Weekend runs

We had another nice weekend in the Pacific Northwest.  I'm sorry to all those east coasters that are swimming (well, almost literally . . . can you swim in snow? I guess the question is, would you want to?) in snow.  The temperatures were cooler than they were 2 weeks ago, but still mostly sunny.

So naturally I went for a run.  I read a quote on facebook the other day that said "Every day, I stop halfway through my run for five minutes, look around, and enjoy my surroundings.  I'm reminded of why I do this and why I love it so much." -Anita Ortiz.  Now I don't stop on my runs, but sometimes I like to stop and take a picture because I love the scenery.  But I thought what a great idea to do on my long runs (not that my long runs are very long, but if they ever get to be long again).

Well, on Saturday I decided to drive to the (one) trail in Burlington (I swear there are a dozen trails, at least, in Mt. Vernon) and run for 1.75 miles and turn around (for 3.5 miles total).  I run about a mile on this trail regularly, but I'm really sick of running straight from my house.  In Mt. Vernon, maybe my neighborhood wasn't pretty, but I always started my run going up a hill.  I liked that a lot because I felt like it made me stronger (and I'm sure it did).  Well, now when I start my run, I have to run through an industrial area (flat) to get to any neighborhood that I feel safe running through, and over train tracks (of which there is only 2 roads and one is a little less than a mile and the other is more than a mile from my house).  And that whole process is about a mile long.  To get to the (one) trail in Burlington, I have to run about a mile and a quarter first.  And it's not a pretty area. . . not to mention that this (one) trail is along the highway (I used to drive through Burlington and see that trail and wish I could run it, it's not that great).

So on Saturday I drove to the trail.  I wasn't sure how long the trail was, but I thought it was several miles.  Um, it's not.  I didn't even make it to 1.75 miles before it ran out.  Luckily there was a nice side road that I turned off on and finished the 0.25 miles to get to my target.  But I was starting to enter farmland, and I thought it was pretty, so I stopped . . . and took some pictures.  =)  I'm not sure if that is what Anita Ortiz meant in her quote, but it does allow me to share it with you.

A panorama

my shadow

I wold like to run that road (not necessarily the trail) because it looked pretty.  But that will be another time when I can run farther.

On Sunday I didn't want to drive somewhere, but I was thinking about how tired I am of my running route.  (It's only been a few months, I ran my running route in Mt. Vernon for a couple years, making a few changes every so often, but basically the same.)  Anyway, I was thinking about what I used to do when I first developed my route in Mt. Vernon, I would get on mapmyrun and, well, map my run before going out.  But often, on my favorite runs I would just get lost.  I always have an idea on where I need to go to get home, or get back to an area that I'm familiar with, but I loved taking roads I never had before and just running.  It is a little easier to do this when you are going to run a longer distance (especially when you have to run a mile to get past the train tracks and then to get to any interesting area), but I knew how far I wanted to go, and I have gotten (a little) familiar with about how far things are, so I just decided to go out and run.

And I loved it.  It was probably my favorite route yet.  I ended up finding a boat ramp to the Skagit River, and it was only about 2 miles away.  I ran down to the water and (of course) took a couple pictures.

There was a trail (more like an access road) that followed the river and I'm positive it was part of the Berry Dairy Days half marathon I did in 2013.  I knew where I got off that trail for the half marathon and it was several miles past where I wanted to be, I actually wanted to turn around at about the place I got on, but really, really wanted to run the "trail."  So I followed it, thinking I'd go a little ways and turn around if I needed to.  Luckily not very far from the start there looked to be a way out, so I decided to go see, and got lucky.  I even ended up in an area that I had ran before a few weeks ago so I knew where I was and where I needed to go.  All in all, I ran 4.77 miles (I was aiming for 4.5) so I was super happy with that.  It was a fantastic run.  I definitely will be adding that route to my frequently run routes.  =)  And maybe someday I'll drive to the boat ramp and park and run along the river, although it's gravel and it is harder to run in gravel (but maybe that's a good thing).

Yesterday and today my feet haven't bothered me at all.  (knock on wood)  I'd really like to increase the number of days I run, and I'd love to go back to 5 miles daily with a long run of 8 or more.  But I have to take it slow.  I don't want to continue this terrible thing with my feet.  Last week was only the second week of having increased my mileage on my 3 runs a week.  Maybe the next time I increase in a couple weeks, I'll do it by adding a day of only 2 miles, or maybe I'll increase to daily (2 times) 4 miles and a long run of 5 miles.  Here's hoping.

Another thing I've decided to do is update my weight regularly.  I tend to only update it when I lose weight, not when I gain.  But I don't think I need to do weekly "official" weigh ins.  My weight doesn't change that much from week to week.  So, I think I'll go to monthly weigh ins ("official" weigh ins, I still weigh myself daily).  I started March 1st, I was 146.  (Yay!)  So I'll update again on April 1st and see where I am.

3 years

Yesterday was my "runiversary."  I had been thinking about it off and on all February, knowing that it was coming up, and then forgot about it until just now.  I've talked about my first run before.  You can read about it here and why I started running here.  Yesterday was 3 years of running, and I didn't run.  If I had remembered on Wednesday, I might have changed my run from Wednesday to yesterday, but I didn't.

I have been trying to not skip runs or put them off because I was getting really bad at it.  I was still running the same amount (except that one week where I only ran 6 miles instead of 9 like I thought [and what I was doing at the time]), but not on my planned days and I'd like to do what I plan, at least for a little while.  =)

Anyway, I just had to share that I have officially been running for 3 years.  I am happy with that number, I wish that I could say I've done a marathon in those 3 years, but I have not, so I cannot.  However, hopefully by Feb. 26, 2016 I can say I have.

I'm so glad it's Friday.  Have a great weekend!

Food choices

I am not someone that will probably ever give up certain foods.  I have restricted most foods that I think are not good for me, with the exception of wine.  I eat (or drink) very little sugar.  I eat very few breads or grains.  I drink very little diet Pepsi. I don't eat much fried food.  I know that these foods are foods (or drinks) that cause me to gain weight.

On my President's Day weekend trip, I ate more than my usual amount of fried foods.  We ate out every day for lunch, and my mom makes the best chex mix (which she calls Scrabble) (that is the link to what I think is pretty close to her recipe).  It is very salty, and high in grains and I love it.  This is the only time she ever makes it (for our February trip) so I tend to eat a lot of it, we all do. I ate ice cream 2 times and didn't drink a ton of water.

I gained weight on President's Day weekend.  Quite a bit more than I thought I would.  I left on Friday weighing right around 146, and came home on Monday (weighed myself Tuesday morning) and weighed 152.8.  And then I didn't lose it all in one week like I expected.  I figured the gain was a combination of things, eating out a lot, high salt foods (Scrabble, potato chips[which I don't even care for that much]), fried foods (from eating out) and not drinking enough water. Oh and don't forget the ice cream. (My family doesn't drink much so that wasn't an issue, although my "favorite" sister and I probably had a little too much on Saturday night, but not a ton.) (I had more to drink on Super Bowl Sunday.)

Anyway, this Monday I was still sitting around 149 (I was happy to not see 15X).  Happily today I weight 146.2 (I'm so happy).

But why did it take a week and a half to get back to what I was before I left?  Well, coming back from vacation where you allow yourself to eat crappy food makes you want to continue to eat crappy food.  I brought home some of my mom's Scrabble, so I continued to eat that.  I had chocolate (everywhere) and I ate that.  And on top of that, on Tuesday when I went to work the Girl Scout cookies I had ordered had arrived.  It was hard to rein in the eating.

I finally bought myself some salad mix and started bringing salad to work every day.  Plus, I started to make it for dinner as well (as a side).  I finished off the Scrabble (how could I throw it away?) and gave the chips to Maddox.

So next year, what would I do differently?  Honestly, probably not much.  The nature of these trips is that we always eat out for lunch because we are always out sight-seeing or window shopping.  We always bring our own breakfasts (I brought my eggs) and we always cook our dinners.  I will continue to eat my Mom's Scrabble, and I will continue to eat ice cream.

What I can do differently is not continue it after I get home.  I know that once you start eating certain foods, your body craves them.  I am not addicted to food like some people, and I don't have an unhealthy relationship with food.  I just let serving sizes get too big.  Or eat too much of something. Or allow myself 3 pieces of chocolate instead of 1 . . . or 2 or 3 every day instead of a few times a week.

I have flirted with the idea of going no grains/no sugar for a while, and while I feel that is probably a good way to be, there are some things that I don't want to give up, and since I don't have an unhealthy relationship with food, I don't feel that I can't control it.  If I eat one donut (or even a half a donut) I am good with that and won't go back for 2nds or 3rds.  And honestly, donuts are probably the biggest trigger food I have (trigger for me being I can't say no and could potentially sit down and eat a dozen on my own)(which I never have.)

This post was not meant to go the way it is about to go.  However, while I was typing I remembered that a friend of mine is an advocate for eating disorder awareness and she has done several posts on FB about it.

This week is National Eating Disorders Awareness week.  Eating disorders come in many different forms.  Anorexia and Bulimia are the two that most people associate with eating disorders, but overeating, binge eating is also a disorder.  

Body image problems, disordered eating and full-blown eating disorders are common among athletes. Though most athletes with eating disorders are female, male athletes are also at risk—especially those competing in sports such as wrestling, bodybuilding, gymnastics, and running, which tend to place an emphasis on the athlete’s diet, appearance, size, and weight requirements.  (I stole this from my friend on Facebook.)

Thankfully I do not have this problem, but if you do or know someone who does, please, get help.

Running

After my really long post last week, I was going to follow up right after with one more specific to running, but obviously that didn't happen.

I decided last week that I was going to try to increase my miles again.  The last time I tried I increased the number of days I did it, so I was running 3 miles every other day and one 4 mile day on the weekend.  Well, my feet didn't like that very much, even after just one week, so I went back to every 2 days.   I try to run Friday or Saturday and Sunday, so that makes 3 days a week, with 3 miles Wed. and Friday/Saturday and 4 miles on Sunday.  I have found that this is gives my feet enough time to heal between runs so that I don't push them too much.  And even though I'm running 2 days in a row sometimes, giving it two days to heal (Monday and Tuesday) makes it okay.

Anyway, I was thinking that I'd like to start increasing mileage again, but maybe the every other day thing is not a good idea yet, so I decided to just increase my mileage on the days I am already running.  At first I decided to try to do 4 miles on Wednesday, 3 miles on Fri/Sat and then 5 miles on Sunday, that would put me at 12 miles a week, which is only 2 more than what I was.  Then I changed my mind and decided to go slower.

Last week I ran 3.5 miles 2 times and 4.5 miles on Sunday.  I am super happy to report that my feet don't bother me at all, well, at least not more than they were (so far).  I will continue this for a little while and see how it goes.

Have you heard about the crazy weather we are having here?  I'm sure everyone's heard about the crazy snow and freezing temperatures on the east coast, but the west coast is just as crazy . ..  but in the opposite direction.  We've had 60 degree weather here at times.  The trees are budding, daffodils are blooming, I even saw some mosquitoes this weekend at my house (they're going to be so bad this year).  It is only February.  It feels like April here.

After my run on Sunday

On Saturday Damian had spent the night at a friend's house so I had to go pick him up in Mount Vernon (remember I moved to the neighboring town of Burlington).  Anyway, I decided to take Maddox and Damian to a park in M.V. (there is only one park in Burlington and it sucks, there are 5 (at least) in M.V. and 4 of them are in walking distance (although 2 are a bit of a walk).  I decided to take them to the park I used to run to over the summer where I would let Maddox play for a little bit before running home.  I left them at the park to play while I ran parts of my old running route.  (I really, really, really, really - did I say REALLY - miss my old running route.)  It's all in neighborhoods in M.V. and I love looking at the houses.  I haven't done a ton of exploring through neighborhoods in Burlington, mainly because the neighborhood I live in is small, and to get to any of the cool ones is longer of a run than I've been doing.

Anyway, it's amazing how hilly M.V. is compared to Burlington, and I didn't even do any of the hills that I used to, just the "flat" parts.  Don't get me wrong, they're still fairly flat, but they definitely have more long, gradual inclines.  It was nice though.  I really enjoyed my run on Sunday.  I ran 4.72 miles and felt great afterwards.

Long weekend (picture heavy)

I had a really great weekend with my family.  We went to Long Beach, WA and it was a beautiful weekend, unlike last year.  The sun was shining the entire weekend, and it was warm (of course not 80 degree warm, but western WA in February warm).

Friday I got up and went for a run.  Last week I talked myself into putting off 2 runs, which meant that in order to even get 9 miles in, I would have to run two days in a row.  (I guess I could have run on Saturday, but knowing my history of not running while on vacation, I decided it would be best to not plan a Saturday run.

We decided kinda last minute (Wednesday) to invite Damian's really good friend to come with us.  He's never had a friend come (but I have a nephew that is 3 years younger, so they hang out) and this friend and his family really do a lot for us.  (They let Damian come over in the early morning before school when I go to work and then after school waiting for me to come pick him up.)

My sister from North Carolina and her family came again.  Her son is only 3 months younger than Maddox, so they had a blast hanging out.

The age of technology, A.J. eating breakfast while looking
at my sister's phone.

They liked to sit in the window and look outside.

On Saturday we went to this gigantic antique store.  One we had never even seen before, and spent hours there.  Literally, hours.  Everytime we thought we were almost through the whole thing, we'd find another room, that led to another room.  It was seriously huge.  Chris and I didn't even get through the whole thing.  My family was paying for their stuff, and we still had a quarter of the store left.  (Chris was looking for something very specific that his Grandma had so he wanted to be thorough.)

We did find some Uranium glass, which was made before and during the depression and made with Uranium in it.  It is considered radioactive (but not harmfully so . . . although I wouldn't eat off it) and glows under a black light.  Chris has wanted to start a collection of it for a long time, but it's rather pricey, especially online.  They had a whole case full of it, so I talked Chris into getting one piece ($45).  I had my mom go back the next day with some money to get another piece ($50) for his birthday (June).  (When we got home we had to go buy a black light.) =)

Anyway, when we found out everyone was leaving I told Chris that I had to go, my feet were killing me (not plantar faciitis killing me, but walking for hours in a store killing me.)  We got done with that store and went back to the house and I rolled my feet (instant relief).  Then my parents said they were going to go to another store that my dad had seen last year and wanted to go back, I decided I wanted to go as well.  We spent another hour or so in that store, it wasn't nearly as big and was much better organized.

I LOVED these dishes.  Too bad they were $625.

This was an awesome little nook that I sat in for awhile
waiting for my parents and Chris to be done because my
feet were hurting (again).

Saturday night we played games, which is what we always do on these trips.  Apples to Apples has become a tradition, and Catch Phrase started shortly afterwards. (Last year my mom got Apples to Apples picture version and I don't like that one very much, but the kids like it.)

(Two pictures so we could get everyone)

On Sunday I got up early-ish and decided I HAD to go for a run.  It was just too beautiful not to.  Plus there was a trail that I really wanted to run last year that I didn't because it was too stormy.  I went for my run around 9:30am, and it was about 50 degrees outside.  I dressed way too warmly for it, I was expecting more wind, but there really was very little.  It was a beautiful run, and I wish my feet were healed more because I would have loved to have done more of it.  As it is, I only did 4 miles that once.

The majority of the run was just dunes 

But every once in awhile I'd get these gorgeous views of the ocean

After my run Chris wanted to go for a walk on the boardwalk, so we did.  That was a really nice walk as well. 

By then it was lunchtime.  Have you ever tried to decide where to eat with 15 people (well, 9 adults, but the teenagers-3-wanted a say too).  We decided on a place we went last year that we all liked and wasn't too expensive (it was still $55 for the 4 of us, we didn't get food for Maddox, just shared all of ours with him).  

After that the family decided to go separate ways, and do the touristy stuff downtown.  Chris and I walked up and down the main street, but didn't really feel like shopping at all.  We had been in all the stores last year, and the years before we had visited Seaside and a few years ago Long Beach, and I feel once you've been in one of those touristy stores in the same general area (Seaside is not very far down the shore in Oregon) you've been in all of them.  We ended up not going into any stores at all.  We did stop and get some ice cream. (Yum!)

Sunday evening we went back to the beach so my mom could watch the toddlers (my nephew is only 3 months younger than Maddox) feed the birds.  However, it was the start of clamming season, and the beach was really crowded, so the birds were not around.  On the bright side, the sunset was gorgeous and I took way too many pictures (don't worry, I won't post them all).  

After the sunset, the view from the house we were renting.

Sadly, Monday we had to leave.  So we got up and packed.  And then remembered we needed to take a family picture, especially since we had forgotten last year.  

My brother-in-law, the one looking over his shoulder, set up
his phone as well, but it fell as he was headed to his spot, that
is why he is looking back.  My phone happened to catch the
moment perfectly.  I love this picture, all the faces.  =)

After we were all packed, Chris and I and our gang decided to go into town and go to the beach (in WA you can drive on the sand) and then get some ice cream.  We definitely weren't ready to go yet, we had fun with the waves and watching Maddox with the water (and no one got wet).  =)

 

We left Long Beach about 11:30, which is why we had ice cream (not because it's good).  I didn't want to eat in Long Beach where the only fast food was McDonald's and the cheapest place other than McD's was the place we ate on Sunday (remember $55).  So we decided to wait till we got out of town and could find a cheaper place.  About 30 min (maybe 45 min) outside of Long Beach is a little town with a cute diner decorated like the 50's that we've stopped at before.  Chris wanted to stop there, but I wasn't hungry at all and neither were the kids.  However, as we drove past I saw my parents and 2 of my sisters (my sister, Nancy was long gone, they don't dawdle when they leave, they just leave) were walking into the diner, so we stopped.  It was a nice lunch and my Dad paid (which wasn't my intention at all).  

I was trying to get a picture of them on their phones, which is what they did whenever they sat down.  

On the way home there was the most beautiful sunset.  I was watching it, and I looked back and Damian was enthralled.  He didn't look away, he even took a picture.

He's such a sweet kid (even if he's 16).  He told me this morning that it was so pretty he just couldn't look away (we were talking about the pretty sunrise this morning, which is why the sunset came up from 2 days ago).

Whew!  What a long post . . . but I have one more thing to add . . .  Vacation eating wasn't kind to me.  Remember I was flirting around with 147-146 last week.  Yesterday morning I was up to 152 . . . ouch!!  I ate very well yesterday and was down to 150 this morning.  Hopefully I continue to go down, I am continuing to eat good, so I shouldn't stay up that high.  Lots of salt, and fried foods . . . not to mention ice cream twice, although I had very little candy (we forgot to buy taffy, who goes to the coast and forgets to buy taffy??).  I actually thought I didn't eat that poorly, but the scale disagrees and I didn't track very good.  Just enough to keep my streak (60 days-although it should be 311 days, it didn't count a day 60 days ago even though I logged in) on myfitnesspal.com alive.

Even with the increased weight, it was a great weekend.  I honestly wouldn't change anything, even my food choices.  =)

Running

Earlier today I logged onto blogger thinking that I should write a post.  After staring at the screen for a few moments with my hands poised above the keyboard, I realized I literally had nothing to say.  In fact, I almost wrote "I have nothing today."  And it's still (mostly) true.

However, I did read something that gave me (a little) inspiration.  Katie's blog, which I have followed faithfully for 3 years, and is probably one of my top 3 favorites.  She wrote this post yesterday, and I understand what she means.  She has been running longer than I have, and she just recently had a stress fracture in her ankle that has stopped her from running for the last 5 weeks.

Getting back into running after stopping in October and November has been much slower than I anticipated.  Granted, I am keeping it light on purpose because the last time I increased my mileage by a few miles my feet bothered me again.  And I find it much, much easier to put off a run.

For example, I was going to run yesterday.  I am going out of town this weekend and in order to avoid running 2 days in a row, I decided I needed to run Wednesday and Friday, and then most likely take the weekend off, because, let's face it, I never run when I go on vacation, even if I plan to.  However, even though I was home earlier than normal yesterday I decided to not run and just do it today.  Which means that I will need to run tomorrow as well to get as many miles as I'd like to have, which is 2 days in a row, which is what I was trying to avoid.

I don't plan my runs for the week, well, I do, but they are loosely planned and at least once a week I switch them around.  (Just like on Sunday, I didn't run on Sunday, which meant I had to run on Monday, which is why I was going to run yesterday, so I could run on Friday . . .) Do you see how changing just one day is a downhill spiral for me?

I have been sitting here all day thinking that maybe I wouldn't run today anyway and just save it for tomorrow and then PROMISE myself I'd run on Sunday.  But no, that PROMISE is never kept for me.  Vacations are fun and I tend to just let it slide.

I have started worrying that I will never get back to the dedication that I was just 6 months ago.  100 miles in a month?  Yeah right!  Maybe a marathon ISN'T a goal.  I can't believe I ever ran 5 miles 4 days a week with a long run of 7+ miles on the weekend.  I'll never get back to that.  Do I want to get back to that?  Those are the thoughts that run through my head lately, and I'm unhappy with them.  I LOVE running.  I LOVE that feeling of a new distance.  10 miles?  Fantastic!  13.1 miles?  Incredible!!
So how do I go back to that?  I don't know.  I'm sick of my feet hurting.  Other than completely stopping again (which I never want to do) I don't know how to make it heal any faster.  Yes, they are soooo much better than they were.  Today I haven't had one bit of pain.  But yesterday I did.  I do my exercises way more frequently than I ever have.  I am working on strengthening (and stretching) my hips.  But it just seems to drag on.

Some day I will look back at this and think, wow!  I forgot how much my feet hurt.  But that hasn't happened yet.

I double dog PROMISE that I WILL run a marathon someday.  (I hope it's this year, but if not, it will be next year or the year after.)

Double dog dare promise!

More weight nonsense

The exciting trend of lower numbers on the scale has continued for the last week.  I am consistently seeing 146.X.  I think I've only seen 147.X once in the last week.  This morning I was 146.7, yesterday after my run I was 146.0 exactly.  But I was super hungry and had just run, so it probably wasn't a "true" weight.  Anyway, I haven't had an "official" weigh in day for awhile now, I weigh myself daily and since the numbers seemed stuck at 148.8 for so long I just gave up on an "official" day.  However, now that the numbers seem to be going down again, I wonder if I need an "official" day or not.  I tend to lose a few lbs in a short time frame and then stay at that weight for a long time.  It usually happens because I change something up and my body decides to drop some weight.  I don't think I changed anything up this time, just got a job again and started eating like I used to rather than being at home and grazing.

This last weekend I did not do a long run.  I waited till Saturday do to my Friday run, but thought it was okay because I ran both Saturday and Sunday the weekend before and was fine.  Well, Sunday rolled around and I was lazy.  I didn't even get out of my pj's till about 4pm, when I decided to do some lunges and other exercises to help strengthen my hips.  I just put off Sunday's run to Monday.  Well, then yesterday I got home super late, much later than normal because of some errands I had to do and I really, really didn't want to run.  However, I had already told Chris I was going, he even started dinner a little later for me so I could run.  So when I got home I just got dressed without thinking about it and went for a run.  I'm glad I did (is anyone ever upset when the do run??).

My run on Saturday was very wet, and then I got
stopped by a train. =(

This weekend we are going to Long Beach, WA with my family (parents, sisters and their families).  We do this trip (not always to Long Beach) every year on President's Day weekend. The last couple years my parents have flown my younger sister and her husband and son from North Carolina to go on the trip with us and they'll be there again this year.  We've been doing these trips for over 10 years now.  We used to go "camping" in yurts because they're cheap and we could all afford it.

But my parents are getting older and we got tired of going to the same place every year.  So the last couple years we have rented a house, which is much nicer (there's a kitchen, bathroom, heat, beds that are comfortable, etc.).

Cupcakes and a standing workstation

Today I ate two breakfasts.  I got ready for work my usual way and that includes a cup of coffee and two hard boiled eggs (I've been doing this for a long time now and I still have not gotten tired of eggs, and I am rarely hungry before lunch, when I ate oatmeal every day, I was always hungry around 10am) and I read my newspaper.  I do this every weekday morning, have been for many, many months.

Well, I got to work today and remembered I was supposed to meet a client at Denny's.  I was super uncomfortable going to Denny's and not ordering anything (I thought about coffee, but restaurant coffee is disgusting) so I looked up their omelets.  They had a veggie omelet that looked good, so I got it.  I asked for half an omelet because I really wasn't hungry, and the lady let me get a senior omelet, without the sides (I payed for the sides though, sadly).  Anyway, I ate half the senior omelet and was just so full I couldn't think of eating more.  (It was a really good omelet, although it had a lot of cheese.)

I decided I would just skip lunch today.  I have a hard boiled egg in my lunch bag just in case I get hungry after lunch and I decided that would be fine.  However, at about noon I realized that it was lunch time.  I was not hungry.  I was worrying that I would get hungry later.  So I went to the break room and there were cupcakes there to celebrate someone's birthday, and I ate one.  I didn't even like it, it had some weird cherry filling and was kinda gross, but I ate it.  All because I was "scared" to get hungry.  How silly is that?  I am not usually so stupid.  I am okay with letting myself get hungry, in fact, I'm always proud of it because it means I didn't overeat.  But today I was afraid I'd be hungry and because it was lunch time, I ate.  So stupid.  I don't know the exact calories in that damn cupcake, but I'd say at least 200, I put it into myfitnesspal and randomly choose one that popped up in the search results, I think the one I chose was around 215 calories, all because I was scared.  So incredibly stupid.

I have started standing at work.  Especially when I'm not doing anything work related.  When I get home in the evening lately I can't stand the thought of sitting down, so I tend to pace the house.  I am sick of sitting at least 10 hours a day.  The problem with this is that my desk is not meant to be a standing desk, so I have it jerry-rigged so I can stand and be on it.  =)

what I want

What I have-yes, that's a suitcase
type thing (the laptop carrier)

Everyone that's seen me standing at my desk has commented on it.  My supervisor asked me what I was doing and when I said "standing" he asked "why?"  I just found the way he said it strange.  It is so healthy for you to stand more and not do so much sitting.  I've heard many times that the benefits of an hour of daily exercise are completely wiped away by sitting for more than 8 hours a day, and in fact, even if you exercise, you are more likely to have health problems if you sit all day.  This means that even though I'm at a healthy(ish) weight, eat healthy(ish) and run 3 or 4 times a week for more than 20 min, Chris, who works on his feet all day long, and is overweight, never exercises, and eats a lot more than me, may actually be healthier in the long run than me because I sit so much.  That's sobering.

Speaking of cupcakes ; ) . . . I was talking to a coworker yesterday who has only been here 3 months longer than me.  I mentioned that I have never been at a job where they gave you so much food.  I counted it out and I have had at least 5 lunches catered for me since I started working here.  I've only been here 2 months.  I don't think my last job had that many in the 4 1/2 years I worked there (okay, I take that back, we used to get breakfasts, but those were drug companies that were peddling their drugs to the psychologists). Oh, and those 5 lunches are not counting the donuts or cupcakes that people have brought in.  I am usually pretty good at saying no to the really bad stuff, (donuts are another story) but not today apparently.

An update on my fluctuating weight.  Yesterday I was at 149, the highest I've been in awhile . . . and I completely blame my food choices on Sunday and my period, but mostly my food choices.  Well, today I was down to 148.6.  Okay, so if you really think about it, 148.6 is only 0.4 less than 149, but it's nice to see my old friend 148 again.  I want to be back to 146.X which is where I was on Monday and over the weekend (after one run, I even saw 145.8).  If I'm completely honest I'd like to be at 140 or lower, but I don't think that will ever happen.

Miles

Sigh . . . the Super Bowl wasn't so super for me.  But, one thing I know is that I love Russell Wilson (he's the Seahawks quarterback, if you don't know).  I think he's super classy and I hope that the fame and the money doesn't change him.

Anyway, the seasons over and I am sad that I won't get to watch more football.  Football season is so short. I mean baseball goes practically from the end of football all the way to the start of football.  And it's soooo boring.  However, Damian is a baseball fan, so I told Chris that I think we should make an effort to watch it with him.  ugh.  ; )

Enough sports . . . I really don't have a ton to say today.  I ran 40.5 miles in January.  That is up from 31 in December, 4 in November, and 0 in October.  However, in January of 2014 it was 100 miles.  BUT I am running, and I can't look at where I was, I have to focus on where I am.  I am happy that I am running, I am happy that I can run, and I am happy that it was 40 miles in January.  

I did not eat well on Sunday.  I knew ahead of time that I was not going to eat well.  I planned it.  However, looking back, I don't think I ate as terribly as I had planned.  Oh, I definitely ate crap food, breaded, fried food.  And it was good.  And I don't regret it.

 My weight didn't reflect it yesterday, but it definitely reflected it today.  I was up to 149 today, which is interesting because yesterday I was down in the 146 range.  But I'm okay with it.  I know it's a momentary reflection of my crappy food, I went back to eating healthier yesterday and will trust that my weight will go back down.  

Of course, today's gain may be because I (finally) started my period.  (3 days late, which had me freaking out quite a bit.)  I always am low right before my period and then I go up a little during it, so I guess we'll see how I look next week.

Last week my feet were bothering me more than they have for awhile so instead of running on Friday I took an extra day off and ran on Saturday.  However, that threw off my plan for Sunday, which was a 4 mile run.  I decided that I needed to run on Sunday in order to burn off some of the food I was planning on eating, so I ran anyway.  I don't like running two days in a row right now because of my feet, but I also felt like I needed to run, so I did.  And my feet haven't bothered me at all.  Strange.

I have been trying to work on strengthening my butt and hips and thighs, things I've heard tend to be weak in runners, so I've been doing squats with a rock (I didn't know where my kettleball was and the rock was handy, I weighed it, it's 11 lbs) and sometimes lunges.  I've also been doing a couple exercises that my physical therapist told me to do a year ago for my hips.  And a funny thing happened . . . I got faster.  =)  A year ago I was regularly running at around a 8:30 min mile (I just looked, on January 5th, 2014, I ran 7.5 miles and averaged 9.16 min/mile, that's good).  Anyway, I have been averaging around 9:30 min/mile lately.  On Saturday was my first under 9min/mile run in forever.  And then Sunday was just over 9 min/miles.  It feels good to be getting back to what I was.  

getting ready for some football

we were still in high spirits here

crashed!