SO....

I failed NaBloPoMo AGAIN...this is two years in a row that I start out great, then my life gets the better of me and I forget to blog, even though I think of the blog several times a day.

We were out of town last weekend at the beach, then came back and I worked Monday night and 12 hours on Tuesday. I took Wednesday as a me day, and did a great long workout, a run, made some "green" pasta sauce that was OUT.STANDING (in my opinion...I gave some to my sister and haven't heard so I am thinking they may not have cared for it and didn't want to hurt my feelings), caught up on Glee, snuggled my sister's new baby, chatted with her 5 year old, went bowling (we are in a league), then worked all Thursday and Friday, then we went out of town again to our first ever "away" college football game.

We got home a few hours ago and I have the base of chicken pot pie simmering in the kitchen and we are relaxing. RELAXING...what a novel thing to do, and man do I need it.

I got an email from Nike+ that they are hosting a 'virtual' half marathon for women in January. I won't be completely ready to run the whole thing, but I was thinking maybe I would do my normal run that day, then work on walking the rest of it throughout the day...anybody interested in doing this with me??? (I do not know all of the details quite yet...I will look them up right now.)

5 days!

I have managed to string together 5 days of exercise (2 outdoor runs, 2 personal training sessions, 60 minutes of elliptical, bike and treadmill) at the same time I counted points (WW) and actually stayed on target all 5 days.

I have also written and submitted a research proposal for '12 summer funding (no teaching), and have nearly finished the work for my Fall classes, except grading.

I have gotten permission (and funding) to go to AUSTRALIA in June. I was asked to teach part of an MBA course this Spring which I'm pretty excited about.

I saw this tree which stuns me with how absolutely in love with the colors I am...stellar 5 days!

If the car falls off the track

I made mention of sabatoging myself on this roller coaster of health that I am on...I derail myself and let the car just plunge into oblivion, every.single.time I get even close to a good place for me.

Year before last, I lost 45 pounds in 5 months, and kept it off for nearly 2 years. Then, last year I ran a HALF marathon, and now I am struggling with 2 miles. I actually just started the Couch to 5K program completely from scratch to get back in the groove and to improve my speed a bit. I joined the gym in August and have NEVER gone outside of personal training. NEVER. NOT ONE SINGLE TIME. NOT ONCE. This gym has a movie room, spin classes, Body Pump, Zumba, tons of cardio machines, etc. I go to personal training, walk on the treadmill while I wait for my session...the whole while weirdly hoping my trainer WON'T SHOW UP. I have my session (because he always.shows.up.) and then I leave. I do this once a week. Since I joined the gym? I have gained 20 lbs. mm. Not really the impact I thought it would have.

OH, wait, there is more: I used to have fruit and yogurt for breakfast every day. EVERY day. Now I have a spicy chicken biscuit and Diet Coke, on the days I EVEN BOTHER to eat breakfast. I do manage to eat a good lunch almost every day. Then dinner? Pizza (but "just" a slice with mushrooms and spinach), fast food salads, wings/beer, you name it, if I want it, I have it. I blame Mr. P because he is a bad influence. WHATEVS, I have been married to him during many bouts of healthiness, this is just the phase where I let him dictate our menu. If I choose, he will oblige, but it is just easier to let him lead me down the path of ever loving fried potatos with cheese and jalapenos or puff pastry filled with cheese and delicious. Our water delivery guy QUIT coming to our house because it took forever for us to drink a thing of water, let alone 3....soda was the only thing flowing in our house. We had to dig out a bill to even find his phone number when we finally ran out of water.

So, where do I go from here?

On Week 1 Day 2 of Couch to 5K, with my jogging speed around 12 minute miles (I am normally 13:30ish). I will have personal training twice a week for the next 2 weeks to get into a routine--Tuesdays and Fridays. I will pick ONE class to attend at my gym this week. I went to the store and bought breakfast stuff, yeah, some of it is prepackaged (Quaker Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies, some yummy looking veggie omelet sandwiches), some of it isn't (Fage yogurt, fruit). Until school is out, I will TRY SO HARD not to have a spicy chicken biscuit for breakfast. I will stick with my lunches as it. Dinner? Tonight we had spicy grilled chicken salads, and the nights we are home (we have commitments FOUR nights this week...end of semester crap), we will 'survive' off of salad and pasta. Our water consumption is back where it should be...I will start my day with water, but have Diet Coke during my teaching hours, then back to water.

That is the easy stuff. The hard stuff? Dealing with why I push my car off the track every time I get SO close to getting where I want to be.

So, slept came

and had me under its spell for FOURTEEN hours. Oh my. I got up at 12:45pm today. I woke up once when Mr. P was getting ready for work and I was so disoriented I thought our house was flooding...it was raining and I could hear it just pouring in, but really it was Mr. P in the shower. I did take a generic sleep aid, but I think my lack of good sleep the last few nights contributed as well.

That meant my day was severly cut short. I ran and took 6 minutes off my 1.5 mile time from Monday. I think it was because today sucked ass weather wise, and I just wanted to get my butt home. I went to my office because I have to get my stuff for my conference which starts tomorrow, and I have yet to finalize my presentation...but that isn't until Saturday morning. I have to go by myself tomorrow, so I will have tomorrow afternoon and night to work in the hotel room. Mr. P will join me on Friday so we can watch the Cotton Bowl together with some friends at the conference. Would it interest you to know that my presentation is on procra$tination and its effect on tech.nology use in the workplace? (I put that $ and . in there because people in my field are known to google titles, and I really, really, don't need them to find this blog.) OH, that isn't interesting? mm.

So today was such a bummer weather wise, that I counted the days until it is officially spring. 75 days. Damn. To combat my rainy day blues, I made this:

It is Texas Caviar that Mr. P and I are going to eat on spring mix with some rotisserie chicken for dinner tonight. Isn't it bright and cheerful? Yes, it is about 16 cups, because I don't really know how to make less than that. My kids will finish it off while dog sitting this weekend, I am sure.

Oh, and if you like Sonic Cherry Limeaids, Diet Cherry 7-Up is a pretty tasty subsitute.

Guilt 1, Potcheries 0

After not being able to sleep worth a crap for the last two nights (post big boat visit), Mr. P and I decided today to not buy THAT big boat. We would have had to get a loan for part of it, and after a few days of soul searching, we decided to look for a boat a bit older, and a bit less expensive, and I finally feel more at ease and I am hoping that sleep comes to me tonight.



I should say WE didn't decide, Mr. P decided, but I am oh so glad. I won't tell him no when it comes to this because we have spent so much time doing what I want to do, when I want to do it, and how I want to do it, that I want him to have this. Plus my rationale for saying no is that I feel guilty for doing something so awesome when I know my kids are struggling. I know that Mr. P and I have WORKED for what we have...but guilt has built a house of brick within my brain and I just can't get that damn thing blown down. (VERY obscure reference to the 3 Little Pigs, and I am not sure why I did that.)


Anyways, I have been sleeping shittily, and thus feeling shitty because I am a girl who's very existence is tied to sleeping, so today I decided to go for a nice walk because it was gorgeous and sunny and near 60 degrees and I was hoping good outside air would help me sleep. I walked to the park and then "played" on their exercise equipment.





I went to work, then home for red beans and rice, and then crocheted for a bit. I am definitely making progress. I think Mr. P is already quite tired of, "Look at this...does it look like real crochet?" "Hey, look...I made this CIRCLE just out of YARN", and "WOW, did you ever know I could be such a great crocheter???"

I might be done with my first "project" in about a week. Aren't you JUST SO EXCITED???

ONLY 1.5 miles

I remember about 9 months ago, if my training called for a 1.5 mile run, I could basically head out in my jeans...wait, while on the topic of jeans, how do you guys feel about PAJAMA jeans? At first I laughed at the mere name, but then I watched the video. Considering my new pants of choice are yoga pants, which are really just like pajama pants, maybe they aren't as stupid as I think that I should think that they are, and maybe instead they are awesome. But to be a better judge I think I need to see some on a regular person...so if any of you are rocking the pajama jeans, will you please let me know?

ANYWAY, I picked out a new running program and I got started today with a 1.5 mile run. It was hard. It took me 24 minutes to go 1.6 miles. YIKES. On the topic of YIKES, I weighed in today, I am back to my March 2, 2009 weight. YIKES. 18 pounds higher than my weight this time last year. YIKES. YIKES. YIKES.

Since I have blogged and posted pictures every.single.day in 2K11, I don't want to wreck my streak, so here is one of my favorite Christmas prizes of this year courtesy of my sister.

May I present the CHRISTMAS CRAWDAD----

CHAMPS!!!

Ten weeks ago, Mr. P and I joined a bowling league kind of on a whim. We used to bowl quite a bit when we were first married because bowling is cheap on military bases. I think at one time we were on 3 different leagues...plus the kids liked going to the bowling alley, they brought toys and played and there was music and french fries, and don't even get me started on the phenomenon that is a bowling alley grilled cheese sandwich.

Last night, we bowled for the league championship and we WON! It was very exciting and I even had the league high score, 221!! Now I feel like if I ever get tired of my job that pro-bowling may be a way to go.

Third try at a snack is gonna be a party pack at Taco Bell

was what I just said to Mr. P after my first two attempts at healthy, appropriate snacks went viciously wrong.

First, I tried to heat up the remainder of some organic minestrone. Well, it wasn't liquid and it smelled weird. FAIL.

Second, I tried to toast a low-fat organic whole grain waffle and it burnt 7 shades of black. FAIL FAIL.

FUDGE PACKETS.

Sunday night I realized that all that effort at healthy, healthy, healthy was starting to revert back to unhealthy, bloated, crappy. I gained 13 of the hard lost pounds back. I basically quit jogging on a regular basis. All I was doing was working, a lot, then having pizza and beer for dinner, a lot. Lost my balance. SO, I registed for the 10K with the Christmas Lights that we did last year (with that dreaded Jolley Trolley), found a 4 week 10K training plan, and rejoined WeightWatchers.

So, today, on DAY TWO, after staying in points, but jogging 60 minutes (ONLY 6.16 k's, jeeeez) my dinner salad didn't cut it and I needed another snack before I dove face first into a bathtub full of candy corn---and seriously I was TRYING to do the right thing only to get smacked down. TWICE.

However, third time was a charm and I managed not to burn the waffle and topped it with some natural peanut butter and simply fruit. Now I am going to bed before I rip off Mr. P's face because he has 3 candy bars, 2 zingers and a box of rasberry cookies in his nightstand.

what I did today

• Slept through the alarm set for 5:30am and managed to drag out of bed at 7am. I set the alarm so early because starting next Monday I have to teach a class at 8am and the heat makes it impossible to run at times other than 7am and 7pm. I like TV at 7pm.
• I weighed in DANGEROUSLY close to scootching up a decade. I immediately logged into http://www.weightwatchers.com/, updated my weight and made a note to self to get shit together. asap.
• Started week 2 (note that week 1 happened several weeks ago) of my half marathon training. AND AND AND, I warmed up and stretched before I ran. Pain free the first mile (well, my hip/knee crap, lungs? different question), then a bit of pain the second mile. Managed a decent time for me. Stretched again. Iced hip.
• Made a frappe with my new Mr. Coffee Cafe Frappe. YUM. (Impulse buy yesterday because I was sure that it would help me through said early morning class starting next week.)
• Watered plants. Fell in love with my baby cucumbers all over again. Tried to decide how many times we are going to have to have Thai food based on the 450 peppers that are growing.
• Showered.
• Wrote three blog posts and deleted every.one. of them.
• Quit the gym. OF COURSE, you have to quit by the 20th so you don't get charged an extra month. I bet they change the form every day so that you are always a day late. fuckers. I want to quit the gym!
• Changed my address at the post office.
• Went to Chick Fil A for lunch and to read to decompress for class.
• Taught an hour and a half class about writing queries.
• Taught an hour and a half class about accounting for corporate bond issues.
• Graded projects while eating a Fage 2% with Honey yogurt thing. I almost threw it away because it was weird. But then it got a bit warmer and blended and then I liked it...but maybe not 4 points liked it. I added some Corn Flakes. Did you know that Kellogg's Corn Flakes contain high fructose corn syrup? Yeah, I didn't either.
• Came home.
• Made HOMEmade salsa/pico. Tomatoes, red onion, homegrown jalapeno/serrano/habanero peppers, fresh corn, black beans, garlic, cilantro, salt/pepper, red wine vinegar. DAMN it is good. and fresh. and delicious.

Now I am waiting for Mr. P to get home from his run, and we are going to eat the salsa/pico stuff on corn tortillas with some refried beans and a bit of 2% cheese. We have 8 days left in this house, and it can't happen soon.enough.

OH.MY.GOD. I have the Bachelorette on and I think one of the dudes got a tattoo with her name on it....what the hell man??? psych.o.

How was your Monday?

EDITED TO ADD: My iPod had died, and when I charged it the date/time was funky, so it logged my run at May 5, so it isn't showing up with my Nike girl. My next run (Wednesday) will be there.

So, what's new?

There is ABSOLUTELY a million, trillion things that I have to tell you, and yet I have opened this window at least 50 times and I got nothing. Until today, I am managing to string some words together.

So here is the abridged version of what is going on with me.

• Last night I realized that I will sleep in this house on the first of June, then our new apartment (yikes) for the first of July, my MOM's apartment (OH MY GOD yikes) the first of August, and then, finally, by the grace of God and MacGruber, Mr. P and I will be mercifully settled into our new abode for the first of September. This is just an update. The story behind it will follow on a later date.
• Actually MacGruber has nothing to do with our move at all, but I paid hard earned money to take my kids to see it last week in an act of goodwill (to my kids, not Will Forte). I laughed. A lot. Ha, ha 'face vagina'.
• On the note of the children, we had a come to Jesus chat where I explained why I cared about the choices they made, and I was okay with them doing whatever it is that they want to do, but not on my dime. Seems like they are gathering their shit together into a nice, neat pile, for which I am extremely grateful.
• Since I really wrote much I have been to the Bahamas, the beach and the lake for weekends. AND, we are going to the beach again this weekend (before the OIL, oh the ever loving OIL gets here). So, please know that my life does NOT suck, I just don't do well when my expectations aren't met, and by the by, my expectations are high.
• After we ran the 1/2 in March, I have probably not run 13 miles in TOTAL since then. I had a little of a weird injured knee, and a LOT of feeling sorry for myself because things weren't exactly.how.I.wanted. and we did a lot of wing eating and beer drinking which is not that condusive to jogging and push-ups.
• Yesterday, I started training for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach, VA on Labor Day weekend. Hotel booked. Registration paid. Pat Benetar and REO Speedwagon, here I come. Oh, but can I say that I am pissed at myself that 5K is really hard again? oh well. The journey, right?
• I am the same weight as January, so that is a small victory. However, I am on day 2 of counting points. This is the furthest I have gotten in months. Maybe this time it will stick again, and I get back to talking about how awesome I am at getting healthy, healthy, healthy. That got replaced with moody, moody, bitchy.
• Summer work is going swimmingly. And I am not even being facetious.

So there you have it. I think my head is just about right, and even though I have been quiet, I have been paying attention to the good, the bad and the ugly in your lives. I hope to become more active on your blogs and in your lives again, if you will have me.

the story of how I DO NOT have cancer

One of the reasons I took my blogging hiatus is that I knew that Mr. P and I had a battery of medical tests to undergo due to our ever increasing age, and with my colleague dying of cancer and my friend's diagnosis being very poor, I was not in a good headspace to relay what was going on with us. Today I will tell one of those stories now that my brain is functioning a bit more clearly and because the time for my shameless begging for money has finally arrived....

On Mr. P's birthday I went in for my first mammogram. It was relatively uneventful, and the tech told me NOT to freak out if they called me in for more tests because they need a solid baseline and the radiologists really want to get to know my breasts.

I leave, feeling pretty okay about it, and proceed to make a lasagna and Boston cream pie (FROM SCRATCH) for Mr. P's birthday dinner.


That was all on a Tuesday. On Thursday I get a call that the mammogram was abnormal for my right breast and I needed to come in for some spot compression tests. I slowly begin the freak out. I google. I read extensively, and for the MOST part all indicators point towards 'need more baseline info', so while I am nervous, I am not FUHreaking, just regular vanilla freaking.


The next Tuesday I go admit myself into the hospital with bracelet and all to get my spot tests, which were about 30 more pictures of the right breast. The whole time the tech is chit chat chatting about the 5K we BOTH did the Saturday before. SURELY if she sees a ginormous lump she wouldn't be just chitty chatty about her super annoying kid, right? After she is done, she takes the pictures to the doctor, and then comes back and says, "Well, come with me, he would like you to have an ultrasound." gulp.


So they get me situated and my boob all lubed up and the tech says to me, "Let's see if we can find this thing."


fuck. there is something to find. fuck me. I am really glad we bought the car so that I have reliable transportation back and forth to the medical school a few hours away. I am glad my sister lives here so that she can help Mr. P take care of me while I die. I am SO glad that I have been running so that my strength is somewhat built up to withstand all the treatments. fuck. fuck.


The tech focuses on something that I am going cross-eyed trying to see and then she gets up and leaves the room to show the doctor and says he will come and talk to me. What feels like an eternity, while I am cataloguing everything in my mind that I need to tell Mr. P about how I feel about him and our life together, and where our money is, and how he will have to be for our kids, the doctor comes in to tell me...


NO cancer. NO nothing actually. There was a lymph node he wanted a closer look at, but it was perfectly normal. Clean bill of health, see you next year.


I never had cancer, but in my mind I did for 10 minutes and it was excruciating. I thought I could imagine what my colleague's family had been through, and I realize that I felt the extreme tippy tippy top of the iceberg. So, because one day I may actually get the news I was petrifying of receiving, or because one of you might, or because ANYone might, I am participating in Relay for Life on our campus, not this weekend, but next. We have a team and will be walking and walking to raise money. So, what I am now asking of all of you, is help me? HELP me, HELP you. (shameless stealing from that movie with Cuba Gooding and he plays sports and has an agent, with Tom Cruise?)

So here is the link to my Relay "page":
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY10MS?px=13125969&pg=personal&fr_id=22286

Note the picture of the kid on my page is NOT me or anyone I even know, I just can not figure out how to change it. Back to begging: I know everyone is feeling the pinch, BUT, if you want to donate and can afford a $10 donation, let me know via email or comment and I will enter you into a drawing to win an awesome item from

http://www.runningfunky.com/

If you win the drawing, I will buy you something from this site (in the $40 ish range). I picked this as a prize because I am working very hard with running and working out to get healthier to lower my chances of getting cancer, or increasing my odds of beating cancer, and I want all of you to have some super snazzy pants/shorts/capris to get healthy in too!

so it wasn't a rock afterall.

The weather here this week has been absolutely divine. So great that all I want to do is breath the outside air...and actually right now I have all the doors open (don't tell Mr. P because I guess bugs like to come inside, and he would prefer I just open windows) and am 'working' from the patio.

On Tuesday I just putzed around the house and went running and when I finally couldn't put it off anymore, went in to work to finalize my exam. I took my gym stuff because my circuits class is on Tuesday afternoon. I ended up not allowing myself enough time, so I ended up having to scramble and throw my gym clothes on and run to get to the class on time. I felt a little stone in my shoe and thought that once I got to an ab exercise I would take my shoe off and get it out.

It shifted, so ended up not bothering me so I didn't look for it until after the class. It wasn't a rock afterall.

It was a broken nail. No, not a metal nail like for hanging up pictures, or hammering wood. I looked at my toes, all intact. Looked at my fingers, in tact. I don't know where it came from or whose it was, but ACK. GROSS.

But, that isn't the worst thing I ever found in my shoe. Once, I had a 'rock' in my shoe and when I got to work and checked, and it was actually a

roach. A COCK.ROACH.

The only good thing? It was dead.

(That happened about 15 years ago when I was working graveyard shift at a diner and living at my dad's house in between Mr. P getting out of the Air Force and us starting at school. ahh the good old days.)

I am a WARRIOR. maybe?

After completing the half marathon, we have been trying to decide what is next on our fitness/athletic agenda. We know that eventually our goal is an adventure trip to the Galapagos, where we snorkel, hike, scuba, kayak, ride horses, etc. We think that trip is likely a few years away (it is super pricey), and we have some intermediate goals in between...one of which was the half marathon. (check. and that still feels awesome, by the way.) And another is the Rome marathon in 2012. (yikes, that is less than 2 years away. SCARY.)

Anyway, Mr. P mentioned the other night seeing that one of his Facebook friends was doing this kind of adventure type race, where there is running and mud bogs, and other obstacles that you have to do and he was thinking that sounded pretty damn cool. Then last night the College Kid posted a link to that exact race on my wall (on Facebook) and with that, begins our adventure with more adventurous racing. Warrior racing, as you were.

So, knowing that I have NO upper body strength to speak of and there are a plethora of things to get over in those type races, I googled the best way to gain upper body strength. Any guesses? Fancy equipment? Personal trainer? no and no. Good, old fashioned push-ups. YUCK.

So today I started the push-up workout recommended. Today 3 sets of 10 push-ups. Rest 48 hours. Then 3 sets of 11 push-ups. Rest 48 hours. Repeat adding one rep each time. After two weeks, rest goes to 24 hours. Repeat infinity. I was actually able to do a total of about 14 "real" push ups and I did the rest girly girl style. Then I did some planks. For good measure. Dude, core/arm stuff is HARD. I would way rather run. So, not to forget good, old-fashioned cardio, I am heading to the park for a run in my new running shoes and cool Nike top.

OH, did I mention our first venture into these races? NEXT Saturday, after we do a regular old 5K. I am both excited to try and scared that I will fail, be too fat to get over some obstacle, and/or look like a giant loser out there with all the fit young things.

That just means I have to try, right?

She is a FREAKING liar! *

14 months.
252 workouts.
785.3 miles.
196 hours.
142,000 calories.

I did all of that in preparation for today. I feel amazing and tired and accomplished and sore and amazing one more time.

3:00:31 was my "Gun Time", but it took me over a minute to cross the starting line...so I should be an official finisher...I will have to wait and see though. I will be disappointed if I missed it by a breath, but it is what it is now. I was feeling amazing until about 10 miles, and then my hip flexors started stiffening, and it was hard to propel myself forward. I ended up walking a bit after each water station., all in the name of "hydrating"...but my time puts me at 13:47 per mile, which is about right for me.

Edited to add: 2:57:56.73 is my official time. I AM OFFICIAL!!! I burst into tears when I saw that I beat my goal of 3 hours...seems my emotions are a bit out of whack. I won't even tell you about how I started the race listening to The Climb by Miley Cyrus and tearing up over how awesome this last week has been for me!


Mr. P was a rock star. He never really trained, he would run on occasion, and he got a time of 2:16ish (he doesn't remember). I think his lack of smoking really helped. He asked me at dinner if I was mad at him, and I do have to say I am a little frustrated...I have run consistently for over a year, and he throws together a few runs and kicks my ass!

But I have to be honest with myself. I am still carrying A LOT of extra weight, and my time should really decrease if I can even get 30 more pounds off....which will be the next thing I tackle along with some speed training.

After we get back from the cruise, that is!


*My iPod decided to be a freak show and be all weird...only gave me credit for 11.5 ish miles. Bitch.

If I quit you, then maybe this is why...

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

I am buying the poster for my office.

BUT, you don't have to worry about me telling you about how much I loose* each week, since I am GAINING weight. Yup, I am watching my weight go up. Not high up, but a little up, then I lose it, then a little up, then I lose it. I was SO cocky about how I well I would do in January and February that I asked for a large wicking shirt as my prize for THIS WEEKEND'S HALF MARATHON. I am on track to finish the whole thing whilst jogging (albeit, most people can probably walk faster than I jog after 11 miles).

My goal is to get an 'official' time, which means I have to finish in 3 hours. I did a trial half two weeks ago, and I was over by twelve minutes. (I didn't even lose weight THAT week.) However, I am assured that this course is pretty flat, and gorgeous, and I can use my iPod to keep me from holding my breath just so I don't have to listen to myself pant for 3 hours.


*I was just about to post this, and I wasn't COMPLETELY sure that you guys would know I was being facetious and that spelling makes me SO nuts that I decided to add this disclaimer.

and racing season begins!

Our first 5K of 2010 was on Saturday. I had a personal best of 37:11 seconds which is FIVE MINUTES faster than my first 5K of 2009!!!

We have this weekend off from an organized race, then a 10K on February 6, 5K on February 13, and the half is on March 7. I would like to find another one for the weekend of February 20 because one of the races we like is being held on March 6 and we will have already left for the half since it is several hours away.

I would love to think that after logging so many miles that I would have a good loss this week, and things were looking good UNTIL Friday. After the 10'er we went out for Mexican food and then I ate macaroni and cheese. No fruits or veggies to speak of. Then Saturday after the 5K things were going great with banana pancakes (wholegrain with flax seed), then a yummy salad for lunch. Then we met our half marathon buddy for drinks which led to hash browns at Waffle House. Then today I had a salad after I scavenged the house looking for chips, then broke down and had chicken fingers. and FRIES.

I have heard over and over and over this week about how "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels" and since I haven't been thin in EONS I am tempted to call bullshit since cheese dip and chicken fingers taste awesome. I guess recency effects are ruling me for now.

We shall see how the scale reacts to my ode to sodium. But the kinda very cool thing about this being a life.style not a diet is that I always have a chance to get it right the very.next. meal and I never really throw in the towel and completely revert.

Here's to yogurt, Kashi and fruit in the morning!

I am a complete TEN

mile runner! Today was the day...I basically scheduled my entire week around this long run. I mapped it out early in the week and psyched myself up. Maybe TOO up.

It was hard. Really, really hard. I was not hydrated enough. I got hungry. I don't really remember from miles 6 until 9. But here I sit victorious with my 10 mile run. Tired. Sore. Awesome.

fried circuits!

If any of you read Shelley's blog you know that she has awesome trainers and she does a bunch of exercises via circuits. I mentioned on her blog awhile back that in her honor I was going to give a circuits class at my gym a try. THEN on Saturday, the instructor for the class was out having drinks with several other trainers (where we were having drinks) and I opened my drinky mouth and said I would be there today.

I was. It was TOUGH. and pretty awesome. I have NO core strength, and the abs/core workout in Body Pump is so thoroughly insane in this edition, I likely won't improve much in that class because it is at the end and I am drained so I don't have great motivation to look for substitute exercises. But back to circuits, It was 10 stations...each one you do for 30 seconds, then cardio for one minute (I jogged around the indoor track, duh), then back to the same station for another 30 seconds then cardio then SWITCH. I was super sweaty and dog tired. I will be back next Tuesday!

On a different, but related note...I am now at TWO days of not going over my daily points. Usually I am into my weeklies on Mondays because I justify working out making me hungry. Tonight, I, for the first time on this journey, made box macaroni and cheese. Annie's Homegrown Organic Whole Wheat Shells and White Cheddar. OH.MY.GOD. (said in the style of Janice from Friends). It was SO good. I stir fried a bunch of veggies to have with it, and I swear I passed out kind of a little bit I was shocked that it was BOX mac and cheese and, and, AND it was well within my points. SO well within my points and what I had already eaten for the day, I could have eaten.the.whole.box and would have only gone over my POINTS by .5 for the day. I logged it. I had it in my bowl. I had it salted and peppered. I clicked open the microwave to heat it up...then I dumped it in a Rubbermaid container and slapped it in the fridge. Instead I had a yogurt breakfast...for dessert, for half the points.

I think I didn't eat it because I have eaten SO many boxes of macaroni and cheese by my.self. that I need to break that cycle even IF the points are there.

How about you? What are your triggers...even the healthified ones?


OH, before I head to bed, a few of you asked about hooping (thanks for caring, by the way)...
No hooping for me today because I had to be at a meeting, but the DVD that I am practicing with is a Hoopnotica trial version that my friend lent me. I requested the next two DVDs from Netflix, and I will let you know how they go. Luckily the hooping class is so popular it is offered now on Tuesday AND Wednesday, so I get to go tomorrow! I have been practicing, so tomorrow I might get to learn a TRICK. I am very CAPITALLY today.

The turtles are out

This morning I woke up to a super bright, gorgeous blue sky. I was a bit tentative when I opened the door for the dog to go out this morning, but I was hit right in the face with a FIFTY FIVE degree day. I couldn't get into my running clothes fast enough--and as soon as I got by the pond, I saw all the turtles out getting their sun and I remembered yet again why I live in the south. I had a great 5K run, and then took the dog for a walk...I checked the weather and the rest of the week is supposed to get even better.

I really need some sun and outside time---nothing new is wrong yet I have been feeling all blue and pensive about mine and Mr. P's mortality, and I am sure the gray, cold skies are making it worse. Plus, this might sound ridiculous, but I took too much time off, and I am having a very hard time getting my ass back into gear!

Mr. P and I had a very nice weekend. We stocked up on healthy foods at Costco on Friday. Saturday morning we went running (in the pouring down rain, booyah), went to visit with Teddy's family, and capped off the day watching the Colts win with some friends (with drinks!). Yesterday I made Goulash soup in the crock pot and caught up on my DVR.

I weighed in this morning with a 1lb loss, which gets me to 83.87% of my starting weight. However, according to my fat percentage I lost 3.26 pounds of FAT! I guess getting back into the swing of weights and Body Pump are beginning to pay benefits, I hope Mr. P and I do better about going to the gym year round, not just the winter this year.

On another healthy front, I am halfway through my training for the 1/2 marathon, and I am getting both nervous and excited. This week's training includes a 10.2 mile run on Sunday. YIKES!!

Victorious!!!

I was able to hula hoop at class last night!!! Once I got home I even demonstrated for Mr. P, and he said, "WOW, how did you FINALLY figure it out?"

I know, right? 40 years is a long time to want to be able to do something! Okay, that is exaggerating, I probably didn't ever even try for the first time until I was 8 ish, but even 32 years was a long time to wait!

A few things I did different this week...I ran before class so that I would be good and loose (that is what she said), I wore more form fitting clothes because apparently the hoop will 'stick' better, and I worked on my hip posture all week. Apparently I let my butt pooch out too much, I need to tuck it more under...yeah, I don't really know either, but I worked on it and YAHOO.

I even got a DVD to practice with...if I can maintain success, I will post a video of my mad hula skillz next week! (I KNOW, please wait with bated breath.)

After class I met Mr. P at the gym. I thought of a way I wanted to challenge myself using the Biggest Loser show every week. On the first episode the contestants had a challenge where they had to ride a stationary bike for a marathon: 26.2 miles. I wanted to attempt their challenge while I watched this week's episode. I did it, but it took a whopping 77 minutes!

For next week I am not sure how to recreate the challenge they did yesterday...if any of you watched and have ideas, I am open!

Yesterday was a rousing success on both food and workout fronts. Now, let's see if I can build on that and go TWO whole days in a row!