Back to WW and a busy weekend

I did make it to WW on Saturday - I was 224.8 on the scale at home - that is a +4 gain since September 29, the last time I went. But I am so glad I did go! They will go over the new plan next week, but I got the email so I kind of get the jist - A lot more 0 point foods, so a huge incentive to eat more protein and starchy vegetables.

But then the weekend just got crazy and the eating was bad.
Friday night I made Chex Mix and Chocolate Pretzels which I always do the day before we get our tree. But I didn't eat any Friday - I told myself maybe we should do all our holiday baking on Friday nights!
But then Saturday, after doing some shopping, I let myself have 1 Chocolate Pretzel. Which ended up way too many over the course of Saturday and Sunday.

 I had a healthy lunch on Saturday with the anticipation of a date night Saturday night to celebrate our 15 year dating-versary. I had bread and butter, onion soup au gratin, salad, filet mignon, green beans and a little of my husband's baked potato, coffee ice cream with chocolate sauce, and 2/3 of the bottle of red wine.

Sunday I wasn't feeling great, but I got up, showered, and did more and more shopping which included a trip to the Mall - ugh. But the good news is I am done shopping!

The rest of Sunday was trying to get decorating done, decorating the tree, and my usual Sunday craziness. The day resulted in poor eating and not clearly defined meals.

But today is another week and I am going to eat well!!!!

2 months away and I am back.....

I never, ever intended to be away for 2 months. When I went back to WW in September, I really thought "this is it" but one bad weekend and things slipped and we were busy.

I stepped on the scale this morning....226. Could be a lot worse. But it is time to own it.

5 years ago Saturday I walked into WW weighing 231.2 - Lost 50, gained 45 back. I've been feeling pretty low lately, but I am eager to walk back in on Saturday morning.

People think I am crazy to go back at this time of year, but 1) they are launching the new plan this week or next and 2) I need to keep myself in check during December. 5 years ago I didn't lose in December - I may have even gained a little, but it was a lot better than it could have been.

Last weekend we drove to Maine and visited the house we are renting in August. I stood on the beach and thought to myself - I can't feel this way in August, I can't look this way in August. So I need to start NOW! I've lost the last 2 months of progress. But I CAN do this!!!!!

TGIF!

This week seemed to drag on forever, and while it is only 9:30 am, I feel like Friday is going to drag as well. The kids have a half day - I wish I did! But I did take a half day earlier this week.

Monday was a great day - as well as Mondays can be, and Monday when TOM arrives. But I felt good, I felt like my eating was fantastic.

Tuesday - not so much. At all. TOM really took its toll. I ate like crap - I blamed TOM but really it was the anxious feeling of being home in the afternoon and having a ton of work to do, work I didn't want to do (I did all the work I liked on Monday!). So a bag of popcorn - gone :( And candy that was the house - gone (though I did throw some of the candy away).

Wednesday I felt like crud (overeating hangover I think, plus allergies) so I worked from home, but ended up taking a half sick day because I didn't work the whole day through - but I did get a lot of stuff done.

I've been doing pretty well otherwise - I will sit on my hands today if I have to! I am hoping for a pound loss tomorrow at my meeting - we shall see!

I won't be able to make my meeting next Saturday morning but I am planning on weighing in on Friday morning - which will help me eat normally on Thursday, even though the Patriots are on Thursday Night Football.

Weight Watchers DID happen/ Running did not

Weigh-in: 223.4 (this is my at-home weight, my WW weight was 224.4)

I had a pretty good week last week and was excited to get back to Weight Watchers on Saturday morning. I was surprised when they automatically had me start from scratch, while when I re-joined in January and hadn't been there in 18 months I had to fight to get my weight started from scratch.

So that means that while I am 7 pounds from my highest in January, my 5% of 11.2 starts now instead of being close to it, but I am okay with that. I wonder if they are doing this so they can track better how long it takes someone to lose weight.

We were and I was pretty busy all day Saturday but I made good food choices. I planned on running on Sunday so I made pasta, with roasted tomatoes from our garden, and baked zucchini from our garden as well, along with thin chicken pan fried.

I didn't get to bed as early as I would have liked because I got sucked into watched a Hallmark Fall chick-movie, so didn't go to sleep until 11:00. My alarm went off at 6:00 - it was going to be 90 on Sunday and I wanted to get an early start. I got up (and was happy to see the scale say 223.2) but pretty quickly decided to start home and get a ton accomplished from my To Do list (including slowly deleting 1 million, yes, million work emails). I am okay with my choice. I got a TON done yesterday (including shopping for winter/snow clothes for the kids) which makes this week earlier.

Eating Sunday was so-so - it could have been so much worse! I didn't eat anything while out doing errands. I had made pasta salad for dinner, but ended up having some for lunch and as my snack as well.

Dinner was steak tips, grilled asparagus, and pasta salad - an annual tradition we usually have for the first weekend of football because it was the first meal my husband made for me for the first football game he took me to. I probably didn't drink as much water as I could have and dinner was salty, so the scale said 224.2 this morning. Incentive to try harder today, but TOM is coming so it could be a little harder.

Weight Watchers Do Not Happen

It had nothing to do with me not wanting to face the scale, it had everything to do with this.

A little history: 5 years ago we go into a fender bender as we were moving - it wasn't our fault, but we didn't have the time or desire to deal with it - the damage appeared minimal and superficial. Over time we thought it may have been more, one of the symptoms being the tire would lose air and every couple of weeks I need to put more air in. One day I needed to put air in 2 days in a row -instead of dragging a 3 year old and 6 year old to the tire place (my husband was away) I went to my parents summer place as planned and woke up with a flat tire. My dad and I changed the flat and I drove into town and ended up with 4 expensive tires (my car was 5 years old at the time, so definitely due for new tires).

Then 3 years went by and the same tire started losing air again. So in my mind I have thought it was the rim - I've been putting air in the tire for 2 years now! Sometimes it is months, in the winter when I was parked outside when our basement was getting done, it could have been once a week. I put air in last Sunday, which was the first time since we came back from vacation. And Thursday the light came on. Friday I worked from home so didn't need to drive until me and the kids were in a hurry to do errands Friday night. I backed out of the garage and I knew it didn't feel right.

My husband had plans that evening but thankfully hadn't left work yet. I needed him to run to a store to get a mouthguard for my daughter and then come home so we could mold the mouthguard and make her field hockey game. We were also desperately in need of grocery shopping, so we went after her game, then ran to AC Moore at 8:30 pm because she needed items for a homework project.

Despite the fact that we are planning to buy me a new car this winter, I knew I needed 4 tires (a mechanic this summer had told me so) so I made an appointment for 8:30 the next morning. My husband had changed my tire but said the spare was flat, but he was able to pump it up with a bicycle tire. He looked at it every hour until 1 am when he went to bed and it was holding air.

I got up at 6:30 to go to WW and went to check on my car and the spare was flat. We had a ton of errands to run before noon because we were tapped out busy for the rest of the weekend. So my husband called AAA - luckily the tire place is just 4 miles from my house so no extra charge. And $600 later (that is with the cheapest tires) I have 4 new tires.

Through all of this I continued to eat well - Friday I was stressed as heck but thought I would make it to my meeting, so continued with my normal Friday WW eating. And Saturday was great. Sunday...Not so much. But that is a different post.

Twas the Day Before Weight Watchers

Ugh. Tomorrow is the day I am supposed to walk back into Weight Watchers and the scale said 228.0 this morning. I have watched the scale go up and up and up this week. I sware it is ovulation that does it to me. Yesterday was not a good day - I ate lunch downstairs after I swore I wouldn't (this required me to walk out to my car to get the few dollars in cash I had in the car) and I had to go to the grocery store on my way home because we had run out of cat food and milk and right inside the door was this Reeses Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse Log thing - the 4 of us finished it off last night so at least there aren't any leftovers lurking around.

Today is my normal day to work from home and I am trying so good to be "good" - not that there is much around here to dive into, but I would find it - I've been known to eat bowls of Cheerios when I shouldn't.

My daughter bought Nutella earlier this week and I ended up throwing 1/2 the jar away because I was dipping into it.

This afternoon I need to go grocery shopping and really going to stick to the list, which will include some snacks because, well, I have kids! I can't have nothing in the house for them.

I hate that I am going to go in tomorrow and most likely it will say I am up 8-9 lbs since April 29, the last time I went in. But I am going to go in!!!!

3-Day Refresh Fail - sort of

As I wrote at 11:30 on Friday, my morning at the time was going slow and I wasn't able to eat/drink everything in as much of a timely fashion as I would have liked.

I was fine with the breakfast shake, because that is what I am used to. The "Digestive Sweep" you are supposed to drink fast and I didn't so I couldn't get it all down.

I was fine with my lunch shake (albeit late) and had carrots and hummus, and had more carrots and hummus as my afternoon snack.

When it came to having my dinner shake and then have a salad, I just couldn't do it. The dinner shake you aren't allowed any fruit it it. And when I opened the fridge, the leftover Asian peanut noodles/stir fry veggies and steak were calling my name. So I had a normal dinner. A small dinner because there weren't a ton of leftovers, but not the dinner I was supposed to.

Saturday was going to be crazy - I had the shake before soccer game #1, I drank the "Digestive Sweep" quickly in the late morning and that was okay. But we were going to be gone from 12:45 until 5:30. Leftover mac and cheese looked a whole lot better (with more carrots and hummus). And I was okay the rest of the afternoon. I drank lots of water during more sporting events. And then in the afternoon I also decided that I wasn't really following this thing, so I COULD go running in the morning (you aren't supposed to exercise during the 3 days because you really haven't had enough calories). So I had leftover spaghetti for dinner.

And Sunday, despite not having slept overly well, I got up at 6:30 and drove to my beautiful rail trail and ran 4 very, very slow miles (the nice thing about only running 4 miles is I didn't have to eat much first, so I didn't have to wait an hour before running). But I ran the whole thing without stopping. And it was glorious. Cool (around 51) and humidity around 75%.

I still ate pretty well the rest of the day - didn't go crazy. We were on a tight budget this week, so the catch-up grocery shopping I needed to do had to be less than $50 so that didn't allow for any extras! I didn't have a few WW cheese sticks about 15 minutes before dinner because I was getting famished and dinner wasn't ready as quickly as I would have liked.

So how did the weight do - Sunday morning I was at 224.8 - so excited to be under 225, but this morning was back up to 225.6.

But I am going to try really hard this week. I want to be at least 224 when I walk into Weight Watchers on Saturday. Back to Weight Watchers - a topic for another day!

Vacation Re-cap Part 1 - Colorado

We flew into Denver, Colorado on Saturday August 12. We flew from Boston with a layover in Dallas. The flight up from Dallas was really neat - I was so looking forward to seeing the Rockies again after 15 years that I looked out the window the whole time.

After a night in Denver and a large trip to Target to stock up on things like a cooler, folding chairs, all our liquids (shampoo, suntan lotion) and a few snacks, we headed off in our large Chevy Tahoe (oh I missed that SUV after the trip was over).

 

Our first stop was Red Rocks Amphitheatre. I knew abut it from watching Extreme Weight Loss. My husband knew about it from seeing shows there. I definitely wanted to check it out before leaving town. I do want to go back someday to run the stairs/seats (and maybe catch a show :) )

 

Then we headed to Breckenridge where my uncle (my dad's younger brother) lives. In hindsight it wasn't the smartest idea to head to 11,000 feet so soon after landing. We originally were going to see friends in Vail and it seemed like the easiest way to get to Moab instead of visiting him in Colorado Springs. But despite the headaches, it was beautiful country.

 

After a night we headed down to Gunnison to visit my cousin (my uncle's daughter)

And then the next day drove to Moab, with a spontaneous (the best kind!) side visit to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park (our first of 5 on the trip)

It ended up being a longer drive to get to Moab because there was a lot of construction on the windy river, so 6 times we had to stop for one-way traffic. But finally we go to Utah.

3-Day Refresh Coming Up

My eating this week has been pretty good - and by that I mean the 3 days of work so far. I weighed myself every day, I ate the food I brought to work, I for the most part my snack I brought to work (but then brought home to eat because I went home to get my Middle Schooler off the bus). I purged the house like crazy, which resulted in wasting money, but as I tell everyone, money is no object when it comes to losing weight - that doesn't mean that i can spend $350-$700 a month on a weight loss/work out place that friends of mine can, but if that means my husband asking me to buy Smores stuff and then we don't end up having the firepit, so I throw it away. If that means that I throw away the ice cream that we bought for my son's teeth extraction.

Last night we had a nice meal because right now Thursday is our 1 free night - and we had a little dessert to celebrate the start of Football season (too bad our team choked, but I went to sleep before they choked because sleep is way important!)

Before I even left on vacation, I bought the 3-Day Refresh. Today is the day. My "starting weight" is 226.2.

It is 11:30 am and I am kind of failing - not because I have been eating other food, but so far I haven't had enough or drank enough water.  And now I am stuck in this 2 hour conference call - but I am home so I can make it.

This is the 3-Day Refresh Schedule:

Wake Up - Drink 8-12 oz water

Breakfast (within 1 week of waking) - Shakeology (I am using chocolate) with water and a fruit - I usually make mine with milk - I didn't have this until 10:00 am

Mid-Morning  Fiber Sweep Drink - this is the bad part of it - I drink it with my nose held - Need to have this now

Lunch - Vanilla Shake with a fruit - plus veggies and fat (for me this will be hummus)

Snack - Vegetable and Fat

Dinner - Vanilla Shake (without fruit)/ Veggie/Fat Meal

It is a weird feeling because I just want this weekend to be over so this be over. We have a pretty full weekend since it is the first weekend of fall sports. But it is also a good weekend to do this because we don't have the time (or $) to go out or do much.

So I will do this and jump start my healthy eating which will continue on Monday.

Back-to-school/ back on plan

My kids went back to school last week, but last week and this weekend was spent organizing - unpacking from vacation and getting into Fall mode, so today feels like the start of the year.

I will probably write another post full of the god awful pictures of me from our vacation, but those pictures are on my computer at home, and I wanted to get a post out there.

A lot of my plans for the fall I had prior to my vacation, but they were just re-iterated by seeing the pictures of me.

Back in the summer I cancelled my Weight Watchers account because I wasn't going, but I have decided to start going again on Saturday September 16.

I am not starting this weekend because I am doing a 3-day cleanse this weekend. I bought it when I got my latest bag of Shakeology, knowing that I would need it after vacation. Originally I was going to do it over Labor Day weekend because I can't make the shakes at work, but a friend suggested starting it this Friday (when I work from home).

I didn't want to get on the scale last week because TOM arrived, so today I decided I just needed to do it: 227.2. I had guessed 228 (though secretly worried I was back over 230). I am hoping to be back down to 223 when I re-join WW because I think that is where I was the last time I went.

I went running this weekend! I went with my BFF/BRF - We went 4 miles - The last time I ran was July 22nd, with her. She is doing a 1/2 in January and had run 8 miles before vacation (we met up with them for an evening on our vacation). We didn't run the 4 miles non-stop but I was happy it was her idea to walk. I will write more about my running/exercise plans for the fall in another post.

Below is the only picture of my from vacation that I have on my phone. I was horrified by it. Though in my defense I was standing very awkwardly because I was terrified of slipping and then falling off the cliff behind us! I will post more lovely pictures later :)

Hggg

Back from the vacation

I will definitely be writing more about vacation, but I wanted to just write a quick post.

We got back on Saturday on our 2 week trip to Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.

We flew into Denver and spent 3 nights visiting a variety of family, and then drove to Moab, Utah to spend 4 nights. This was the view from the back of our cabin,

We did a hot, 3 mile round-trip hike to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park.

We drove from Moab, Utah to Jackson, Wyoming in 1 day - 550 miles. While we saw a lot, the highlight was seeing the Total Solar Eclipse.

This is as it got dark - it wasn't pitch black but it was sunset dark,

This is a morning shot in Grand Teton National Park on our way to Yellowstone National Park. The smog look over the mountains is smoke from forest fires in Washington/Idaho.

This is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

But now we are back. A vacation 15 years in the planning is done. And immediately I had to jump into back-to-school stuff (they went back yesterday) - Who knows when I will have the time to go through the 3,328 pictures/videos we all took. But the thing on the top of my mind is getting back to exercising and eating healthy - time to get this weight off again!

Where has a month gone?!

I can't believe it's been a month since I last wrote. I'd like to say the summer has flown by, but it really hasn't. It has dragged as we are counting the days to our Western adventure.

The last month definitely hasn't been the best food/weight wise. I am definitely up a few pounds (hovering around 225 as we speak) but TRYING to keep it under control. But I have such a hard time when I am stressed (work) and existed (for our trip) and anxious (oldest one is starting middle school in a month) and sad (wishing my dad was around to go on our Western adventure with us).

When I last wrote, this one was off an overnight camp for the first time. She was gone for 2 weeks and had a blast. I'll admit, parenting only 1 kid during that time was a lot easier, especially when it wasn't my hormonal child. My mom offered to pay for her to stay an extra 2 weeks, but she declined - mentally she was ready to come home.

Fourth of July weekend was a lot of fun. I keep forgetting I bought a Go Pro for our cruise last year - I broke it out when we went to my mom's swim club. The same pool I learned to swim in a long, long time ago.

The 3 of us did "Finish at the 50" - a 5K on July 3rd that is in and around the stadium the New England Patriot's play at. We used to have season tickets and it was really cool to go on the field.

On the 4th we took a leisurely walk in a local reservation - it was a beautiful day!

And that night we finally got to eat outside. With all the rain this spring, then heat this summer, and general busyness, we hadn't gotten a chance. I love my iphone 7 plus with the Portrait feature (and the bigger screen with my late-40s failing eyes)

The weekend after the 4th we picked up my daughter, and the weekend after that we went to visit family in Maine. My husband and I dreamed of buying lake-front property once the kids are out of the house.

Rain clouds covered the sun as it dipped behind the horizon, but still time to grab a family picture.

Last weekend our friends came to visit who will be house sitting for us while we are away. But before they arrived, I got in 5 miles with my BFF. This is only the second run I've done in the last month (the first being the 5K, but that really doesn't count). The humidity has been high, and with out a reason to train, I've been enjoying my sleep this summer.

We started another Step Challenge at work - It happened right before we went to Maine so I was very much behind my 10K/day goal - sitting in the water doesn't allot for my step tracker to be on, plus I don't get any steps. But I worked hard that week to get more than I needed so now I am averaging 10K a day.

The next 2 weeks are going to be busy - 2 birthdays coming up, finishing up summer baseball, and camp, and work, and packing, and back-to-school shopping, and squeezing in some summer fun, because once we come back from vacation, 2 days later is Back to School! Which right now I am not ready for, but I will be once it comes - I know I will be in post-vacation depression because we were looking forward to it for so long, but to get back into a routine (albeit a new routine with Middle School), and before we know it the holidays will be here. But more importantly, I am looking forward to an exercise routine and less humidity!

Happy Summer!

I am around....

It's been a long almost 2 weeks, and I have no pictures to share, so I will bullet

* Friday June 16 - Last Day of School!!!! Lots of time on Facebook trying to figure out who is in my son's class next year - My daughter won't know her Middle School schedule until late summer
* Saturday June 17 - Lots of sports, lots of organizing
* Sunday June 18 - We went into Boston for Father's Day and had a wonderful brunch at the top of one of the skyscrapers
* Monday June 19 - Me and the kids went to Water Country USA - So much fun! Beautiful weather and not many people there because a lot of schools weren't out yet
* Tuesday June 20 - My daughter went to a friends, so me and my son had a lazy day around the house
* Wednesday June 21 - My husband took the kids to Maine - 5 minutes after the left, my mother called and I had to take her to the hospital - the pins from her broken elbow last fall started coming out
* Thursday June 22 - I thought I had until 1:00 to get stuff done before having to take my mom to the hospital for her surgery, but she called at 10:00 and they pushed up the surgery, so for the second day in a row I had to rush out of the house without a shower and without eating. Thankfully the surgery went well.
* Friday June 23 - I was supposed to go to Maine to spend the day with my family and pick up my daughter, but since I hadn't gotten stuff done around the house, I didn't go and got a TON done and then did major shopping at Michael's and Target
* Saturday June 24 - Got more stuff done, family came home around 1:00, got more stuff done, went out to dinner
* Sunday June 25 - We all took my daughter to overnight camp - her first time going!
* Monday June 26 - My son started day camp (his 4th year there) and back to work for me.

No, you didn't miss anything about running because I haven't run in 2 weeks :( Just so busy and so tired (and throw in some hot and rainy days too). I am supposed to do 7 miles tomorrow.

Eating has been incredibly poor :( I didn't get to enjoy my usual good feelings in the first 1/2 of my cycle. Now I am approaching the 2nd half. But I am trying to get back on track!

6 Miles for Breakfast

I was planning on doing 6 miles Saturday morning, but when my runner friends said they were doing 6 this morning at 5 am, I jumped at it, even if that meant getting up at 4 am so I could eat something an hour ahead. They were definitely hard miles - I am not used to getting up that early, I hadn't slept very well the night before, and I sure didn't eat well yesterday! But the miles are done! It was also more humid than we thought (about 63 degrees, 80% humidity) but thankfully it was cloudy and an occasional breeze.

I had lunch out yesterday which I hadn't done in a while (and won't do again for a while) - I had a burrito and a Nutella shake - they really are to die for!

And then for dinner we had our "end of school celebration" which includes spaghetti, salad, ice cream and cupcakes.

My grocery shopping was fairly successful. I don't plan on cooking any time soon, so it was stocking up a lot for the pantry and very little produce, which is a little sad. But I will stock up on all that next week, and will buy just what I need if I find us having any dinners at home next week.

I am working a 1/2 day today but from the couch where I am trying to relax my sore and tired legs. I can't complain because one of my runner friends is my daughter's teacher and another is a pharmacist, so they will be on their feet all day.

Almost vacation!

I did survive all of Wednesday eating well and being at home. A miracle! A lot of it was because I had weighed in that morning and really wanted to see what the scale said in the morning if I ate normally. It said 219.6! But then I got dressed and went to work (My husband is working from home today so I didn't need to be on kid duty) and I started having cramps and I calculated that today was Day 25 so feasibly I could be getting my period and alas I did - but thankfully no accidents since I am wearing very light cream pants!

Which brings me again to the fact that my weight is always so low on the day I get my period. It has been this way for years. It is very bizarre.

Of course I sat down at my desk and tried to calculate the odds of having my period during our 2 week vacation in August. Ideally I would get it at 25 days next month and the month after - yes that would mean that my heaviest day would be the day we fly - nothing more fun than a heavy flow day and having to deal with airplane bathrooms. But that would also mean that the 2 weeks of our vacation would be be my "good 2 weeks" which of course would be perfect. But we will have to see. Seeing that my cycle can be anywhere from 25-35 days, it will be a crapshoot. Joys of being in your late 40s.

This morning would have been perfect for running. But I chose to not lay anything out and just get up if I woke up. But I didn't. My husband's alarm was set for 6:20 since he is working from home. I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up with the alarm. I guess I really needed that sleep!

Since I got to work early I should be able to get out early and then go grocery shopping and then go home and do the last push to get everything ready for overnight camp. Just get me through the next 2 days!!!!

My daughter's team won her softball game last night so she is playing again Friday night (though it is supposed to rain) and then if she wins that there would be a game next week. We don't expect to win Friday (okay, we didn't expect to win last night either!). We just want to be able to do the Happy Dance at 3:15 on Saturday when my son's soccer game is over.

Happy Hump Day

The end of school and vacation (1 week for me, 10 weeks for the kids) is so close I can almost touch it, but I've got so long to go before I can officially say I am on vacation.

Monday was my daughter's elementary school graduation. Then I immediately had to go to work for a client meeting - I drank 8 oz of water in the 5 hour meeting and didn't get any steps in. Dinner was every-man-for-himself.

Tuesday was a crazy work day which meant lunch in the cafeteria. I consciously brought my debit card in hoping I'd get to have lunch with a co-worker, but instead I just grabbed my normal and kept on working. Last night's dinner was Tacos - probably the last Taco Tuesday for a while.

Today I chose to work from home. My daughter has softball tonight (last night if they lose - is it bad to hope they do so they don't have to play at 6 pm on the last day of school?!). Father's Day cards aren't made, coaches Thank You cards aren't written (Thankfully the teacher and bus drivers are, so that is a good thing). So much laundry needed to be done and put away. The dishwasher needed to be run and put away. And so, so much work to do. I did a pretty good job at a lot of it. I just need to get the kids to clean the gerbil cage and make Father's Day cards when they get home from school. I won't let them do the "but our brain is hurting from school" excuse to chill when they get home because we know they are doing NOTHING at school this week!

I also did a pretty big purge of the pantry/fridge/freezer. Not a lot of bad stuff, just some outdated stuff. I know I've been saying this for years, but I really hope to cook with all the stuff in my pantry this summer. I NEED to make different things.

And I was able to say to myself "I am not hungry, I am just stressed" this afternoon when I was looking aimlessly at the pantry.

I weighed myself this morning for the first time in a while (not good when I don't remember when it was) - 221.6. Some due to Taco Tuesday, some to do impending monthly visitor, and some due to the fact that I've just not been good lately. I really, really need to buckle down and get deep into the 210's before we go on our big vacation.

Up, up, up the mountain.....

My history with Mt Monadnock go far back. I would see the mountain almost every weekend for the first 13 years of my life when we would go to my grandfather's for the weekend. I had an opportunity to hike it when I was at camp when I was 11, but I was too scared. My senior year in high school we had to hike it. I hiked it a couple more times in my early twenties, always being one of those ill-prepared hikers in jeans, very little water. When I was 29 I started dating someone and that was our first date and we hiked it many times, including New Year's Day several times. And in 2002 I hiked it every month, January - August in preparation to hike Mt Rainier. And I hadn't hiked it again until yesterday.

I had wanted to do it on Mother's Day but it was pouring, and every weekend since we've been busy or the weather has been bad. Yesterday was our last chance before my daughter goes to the same camp I went to at the base of the mountain. Of course it was going to be 90 degrees.

I also wanted to test out a lot of our gear to bring on our trip.

Father and Son, ready to go

Getting close to tree line

Still a ways to go to get to the top, but at least we can see it

A little hazy, but beautiful views

The hats kept our heads and faces out of the sun, but unfortunately we had major fails when it came it sunscreen and our shoulders.

We had some other fails yesterday
1) Not bringing enough variety of food - the picky kids wouldn't eat much of the Gorp I made, and thus didn't get enough food
2) Forgetting that we need to eat every hour, even if we aren't hungry - we wanted until it was too late
3) Camel-Baks are great, but despite us telling the kids not to drink too much, they very quickly ran out of water - I think we each need 2 bladder's when hiking in Utah

Going down was very, very rough. I don't remember the descent being so technically challenging. By the end my hips really hurt. Overall the trip took almost 5 hours, a lot longer than I expected. We stopped for burgers on the way home and after a long bath I crashed early.

Last week was a major fail over all. Just so much going on with end-of-school stuff. More of the same this week, but I am going to TRY to do better.

Darn Tollhouse Cookies

The week was going well - I was tracking my food on the Lose It app. I was eating what I was supposed to during the day, even when meeting friends down in the cafeteria (tracking helps with that, along with having my debit card in the car, not inside). Tuesday was wet and raw, all sports had been cancelled, my bored daughter decided to bake. Our favorite Tollhouse Cookies. She made them all on her own - she now feels comfortable taking the pans in and out of the oven. But between Tuesday and Wednesday I ate way too many of them! Yes, I tracked them. The app has them at 170 calories a piece! I probably had 8 a day!

I've been binge watching Felicity and staying up way too late, so I haven't gotten a run in (Tuesday would have been too rainy anyways, but I didn't have an excuse for this morning - I even woke up at 5:15 without my alarm (sun in my room, something we haven't seen much of lately) but I had only been asleep for 5 hours at that point, so I went back to sleep for an hour.

I am running on Saturday this weekend so we can go hiking as a family on Sunday. It is going to be 90 on Sunday. Welcome to Spring in New England.

Busy Weekend

What a busy weekend. I am kind of glad it is over, so I can get on the business of getting the next 2 weeks of school and work over with and then a week off!

Friday afternoon my daughter and I went to Target and bought a ton of stuff for her for camp, then went grocery shopping and bought mainly healthy stuff!

Saturday morning I slept in a little (weight, 220.4) but then spent a few hours doing chores and organizing around the house before leaving for a full day of sports that started at 10:00 am and ended at 9:00 pm!  I went to bed almost immediately so I could get up and run.

I was awake at 5:00 but forced myself to lie in bed and rest until 6:00 am. I then drove to my favorite rail trail for 6 miles. I won't be able to get back here for while, so I took in the beauty. The 6 miles wasn't real easy. I took 2 small walk breaks - one at 3 miles when I turned around I walked for .1 miles, and the second was at about 5 miles - usually I don't walk across a street but I decided. More of a mental hurdle than and physical one.

After I finished running I walked up the path a little to hang out by a brook. I wish I had brought flip flops with me or I would have gone wading.

The rest of the day was spent doing more chore and getting stuff ready for camp, and then the day finished out with my son's baseball game. It didn't get over until 7:00 and we were all starving so we went to Papa Ginos - I had 2 small pieces of pepperoni, a couple of small breadsticks, and a lot of Greek Salad. I was way over in calories today, but with 6 miles under my belt, I am okay with that.

On to Monday!

June 2nd Weigh-in

221.4 - It is what it is. My eating yesterday wasn't stellar (I bought lunch, which also meant a 12 oz coke). But today I am going to eat well (always a challenge WFH). I've purged everything from the house and today's grocery shopping will be very healthy - no temptations in the coming week!

Not sure if I will got to WW in the morning - I've really got to figure it out. Next Saturday I am chosing to run on Saturday morning so I can be on kid duty on Father's Day, and Saturday after that I will have spent all day at the beach and having a wonderful meal with my family.

But I am NOT giving up. Summer is here (feels like it today, but next week, not so much). Bring on the fresh fruit and veggies.

June 1st!

My second favorite month!
Did I weigh-in. Um, no :( But I went running (more on that later!)

The long weekend was pretty busy. Saturday was spent doing errands and cooking for a BBQ we were having Sunday night. But also trying to relax and rest for my race Sunday morning.

A 4:30 wake-up call for the race that started in Boston at 7 am. Mentally the race was pretty tough - it was humid (but not sunny thankfully), and the mile markers vs. my Garmin were way off. I ended the race with 5.52 miles. Other people around me were 5.25 - 5.4. At the end of the race you have a long way to go to the finish line and it is deceptive - it ended up being .5 miles. I finished in 1:01:32, which was great for 5.5 miles! I would have even been happy with that time in 5 miles. 2 years ago I PRed in this race with 55 minutes. I hope for faster next year.
Always nice to add bling to my collection.

We were home by 10:00 - we would have been earlier but trying to get out of Boston with all the road closures for the race (there is also a 1/2 Marathon) took a while.

Since my daughter will be away for the 4th of July, we celebrated a little early.

Eating has been pretty poor. I did weigh-in on Saturday and it was 219.8, but who knows by now! I did a major purge yesterday - no junk at all in the house. But it did last longer than it should.

I didn't get in a run earlier in the week, so I finished May with 26 miles. I almost went on the treadmill yesterday to get an even 30, but friends were running this morning instead of Friday so I wanted to join them.

I got to wear new sneakers this morning. I try to change my sneakers every 100 miles because in the past my plantaar fascitis will flare up after that. You can't see in the picture but they are graduated color which remind me of the Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino.
The run this morning wasn't overally fast, and even though it was humid, it felt good to be out. I am really going to try to get out 2x during the week in June. Got to take advantage of the morning sun while I can!

The week that wasn't......

What a week - thank goodness it is Friday!

It isn't that it was a BAD week, I just felt a little lost that seems to happen when the tv season is over (officially I still have 1 episode of Prison Break coming on Tuesday). The weather was pretty gross. It was just heads down trying to get to the weekend. The LONG weekend!

We had sports, sports, sports through Wednesday and then we have a week off until next Wednesday - it feels like vacation!

Eating has been pretty bad but the worst is I haven't weighed myself since last Friday. I tell myself I WILL weigh myself next Thursday - June 1.

Only 3 more weeks of school then vacation and 1 week off for me! But it is going to be a busy 3 weeks!

I didn't get in any running this week :( I had everything laid out for today (okay, I've had it laid out since Monday night). I've just been really tired this week - weather, period, depression, who knows. This morning I was definitely going to meet a friend even though we knew it was going to be raining. I am okay running in the rain. But it was POURING. And 48 degrees. So we bagged it.

Sunday is our 5 mile race. It's going to be in the high 40s so I am not complaining! And I've ordered a new pair of sneakers. I do every 100 miles. Even though my feet feel okay because I haven't been running real far, but I want to get ahead of myself. And new sneakers makes me feel good - and starting NEXT weekend I will increase my mileage up to 5.5 miles to get up to 7 miles later this summer.

Besides the race we are going to get some yard work done, camp organization, summer organization, and a Memorial Day parade on Monday if the weather holds out.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Overall sucky eating

Things have been pretty bad food-wise since Thursday.

I was on kid-duty Thursday because my husband was out of town. I got us fed before sports activities so we ate around 5:00. After the games were over, which went really late despite the 90+ degree weather - around 8:00 people talked about going to dinner, which we did. We were all starving. We went to the 99 - I had water to drink, a chicken wrap sandwich with coleslaw instead of fries, so not terrible.

Some time Friday I decided I definitely wasn't going to Weight Watchers. My period still hadn't come at Day 30 but I was eating like crazy. With lots of activities Friday evening, I decided we all should go out to dinner - something we NEVER do on a Friday night. I also never suggest going out before  long run. It's not like we went for Chinese. But Italian - I had some bread, some pasta (with a creamier sauce) and greek salad.

My run Saturday morning SUCKED! I was so dehydrated. But I got the 5 miles done (I did take 2 small walk breaks). Then it was go-go-go all day until Date Night.

Date Night was great - 2 bottles of red wine, lots of bread, cup of onion soup, salad,  8 oz fillet au poivre, sauteed green beans, and chocolate cake and ice cream (shared). Heaven. But I was definitely hurting the next day with the 2 bottle of wine, more of which was drank by me since my husband was driving. And red wine, ugh....We should have gotten white.

So I ate like crap on Sunday because I was hungover.

But finally the monthly visitor arrived at Day 32. Ugh. So now I will almost definitely have it for our vacation - the next 2 cycles will indicate where during the vacation.

This week is going to be another crazy one but I am REALLY going to try to eat fairly clean this week because I have my 5 mile race on Sunday.

Too busy to eat badly - can I keep it up?

For a third day in a row, I ate what I was supposed to at work....well, almost!

Yesterday morning I was so busy running around I forgot to eat my banana, or drink much water, so when I got to work I realized my stomach was growling. I borrowed one of my fruits from my afternoon snack instead of stopping in the cafeteria on the way to my desk (another great reason not bringing cash or plastic into the office is a great thing!)

A meeting was called for 12-1, which is allows annoying. I had planned to go home at 1:00 so I could do a load of laundry and cook something for us to all eat later before another crazy evening of activities. The 12-1 meeting went to 1:45 and I had a 2:00 call with many of the people on the call. They wanted to keep chatting but I forced me and colleague off the phone because neither of us had eaten lunch (everyone else was working from home so probably was eating lunch while on our very long call). I didn't have time to heat up my Lean Cuisine pizza, but I had my morning snack (which I hadn't had yet because I also had meetings from 10-12) and some of my afternoon snack.

Finally at 2:45 I was able to run home and cook some pasta to eat between 5:05 and 5:15 when we were home for 10 minutes. The stress was at an all time high, but I didn't cave. In that 10 minutes I heated up a tiny bit of the pasta for myself (and more for the kids) because I had made pesto with some leftover basil and I wanted some. And then I made myself a Shakeology smoothie and out the door.

I really wanted to fit in grocery shopping last night, so I decided to drop the kids so they could do warm ups, ran to the grocery store (it was a medium-light load), ran home, put it away and ran back to the fields. Okay, I didn't literally run, but you know what I mean. I only missed some of the games and we got home at 8:00 and I didn't eat anything else, even though the kids were famished. I didn't have the excuse of exercising to eat!

I had laid out my clothes for this morning, but after a restless night sleep, I turned off my alarm around 3:00. I just couldn't bring myself to run in 70 degrees, 80% humidity so early in the season! I wish I had run, but everyone who did said it was awful.

Scale was way down this morning which means my monthly friend should be arriving (Day 29 today) - I don't know why I also see a huge (like 2 lb huge) dip on the day it arrives. So weird.

Hanging in there....

It is already Wednesday. Too bad it isn't Thursday! Hard to get excited for the weekend when we have SO much going on, but one of those things is a date night for our anniversary, so I can't complain.

My period hasn't shown up yet, which isn't a bad thing. Hopefully it shows up today and if I keep the 28 days for the next 3 months then I will get it right before we leave on vacation which would be perfect timing. Traveling with it sucks, but since as of late, my best 2 weeks out of the month are right after I get it, which would mean those 2 weeks would be the 2 weeks I am on vacation. That would be perfect timing!

Tuesday morning I went for a run with a couple of people. It was perfect weather - 50 degrees, no humidity. I ran 3 miles in 35:45 which is less than 12:00 miles, so I am not complaining. Tomorrow will be 70 when I run with probably 100% humidity so I won't be quick. But I will get it done!

I've been working on my long run schedule for the rest of the year. During the summer I will be switching to Saturdays so my Sundays are free for family stuff (hopefully some hiking). I don't want to completely forego Weight Watchers this summer,  so I am thinking that I can run down and get weighed in before bringing the kids to camp. It means I don't get to go to a meeting, but I need some of the accountability.

Eating has been okay so far this week. Scale isn't moving, but that is not to be expect at this time of the month. I am not sure if I will get in my meeting this week - Our Saturday is jam packed and trying to run 5 miles at 8 am will leave me too little time, but since we are going out Saturday night maybe I will just be stinky until I can shower in the afternoon. It will probably be a game-day decision.

Yesterday was perfect weather - 80 and no humidity and sun. I wish every day could be like that. It will be hot, hot, hot for the next 3 days and then back to the 60s for the weekend. I know we aren't allowed to complain about the weather when it gets home because it has been so crappy so far this year.

Bring on the new week....

I am glad it is Monday - really! I have lots to look forward to this week (lots of season finales, but then I also look forward to TV being over!) and then next weekend celebrating our anniversary (12 years!)

Last week through Saturday were pretty busy. I felt off for days, wishing my period would come (it isn't due until this Wednesday) and as of this morning it still isn't here. I just feel so much better the first 1/2 of my cycle. Bring it on!

Friday the kids had a half day. My husband came home mid-day so my son wouldn't have to go to the dentist with me and my daughter. Then she and I went to the mall, mainly window shopping. She is at the age where she is kind of inbetween stores. At almost 11 she has outgrown (in terms of style, not size) Justice, but in other stores, she would be the smallest size and even then I feel like some of the styles are too grown up for her.

Friday night she had a softball game and we went through McDonald's on the way home at 8 pm. By that time I had decided that I wasn't going to Weight Watchers. Saturday was going to be such a busy day and I hoped to get in a 5 mile run after. Sleep had a different story. I chose to not turn on my alarm and slept until 9:00. From 10-4 we were busy, busy, busy with sports. My mom came to see both the kids' soccer games and do a mini-Mother's Day celebration.

At 5:00 me and a friend ran our 5 miles finally. Sundays weather was going to be awful, so I knew I had to get it in. It felt great! I never run at that time of day. I was definitely sluggish at first, but got some energy towards the end.

Sunday I slept late, late, late. My husband made us brunch around 11:30. Then until 4:00 I ran around like a maniac doing all the normal weekend chores that I had hoped to do on Saturday but didn't have the time. And then finally at 4:00 I went up to our room and watched TV for the rest of the night (and later convinced my daughter to paint my toes :) )

So now it is Monday. The scale is way up (222.8) and has been for a few days. But even with my period coming, I am going to try to be "good" this week. I know I feel so much better when that happens. And I NEED to feel good!

Feeling down

It isn't always easy to figure out why you are in a downward mood. I wish I had the easy answers.

Yesterday at work was fantastic - A couple of people were out, so I had few meetings, few distractions and was really able to be heads down and get a ton accomplished. And I ate well!

I went home mid-afternoon because my husband and son had a tight schedule of them getting home and then needing to get out the door for a baseball game. I did think about joining them later, but honestly, I didn't want to go because it was too freaking cold. It was only about 50-55, and probably dipped more once the sun started to go behind the trees at the field. So I opted to stay home with my daughter. And then some nibbling and grazing happened :( We finally made some pasta around 6:30 and I headed upstairs to catch up on DVR and get under the covers because it was chilly (the heat is still on though).

Maybe I was feeling down because the firing of Comey was just another reminder of what a screwed up country we are living in right now. I have been watching a few shows (Quantico, Scandal, Designated Survivor) that are dealing with a someone "alternate" universe in terms of Washington, but knowing that is so easily could happen. It is all a little scary.

I was really looking forward to going hiking with my family on Sunday for Mother's Day, but now it is looking like it will be raining. I may still chose to do something, even on my own. I'll have to wait and see. My mom is supposed to come up on Saturday to watch the kids' soccer games, but even those seem a little damp.

And the next few nights are pretty crazy as well. And Friday afternoon I am taking a 1/2 day, not for fun, but the kids have a 1/2 day and I need to shlep them around a few places.

I am trying to enjoy this mid-May week when everything is green and lush and blooming, but the temperatures in the 50s just isn't allowing it.

3 Fails But Not Out

Today is Tuesday, another day. A day I hope to be more successful. I've had 3 fails in the last day

1) Work was crazy yesterday - but not really bad, just crazy. At 12:30 I was starving. I had my credit card in my back pocket because I needed to order something for my daughter's camp. Yep, ran down and got lunch, including the regular Coke. Credit card going back in the car this morning.

2) Last night we got Blue Apron for the first time in a while. The kids didn't eat it so I had 2 helpings. There are just not enough vegetables in those orders. So I think I am going to go ahead and actually cancel my subscription. It is such a pain to constantly go in and skip a delivery. And it is so expensive.

3) I laid out my running clothes last night. I was going to go on my own. I just didn't sleep well. When my alarm went off this morning it was 35. No thank you. Come on spring!

Here is to  better day. I am eating the food I brought. I am making a healthy dinner for myself before baseball.

The weekend

Last week was fairly rainy, but Friday afternoon it start pouring buckets. All sports Friday evening and all day Saturday were cancelled.

I kept up my good eating on Friday night, but once I knew all sports were cancelled, I turned off my alarm for Saturday morning. I woke up at 7:10 (so 10 minutes after my meeting started) and the scale said 219. I could have gone to the 8:30 meeting, but I didn't want to leave the house if I didn't need to. Since I was awake, I got up and got a ton of stuff done around the house. It was wonderful.

Friday my husband was angling to go out to dinner for Cinco de Mayo, but there was no way I would go to dinner on a Friday night (and he admitted when he drove by the mexican restaurant at 5:30 on Friday that it was mobbed). But Saturday I did want to go to lunch - we hadn't been out to eat as a family in a long time. So we celebrated a little late. And I had a huge margarita. Saturday afternoon I did break open the Hersey bars I had bought and had 1 - the rest went in the trash this morning. I just can't have them in the house.

Sunday started with a 5 mile run at 8 am (so I got to sleep in an extra hour) with a friend. We ran a route in town that had lots of up and down. We chatted through the first 3 miles and then I told her to run ahead. The last 2 miles were long, but I ended up running 2 minutes faster on a route with elevation, than I had the previous week on my own on completely flat ground.

Mid-day we picked up my mom and brother and headed to the cemetery. This cemetery is famous (ie famous people are buried there) but is also an arboreteum and a great place to bird watch. Being such a perfect day, it was pretty crowded.

Last week I ordered lenses to attach to your iphone. The pack was only $20. So I had fun playing with it.

This is the wide angle.

This is just normal with my phone.

This is the telephoto - which is the hardest lens to get right.

And these next few are with the macro lens.

This is the path where my dad is buried.

Family shot. My dad is buried further down the pond near where the weeping willow is.

Mother's Day came early this year.

On the way home after dropping off my mom and brother, we stopped for ice cream. Big ice creams. It was almost 3:30 and we had had lunch at 11:00 before we left, so we were all hungry. By that time the clouds were out and it was chilly. But the ice cream was yummy none-the-less. I hate to know how many calories my large scoops were. The drive to the ice cream stand is gorgeous - all huge houses, with beautiful grounds and the lilacs are out. May is my favorite months and this week is my favorite week when the trees and flowers are in full bloom (the leaves on the trees aren't out all the way, but the flowering trees are).

Another crazy week coming up - and a not-very-warm one as well :( While it looked (and felt) like spring yesterday, the rest of the week won't. I am crossing my fingers that Sunday will be nice enough to get a hike in with the family.

Cinqo de Maio and Friday

I love Mexican food. Next to pasta, it is my favorite ethnic food. But I won't be celebrating Cinqo de Maio today (or should I say, another fabricated holiday I think brought to popularity by Corona) because today is Friday and even though I will be up tomorrow, I am still going to Weight Watchers.

Yesterday was another "bad day" - For lunch I made myself a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese and ate almost the whole thing, and then in the afternoon I got myself into the leftover Hersey Bars and Marshmellows from last weekend. To the tune of 3 Hersey Bars and lots of Marshmellows and then I proceeded to take a nap on the couch for 2 hours.

But it is done. Today I went grocery shopping this morning and I didn't buy anything "bad". I did buy my 1 single serving of Nutella to have with my banana and flaxseed tortilla to have for my dinner. But even though I am working from home I WILL eat well today.

This weekend is pretty up in the air because of all the rain coming. Who knows how much of the kids' sports will be cancelled (or potentially postponed until Sunday). We have no rainy day plans. I have a few things I want to get done around the house, but all the things I WANTED to do aren't rainy day activities. What a rainy spring this has been so far.

Sunday I will get out for a 5 mile run, even in the rain. Then the next 2 weeks I need to run 5 miles on Saturdays right after Weight Watchers.

May the Fourth

For the Star Wars fan in me, this is a good day. And a day to be distracted. But it is also a solemn day - it is the day my dad passed away 2 years ago.

And how did I start the day? With a 3 mile run! Girls in my running group were going out at 5:45 so I decided to join them instead of doing it on my own. And we did the less flat 3 mile loop which I hadn't done in a while - it is the same route as 1 of the 5Ks our town holds. It is the site of my 5K PR 3 years ago (31:32). I am glad we did this route so I can use it as a baseline - 36:15 (ie 12:05 minute miles).

I can't help but think about how far I've fallen in the last 3 years. My dad was diagnosed shortly after my PR. I told myself I wouldn't let him illness affect my weight loss - by that time I had lost about 42 of the 50 lbs I ending up losing. Right after that PR, I started 10K training and then 1/2 marathon training. I continued to lose until the 4th of July and my weight kept steady until the end of September 2014. But once the 1/2 was over I started gaining. I just looked and I gained 20 lbs between then September 2014 and May 2015. I kept that steady for 5 months but 2 bouts of bronchitis in October 2015 and February 2016 both put on 10 lbs each. And for the last 15 months I've been floating around in the 220s, low 230s. It could be worse - it could have been a lot worse!

 But I really do feel like I am starting to come out of this 2-3 year fog. The spring will do it to you also - May is by far my favorite month of the year. But with the selling of my mom's house done, the basement done, the family room done, vacation this summer planned, summer camps planned and booked and paid for. Yes, spring sports are hectic, but there is room there for me to go to WW on Saturdays and do my long runs on Sundays - those routines that bring me peace and joy.

And speaking of our vacation, today is 100 days - The real countdown begins!

Nutella Won

I need to do a better job of using the journal I bought at Weight Watchers to try to keep track of my cycles, eating habits, etc.

This week is another stressful week in terms of work (things I majorly procrastinated last week in favor of fun more challenging work items now need to be done) and lots of school sports and activities. Add to that ovulation time which I now feel is a major trigger for me eating wise. And then add on tomorrow (May 4) is the 2 year anniversary of my dad's passing, but in good news, it is the 100 day countdown to us leaving on our trip.

I woke up on Monday with the scale 221 - so 1.6 up, same Tuesday. This morning 221.8. I need to reign it in.

But yesterday afternoon I came home from work early to WFH and the crap in the house won. First it was a bowl of hot fries and potato chips (hey, at least I put it in a bowl) and then the jar of Nutella. Yup, the whole freaking jar (not the huge jar but still a good size) - I was working like crazy (and actually getting a lot done). At least I followed that up with a Shakeology shake for my dinner (we had a school concert to go to so no real time for anything more).

I know I should give myself a break this week being the anniversary. But I do need to reign it these behaviors. I've told myself time and time again Nutella is not something I can have in the house. No more.

And I worry about next school year when I will go back to being home more in the afternoon like I was last school year and I gained weight like crazy because I would binge before the kids got home from school. So I really do need to work on these triggers so they don't repeat themselves.

On a good note, it is Wednesday. And tomorrow I am taking a 1/2 day off to take the kids to the vet and attend an event at my son's school, and we have NO sports tomorrow night. And my husband is making dinner! AND I can hang up our countdown to vacation and start crossing off the days!

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.