Saying Goodbye To Twinkies

By now I'm sure everyone has heard the sad news about Hostess, the makers of Twinkies, filing for bankruptcy - Here.   It really hits home with The Murph since his father is retired from working there 40+ years and Murph's first job during the summers was at Hostess making Twinkies.  

Well, he really made bread, not Twinkies, but I could just see him making Twinkies and Ding Dongs and it sounds more exciting than just plain old wonder bread or hot dog buns.  Anyway, it was his first legit job.

I even had our wedding cake baker put together a Hostess themed groom's cake in honor of The Murph for our wedding last month.  The cupcakes were all gobbled down first.  They were a hit.  We totally supported the brand and are a Hostess Twinkie, Cupcake, Ding Dong, Ho Ho family here.  Oh yea, and don't forget the pink snowballs.    

We are sad to see them go.  It's been a really bad day for The Murph today.

What is even worse is that The Murph's brother has worked Hostess for over 20 years and is now faced with loosing his job.  So sad.  An entire company going bankrupt and over 18,000 employees losing jobs over a union of 5,000 really dumb people who can't see the bigger picture and now no longer have a job at all.  So tragic how that small group can cause so many to suffer.  Not to mention an entire brand that's been around over 80 years.  

Gone!

I think I am going to run over to the grocery store and load up on all my Hostess favorites, especially the Twinkies before they are sold out and gone forever.  Sometimes ingesting a little high fructose corn syrup is worth it.

Most of the time ingesting high fructose corn syrup is worth it!  Racing fuel.

Goodbye Twinkies.  Hard to believe you are going.   What's next?  Little Debbie snack cakes, Moon pies, Duncan Donuts?  Sure hope those companies aren't union controlled!

Iron Girl Gone Bad

The pool is shaping up nicely

It seems like I spend more time these days taking pictures of bodies of water (such as swimming pools) than actually getting in them and swimming laps.  I realize at some point this has to stop if I am going to race this year.  I'm always in the pool a couple of times a week by now.

 I could use the excuse that I am no longer a member of the Y and my new gym doesn't have a pool.  I could also say that the pool in the back yard has looked more like a fungus filled mud hole until a couple of days ago.  It looks very inviting now, but it isn't quite long enough to swim a good lap in so there's my excuse for that.

I have always been a pro at good excuses to get out of swimming too much.  In fact, the only time I have ever put in a consistent 3 days a week, at least a mile or more swim is when I have signed up for at minumun a half ironman.  More if I am training for an Ironman.  But not much more.  I just make one of my swims a long 2 hour straight swim.  Sprints, not so much.

I realize I could do so much better in a race if I got in the water on a regular basis.  My lack of water time was never much of an issue when I was a stronger biker.

That's the other problem.  In order to be a stronger biker, I know I need to put more time in on the saddle and that doesn't mean just trainer rides, exercise bikes or spin classes.   I love (loved) biking so I don't really have any reason for not riding except I'm just being bad.  I'm an Iron Girl gone bad.  It's a simple as that.

Donuts, alcohol, chips, sugary sweets combined with no swimming and very little biking.

Put me in time out!

Cream filled Dunkin Donut....

I eat way to much sugar including pigging out on Dunkin Donuts this week along with other kinds of sweets.  The other day I recklessly started tweeting about all the Dunkin Donuts I was eating and the next day the" Find Healthy Snacks Girl" was following me on Twitter.  Coincidence or is "big brother" watching?   Was this a sign that I need to become a healthier snacker or else??

I was so worried that the Murph and I checked our blood sugar levels with his dad's diabetic kit when we were in New Jersey a couple of days ago.   I was relieved to find that despite all the sugar, desserts, pasta and alcohol I had consumed all that day, my blood sugar was normal.

 But now what?  It is May and I haven't been in the pool since last October.   I have only been on my bike a handful of times and here I am wanting to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona.  I am also planning on doing some races in June.  Less than a month away.  I know I can do it even without all the training and discipline I usually have by now because I have been racing for almost 15 years.

Will it be painful?  Yes.  Will my time totally suck?  Yes.  Do I need to get my procrastinating butt in the pool and on my bike?  Hell, yes!  Enough already.

I have a Running Nazi to hold me accountable for running.  I just need to find a Swimming Nazi and a Bike Nazi.  Then I will swim way more than I want and bike more than I want.  Then I will get on here and write blog posts about them cussing at them to make me feel better.

It's a perfect solution cause then I will get all the training I need and lots of writing practice too and they will never know that I blog about them.  The Running Nazi doesn't know unless I tell her and she doesn't care anyway.  (I don't think she cares)

My goal is to get faster.  To get faster I need to go shorter distance first and then get longer and try to stay fast.  Then I will be fast enough to qualify for Kona.

 I'm already fast enough in my dreams.  Blazing fast.  In my dreams I swim every single night.  At some point during REM sleep between frantically searching for my bike helmet, goggles, race number, and various other race gear (during my dreams for some reason I always forget my racing gear) and getting lost along the course.

 Getting lost on the course is a recurring dream since that time last summer when the Nazi and I got lost running without fluids in 90 degree F. temps in what should have been a familiar neighborhood.

Then the cat usually wakes me up from this dream/nightmare by pawing me in the face.

My plan is to just slip in and start training like I've been doing it for months.  Hopefully, my body won't notice.  I have been running fairly steadily thanks to marathon training so the running part is easy.   I have also been working out at the gym doing weights and at least 30 minutes of cardio every single day for over a year now.

It's all mind over matter anyway.  This should work, right?

Visit To The Jersey Shore

The Murph and I have been in New Jersey since Sunday.  We had to fly up suddenly to attend a funeral.  This is the first time I have been able to get on my laptop to post anything.  Doing it from a cell phone is impossible for me.  I even started having strange dreams last night that I was attending a baby shower for my blogger friend's brother (go figure!).  It was really strange because there were several other bloggers there that I follow.  They all had very creative, artsy baby gifts.

 I told the Murph about my dream this morning and he said we better find a wifi spot  before I lose my mind.  So now we are at Dunkin Donuts drinking coffee, munching on assorted muffins and donuts and blogging.

As I came strolling in pulling my computer bag some old guy looked at the Murph and asked "where's she going?  I take less than that when I go to Florida."

My computer bag's not THAT big.

The gym where the Murph works out when he comes to NJ to visit his dad was very nice to us and let us have a discount on our gym membership for the week since we were here for a funeral.   We've worked out every day since we've been here.  

Yesterday our workout was later than usual because of the funeral.  It really helps when we can keep our regular exercise schedule.  Otherwise, we get fat and sluggish and that's no fun.  

This gym in Toms River, NJ is a really cool gym. They have a little bit of everything.

I don't think I will ever get use to the sea gulls flying around everywhere here in Tom's River. The ocean isn't that far away, but for a southern girl like me who is use to the gulf coast, whenever I see a sea gull, it's tropical hot and humid and palm trees are everywhere.  

There are no palm trees or any of the other things I'm use to at the gulf coast here in New Jersey to remind you that the ocean is not far way.  Nothing but the sea gulls.  

The first time I visited Toms River and saw the sea gulls I was confused.  I thought maybe they were a "different" sort of pigeon since I knew there are tons of pigeons in Manhatten which isn't that far away. ( only when we were in Manhatten I accidently called them penguins and the Murph still hasn't let me live that one down). 

Another thing I'm not use to is all the retirement communities up here in Toms River.  We don't have any Leisure Villages in Alabama.  We should.  Southern elderly people would probably like having their own leisure village to hang out just like Northern ones.  The Murph and I like hanging out in Leisure Village.  We like saying the name "Leisure Village" even more.

Well, gotta go get another donut and the Murph is starting to complain because we've been at Dunkin Donuts for a entire shift change.