A New PR for the 5K and Beer Pong Champion

Saturday morning was the American Cancer Society's 5K. I went with one of my best friends, Jenni, who I have recently gotten into running (I LOVE recruiting new runners!). The last time I ran this race was in April of 2010, and my time was 38:43, with an average pace of 12:31 per mile. This time, I cut my time by two and a half minute, finishing at 36:10, with an average pace of 11:40.

I was pretty happy.

And Jenni rocked it hard, too! It was only her second race ever, the first being about three weeks ago. The first race, she finished in 45 minutes, and this time, she finished in about 42 minutes -- yay!!! I LOVE watching somebody else get bitten by the running bug. :)

After the race, we headed up to my friend Kate's house. Kate's birthday is today (April 15th), so we decided to celebrate it the day before. We also decided to revisit our college days, so we threw a combo birthday party and 1st Annual Beer Pong Championship. But, because we all know that we're old and can't party quite as hard late into the night like we used to be able to, we started the party at noon. By 9:30, I was sound asleep in bed and slept in until 7 this morning. There's something to be said for still getting 10 hours of sleep after drinking. It's great to wake up and feel awesome! :)

Any and all calorie counting was out the window... Um... Kinda like much of last week. :) There were beeritas, the beer of course, chips, jalapeno poppers, wings, hot dogs, pizza, and birthday cake. I paired up with one of my friends' husbands and together, we became the first official beer pong champions. My 32-year-old inner diva can't quite decide if we're super proud of that or if we should maybe keep it on the hush-hush.

Alas, I woke up and realized I absolutely, positively had to jump back on track today. So when Jenni's husband suggested on our drive back home that we stop at Waffle House for breakfast, I was kind of against it.

Not so against it that I actually vocalized it, though. I mean, come on... I do so love me some Waffle House. In fact, most Saturday mornings, before my long runs, it is my pre-run fuel. I just usually feel better about it if I know 8 or 10 miles will be run after eating!

I got my usual favorite -- cheese scrambled eggs, hash browns, and raisin toast. When coming home, I reluctantly opened MyFitnessPal (I mean, I HAD said I was going to get back on track... tracking my craptastic breakfast is a good start!) and I was surprised at how not horrendous it was. I mean, don't get me wrong. It was about 650 calories, out of my total of about 1300 a day, but I was thinking it'd be much closer to 1000 calories or so. This was totally doable. Finished off the day with Fiber One cereal for lunch and dinner (it really is my go-to when I don't have many calories left or I don't have motivation) and even had some BIG Cheezit for a snack and STILL finished with 3 calories left.

I rock so hard sometimes.

I did however prepare for a good food day tomorrow. Made a lean beef hamburger to take for lunch, boiled some okra to take, and poured some Gatorade into a take-along cup. Tomorrow starts the first day of a 4-days-running week. All are low mileage days - 3 miles each day. And it's the first week that instead of a tempo or speedwork run, I just have another easy run. I'm pretty excited.

Oh! I looked at my RunKeeper site today. I have used it since January 2010. I have completed 91 runs using it, totaling 338 miles, with roughly 42,000 calories burned. That is a LOT of beeritas.

Goal for the week -- complete 5 days of staying within calorie limits. I have a family reunion on Saturday and will happily splurge then. But until then, I am going to strengthen my willpower!

**
How was YOUR weekend?

These Are My Confessions (sung like Usher, for real)

Soooo... I did well today. Really well....

Well, I mean... At first I did well.

And then... Well... dessert happened. After lunch.

Also, my assistant principal handed out Hershey candy bars at school today. And somehow (it's just the craziest thing!), one wound up unwrapped in my hands! Imagine! And at some point after that, another teacher gave me an Atlanta Bread Company chocolate chunk cookie.

Yeah. 400 calories of wonderful chocolatey, sweet baked goodness. But I intended on being good. I really, really did. I held it in my hand while we talked, intending on taking it back to my room and giving it away. But the longer I sat there and talked, the more it cried out to me. The more it beckoned me. Taunted me. Coaxed and cajoled me.

It's a talented cookie.

So I did what I HAD to do.

I ate it.

It made a nice dessert after the Hershey's bar.

So then I said, "That's it!" And I was done. I splurged, I was happy and full, and I was done.

Until a friend of mine asked me to go to Johnny's Pizza with her and her kids for dinner tonight. "Sure!" I say without thinking. After all, I can always get a slice or two of the thin crust cheese and it won't cause horrendous damage. I can totally do thin crust cheese.

Or maybe a stromboli. With cheese!

And also, garlic knots.

So...... garlic knots with melted butter and a cheese stromboli were ordered. But luckily, my friend shared with me, so I only ate HALF of my stromboli. And it was gone in approximately 12.45 seconds, because I eat like I'm afraid someone's gonna take it from me.

So the end of my damage, I am 800 calories over my daily goal. But you know what? I'm happy. And I'm okay. Should I have done it? Maybe not. But I don't regret it.

Ask me again tomorrow when I'm celebrating a friend's birthday at a fun party! Although, I AM running a 5K.... Now I wish it were longer - a 10K or something else. 300 calories seems so low compared to the damage I did today!

Good God, it all tasted so good. My life would be so much easier if I just did not love the taste of food. Such is the dilemma of my life!

**
What tempted you today?!?

Netflix, Tempo Runs, and the Dreaded 'Mill

So, Internet, I have a confession to make.

I do not enjoy speedwork and/or tempo runs.

However, I think the reason that I don't enjoy them is because at the moment, the only way I can accurately maintain a specific pace to keep the tempo/speedwork legit is to do so on the treadmill - or as SlimKatie at runsforcookies.com calls it, the dreadmill.

It's just... boring. Running in place, staring at these tiny TVs suspended from the ceiling, all of which are set on either Speedvision, CNN, or the Military Channel. I wish I were kidding. So I get on the treadmill, resigned to a 40-50 minute run, run for what feels like forever, then risk a glance at the clock to find out I have managed to run for a grand total of 2 minutes and 24 seconds.

So I took my iPhone to the gym this week. I had a 4-mile tempo run planned and knew I'd desperately need entertainment. I pulled up Netflix and debated - ohhh, the hard decisions in life. :)

Lost or How I Met Your Mother?

How I Met Your Mother won. I needed faster-paced, less dramatic entertainment. The last time I ran to Lost, I kept gasping, which kind of scared the man on the dreadmill beside me. So I chose to watch Ted, Barney, Marshall, Lily and Robin. And this time, my giggles made the man running beside me keep looking at me.

I guess a girl sweating it out through fits of giggles in the middle of the gym is an oddity. Who knew?

So 4 miles,in 50 minutes. Average pace was 12:35, which thrilled me. For the last few treadmill runs, I have been pulling a 13:15 minute pace. Why is it that 13:15 minute mile on the treadmill feels so much faster than a 12:45 mile outside? So I run slightly slower on the easy portions of my run on the treadmill, which slows down my overall average. But this was firmly in the 12:00s.

Those of you who can knock a mile out in less than 10 minutes... don't laugh at me! I will get there one day.... One fine day....

Saturday's run is a 5K race. I'm supposed to run 6 miles according to SmartCoach, but I figure 3 miles at race pace could be just as intense as 6 miles easy. And this is my last week of a 3-run-per-week life. Beginning next week, I start 4 days of running a week. I'm a little bit nervous, but even more excited.

I mean, hey, let's face it. Any extra miles equals that many extra calories burned, which means I can eat more wings and Reese's peanut butter cups. But not at the same time. That'd be weird.

I know, I suck with pictures. I will get better... one day!

One fine day.... :)

Today's food:
Breakfast - cold oatmeal, coffee, half & half
AM Snack - Yoplait blueberry Greek yogurt
Lunch: eggplant fries, cucumbers, tomatoes, 2 tbs Light Ranch
PM Snack - Cheezit BIG (I know, not the healthiest, but so good!)
Dinner: (going to a baseball game, soooo.... probably Chick-Fil-A chicken sandwich, but maybe nachos if I'm weak in willpower).

Weigh-in is rapidly coming up on Saturday... Let's see if my willpower holds out and I am rewarded!

**
What good decisions did YOU make today?

How do you entertain yourself while running on the treadmill?

Salt Depletion and a Month Off From Weight Watchers

So I had a pretty crappy run today, but I didn't think much about it. When I first started running, my mentor told me that "about 1/4 of your runs will just suck. And of those, about half will suck for no reason. Only about half you will be able to determine why it sucks." And she was so right!

I did 5 miles today after work, so there were numerous reasons why it was so rough: 1) hot afternoon, 2) wrangled kiddos all day, 3) maybe not enough water through the day.... All I know is that I knew it'd be a rough run when I hit my first downhill. Because I wear my heart monitor every time I run, and because I often do the same paths, I have a good idea of my heartrate at any given point on the path. This first downhill is a nice, steady decline and it's shaded, great for recovery after a hill. My heartrate is usually around 168 during this stretch. Today? Today, it was 183. ONE EIGHTY THREE. ON A DOWNHILL. IN THE SHADE.

Oy vay.

I stumbled through the run, came home, and had a very scary moment. I found myself unbelievably nauseous, very dizzy, and extremely lethargic. A runner friend happened to call while I was stretched out on the floor, trying to get up the energy to get to the shower, and I told her how I was feeling. She told me it sounded like salt depletion and suggested I go look it up.

So I went to WebMD (is there any place scarier when you have a heath concern?!?) and found this:

"There are two types of heat exhaustion:

Water depletion. Signs include excessive thirst, weakness, headache, and even loss of consciousness.
Salt depletion. Signs include nausea and vomiting, frequent muscle cramps, and dizziness."

Hmmmm... The symptoms for salt depletion really do fit. And so I explored further and went to the Department of Health and Human Services, where I found this:

"Salt depletion heat exhaustion usually develops over several days; usually in people that replace the fluid loses adequately, but fail to replace salt loses."

Well, that couldn't be me, because I just felt it today. But then I went back through my food journals, which automatically keep track of my sodium, as well as other nutrients. My goal for any given day is about 2500 milligrams of sodium, and there was not one day in the last 15 days that I have had more than 1500 milligrams of sodium.

So maybe it really is that. So I designed an experiment, just hoping and praying I wouldn't throw up everywhere. The DHHS website also said this:

"Mild dehydration can be managed with oral replacement of fluids i.e. 1 tsp of NaCl mixed with 500 ml of water or a stock electrolyte solution given over 1 - 2 hours."

So I put a teaspoon of salt into a glass, added some Crystal Light to help mask the flavor (I am not really a salt fan, in case you can't tell!) and added half a liter of water. I am currently sipping it as we speak and with every sip that goes down, I feel a little more human.

Does anyone else ever have issues with salt depletion? I guess I need to find some sodium-dense foods that are good for runners!

********************************************
In another note, I have taken a step back from Weight Watchers. For all of those who don't know, I have been in the program since May of 2011. I've lost 16 pounds and (as of March 13!!) 17.5 inches. But I think Weight Watchers was helping me develop a very unhealthy relationship with food. While I know the line is that any food is allowed, I began to have very firm "can have" and "cannot have" lists. And I would spend days dwelling over how I was doing, especially leading up to a weigh-in. I would remain so on track, and Saturdays, which were my splurge days, became the ONLY day I wanted to see friends. I felt like I had to be perfect those other days and the only way I could manage perfection was to eat at home where I controlled everything.

I began to get discouraged when I saw an increase in the scale, even if it was a week with very hard workouts, or even when I was steadily losing inches. And I realized that the increase on the scale bothered me because somebody else saw the number before I did. Weighing in in front of somebody stressed me out. Now, I know it's great for accountability. And I really did need that for the longest time. But I think the downside of weighing in and the downside of Weight Watchers might be coming to light.

So I decided to try something new. I am taking a month off from Weight Watchers altogether. But not from watching what I eat! Fifteen days ago, I signed up to My Fitness Pal (www.myfitnesspal.com), and now whatever I eat gets tracked there, instead of Weight Watchers. This counts my calories, my protein, my carbs, my fiber, and my sodium (hence how I knew how much sodium I was not getting!). I'm not sure why (maybe it's just the newness of the system?), but I am more motivated now than I have been in weeks for WW.

Every day, after you input all of your food, you click "save" and you will see a statement at the bottom of the page that looks something like this:
"If every day were like this, you would weigh ___________ in 5 weeks." I LOVE that statement. It's never the same, because my exact calories are never the same. Sometimes I'm down by a couple hundred, sometimes I'm up by a couple hundred, but I love to know what it says. It's also helping me realize that I AM allowed to eat whatever I want, within moderation. The other day, I had wings and a beer for lunch, and I put it into the tracker. It told me that in 5 weeks, I would weigh 142 pounds, which is about 2 pounds less than I weigh now.

Hold up. Wait... I could eat badly for one meal, and STILL LOSE WEIGHT over the long run?!?!

I know. It's a concept most of you already know, but it's a concept that I never really embraced until now. So I ate my wings and beer, went back to my lean proteins and veggies, and am doing great. And the best part? It wasn't even a Saturday when I had the wings for lunch! I met my friends for lunch on a TUESDAY and splurged. And then jumped right back on.

I think if this is going to be a lifetime deal, I need to have that flexibility. I need to know that if I have a bad week, it's okay. I need to know that if my best friend's birthday is on a Friday, it's okay to celebrate, even if weigh-in is the next day. And I never felt that on Weight Watchers.

So here I go...! I will continue my Saturday weigh-ins. And I will post them here, to help me stay accountable. And at the end of the month, I will figure out what I want to do about Weight Watchers.

Food Tracker for the day:
Breakfast: Cold oatmeal (my new obsession!), coffee, 3 tbs organic half & half
AM Snack: Yoplait Greek yogurt, pear
Lunch: roasted veggie pasta, 1 tbs Ken's Light Ranch, sliced cucumbers, strawberries
PM Snack: Pink Lady apple, 12 almonds
Dinner: 2 oz left over Honeybaked turkey breast, 1 deviled egg, roasted zucchini, 1/2 avocado, Kroger lowfat vanilla ice cream sandwich

And oh yeah, my salt water! :)

Today's run... As craptastic as it was, it was 5 miles and it took me a ridiculous 1:06:33. I am going to pretend this run never happened.

My notes from MyFitnessPal (first time in 15 days that I have been "in the red" for sodium!):

As you can see, today was one of my better days. Here's hoping that extra sodium doesn't jack me up tomorrow! :)

******************
What 'diet plan', if any, do you guys follow? Weight Watchers? Good common sense? Anything else in particular?

This Weekend = Amazing

I tried SlimKatie's (www.runforcookies.com) cold oatmeal Saturday morning after a workout that left my legs just a-tremblin'! I took 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of Horizon fat-free milk, 2 Tbs of PB2, and 1 Tbs of chia seeds, mixed it all together and set it in the fridge for about 15 minutes. It was very different than the (hot) oatmeal I am used to, but it tasted delicious. I can't wait to try different varieties!

Then I met up with one of my best friends, and we headed down to Atlanta for a girls' night. We stayed at the Marriott Renaissance hotel off West Peachtree, and I had forgotten just how much I love hotels. Especially pretty hotels with views!

The room had a king bed, but J and I didn't mind sharing. In fact, we're both sprawlers, and I'm pretty sure there was still plenty of room!

I just love city views. This was a condo building near the hotel, and it just looks so fun. Almost makes me regret buying my house in the 'burbs, cause I'd love to live in a building that's all glass and steel!

We headed to a restaurant named Steamhouse Lounge for lunch. It's got this amazing wrap-around balcony that overlooks a city street. It was so much fun to sit up there for a few hours, eat some amazing crab dip and fried shrimp, and just talk. The food was amazing!

This next picture very clearly shows our afternoon after lunch:

A vampire book on my Kindle and a glass of my new favorite white wine. Needless to say, the full belly, the wine, and the reading lulled me into a nice nap!

For dinner, we hit up a place named Front Page News, which has a lot of Cajun-inspired foods. We wound up sharing a shrimp and crawfish etouffee, which was very good, but very messy!

We sat at dinner long enough for everything to go dark, and we're sitting outside on a patio lit by these quaint little lights, beside a fountain that was trickling water, and listening to city sounds. City sounds make me happy. And again, the views are never bad!

After that came an ice cream sandwich and some creme brulee - and I'm not even mentioning the drinks! I don't even want to know how much I gained!

So today, when I got home, I knew I needed to get back into the swing of things. I hit up the grocery store. I've got Spring Break this week, so no work for a week. I wanted something easy, but good for lunch all week, so I went to an old favorite -- Roasted Vegetable Pasta. It's ridiculously easy. I took 4 Roma tomatoes, a red onion, 2 yellow squash, and 2 large zucchini, chopped them up and mixed them with olive oil and minced garlic.

The colors just make me happy.
You spread them out on cookie sheets lined with tinfoil and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.

I cooked an entire box of Barrillo angel hair pasta and once it's cooked, toss the roasted veggies on top.

Then pile onto your plate and enjoy!

So that was lunch. Dinner tonight was at my parents' house. My dad got to come home from the hospital and he is doing great! I'm so relieved. To celebrate, my mom cooked a London broil, roasted some asparagus and baby potatoes, and drizzled olive oil over French bread. I was proud of myself for sticking to the London broil, the asparagus, and some chopped tomatoes. No potatoes or bread - yay!

Going to weigh myself tomorrow morning before my run. I'm trying something a little bit different from Weight Watchers, and I'll explain more about it tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a 5-miler, one I can do first thing in the morning. I am so excited. Love weeks off of work!

**
What was the best part of YOUR weekend?

Long Runs on a Friday

I thoroughly enjoy days off from work. In fact, it felt like Saturday all day - starting off with a long run, not working, and eating a sugar cookie with frosting! WELL worth the calories.

Today's run was pretty fabulous. My splits were slow, but out of the 13-minute-per-mile pace they were set in as I tried to slow down my runs to extend my ability to maintain a running pace and avoid walking. I finished 7 miles at 12:56 a mile. I was happy - but can't wait to say I can do it in 11 minutes or less! :)

The run today, though, had plenty of hills. I wasn't expecting many of the hills, and you can tell when the hills hit during my splits. Check out the topography of the run:

You can see where the biggest hills were between 0.75 miles and 2.75 miles, and again from about 3.5 miles to 4.5 miles. After that were a couple baby hills, but nothing that made me cringe for the most part. My splits show those hills in my time:
Mile 1 - 12:06
(almost all downhill; I had to fight to stay slow!)
Mile 2 - 12:52
(entire mile was uphill!)
Mile 3 - 12:50
(tried to maintain the Mile 2 pace so I didn't get tired later)
Mile 4 - 12:48
(first half of mile was steep uphill, but rest was great downhill!)
Mile 5 - 12:50
(way steep downhill, and I was trying to maintain a pace so I didn't punish my knees going downhill!)
Mile 6 - 12:59
(still trying to maintain the pace)
Mile 7 - 13:05
(was worn out by this point and the little baby hill did me in!)

So yes, my splits might seem lame to a lot of people, but I'm pretty excited that I ran the whole way and that I was able to maintain a pace even during downhills (even though I think that hurt my overall time!)

Afterwards, I went to the hospital to visit my father. He'd had surgery on his carotid artery and is spending a couple days in the hospital. I stopped at Chik-Fil-A on my way to the hospital for the breakfast of champions:

Chick'N Minis and the largest coffee they could give me.

I spent most of the morning watching TV on the world's teeniest TV in the world's largest hospital room. The hospital was packed on the day my father went into surgery, so he got placed into the only room they had available -- an isolation room. Yep, you read that right. A room with its own airflow, a room where they might put an Ebola patient. Massive room with great windows - and a teeny tiny TV. I feel like an Ebola patient deserves a rather massive flat-screen mounted on the wall!

Yes, that would be the Weather Channel on the TV. I have a weather obsession.

Once I'd had enough of the Weather Channel, I turned my attention to other, far more important methods of entertainment:

It's a good day when you get a Self magazine AND a Runner's World magazine to read!

Speaking of Runner's World, they had a great article that seemed written just for me in this month's edition:

The 15-Second Cool Down Trick.

I've found that when I get stressed, I get snippy. I needed a reminder of a way to stop being irritable, and to stop taking out my stress on the rest of the world.

I also went shopping afterwards and bought some PB2 and some Chia seeds. I'm pretty excited, because SlimKatie at www.runsforcookies.com (GREAT blog if you haven't read it!) uses chia seeds a lot in her oatmeal and I've always wanted to try them. Needless to say, tomorrow's oatmeal will involve chia seeds and PB2. I'll let you know how it works out!

I also found this picture on my phone. I had forgotten I had taken it, but it was pretty exciting. We had Girls Night Out a few weeks ago, and I wore a shirt that I bought two years ago but had never been able to wear. Well, I tried it on and it FIT!!!! I took a picture, and you can tell that I am squeeeeeeeeeing with delight in the mirror!

Today's food was definitely not great, but that is par for the course on my long run days. I KNOW I shouldn't eat the calories back, but sometimes, I just do. And today, I do not regret it. I'm realizing that there are going to be days in life when you just don't eat as well as you should. And sometimes, it's okay to enjoy it, revel in it while you can, and then jump right back on the wagon.

Although, to be honest, tomorrow might not be "right back on the wagon." I am going to Atlanta with one of my best friends for the night. A little staycation, if you will. I have a feeling there will be beer involved. But you know what? I'll up my workouts this week and I will focus on eating right again once we come back on Sunday.

I cannot let my fear of eating badly overshadow my life. I won't do it.

Today's Food:
Pre-Run Snack - 1 slice cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread, 100 calorie Clif Bar in peanut butter crunch
Post-Run Breakfast - chick'n minis and coffee
Lunch - chicken nuggets, water, Cheezits
Snack - frozen yogurt at Peachwave (but the good news is - I didn't add ANY of the candy or chocolatey toppings, like Snickers or Reese's peanut butter cups. I used only fruit - bananas, strawberries, kiwi, and blueberries!)
Dinner - 2 pieces cheese pizza from Mellow Mushroom (SO delicious and not something I get all the time, so well worth the calories), sugar cookie with frosting.

Now, planning out a workout for tomorrow. Going to be brutal, I can tell already!

**
Did you stay on track today?
Have you ever tried chia seeds or PB2?

Pretty proud of myself...

So no run again today. My dad had surgery on his carotid artery today, and because it was the last day of school before Spring Break, I felt like I could not possibly subject a sub to a day with my little darlings. Come on, now... We all know how we used to treat substitute teachers at school. Add into the substitute mix a few children with behavior disorders, a fun run at school, cupcakes at lunch, AND the day before Spring Break?

I might have a hitman out looking for me, hired by the poor sub I would've had to get!

So needless to say, I worked a full day and kept my kiddos in line, then managed to get to the hospital to see my dad around 4:30. It's always such a shock to see my father looking less than completely imposing and confident. He had a bandage over his throat, tubes coming out from all over, and machines hooked up to him. He was awake and coherent, but he was very clearly weakened and hurting. It made my heart hurt.

So I sat with him until close to 8, then left to go home. And this is where the pride in myself comes in. It's late, I'm tired, I'm stressed out, and all I want is something bad for me. On my way home, I drive past a McDonald's, a Wendy's, a Sonic, and a Chik-Fil-A. And yet, I managed to drive right on by them and even went out of my way to find a Subway for dinner.

Also, I started using www.myfitnesspal.com to try tracking my calories, wondering if stepping away from Weight Watchers would be beneficial. I started about three days ago and today, my food was great - and that is even considering the fact that there were cupcakes served at the lunch table!

Food Today:
Breakfast: 1 piece cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread, dipped in egg yolk and "fried" in a pan with olive oil spray, 1/2 cup blueberries, coffee, Horizon half & half
AM Snack - Kroger vanilla Greek yogurt, 1 baby-sized Butterfinger mini
Lunch: Fiber One cereal (noticing a trend? This is called "Amanda is too lazy to cook, so cereal for lunch for a week!"), cucumbers, tomatoes, 2 tbs Ken's Light Ranch, steamed broccoli
PM Snack - apple, multigrain chips, salsa
Dinner - Subway turkey sub with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, banana peppers, mustard and vinegar, apple crisps

Only ONE small piece of candy and no dessert tonight - go me!

Going to attempt running tomorrow! No school for me, so it'll be nice to knock it out first thing in the morning. It's my long run for the week - 7 miles!

Happy Thursday!

**
How did you guys wind up eating today? Proud of yourself, or looking forward to a new day?!?!?

Stress, Eating, and Working Out

I have hit a funk.

Sometimes, the stress in life just gets a little bit overwhelming. Between stress at work (where I teach special education), stress at home (an ongoing issue with a family member), and some new health stress (not me, but my father), I find myself drowning. For whatever reason, I am just too exhausted to work out. It's like every bit of energy in my body is going towards worrying about things, and by the time I go to lace up my running shoes, I have absolutely zero left.

I know that if I just got out there and made it through the first mile, it'd probably feel so much better, but I just can't make myself go. Instead, I lay on the couch and take a nap. Falling asleep every day after work this week makes me think my body needs the rest and that I am doing the right thing, but it makes me feel guilty!

I am realizing, too, that stress and eating go hand-in-hand to screw you over. It's just the way it is. When I am stressed, all I want to do is eat something delicious, something bad for me, something peanut buttery and chocolatey. But I know that if I allow myself to stress eat, my jeans will regret it. However, NOT letting myself stress eat makes those stressful times feel so much more. I know it's all psychological, and I keep fighting it. I've done fairly well today -- all my "bad" choices have been small in nature. But it takes so much willpower to avoid the bad!

It helped that my jeans were tight. It was a strong reminder of why it is I was avoiding the stress-eating!

Food Today:
Breakfast -- oatmeal with blueberries, Horizon half & half
AM Snack - Yoplait Greek Yogurt
Lunch: Fiber One cereal with fat free milk, sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, light ranch dressing, 3 of the baby fun-sized Baby Ruth bars
PM Snack - apple
Dinner - Subway sandwich (turkey on wheat, with lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, banana peppers, mustard, and vinegar) and a bag of apple crisps, 2 snack size York peppermint patties

My goal for tomorrow? Not to avoid all chocolate, because I'm smart enough to know that it's going to happen. But instead of THREE candy bars, as small as they may have been, I will force myself to stop at ONE. Same with the peppermint patties.

Although, to be honest, I just ate the last of the peppermint patties and I'm not going back to the store, so that one should be pretty easy to ensure! :)

**
How do YOU handle stress?

Cherry Blossom 10K -- A Definite Victory!

Headed down to spend the Cherry Blossom Festival weekend with my extended family. Saturday morning was the 10K race. I woke up nervous - at what point do the nerves go away?!?

I did great. I was super proud of myself. I ran all 6.2 miles at a much faster pace than normal. My last few long runs have been at roughly 13:30 minutes per mile. But I finished the race in 1:11:29, which was an 11:32 mile! My last 6-miler that I ran took 1:21, so it was a full 10 minutes faster. A definite win for me!

The guy who won the race did so in 39 minutes. I am amazed.

What really made the event interesting was the race results:

Name From Bib # Age Place Finish Finish time
Amanda **** Athens GA 515 19 1 F 15-19 1:11:29.0

Um.... I am not from Athens. I am definitely NOT 19. And I'm willing to bet I was not the first person in that so-called age bracket to cross the finish line after an hour and eleven minutes! I went back to double check my registration information, and all the information was correct on the form, so who knows what happened.

Also, I wound up running beside a girl for 5.75 miles of the race. We ran at about the same pace and it was so nice to have someone to talk to while running. I crossed the finish line maybe 20 seconds before she did.

But in the race results, the person to finish before me crossed the finish line 2 minutes, 17 seconds before I did. And the next person to finish after me crossed the line 3 minutes and 21 seconds. No record at all of someone finishing directly behind me.

I may have called my mom and said, "You saw someone there, right? She's not a ghost?!?"

I have no idea, but someone jacked up those results.

In other news, I am going to go back to posting what I eat. I got off that for a week or so, and it was far too easy to pretend I never ate ALL THOSE Reese's peanut butter eggs. Starting tomorrow, I am back on track (again!). Le sigh. Such is the life of a girl who is NOT a natural skinny girl! :)

**
How was everyone's weekend? Anything interesting happen?!?

Mama Said There'd Be (Weeks) Like This...

Man oh man, it's been an insane week. It's been a week of leaving for work at 6:30 and getting home around 9 at night. Needless to say, I fall into bed, sound asleep!

Not to say I haven't been getting the workouts in. Monday afternoon, I discovered I was officially a REAL runner. Or maybe just stupid. Or maybe a really stupid runner! It was 85 degrees, high humidity, and the pollen count was 9,350. Yes, that's right. Nine THOUSAND. Everyone else I knew backed out of running that day. Not me, I tied on my sneakers and hit the road for 4 miles. I had my heart rate monitor on, and it was amazing to watch. My max heart rate was higher than normal through the whole run, and even the end, which was all downhill, my heart rate remained close to what it is normally during an uphill climb. But I survived and did not die afterwards, so yay!

And yesterday, I had a great workout. I set my interval timer for 24 rounds, with 30 seconds max interval and 10 second rest interval.

Round 1:
Burpees and Pushups
Squat and Press with weighted ball
L Leg Pushups (a regular pushup, but one knee is bent up to form an L in the air, leaving you to balance one one leg)
Knee Lift on the Dip Station

Round 2:
Burpees and Pushups
Squat and Press with weighted ball
Military Pushups
Shoulder/Knee sit-ups with weighted ball

Round 3:
Burpees and Pushups
Squat and Press with weighted ball
Monkey Push-ups (stand with legs straight, bent at the waist with palms flat on the floor (like an inverted V). Then bend your elbows, bringing the top of your head close to the floor, then straighten your elbows again).
Oblique Side V Abs

I say it a lot, but it's so true -- 12 minutes and I was sweating!

Today, no run because my yard was completely atrocious. So I had to come home and do some yard work. BO-RING. But it's okay. It was a good workout. Plus, I've got a 10K race on Saturday. Maybe it's just a baby taper. :)

Hope all is well with everyone else -- happy Wednesday!

Beautiful Day, But SO NOT a Beautiful Runner!

The last week has just been amazing here in Georgia. Highs in the upper seventies, sunny and just plain gorgeous. So today, I donned capris and a tank top to run in, for the first time in months. I was so excited. Spring fever has hit BIG TIME. I did a 6-mile run, and it was super hard. Surprisingly hard, even. I did the same path I almost always run on and I would find myself struggling at places I KNOW I didn't struggle the last few runs. I don't know if it was just a rough run or if yesterday had something to do with it.

I woke yesterday with a headache. No biggie, happens sometimes. But by 8:20 when my students were coming in, I was perpetually wincing. The overhead lights were way too bright, the students gabbing as they came down the hall were way too loud. I felt way too overstimulated and almost nauseous from the pain. So I got a sub there and headed on home. Made it home and fell face-first on the couch, where I slept for four hours in my jeans and sneakers. Woke up around 2:00, ate some cereal, and slept until 5:00. By the time I woke up the second time, the headache was down to a dull roar, much more like a normal headache. I still managed to stagger to bed, exhausted, at 9:00 last night and slept until 6 this morning. When I opened my eyes this morning, I did so with great trepidation, but fortunately, the headache was completely gone. I'd never had a migraine before, and I hope I never do again. I have no idea if it would have an impact on me today, but for whatever reason, it was a rough run.

But hey, we appreciate the good runs all the better for those bad ones, right?!?!

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My splits for today's runs weren't great (again), but I've come to accept that anytime I run this particular course, I just need to be happy about making it up a monster hill!

My inner diva is doing a little dance, complete with cartwheels, because I ran up that bad boy without stopping, even if it was slow!

After the run, I got back in my car and looked at myself in the rearview mirror. OUCH. Bright red face, these weird little spiral curls soaked with sweat that had plastered themselves to my forehead and cheeks, and this weird white circle around my mouth. No wonder I got strange looks while running. I'm sooooo not a pretty runner. I can't even figure out what the white ring around my mouth means. But whatever it may mean, it's rather unattractive.

Next time, I'll take a picture for you guys. I have to have proof of just how bad it looks when I'm done running, especially in warmer weather! It reminded me of this picture:

Weighed in today, and I was somehow half a pound less than I was two weeks ago. Maybe my days of detox worked! Whatever it was, I am very relieved.

Today is a lazy afternoon. I'm making a running mix for a friend of mine who has just begun running, and generally relaxing before tonight. It's Girls' Night, and we are celebrating St. Patrick's Day at an Italian restaurant tonight. :) But the best part will be AFTER the dinner. We are going to a place called The Chocolate Bar. That's right, it's a bar. That serves chocolate. Wine and chocolate. I may never leave.
***

I need new running music. Any ideas, anyone?

March Detox Day # 1 = Success!

I'm not sure which switch in my head flipped on (or off) last night, but somehow, avoiding the things I shouldn't today seemed easier. I had a Tervis tumbler of water with me all day, along with a packet of gum in my pocket. Whenever I had the urge to grab chocolate, I took a huge swallow of water and popped a piece of gum. It worked - for today, at least!

Today's tempo run at the gym was kind of awesome, as well. I watched the end of Lost Season 1, episode 2, and then about 20 minutes of the third episode. I forgot how much I love this series. It made running in place much more bearable. I don't know what I'm going to do when my mom remembers that I have her iPad and demands it back!

One more day of workouts this week - strength training tomorrow. I already know it's going to be murder on my butt and thighs. Is it weird that I am looking forward to that? Also, today was GORGEOUS. Sunny and blue skies, with a high of close to 80. I wore shorts and a tank top to run in, and it felt amazing to have the sun on my skin. Know what gorgeous days are meant for? Driving around in the car, windows down, sunroof open, and 311 blaring loudly on the radio. Hello, 1996!

Food today was good. I'm pretty proud of myself. Only splurge was a handful of BIG Cheezits after work today. But that wasn't splurge. It was curiosity. I can't help it if I'm an inquisitive person and I've never before eaten them! (They were amazing, by the way, in case you were wondering).

Food Log:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with protein powder and pear
AM Snack: apple, 12 almonds
Lunch: Chicken of the Sea single serve tuna, piece of cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, 1 tbsp Ken's Light Ranch
PM Snack: peanut butter granola bar and 2 prunes
Dinner: Chick-Fil-A grilled nuggets (standard Wednesday dinner), baked sweet potato, asparagus

Go me! :)

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Frustration

Why is it so hard to get back on track with food???

I've been on Weight Watchers for ten months. I did great with consistently watching what I ate. Saturday was always my splurge day, so any mad cravings I had usually waited until then. And it worked.

I gave myself last week off for my birthday. BIG mistake. While I didn't go crazy with food every day, I definitely ate differently than I normally do. Every meal didn't include some form of lean protein, a fruit or a veggie. I had more carbs than normal (including cereal for dinner a couple times), and definitely more sweets (I'd swing by the candy basket at work a couple times a day and I did so gleefully).

But now, I am trying to get back on track and it is SO HARD. I feel like I am way more hungry than normal. I guess I just need to get myself back into a schedule with my eating? And also, ALL I WANT is carbs. I had to fight with myself not to make a biscuit to have with my lean beef and green beans for dinner tonight. And I had a York peppermint patty, but that wasn't enough. So I ripped open a bag of the tiny size Reese's cups and ate half before pouring the rest out into the trash.

I guess I just have to go cold turkey. Back to my normal diet, with absolutely zero slip-ups for a couple days to get the taste of peanut butter and chocolate out of my mind, huh?

Why does it have to be so hard?

So here's the deal. I'm going to make myself tell you guys EVERYTHING I eat from now until Friday night. Hopefully, three days of detoxing will help me. I also think I need to weigh in on Saturday. I was debating it, because I know I'll be up, but I think I might need the jolt of SEEING the number on the scale higher than it has been.

So (gulp), here we go:
Breakfast: 1/2 cup Fiber One cereal, 1/2 cup skim milk, blueberries
AM Snack: 12 almonds, pear
Lunch: Gorton's tilapia, sweet potato pinwheels, cucumbers, tomatoes, 1/2 boiled egg, and 2 tbs Ken's Light Ranch dressing. After that came some random stress eating, where I popped two Baby Ruth bars and three Butterfinger bars, but not the normal sized ones. The teeny tiniest ones. But STILL!
PM Snack: Apple, protein drink
Dinner: Lean beef, green beans, grape tomatoes, York peppermint patty, 1/2 snack bag of Reese's peanut butter cup minis.

See? A lot of what I eat is decent. I just have to somehow avoid the chocolate. Any ideas to help?

***
What do you find so hard to refrain from eating in your daily life?

Confessions of a (Lazy) Runner

Okay, I have to confess something.

My name is Amanda... and I'm a lazy runner.

I can run through a lot. I will run when I'm mentally tired, and I will run when I have a headache. I will run through 90+ degree heat, and I will run in 30 degree cold. I will run if I don't want to, and I will run when I'm feeling sick. However, I will NOT run if my sleep has been compromised! I posted a few weeks ago about a night of tornado warnings, and how a lack of sleep kept me from running that next day. Well, thankfully, last night was much less scary and dramatic, but I didn't sleep very much. Therefore, no run this morning. :)

Some friends of mine and I got together last night for pizza, beer, and birthday cake. I mean, does it get any better than that?!? Also, I love stretching out birthday fun for a week! We ate until we were stuffed, sat around and laughed, played games... Just an all around good girls night.

I have a total love affair with Publix marble cake with buttercream frosting. YUM!

Even though I got home at 12:30ish last night, the REAL reason I didn't sleep so much is this:

Everybody, meet my little brother, Casper. I'm puppysitting while my parents are on a two week cruise to the Caribbean (rough life they lead, huh?). Casper has stayed with me before, but it never fails. The first night he stays with me, he yelps and whines and barks his way through the night. He would be much more silent if I let him sleep upstairs with me, but I have my own little one that wouldn't much like that:

This is Fitzy. He's a 17-year-old half Himalayan, half Ragdoll cat. And he's my baby. He's been an only child for 17 years, so to get used to having a dog in the house, is not working out so well. So in my two story house, Casper gets the downstairs when he visits, and Fitzy stays upstairs. No mixing of the two!

Aside from pet drama, it's been a pretty relaxing weekend. Hit up the grocery store, and I realized that my purchases over the last 6 months are so different from before. Before I really began thinking a lot about what I ate, I bought all sorts of "diet" food - reduced fat Cheezits, Diet Coke, Snackwell cookies, Weight Watchers pizzas, etc. It was like I hadn't yet resigned myself to the fact that I had to eat well, so I made myself feel better with diet versions of foods I love (chips, sodas, cookies, pizzas). Now, however, it's a little more nutritious, and a little more boring, not gonna lie. :)

This is an average haul for me: blueberries, grilled tilapia, tuna fish, organic milk, chicken cutlets, asparagus, sweet potatoes, part skim mozzarella, pears, apples, zucchini, and yes, even a bag of prunes! I worried I might have to prove that I'm a elderly lady just to be able to buy the prunes, but luckily, the cashier took the streaks of grey in my hair (come on, I teach elementary special education, of COURSE I have grey hair!) as proof enough.

That was about the only productive thing I did yesterday and today. Today, I am super sore from a workout yesterday morning. It took me about 20 minutes and I am feeling it today! (Click HERE to go the BodyRock site and check out some workouts for yourself!)

Yesterday's workout had 3 parts to it. Parts 1 & 2 were 12 intervals of 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest, with two exercises that I went back and forth for:
Part 1:
1) Jump Mat Pushups -- Get in a push-up position. Keeping upper body still, jump with your feet together to the right until the balls of your feet land near your right elbow off the side of your mat. Then back to center, then to the left, then back to center. Do a pushup and repeat the jumpings.
2) Pushup Toe Touch - Get into position and complete a push-up. Then bring your left leg underneath your body (still planking!) and touch with your right hand and return to start. Do another pushup, then touch your right toe with your left hand.
(Great workouts for upper body strength, but also for core stability)

Part 2:
1) Squat Jump Clean & Press: Squat down and jump up. As you land, reach down and pick up kettlebells. As you move to a standing position, lift the kettlebells up and over your head. Squat back down to put the kettlebells back on the floor, immediately do a squat jump and start back over.
2) Switch Lunge Kick - Get into a lunge position, but bend over and put your hands flat on the floor. Do a small jump lunge and switch the legs, but keep your hands on the floor. Rise up and kick up the back leg and meet with the opposite hand. (There are better explanations and pictures and video on the BodyRock site!)

Part 3 -- All ab work. I set my timer for 50 seconds work and 10 seconds rest, for 8 rounds.
1) Plank Toe Touch on Ball - Get into a plank position, with your feet resting on an exercise ball. Using your core muscles to keep you balances, slowly lower one leg off the side of the ball so your toes touch the ground. Return to the ball and lower the other leg. Do as many as you can in 50 seconds.
2) Reverse Curl & Stand - Lying on your back, do a reverse curl (lift your legs in the air and use your ab muscles to lift your butt off the ground an inch or so). As you come back down, use your core muscles to help your legs drive you to a standing position without using your hands. Sit back down without hands and rock back into a reverse curl. Continue for 50 seconds. (Think about Turkish get-ups when you do these!)
3) Plank - Hold a plank position for 50 seconds
4) Ball leg Lift - Use a stability ball to balance yourself. Lift your arms over your head and grasp a doorjamb to help maintain balance. Lift and lower your extended legs, using your core muscles to maintain balance. I promise you, 50 seconds is not a lot of time, but you will think it is during this exercise!

The rest of the day involves napping with Casper, cuddling the kitty to reassure him that he's still my favorite, and watching a lot of TV. No work for this teacher today - gotta love furlough days. Woot woot for unpaid days off!

***

What, if anything, keeps YOU from a scheduled run? Weather? Illness? Moods? Come on, you can tell me!

A Gorgeous Saturday and a Fabulous 5-Miler

Could I be any happier?

In the immortal words of Ice Cube, "I gotta say... Today was a good day." :)

Started off with my long run for the week. Only 5 miles, but I was super proud of myself. It was a slow run, an average of 13 minutes per mile, but I ran the entire time. It's the first time I've run that long without stopping! Normally, I would run a mile, walk a but, run some more, walk a bit, and so on. It's funny how even running/walking would be faster than what I am doing now, but I am constantly running. I'm a happy girl. It was 37 degrees - perfect for running - and absolutely beautiful. Clear blue sky, slight wind, and bright sunshine overhead.

My splits are pathetic, but I'm proud of myself, so I'm showing them anyway:

You can tell how miles 2 & 3 were almost steadily uphill, then I turned around and came right back down. It took effort to run slowly downhill! Here's the elevation map for the run today (so you understand why so slow for part of it!):

Afterwards, I met a friend at Starbucks for breakfast (the oatmeal and brown sugar, plus a skinny cinnamon dolce latte!) and then went shopping. At Old Navy, I bought some much-needed running shirts. There's only so many times you can run in a tech shirt. I like bright colors! Even better - they were on sale for about five bucks apiece!

I also got a new shirt. I have a mild obsession with stripes, so I couldn't say no!

And after shopping, I took advantage of the weather:

Yep. Sat outside in my jeans and bare feet, with my Women's Health magazine. I also surveyed my backyard. I moved into my house a year ago and have done nothing to the yard yet. But I am starting to dream. I have a very big yard so there's lots of potential. But right now, it's a big expanse of patchy, half-dead grass!

Here's another view of the yard, this time from the back of the yard looking towards the house:

(Also, I recently had the exterior of my house painted. It looks so much better than it did before!).
After my time in the sun, I walked around Home Depot and snapped some pictures of the plants I wanted to use in my yard. After that came a haircut, which I would show you, except my makeup is off, and I wouldn't want to subject you guys to that horror. :)

All in all, a pretty fabulous day.

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Today's food:
Breakfast: Starbucks oatmeal with brown sugar, skinny cinnamon dolce latte
Lunch: Panera chicken noodle soup in a bread bowl, followed by 5-Spot frozen yogurt - yum!
Snack: almonds, protein drink
Dinner: Chick Fil A grilled nuggets, grilled asparagus, strawberries
Snack: 2 mini York peppermint patties

Abs, Arms, and Speed

After the food-fest yesterday, I started and ended today with a workout. I felt like I just really needed it!

The workout this morning was fab. I was super sore still in my thighs and rear from Tuesday's workout (isn't that the greatest feeling ever?), so I decided to stick with abs and arms. I set my interval timer for 16 rounds of 40 second work interval and 10 second rest intervals, and got to work:

1: Scissor Leg Switch and Butt Lift - 6 // 6
2: Toe Touch Ab Work - 11 / 11
3: Elevated Knee Lift (in push-up position, feet elevated on a chair, and you draw one knee at a time in towards your chest) - 19 // 20
4: Elevated Side Plank Lift Left (feet elevated in the chair, resting sideways with one hand on the ground, the other straight in the air. You lower your hips, then lift back to start, using your obliques to do so) - 10 // 11
5: Elevated Side Plank Lift Right - 1- // 11
6: Pushups - 11 / 9
7: Military Pushups (arms very close by your side, works more of your triceps than chest) - 8 // 7
8: Reverse Pushups (using a dip station) - 8 // 9

It took 13:30 and was pretty amazing. I love short and fast workouts!

Then, after work today, I hit up the gym to get some speedwork in. SmartCoach had given me today's assignment: Run 4 miles, including a warm up and cool down. Run 2 x 1600 at 11:23 minutes per mile, with 800-meter recovery run between each, and then a cooldown. So after realizing how bored I could get on a treadmill during last week's tempo run, I came prepared:

That scariness would be Matthew Fox's eye, peering out at me from my mother's iPad (I may have stolen it!) just as he wakes up from a plane crash in LOST. It's amazing how much better the run was when I could watch LOST while running!

Only bad thing was when I scared the man beside me because I gasped out loud when part of the plane exploded on the beach. I had headphones on and he wasn't looking at my iPad. All the poor man knew was that the weirdo woman on the treadmill beside him did a weird gasp/shriek thing randomly. I don't think it was a coincidence that he changed treadmills minutes later.

It didn't hurt at all to run. I may or may not have fallen off a table Tuesday at work (long story.... Okay, not so long, I'm just an idiot) and have this monster bruise on my shinbone. The picture doesn't do it justice and it makes my leg look weird, but I'm showing you anyway:

I know. It's a scary scary super albino pale leg, but the BRUISE is supposed to be the scary part!

But no pain at all. Much relief. Although, I will say, the super-slow recovery jogs amidst the speedwork jack with my average speed. I ran two miles in a consistent 11:23 minute per mile, but the other slow 2 miles made my average pace in 13:00s. Oh, well. There is a point to the slowness, there IS a point! Now, tomorrow is a rest day before my 5-mile "long" run on Saturday!

Happy Thursday, everyone!

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A Birthday = Sayonara to a Diet!

Well, I turned the big 3-2 today. And my friends helped me celebrate in style. They know my true sweet tooth, and they know the lengths I have to go to in order to suppress it to maintain my weight. But the sweets came out in droves today!

It all started with this:

I have a weird obsession with candy corn. Around Halloween every year, I will eat enough to make myself sick on it, and then I have to have a reprieve. But around my birthday, the craving comes back!
And then this came along:

I have seen these in the stores for weeks now, but never tried them. But one of my sweet friends bought them for me, and OHMYGOD, so good. It's almost obscene how good they are. YUM.
Then came two cupcakes from two of my amazing friends:

A Publix cupcake from my student teacher. If you have Publix stores in your area, you gotta admit, their cupcakes are amazing. If you don't... your world makes me sad. The frosting is the best part, and my wise student teacher knows this. So she had them add TRIPLE the frosting. And in fun colors! Love it. And yes, the ribbon on top kind of makes it even more sparkly and fun.

Red velvet. Just... Just... YUM. The frosting was to die for.
For every birthday on my grade level, we all take turns buying that person's favorite dessert and bringing it in to share as a mini-celebration. My favorite sweet was brought in for sure:

These amazing doughnuts were from Donut King, and they're so so so good. They're the most ginormous doughnuts ever. I might have had two. My poor jeans.
And then, finished the day off with two very yummy items:

That would be a Bud Light, some grilled shrimp, and French fries.

Now, I'm back home, in my bed, and my belly feels stretched to capacity. I am a happy, happy, stuffed birthday girl, but truth be told? I think I'm ready to go back to protein and fiber and water tomorrow!

Ending the post with something beautiful I got today. My parents left on a cruise today, but before they left, they made sure I'd get gorgeous flowers delivered to work from them!

Easy 3-miler that became 4...

Went running after work today. I started later than normal, because I had a meeting after work, so I didn't wind up beginning my run until about 4:45. I spent a good twenty minutes before changing clothes trying to think of reasons not to run. It was too late, my head was a bit achy.... But I finally shrugged off those voices, changed clothes, and headed out.

And I am so glad I did. I was supposed to do an easy three miles, but at the 1.5 mile mark where I could have turned around for an even 3, I felt good and strong, so I kept going. I finished out the 4 strong, not gasping for breath. It was a nice feeling. :)

I will say, running slowly is very interesting. I have to concentrate on maintaining a slow run when my legs want to speed up. However, I know that if I let myself speed up, I will need to walk sooner. As it was, I finished all 4 miles running, even if it was ridiculously slow!

But I can't help but wonder.... is taking it slow going to do anything for me? It lets me run longer, so that's good, right? And eventually, with my speedwork and tempo runs, my slow pace will increase until it's not so slow. That's the goal, at least. SmartCoach thinks it can get me running a half marathon in 2:25 by the time October rolls around, so I guess we will see!

Speaking of speedwork -- Wednesday (or maybe Thursday - Wednesday is my birthday and I might need to consume mass quantities of wings instead of running!) is my first ever speedwork run. I'm a little nervous!

Off to watch The Voice. Happy Monday, y'all!

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Pretty Much a Perfect Day Made Better by Disney!

After a pretty crappy night, I woke up to my alarm clock at 6:00 AM. The skies were still pouring down rain, the wind was still howling, so I laid still for a few minutes, debating with myself on the wisest option. But I had plans to meet my friend Jenni, so I hauled myself out of bed, threw on some clothes, and headed out. We ate at Chick-Fil-A, which is probably one of the most amazing fast food places ever. I normally get a chicken biscuit and hash browns, which is a whopping 19 points. I showed restraint today and only got the chicken minis, which are only 7 points. I feel like I am evolving as a person.

Or, if I'm totally honest, I 'll admit that I knew I was coming home to finish off a rather large portion of the Dirt Cake from my birthday celebration last night. :)

Today's Weight Watcher's meeting was all about exercise, which I loved. I think my brain has learned to love working out, simply because I forced it to. Ten months of six days a week workouts takes its toll on one's sanity - and enjoyment of exercise is often a symptom.

Afterwards, instead of going running like I normally do, I met my mom at Target, where I got a new purple running shirt, and then headed off for a manicure/pedicure. Is there anything more relaxing than having someone rub your hands and feet at the same time? I'm a little obsessive about pedicures. I get one every two weeks, because I refuse to have runner's feet. My feet aren't gorgeous, don't get me wrong. They are wide and chubby-looking, but they are smooth! So my toes are currently painted a hot pink, with palm trees, a sailboat, and little birds flying. It's amazing what my pedicure lady can paint on a toenail!

The afternoon consisted of meeting my friend Jessica for lunch. I meant to take a picture of my food (because believe me, it looked as beautiful as it tasted!), but I was SO HUNGRY, so I dove right in and messed it all up. But it was an amazing steak salad, with medium well steak, spinach, egg, blue cheese crumbles, tomatoes, almonds, and onions. YUM. And the restaurant, California Dreaming, had these amazing croissants with honey butter. Le sigh.

At some point between a big lunch out and a big dinner out, I napped for a little while. I don't know if you know this, but I am an expert napper. I can make a decision to nap, take my glasses off, and talk myself asleep in approximately forty-seven seconds. It's a gift. I'm an artist. A sleep artist.

But what made the night REALLY spectacular?

I am in the process of booking my flight for DISNEYWORLD! I'm going with one of my best friends in July, and I have never been before!

I'm a little bit excited.

A Sleepless Night of Tornadoes = No Run Today!

Welp.

No run this morning. I made the executive decision. Last night was a horrific evening of storms. I was very fortunate in that there was no damage to my house or right near me. However, I was awakened at midnight, 2:00 AM, and 4:00 with tornado warnings. Each time the text message woke me up, I'd turn on the TV, discover there was a supercell capable of producing a tornado right over my area, sigh, and heave myself out of bed. I live in a two-story house, so I refuse to stay upstairs during a warning. I grabbed my 17-year-old cat, my Macbook, my iPhone, and my Kindle (all the fine things in life!) and headed downstairs to my tornado room, which is a closet built in under my stairs. I'd sit there for 30 - 45 minutes, too scared to relax and try to sleep on the floor. Then, when it all seemed clear, I went back upstairs, try to sleep, and would wake up to another text message.

Needless to say, on VERY interrupted sleep? I'm not attempting a run today. I will do a mega workout tomorrow morning and call it a weekend. Monday will begun with runs again.

There's a word you need to know -- lilapsophobia. It's a fear of tornadoes.

My name is Amanda, and I am a lilapsophobe. I am totally, irrationally, completely, breathtakingly terrified of tornadoes. So the stress of not knowing whether one would hit last night was just as exhausting as the not sleeping.

But now, as I sit and look at the damage done in other parts of the country from these supercells, I am so grateful for having escaped unscathed. Entire towns have been wiped off the map, 44 deaths this week from tornadic activity... My heart breaks for Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, and every other state with damage.

Weekly Weight In, Dirt Cake, and Cherry Blossoms!

Normally, I weigh in on Saturday mornings. I wake up ridiculously early, weigh in at 7:00 AM, then head for a yummy breakfast somewhere, before returning for the WW meeting. (Don't tell my leader!).

However, tonight was a little bit different. I weighed in after work, because my mom was making dinner for my early birthday celebration. I was up a pound at the weigh-in, but I'm not letting it bother me. For one, I weighed in the afternoon, when I usually weigh in first thing in morning. That can cause a good one to three pound weight fluctuation. For another, I took my measurements the other down, a reassurance that I was headed in the right direction. Thirteen pounds left to go!

So I headed to the parentals', and had the yummiest dinner. There was cheesy baked ziti (with fresh mozzarella!) and homemade cheesy garlic bread, but the BEST part of the dinner was Dirt Cake. For anyone who has never had it, it's this amazing layered concoction of a cream cheese/Cool Whip/pudding/powdered sugar layer with layers of crushed Oreos. SO GOOD.

Like the three candles? Apparently, I am three years old!

"Oh the weather outside is frightful..."
Tornado warnings, tornado watches, hook echoes, oh my! It's a typical spring evening in Georgia, if a little early i the year. So as I sit in my bed and watch the weather (I'm a bit of a weather nerd and am totally obsessed with knowing the weather at any given point of the day!), I realize I won't be able to get my 4 miles running outside tomorrow. It's supposed to storm most of the day. So, with a reluctant little sigh, I acknowledge that I will be back on the dreadmill. But alas! All is not lost! I have my mom's iPad, and I fully intend on watching Friends or something else equally amusing on there while I run my 4 miles. Woot woot!

I had made a decision a few weeks ago to run a race a month in 2012, from February to December. February 2012 was the Berry College Half Marathon, and I just registered for March's race - The Cherry Blossom 10K in Macon, GA. I was born and raised in Macon before moving to Atlanta, and every March, my family and I go back to Macon for the Cherry Blossom Festival. It's one of my favoritest weekends in all the land. And now, there's a reason to make it even more fun - 6.2 more reasons to be exact!

Food Today:
Breakfast - 1/2 cup Fiber One cereal, 1/2 cup Horizon Fat Free Organic milk, 1/2 cup blueberries
AM Snack: apple, almonds
Lunch: lean ground beef, cucumbers, tomatoes, hardboiled egg
PM Snack: protein drink
Dinner: Baked ziti, cheesy garlic bread, dirt cake

No workout today. Tomorrow is a "short" long run day. Yay!

Monthly Measurement Check!

Since July 2011, I have been taking my measurements on the last day of every month. It has helped me determine whether I am actually losing weight. With my strength-training causing my weight itself to go up and down, I was finding myself getting discouraged -- until I started measuring myself.

I was down 1.15 inches in the month of February. That brings my total to 16.15 inches total. That is insanity to me.... Almost a foot and a half of fat GONE from my body. I love it!

I also had a great workout this morning. I did the Glad You Came workout from BodyRock. Six exercises, done twice through.

I set my interval timer for 12 rounds of 10 seconds rest interval and 50 seconds work interval. (All exercise descriptions are on the workout's page. Just click the title here: Glad You Came.

Exercise 1: High Knees
Exercise 2: Squat Lunge into a Side Lunge (both legs): 6 // 7
Exercise 3: High Knees
Exercise 4: Monkey Push-Up and Jump: 8 // 8
Exercise 5: High Knees
Exercise 6: Push-Up with V-Plank Jump: 6 // 7

Twelve minutes, and I was super sweaty! I love, love, LOVE BodyRock workouts. Also, on facebook, if you friend Zuzana Light, she does a ZWOW (Zuzana Workout of the Week) that are totally amazing. Check them out if you need some motivation for strength-training!

The plan my nutritionist worked up for me had me eating shrimp tonight with asparagus, but I was just not in a shrimpish kind of mood. So I got some help from Chik-Fil-A in the form of their new grilled nuggets. They are SO GOOD. Love that Chik-Fil-A has options to help me be healthy!

Today's Food:
Breakfast: Fiber One cereal, 1/2 cup of Horizon organic fat-free milk, 1/2 cup blueberries
AM Snack: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 green pepper cut into sticks (and also a fun-sized Snickers)
Lunch: grilled tilapia, a slice of Ezekiel cinnamon-raisin toast, strawberries
PM Snack: cottage cheese, protein drink
Dinner: grilled chicken nuggets, asparagus, strawberries (and there may or may not have been a few handfuls of Cape Cod cheddar and sour cream potato chips).

Now, super excited for tomorrow for many reasons. 1) It's FRIDAY! 2) No workout in morning, so I can sleep in thirty minutes longer! 3) No workout in afternoon, so I don't need to worry about remembering my clothes! 4) Early birthday celebration with the family, where I get to eat baked ziti, cheesy garlic bread, and DIRT cake!

Might be the greatest Friday known to man.