Baby Steps

I've eaten a lot of race fees this past year. I didn't want to, but sometimes your body says no. Emphatically. Not even taking account how hot it gets in Texas during the summer, there are days where even taking dogs for walks is too much. My hamstring issue is better. Not gone, but better. The lack of energy is still there, and going strong. One side effect of peri-menopause that I never expected was zero energy because you can become anemic. When I remember to, I take iron supplements, but I'm terrible at remembering to take any sorts of pills. So, anything I do has to be in baby steps.


Which leads me to my new "training plan." I was so totally psyched when my Fitbloggin Bella teammate finished her half-Ironman the other week. Way to go Stephanie!! I was swimming back and forth the other evening in the pool when I got an idea. I'll do my own half-Ironman. It will take weeks to complete, but with baby steps, I believe I can do this.  My pool is small, just 23 feet long, including the half round step areas. I calculated (based on how I swim in the pool) that I will have to swim 158.4 laps to equal 1.2 miles for the swim portion of my half-Ironman. (I'll round up). I swam 40 laps (down and back equals 1 lap) on Monday evening. I'm looking forward to finishing the swim portion!  For the bike and run/walk portions, I'll do laps around my neighborhood. The three block loop section that I live on in my development is roughly 1 mile (1.1 on the outside sidewalk). This will be easy to track. I see people out running in the afternoon. To me, that's nuts. It's 100 degrees out. Not my idea of fun, so I'll be getting my ass out of bed earlier and take the dogs for walks while I log my miles.


Not glamorous, no cheering crowds, but baby steps on my way back to moving. 

Come Play In May - Day 3: Cook a Thing. Do or Do Not... there is no Try

 

Woo Hoo! Now this I know how to do. I can cook things. Not always successfully, but I can cook all of the things.

This morning I did a 5k, and I wanted something quick to eat before the race. I'm trying to cut out wheat again, so I needed to make something gluten free. The new Runner's World cookbook has some great ideas. I call them ideas, not recipes, because I rarely follow a recipe. They're jumping off points. The recipe for Sweet and Savory Corn Cakes sounded interesting. I'm more a savory girl myself, but the sweet or savory comes from the toppings. Eh. Butter is topping enough for me.

Here's our cast of characters. I added the garlic powder and the McCormick's Fiesta Citrus Seasoning. Hey, it's almost Cinco De Mayo, so why not add a little extra.

1 can creamed corn
1 c cornmeal (I almost rebelled and used white cornmeal instead of the yellow their recipe calls for)
1 egg, whisked
2 T olive oil
1/2 c flour (I used gluten free blend)
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 t McCormick's Seasoning
1 T garlic powder
1/2 c water

In a pan, heat up the creamed corn. When it's warm, stir in half of the corn meal. When combined, add in the whisked egg, water, and the olive oil. 

In separate bowl, mix together the remaining half cup of cornmeal, flour, and baking powder.

Stir the creamed corn mixture in to the flour mixture until combined.

Heat up a frying pan over medium high heat. Drizzle a bit of olive oil or spray with cooking spray. Drop large spoonfuls of the batter on to the pan, smoothing with the back of the spoon. Cook for about 4 minutes per side, or until they are golden brown.

The batter makes about 12 corn cakes. I bet these would be tasty, if you didn't use garlic powder and fiesta citrus seasoning, that is, with maple syrup. I know for a fact that they're really good with butter. My test kitchen companions, Mitzi, Sparkie, Bear, and Tessa, all approve of this recipe.

You know I burned my fingers eating one of these bad boys, straight out of the frying pan, don't you?

Depressing reality

It's starting to get warm, here in Texas. Today it's 81 and sunny. That means it's almost time for the pool water to be warm enough to swim.  We don't have a very big pool. It's downright tiny compared to the others in my neighborhood, but I'm more doggy-paddle swimmer than crawl stroke swimmer, so it works for me. Last week I had to get a couple of bags of salt for the pool.

 My word, it took some oomph to lift the bags in to the back of the car, unload them, and carry them out back. I set the bag down on the patio, and it tipped on its side. That's when I noticed how much each bag weighed.

40 pounds. That's about how much I need to lose. If it's that much of a struggle to carry around a 40 pound bag of pool salt, how much of a struggle is it for my body to carry around that much extra weight? How much strain am I putting on my joints? On my back? On my feet? How much am I risking injury by carrying around this weight? How much better would I feel when I run, if I wasn't carrying around 40 unnecessary pounds? It's given me something serious to think about.

Fortune Cookie Friday

The Universe works in mysterious ways. I run. I'm not fast, I'm not good, I don't particularly like running, but I run. To keep me motivated, I sign up for races. Sometimes I'm well prepared for them, sometimes I'm not. Some are virtual races to raise funds for awesome causes, some are in real life. Either way, races give me purpose. They give my training purpose, even when I don't feel like doing it. They give me a reason to get out and run, walk, hop on the elliptical to get some mileage. The give me a reason to get off of the couch or away from my computer. And that, my friends, equals success.

Protein Powder Review

 

Wow. There are a lot of protein powders out there. To be honest, more than I expected. Egg protein, whey protein, brown rice protein, hemp protein. You name it, I think they've attempted to make a protein powder out of it. 

Why was I trying out protein powders? As it turns out, I wasn't getting nearly enough protein as recommended by My Fitness Pal for someone of my size and activity level.  On days when I run, especially long run days, I get seriously hungry. As in eat-everything-in-the-house hungry known as "runger." The best way to combat this is to up your protein consumption. One friend asked "why not just eat a steak?" Unfortunately, for me, it isn't that easy. About a year ago, I went to a specialist because of some digestive issues I had been having. As it turns out, my esophagus is smaller than normal. That, combined with what turned out to be reflux, meant that I have a difficult time swallowing food. As I have no interest in having another endoscopy, protein shakes are my friend. Solid protein = potential problem. Liquid protein = good solution.

Off I went to Sprouts to check out what kind of protein powders they had. DubyaWife recommended Jay Robb egg protein, so I picked up a bag of that. I also picked up just about every variation of single serving packets to see what I liked. I also picked up a container of Alive Ultra Shake in vanilla because it was in the clearance section. Some were good, some were meh, and some got returned because I picked up duplicates, thinking they'd be good. Ugh.  

To be comparing on an "apples to apples" basis, I mixed all of these powders with 2 cups of unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

These are my opinions. I bought the powders with my own money.

So, here are the overall results:

Jay Robb Egg White Protein (chocolate) - 24 g protein/120 calories per serving: This was a pretty good protein powder. I like that it has 24 grams of protein per serving. This was the highest per serving of all the powders I tried. It's made with stevia, so it does have a weird sweetener taste. I'm not a big fan of stevia because of its taste. It blends well and isn't gritty. Would I buy this again? Yes, in fact, I already have.

PlantFusion (chocolate) - 21 g vegetable protein/120 calories per serving: This is an entirely plant based protein powder. There's pea protein, artichoke protein, amaranth powder and quinoa powder. I tried the chocolate flavor. It was good, it blended well, didn't feel gritty and it didn't leave gritty residue in my blender bottle. The stevia taste wasn't overly noticeable. Would I buy this again? Possibly, if it was on sale.

Tera's Whey Grass Fed Organic Whey Protein (chocolate) - 20 g protein/110 calories per serving: I picked out the fair trade organic dark chocolate flavor of this protein powder. Oh, man. I had such high hopes for this powder. Such high hopes that it was the first one that I tried. It blended well, didn't leave residue in my blender bottle, but there was something very odd and weird about this powder. It tasted like steak. Would I buy this again? No. I returned the second packet to the store.

 

Garden Of Life Raw Protein (vanilla spiced chai and chocolate) - 17 g protein per serving/90 calories: Vegan, gluten free, dairy free, this protein blend is primarily sprouted brown rice protein, but there is everything from amaranth, to millet, to garbanzo bean to pumpkin seed sprouts. It also contains stevia, so it had the stevia after taste. This one wasn't as easy to blend. I had to remove the top of the bottle and mush the powder clumps up with a spoon. It was gritty, and left residue in my blender bottle. Would I buy this again? Not terribly likely since there are other good powders out there. One interesting thing about this powder is that the vanilla chai packet touts itself as having no pea protein.

Alive Ultra Shake (vanilla) - 15 g vegetable protein/120 calories per serving: This blend has pea protein, fiber blend, green food/spirulina blend, citrus complex, garden veggie juice powder blend, orchard fruits blend, mushroom blend, digestive enzyme blend. You name it, it's in here. I have to say that it tastes really "green." I got the vanilla flavor, because that's what they had in the clearance section. The canister weighs 34 ounces and was only $10.97, so I'll continue to use this in combination with almond milk, frozen berries, and perhaps a scoop of cocoa powder. It's fine in green smoothies, because they taste "green" from the spinach. Would I buy this again? Maybe.

Vega One All-In-One Nutritional Shake (berry) - 15 g protein/140 calories per serving: I really liked the flavor of this protein powder. It's a combination of pea protein, hemp protein, sprouted brown rice protein, along with omega 3 EFA, green, antioxidant, probiotic and digestive blends. It was fairly easy to blend, but it was a little gritty. The stevia taste wasn't too bad. I'm guessing that brown rice protein is the culprit. Would I buy this again? Maybe. It was on the pricey side.

Spiru-tein High Protein Energy Meal (chocolate) - 14 g protein/96 calories per serving: At last, a protein powder that isn't sweetened with stevia. This had a really good taste. I just wish it had more protein per serving. Would I buy this again? Maybe.

Amazing Grass Amazing Meal Dietary Supplement (cafe mocha and chocolate infusion) - 10 g protein/90 calories per serving: Raw, vegan, gluten free, no sugar added. These blends contain brown rice and hemp proteins, antioxidant blends and energy blends. I picked these out because the Sprouts employee who was helping me said that these were her absolute favorites. I don't get it. They were super gritty and left grit in my blender bottle. The cafe mocha was just plain bitter. Would I buy them again? No. Not worth the grit for so little protein.

So there you have it. My protein powder review. Hopefully this will help you if you're in the market for a protein powder.

On race results and being a slow runner

I am a slow runner. There. I said it. Sometimes I can walk faster than I can run. I read an article this morning that said "There is no difference between the runner who breaks 30 minutes for the 5K for the first time and the one that breaks 16 minutes." My comment to that was that I would be happy to break 35:00 for a 5k. Another comment was that if you finish last there are more people to cheer for you. Maybe if it's a big race, but if it's a small race, I've experienced seeing people driving home while I have had to wait for car traffic to pass, not the other way around. That particular race was one of the worst I'd ever experienced. Now that I'm actually running (I use that term loosely) again, this conversation and article got me thinking about my race times. I dug up the index card I started writing out race results on, looked up a couple of more recent ones (though I was unable to find my results for the 2013 Bold In The Cold 5k) and added them to my card.I actually have broken a 35:00 5k. Once. Go me.

Run For Retrievers 5K (05.22.10)  - 41:02.7
Firefly Run 5K (10.16.10) - 36:41.23
White Rock Half Marathon (12.05.10) - 2:58:28
Bold In The Cold 5K (01.15.11) - 39:24
Rock N Roll Half Marathon (03.27.11) - 2:46:43
Run For Retrievers 5K (05.14.11) - 34:08
Medal Of Summer 5K (06.25.11) - 37:34
Liberty By The Lake 10K (07.04.11) - 1:31:21
Veteran's Day 10K (11.12.11) - 1:18:27
Bold In The Cold 5K (01.07.12) - 39:47.7
Wounded Warrior Half Marathon (06.10.12) - 3:13:00
Bold In The Cold 5K (2013 - can't locate race results)
Run For Retrievers 5K (09.14.13) - 43:31
Rock N Roll Half Marathon Relay (03.23.14) - 1:32.55
Irving Half Marathon (04.05.14) - TBD
 
It's very slow going, getting back to running after taking so much time off. Some races are slow because it's so stinking hot out during the summer in Texas, and the goal is simply to finish. Other races are slow because I'm run/walking intervals. So, yeah, I'm slow, but I'm still running.
 

There is no difference between the runner who breaks 30 minutes for the 5K for the first time and the one that breaks 16 minutes. Both worked hard, sacrificed to achieve their goal, and experienced the same challenges.
Read more at http://womensrunning.competitor.com/2014/04/training-tips/if-you-run-slow-who-cares_22791#Qp3xAlEV7GaFCYLM.99

There is no difference between the runner who breaks 30 minutes for the 5K for the first time and the one that breaks 16 minutes. Both worked hard, sacrificed to achieve their goal, and experienced the same challenges.
Read more at http://womensrunning.competitor.com/2014/04/training-tips/if-you-run-slow-who-cares_22791#Qp3xAlEV7GaFCYLM.99

There is no difference between the runner who breaks 30 minutes for the 5K for the first time and the one that breaks 16 minutes. Both worked hard, sacrificed to achieve their goal, and experienced the same challenges.
Read more at http://womensrunning.competitor.com/2014/04/training-tips/if-you-run-slow-who-cares_22791#Qp3xAlEV7GaFCYLM.99

And now, back to your regularly scheduled program

I have to confess, this week has been a little light on workouts. More functional fitness than scheduled fitness. The elliptical and I have an appointment this afternoon, so I'll at least have that on the books before tomorrow's long run with The Moms.

This week we'll be running for 75 minutes, continuing with our 2:1 intervals. I swear, that 1 minute goes by really quickly. I'm still super slow, but forward is a pace, and the miles all count towards the virtual races I'm doing. So far, I've completed the Firefly 14k and the Firefly 14 miler. Now I'm doing the Sherlock 22 mile race. I like virtual races because you do them at your pace. Even dog walks count if you track the mileage. The cause for these races is great, too. It's to raise funds to rescue and rehabilitate Galgos (Spanish Greyhounds), and to raise awareness of their plight. To learn more about this race and the cause, go to http://sherlockrun.weebly.com/     The group of people involved in this race are amazing, and the community that has evolved around these races are great. Hopefully I will meet some of them in real life one day. :)

Have a great weekend!

Kyra

February Progress Report

It's been just over a week since I stepped on the scale to discover that I had gotten so off track that I was 182. (182.6 to be precise, but I did have some clothes on.) Since then, I have gone to the gym, dusted off my elliptical (and used it), done two group runs with my Team In Training group, and logged enough miles to complete my Firefly 14k virtual run. As of Saturday morning, I was down to 180.6. Progress! I know that some of this was water weight, but still, it's a step in the right direction.

Auld Lang Syne

'Tis the season to reflect on the year that is coming to its close. For the last couple of years, the reflecting hasn't been easy or comfortable. I never really got back on track with my working out and tracking my eating in 2013 after going off the rails in late 2012, after we lost my mother-in-law. I'm still somewhat active, with walking dogs and doing stuff at our ranch, but it isn't goal driven activity.  I feel like I was a different person that year, and truthfully, I kind of miss her.  So, to borrow the words of the great poet Robert Burns, she's an old acquaintance who shouldn't have been forgotten.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?


A friend recently posted about the pendulum swing of the Gemini psyche. It made me think about how my own pendulum has swung too far away from "health" mode and I've gotten off balance. I'm not happy about it, either. Emotional eating doesn't make the stress go away, it just adds something else to make me unhappy and stressed out about.

It's time to dust off my running shoes, charge up my Garmin, and take back control of my whirlwind life. Extra motivation comes from the fact that I registered for a half marathon in April, so I don't want to waste the money by not training. I've also contributed to a yoga Kickstarter program that debuts this spring. I've meant, time and time again, to start practicing yoga, so this will also be motivation. Hopefully nagging from another friend will help, too. Another area I need to focus on is healthy eating, cutting back on the grains and junk foods that I know aren't healthy for me. I used to eat so much better, but I really have let things slide this year. And no more GF goodies, either. Just because it's gluten free doesn't mean I should be eating it.

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give me a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

May you have a blessed 2014.

Joy

Dear Joy,

I never knew you while you were alive, but I want to tell you now that you are an inspiration to me.

(source NY Daily News article)

Congratulations on a race well run. Rest in peace.

Love,

Kyra

Dallas Marathon (update)

I must admit that I'm a bit bummed out this morning. The person who was putting together the relay team for the Dallas Marathon has backed out for unspecified reasons. I don't know the other people from the team, so I have no idea if they know other runners who'd step in so that the team stays together. The few local runners I know aren't relay sorts, they run the whole thing, so being part of a team wouldn't interest them. I'm the sort that needs a race on my schedule to motivate me to get up off of my ass and run. This isn't looking promising...

Dallas Marathon (relay), here I come

It's been a while since I've run any great distance. Great being more than two miles. Time to lace up and start training again. A friend is putting together a relay team for the Dallas Marathon, pka White Rock Marathon, and I've said I'll take the second leg. Since she's never done a big race before, I said she should take the final leg so that she has the finish line experience. I chose the second leg because it winds through the Turtle Creek area. If you aren't familiar with Dallas, that's were a bunch of the rich folks live. I may as well have gorgeous houses, whose property taxes are probably more than The Aussie and I make in a year or two, to drool over while I'm running.

#BostonStrong with Go Sport ID

It's hard to believe it's been a week since the Boston Marathon bombings. A split second can change your life, for better or for worse. This tragedy has brought out the good in so many people and companies. Of of these companies is Go Sport ID. They have made a bracelet that reads Run For All. All For Run. Boston 4/15/13, and all proceeds are going to the One Fund Boston fundraising campaign. That's right. All. Proceeds. This fund will help those most affected by last week's bombing.  I can't take away the bad that happened to so many, but I can be part of the good that will help them recover from this tragedy. Join me in buying a bracelet, or ten, to help.

Today, it's not about the bling... #PrayForBoston

What happened yesterday in Boston was so horrific. All afternoon, Twitter and FB were buzzing, as so many of us tried to find out if our friends who were running Boston were ok. Thankfully, none of the runners/family members that I know were physically injured, but it was so close for some of them, it's scary. It sickens and saddens me that someone could do something so awful, but as someone who worked in New York City for many, many years, I know there are evil people out there. 

Today, it's not about the bling. Today, it's not about pace. Today, it's not about PRs. Today, it's about unity. Today, it's about solidarity. Today, it's about community.  My prayers go out to all who were affected by the tragic attack in Boston.

Better than a parking lot...

Yesterday afternoon on FB, I posted the following:

"Feeling nauseous. I just "liked" a particular marathon page. It may be time to get my act in gear and start running again. The marathon is December 1st. I haven't run, if you call my turtle pace running, since June, when I did the Wounded Warrior Half. Is this enough time to train?"

The responses were very positive, and a friend from church who is a marathoner said "Yes!!!" So I started looking in to various training plans. I am not looking to push it, especially since I haven't run since June and I'm a little bit more creaky in the knees and hips. Hell. I'm closer to 50 than 40. I'm happy I can get off the couch some days, given as spastic and clutzy I am.  What I found is Hal Higdon's Novice Supreme marathon training guide. It's a 30 week schedule. This gives me plenty of time (knock on wood) to prepare for and train for this race.  It even gives me time to complete all 9 weeks of C25K beforehand.

Last night after dinner I told The Aussie to visualize spending a few days in Florida at the end of November/beginning of December in Florida. He says "okay, sounds nice." I then told him why. I said "I promised you that when I was ready to do a full, that you'd have something nicer than the parking lot at Fair Park to look at."

source: Pegasusnews

 

BTW, I'm feeling nauseous again. I just finished copying the training plan in to my calendar. Yikes.

I like big bling, and I cannot lie...

Behold, the fruits of my labor. AKA the finisher's medal from Sunday's Wounded Warrior Half Marathon. Oh, yeah. And the four shiny new 5k charms I earned at Weight Watchers for having finished the half marathon. Not bad for a birthday, huh!

Wounded Warrior Half Marathon Playlist

Because nothing says Happy Birthday like race bling, I'm doing the Wounded Warrior Half Marathon on Sunday. Well bling, and the fact that it's a great organization that The Aussie and I believe in. Even though I really hate don't like running outside when it's hot out, I am doing this race. Even if it means I'm walking for half of it. My reasoning is that if the service people who are helped by this organization can deal with their injuries and trauma, I can suck it up and run/walk 13.1 miles in their honor.

I spent much of my lunch hour tweaking my alternate playlist. Alternate, because I would like to do as much of this to the Run To Cadence with the Navy Seals. I want a back up in case I start to lose my sanity by the 3rd time through for this set and start to think I actually am running with a bunch of hot guys in Navy uniforms. Hence, an alternate playlist with LOTS of music. Hopefully I won't hear anywhere near to all of these songs. Ginger, from twitter, was interested in what I came up with, so in no particular order, here it is! (Gee, can you half tell I'm a Gemini? These songs are all over the place.)

I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab For Cutie
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police
Our Lips Are Sealed - The Go Gos
Rio - Duran Duran
Shake Ya Tailfeather - Nellie
Pleasure Little Treasure - Depeche Mode
Fake It - Seether
Time Of Our Lives - Paul Van Dyk
Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
Vertigo - U2
Don't Change - INXS
Dance With Me Tonight - The Wonders
Right Round - Flo Rida
Straight Lines - Silverchair
Uprising - Muse
Major Tom - Shiny Toy Guns
Run - Snow Patrol
I Like It - Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
Break Your Heart - Taio Cruz
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
Times Like These - Foo Fighters
Check Yes Juliet - We The Kings
Favourite Shirts - Haircut 100
Closer To The Edge - 30 Seconds To Mars
Hold On Loosely - 38 Special
Gloria - U2
Give Me Everything - Pitbull
Lose Yourself - Eminem
Solar Midnight - Lupe Fiasco
These Days - Foo Fighters
Love Plus One - Haircut 100
I Will Follow - U2
Space Age Love Song - A Flock Of Seagulls
Steppin' Out - Joe Jackson
Mr. Brightside - The Killers
Back In Time - Pitbull
Monkey Wrench - Foo Fighters
Litany (Life Goes On) - Guadalcanal Diary
Fantastic Day - Haircut 100
Linus And Lucy - Vince Guaraldi Trio
Howlin' For You - Black Keys
Hold Tight London - Chemical Brothers
Girlfriend - Avril Lavigne
Good Vibrations - The Beachboys
International Love - Pitbull
Rompe - Daddy Yankee

A recent FB post

Feeling very out of sorts, I posted the following on FB on Saturday morning:

You probably don't know how painfully shy the person who showed up at your club's group run is. Or how far out of her comfort zone she was. Last year, when she showed up for a run, people were welcoming, so she thought she'd be okay. A couple of you said good morning as you walked past her, but after 10 minutes of standing there, nervously clutching her water bottle, feeling anxious and out of place, with no one talking to her, she left. But you probably didn't notice that.


The supportive comments this post received meant a lot to me. You see, not everyone knows how shy I am. It took a lot for me to even drive to this group run. When I got there, it took a lot for me to get out of the car. I seriously considered turning around in the parking lot and just driving home. But I didn't. I metaphorically put on my big girl panties and got out of the car. I slowly walked to the club house, and nervously said good morning to the people who were already there. A couple of people acknowledged me, but most didn't. The few women that were there just continued on in their conversation as if I was invisible. And that's what I felt like. Invisible. I toughed it out for several more minutes, feeling more and more like a loser the longer I stood there. Funny how the big girl panties can quickly disappear in situations like this. Finally, feeling a panic attack coming on, I walked away from the club house, back to the car. I managed to drive away (past the club house, mind you) and get down the road a bit before I started crying. 

When I got home, it was not even 7:30, so The Aussie was still in bed. I climbed in beside him, doggies hopping on the bed to snuggle with us. He asked what time it was and I said 7:30. Puzzled, his asked "aren't you going?" I told him I was back. He asked what happened. While he's a very outgoing person, he knows how difficult things like this are for me. He just held me as I cried while telling him what had happened. He told me that I at least made the effort and that was what was important.

It was important. I made the effort. But I won't be again. Oh, I'll show up for races that this group puts on a couple of times a year, but I won't be showing up for group events. Want to hear something funny? When I was half asleep not long ago I thought about why I sign up for races. This is going to sound pathetic, but part of it is the pictures of groups of friends all running together, wearing goofy costumes, having fun. It's like I'm still the nerdy little kid, always picked last for the team, looking at a group of friends from the other side of the chain link fence. I want to be a part of their popular group. But I'm not. A dear friend left this comment to my post ... When you are out there in a race it is just you and the pavement. You have everything you need inside you right now... She's right. I do have everything I need inside me. I'll be fine. Just me and the pavement.

Red fuzz

I just got back from doing the North Texas Great Santa Run. It wasn't a timed race, but my garmin time (by the time I got the long santa suit sleeve rolled up and hit stop) was 37:32. Lots and lots of santas there, cute dogs dressed as reindeer, good music, good weather, if a bit cold at 34 degrees. I'm glad for the extra layer the red santa suit gave me, but I'm going to be finding red fuzz around the house for a while. And that's after I was given a once over by The Aussie with a vacuum cleaner and a once over with the sticky roller we use to get dog hair off of our clothes.

10K A Day and Weight Watchers Week 5 Update

It's Monday. A dreary, rainy, chilly Monday that followed a dreary, rainy, chilly Sunday. We really need the rain, but this weather was not conducive to getting outside and run. At least for me. Way to go to all the runners who ran White Rock yesterday. I admit I teared up while watching the beginning of the marathon on tv yesterday morning before church, but I am glad I wasn't running in that weather. Because I didn't want to run in the cold rain, I didn't get the run in that I promised FB and myself yesterday. I did get my butt on the elliptical for 25 minutes though, so that counts for something.

Weight Watchers weigh in: unchanged at 172.4. I'm not surprised. We went out to dinner on Saturday night after picking up our Christmas tree. I had gift cards, so we went to Carrabbas. The points splurge for me was having calamari, and it was very good. The rest of the dinner, not so much. Everything was so salty. We were sucking down the big glasses of water and finished my big bottle of water on the way home. And what is with them putting cheese in everything? When I order minestrone soup, I don't expect cheese in it. And when The Aussie orders something breaded, he doesn't expect cheese in the breading. Hello, breading?? Not cheesing. I'm guessing we won't be going back there any time soon.

Speaking of Weight Watchers, I was dropped to 26 points with the new program upgrade. The points were downgraded retroactively, so on Friday morning, my totals were recalculated for the week. All of my weekly points evaporated. By Saturday night's dinner, I was in to my activity points. (I took my first Zumba class on Saturday morning and burned 500+ calories per my BodyMediaFit, so I had LOTS of activity points earned over the week) It's only 3 points a day, but why do I feel like I'll starve? I was logging over 29 each day anyway, using my weekly points spread out. I'll give the 26 points the old college try. I'd like to be at my 5% by Christmas, and this will help. So will running more races. I have the North Texas Great Santa Race coming up on Saturday. :)

I've been using my BodyMediaFit to log my steps for the 10K A Day Challenge. This week's totals are:

Monday (11.28) - 5,000
Tuesday - 10,298
Wednesday - 10,285
Thursday - 7,973
Friday - 9.255
Saturday - 12,732
Sunday - 9,098