This will be the final regular contest for the month of August.  All contestants from this week and the previous weeks will be entered into a final Grand Prize drawing on Wednesday.

I will be taking a couple weeks off from this contest as hockey season is starting up and work is still busy.

THE CONTEST:
Just leave a comment in the comment section of this post about how many miles (or minutes) you (and/or your doggie) walked this past week, and your in.  If you’re not a walker, but you spend time on a bike, or in the gym on an elliptical, bike, or treadmill - those entries count as well.  NO SPAMMENTS, PLEASE.  Comments must be received by 10pm EST Tuesday night. The winners will be chosen by The Randomizer.

The purpose of this contest is to bring a little awareness to how much (or how little) cardiovascular exercise each of us gets.  I’m just trying to encourage people to get moving to improve heart health.  With our filled up busy schedules, and our modern conveniences, we tend to neglect our body’s basic needs of good nutrition and exercise.  Adult humans should get a minimum of 30 minutes to 10,000 steps a day to maintain good health.  This translates to be approximately 1 to 4 miles a day.  Doggies needs vary by size and breed, but believe it or not, even smaller toy breeds are supposed to get about 2 miles per day!

THE PRIZES:
The prize amounts will remain the same this week as last week.  First place will receive a “Heart Healthy Hounds and Humans” t-shirt as well as 100 Entrecard credits, 2nd will get 200 ec’s, 3rd - 125 ec’s, and 4th - 75 ec’s.

Also, all qualifying (non-spamment) participants will be added to Buddy’s Monthly Mile Challenge Club blogroll in the right sidebar.

LAST WEEKS RESULTS:
here is the screenshot from the randomizer:

Our four winners were:  1st Prize - BlueWorkhorse, 2nd - Sherry, 3rd - lvs, and 4th - Sassy Mama Bear.  Thanks to all who participated.

Buddy proudly showing off his new toys

Petunia likes how the paint job on the home gym matches her eye color

Moses demonstrates how the recumbent bike makes a great cat perch even while it’s still in the box!

Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know… just when I just got done writing a post where I whined about all the equipment and memberships I got sucked in to buying, what do I do?  I go out and buy more fitness equipment!  What can I say?

I’ve decided to simulate my gym experience at home by buying a recumbent bike and a home gym.  Since working a full time job which requires longish hours on my feet combined with other physically demanding activity has put a crimp in my previously lackadaisical lifestyle, my days of fitting a gym membership into my schedule are gone.  1. I am not a morning person, 2. I refuse to leave the house without showering, 3. I require about two hours recovery time after work, and 4. I just don’t feel like spending all of my money filling up my gas tank.  Most importantly, let’s face it - I grew up in a fast food drive thru window world, so convenience is the determining factor for anything I do these days, including exercise!

Of course, my mom will probably sh*t herself when she reads this.  She knows about the recumbent bike, but I neglected to share with her my other impulse purchase of the home gym.  I had made mention to her that, like an idiot, I gave away my weight bench and free weights a few years back - so I was in the market for a replacement of those items.  And actually, I was shopping around for something within a reasonable dollar amount when that pretty machine caught my eye.  Okie dokie!

I bought the home gym last weekend, it sat in my van in huge boxes for a couple days, then I finally had to open the boxes in the van and carry the components in the house.  A couple of the parts were a two person job.  The only place it’ll fit is the middle of my living room.  It’s not like I have friends or entertain guests, so who cares!  (Well, I do have friends, but they’re not the type who judge me for my interior decorating style or the fact that I run a full time petting zoo in my house!)

The recumbent bike just arrived yesterday.  I had ordered it online, and it came with silver service delivery - in other words - a couple big burly guys carried the humungo box into the house, up the stairs, and into the room of my choice.

Sooooo - looks like my holiday weekend will be spent assembling!  I will share photos and reviews of my new toys in later posts.

Sorry folks, this post was supposed to go out on Sunday night - so I’m a few hours late, will you forgive me?  I’ve had an extremely busy week and weekend with work, overtime, a hockey meeting, a fundraiser, and other goodies… I just wasn’t really in the mood to spend what little time I had leftover in front of my computer!

Here’s the sad truth, I didn’t even qualify for my own contest!  Yeah, you read that right - I walked ZERO minutes or miles this week!  I did, however, spend a considerable amount of time shopping and walking around the mall this past week, but none of it would even come close to what I consider anything near a cardio workout for me.  Ever since I got my van back a week ago, I’ve stopped walking to and from work - not a good thing.  The kids clocked some miles this week though.  Buddy, Rudy, and Precious each clocked about 2 miles each - still way below what they should be getting too!  Doggies are supposed to be walked 2 miles A DAY!

THE CONTEST:
Just leave a comment in the comment section of this post about how many miles (or minutes) you (and/or your doggie) walked this past week, and your in.  If you’re not a walker, but you spend time on a bike, or in the gym on an elliptical, bike, or treadmill - those entries count as well.  NO SPAMMENTS, PLEASE.  Comments must be received by 11pm EST Tuesday night.  The winners will be chosen by The Randomizer.

The purpose of this contest is to bring a little awareness to how much (or how little) cardiovascular exercise each of us gets.  I’m just trying to encourage people to get moving to improve heart health.  One of my inspirations for this is the fact that my husband, who was not very active and was very overweight, died of a heart attack this past March after years of congestive heart failure.  We live in a day and age of convenience and comfort which our bodies are not designed for.  We don’t even have to get out of the car to get our fast food!

THE PRIZES:
The prize amounts will remain the same this week as last week.  First place will receive a “Heart Healthy Hounds and Humans” t-shirt as well as 100 Entrecard credits, 2nd will get 200 ec’s, 3rd - 125 ec’s, and 4th - 75 ec’s.

Also, all qualifying (non-spamment) participants will be added to Buddy’s Monthly Mile Challenge Club blogroll in the right sidebar.  Those who make the blogroll will be a part of a grand prize drawing (yet to be announced) at the end of the month.

LAST WEEKS RESULTS:
here is the screenshot from the randomizer:

We had six qualifying contestants last week, four of which won prizes.  They were:  1st prize - Andi from Suka Download, 2nd - Michael Aulia Technology and Reviews, 3rd - Julia from Juliadamus Oracle of a better world, 4th - Sherry from iLUVcontest.

Previous week’s winners t-shirts will be going out midweek this week.  You will be sent an email notification when they are sent.

Most retailers have Black Friday and the Christmas shopping season, but the health and fitness industry has New Year’s week and pretty much the rest of January as they celebrate a sharp increase in sales and memberships.  Gotta love those impulse shoppers!!!

I’ve left a few gyms in my wake which had had the opportunity to laugh all the way to the bank, wad of cash in hand, knowing they just signed up another sucker who would lose interest in a month’s time.

Are you like me?  You give yourself that big pep talk, and you take that long hard narcissistic self-pitying look at yourself as you wallow over your past failures, and you promise… and I mean you PROMISE that this time you’re gonna go through with it, you’re gonna stick with it, and you do all that visualization of what you picture yourself looking like in 6 months, 9 months, a year’s time.  You even calculate the number of pounds you’re going to lose… “let’s see - if I lose even just 5 pounds a month - hmmm… wow, in 6 months I’ll be 30 pounds lighter!”

The problem is, you’ve gone through this before.  How many times have you made and then failed to keep your New Year’s resolution to lose weight, get into shape, or improve your health?  How many times have you squandered hundreds of dollars on gym memberships or fitness equipment just to let it go to waste?  How many infomercial products have you sent away for?  Sh*t!  Do you know how many fitness gadgets, videos, and dvd’s I have laying around my house?  I have a decent treadmill in my room which makes a great cat perch and clothes rack.  I’m into the thousands of dollars now in wasted gym memberships and fad diet programs.

WHEN WILL IT END?!!!

Most yoyo diet folks seem to do their pilgrimage to diet/exercise hell around New Year’s.  Personally, my calendar revolves around hockey season.

Right around February/March I do my empty promise pep talk and visualization crap, then in a desperate effort to get into shape (because I didn’t do sh*t all summer!) I get all Jane Fonda around Septemberish.  Ok, I know… Jane Fonda is sooooo 1980.  Am I really that old?  Well, whatever!  I get all gung ho “gotta get in shape for hockey” a month before the season gets into full swing, as though a few weeks on an exercise bike is really going to reverse the effects of years of sloth and fast food!

I just got the official email a couple days ago.  Hockey season officially starts in 3 weeks.  Yeah, THREE WEEKS!  And though I did manage to lose 25 pounds since last season ended, I’ve gone into full anxiety mode once again.

Can anybody relate to this?

Well kids, up for grabs this week is another t-shirt and a total of 500 Entrecard credits.  All you have to do is comment on this post about how many miles or minutes you’ve walked (biked, ellipticalled, treadmilled) this past week and you’re in.  Winners will be randomly selected using the randomizer.

First place will receive a “Heart Healthy Hounds and Humans” t-shirt as well as 100 Entrecard credits, 2nd will get 200 ec’s, 3rd - 125 ec’s, and 4th - 75 ec’s.  Comments placed by Tuesday 11pm EST will qualify for the drawing.  Please, no spamments.

Me and the kids had another bad week.  Between work and the rainy weather we’ve been having in Buffalo, it seems we haven’t been getting many chances to walk.  I personally only put in 4-1/2 miles this week, and each of the kids only about a mile each.  Ugh!  Maybe this week we’ll fare better.

I was raised in a very non-athletic family. Not only that, I also seem to have inherited the clumsy gene. Perhaps it’s because of this gene, which has a detrimental effect on gross motor coordination, that my parents and other family members prefer reading over athletics.

Somewhere, somehow a mutation occurred, and I developed this desire to want to participate in sports. I was always a rough houser tomboy who didn’t mind getting covered head to toe in mud, building tree forts, and playing with toy guns. But due to severe lack in athletic ability (I still can’t throw a ball to save my life) my dream of playing a team sport didn’t come to fruition until I was in the 10th grade. I was the kid that always got picked last in gym class, unless by some miracle, there was a special ed kid placed in my class. Then, and only then, did I get to avoid the total humiliation of being picked last.

Believe it or not, the above statement was one of the reasons I decided to play ice hockey back in 1982. There were no other girls playing the sport, so by default, I could be the “best” at something.

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We had 5 entrants and 4 prizes given out this week.  But everybody in this contest wins since the whole point of it is to get in shape.

The 1st place prize winner of the t-shirt went to Sassy Mama Bear, and Entrecredits went to PurrPrints, milet, and BlueWorkhorse.  All commentators will be entered into the final drawing at the end of the month also.

It’s not too late to get in on the action.  There will be a Week 2 contest post this coming Sunday.  Just log your minutes or miles walked for the week and leave a comment on Sunday’s post and you’re entered into the contest.  All contest participants will be added to Buddy’s Monthly Mile Challenge Club blogroll on the sidebar.

We’re upping the ante this week.  1st place will get a t-shirt and 100 Entrecredits, 2nd place will get 200 Entrecredits, 3rd - 125 ec’s, and 4th - 75 ec’s.

Well, between the extended work hours, the crappy weather, and getting sick midweek, neither myself nor the kids racked up very many miles.  So, those are my excuses… what are yours?

From Sunday thru Saturday (yesterday) I only managed to put in 4.25 miles, Rudy did 1.87 miles, and Buddy and Precious did 1.25 miles each.

The good news is my calves seem to be getting a great workout with my daily uphill “death march” to work.  As you can see in the photo, My scary “just big” calves are now turning into scary big defined calves.  Ok, I suppose most women are a little freaked about big bulging muscles, but then again, most women don’t play ice hockey either!

THE CONTEST
Ya gotta be in it to win it.  So here’s what you have to do… just comment on this post about how many minutes or miles you walked (biked, ellipticalled, ran, etc.) this past week.  If you walk with Fluffy (or whatever your dog’s name is), include their mileage.  Buddy would like some encouragement too!

THE PRIZES
Commentators who respond by 11:00pm EST Tuesday will be randomly selected to win the following 4 prizes:

1st - a “Heart Healthy Hounds and Humans” t-shirt
2nd - 150 Entrecard credits
3rd - 100 Entrecard credits
4th - 50 Entrecard credits

For the full details of this contest, or to see a picture of the shirt design, see the post: Buddy Is Having A Contest… Of Sorts.

And remember, this is an ongoing contest until further notice, so start logging those miles and get ready for next Sunday’s post too!

I went shopping at Wegmans a couple nights ago with my friend Sharon. We started off at Tops, but the produce looked like crap. I had to dig through about 30 nectarines just to find 2 that weren’t disgustingly bruised or half rotten. So we said the heck with it and took off to shop in greener pastures.

So here we are in Wegmans at the end of our shopping and we decide to check out the ice cream. Unfortunately I didn’t find anything interesting for myself, but I did discover a healthy doggy ice cream which apparently has been on the market for a few years now. Dogsters Healthy Treats, sold nationally since 2005, are all natural, low calorie, and low fat frozen dog treats.

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