Just keep swimming

 How come most days about noon I feel super great, ready to tackle the world, ready to go to the gym and kill it. And then something crazy happens over the course of the next 3 hours when it hits mid to late afternoon and suddenly I have zero desire to do anything.  I have to practically force myself into my workout clothes and of course into the gym. I’d say it’s perhaps a food thing, but generally speaking I simply think it’s just a life thing. Mid-afternoon slumps are real.

Some days you just feel it and some days are disasters. You mostly can’t plan or predict for them, the best you can do is acknowledge their existence and work on thru it.  Last night about 4 PM I had zero desire for the gym, but I decided I was going to work out a plan anyway.  I went and ran a 5k, and honestly it felt great.  No idea why sometimes running a 5k is easy peasy and sometimes it’s like death, seriously horrible.  Luckily last night was the former and I felt pretty chill about it all.  Of course that gave me the energy to power thru my shoulder and bicep workout I had penciled out. Overall I felt good about my workout.

My gym is seriously bi-polar.  These new owners have these horrific moments of complete asshole-ness and I hate them and can’t even consider myself staying there and then they have these weird random moments of being nice which lead me to believe that it’s all some sort of trick.  I’m honestly not sure.  So last night about 5:30, while running on the treadmill the 2 owners walked around and literally handed out something to every person in the gym.  I was watching as she was walking thru the treadmills handing something out. I had no idea what it was but given that she was going to every person I just patiently waited until it was my turn.  She came over to me and handed me a small little plastic card. At first I thought it was some sort of business card but I pulled my earpiece out and she said, use this for yourself, do some training or else give it to a friend. I looked down and realized it was a $100 gift card for the gym.  So I guess they want people to do a couple personal training sessions just to get hooked maybe? That’s enough money for about 3 personal training sessions.  I was confused. It’s like I’m always looking for the catch when it comes to these gym owners.  I simply don’t trust them. But it was a nice gesture I guess.  Unless of course there are strings attached in which case that would make more sense to me. We shall see I suppose.  Don’t even know who I’d want to do personal training with anyway.  Like I said, we shall see.

I was telling my mom last night that I’m really kind of tired of the gym and glad that I am getting back into the running world because on some level that is one of the most comfortable places in the world for me. At running events, with runners. I feel more connected to them as a whole than I do the meathead body builders at the gym.  Of course my gym has a high concentration of meathead body builders, given it’s the stupid home of the Oregon bodybuilding team.  It’s really pretty terrible for one’s self-esteem to constantly be surrounded by these types of people. Why can’t I just be at a normal gym where there is your normal range of people you know. Sure, some meatheads but mostly average people just trying to better themselves.  That’s where I feel I fit in best. Just a normal girl you know.

I seriously hope this week flies by fast because I already want it to be the weekend. I’m already over this week and its only Tuesday mid-day. Boy I think I wake up most mornings and wish that I could just win the lottery. I am sure most people think about that on a daily basis though. If only I were independently wealthy and didn’t have to work.  Boy would life be kick-ass then! Of course I’d just find a whole new set of problems I’m sure.  I’m sure I’d be bored and then shop to much (as if I don’t already shop to much as it is!) and of course eventually I’d feel like my life had little meaning or purpose. It would be tough, but it’s still lovely to dream about. I sure would like to tackle those problems as opposed to the ones I have now!

I need to make my workout plan for tonight. Tonight is my personal training group with my mom, sister and cousin. It’s leg day so it should be hard and intense.  I guess I just have to keep going even on the days when I don’t really want to.  It’s not like at this point I honestly even know any other way of life. It’s been a hell of a long time and this is simply what I do.  I love being active and healthy, sure it’s a huge plus that it makes me like the image in the mirror more, but ultimately it just boils down to how it makes me feel.  So even when the stupid afternoon slump hits, I will still change into my workout clothes, write out a plan and go to the gym.  I just don’t know any other way of living.

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. That’s pretty much where I’m at. Block out all the negativity and focus on the things that are going right and bring me joy and contentment in my heart.  Do the things that I know make me happy. Forget about the rest. Seems like a legit way to live. I’ll be back tomorrow with my workout plan from tonight.

Working it out

So here is a truth I had conveniently forgotten about running; weekend morning running makes me hungry. Like excessively hungry.  And in an instant I remembered why despite running so many freaking miles last year my weight never actually went down. Running is an energy zapper and of course drainer of all forms of nutrition in your body.

My yesterday went something like this. Wake up early to drive to run. Eat a normal usual breakfast, but much earlier than normal. Run 5 miles uphill about the time you would normally be getting up.  Feel famished. Eat the red velvet cupcake “reward” for the run.  An hour later feel so famished you completely scarf down a giant sandwich. (Store bought of course; Big Town Hero) still hungry. Snack a little. Decide to take the doggies out to the dog park because it’s a beautiful day.  End up walking 4.5 miles around the park. (Had my Garmin on so I knew it really was 4.5 miles). Exhaust doggies completely and realize you are now completely hungry yet again. Stop at the grocery store get a Starbucks. Pretend like you are going to eat healthy. Come home and pretty much just eat and eat.  Ah yes, this is why it’s not really easy to lose weight while running a ton.  It wasn’t boredom eating, it was genuine hunger.  Of course I ate more than I burned by a LONG shot but it was still real hunger.

Aside from my food intake yesterday the rest of my weekend wasn’t much better but without the running excuse. Friday night I ate too much. Saturday I ate too much. Oh well I suppose. Pick myself back up and go at it again today. That’s about all I can really do.  And if I honestly want to lose weight I know the only thing that will really work is tracking my food and for some reason I still can’t quite bring myself to do that. It sounds exhausting and not fun. We will see though, at some point I might have to resort to that.

With all that said I had a pretty nice weekend. Friday night I went to my niece and nephew’s talent show at their school. Kayden and one of her little friends sang Shake it Off by Taylor Swift. And then both Kayden and Ethan did a ta-kwon-do routine together. But as a general rule an elementary school talent show isn’t that much fun, but it’s nice to be supportive. Saturday morning I woke up and went to the gym with my sister and brother in law and took a class. A strength training class. I kind of snuck into their gym. Kind of. I am not a member at that gym and a day pass is $10. So I just used my sister’s key card, pretended to scan it and walked in with them. It worked and I don’t honestly feel guilty. I wanted to try out the class. It was good; it was nice to do something a little different for a change. 

After class I went home and we took the doggies to the dog park on Saturday too. Yes, we took the dogs to the park two days in a row. Shocking for us. But it is so good for our dogs. Plus it was just a beautiful weekend out and a good way to get in some extra exercise as well.

I was kind of nervous about my run, kind of not.  It was just the 8k, which is about 5 miles. There was also a half which we didn’t do. I did feel slightly like a loser standing there not running the half, but that’s my own problem honestly. And truthfully I am still not sure I’m ready to do a whole half just yet. The 5 miler was hard enough honestly.  I felt pretty decent until the first hill which was pretty soon and then I remembered this race was exceptionally hilly. I did this race last year and yup, the whole thing is up and down, up and down. Over and over.  Because of the excessive hills I gave myself permission to just get the run done in under an hour. So long as I was 60 minutes or less I’d be happy.  That’s a 12 minute mile pace and given my lack of running lately I was going to be okay with that. And those hills. I was anticipating walking a lot of hills.

But in true race fashion once I start running, even if I’m not feeling like 100% percent I still try and give it my all. Or maybe it’s just that I want to finish for the torture to be over, I’m not quite sure how that really works.  I kept trying to tell myself to just enjoy the experience and the run. To not care about the time at all. Easier said than done. I ended up running pretty much the whole thing.  Even up those hills that were brutal.  5 miles seemed like a decent distance when all was said and done. Not sure I really could have pulled off 13.1 yesterday.  But I blew past my 60 minute expectation and came in at officially exactly 49 minutes 59 seconds, so a whole second less than 50 minutes.  I will gladly take that, hills and all. Given 8k is a little shy of 5 miles, that meant my pace was like 10:03 a mile and honestly I am quite happy with that. 

It’s a slow build up to get my body ready for a half again. My plan for the week is to do 1 30 minute run and then 1 60 minute run during the week.  Then Saturday I have a 5k I will most likely just walk with my mom and then on Sunday I have a 12k, which is 7.5 miles.  See the gradual build up here.  5 miles this weekend, 7.5 next weekend.  At least that course should be flatter than this one.  Now I’ve just got to figure out a way to not eat everything in sight post run.  Sure doesn’t help when they have delicious perfect looking red velvet cupcakes waiting at the finish line.  I was simply powerless against their pull. 

I will say this, running outside was far superior to my treadmill runs. The wind, the change in scenery, the fresh air. All more motivating than the hamster wheel that’s for sure.  I have to say though I’m having a sort of gym backlash right now.  I honestly think this same thing happened to me about this same time last year. I am bored of the gym, but more than anything I get tired of this preconceived notion that I “should” be anything. And by that I mean, as much as I love my gym friends sometimes it’s too much pressure to maintain some level of extreme that I don’t necessarily want.  No two people are at the same place in their life or desires.  And yet sometimes I feel like I am being judged because I don’t want to become extreme and be 125 pounds and compete in a body building show.  Like somehow where I am at and what I want is just not enough.  I’m feeling that old feeling of wanting to walk away a little, get my space, and remember that I am in control of myself and my life and if that means that I want to run on the weekends, every weekend and never step foot in a gym on the weekend that is perfectly okay, because it’s my life.  I learned a long time ago, or rather perhaps decided, that I wasn’t going to spend all my time and energy obsessing over my food and exercise.

I decided that I wasn’t going to be some extreme bodybuilder and I didn’t want that lifestyle.  Sure, when I see pictures of people who are working hard towards that and they look great I have pings of jealousy.  I’m only human. But I don’t want to give up living to achieve that.  Sometimes it’s hard to keep everything in check.  Sometimes it’s very hard to admit that I am not going to be perfect, that I can’t. Sometimes it’s hard to just accept that I’m good enough just as I am. This isn’t a bad place to be at. It’s just made harder to accept when you are surrounded by people who are pushing for more. It is like somehow it makes me feel bad about myself, like I’m not good enough because I won’t do the things you are doing to achieve some level of perfection that ultimately I’m sure would be unobtainable for me anyway.

I don’t know if any of this makes sense anyway. I’m mostly just rambling about shit. Okay, maybe I should clarify where this is all coming from. My friend, trainer Amanda worked out yesterday afternoon with another girl named Erica. I have a history with Erica of sorts. She is training for a bodybuilding show, she is Amanda’s friend.  Honestly I hate her. Well, hate is a strong word.  We just don’t see eye to eye and she bugs the shit out of me. She is very preachy not only about food and exercise but about actual religion too. And that drives me crazy. Anyway the two of them and a new girl were working out and they posted all these photos from their workout.  I admit I was jealous.  I was off running and they were doing that and seeing the photos just felt yucky to me. And I had to try and sort out why it was bothering me.  I don’t really want to be a bodybuilder. I am jealous of how naturally tiny these 3 girls are. I am not built that way at all. I am not now nor will I ever be tiny.  I am curvy. I am womanly. I guess I just need to accept that. And for the most part I do.  None of these girls have ever known the struggle that I know. Never faced the numbers on a scale I have seen. I can’t decide if somehow I’m desperate to fit in or if I just want to say fuck it and have your little party while I live the life I need to live to be happy.

Not going to lie, it’s a real toss up. And my conflicted mind makes me just want to run away. Cause that’s pretty much what I do when I don’t like a situation. I just ignore it. Run away so to speak.  Instead of confronting my emotions or accepting that I’m better off living my life, I’ll just pretend that I don’t care at all and push them away. Sounds legit right?  I guess it doesn’t matter all that much. I’ve really got my own goals in my mind and I need to do the things I need to do to be happy and achieve them.

I need to remember that everything we see at surface level is just that, simply the surface. I have no idea what is really going on underneath it all. Life is always more complicated than face value.  At the end of the day I have to be happy with my choices and my life. With my husband by my side, and my family, the people that really matter the most. That’s what’s important.  Other people can come and go in my life, but at the end of the day I do know what matters.  And I have an amazing family.  Even when we are all annoyed with each other, when someone needs you, we are there. I don’t doubt that for a second. And let’s be honest, Chris keeps hanging in there with me and my crazy running schemes. What husband really does that?  Not only says sure babe you do what you got to do, but I’ll go along for the ride with you?  I don’t know at the end of the day if he ever would have chosen this life but he loves me so here we are. That is what matters.

I will not magically be any happier or my life any more fulfilled if I lose 10 pounds or my muscles suddenly start popping and growing off the charts.  None of that matters.  What matters is that on Saturday my mom is going to go with me and walk a 5k and on Sunday Chris is going with me to run 7.5 miles. That matters so much more in the grand scheme of things.  So screw you jealousy and feelings of inadequacy.  No you are never going to look like Amanda or Erica. But there is only one you and no one else will ever have the exact same things you have.

Cram it in a drawer

It is Friday. I love Friday’s. I mean, who the hell doesn’t love Friday’s??? This means I get a lovely weekend ahead of me full of bright shiny possibilities? I haven’t been this fundamentally happy in week’s maybe even months. I truly think it’s my revised attitude on life, and possibly because this weekend kicks off what I am considering the official start to my 2015 running season.  I live in Oregon so it’s a bit weather prohibitive to really run in November-February.  Sure, there are some races and honestly I could have done some of them but burn out and lack of direction really kept me from getting too involved.  But somehow, right on que, just as the first race is upon me, I suddenly feel revived and ready. I think my two 6 mile runs this week probably help a lot. They not only reminded me of my love for running but bolstered my confidence enough to believe that I could actually run. That is so key. Just believing in yourself.

For some crazy reason I am beyond excited to actually run this 8k on Sunday. It seems strange to me to be so excited because it’s been a while since I’ve felt any amount of excitement over running. But I think it’s just because I am back at something that typically has brought me so much joy and happiness.  I can’t help it, but seeing a picture of a t-shirt and medal gets me all giddy. It’s not like I don’t have a drawer stuffed full of like 50 plus races shirts from last year. (Not an exaggeration at all!) But for some reason a new one just gets me all hot and bothered.

I think the reality is, it’s been a long time since I’ve done a race and I’m feeling that antsy jonze for a good dose of happy that a race brings. Yes, it’s just that good my friends. At least to me.  We all have our drug of choice, mine happens to be runner’s high with a dose of t-shirt and medal bling. I don’t wear these shirts, like ever, but somehow coveting them is top on my to do list.  Nonetheless, here is the photo that was posted online of the shirt/medal I will get on Sunday after I run an 8k, basically 5 miles. Yes, I only opted for the 5 mile run instead of a full half because I wasn’t sure if I could handle a full half at this point. My mind says sure I could do it, my body might give me a different story, but I will be proving that soon enough so I’m not worried. Anyhow, here’s the shirt.

And in the vain of being adventurous and crazy and taking crazy chances in life I also did something else entirely stupid this week. I signed up for a 5 mile obstacle course race on March 7. It’s called the Freeze. It looks well honestly, like you’d have to be an insane person or gluten for punishment to sign up and pay actually a lot of money to do this, so naturally I was all in!  I’m quite crazy at times.  Here’s the photo from their website that shows you the 5 mile course and some of the names of the 25 obstacles. Yes, 25 freaking obstacles.

You see, I don’t know what all of those really mean but they look fairly intense including a burpee zone and what is sure to be lots of tire events and upper body strength focused ones. I was a little worried to be honest so I posted a question on their Facebook page that they immediately answered that asked them if I could honestly not complete an obstacle could I go around it? I fully knew that they’d say of course because they can’t force someone to do something that they physically can’t accomplish but I just wanted the reassurance that say, when it comes time to do monkey bars that when I surely fall flat on my face that it’s okay to bypass.  Monkey bars scare the crap out of me for some reason. I am not certain that I am actually completely ready for such an intense course but what the hell right?

 I am only saying what the hell because I persuaded my cousin into doing this with me. Okay, technically it’s my cousin’s husband.  None the less, he has gotten into cross fit lately and was the only other person I could think of who might pay actual money to be tortured. He’s a great guy and I enjoy his company so that’s a plus.  Of course I thought of Chris too but I wasn’t sure if he was physically ready to handle the physical demands of such a course. He may still sign up, I don’t know. If he does, the more the merrier. But I just wanted a backup you know. We have vowed to stay with one another and tackle each obstacle one at a time as they come.  I have promised him that in between obstacles that I will walk the course with him and not sprint. I assured him that if I am doing these physically draining tasks that I probably won’t want to run in between.  I think it’s going to be an experience for sure.  This is a challenge of my physical strength and willpower.  

We did sign up for a Rugged Maniac course in June as well already. That one I am signed up for as well as Chris, this same cousin Tim and my brother in law Matt.  But this one honestly looks harder. We will see. BUT with all that said, look at this awesome medal I get at the end. This kind of sealed the deal for me.

Yup, I want that shiny roaring lion thing. I mean I keep hearing Katy Perry’s I’ve Got the Eye of the Tiger, ROAR in my head when I stare at it. Who doesn’t want a medal that makes you go ROAR when you look at it? I am such a freaking dork!  But this medal is seriously like the physical representation of that song and I couldn’t pass it up. Even if it means hours of physically demanding torture. 5 miles is a long race as it is to just even be plain running, but throw in 25 stations and I’m guaranteed I will sleep well later in the day. I do think it’s going to be a blast honestly.  Such an insane girl.

So today I am sore. Like all kinds of good sore. And some kinds of bad sore too. HA HA. My legs are seriously on fire from Tuesday night leg day with a 6 mile run on Wednesday thrown on.  It hurts to sit down. That movement is painful in all the right kinds of ways.  So last night I was just exhausted at the gym. I think my 3 very intense evening workouts were catching up with me. Nonetheless, I made a workout list for me, my mom, and my sister Erin.  This is our workout last night.

Oh, it seemed easy enough. Actually, the whole time I was doing it I was tired and felt like I wasn’t really giving it my all. Like my 100% effort wasn’t there, but low and below today I am SORE. So this means clearly I was working harder than I thought. My back and my chest feel aches and pains that match my legs. Good kind of feeling to have.

Last night’s workout was focused on lower reps (12 times of each exercise) with heavier weights.  As opposed to higher reps (20 reps) of lighter weights. Each of these styles has benefits and it’s good to mix it up.  Last night I wanted heavy so I think this helps with the feeling of sore today.  You don’t realize how brutal things are until you actually do them.

The first 3 exercises we did 5 sets of. By the 4^th and 5^th set it was painfully hard.  Jumping pull ups are taxing on your body.  Basically I am at that pull up machine and put a box under it and jump up while pulling myself up. I can’t just stand there and do a pull up. I am not quite that strong. But I can do pull ups no problem when I give myself a jump start! These hurt though. Which is why I insist on doing 5 sets of them. That means 50 pull ups and this is why my back is fried. Who knew, but pull ups are entirely for your back. Sure your arms are engaged in the exercise, but mostly it’s your back that gets fried.  And of course some simple heavy bicep curls (I opted for 40 pound curls) and then chest presses.  I started with 60 pounds and it just wasn’t heavy enough so the next 4 sets I upped it to 70 pounds. This was heavy. Rep 10, 11 and 12 were brutal. This means this was the right weight factor for me to do on my own.  I can lift heavier on the actual bench  press when I have a spotter and such. But for free weights on a regular old bench 70 pounds was perfect.

I honestly didn’t feel like I worked all that hard, but my body is telling me a different story today with upper body soreness so that is a lovely thing. I keep thinking about being a strong happy healthy fit girl. I mean, I do think I am a strong happy healthy fit girl, but our body perceptions are so messed up. A lifetime of living within your own self-doubt is hard.  I know I am strong. I know I am not a petite little breakable girl, but I have those crazy moments where I look in a mirror and for the life of me think I am huge.  I am not sure what causes those moments or days.  And then sometimes I see this strong athlete. Sometimes I don’t see muscles at all and some days I think I look crazy muscular.  It’s funny how much variance there is in our own self-image. This has so much more to do with what is going on in our head than anything.

This is a lifelong struggle and I have to admit that I’m getting better at it. It doesn’t matter how many times you fail at this, and believe me, I’ve failed so many times in my life, but I’m not really a failure at all. Because here I am, its 2015, and I’m strong. I am healthy. I am happy. I am active and enjoying my life. There’s no failure in that.  Plus I can’t even believe it, but it’s been 2 years 5 months since I weighed 220 pounds.  I am 1000% certain this time that I am just never going to be that girl again. I know it in my heart. I have gotten at least that part figured out. I am not perfect and I have struggles. The last 3 months have been a real struggle for me. Pretty much from the time I finished the half marathon in Las Vegas mid-November, until last week I have struggled to get stuff figured out.  But I didn’t fail. I was never a failure. I kept at it. I kept my head afloat enough to get me to this point. To get me to this day.

It’s been a week since I decided I was running a marathon this year and upon a week’s reflection I have to say, it was quite possibly one of the best decisions I have made to date. Scariest, but best. Because it snapped me out of my funk. Gave me a driving purpose again, and that laser like focus. Maybe it would have happened no matter what all on its own, without that decision. Maybe once I started do running events I would have found it again by itself. But who really knows.  All I know is I am determined. I am ready. I am all on fire on my insides and excited once again.

Can’t wait to collect my shirt this weekend to stuff into my crammed full drawer. But for those couple moments it will bring me utter bliss.

Mindful Healthy Eating

My legs are on fire today.  In fact when I left the gym last night I immediately said and thought, that’s it, I have broken my legs. They no work no more. Of course this is an exaggeration but I feel it. They were already sore from Tuesday night’s leg day. Heavy lifting actually ususally takes 2 solid days to produce maximum pain/soreness for me, so that puts it on par with today.  Last night, my legs were already feeling the sore but I decided to run. No pain, no gain so to speak.  I ran 6 miles.  It wasn’t as easy and breezy as Monday night, but sometimes barreling thru runs that are hard are mentally more rewarding.  And often times these are the moments when you grow the most.

The run was hard, it required all my mental toughness to push thru, but I did. Somewhere in the little over 60 minute range. 62 minutes or something like that. Key is, it was 6 miles. Key is, I ran on very tired legs and I made it work.  After my run I did a little upper body. I was completely on my own last night and sometimes that feels good too. Sometimes just getting lost in your own music, inside your own head feels good.  Of course I was a sweaty mess but that’s cool too. The more I rested my legs post run, the more I realized that the fatigue and soreness was setting in.

By the time I walked out to the car, walking wasn’t even fun. Ouch.  Today I am certain that I feel the effects of leg day then a 6 mile run on said tired legs on top of it.  It’s that funny feeling when squatting down or bending over is just hard. My quads primarily are on fire. Guess it’s a good thing tonight is exclusively upper body work. I need a good one.  I will have to work out my plan later this afternoon. Decide what muscle group or groups I am going to focus my attention on and really try and fry them. So long as I am not trying to climb stairs or squat I should be good.

This morning I weighed myself. My first real week back focused on eating healthy and I am down 3.1 pounds. Yup, I’m not shocked, but a little bit.  I haven’t been all that careful about my food intake up until this week so it doesn’t surprise me that week 1 of suddenly being mindful produces results.  I have no expectation of ever getting close to that number again.  My body is just reacting from eating anything I want period which is not always healthy, to a solid week of better choices. I am not even going to say scary healthy because I didn’t track anything. I didn’t weigh any food portions. I just ate mindfully and made better decisions.  In a week’s time I feel much better because of the quality of the foods I’m eating so that’s a big plus.

I should clarify some things. By no means do I consider myself “fat” or in need of losing weight. I would be perfectly fine keeping my body exactly where it is and continuing to enjoy frivolous indulgences of food.  I have no problem with that. I have proven to myself that I have a pretty good handle on maintaining in this range.  And that would be all fine and dandy if I didn’t have these other goals in my mind’s eye. If I am going to improve my running and build my speed and endurance back up, every single pound I can drop will help ease that transition some.  In the end taking 10 pounds off my frame will help tremendously with running.  When I go to Maui to run my full marathon I have a goal number in my head that I’m not sharing out loud just yet.  It’s not a number that I can realistically keep for any period of time, nor do I desire to, but just like athletes who work their butt off and train for a specific event, this is my event. And if losing weight to have less of it to lug around for 26.2 miles is going to help than why not do that?

Aside from all that, let’s not forget that I have physically felt better this last week than I have in a long while because it’s the first week that I didn’t stuff my face with excessive sugars or a greasy meal. Yup, my body likes mindful healthy eating.

I’m not ashamed of my weight. Last Thursday February 12 I weighed in at 154.5. This was after my vacation and quite honestly a solid 3 months of not giving a shit. I was actually quite happy with that number.  Today I weighed 151.4.  Honestly I’d just like to get back into the 140 something for right now. I am okay with all these numbers because all of these numbers reflect a strong healthy girl who has a lot of muscle too.  I’m not a delicate “empty” 151.4 pounds, that’s a pretty strong toned 151.4 so I’ll take it.

I am just going to keep plugging along, with this whole mindful healthy eating and my lovely exercise regime that is about to gear up and get a little more running heavy.  Whatever the numbers do to follow suit is fine by me. Again, I am perfectly fine weighing 151.4 pounds. This is quite the set point for my body. Anything around 150 pounds is pretty much where it likes to just hang out and live and eat and thrive.  Not a bad place to be. Not complaining at all.

I just know that taking 10 pounds off my frame makes a pretty big difference in the running game though.  Especially over longer distances.  That’s part of my real motivation right now. Anything to make running seem like a breeze again. As if running is ever a breeze. Ha Ha.