Happy Halloween

 I have never been much of a Halloween lover (if you are, please don't judge me).  I always hated that my birthday was in October, I wanted it in the spring.  But Maddox told me a few years ago it was his favorite holiday, so I bought a bunch of decorations for him.  He put up none of them this year, and I was too lazy to do it.  Plus, I kept thinking Halloween was a long ways out, it's not, it's today.  I will likely go trick or treating with Asher and Damian, with Maddox tagging along.  He's going to be a character from the video game Fall Guys.  

Working with kids, I've heard a lot of video game characters as Halloween costumes this year, most of which I don't know.

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I don't think I mentioned it, but I was looking at half marathons again a month or so ago, and found one in the Tri-Cities at the end of February.  That is where I ran my 2 marathons, and is close to where I grew up in eastern WA.  Anyway, this one goes past a winery that I really like (well, I've never been to the winery, just like their wines) and I thought that would be fun.  Chris could sit at the winery and then I could "steal" a drink from him as I ran by.  

Anyway, the training plan I was looking at was supposed to start this week . . . and of course I've run less the last two week than I have all month.  In fact, last week I only ran 3 miles, just one run.  This week I've run twice (both 3 miles).  Even with these last 2 weeks of low mileage, I have run more this month than I have since April.  If I had run my normal amount last week and this week, I would have been pushing 50 miles, which is the most I've run in a long time, October 2022 I ran 66 miles, after that it's been very few.  October 2024 I ran 9 miles, yes, 9 miles for the whole month.  I have definitely been in a running funk for a long time. Interestingly, October 2022 was the last month I did my run streak, but even before that, I wasn't running a lot, maybe it was every day, but it was often only 1 mile.  In February 2022 I ran more than 1 mile 5 days a week, March I ran only 1 time more than 1 mile, that month I got 33 miles.  

I don't know what shifted at that time. My Dad died in October of 2021, but maybe that was accumulated stress from going through my parents house and stuff.  

Back to the half marathon, this happened at the beginning of the summer, right when I was supposed to start training for the half marathon I had decided on this fall, I quit running as much.  Maybe I just need to not decide on a half marathon and just run.  

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The weight loss pills I am taking . . . in about 4 weeks, I lost 8 lbs.  🎉 I noticed my appetite went down, I am not snacking at night, in fact, there have been some nights where I am short of my protein goal, and I have to force myself to eat something to get to 100g of protein.  I am hitting 100g (or more) every day, with supplements, I have found a good brand of protein bars (Pure Protein, 20g per bar) and a good collogen/protein powder (Vital Proteins, also 20g per serving) and a good whey protein powder that tastes just like lemonade (Myprotein Clear Whey Protein Powder, another 20g).  If I do all that every day, I'm at 60g and only need another 40g.  I can tell you the protein in 3oz of chicken (about 30g), roast (about 30g), eggs (6g), string cheese (7g), and there's a good (I think) organic turkey meat (20g) and I found a lower suger (9g) yogurt that has 16g of protein (the other yogurt had a lot more sugar and less protein).

Anyway, I was doing great, feeling great, and losing weight.  I was seeing a loss every week, often several pounds.  And then 2 weeks ago I quit losing.  I have been at the same weight for 2 weeks, nothing has changed . . . well, I did stop eating 2 protein bars, and that is around the time I added the whey protein powder.  But that should not be what makes me plateau.  My appetite is still gone.  I am still getting 100g (or more) of  protein.  It's frustrating.  I'm not stopping, but I am frustrated.  

Remember the above paragraph . . . 2 weeks ago I quit running 4 days a week and went down to 1 or 2 days, maybe there's a correlation there . . . hmmmmmm.  

The lady I see that prescribed the pills only does virtual.  She does not live in WA. I would prefer to see someone in person, but these pills are affordable and she is easily accessible.  She has a chat thing that I message her in and she responds within the day, even on the weekend.  So that's nice.

I hope you all have a great Halloween and happy November tomorrow!