I guess I run now

for a while, anyway.

So I tried to make it a good one. Ran 1st two miles (with some walks in there) in 27 mins. Then walked for a bit, and walked/ran for a bit, and walked for a bit more. I ended up doing 6 miles. Most of that was just walking & enjoying the sights, sounds, & smells, but I threw in some runs for fun too. & I still find it weird that I’m using phrases like “runs for fun.” Who knew? But it was beautiful: sunny, breezy, about 65 degrees. So I kept walking, thinking that this time next year I want to be running a 10K, so I figured I’d see how far (approximately) that would be. It’s gonna be a nice run next summer…I just have to make sure I’m ready for it.

Tomorrow I think I’ll walk in to meet hubby after he teaches his class & then we’ll walk to our favorite restaurant for lunch…I’ve ordered their salmon on salad probably the last 8 times we’ve gone there, but it doesn’t disappoint & the walk in will be about 4 miles total, with another 1 mile back to the car after lunch.

Yesterday was busy. We took a 2 mile stroll along the Portage in the morning, packed some, wrote some, and then baby sat for our friends’ kids (3 of their 5 kids anyway…they took the newborn twins to dinner with them). Food wasn’t great…pantry cleaning food combined with a kid-friendly dinner isn’t a good idea, but neither is the ice cream that I had after dinner. So yesterday’s food & exercise:

Breakfast: corn chex & blueberries
Lunch: BLT on whole wheat, pasta salad
Snack: cherries & cheese popcorn (about 2 cups of the popcorn)
Dinner: Mac & cheese, ice cream

Exercise: 2 mile stroll

Today:

Breakfast: corn chex & blueberries
Lunch: BLT on WW & pasta salad
Dinner: 2 of hubby’s oatmeal cookies, cheddar popcorn (about 3 cups), about 12 cherries
Snack:

Exercise: 6 mile walk/run (mostly walk…the full trip took 1 1/2 hours)

Inspiration: oh hell, have you been watching the Olympics? Usually I focus on the men cause, well, they’re Olympic-style men for heaven’s sake, how can you help yourself? But this year, I’m all about the women. I want to be that strong, that powerful, that fast & muscular & confident & geeze! I mean, I can’t identify with the gymnasts at all cause they’re like 12 years old, but the runners & swimmers & bikers are amazing. Okay, so I was thinking about what it would take to get an athlete’s body on my walk/run today & that got me moving. When I get home, I’m going to start in on the weight machines & toss in some biking & swimming.

once wrote: “I hate writing, but I love having written.”

My paraphrase today: “I dread running, I love having run.”

Okay, I didn’t really dread the run this afternoon…looked forward to it mostly, but there was that little bit of fear there that I wouldn’t be able to do it. I guess that fear will go away eventually?

No bar for us last night. We went yard sale-ing with some friends who reminded me it was alumni weekend & around here that means hundreds of engineers trying to re-live their college days. So the bar didn’t seem like a productive or fun place to work. Maybe as a treat on Monday?

We’re in pantry-cleaning mode today, both literally & literally :). I’m going to tackle the pantry (which is pretty huge), get it semi-packed & thoroughly scrubbed down. In addition, we’re trying to eat what’s there & in the fridge so we don’t have to drag it all down south. There’s not much nutrition in them there shelves, since these are the foods that get hubby through the day, & not exactly my choices even when I didn’t care what I ate. Anyway, it’s going to be a challenge to eat decent for the next few days.

Today
Breakfast: corn chex & blueberries
Lunch: brown rice mixed with fresh zucchini, & unfrozen peas & broccoli; hard boiled egg
Dinner: probably not…hubby & I just had a big blow out & I’ve lost my appetite! ARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!
Snack: Cheeries & at a moment, a beer.

Exercise: 3.5 mile run/walk. Ran first 2 miles in 25:27, which is purty dern fast for little ole me. Although I threw some walks in there as well. Ran the full 5k in 42:20. Kept my running speed between 4.6 & 6.0. Yes, 6.0 was one of my speeds, but only for .15 mile. Still, it’s important to note that I didn’t drop dead at 6.0 mph, so I can put that fear to rest now. I’m feeling more comfortable running in the 5 mph range these days with 4.6 feeling like a light jog & so, kinda useless if I want to get the miles covered & done with. Did the full 3.5 in 48:30, so clearly there was a lot of walking at the end.

Inspiration: Tiny2b just signed up for some kind of bootcamp at 5:30 every morning & getupnow’s thinking about possibly joining a group in training for a 5k. The bootcamp idea scares the hell out of me, but the training group sounds like it’s got potential, so I’m going to research them in my area.

& hubby’s irritable & I’ve just found out his tenant may arrive any day/minute now, rather than on the 15th. So today I’ll try to make the house presentable enough for company…it’s a mess from hubby’s divided work between fixing the place up, packing, and writing.

First stop is the kitchen, then the bathroom. A bit of a bitch since I’ll just have to clean them both again before I leave & I’m grumpy because hubby has been less than diligent finding out when this guy is actually planning to get here. So when he told me the tenant was moving in on the 15th, I figured that was perfect…I could come up here, clean, pack, and get out. But then last night I learn…yup, not so much. Once again, no plan. Yeah, not happy today.

Anyway, I’m irritable & need a nice long walk along the portage. But that’s my reward for later, I think. And then maybe I’ll go to the brew pub here & work. Sounds lovely, but for now, the kitchen awaits.

Food:
Breakfast: wheat & corn chex (cleaning out the pantry) with blueberries
Lunch: egg salad on 1/2 bagel
Dinner: biscuits & gravy & frozen (unfrozen, cause I like it better that way) broccoli
Snack: hubby & I split the remaining bag of cheddar popcorn

Exercise:

Inspiration: this little entry from my day 2 of the C25K 5 months ago: “Sunday, March 9th–sweating a lot & it’s clearly a workout, but I can do it, which is nice & I can see myself doing it again. I know I’ll get stronger too. At the moment, my resting walk is a 2.8 mph and run is 3.6 mph, but this will improve with time once I’ve got the hang of running for more than 60-second intervals.” Since my resting walk is now 3.6 & I can actually run more than 60-second intervals, I’m celebrating this little victory today. I’d actually like to run again today, but my right shin is bothering me, so I guess I’ll give it a rest & just walk.

UPDATE: feeling much better now. Figured that since I gotta do this cleaning anyway, doing a thorough job now won’t hurt too much…provided we don’t mess the place up again. So cleaned the fridge, stove/oven, shelves, & now the bathroom is spotless…lots more to do in the kitchen, though. But as I was cleaning the fridge, I got angry all over again cause, well, the idiots who make fridges have clearly never, NEVER EVER, not once in their lives, had to clean a fridge (read: MEN!). How do I know this? Well, if they’d ever cleaned one, they wouldn’t make them with grooves all in the drawers and the doors would be flat with no places for dirt & muck to get trapped, there’d be no wire racks that let liquids drip all over the place & that take a ton of time to clean off. Obviously ours is an old fridge, but it pisses me off that the important job of designing home appliances fell to men who, because they got to leave the home once in a while, had no freakin’ clue what works and what doesn’t work.

Okay, that’s my rant for today. A few pleasanter revelations while cleaning the tub…1. I AM going to do my writing at the nice brew pub tonight; 2. since this tenant will be paying us rent, I’m using that money to get a damn housekeeper to come in once a month & clean just our kitchen & bathroom (this one will never happen cause I’m really too cheap & we can’t really afford such a thing, but it’s fun to dream about it); 3. this time next week I will have only one the one house to clean & the worst part of these moves will be behind me.

Yes, tiny2b, I was on the road & being accountable here did keep me out of McDs, but that’s about all it did. So…here goes:

breakfast: hard boiled egg

lunch: pb&j on whole wheat, about 20 cherries

Dinner: pb&j on white (figured one on white would be just the treat I’d need to keep me out of the drive thru), 1/2 chicken sandwich on whole wheat with tomato & big basil leaves (my own creation, not fast food)

Snacks: (yes, snacks is plural) 1/2 bag of white cheddar popcorn (the big bag, not the jumbo one, but big enough for a family of 4 to snack comfortably on); snack sized container of pringles; more cherries; coffee with French vanilla creamer (you know the kind, it’s basically pure corn syrup).

So my meals were okay, but my snacking was out of control…total boredom munching.

Exercise: short walk from brake place to coffee shop & back, short walk on beach with dog, loading/unloading the car, I mean, I’m grasping at straws here people! I just need to say “no exercise today!”

Inspiration: well, the food could’ve been worse if it weren’t for my knowing that I’d have to write about it here. Yeah, it could’ve been much worse, I guess.

Today (Thursday)

Food
Breakfast: wheat chexs with blueberries
Snack: small handful of toasted (not salted) almonds
Lunch: Weight watchers enchiladas with rice. Rice was really good, but at some point I hit unidentifiable tan mush in the enchiladas…chicken paste, maybe?
Dinner: Applebee’s…1/2 portion shrimp with salad thing (egg, avocado, tomatoes, little bacon, avocado dressing on side) and 1/2 of cup of tomato soup and 10 oz light beer.

Exercise: just back from the rec center where I walked/ran total of 2.6 (ran 2.25, walked .35), walked .1, ran 1.5 miles, walked .1, ran .25, walked .05, ran .5, walked .1. Not counting the warm up walk, I did a 2 mile mostly-run in 26:15, which is pretty good for me. Kept my running speed between 4.4 & 5.2, but I did crank it up to 5.4 when I got bored near the end of each running session. Walking speed at 3.6. But if you look at the walk between my .25 & .50 runs, it makes no sense! I should’ve just kept running for that short bit. Especially since the .5 mile run felt pretty okay. Geeze, why’d I stop? UGH!

Inspiration: I have to say, it’s the fact that getupnow is running 2 miles now. I decided if she could do that, I could at least do a full 1.5 today. Of course, she’s skinny & fit, but I gotta start back somewhere if I’m going to be skinny & fit too! I’m going to try to run a few more times while I’m here so that when I get home next week, I’m in better shape & have, barring any more freakout food fests on the road, lost the 2 pounds I gained this past month.

I’d planned to head up to hubby’s today, but needed an oil change, a brake job, to do misc stupid errands & house stuff, and get the mail held once again! So that’s how I spent my day…only the brake job turned into only a 2 hour visit to the mechanic with the actual work scheduled for tomorrow morning. Then I’ll get on the road.

Not a lot of exercise unless you count the walk around downtown while I waited for the mechanic to look over the car…short walk…to the brew pub…where they have wireless! & I can’t imagine why I do my work in coffee shops when I could do it there! I mean, I hate revising more than a visit to the dentist, but revising at the bar was pretty okay.

So exercise is not good, but the evening is still young & the treadmill awaits. Food, not great either. Beer consumption, oh dear.

Breakfast: 2 slices of toast with homemade jam

Lunch: cup of cheese soup with salad & a pint of ESB

Dinner: 2 more beers (at home now), chicken breast, whole grain rice, zucchini, fennel. Very yummy & I’ll nurse this last beer all night.

Steps:

Exercise:

Motivation: I think my long term goal is at least 17 more pounds by Christmas (with the in-laws).

So last night I was feeling like quite the failure. & last night I was giving myself every bit of permission to fail cause: full of excuses to explain it all away.

This morning I woke up & realized that I didn’t start writing this blog cause I needed a place to record excuses. I started it because, well, the title of this post is also the title of my very first post at 3FC. I need some accountability & a lot of community (turns out) to stick to good eating & exercising every day.

So, hell, I’ll force a routine here. I have internet access everywhere, so I’m going to get back to writing here every day. Probably not long missives (gee, I know you’ll miss my rambling posts ), but I can at least record my food & exercise & I can make time to read your blogs for inspiration.

Food:
Breakfast: kashi & blueberries
Lunch: corn on the cob, beets in 1/2 tbs butter, green beans, hard boiled egg
Dinner: chicken breast 1 cup (cooked) whole wheat pasta, zucchini slices, chopped tomato, basil, garlic in olive oil.
Snack: kashi & blueberries

Exercise: 3.2 mile walk/run (2.5 miles of that running between 4.4 & 5.8…my fastest speed yet! and .7 of walks at 3.6); slow walk around dog park (30 mins)

Steps: 13082

Motivation/inspiration for the day: Periwinkle is suspending all work to focus on only fitness for the next month. And Eryn’s taking a new journey with her blog…go wish her bon voyage (although, technically & thankfully, she isn’t going away).

Updated weight loss ticker & damn did it hurt like hell! But the alternative is staying away from here until I lose those 2 pounds again, bust since the only way to lose those 2 pounds again is to be here, losing weight and being accountable with ya’ll, I had to do it. Still, this isn’t a move I want to repeat. Next week, I want to be back down those 2 pounds!

I need a routine!

Got back in town late Wednesday night for meetings on Thurs & Friday…hubby came into town around 1:30 Friday night with a carload of stuff (including the some 20 boxes we packed from his school office), and he left again early this afternoon…a 9-plus car ride is a nightmare with only 36 hours in between, poor thing. But he teaches first thing tomorrow morning, so…

Yesterday I went to my friend’s farm & worked for about 3 hours in the morning. The sun was out, but it rained Friday night, so all the veggies were coated in cool rain water, which made things nice. And in the last few days I’ve also made cherry jam (2 batches), blueberry jam, frozen tomatoes, and have salsa on the agenda for tomorrow. Okay, jam isn’t exactly diet food, but in moderation, I think it’ll just be a lovely reminder of the summer all winter long. So on one front…eating more local stuff…I’ve been doing okay…

Was planning to take hubby up on his “I got this covered” when I asked if I should head back up north to help him finish up packing & cleaning. So if he didn’t need me, I figured I could just go ahead & get back into old (good) habits like running regularly. But then a call from MIL this afternoon changed my mind. Truth is, she’s right & hubby’s using the packing & such to put off working on the diss. I did it, all my friends did it; hell, I had one friend who decided to write her first novel mid-dissertation & another who started making chocolate truffles (she’d show up at parties with no less than 8 different varieties, hundreds of the things). Anything to put off writing! & as MIL was quick to point out, 68% of people who start a job ABD (all but dissertation) never finish writing theirs, so never get the PhD! & once hubby starts work, well, that first year is hell!

So MIL, who (so unlike MILs everywhere) usually doesn’t offer me a lick of advice for dealing with her son, suggested I try my best to not take “no help needed” as an answer from hubby. So I guess I’ll head back up there Tuesday, help him pack, and do my best to lock him in his home office to write. MIL asked should she kidnap him for a week or two to get him back to writing…hopefully it won’t come to that. But I’ve only got about a week before I have to be back here for more damn meetings! Only a week to help him get into the habit of writing regularly again.

Anyway, I’m not gone & I think about ya’ll a lot. I’m just tired of having nothing by way of exercise to report, no weight loss, no success, and ya’ll are doing so amazing. I plan to run tomorrow morning, and I’ve been eating well all this time, but I’ve also gained back 2 of the pounds I lost (so I need to bite the bullet & adjust my counter!) & that makes me really mad! I’d hoped to be farther along at this point; I’d hoped to be in the best shape of my life or heading in that direction by this point in the summer. But the summer’s almost over & I can’t even see getting back into my exercise routine at this stage. CRAP! This isn’t working!