leave you with a little weight loss factoid: 

I read once in Glamour magazine, that the best time to weigh yourself, to find your true weight, is first thing in the morning, after you use the bathroom, and before you eat or drink anything.   So that's when I do it.

Have a great week! 

It's a bummer when you can't trust the postal system.

My brain is a bit foggy today. 

Probably because of the fact that E was up last night at 3:00 a.m with a stomach bug....which caused a problem with the upstairs toilet....which ended up flooding the bathroom with over an inch of water....which ended up leaking through the floor....and into the kitchen via the lights above the cabinets....which caused Frank to bark while I ran around looking for a plunger. 

Did I mention it was 3:00 a.m.?

Anyway.  Coffee is helping.

What a way to end the weekend.  On Saturday we took the kids to the St. Patrick's Day parade, then out to lunch to continue the fun.  Once we got home I checked the mailbox, and was happy to see that I had mail from two blog friends (or, as I've read, blends).  One was a bumper sticker from Julie, the Hotlegs Runner, which read "I Love Running."  Thanks Julie!

The other was a padded envelope that Stefano, The Black Knight, sent to me from Venice.  I opened it up, read his kind note, and looked in the envelope.  I then shook the envelope, then looked again.  Niente. Nothing.  I was so disappointed, someone got into the envelope, probably in customs, and took what was inside.  But I'm a firm believer in "what goes around comes around", so all I can do is feel bad for the rotten thief. 

On a good note, I picked the two winners of the Sony Walkman's, thanks to everyone who entered.  I used random.org to choose the winners, and they are:

#60 is Ryan from An Amalgamation of Minor Adjustments....

#145 is Sheridan Lee at Running Through Life.



Congrats to you both, send me an email with your mailing info, and I'll get you set up!

Twelve for Thursday

1. I slept the entire night last night without waking up once. I feel like a new person.

2. I had a semi-panic attack on Tuesday, because I couldn't get G-unit to turn on. It just had a blank screen, wouldn't turn on when in the charger, or plugged into my laptop.  The Garmin website was useless, so I did what any normal person would do, and googled it, and found the answer in....a blog of course! If it ever happens, just hold down the reset, mode, and on/off buttons at the same time.  Success!

3. I can't get over the sad story of Sally Meyerhoff, the marathon runner who was killed this week in an accident while riding her bike.  I read her last blog post, and it was eerie how she wrote about how happy she was with her life, and listed some of her favorite quotes.  It's just so tragic.

4. There's a group of us doing my weight loss challenge (you know who you are). Every Wednesday I'll post my progress, so comment and let me know how you're doing. 

5. Before I started the challenge, last week I had one of these...I honestly have one milkshake a year, and this is it:

Shamrock Shake! I was a little thrown off by the addition of whipped cream, but When In Rome!

6. I've been making a ton of roasted veggies this week, in the hope that it will trick spring into coming, and I'll have to begin grilling the veggies instead.

7. Mountain Goat 10 miler training officially starts Monday, I think I'm going to follow the Intermediate Program, for those who run 8-9 minute miles.  I can dream right?

8. I was in the library with E the other day, and it struck me how these days with my little one have a definite end day looming. I have to sign her up for kindergarten next week, which is giving me mixed emotions.

9. I love leaving said library with so many new, great books, that you have to read three of them at a time.

10. don't wear Birkenstocks in slushy snow. Just don't do it.  And remember to wear underwear under your loose pajama bottoms when taking out the garbage.  Just do it.

11. Survivor is boring me this season, and weeks ago, I predicted how Michael is going to leave The Office, so we'll see how it turns out.

12. Daylight Savings is this weekend!!!!   I think I just heard a collective sigh of relief.  

: ) 

I Just Felt Like Running Recap....and a Biggest Loser Type Challenge

Look at me, two race recaps in a row!

I decided to join in on Jeff, The Detroit Runner's Virtual 5k.  I had hoped to run it outside on Monday, but we had an unexpected snow day, so with the kids home, it was kind of hard to fit it in.  So this morning while Eliza was occupied with stickers and princess dolls, I got on the treadmill to pound it out.  My legs were still a little tired from the hills on Saturday, so I kept the incline at 0.5, and started watching Kathie Lee and Hoda.  They crack me up, but I needed music, so I flipped between all the MTV and VH1 channels, and tried to avoid as much Charlie Sheen coverage as I could. 

When I was finished, Eliza gave me a purple sticker, that read WOW, as a running prize.  I know I beat Johann, but I'll bet plenty of people beat me : )


Well, my Biggest Loser weight loss challenge is on.  My friend Heather and I both want to drop ten pounds by summer.  Some of the weight I lost marathon training has crept back on, which is annoying.  But I really want to improve my performance running wise, and I know if I dropped this extra weight it would make a difference.  So here are the details:

• we're starting tomorrow, Wednesday March 9, and ending Wednesday June 1.  That gives us 11 weeks to lose 10 pounds.
• Heather is following Weight Watchers, I'm doing the "pay attention to what I put in my mouth" program. I'm giving up chocolate for Lent, and I'm going to stop picking at the kid's plates, or if Mike asks me if I want a bite of whatever he's eating, I'm going to say NO.
• We're keeping up the running, and I'm determined to get some time in the pool. Besides the Cupcake Marathon, we're going to start doing the weekend training runs for the Mountain Goat 10 miler that takes place on May 1.
• We're going to encourage each other, and hold each other accountable.  Heather is also my neighbor, so just by looking at her house, I'll get motivated.
• If one of us doesn't make our goal, the have to give the other a $20 gift card, to either Fleet Feet or Sports Authority. 
• If anyone else wants in, (Annie?) just let me know.

Game On!!

Tipperary Hill 4 Mile Shamrock Run

Wow, it's snowing today. Big Surprise. But I guess I can be grateful for the fact that it wasn't like this yesterday.  Yesterday it was just rainy and chilly, with some crazy wind gusts.  But I'm happy with how my race went, as well as the time we spent post-race.

My only plan was to beat my time from last year, and to run strong.  The organizers changed the course a bit, and my fellow runners agreed, they made it harder.  The course starts off with a long stretch of downhill, goes up one hill, then down, up a second hill, with a steep downhill.  The last mile is pretty much ALL uphill, and its a doozy.

I set G-unit to alert me if my pace went above 8:45. Right from the start I knew I was going too fast, and I was wasting energy trying to get around people because it was crowded, we were running city streets, but they weren't very wide, and there were cars parked along the sides as well.  It was really windy at times, several people lost their hats! This part is gross, at one point I really had to spit, so I went toward the side, and let it go......right up into a gust of wind....and into the guy running behind me!  I said "sorry Dude" then I sped up.

I kept up the pace, up until about mile 2.5, which was a bit of a hill.  I was getting tired.  During the two training runs I did for this, I ran a 9:30 pace the whole time, so when I got to the end, I had enough in me to sail up the last part.  I had about .90 miles left, and G-unit said 27:00! I couldn't believe it, but I was getting tired.  Plus it was windy, and I felt myself slowing down.  For a split second I even felt like stopping, but I was like, "are you kidding me?? you've never stopped on this course, why would you do it now?!?"  So I just kept my head down, kept moving, I even chicked some younger guys (love doing that). When I saw the Stop sign at the top, I knew the worst was over, and but I had one more slightly uphill loop around the park until I got to the finish. I was so glad to be done.

I looked at G-unit, and I knew I made my goal of finishing sooner than last year.  G-unit said 38:19, which matched my chip time.   The funny thing is, it's exactly one minute faster than my time for 2010.  One minute PR? I'll take it.

We headed on to Coleman's, where the husbands had scored some great real estate at the bar.  It was nice to be out, during the day no less, with the kids back home with the sitter.  We chatted away, and my friend Heather and I decided to do our own Biggest Loser Challenge.  We both want to drop a few pounds before our next race, the Mountain Goat 10 miler in May.  I think we're going to start on Wednesday, since it's Lent, and this year I decided to give up chocolate.  We have to work out the details, but I think it should be a good competition.

I'm also going to do the Cupcake Challenge, over on Jason's blog.  I signed up to run 26.2 miles between March 14 and the 26th, so that should also help get me in a weight loss mode.  You can still sign up, check it out here if you'd like.  There are some great prizes, such as GU and a SPI Belt, with the big prize being cupcakes!  Which kind of defeats the weight loss purpose, but I can't say no to a fun race like that!

Have a happy week!

A is for Axe

I love reading these kind of posts, so I'm doing it too.  : )

A - age: turned 39 at the end of January. Gulp.

B - bed: queen sized, I feel lost in a King.

C - chore you hate: changing the toilet paper roll. and for some reason I'm the only one who does it.

D - dogs: Frank the puppy, who we adopted from an animal rescue. His vet said we need to put him on adult food soon, because he's growing so fast.

E - essential start your day item: H20. Followed by coffee. I kind of want a one cup coffee maker on my nightstand.

F - favorite color: black. I have 18 black shirts, 4 black sweaters, 4 pairs of black pants, 3 black coats, 2 pairs of black boots, 2 pairs black loafers, and one pair of black birkenstocks.

G - gold or silver: platinum

H - height: 5 '10

I - instruments you play: flute, and whatever I can remember of the piano.  Five years ago I sat down and played a bit on a piano in front of Mike, and he almost fell on the floor. He had no clue.

J - job title: cook, waitress, laundress, housecleaner, dog walker, chauffer, food shopper, car cleaner, teacher, entertainer, social secretary, runner, seamstress, budgeter/bill payer, blogger, wife, mom, daughter, friend, sister, cousin, niece, grandaughter, lover of reality television, movies, music, magazines and books.

K - kids: Luke and Eliza. Best things that ever happened to me.

L - live: Central NY

M - mom's name: Maureen. I call her Reenie to her face.

N - nick name: Sleeper, Moll, Cookie Puss,

O - overnight hospital stays: two, after my kids were born.  Luke took 31.5 hours of labor, E took 3.5.

P - pet peeve: when people use the word AND when saying the year. For example, two thousand AND eleven.  AND means period, so that would mean 20.11.  Just say, two thousand eleven. Please.

Q - quote from a movie:  "See, I'm on this new diet. Well, I don't eat anything, and right before I feel I'm going to faint, I eat a cube of cheese. I'm one stomach flu away from my goal weight."

R - right or left handed: right.

S - siblings: I'm the oldest. There are four girls and one boy who come after me. And we all have cool names. My brother's name is Gage.

T - time you wake up: hmmmm. The first time? Usually before dawn, and I lay there for about an hour.  Then I manage to fall asleep before Mike's alarm goes off. I get up for good at 7:20.

U - underwear: thong tha thong thong thong.

V - vegetable you dislike: green peppers. I've tried, I just can't do it.

W - what makes you late: I am never late. I'm usually early, then I wait in the car until it's time to go in.

X- rays you've had done - I've had three on my right ankle (once when I was on vacation in New Orleans and I broke it. and once in college, when I broke it then, and one other time when I just sprained it), and my teeth.

Y - yummy food you make - I'm a whiz at anything you can fit into a casserole dish.

Z - zoo animal favorite - meerkats. Half the time they're laying around like couch potatoes, the other half they're standing there looking like they should be smoking a cigarette.

Sony Walkman Review and Giveaway

Many moons ago, I had a Sony Walkman:

can you see the cassette tape in there??  and how can you miss the headphones??

Thanks to the lovely folks at Sony, which is the official music player of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series, I had the chance to try out the Walkman W-Series Runner, a cord free, water resistant player.  It has 2 GB of memory, and when it's fully charged, it lasts up to 11 hours.

You charge the player by plugging it into a computer, and it has a little plastic case for storage.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to put my iTunes library onto it, but I found out that I could.  I downloaded the software that came with the player, which includes Content Transfer, a way to drag and drop music from iTunes onto the player, and it was easy to do.  You can also use Windows Media or Windows Explorer to drag and drop your music onto the player.

When I put the unit on, it took a little bit to get used to, at first I thought it would fall off, but it stayed put.  It comes with three sets of earbuds, small, medium and large.  I didn't realize how tiny my ears are, because the small worked best for me. 

The set is held together by a magnet, and it turns on when you separate them.  There are tiny controls on the right side, to select music and to control the volume.  The left side has a shuffle button.  I tested it out on a three mile run, after a few minutes I stopped running and took my earrings out, because they were causing a clicking noise.  After I got moving again, I started shaking my head like I was dancing in a club (a club? what's that?) I shook it up and down and side to side to see if the unit would fall off, but it didn't!  The sound quality was excellent, and I liked how I didn't have to deal with wires dangling from my ears, connecting to the player I wear on my arm.  There have been times when I'll be pumping my arms and one will land on a wire and yank the bud out of my ear, which really annoys me.  I did have to steady my hand against my cheek to push the buttons, but that was only because I was moving.

There is also a feature called ZAPPIN Playback, where it plays short clips of the most rhythmical sections of your music, so I guess you could use that mode if you have an especially tough run that you need motivation for.  Overall, this player did the job, and I really like the fact that if it starts raining, I don't have to worry about it getting ruined.

And now, giveaway time...I have two players to give away!

To enter, please visit Sony Style, the website where you can purchase the player, look around, and let me know what intrigued you.

For additional entries (please leave a separate comment for each):

1. tell me your absolute favorite song to work out to.
2. be a friend of my blog.
3. I've been spending more time on Twitter lately, so for another entry, follow me @MollySBaker
4. share the giveaway details on facebook, your blog, or send out this tweet:

check out the @SonyElectronics Walkman #giveaway on @MollySBaker’s blog http://tinyurl.com/4olsmuj

5. like Sony on Twitter here, or on facebook, here.


Giveway ends midnight ET on Sunday March 13th.  I'll choose two winners using random.org.  Good Luck!


*note, I was provided with a player for the purpose of this review, the opinions on the product are my own.