Race day

I got up this morning at 5:30, ate a half pita with some almond butter and we were on our way to the Marta Station to go to the race. We got to the station a little after 6 and the train was pretty much all runners. We took it to the Five Points Station and walked to Centennial Olympic Park. I was excited but mainly I was cold! It was probably in the low 40s out. Quite a difference from last years sweltering heat.


I'm cold!

The race began. I crossed the start line about twenty minutes after the first runners. The course was different this year. It went down Piedmont Avenue, up North Ave and then through another street towards the Old Fourth Ward area. I began slowly and began to warm up after about three miles.

The water and gatorade stations were great this year. There was probably one every other mile. I started to get more into a groove around mile 4. It went through Inman Park and Little 5 Points which is always nice for scenery. We went up Freedom Parkway and passed the 10K mat. Then the course looped back up North Ave to North Highland. The marathoners stayed straight on North Highland while the half went left. In the Highlands, I felt good because I was really familiar with the area. I grabbed some pretzels from a spectator.

Around mile 9 or 10, a motorcade came through and it was the man in the lead for the first marathon! He had already gotten to mile 22 when we were all at mile 10. The course then went through the Park and then back up through Tech and back to Centennial Olympic Park. I felt fine during the whole thing. I didn't stop to walk at all. I did stop for every water/gatorade stop though. I also, at some point, had a Jolly Rancher and a Vanilla Gu.

Jason was at the finish line and then somehow found me again after I got my medal and blanket. I ran it in 2:29. That wasn't a PR by any means (PR is 2:17) but considering it was really hilly and I didn't do the best training, it's fine.

I've basically been sleeping and eating all day. I can feel that I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

Rain, Rain, go away

I have bad running weather luck. Last year it was ten thousand degrees out and this year, it's cold and rainy. Jason and I went down to the race expo at the Georgia Dome last night. It was cool but I remember it being larger and having more free samples last year. We did snag some Larabar samples. Key Lime Pie is really good. And we got massaged with The Stick which now I want. Afterwards, we ate at Sweet Tomatoes which I used to love but don't really anymore. Not sure why. The olives have an odd taste. Plus their fat free ranch is gross. I tried to mix it with regular to get a better tasting "lite" dressing.

Today was pretty much shot because I had to go into work for most of it. Bleh. And now it's raining.

My illegal half marathon mix*
No one - Alicia Keys
Intervention - Arcade Fire
Begin - Ben Lee
Howl - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
The Story - Brandi Carlile
Saeglopur - Sigur Ros
Blackout - British Sea Power
Lover's Spit - Broken Social Scene (I might remove this, too slow)
Sparkle Me - The Buffseeds
Never Leave Your Heart Alone - Butterfly Boucher
Hotel Song - Regina Spektor
These Days - Chantel Kreviazuk
9 Crimes - Damien Rice
Kryptonite - Purple Ribbon All-stars (yeah, random)
Toes - Zac Brown
Rainbows in the Dark - Tilly and the Wall
Bad Education - Tilly and the Wall
These Streets - Paolo Nutini
All Will Be Well - Gabe Dixon
Belief - Gavin Degraw
Pain Killer - Turin Brakes
Falling Slowly - The Swell Season
A&E - Goldfrapp
Me and Mia - Ted Leo
Here in Your Arms - Hellogoodbye
Between the Lines - Sara Bareilles
This Boy - I'm From Barcelona
Breakable - Ingrid Michaelson
Breathe Me - Sia

4, 3, 2, 1

It's taper week. I did four miles on the treadmill tonight, I'll do three tomorrow, two on Thursday and then nothing until the race on Sunday. I'm starting to get excited. I haven't run a race of any distance since the Peachtree last July. I honestly have no clue how I am going to do. My training started off very sluggishly. I was running 10:30 miles. Lately, I've gotten faster though; today I ran two miles at 9:50. I'm hoping that after this race, I'll start working on speed and that I won't burn out. I don't feel burnt out though.

My taste buds are changing. I haven't had diet coke, save for 1/4 of a can when I was stressed out, in almost two weeks. Even that 1/4 can didn't taste that great. I've been drinking hot tea straight with a splash of soy milk. After the gym, I went to get some groceries. I wanted something sweet. What I really wanted were those Tofutti Cutie ice cream sandwiches (soycream? ice soy?) but they didn't have them. So I bought sugar free pudding and generic redi whip. The pudding tasted fine but the whipped cream tasted like overly sweet chemicals. Bleh. Of course, this didn't stop me from squirting it straight into my mouth, but what fun is a can of whipped cream if you can't do that.

Tangent - When I was in college at some point, I was in the grocery store with my mother. I had gone off to find that whipped cream. All I could find was the type that came in tubs, like Cool Whip. So I went up to some guy that worked in the store and said, "Excuse me, do you have the whipped cream that squirts?" and he goes, "You should watch how you phrase that." I was so embarrassed!

Anyway, I went to the doctor yesterday and she switched my birth control once again. I don't really know why I had to come into the office for her to do that. All it did was make me $30 poorer. I hope this fixes my problem. I honestly have no clue if it will or not. I'm eating better now. I'm mostly off the artificial sweeteners and fake shit and eating all natural stuff. I have cut way down on my alcohol consumption and I'm drinking lots of water and green tea.

Ten sucked

My last long run was today and it sucked. I don't know why but I wasn't feeling it at all. I think part of it had to do with the route that I chose. I basically ran up to Peachtree and did the entire Peachtree Road Race and then back to my apt. The thing about Peachtree is that while there are things to look at and sidewalks to run on, it's still a major road and even on a holiday, trafficky. And people do not like to stop for runners in crosswalks. I ended up walking up some hills in three different sections of the run. I also ended the run down the sketchy street that I've talked about before and got a very uneasy feeling. I normally feel fine on that street but today there seemed to be a large amount of shady people milling about. I need to find a way to get where I want to run without going down that street. It's kind of hard because that leads to midtown and virginia-highlands, where I like to run.

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to discuss this weight gain. Basically I think it's from taking the pill and she does not. She thinks it's from an anti-depressant. That doesn't make sense because I've been taking the AD for like two years. She thinks two years into it, I suddenly developed a side effect of weight gain? It just seems dumb because it happened about a month after I started taking the pill. I'm not a doctor, but that makes a lot more sense to me. I don't mind going in and talking to her about it. Maybe I don't need the AD anymore. I'm not sure.

Obsessively checking the forecast

Last year when I ran the ING, it was some record breaking 87 degrees. I got some form of heat exhaustion and ended up throwing up 4 times several hours after the race. So, of course, this year even though I'm doing the half, I'm still checking weather.com every two minutes. Looks perfect now - high of 69 and partly cloudy. Perfect.

Now vs then

I just finished Stage One, workout A from my lifting book. Here is how I've improved in the past 6-8 weeks. (I'm not exactly sure how long it took, I didn't write the dates down)

Squats - I began using an 8 pound weight in both hands doing 2 sets of 15 reps. I ended using the V-squat machine on 90 pounds with 3 sets of 8 reps. I'm not sure how the comparison from dumbells to machine really works but it sounds a lot heavier.

Push-ups - This is hard to explain because I did them on the Smith machine at an angle. When the angle got too easy, I'd lower it. I don't know the exactly measurements but it went significantly lower.

Seated Row - I began with 45 pounds doing 2 sets of 15 reps. I ended with 60 pounds doing 3 sets of 8.

Step Ups - I began on the third setting from the top as far as how high the platform was. I did 15 pounds, 2 sets of 15. I ended with the second setting from the top of the platform, 25 pounds, 3 sets of 8. I AM SO GLAD THESE ARE OVER!! I HATE THEM.

Prone Jacknife - I went from 8 to 15. But I couldn't for the life of me, figure out how to get my body into a pike position. It just didn't work so I put my knees into my chest.

I was going to do my last long run today but then I realized that I had this coupon to The Limited that expires tomorrow and that the mall would probably be closed for Easter so I decided to do it tomorrow instead.

I had an Easter treat - Cadbury Mini Eggs. They are not the worst of the worst. They have 9 grams of fat and 210 calories but they are damn good and I only have them once a year.

Good Friday

I had today off work which is so nice. I love it when I have random days off that don't really feel like I should. Today was pretty productive actually. I took my car in to get some brake stuff done. The brake place was a mile from my apt, so I left my car there and walked home. Then I walked back to pick it up. So, that was 2 miles. Then I ran 5.5 later on. I enjoyed my run. I am finally to the point where I like to run again and that's good since my half marathon is in a week and two days. I have one more long run and then a few short ones and then I'm done. I definitely don't want to take a long hiatus from running after this race like I did after the full last year. It was not fun getting back in good running condition. I already signed up for the Peachtree. So did Jason and I'm really proud of him for doing so since he is not really a runner. I think that if I can run races, anyone can. I know that everyone says that but seriously, back in college, I was lazy and overweight and if I can overcome that and be an athlete, anyone can.

Here's a number for you. 7. You know what that is? It's the number of days that I've gone without a diet coke! And while we're at it, here's another number. 30. That's the number of days until I turn it. Ahhh.

Analysis

of the new Trader Joe's items. Yes, I've tried them all.

Yerba Mate - I know that I don't really like this. It tastes grassy. I really bought it to use as a stimulant in the morning instead of caffeine but just don't care for it. I think I'll just do tea. I actually had some coffee today with almond milk and a pinch of real sugar. I was getting headachey. I just don't like coffee very much. Or maybe it's just the kind that we have at work which is Starbucks. I know some people don't care for that.

Fruit Popsicles - This was really the only new item that I liked. I thought it was 100% fruit but there is fructose and something else in it. They only have 80 calories though and they were pretty big and took a long time to eat. I just looked and they have 21 grams of sugar. I think that's too much. If it was just from the fruit, that'd be fine.

White Bean Hummus - this was okay but had a very pungent taste that I can't describe. I'll stick to regular hummus. I actually don't care for TJ's hummus that much. They're decent but I much prefer Sabra or the Costco brand.

Puffins - Eh.

Caccitore simmer sauce - Tonight I decided that I was going to make a black bean sauce stir-fry because I had this package of stir fry veggies to use up. I added some frozen peppers and these random mung beans that came with my Vietnamese take out last weekend. And shrimp. But at the last minute, I decided to use the simmer sauce instead of the black bean. Not that great. It didn't have much flavor. Maybe I didn't put enough on it. The veggies were definitely more conducive to a Chinese tasting sauce. It was pretty colorful though:

Bingey

I met Jamie out for a drink for St. Patrick's Day. I had two beers. I hadn't eaten and I got home and ate:

steamed broccoli
tuna mixed with salsa
yellow peppers dipped in salsa
cracker with hummus
popsicle

Okay, that doesn't sound that bad if you think of it like a meal.

ETA - that was my dinner. That wasn't after dinner snacking.

Nice day

Yesterday we had a tornado, today was sunny and beautiful. Go figure. Last night, I went to a baby shower for my friend Erin. I think I did pretty well, foodwise. I basically had a bunch of celery with hummus; some pretzel snack mix and a little bit of mac and cheese. Not great, but not horrible. Everyone was going out to Fado to celebrate St. Patty's Day but I was tired and knew that I had to run the next day. Plus, I didn't feel like dealing with huge crowds.

This morning, Jason and I had lunch at Lettuce Souprise You. My salad basically consisted of normal veggies, along with a few egg whites and some low fat ranch. I also had a cup of vegetable soup, a low fat pineapple muffin (small) and some orange slices. With WATER!!!

9 mile run was fine. I hate the beginning and end of my runs because in order to get to the neighborhood that I like running in, you have to begin in a sketchy area. I think a cracked out man told me I was beautiful today. I wasn't sure. There was nothing really monumental about the run. I felt fine the whole time. Around mile 8, back at the sketchy street, I just really wanted to be done, but I think that's normal no matter how long the distance is.

I went to Trader Joe's and bought some interesting new things. I bought the following, all of which I have never tried before:
Caribbean Fruit Floes (popsicles)
Puffins Cereal
Yerba Matte (to drink in the mornings instead of diet coke)
Cacciatore Simmer Sauce
Blood Oranges
White Bean and Basil Hummus.

Yum.

You can't run during a tornado

Last night a tornado blew through Downtown Atlanta. There was a lot of damage. Fortunately, the area where I live just really got a bunch of heavy rain. Jason wanted to go out last night before the storms hit but I wasn't feeling like it. So we ended up getting Vietnamese food and watching a movie (which turned into watching the news.) We got home right when it started to rain. It's very fortunate that I was tired because the area where he wanted to go, East Atlanta, had reports of car windows being broken and debris in the streets.

Another heavy storm came through at around 6 am. And they are predicting another one! This does not bode well for my running plans. I was planning on doing 9 miles outside this morning. I don't want to go now, even though it's not raining, for fear that I'll get caught in a storm. I don't want to go to the gym because 9 miles on a treadmill is torture. And I don't want to go tomorrow because I'm supposed to go to a baby shower and then out for St. Patrick's Day tonight. The baby shower is at 6, so I'm sort of hoping that if we do get more storms, they'll get here already and I'll still be able to fit my run in. If not, I guess I'll suck it up and do it on the treadmill. Ugh.

I go to this circuit training class sometimes on Fridays. It's taught by a co-worker's husband who owns his own personal training studio. I mentioned to him that I'd been lifting weights consistently for a month now and haven't seen any results. He asked if I was also doing cardio. I said I was running aroun 15-20 miles a week. He asked about my diet. I said it was pretty decent. Then he asked about soda. I told him that I only drink diet. He told me that the body still produces insulin (I could be getting this wrong, but something to this effect) because it's being fooled into thinking that it's getting sugar. So somehow that extra insulin causes you to store your carbs as fat. Or something. But in any event, he told me that the other trainer there, Dory, had her very-overweight father stop drinking diet soda for a month and he lost 30 pounds without exercising or making other changes to his diet.

So I figured that I'd try it. I had one yesterday. I am going to try, for the most part, not to have any for a month and see if that changes anything. Today is day one.

Loooong week

This week has been long and stressful. Fortunately, I have kept to my workout schedule. Yesterday I ran 5 miles. When I mapmyrun'd it, it said 4.7 but I think it was five. I did weights today. This is what I did:

5 minute walking warm up
Deadlifts - 50pounds, 3 sets of 10
Dumbell shoulder press - 15 pound dumbells, 3 sets of 10
Lat pulldowns - the first set I did 75 pounds, that was a little too heavy so I bumped the weight back down to 67.5 for the last two sets
Walking lunges - 30 pounds, 3 sets of 10 on each leg
Swiss ball crunch - 10 pound weight, 3 sets of 25

I have to admit, I'm getting frustrated. I feel like I'm working out a ton, I'm eating better and I'm seeing NO results. I'm not going to quit, but it's frustrating. My eating has been fine:

Breakfast - 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt mixed with mixed berries and some crushed graham crackers (I had been having this with cereal and it's much more filling.)
Snack - 2 eggs. I ate mostly the whites with a tiny bit of yolk.
Pre-workout snack - Quaker Harvest Oatmeal that I found in my desk

Lifting

Lunch - 1 cup tomato/red pepper soup; steamed green beans with almonds
Snack - 4 cuke slices with laughing cow cheese
Dinner - stir fried (in cooking spray) veggies with some shrimp and tofu with black bean sauce; 4 little pieces of cheese
Dessert - vegan orange muffin with pudding.

The muffin wasn't great but it was small and at most, it was 300 calories but I doubt it was that much. It was organic too and I really wanted it.

Awful day

Today was not a good day. I made what potentially could be a very expensive mistake at work. I didn't make the mistake today, but it was noticed. I spent the entire day waiting for an email saying if it was going to be okay or not and haven't received one. I'm taking it as no news is good news. Then, I made another stupid mistake that ended up costing my boss like $100. The littler mistake was me being rushed and dumb and not paying attention. The big one was an honest mistake. Something that I probably should have known, but for whatever reason, it didn't occur to me.

Despite the awfulness of the day, my eating was good.

• Breakfast - greek yogurt with one serving mixed berries and 1 serving cereal
• Snack - hardboiled egg

Gym - Lifting. I have started to be able to do real push-ups! This is a big accomplishment. I can't go down super far, but I can definitely do 10.

• Lunch - Yummy salad made with spinach, shrimp, hearts of palm, cucumbers, red and green peppers and onions. With 1 serving of Ken's Light Olive Oil Vinigrette dressing; Larabar
• Dinner - Flounder with veggies; 1 wasa bread cracker with salsa; quaker natural harvest granola bar (I wanted something sweet.)

I was super excited to eat my salad. I'm going to have to make that again. I love it when salads are full of good stuff. Props to my little sister for suggesting hearts of palm. The Flounder was okay. It didn't have a great flavor.

ETA - I just got munchy and had two more wasa crackers with salsa. Anyone have any suggestions on how to curb the after dinner muchiness?

Great Eight

Last week I skipped my eight mile run. I just wasn't in the mood. Today I was and I'm really glad because it was a really good run. I had big ambitions this morning. I was going to get up early, run the eight miles and then cook pancakes for Jason. But it didn't really happen that way because it was too cold. I'm a wimp about the temperature. I know that people living in the north would totally make fun of me but 32 degrees is way too cold. So, instead I went back to sleep for a few hours.

Lately, I've become sort of domestic. A domestic diva if you will. (Really, no.) But I have been doing one thing and that's making pancakes for Jason on the weekends. I bought Hodgson Mill's Whole Wheat Buttermilk pancake mix. It's good. Jason, who is not a huge fan of Whole Wheat (really, Whole Wheat pasta), likes it a lot. Today I chopped up a banana and put that in them. Last weekend, I did strawberries. I'm thinking blueberries would be good. Or apple. I'm not sure how apple would work though.

Jason had to go to work *sad face* so I got ready for my run. I stopped at a gas station that was on the way and was annoyed because they didn't have Propel. The thing that I like the most about Propel compared to other sports drinks is that it comes in a squeezy top bottle and I don't risk spilling it all over myself. So, I settled for G2. Of course, after I bought it, I realized that there was HFCS in it, but I had already bought it so I figured I'd just drink it but I'd remember for next time. It did not come in a squeezy top bottle.

The first mile of this particular route sucks. I live off of a road that's rampant with strip clubs, head shops and sex stores. There are a lot of shady people walking around. But in order to get to the neighborhood that I wanted to run in, it's the best way to go. It's about a mile before I can turn off of that road and into a nicer area. My favorite place to run is Virginia Highlands. It's about 2.5 miles away and I just love all the people watching. There are always people with dogs and it's just a fun place to run through. Someone did ask me if I wanted to adopt a dog today. Apparently, this dog is a "good running partner." The Highlands part of the run is great. Then I go past the Park which is nice too. Then the run gets yucky again because I'm going back to the street of ill repute. But the good part is that it's almost over at that point.

I'm glad that eight felt relatively easy. It's suddenly occurred to me that the race is in 3 weeks.

Feels like a Sunday

But it's not. Yay. I love that. I went to Eclipse Di Luna last night for dinner with Adina and some of her friends (and some mutual friends). The thing about tapas is that no one ever gets enough food! It's even harder when you're trying to eat healthy and you don't eat chicken, pork or beef. I had some sauteed spinach, ahi tuna, a few potatoes and some mussels. Oh, and a piece of bread dipped in the tomato broth that came with the mussels. And wine.

After that, we went to a local gay bar for drinks and dancing. I actually had a lot of fun despite the crowds. I drank a little too much, but it was a lot of fun. Jason met us out and fortunately, drove me home. When we got home, he was starving so he made a veggie burger with a slice of low fat cheese and marinara sauce and then some All Bran crackers with almond butter on them. We shared.

All in all, not too bad.

I went to Bloomingdale's this morning to exchange the jeans. Except they wouldn't let me since I'd ordered them online and with a gift card. They took them back, but now they have to send me another gift card in the mail! What a pain. So that means that I have to wait for it to come and then go back to the mall. I hate Bloomingdale's. I always feel so out of place. I was wearing workout clothes and I felt the same way that I'd feel if I were wearing that in a nice restaurant. I went there for designer jeans but whenever I wear them, I feel like an imposter.

The Jean Dilemma

I received a gift card to Bloomingdale's a while ago. Now I know it's not the smartest idea to buy jeans on the internet but I found a free shipping code and I didn't feel like braving the crowds at the mall. So I ordered these jeans that I liked in a size 30. They just came today. They're stretchy so I don't know what they'll be like after an hour of wearing, but they were definitely on the snug size. I'm sure that size 31 would be perfect. So here's my dilemma. Do I return them in exchange for a bigger size or do I keep them in the hopes that I will lose these pesky 10 pounds? They were expensive so I don't want to feel like I just wasted a bunch of money (or rather a gift card) but on the other hand, maybe it'll be a good motivational tool.

I did a circuit training class with some of my co-workers at lunch. It was good for some variation. I have pretty much followed my workout schedule to a T this week. I'm glad that I scheduled my 8 mile run for Sunday and not tomorrow because we're supposed to get snow flurries. Come on. It was 70 degrees today. Like I told Jason a few weeks ago, I'm going to start a band and I'm going to call it, "I live in the South, so why is it so fucking cold??" except not with the question marks or I may have to drop them like Panic at the Disco.

Okay, random. I need a nap.

Today was better

There's really nothing you can do about a bad eating day except start over and that's what I did today. I'm trying to see that I get a mixture of carb, protein, fruit/veggie and maybe a little fat in each meal. Lauren is right in her comment from my previous post; my diet is definitely heavily focused on carbs.

Apparently, this is just going to turn into a list of what I eat everyday kind of blog, but whatever.

Breakfast - 1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese mixed with 1 tbsp almond butter, 1 banana and 2/3 cup cereal.
Lunch - that same damn tuna/bean wrap that I've had for the past few days; non fat yogurt; clementine
Snack - a pear; later some raw broccoli with low fat ranch
Pre-workout snack - 2 pieces of low fat cheese; 1 wasa bread

5 Mile run

Dinner - courtesy of Chef Jason - whole wheat penne with marinara, peppers and olives and a bit of cheese; salad with low fat ranch.

I don't normally eat so much pasta but Jason wanted to cook dinner and it's one of the things that he likes to make. I've gotten him in the habit of buying whole wheat. He doesn't like it but I think it'll grow on him. He also bought some Two Buck Chuck. I did not partake. I had Cherry Coke Zero instead and that was fine with me.

Mile 5 mile run was on the treadmill at Jason's apartment gym. Let me gush about this apartment gym for a minute. First of all, there are 4 treadmills, 4 ellipticals, 2 bikes and 2 stairmasters. And, they all have personal TVs on them! When we got there, there was only one free treadmill and of course that was the one that had the broken TV. So I did 2 miles on it and when another one freed up, I did the remainder on it. Running does go by a lot quicker when you have Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy on.

My feet are blistery.

Tailgate = bad choices

There was a tailgate party yesterday for a girl I work with's wedding shower. I thought I did okay, except for the beer consumption. But the scale shows otherwise. I'm freaking out, the number just keeps going up and up. My mother actually said that she'd pay for me to go to an RD for my birthday (in April). I'm thinking about taking her up on it. I just feel like in order to be thin, I have to work SO hard and there must be something I'm doing wrong.

Yesterday:

Breakfast - oats made with 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 tbsp almond butter, 1 small banana.
Lunch - 2 figs; wrap made with tuna/bean/veggie mixture; low fat yogurt
Tailgate - Ugh, 4 beers; some hummus and pita; a few chips; some peanuts
Dinner - clementine; 2 slices of Kashi pizza (250 cals for that)
While watching Project Runway - roughly 10 All bran crackers with salsa

So I see the problem was the beer and the snacks at the tailgate but I don't know. It's hard to be perfect all the time.

Frustrated

I've been trying to lose these stubborn 10 pounds since New Years and haven't lost anything. I really don't understand. I'm lifting weights. I'm training for a half marathon. I'm trying to weigh most of my food to get a grasp on correct portion control. I'm drinking less. But none of it seems to be working. Maybe I'm still eating too much? Maybe I'm eating too much fake stuff? I don't know. Take a look:

Yesterday

Breakfast - Oats made with 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 cup water; mixed with a banana (roughly 80 cals) and some agave nectar. (310)

Snack - Harvest Oats Granola Bar; tea with agave nectar (210)

Lunch - wrap on Light Flatout Bread. Made from tuna, beans, salsa and a little bit of light ranch dressing; clementine; fat free greek honey yogurt (495 - estimate, I dont know how many cals the wrap had)

Snack - low fat cottage cheese with pineapple (come to find out this has hfcs in it - i won't buy it again); clementine (145)

Dinner - veggie burger; sauteed squash; salad with oil and balsamic and feta; serving refried beans (600?)

Dessert - 100 cal ice cream sandwich (100)

After workout - slice low fat cheese (50)

Workout was run 5 miles. Any suggestions? This is 1910 calories give or take. Is that too much? Maybe it is. My snacks are too big, I think.

A random picture post

Tonight's Dinner
Last Night's Dinner
Grocery shopping!

My boyfriend

Gym tonight was good. I am in a phase where I think I like lifting better than running. It's kind of too bad that I'm feeling like this when I'm running a half marathon in less than a month. I'll be okay though. I'll get it done. I know it's not going to be my best time ever, but I'll do it.

I have to brag about something. I know it sounds lame, but I just realized that I can do 5 push ups. I used to be able to do one! So, these workouts ARE working and I am getting stronger.

March Measurements

Weight: 152
Waist: 28
Belly button: 36-37 depending on how tight I pull the tape measure
Hips: 39.5
Thigh (at largest part) 23.5
Calf (at largest part) 13
Arm: 10.5

I will be doing this once a month to see if I make any improvements. Ideally, I'd like to lose about 10 pounds.

Slacky

I didn't run yesterday because Jason and I went to Commerce to meet his parents for a late lunch. Okay, I could have run beforehand, but I didn't. I know from previous experience that leaving my long run for a Sunday is not a good idea. I should have gotten up early this morning to do it, but I wanted cuddle time with Jason and frankly, I am a slacker. So, here it is 4:45 pm and I still am supposed to get in 8 miles. I have a few options. The most attractive one is not to run at all. But I also could do the 8 miles at the gym on the treadmill or split it up and run 4 today and 4 tomorrow. I know that splitting up the long run kind of counteracts the point, but oh well. This is the first time I've really gotten to relax all weekend and I don't feel like spending it running. I know I'll feel better if I go, but I just don't want to.

Whine, Whine, Whine.

I just came to a realization. It's okay to not do it. I am extremely hard on myself when it comes to working out and eating right. I feel like if I'm not going to the gym one day, that needs to be scheduled into my plan and it needs to be for a reason (dinner plans, vacation etc) But you know what, I went to the gym 5 times this week, I can take 2 days off. It'll be okay. I wont get fat and I won't mess up my half marathon training plan. I tend to be so strict on myself on the weekends that I don't get any relaxing time. It's go, go, go constantly whether go is running or workout out or going out with friends or what have you. I just want to do nothing for a while and I think I'm entitled.

Should I or shouldn't I?

Sign up for the Silver Comet 10K next weekend?

Saturday

I have somehow become one of those people where I eat really well during the week but lose all control on the weekends. Last night Jason and I had tickets to Regina Spektor. We were going to take Marta there so we decided to have dinner and some drinks at Taco Mac before getting on the train. I tried to order what I deemed the healthiest thing on the menu, the Portobello Wrap with steamed veggies. It was not that good. Taco Mac's food pretty much sucks. They have an awesome beer selection though. I had two Purple Hazes which they have on tap! We got to the concert, which was good but short, and then decided afterwards to have a drink at The Sun Dialwhich I had never been to before. We both had a martini. Then we got home and I pigged out. Jason actually drove my car to Kroger and bought sushi (not badly really but granted this was 1 am) and I ate that and a bunch of cereal. Ugh, I just have to immediately go to sleep after I've had any alcohol whatsoever or I will eat the entire contents of the kitchen!

Oh well, today is another day. We're going to the outlets in Commerce later and I am going to meet the parents for the first time (!)

Today is my rest day. Tomorrow is 8 miles.