No Sugar month is up!

We've been so good around here avoiding sugar... walking past cake and doughnut covered tables at work, avoiding the jelly bean bags at my mother in law's house, even subbing a fruit smoothie for an ice cream on our date night. My one cheat day for my birthday was great - Cheesecake Factory and really yummy ice cream cake w/peanut butter crunchies in it! Other than my birthday, self control has been queen!

Today, it being May 2nd, my friend Ann called to tell me that a package was out on my car... and I went out thinking that it was just a plain old FedEx box... only to get back in and open it to discover... well, I'll just say that six hours ago this was a whole cake. Complete with cherries and chocolate shavings. She's been in with us on the whole no sugar experiment and told me that she's dropped 1.5lbs, me, about 2 lbs, and my husband, he's told me he's been dropping about 2lbs a week! It just goes to show what complete sugar addicts we are!

And it came at a perfect time... we've had bad colds here this week - mine getting worse this weekend - I now sound like a frog - but - I spent the day lounging around napping and reading a book I got for my birthday - quite a guilty pleasure actually - I usually at least pretend to be busy - today I let it all go and had no excuse except for my headache and croaky voice.

Thus, I haven't run since Tuesday... since Wednesday was my "off" day and by Thursday I was starting to feel cruddy. I'm hoping for better this next week since it's great weather for running right now - especially at 5am and the sun is just barely peeking over the mountains and the air is just cool enough to feel great once you get warmed up!

So, lesson learned... I really shouldn't eat as much sugar as I do, so, I am going to try and do better - not only because of the weight lost, but because I really do know deep down it's not that great for me and that in the month off from it, I've eaten a lot more fruits and veggies to a)get my mind off of dessert and b)because I could ingest the extra calories since I wasn't having to avoid them because of too much dessert!

Dear Johnson & Johnson,

I am writing to tell you how much I like your bandaids, especially the large, knee sized ones. I have used your product on my children for years. Your bandaids have covered their cuts and scrapes, both real and imagined. They even loved to wear them as badges of honor even when they really didn't have a cut, but it made them feel better anyway. In the past couple months though, I have come to appreciate them myself. For instance, the month of February saw me using a very large amount of them due to the knee injury I incurred while trail running. They covered my wounds and kept other infections out.

Unfortunately for me (I guess not so much for you), I had to get the large knee sized bandaids out again as I tripped and fell in the last two steps of my run while trying to hit the "walk" button at the intersection so I could cross and go home (yes, no one stopped as this did happen in front of a bar and I'm sure the passing drivers thought I had just had one too many!). This was not nearly as serious and my last fall, and only resulted in a skinned knee and elbow, but it was very embarrassing to have to tell my friends and colleagues, so it was nice to be able to hide the scrape under one of your bandaids. I even went and ran the next day with one of your bandaids attached to my knee just to prove I am not a complete klutz. The good news is that it stayed on for the whole 4.7 miles. Maybe you should start advertising in issues of Trail Runner magazine?

Thanks again for a great product!

Amy

P.S. I have since run six times and not fallen once.!

P.P.S. I have enclosed the picture of my shoe with two large drops of blood on it as I didn't think you probably wanted to see what my knee looks like!

Four point fives miles

Out for my 5am run. I'm on a schedule you know! I need to get back by 6am so that I can make sure Daughter is out the door at 6:30am with a full stomach and knowing her mom cares. And all the other morning things that have to do with getting yourself ready for wor and another kid up. I am out running.... it's getting lighter out every morning the last couple of weeks. I am having a hard time knowing what time it is. Clock? Watch? Nah. I have a phone with me, but who wants make the effort to look? It's already hard enough being out here.

My neighborhood can be run in two kinds of circles. A big one and a small one. I feel like a mouse on a wheel some mornings. Four miles equals 5 little laps and 2 big laps. I keep count on my fingers. This morning, it's a little warmer as well. I ran for a bit with my jacket on, but left it in my driveway on lap 2... or was it 3? I didn't move my fingers for the count on that lap? Or did I? Oh well... I'm sure I have only run 2 laps - there's no way I would have kept the jacket on for 3 laps.

Back home. Done. Clock says 6:07 and Daughter is wondering why I am late. It must have been 3 laps after all when I ditched the jacket.

Unknowingly I have added a 1/2 mile to my weekly log without trying! Too bad I'm a bit behind now in the rat race this morning!

Challenge month!

One of the things I do when I run is listen to podcasts. I don't do it any other time, just when I run... just for that extra motivation! One of my favorite podcasts is the Nutrition Diva - she always gives you food for thought (haha!) and sometimes a challenge or two. A few podcasts ago, she was talking diet. Somehow the challenge of skipping sugar for a month came up. It seemed like a novel idea. I didn't think too much about it until my husband (who is a listener as well) brought it up. So, we decided to go for it. I'm not talking reading every label out there, but just avoiding those things that are obvious sugar sources... like the cinnamon rolls and jelly beans from Easter that have invaded my house.

And, I get one cheat day. Only because my birthday is this month and I am asking for a trip to the new Cheesecake Factory that has opened near my house. Other than that, I can just skip it all! I want to see if avoiding the sugar helps me a) lose any extra weight (mostly belly fat) and b) makes me feel any better or go any faster while running.

Day one was today and I've just about made it through. I need to give my son this bag of jelly beans that has been taunting me all afternoon as I've been working in the kitchen. I'm sure he will make quick work of it! What kind of mom am I? Giving my son a half full bag of jelly beans to gorge on???!!!

Spring Break?

Well, here I am. At the tail end of the week I had been looking forward to. The week that everyone who works in the school system looks forward to starting the day we return from Winter Vacation. Spring Break. I had planned to run everyday. After all, here in the desert, it is spring! Warm days, cool nights, the smell of citrus flowers in the breeze. This is one of the reasons I stay here (she says as she is trying to block the images of 110 degree July days where it's a race to get the milk home before it curdles and your lungs protest at the thought of running in such horrid conditions.). I had visions of popping up every morning as soon as the sun rose and going out to do a few miles, coming home refreshed and off to conquer all of my other spring break projects like carpet cleaning, closet organizing, and small craft project finishing.

What really happened?

Not the running adventures I had planned, that's for sure! It is Thursday evening and I have run a total of ONE time since Sunday. Once. Really. Once!!! Yes, I have excuses plenty... Monday I went on a hike (do you like the picture I took while on it?)... Wednesday I thought I had too much to do (like the emergency dog food excursion, taking Son to track practice, and house vacumming)... today it was supposed to rain (but it didn't - it was just cooler weather and looked nasty). I have even managed to ignore this blog for longer than I had planned.

So, I have really two days left of my spring break (Sunday doesn't count - it's Easter)... I am resolving to make the best of it and run both days. It's not that I don't want to... I'm just lazy. I guess I had Spring Fever during Spring Break.

Oh yeah. And the carpet isn't clean either.

My body hates me.

Or is it just out to get me? I give it this really nice five week break from running and how does it repay me? With pain. Soreness. And exhaustion.

Yes, I'm back, but just barely! I decided that I should start out slow... no nine milers the first week and all. There I am, Monday morning, 5am I'm up and out to run, um, two miles. I know, for most people two miles is a huge accomplishment. I know this and hate telling people that my short, morning runs are four miles. I guess I figure that if I'm going to make the effort to get out and run, especially when whether you run two, four, or nine miles, you have to take a shower, I might as well make the most of it. The two miles felt a little different, but I think it was mostly due to having an inactive knee for so long. That night my family had many things to celebrate in addition to my running again, so I managed to make up any calories I might have burned off at Olive Garden (but *YUM* it was worth it!!).

Tuesday morning. Five AM I'm up and out again. Should I try doing 2.5 miles? 3 miles? Yeah. After my first few steps into it, I quickly realize that whatever that place on your body is called... where your legs attach on is quite, well, stretched and sore feeling. I was doing really good to slog 2 miles out again. Slog was really the perfect word in that situation. I was quite glad it was still dark and there weren't any witnesses except for the stray cat or two.

Wednesday morning. Leg attaching place still feels weirdly stretched, so I decide to take a rest day. Thursday and Friday and were great, though very slow with 2.5 and 3 miles respectively.

Saturday morning comes along and it's a beautiful day. Perfect spring weather for a run. It doesn't get much better than this. My husband had been out running and felt the need to tell me that I should go for a nice long run... until he remembered the events of the last five weeks. I did go out. And, I did go for a long run. Compared to the rest of the week. A whopping 4.64mi. Too bad I was too tired to care when I got back. It felt like I had just run at least nine. I wanted a nap. Or at least a sympathetic ear. I got neither.

It upsets me that I have worked so hard to get my body to the point of being able to run when/how/where I want and then take a few weeks off and it rebels to the point of silliness. It must hate me.

But, then again, I was the one that tripped on that rock and did this to it in the first place. Maybe this is my just reward?

Weigh in!

Am I the only person out there that feels like if I'm not up and moving around, the pounds just waiting to pack on? I imagine them crouched around a corner, ready to leap on my hips with a death grip at the first sign of my slowing down. Really, I know that this isn't the truth. My diet hasn't changed any. Yes, my exercise level is down, but when you do the math, sadly, I am only burning about 90 calories per mile anyway. Sidenote... how unfair is that - my husband is burning well over 100 calories per mile. The perks of being a man and 60lbs heavier than I am! Ugh!

I had not weighed myself since my knee accident happened. Excluding the scale at my doctor's office, and I don't put much stock in what it says. In the space of three months, it had me weighing 105lbs and 135lbs. Trust me, neither one was true. More like an average of the two. I knew I should see how much my weight had really changed in the last 5 weeks. Even though my pants still fit, it was something I didn't really want to find out, but felt obligated to do. I gathered the courage to stand on the scale this past Friday morning. Dumm-da-da-dum..... and the same number appeared there that had shown up 5 weeks ago. Down to the decimal point. Wait a minute. I had been banking on having a mini meltdown. Ready to drown myself in tears and chocolate. Now I had to just stare at the digtial display in disbelief. How very anti-climatic.

It must be a mental thing. Not much movement=obesity in my brain. It's not like anybody had commented on my weight gain. In fact, when I asked on Friday if I could sign up for the Biggest Loser challenge at my work, I was laughed at. As so many things in my running and fitness life, here is another mental challenge. And I'm really quite thankful that in reality it's all in my head!