5 mile run and hitting 100!

After running the last 2 mornings and a lot of kid activities yesterday and sitting out by our new fire  pit (just a portable one) last night and waking up continuously overnight smelling like smoke, it wasn't so easy to get up this morning. My alarm was originally set for 6:00 but I stayed in bed until 6:40. After eating and changing and driving to the rail trail I started around 7:45, 45 minutes later than I expected.

I wish I had taken my allergy medicine before I left!

It was slow going but I got it done. Towards the end I pulled off the trail to stand by a brook. It was beautiful.

And with that my first 100 miles of 2017 were done (in 2016 I hit 100 at May 21, but didn't run again until June 4, and in 2015 I hit 100 on March 31). So seeing that I ended up taking March 9 - April 9 off from running, this isn't bad.

Unfortunately I won't be back to my serene rail trail for a while. I've got a 5 mile race (and this one I will do!) over Memorial Day weekend (5 weeks away) and while it isn't hilly, it does have some rolling hills through Boston so I need to run where there are elevation gains and losses. Plus my running schedule will be a little off with Mother's Day and our anniversary coming up. But I will be back in June when I plan on working on extending my mileage up to 6-7 miles.

Weekly Weigh-in and Saturday Run

Knowing I had weigh-in this morning kept me from having anything when I took my daughter through the McDonald's drive-through at 8 pm last night after her softball game, even though I wanted to. That and the nutrition information on the order board which is much higher than the drinks we've been getting at Starbucks.

My scale said 219.4 this morning. I was pretty excited. I have about a pound to get to my 5% (the scales at WW fluctuate week-to-week on the difference between my scale and their scale - anywhere from .6 to 1.6 - they didn't used to - they used to always be 1.4 lbs).

Because I needed to go for a run and it was already pretty warm, I wore running shorts and a tank top to my meeting. And then drove to my run. I did the same 3 mile flat route I did yesterday - My time was a minute slower than yesterday, but that was to be expected since I don't usually run 2 days in a row and know I need to run 5 miles tomorrow. Tomorrow will be 30 degrees cooler.

Run done! 95 miles for the year. Later in the morning I went to my daughter's soccer game and in the 2nd half she came over complaining of an ear ache. The girl has had 1 ear ache in her life and she was less and 1 year old. She finished out the game but was in a lot of pain. Instead of calling and waiting for an urgent care appointment with her pediatrician, we went straight to our town's urgent care center. Ear infection it was. She's had a pretty nasty head cold the last few days. Poor kid. But the big thing is she is now old enough to swallow pills. Where did my little girl go?

It was 2:30 but the time we were done with Urgent Care. We hadn't eaten in 4 hours. Yes, we went to Starbucks. At least I didn't get whip cream.

Friday Morning Run

I didn't run during my daughter's practice yesterday. Instead of I took a the opportunity to make a quick run to the grocery store. We didn't need a ton because I don't feel like we ate that much food this week, but the basics (milk, produce). I will probably end up going again over the weekend because I did zero menu prep (we've got another crazy spring week coming up).

But I am determined to get to 100 miles run by the EOD Sunday (ie the end of the month), so I knew I had to get out this morning for 3 miles. I had friends going out but not until 6 am and we were meeting 10 minutes from my house. But I did it. Only 2 other people showed up. It was great to run with them again. At one point 1 person was struggling a little (it was quite humid out) so the other person stayed back, but I had to keep going because I needed to be back. Plus I refuse to walk any more. My time wasn't too bad either, but this is a completely flat course.

My plan is to get in another 3 miles done tomorrow right after my Weight Watchers meeting. Not perfect but better than doing 8 miles on Sunday!

The scale said 220.4 this morning. So close! I am taking it slow and steady this week and hope to be as successful next week (even if the scale doesn't reflect it) before I enter into the 2nd half of my cycle.

Thursday check-in

After the euphoria of my Tuesday morning run, the weather has been pretty crappy since then as has my mood. But food has been okay. Exercise - nothing :(

Tuesday I ate well during the day at work. We had a long, long meeting Tuesday afternoon so I didn't get my snack and I didn't leave work until after 5:00. Dinner was practically on the table when I got home - Taco Tuesday. I had my flaxseed tortillas unstead of the hard shells. I had 2 of them and filled them up pretty well, so overall I probably overate some.

Wednesday morning it was pouring. It is the day my husband goes into Boston early but my alarm was set for 5:30 to ride the bike. When his alarm went off at 5:00 I could hear the rain and even though I didn't need to go out in it, I turned off my alarm and went back to sleep.

Wednesday I ate well during the day and had my snack at home when I got home early afternoon to get the kids off the bus. After piano lessons, I just heated up some pasta that I had made for the week, because I needed to use it up. I did heat it up in real butter. And I made a huge salad to use up a lot of our produce. And I had 2 helpings of pasta and salad, so not great.

This morning I had laid out my clothes to get up and run.  The hourly forecast had "dense fog" for most of the overnight and morning. I just didn't feel comfortable running on my own in fog and I just couldn't bear going down on the treadmill. My daughter has soccer practice tonight at 6:15 - I figure I can get in a run while she is at practice, especially since where she practices is on the route of one of our town 5Ks.

The scale said 221 this morning - it has been slowly, slowly moving this week. I am hoping I can be strong the next couple of days. Seeing 219.8 on Saturday would be phenonmenal!

How Monday Went and a Tuesday Run

Monday was our first hectic day of spring sports.

I ate well during the day, eating all the food I brought instead of buying (not bringing my cash or cards into the office with me is a huge help!)

Both kids had to be at the baseball field (thankfully the same one!) and we had to leave at 5:15 and they didn't get home until 4:30. I left work early (normally Monday is my later day) so I could help with the chaos. Thankfully I had made a bowl of pasta the night before so we just had to heat some up for them and a hotdog for my son. Nope, no vegetables. I made myself a bowl of sweet potato noodles with taco seasoning, 2 hard boiled eggs, avacado, goat cheese and dried cherries. I didn't have time to finish it before we had to leave. And we got home about 8. Both kids wanted a snack so they had a cut up banana, one with PB and one with Nutella. They wanted them in a hot dog bun but I told them they didn't need a bun at 8:00 at night. We've all been hitting the carbs a little hard lately.

I lay out my running clothes and my alarm was already set for 5:30. I was on the road by 5:50. I was a little nervous because I hadn't run on my own in the morning in a couple of years but it was fantastic. I felt so much better 1) getting enough sleep 1) psychologically not seeing the clock say 4 anything and 3) running in light. It will only get lighter for the next 2 months! I wish I had started this a few weeks ago.

Running was a little bit fueled by my desire to hit 100 miles for the year by the end of the month, which means I have to run THREE times during the week. I had hoped to hit the 100 miles by the end of March (ie by the end of Q1) but I didn't mean to take a break from running for 1/2 of March and 1/2 of April. But I do want to keep it up. And tomorrow I plan on getting up and using the exercise bike (I can't get outside on Wednesdays). Thursday is supposed to be foggy but I need to do that on the treadmill then just to get my 100 miles done! And then need to pick up the pace - 100 miles in 1/3 of the year doesn't even allow for 400 miles a year!

During my run I was on such a high - I was trying to pinpoint what exactly it was - was it the light, was it the spring air, was it just running. I know the light had a lot to do with it, so my mind kept going to "how can I run during the light hours more once June 22 comes along" - I think when I was consistently running outside in 2014 I think I made to mid-July before I felt that it was too dark to feel comfortable running on my own. Currently I work from home on Fridays, which is typically not a run day for me. I can work from home a 2nd day, but I wouldn't start that until the fall. Wednesday is the day I would prefer, again, not a typical run day for me. If I were to do that, then I would look to run between 8:20 and 9:00 am after my son gets on the bus. So definitely something to think about! Granted, I wouldn't get a shower right away before I started my work day, but I can also get some work done earlier in the morning because I wouldn't be showering.

Weigh-in and a Run

I ate normally on Friday. I actually was at the office until 4:00 on Friday - something I haven't done in a long time. It was so a gross, rainy day, I knew if I stayed home (where the rest of my family was) I wouldn't get anything done.

Weight was 222.2 on Saturday. Can I get below 220 this week? I shall see. It is the beginning of our hectic Spring Sports schedule, which means not many family dinners for the next 8 weeks, which can be a positive (I can make what I want for myself for dinner) or negative (eating on the run, eating at weird times, potentially eating out).

My husband took care of the Saturday sports, so I could stay home at get a ton done - help my son with a school project, organize my clothes (I pulled a lot out which unfortunately don't fit - I put them upstairs for when they do, in addition to donating a bunch of clothes that when they do fit I know I won't want to wear). My daughter and I took a quick trip to Kohls where I got some new sports bras (I only had 2) and a couple of work shirts (in XL, which may be way too big). I am not buying more in XL - I just refuse too. I also got a new pair of sandals for work. Then we went to Target to get some bins to better organize our food pantry. And I got some work out shirts (unfortunately, again, a bigger size, probably too big) but anything to get me out the door feeling good.

Saturday night I made pasta for dinner and set my alarm for 6:00 so I could go for a run. It sure wasn't the tank-top weather of last weekend. I drove to the rail trail I love. So peaceful!

I did 5 miles without stopping which I hadn't done in a while (because I had been running around my house which meant inclines and hills). I just need to get my running mo-jo back and to me that means going back to basics - which means a flat Rail Trail. I did it in 1:05 which is a lot slower than I used to, but I need to just not think about "the way it used to be" That is my new baseline and hopefully over time I will get quicker. It just felt fantastic to do what used to be my normal weekend routine - WW on Saturday, run on Sunday.

What a long week it has been

Last weekend we were busy with sports, and spring cleaning and Easter.

Finally Saturday afternoon the kids were able to dye eggs.

Easter morning I headed out for 5 miles - I walked some (I was trying out a new water bottle to fit in my FitBelt - total fail - I need something I can put back while still running). But I got it done. By the end of the day I had 22,000 steps!

I got my annual picture of the kids in their ears.

Monday morning the kids and I woke up at 3:30 am to go to to Lexington, MA to watch the re-enactment of the Battle of Lexington (My pictures are still in my real camera). We came home and the 3 of us watched 3 different TVs all day long - I watched the Boston Marathon. I hate, hate running in the heat - I felt so bad for everyone!

The next day we headed out on an impromptu trip up the New Hampshire coast. The weather wasn't great, but I hadn't been on this road (to my recollection) so it was fun.

We brought stuff to spend the night - the kids had a blast swimming (I did swim some, but also relaxed)

I was in a cranky mood most of the weekend. So I wasn't completely surprised when my monthly visitor arrived on Wednesday, after 24 days. But 2 days later I am already feeling much better.

I didn't go to Weight Watchers last week - I really, really need to get back into it weekly, not every other week like it seems I have been doing. Honestly. I have NOTHING going on the foreseeable future so I should be able to go....every week until our vacation. There are 16 Saturdays before I go - the only one I could see missing is in late June. The day before I will be at the beach with my family. Oh yeah, and the day I pick my daughter up from camp - I think I need to be there at like 8 am. So out of 16 Saturdays, I am going to try to get to 12 of them. I think that is a good goal.

When we got home on Wednesday I purged a bunch of food out of the house. There is still some Easter candy left which I will throw out at the end of the weekend, if not before (I figure the kids have eaten everything they really like) and when I go grocery shopping tonight I am NOT buying crap!

Not a good week, not a bad week

The scale has been way up this week, but still left over from the weekend - I soley ate almost the whole bowl of chicken, artichoke, pasta salad over the course of 3 days.

I ended up not going to Track on Wednesday. It was pouring in the afternoon and while it was sunny when it was time to go, it was raw, and I chose to attend the Ice Cream Social fundraiser at the kid's school with my whole family. They are only young once and they look forward to it every year, so I didn't want to miss it. I was glad I didn't because I got to socialize with parents I hadn't seen in a while.

I also didn't run at all this week. Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings were all in the 30s. Okay, this morning I was a tad hungover. We brought my kids to my mother's last night, but not until after sports, so we didn't get there until 8:15 and then my husband and I had a date night and didn't get home until 11:00.

Needless to say, Weight Watchers isn't happening tomorrow morning. The craziness of the spring sports schedule is in full swing, along with everything I need to do for Easter, I just am skipping it.

Kids spring break started today. Mine officially starts in a couple of hours. I am off until Thursday. We don't have a ton planned, but it will be nice to not be at work. I've only had 2 days off since the holidays, 1 being for the stomach bug, 1 when I chose to take their 3rd snow day off.  And then I don't have any time off again for 2+ months.

Easter isn't my favorite holiday. I love, love, love Spring. But I don't love it when Easter interferes with our Spring break. But I do like it when it is later in the calendar year. I hate, hate, hate it when Easter is really early, when you still have weeks to go to feel like spring, especially here in the Northeast. Next year it is April 1. Yes, it is April, but still way too early. The year after that it is real late - the last weekend of our Spring break. But I do like decorating, and I do like the cooking (the meal I make is so easy) and I do like getting some of the annual pictures I take. Other than that, I no longer have a girl who is willing to dress up. And we aren't religious so there is no church involved. Sunday will be 82 - I kind of wish I hadn't invited my family and we could go to the beach or something!

Sunday was a perfect day

 I wish Sunday could have gone on forever!

Instead of waking up at 7:00 and running with the group (many who walk/run), I slept in until 8:30 ad at 9:15 headed out around my neighborhood. It was almost 50 when I headed out - so I wore a short sleeve shirt! The sun was bright so I had to wear sunglasses! I was in heaven! I had hoped for 4 miles, but since it was been 1 month to the day since I had run, and knowing we were going for a walk as a family, I decided 3 miles was okay.

I spent the rest of the morning getting our 4 backpack and hydration packs put together since they still had tags and in boxes from Christmas. After lunch we put on our new hiking shoes and socks and clothing (all except my husband who thought a cotton long sleeve shirt and jeans would be comfortable!) and headed to the reservoir down the street. It is about 2-2.5 miles around (if I can figure out how to use my new GPS, I would know!)


Having the kids carry their own water on their back is the best idea!

After the walk, I surveyed the lawn for other signs of spring. While we haven't done our spring clean-up yet (hello, a week ago there was snow in the ground!), there are a few signs

Being the real first nice weekend day of spring means the first grilling.

This one had no front teeth last summer, so corn is a lot easier to eat

 I am practicing with my real camera, so made the caprese salad look all pretty.

Not pictured is the chocolate cake my daughter picked out at the grocery store. The remains and the rest of the ice cream went in the trash after dinner (the rest of my family hates it when I throw away treats. Well, if they had will power like me (ie none!) then it would be a different story!

But now it is Monday. Another warm day, but not as sunny. Tomorrow is supposed to break records. The kids have 4 days of school this week, then Good Friday off and spring break next week. I am taking 3 days off next week so hopefully the weather cooperates!

Weekly Weigh-in

222.2 on the scale at home, 224.2 on the scale at WW. It has been a little frustrating this time around that the difference between the 2 scales has been all over the place. Before it was consistently 1.2-1.6 pound difference. This time I have seen .6 and I've seen 2.0 (though generally the 1.2 - 1.6 difference)

I was slightly disappointed that the number wasn't slightly lower. A gain of 2 pounds in a week (thought a height of 5 pounds), though the number last week was pretty low (a loss of 4 pounds that week). Just means I need to work that much harder to get the number below 220. And work hard is what I plan on doing this week!

This weekend we are having our first grilling of the season, which in our house means steak tips, chicken artichoke pasta salad, caprese salad, and some sort of dessert. I asked my husband what he wanted for dessert, making it clear that it would be something I would buy, not make. What he wanted isn't my first choice, but I will go with it, and he asked to have ice cream with it and I refused - we don't need anymore ice cream in the house. We still have some from last weekend (and my daughter asked me when she got home from school yesterday if I wanted some with her for her afternoon snack and I obliged, not thinking about WW this morning). With the exception of the artichoke chicken pasta salad, I should be okay with everything.

So I will work hard this week and see what happens in a week!

One of the things we were talking about in the meeting was what to do when a gain happens. As well as the ever-popular topic of weighing yourself every day. For me the two go hand-in-hand. Historically, when I've stopped weighing myself every day, or even if I weigh myself but don't track it anywhere, is when the gains happen. Yes, I've gained weight, lot of it, while routinely attending WW meetings, but eventually I do give up and stop going to the meetings. But I do NEED to weigh myself every day. But I also need to stop dwelling on the fact that 2 1/2 years ago, when I started gaining weight again, that I couldn't stop myself. That I didn't get back on track enough. I don't know how much of it was because me dad was in the depths of dieing. In October 2014 I gained weight after my first 1/2 marathon and then more when we went to Disney shortly afterwards. I should have taken the bull-by-the-horns at that point and stopped the 10-15 pound slide. But he had really started to decline and the despair was started. But who knows. I just never, ever, ever thought I would be back here, 40 lbs heavier (at one point 50 lbs heavier, back at the starting point). And I admit, I think that in the back of my mind has made it harder for me to really be on board this time. "Oh, I'll just gain it back again" But I can't do that!!!!

Friday Already!

As a parent, the saying "The days are long, but the years are short" really does ring true. I kind of felt the same about this week. While I was in it, the days were dragging and dragging, but I can't believe it is already Friday afternoon.

I have no clue what the scale will say in the morning. It was 223.2 this morning, so up 2.6 from last Saturday.

Eating has been so-so. After a not great weekend, I purged a lot of stuff but still nibbled on some stuff on Monday. The rest of it went in the trash Monday night.

I did buy lunch 1 day this week - I think it was Monday. And with my credit card no less. I've been leaving my cash and debit (and usually my credit card) in my car so I am not tempted to buy lunch. But I had my credit card with me because I needed to buy something on-line. Work was crazy and I was in a hurry so ran down and bought lunch (which yes, did include a 12 oz coke).

One night I chose to have frozen turkey burgers on flaxseed tortillas instead of hot dogs and buns like the rest of the family.

But last night I made pasta and I was especially hungry so had seconds.

Wednesday was exciting - it was Beginner Track Day. Through my running group I am doing a 4-week track program. It is only 30 minutes long each week, but we did drills and 3 separate runs around the track running as fast as we could. Wow that was hard! I was running as fast as I need to in order to do a sub-30 5K and I could barely make it 1 way around the track (1/4 mile). I am definitely sore - more so today than I was on Wednesday.

Part of what has made this week hard has been the weather. Yes, the snow from last weekend is gone, actually all the snow in our yard is finally gone, but it has rained like crazy and just been cold and raw. The kids soccer games are cancelled for this weekend because the fields are too wet.

Sunday I hope to get out for a walk in the woods so we all can break in our hiking shoes (not boots). It will be a little muddy, but over spring break I am hoping to take the kids up a mountain, so I want us to use our shoes a little before.

Saturday is supposed to be raw again (so thankfully the games are cancelled) but Sunday, Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be 60,70,80. And then it will get back to normal temps (ie the 50s)

I've got 2 hours before the kids get home. I am trying to keep my resolve to eat healthy!

5 lb in 2 days

That is what happens with me - I swing huge in either direction. I don't lose or gain a smaller amount.

Friday I did really well. I ate my small dinner very early - I was actually hungry when I went to bed which isn't good. And the scale said 220.6 when I woke up on Saturday. But I didn't go to Weight Watchers :(  It was snowing and sleeting pretty hard. And I couldn't go through the basement to get to the garage because we had people sleeping down there. I could have gone out the front door and then opened the garage door from outside, but we had another person sleeping in the office by the front door. So no matter what I would have woken people up - many of whom had been up very late the night before.

I started out Saturday pretty well. Breakfast/Snack/Lunch were pretty good. But then everyone was getting stir-crazy with the whether, so we made chocolate chip cookies, had chips and salsa and guacamole when we had other guests over for the afternoon. And a large pasta dinner.

Sunday our guests were gone before we even got up. And even though it was no longer snowing and got sunny (and almost 60 degrees), then only time I went out was at 9 am to do a catch-up grocery shopping trip.

It was a lazy day, which included cookies, and ice cream, and leftover pasta. So when I woke up this morning the scale said 225.4!

I know some of it is "fake weight" so I will try to be really good this week and see what the scale says on Saturday. What a long, long week it is going to be.