It is absolutely amazing what 2 measly weeks off can inflict on you. I am a puffy, gross, bloated, zitty mess. I feel awful. I've been excercising, but my eating has been that of a crazed buffet maniac. So much candy, so many cookies, I can't even wrap my brain around it. It's over, we opened presents last night. Today I am back to the no artificial sugar/whole/super foods diet. I mean it. I can barely run. I did 2 miles on the treadmill yesterday and that's ALLLLLL I could do before I was sweating like a pig and on the verge of throwing up. My body is basically poisoned right now ya'll (come on I'm home in KY right now, gotta use the right lingo). I did 2 more this morning and plan on getting in 2 more 20 min sessions today so that I start my diet off on the right foot with 6 miles.

Yesterday I grabbed coffee with 2 of my high school girlfriends. I grew up in a small town, so the people I went to kindergarten with are the same people I graduated high school with. So, I still have some good old friends who have known me since I was knee high to a pigs eye!
Xmas was good. My parents gave us some new sheets for our new king size bed and some new hallway rugs, along with a few new sports bras and some scarves and gloves and a fancy scrabble board that rotates and has little plastic dividers so the letters don't move! My sis and BIL gave me these great yoga sandles that seperate y our toes and stretch them out and a yoga DVD and got G an extra long yoga mat, he'll be happy not to use my pink one anymore! My mom got my dad a new fancypants office chair and he got her one of those inversion tables you hang upside down on, that thing is crazy! Gary's mom gave me a shit ton of gift cards, which are the best for me b/c I love to shop, but never have any money. She also gave us a beautiful handmade wine bottle holder and a bottle of our fav. wine Conundrum (soooo tasty). She got G some new cross country skiis and boots. His Dad & stepmom gave me a nice workout outfit, a swimcap and a Dick's giftcard, which is always wonderful I can't wait to go shopping. I ordered myself a late Xmas gift - LL Bean has these wonderful thin quilted coats in a great range of colors on sale for $50. They are called the Weatherfield. Check them out if you need a new winter coat, they are good to negatuive 10 degrees, but so thin! Someone had one on at work,they are super cute. THe mens' versions aree on sale for $30!

My mom, sister and great aunt and I are heading to Lexington shortly to see Juno, I can't wait. I hear it's an awesome flick. I stared my day off with turkey breast and a soy latte with no splenda. I head home tomorrow. G was supposed to come with me, but came down with the flu or something. So, hopefully he feels better tomororw. I am hoping we can go to dinner with our neighbors. On Tuesday I am planninng a mega workout day with a mile swim and 6-8 miles ran, along with my ab destroyer video. Start the new year off right. Haaayyy.

Have a happy, safe New Years Eve Bloggy friends!

I get to work today and a grown ass man is sitting in his car blasting that Soldja Boy Supaman song. I guess I am not alone in the fact that I freaking love that stupid song? Everytime I hear it I just want to shake, shake, shake my rump. I mean check out these lyrics – pure poetry, right! Believe me, it’s a good running song. And who would have ever thought the only instrument you needed on a song was one of those Caribbean metal drums:

Soulja Boy Off In This Hoe
Watch Me Crank It
Watch Me Roll
Watch Me Crank Dat Soulja Boy
Then Super Man Dat Hoe
Now Watch Me Do(Crank Dat Soulja Boy)(chorusx4)

[Verse 1:]Soulja Boy Off In This Hoe
Watch Me Lean And Watch Me Rock
Super Man Dat Hoe
Then Watch Me Crank Dat Robocop
Super Fresh, Now Watch Me Jock
Jocking On Them Haterz Man
When I Do Dat Soulja Boy
I Lean To The Left And Crank Dat Dance(Now You)
I'm Jocking On Yo Bitch Ass
And If We Get The Fightin
Then I'm Cocking On Your Bitch
You Catch Me At Yo Local Party
Yes I Crank It Everyday
Haterz Get Mad Cuz"I Got Me Some Bathin Apes"

I'll spare you the rest of the lyrics. Anyway. It’s Friday, thank the good lord. I am taking a half day today. I still feel sick. Just really weak and nauceous (editors note: No I am not pregnant mom.) Gary and I went to a 1.5 hour yoga class last night. I felt kind of light headed and sick during some of the poses, but my body feels so much better. I had been feeling so tight and stiff. My hammies were all crunked up, but today I feel so much looser. Yoga really is the best. I have to make a point to get there once a week. I also have to make a point to run 20+ miles, bike a few hours, lift weights 3 times and swim 3 times. Sheesh when do I go to work!

DDDDDD day is almost here. I stepped on the scale today and was down 2 lbs from yesterday. Thank goodness. I am only 2 lbs above where I was before the holidays, so if I only gained 1 or 2 lbs, that’s not so bad. Today I am 9 lbs above my goal. Skinny jeans have been pulled out of the armoire and are on full display. I will be sliding into those on a daily basis to remind me of where I need to be. Don’t worry these skinny jeans aren’t from high school or anythign stupid like that, they are only 2 summers old. Yes, it’s been 2 years since I was at my fighting weight, egads.

We leave tomorrow for Danville to visit my parents, my skinnyass sister and brother in law (see previous post about their amazing weight loss) and hopefully my other sister and her kids will be in town, but her oldest had his wisdom teeth out on Xmas eve, so they aren’t sure they are making the dive yet.

I'm sick today. Ugh. Headache, stomachache, so tired. I wish I had called in sick, but I really didn't want to waste a vacation day since the office will be so quiet this week. It started on Sunday, I got really seriously nauceous in the evening, but I was better on Monday. I have just felt worn out and icky the since Sunday, but this morning I really feel fluish. I hope it goes away. I hope I'm not really sick. I have plans to go to Excel in Cycling tonight, but I won't be if I feel this way. I did get in a good 6 mile run yesterday. If I keep feeling bad, I am just going to take it easy this week and be ready to get back to it after my trip to KY. Official training for the marathon starts on Jan 14th, I got a good plan from Smart Coach on Runners world that has me running 3 times a week, starting with a long run of 10 miles and getting in 3- 20 milers. Last time I only did one and didn't feel prepared enough for the marathon at all. My goal for the Pig is to not feel like I am dying at mile 21 and to finish in under 4:25. So, I will run 3 days a week and I plan on doing the Excel in Cycling class and 2 swims. Plus weights 3 days a week. My mileage never gets over 30 miles a week so that should be do-able. My mid week runs are a recovery run and a speedwork/or tempo run.

Xmas was good. It was nice to see G's family, this weekend we go see mine.

I am very excited for the new years. New years, clean slates mean a lot to me. I am ready to start my year as a multi sport athlete and clean up this garbage can that has been my diet of late. I would love to put the line in the sand and say today is the day, today I am going to eat only from the super foods list and only have dark chocolate and so on, BUT this weekend we go to my parents and I know the food situation will not be ideal, so I am not going to set myself up to fail so quickly. I will watch it the next few days, avoid the cookie pit kitchen here at work, but I will be eating my sister's potato candy on Sat, that's all there is to it. But we return to Cleveland on Jan 1 and mark my word, a diet begins. Diet is a dirty word I know, but believe me, the pants in my closet no longer fit and it's time to actually plan out my meals. I am not going to log, I am just going to plan the night before and structure my diet around the Super Foods. If you've never read the book Super Foods RX by Dr. Pratt, you should check it out, it rocks, but here is a list of the super foods, the bold word is the main super food, the ones next to it are sidekicks, they are foods that almost offer as much nutritional kick, the recommended serving is in parenthesis.

Apple: pear (1 a day)
Avocado: asparagus, artichoke, extra virgin OO (1/3 -1/2 cup multiple times a week)
Beans: all beans included, pinto, navy, great northern, lima, chickpeas, grean beans, sugar snap peas, green peas ( 4, 1/2 cup servings a week)
Blueberries: purple grapes, cranberries, bosenberries, strawberries, raspberries, currants, blackberries, cherries and all other frozen, dried or fresh berries ( 1 to 2 cups a day)
Broccoli: brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale, turnips, cauliflower, bok choy, collard greens, swiss chard (1/2 to 1 cup a day)
Dark Chocolate: no sidekicks (100 cals a day)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil: canola oil (1 tbsp a day)
Garlic: scallions, shallots, leeks, onions (to taste, multiple times per week)
Honey: no sidekicks (1 to 2 teaspoons multiple times a week)
Kiwi: pineappe, guava (multiple times per week)
Oats: wheat germ, ground flaxseed, brown rice, barley, wheat, buckwheat, spelt, couscous, quinoa, kamut, yellow corn (5 to 7 servings a week)
Onion: garlic, scallions, shallots, leeks(to taste, multiple times per week)
Oranges: lemons, grapefruit, kumquats, tangerings, limes (1 serving a day)
Pumpkin: carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, orange bell peppers (1/2 cup most days)
Pomegrantes: plums (4 to 8 ounces of 100% pom juice multiple times per week or any amount of seeds)
Wild Salmon: alaskian halibut, canned albacore tuna, sardines, herring, trout, sea bass, oysters, clams (2 to 4 times a week)
Soy: tofu, soymilk, soy nuts, edamame, tempeh, miso (15 grams a day)
Spinach: kale, collards, swiss chard, mustard greens, orange bell peppers, bok choy, romaine lettuce, turnip greens (2 cups most days)
Tea: green or black ( 1 cup per day)
Tomatoes: red watermelon, pink grapefruit, persimmons, red papaya, strawberry guava (1 serving per day)
Turkey: skinless chicken breast (3 to 4 servings per week, 3 to 4 oz)
Walnuts: almonds, pistachios, seasame seeds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, pecans, hazelnuts, cahsews (5 servings per week)
Yogurt: kefir (2 cups per day)

Merry Xmas Eve bloggy friends. I am at work today! How bad does that stink! Pretty bad, kind of like rotten marathon toes. We'll get out early today, but just the act of getting out of bed this morning when G didn't have to and the dogs were all cozy and warm, blew! I slept in and didn't make it to spinning, which is fine. I worked out hard the last few days and I was really sick to my stomach last night, so I don't know how I would have done in class anyway.

Friday I made it up again and went to 6am spinning and did abs afterwards. Sat, Laura and I ran 6 miles and then I did an ab DVD and walked the dogs a few miles. Gary and I went to his Dad's house for lunch and a late b-day celebration and we all watched Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween, which was awesome! Sunday Laura and I went to the gym and lifted upper body and then took a spin class. The Sunday teacher isn't very good, but they had the heat on in the studio on mistake and it was like a sauna, I have never sweat like that before. I thought I might pass out at one point! Bad news. After that we went to LUcky's in Tremont for a delightful brunch. Oh oh oh and I just have to tell you on the drive to Lucky's we headed straght up Carniegie and near Hot Sauce Williams we saw a lady standing on the sidewalk, facing traffic, squatting down and peeing! It was so bizarre, I mean wouldn't you at least try and go behind something and be a little discreet? Not this lady, she was just letting it all hang out and taking a pee right there on the sidewalk people. After brunch (I had a gingerbread waffle, um yum) Laura headed to their Dad's house, and G and I headed to Kohl's and Costco to run some errands. The temps went from 50 to 30 in a matter of hours. It is COLD out there today people.

Today G will be at his dad's to do presents, I probably won't make it in time. Tonight we go to his uncle's for a party. tomorrow morning I have a 6 mile run at 9am with some friends, then we head to his mom's and that night to his aunts.

You may have noticed I am not posting my food here, but I am writing it in a notebook. Coming here everytime I ate was too big of a pain in the ass.

So, I chickened out and didn’t go to the run last night. I am feeling rundown and knew it was not going to be a good day to try and run 8 min miles. I went for a nice 4 mile run around Shaker Lakes and felt pretty good, but I was running between 9-9:30 and my heart rate was up in the 180s, there was no way I could have dropped a min off those miles. This morning, I slept in. I honestly don’t know what’s wrong. I used to have no problem getting up. I will just keep trying every morning, one of these days I’ll be back in the routine. Chris and I are meeting tomorrow morning so I definitely have to get up, so that is good. Early to bed tonight. I have a haircut after work. After that I will ride my trainer, hopefully for at least an hour, but I’d like to do 90 mins.

I think I am definitely sick. I just feel off and tired and sluggish. Ugh. I hate this time of year.

Gary and I watched The Bridge last night, it's a documentary about people who commit suicide off of the Golden Gate Bridge. I guess it's really common. 20-30 people a year do it. It was quite the movie. Very well done. Then I watched the Biggest Loser finale! Ahhhh those people looked amazing.

Dare I say that the scale is starting to go down! I don’t want to get too excited, but I do appear to be down about 2-3 lbs and I am starting to notice some differences in the belly and thigh area. Cross training is paying off ya’ll. And my eating has not been where it should be, by any means. So, if I can get my eating in check, the weight will most certainly come off faster. I have no doubts that I will be back to my fighting weight by Feb. Maintaining it while marathon training will be tough, but I think I can do it. I just need to remember that long runs are NOT excuses for big brunches afterwards. 13 miles may equal 1000 calories burned, but you can easily eat that back with a stack of pancakes and a latte or a big old coldstone creamery cone!

Last night I did a short swim – 500 yds. I was having all kinds of technical difficulties. I cannot find goggles that fit my face correctly. Every time I turn my head I end up with an eye full of water and believe me, they are on tight enough. So, after putzing and fussing with my cap and goggles for 30 mins, I accepted defeat and headed to the weight room and lifted for another 30 mins. Tonight I am heading to my first ever CTC run at the Garfield Reservation. It’s going to be tough, I know these people are faster than me. But if I ever want to get faster, I need to try and keep up with people faster than me! I have promised myself I can just do 1 loop if it’s too bad, then try and build up from there.

I cannot believe next week is Xmas!

We did not get that much snow last night. I am heading to the pool shortly, going to skip yoga. G and I are going to go see I am Legend today and I am going to meet Tracie for coffee later I think. I need to put my new pedals on my bike and fix up my new cleats, so I will do a short spin later today to test out clipping in and out so I don't embarrass myself at Excel on Monday.

Last night we went to our neighors Xmas party. I had forgotten it was taking place, luckily my other neighbors reminded me. Holla Renata! We are so lucky to like our neighbors. It kind of makes me not want to move.

Things I am adoring today:


Sofia Masri jewelry, I'm totally ordering the bird earring - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=57798

Music - sitting here making a new long run mix and these songs get me into a good place - I like to alternate hip hop with mellow music and long jam band songs and match my pace to it

• Paulo Nutini - Last Request
• Jackson Brown - These days
• Beatles - Golden Slumbers
• Allman Bros - Whipping Post

Reading - Fried Green Tomatoes for my book club and loving it!

Hey guys - to get layouts like this one, just google blogger skins and you can find all kinds, then you just past the XML on the template page. You have to redo your sidebars, well there's probably a way around it, but I didn't figure it out, so I just redid my links, etc. Also, you can add the navigator bar back in if you want. There are lots of neat skins out there.

Got up early today and met Abby and Chris for a hilly run. It's pretty cold today, so the first 3 miles into the wind were tough. My heart rate monitor was not behaving and kept slipping down and causing me much unneeded stress! Fark you Garmin. When it isn't getting a good signal, your watch makes a really annoying pacman type sound. So, I was fiddling with it and running up a steady incline and ended up making my shoulders quite crampy. We ended up doing 11.5 and now I am all cozy and warm in bed! I had some warm soy milk with a cinnamon teabag in it, that was soooo good, new fav. drink. It's definately wintery out, there's a big storm a brewin, so I'm sure everyone in Cleveland is at the grocery today stocking up on canned vegetables and toilet paper. Today G is with his mom getting skiis, I might join them for lunch soon, don't know yet. I really want to go see I am Legend and we need to finish up our Xmas shopping.

Last night we watched a Planet Earth on antartica and it REALLY upset me. It was about how polar bears have to swim further and further to get food b/c of global warming. They followed this one polar bear who was out to sea for days! I guess he rested on ice drifts. Then when he gets to this island it has walrus' and he has lost half his body weight and he's all tired and scrawny. He keeps trying to eat them, but they are too big and their skin is too thick and they get him with their tusks and he literally just collapses of exhaustion and hunger and curls up into a ball and goes to sleep to die AND his family is waiting for him to bring food back, so they'll die too. Yeah, it was completely depressing and make me curl into a ball and go to sleep so I wouldn't have to think about it anymore. Seriously CAMERAMAN get the damn bear a sandwich. How can they just watch that and not help him! Not that I didn't feel sad for the walrus' too, I did. Someone explain to me how I am not a vegetarian! I would choose to hang out with a walrus over a human anyday.

I am watching VH1 and the Fergie fartface video for Big Girls Don't Cry is on, could that Milo guy from Heros get any sexier? I mean really? That is a heck of a piece of man.

Oh best week ever just came on with their best year ever special, I think someone is going to be laying in bed for the next hour and that someone is me. Guess I'll use the stick while I watch the tube and veg out. Before you ask Josh, that's nothing dirty! The stick is this running massage thing, it's stick with beads on it and you roll it over your legs and such. Yeah, I guess it does sound dirty.

I'm going to be switching up my workout plan, trying to alternate legs/arms. Here is what I am thinking, keeping in mind I need to run 4 days a week soon for my marathon plan:

Sat - Long run and light weights at home - abs/arms
Sun - Long swim (1 mile), yoga, and then if I feel up to it 30-45 mins on the trainer
Mon - PM Excel in Cycling
Tues- AM swim, PM run with CTC 4-6
Wed - AM run 6-9 miles
Thurs - AM 3-4 mile run, PM masters swim
Fri - Spin class, abs/arms

Friday will be my rest day when I need it

In other news my taint is back to normal from Wed, thanks for asking :)

Well this week kind of went off the tracks exercise wise, but I’m not going to whine. So, I only worked out 4 hours, so what. We all deserve a break – repeat, repeat, repeat. Back on the horse tomorrow with a nice hilly 12 mile run with Chris and Abbie. Abbie and I both signed up for the Buckeye half, so I am glad to have someone out there suffering with me! Speaking of suffering, is it 5pm yet?

Last night was nice. Gary and I went to Alladin’s and had a yummy meal and then walked to get some gelato, which is basically crack. Clevelanders if you have never been to La Gelatoria on Fairmount hill (there’s one at legacy village now too), abandon what you are doing and run there right now, you will not find a better tasty treat. I had all the good intentions of swimming this morning, yet didn’t do it. See above, not going to beat myself up, not gonna do it. I am going to go out on lunch and try and complete my xmas shopping. Tonight probably holds a rousing scrabble battle and more planet earth. Tomorrow run, go out for G’s b-day with his mom (she’s buying him cross country skiis), Sunday yoga and swim and short run. Super exciting life I know! Have a good weekend bloggy friends.


Breakfast – piece of rye toast, veggy chicken patty
Lunch –salad bar and quiche from ruby tuesdays - best salad bar around, zuchinni, edamame, peas, beets, need I say more
Dinner –
Snack – Clif kid Z bar, apple, sensible food dried sweet corn (this stuff is good holmes!)

So I woke up at 5:15 this morning prepared to go run 6-8 miles and was met by a nasty, wet, gross, smelly snow. So, I got in my car and drove to the gym and swam! Nope, not really, my lazy ass got back in bed. Go me! Oh well, it was cozy and warm and Mushi was spooning with me, so it was a lot nicer than working out. But I should have done it and I HATE that if my plan is foiled that I don’t go to plan B. HATE. Oh well, today will just be a resty type week with 3 days off of working out! You need those sometimes anyway. Hopefully I can make it to the gym tonight, but not quite sure what the evening holds.

Last night I went to the Excel in Cycling class and it was great. Minus Mr.Muscle man that pointed out to me that it’s a lot better clipped in. Really? I didn’t know that Mr.Muscle man. So, I replied that not everyone has $300 sitting around to buy new cleats/pedals so shove it. No, not really, I said I know and I’d get them eventually. I was in the back of the class this time and had a very nice convo with the guy next to me whose daughter in law happened to graduate college with me. Small world, no? My legs are very sore this morning, but the trunks don’t feel as sore as last time. But my butt sure does. Seriously I think my taint might fall off. I need to invest in some new cycling shorts, I asked for some for Xmas. Hopefully I will get those.

Today is my wonderful husband’s b-day. Big 3-2. Happy Birthday G. It’s no surprise, for his birthday he’s getting climbing lessons either at the downtown rock gym or Appalachian Outfitters. I am very interested in it as well, but he has been reading books on rock climbing and tying knots and he’s ready to go. We are talking about taking one of the vacations that REI offers. It’s a beginner climbing weekend in NC. 3 days, and you camp, then we could spend a day or two in Asheville my favorite of favorite places. We’re also going to try and snorkel with some manatees in FL this summer. Lots of fun ideas.

Yesterday’s food was good. I didn’t put one morsel in my mouth that I didn’t write down. The evil Hershey kiss cravings were curbed by some afternoon coffee (not coffeecoffeecoffee nytro, just plain old coffee). I shouldn’t have had 2 bar type foods, but the cliff bar sounded better than the gel during class so myneh.

Breakfast – 2 slices prosciutto (70c), cranberry instant oatmeal
Lunch – salt bagel with light cream cheese (not the best choice, but it was GOOD!)
Dinner -
Snacks- Trader Joes quesadilla (240cals) , ummm animal cracker cookies, ummmmm skim latte ummm oooops there may have been a handful of fucking hershey kisses too and there may be gelato for G's bday. FARK!

So, I stepped on the scale this morning and it wasn’t pretty. I am slowly creeping back to a weight zone that I am very unhappy at. If I could be as good about food as I am about working out, I would be golden! In an attempt to keep myself more accountable, I am going to post my food on my blog everyday. Now, I seriously doubt anyone is interested in reading what I am eating, but I really really don’t want to get back to logging and weighing and measuring everything on Calorieking, so I will write it here and hope that having it out there for my 2 readers will keep my honest. If you ever want to make a comment about my food, I won’t be offended, feel free! I am also going to go get my body fat tested to see where I stand. THis all goes along with me saying yesterday that I would cut out the coffee and the work lunches.

On to more interesting things. I went to a Nutrition for Endurance Athletes seminar last night at the Bike Authority. It was pretty interesting. I wanted to buy pedals for my bike and I did, but unfortunately my shoes will not work with the look or speedplay pedals, so new shoes are in order. Which sucks b/c that’s another $100. I am afraid to go the ebay route b/c I want to be assured they will work with the pedals I bought. I ended up getting look pedals b/c they are bigger than the speedplay which means I can pull my foot out and still have a pedal to use, whereas the speedplay are shaped like a lollipop and so small that you can really only pull your foot out when it is time to stop. I thought until I am more comfortable, the look pedals would be better for me. And they were cheaper! Tonight I head to another Excel in Cycling class and am bummed that I won’t be able to clip in. I might run over to the Solon bike shop and see what they have.


Today’s food:
Breakfast – chicken lime burger from Trader Joes (240 cals), coffee with soy creamer (45 cals)
Snack - Kashi Go lean rollup bar (12 g protein, 190 cals)
Lunch – black bean salad (330 cals), hard boiled egg (80 cals), 6 big brussel sprouts (40 cals)
Dinner – Wendy's small chili (yum)
Snacks- big pink lady apple, popcorn (100 cals), diet hot chocolate (25 cals), cliff bar (240c) during cycle class

I swam last night and I swam pretty well. Well, most of the time I felt like I was flopping around and drowning, but at least 6 laps felt really good and smooth and in sync. So, that’s saying something. I completed 1000 yds and I made a point not to stop at the end of each length and go 50yds before I took a break. It’s getting easier, although not as quickly as I would like. I want to be able to swim a mile by Jan 1, a mile is 1600 yds. So, I think I will add 200 yds each time I hit the pool and do 1600 yds before I depart for Xmas in KY on Dec 28th. In Jan I want to make a point to hit the pool 3 times a week and 1 of those will be a mile swim, the other 2 will be shorter/faster and more drill oriented. That’s the plan anyway.

Tonight I am attending a Nutrition for Endurance Athletes seminar at the Bike Authority and while I am there I am going to get some speedplay pedals for my bike. I sooo don’t have the cash for these right now, but in my mind I need them or I can’t do these Excel in Cycling classes, so I am just going to suck it up and charge them. I would just buy them outright, but I just bought a Garmin cadence monitor and a trainer out of our joint account and just don’t feel right spending another $150 on my bike this month. So, out of my personal stash it comes. I have got to get better about money, that is my goal in 2008. I spend so much money on coffee and going out to lunch with work people. In the New Year I am banning myself from coffee shops unless it is after a long run with friends b/c that is a tradition for the group I run with. But I can downsize from a grande to a tall. I have also promised myself that I will only eat out once a work week. So, I am going to start bringing books in and reading over lunch. When spring comes I’ll walk around our building. I think this is the last thing I need to buy for my bike though, so that is good. I sure hope the biking shoes I have are adaptable to this type of clip. If not, that means I have to buy new bike shoes as well and this purchase will have to wait. Right now I just have cages on my pedals b/c clip pedals scare the bejesus out of me and cages make it nearly impossible to do one legged drills effectively. I have been meaning to learn to ride clipped in for awhile and these indoor classes are the perfect opportunity.

I am mailing out my entry for the Buckeye Winter Half marathon today. What sealed the deal for me was that I saw someone wearing the race jacket from last year and it was really really cute, so it made the $55 entry fee more worth it to me! So, Jan crazy trail run here I come.

Soooo, I woke up feeling like a limp noodle on Sunday morning and that became my rest day. I cannot tell you the last time I didn’t get a long run in on Sat or Sun, but this weekend I didn’t. I am not too sore today, but I really feel like I am on the verge of getting sick. I just feel blah and tired and I have been sleeping way too much lately. And it really stinks b/c for the first time ever in my life I have been great about my vitamins. I am taking vitamin C, a multi, fish oil and glucosamine vitamins nearly everyday, I am getting 7.5-8 hours of sleep every night, I am working out like a champ, I should feel better than this!

We went down to Columbus for my SIL’s graduation. I am super proud of her, she went back to school in her early 30s, first to become a massage therapist and then to become a physical therapist. Seeing her to this has really gotten me envious and thinking about going back to school. But I was never very good at science and I was never much for studying, so I honestly don’t know if I have it in me. But I would so love to be able to work with athletes and work in a hospital and have a flexible schedule. She had no issue finding a job, they were fighting for her and her new job is paying off her school loans! She moves to Grant’s Pass, OR at the end of the month. A small town that is 2 hours from the mts., 2 hours from the ocean and has a bike lane on every major road! Sounds like a nice place to live.

So, I guess I better get to work. Tonight is a swim, I might get out for a short run too. Have a good one bloggy friends.

This morning I made the trek to Akron to attend a 2 hour Excel in Cycling class. It was very good, but this was very overzealous of me. I have not been on my road bike since Sept! I have not rode more than an hour outside of a spin class since Sept! I mean what was I thinking going to a 2 hour course on a trainer when I haven't even used my trainer yet! Haahaaa might as well just jump in I suppose. I hated to drive 45 mins away to workout, but it is a hell of a workout and I know good and well that I wouldn't push myself as hard as I did today if left to my own devices. So, I am going to try and go every Sat., well until the husband complains about gas money. I don't even want to think about how much of our income goes towards classes, sessions, race fee, running clothes, bike accessories and so on. But it's a lot people. Maybe he needs to get an expensive hobby then I won't feel so bad. There were about 20 people in the class and the teacher sits up front and runs you through drills. The first hour was spent going through spin ups (where you cycle really hard, then let off, then hard again for pre determined amounts of time in a lowish gear), then the second half was one legged drills and lactic threshold ladders; those killed. My legs feel like noodles and I have a feeling I am going to be very sore b/c I never work near my LT and today I definately did. I used my heart rate moniter the whole time and was between 160 and 185 for pretty much the entire second hour. I feel great now. Waiting for G to get home from the gym, then its time to walk these dogs. They are sitting here whining and getting on my nerves. It is a gorgeous day out, very sunny and not too cold, I think it's 40 out there.

Tonight we are going to finally put up our Xmas tree and finish up our Xmas shopping and watch some more Planet Earth. Last night we watched Caves and Desert. That series is just too cool.

Made my calendar!

Jan – CTC indoor tri
Winter Buckeye Trail Half Marathon

Feb – West End Chili Bowl 5K
CTC indoor Tri (beast series)

March – St Malachi 5 miler
Mill Creek HM (beast series)
Just A Short Run 30K (Cranberry, PA)

April- Hinkley Duathlon (beast series)
Hermes 10 miler

May- Celebrate Nurses 10K
Flying Pig marathon

June- Ohio City 5K
Sprint Summi Tri (beast series)
Sunday in June metric century bike ride

July- Lake Eerie 2 mile swim (beast series)
Eddy’s Sweet Corn Challenge 100 miler bike ride

August- Perfect 10 miler
Olympic Iron Greater Lakes Tri (beast series)

Sept- Akron Marathon (beast series)
Powerman Ohio Du (beast series)

Oct- Towpath HM

Nov- Pigskin Classic 5k
Fall Classic HM (beast series)

Dec- Reindeer Run 5K

I think these are the races I am going to do next year. I want to do more 5Ks and 10Ks, but everything just gets so expensive. I’m not for sure about the 2 mile swim in July b/c I might not be capable, we’ll see. I also want to do Akron, but am contemplating on doing an out of state fall marathon. I tried to get in a few 5Ks and a few 10 milers and HM. I can’t wait to get to racing next year and see how much faster I am capable of getting!

Sooo I took a sick day from work yesterday! It was more of a mental health day, than sick day really. I am definitely under the weather, but not horribly ill; just feel kind of blah and tired, run down, etc. I slept in, which was nice. But only until 8:30 b/c Mushi was being obnoxious. Then I cleaned the entire house, which was much needed! Then I ran 3 miles and included a bunch of hills. Then I rode my trainer for 20 mins, then I went and swam 1000 yards! I had my own mini triathlon. We attended a roller skating birthday party for my neighbor Renata and it was really fun. I mean there were people there that were serious skaters. It was surreal, I wish I had had my camera with me. I didn’t fall down and it felt like a pretty good workout actually!

I momentarily contemplated calling off again today, but I want to save some vacation days to roll over. So, here I am. Boo. I am going to run out and get donuts for a meeting we have at 10. I hope I can get back to the office w/o eating 10 of them!

Tonight I will lift weights and go for a short run. Tomorrow I am contemplating going to an indoor cycling class at http://www.excelincycling.com/, but it is all the way in Akron and it is 2 hours long and I am scared that will be too much for me. But I think I will go…it will be tough, but worth it I’m sure. Sunday we are going to my SIL’s graduation from Grad school in Columbus, so I guess I’ll get in a shortish early morning run – 6-8 miles maybe.

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Thanks for all the comments yesterday guys, I think the real key is I am going to have to start logging my food again. I know my diet has gotten sloppy and it can be much better. I just HATE logging and weighing food, but I am going to suck it up and do it. Or at the very least write down what I eat, keep myself accountable!

So, I went to a seminar on HRMs last night, it was okay. I bought a MAG trainer that they had on sale with a climbing block. I am super excited to give it a try and totally imagine myself sitting on it for hours at a time doing interval work while I watch DVDs! Gary and I went for a quick 3 mile run when I got home, it was cold and quiet and it made for a nice run. I usually hate working out that late at night, it was all of 8:30! But it is neat being the only one out on the road and all you hear is your breathing and you feet pounding. When I got home, I got tucked in and watched the Biggest Loser.

This AM I headed to spin class, had to leave a little early to get to work early, so I will get on my new trainer tonight and even out my time for VTC, I like round numbers! Tonight I have a dinner at Fahrenheit for the Road Race series I competed in. I’ve never been there, I hear it’s yummy. But first I have to get through 7.5 more hours of work, boo.

So I am split in half – I have 2 desires. One is to lose 10-15 lbs (which would get me to 120, not sickly skinny by any means for 5’2) and the other is to be an endurance athlete, especially in running/biking. I want to be the type of person who can go run 15 miles with no problem or go bike 100 miles without blinking. To be better at number 2, I need to achieve number 1. Yet, the scale never moves, I am stuck. I am plateaued. Now I do have my share of junk food breakdowns, but for the most part I am a healthy eater. I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. I logged my food years ago religiously and feel like I am good at determining how much I am eating, I would guess I take in 1400-1600 calories a day and considering I burn about 2500-4000 calories a week working out, I think that is fine. I was reading a book last night on endurance training and it said that after you continuously work out for long amounts of time – which for me would just be 1-2 runs a week – your body starts to store fuel differently and holds onto carbs longer. So, I am wondering if I shouldn’t ditch my long runs for awhile and try really hard to work on speedwork instead and see if it helps? I am just so fearful of losing my long run abilities. Know what I mean? Running fitness decreases so quickly – anyone who has taken a week or two off for an injury can attest to that. For the winter, should I switch things up and go to bootcamp class on Mondays, spin, swim and just be content to only get in like 12 running miles? Opinions please.

I got in 12 solid miles yesterday. It was very icy and wet for the first 5 miles and then it stopped raining. I was very uncomfortable and things were chaffing, so since I was close to home I ran home for a costume change around mile 6! I thought hard about just calling it quits at the point, but went out and did another lap around shaker lakes. 12 was enough, part of me wishes I had done another 3. But really I’m not training for anything right now, what does it really matter? I felt good all day Sunday and went to book club and to meet Sas & Mukund’s baby (so cute!) and was asleep by 9! The day after a long run I always have a really hard time getting up and this morning was no exception. I was going to go to spinning, but just woke up in a complete daze and went back to sleep. I think if I want to get to spin class on Monday’s, I am going to have to start doing my long runs on Sat. Which would be good b/c then I can also get to spin and yoga on Sunday, followed by swimming if I am feeling ambitious!

After sleeping in, I still had to be at my gym at 7:30 b/c they have a Cleveland clinic office there and I had made an appt. to have my gait analyzed! I have some reoccurring issues with my arch and my doctor agreed to refer me, so I didn’t even have to pay for it. The physical therapist Holly, video taped me walking barefoot and running with shoes on a treadmill. She also felt around on my feet and legs some and did some test on my flexibility and strength in my legs. My left leg is weaker than my right and my hips and IT are really tight. She gave me some stretches and exercises I can do to strengthen my weak areas. She also recommended that I switch to a more cushioned shoe. It was all pretty interesting.

Guess it’s time to get to work, boo.

15 Monica Nowac chip time: 25:24.45 clock time: 25:40.60 8:17/M

Woohoooo last race this year and I got my best time! 8:17 avg. per mile! I was 15th in my age group (out of 44). I am so tickled. This gives me hope that I can get myself down into the 7's per mile. I am not very fast, compared to the 14 people in front of me (Espeed won our age group with an impressive 6:17/M!), but I have come so far. My first 5K which was in May of 2006 was 31:40! And I am about 10 lbs over my fighting weight right now, I am starting to think that one day I might just be further up in the standings. Woohoo. Big shout out to my girls who all did so well today - Abbie, Sara, Debby and Tracie. Abbie took 5th in her age group. She always wanted to finish in under 25 mins and today she finished under 24 mins!!!!

After the race, I went home and took a quick nap. Then Tracie came by and we headed to the JCC and swam and did yoga. I only got 500m in, sorry VTC girls.

I had plans to run 13 miles tomorrow, but it is not looking good. THere is a big snow storm coming. If it does, then I will try and power through 6 outisde and then maybe hit the treadmill for another hour. I hope the weather just calms down and I can get my 13 in. We'll see. Right now I am exhausted and I am going to snuggle with my dogs and Gary and watch a Planet Earth dvd. Have a good night.

Boy did my day not start off very well! As you are well aware bloggy friends, I am plagued by running GI problems. Mostly only in the morning. No matter what I do, I can't seem to do my business before 6 am and then it hits me - BAD - mid run. Well, I decided to try something new this morning, I got up at 5;15 and drank 2 cups of coffee. So, my body had 35 mins before I had to leave the house. I ran in place, I massaged my belly, I did yoga twists, all kinds of stuff, to no avail. So, I get to the nature center at 6 and only Brock showed up today, we had planned on doing 6 miles. I knew off the bat I was going to have problems. I ran 1.77 miles with him and then it was emergency time and I had to race off to my car. I mean how embarassing, of course I relive it here for all of you guys, but most of you are runners, so you know about runners trots all too well. The coffee made things way worse and I almost didn't make it home! But I did, thank goodness I only live 2 miles away. So, after I made it home, I forced myself to go back out, but my stomach was all wonky, so I made it 3 miles and called it a day. So, I am really going to have to figure out a way to put a stop to this. I am going to have make my diet really bland and add things back in. First step - cut out dairy and fiber one bars and high fiber cereals. Maybe I get too much fiber. I remember one of the second sole running coaches telling me that she can only eat one piece of fruit a day or else she has problems. So, yeah, cutting down on dairy and fiber might be the key. Also, on Tuesday, I am going to take a quick jog around my block before I even go meet my group and see if that will get things moving. But man I hate to get up super early, if I didn't have these stomach problems, I'd get up at like 5:35 and be good to go!

Anywho - poop aside -

People often ask me how I fit so much into my day b/c it sounds like I am always busy, but I really don’t feel like I am, so I thought you might be interested in a typical day in the life of me:

5:15 – 5:30 AM – Wake up
6 – 7– work out
7-7:15 – drive home from workout
7:15-8 – get ready for work, sometimes ready sooner
8:15 - 8:30 – arrive at work
8:30 – 5 – work
5-5:30 – drive home
Once home, it varies, but I always walk the dogs, some nights I workout, usually 6-7, Gary and eat dinner together 85% of the time, by 8 I am done with whatever needs to be done and I lounge and watch tv and read until 10 when it’s lights out. I try to do light cleaning every evening and then one major cleaning session on the weekend.

Gooooodddd morning Bloggy friends. I made up for some lost time in the last 12 hours! After work, I set out for a 9 mile run. It was cold and windy, really windy. But hey it wasn’t raining! Gary joined me for the first 3.7 miles and we ran a loop around the furthest shaker lake. It was pitch black and we were running on a paved trail next to some woods, kind of spooky! But I am glad he joined me, he decides to run every now and again, it amazes me he can just go do that. If I took a month off of running, I would struggle so badly. After we parted ways, I stepped my pace up a bit to around a 9 min mile. It is still an amazing thing to me that I can run comfortably at a 9 min, even an 8:30 min mile sometimes, as I was a 10min miler most of last year. I felt really good the whole run, up until the last mile, it was a struggle for whatever reason. I wore my heart rate monitor for the first time ever. My average heart rate was 168, but I have no clue what that means. I am taking a seminar on training with a HRM on Dec 4th at the Bike Authority, maybe that will help to give me some direction. When I got home, exhausted and with that icky cold weather running sweat chilled feeling, Gary had made dinner. And it was yuuummmy! He took chickpeas, spinach, eggplant, squash and chicken and sautéed it with a 1/3 of a package of taco seasoning and we ate it on a wheat tortilla with sour cream and lots of salsa. So good, I brought leftovers for lunch today! After that I CRASHED into bed and cuddled with the dogs and watched the Biggest Loser and read this months Health magazine. A little something about me – I am a magazine fanatic, I have a zillion subscriptions: Health, Shape, Fitness, Oprah, Bicycling, Runner’s World, Women’s Health, Backpacker, National Geographic Adventure, and I always pick up People and Redbook at the library. I love me some magazines!

This morning, I was tired, long runs always zap me, but I got my butt to spinning anyway and it was a good class. No history lesson today.

Over lunch I am going to run to Fleet Feet and get some new shoes and also drop off like 10 pairs for their recycling box. They have a box you can put your old shoes in and they give them to the needy. Very nice.

Tonight I will either take a short easy jog or go swim. I know for sure I am going to take the dogs on a long walk b/c they haven’t had a good walk over a mile for awhile.

Have a great Wed!

Well now that the messy business of a holiday is over, it is time to get back on plan. I hope that someday I am the type of person who has the willpower to not let a holiday derail me for days on end, but alas, I am not that person now! But instead of beating myself up for eating too much and excercising too little, I will do something different and JUST MOVE ON. We did have fun. My sister and bro in law cooked T-day and everything was really delicious. Tina is an awesome cook. They made a smoked turkey and a brined turkey. Yum. Tina and I got up early on Black Friday and went shopping. I normally never go for that sort of thing, I hate shopping on normal days and hate crowds. But Old Navy had their cashmere sweaters on sale for $40, so we braved the crowd and hit up Old Navy and Kohls. I got a few Xmas gifts taken care of and saved some money. It really wasn’t that bad, the lines were long, but it’s not like people were elbowing and pushing you out of the way. The sales, aside from the sweater, were nothing too amazing. Saturday Gary, Tina and I went for a nice hike. When we arrived a black dog met us at the trail head and stayed with us the whole hike. It was pretty funny. We played board games on Friday night and we had so much fun we did it again on Sat! Battle of the Sexes and Pop Five were our games of choice. I love me some board games!

I slept in this morning and it was much needed. We didn’t sleep very well at my parents house due to the dogs being on edge and moving around all night and barking every time they heard any little noise and a bad mattress. So, I fell asleep at 9 last night! And then when my alarm went off at 5:15 am as a signal to get my butt to spinning class, I turned it off and slept until 7:30! Oh well. Tonight I will go swimming and get back on the exercise horse. I have only run a measly 6 miles since the virtual tri started. Hopefully I can get in some 2- a days and make up for it. I am thinking I want to run 15-17 miles next Sunday, so that will help!

It is so hard come back to work after a break. Someone get me out of here, I would much rather be at home snuggling with Mushi and Tai. I was thiiiis close to calling in sick this morning. But there is plenty to do, so hopefully the day will move quickly. I honestly don’t feel well at all. My stomach hurts, and so does my head. I just want to go home and sleep, but I am going to try and be upbeat and happy to be at work. Yeah right.

Hope all my bloggy friends had wonderful holidays! We have a lot to be thankful for.

Yeah, I only have to work for 3 more hours and I can get out of here and hopefully forget about work for 4 long days!!!!! Highly doubtful b/c work is very stressful right now and it's been causing me to lose sleep and grind my jaws, joy. I love sleeping in a mouth guard!

Anywho. I got up this morning and went to spinning. Wednesday's teacher is the guy I wrote about before who likes to throw out all kinds of obscure quotes and references. Today we learned about why a cross country skiing marathon is 33K. It's b/c in 1260 the king was a baby of 8 months old and the village was being attacked, with the intention of killing the baby, so his guards got on skiis and skiied to a nieghboring town that was 33K away. Okay. So, we had to play along and pretend like we had 12 lbs of baby strapped on our back and climb up a mountain. Very challenging today, my legs were really giving out on me. I guess they are still worn out from Sunday.

I am already packed, so I just have to zip home, load the hubby and dogs into the car and go! I soooo hope it doesn't rain the whole way. While I am home I plan to run each day. My goal is 30 miles this week, I have 17.5 done. The CTC virtual triathlon starts Friday, I am excited for it. I think it will be very motivating. It's basically a 3 months contest where you accumulate points for every mile ran, lap swimmed and min/mile biked. Should be fun! I will try to come out of the gate strong by running 10 miles on Friday!

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Good morning Bloggy friends. Still feeling triumphant after my great Sunday race!!! I slept in yesterday; I am always whipped after long runs. Came to work, which is such a downer right now! Then after work I hit the pool. I was really proud of myself b/c I didn’t want to go…at….all. I kept trying to talk myself out of it, but ended up going. And you know what? For the first time it felt okay. I felt like I was swimming well, and that I could have swam for more than a half hour. Some guy even told me I was a fast swimmer, who knew! I did 12 laps and tried not to stop for more than 5 seconds at the end of a length and would then rest for 15-30 between laps. It felt pretty good. I have been swimming with a float belt on, which is probably bad, but I just feel like I need it right now. I think I will let myself use it until December and then start trying to swim without it.

This morning I met Brock and we ran 4.25, nice and slow. My calves are still really tender from Sunday. Once again I was dealing with dreaded GI issues this morning. I hate that and wish I could figure out a way around it. I have tried getting up earlier to give my body more time, but it doesn’t help. By the time I am done running, I really have to go if you get my drift! Maybe I need to get up early and run around my block before I go meet people for my real run….hmmm…maybe I’ll try that next time. Runners– isn’t it amazing the things you end up talking about with other runners? Only runners would blog about their pooping habits.

Tonight I might go to yoga. I want to go, but have a lot to do tonight. We are heading home to KY to visit my family for Turkey day. We’ll be making the trek with the pups, so there is a lot to prep and pack. But if I go to yoga, the class is 6-7:30, so I’ll be gone 5:40-7:50….then I’ll need to walk the dogs and clean the house. I’ll have to see how the day goes. I need to go out on lunch and pick up cat food, but have a work call from 11:30-12:30 which might take even longer. Boo. I will get out of work at 3 tomorrow and I took Friday off. I am looking forward to a long weekend. I hope I can eat like a normal person while I am home. I am finally seeing a downward trend on the scale and hope to not gain everything back while I am home! I am going to try and run 30 miles this week (16.5 down) to conteract all the grub.

I did it folks, finally. I have been trying to get a sub 2 hour half marathon since I did my first half 2 years ago. And today I did it! 1:59:23, but I'll take it! And that is clock time b/c it wasn't a chipped race.

So, I rose bright and early to get myself prepped for the Cleveland West Road Runners Fall Classic HM & 5K. It was all the way our in Strongsville which is about 28-35 miles from my house. It was really bitingly cold when I got up, so I put on some pants (thank goodness right), a tank top shirt - the kind with the built in bra, a long sleeve half zip shirt that has the glove built in and my running vest. The race took place at the metroparks, starting from Bonnie Park. It was a gorgeous sunny crisp day. I couldn't have asked for better weather. The race started at 9, but I got there at 8, good thing I did! THe parking by packet pickup was already full so they police directed us to parking about 1 mile away at the top of a giant hill! So, I had to walk all the way down the hill, get my number and giveaway shirt (a long sleeved tech tee!) and then climb back up the hill, and back down, all before the start! So, I probably had already walked 2 miles by the time we got ready to go. As I said before, this was not a chip timed race, so there start was just a big cluster. We ran out into the park 3 miles or so and back and then did it again. So, it was a 2 loop race. I like those kind b/c you can watch all the fast people as they come back by. People watching takes up time. I felt really good today. I tried something new today and drank one of those 5 hour energy drinks before I ran and I think it really helped. I didn't start feeling downtrodden until after mile 8. I took 2 GUs. I was running really fast for me - I don't know how fast b/c my stupid Garmin battery was dead so I ran without a watch for the first time in forever. But I met up with 2 nice guys who had the same goal and ran with them off and on - so shout out to Larry and George! Good job today guys. They were a little faster than me, so I am glad I tried to stick with them. The course was totally flat and there were enough water stops. The finish line had quite a few people hanging out and cheering you on. There wasn't any finisher's metal or much food. Compared to the spread yesterday of panera bagels and flavored cream cheeses - and that was just for a 5K! But I had a good time and I was so happy to get under 2 hours, I honestly felt like I was going to cry!

I am a little sore, my legs are kind of twitchy. I feel like I should probably ice down my knees. Gary and I went to the outlets this afternoon to do some Xmas shopping and are now making some dinner. I am soooo looking forward to a short work week.

1:59:23 bitches! wooohoo.

Songs I loved running to today: Crazy Game of Poker - OAR, Ayo Technology - 50 Cent w/JT, Breakfast in America - Supertramp, This is why I'm hot - Mims, Suzy Greenburg - Phish, Shake it Off - Mariah Carey, Dirt off my Shoulder - Jay Z, Cry me a river remix- JT w/50, Fidelity - Regina Spektor.

So today, Abbie, Sara, Tracie and I drove downtown for the Pigskin Classic. Which is a 5K that centers around the OSU/MSU football game. It was a sea of red, with a few blues thrown in. It was set up on West 6th in front of the bar district. There was a tailgate, so there was a mix of a crowd - drunk college kids, tarted up women in high heeled boots, runners, kids, parents. It was cold today. I walked the dogs before I left this morning to test what I had on - just a pair of running pants with some tight shorts underneath, a thin brooks long sleeve shirt and a vest, with gloves and an ear warmer. I was slightly chilly so I knew I would be okay. When we got downtown though it was really windy and I felt like I didn't have enough on.

So, the bell went off and we ran from West 6th, down St. Clair, down a big hill to marginal road and ran around the Browns stadium, down marginal and then retraced our steps. The first mile I did in 7:58! Which is really fast for me, but there was a downhill thrown in. I felt great the first 2 miles, stopped quickly at the water stop at 1.5 miles and ran hard up to mile 2, which was 16:25. But then on the way back, I was faced with the big hill we ran down. At this point I had started to get overheated and feeling all sticky and gross, so I pulled off my gloves and my headband and then my bangs were driving me crazy. I charged up the hill, but had to stop at one point and catch my breath. Booo. I was on track to PR, but since I let the hill defeat me my chip time was 27:30. Not the worst I have ever done, but not the best at all. Afterwards we got some coffee from starbucks (yummm soy sugar free gingerbread latte), talked to a few people we ran into from CTC and then headed to the tailgate. It was hella cold and the outdoor part seemed to be where all the drunks were gathering so we headed into the Blind Pig and found a nice basement corner with couches and congregated there. We met up with about 4 of people we knew and hung out for awhile. It was fun.

Now I am home and sleeppppy. I think I am going to take a nap. I was going to go swim today, but since I have the half tomorrow, I think I am just going to rest up. Abbie and I decided we are going to start doing speedwork together once a week. I am looking forward to that. I really want to be a solid 9 min miler for my next marathon. I am certainly a 9 min miler nowadays for 10Ks and below, but I need to be able to maintain that comfortably for 4 hours. Abbie is doing Big Sur and I am doing the Flying Pig, so we should be able to do some long runs together which will be nice. It's going to be hard to train through winter again.

Man my knees are sore today....better take some ibuprofren. Gary will be home soon and we're going to go to the Cheesecake Factory and use a giftcard I have. They have the stupidest portion sizes at that place. Their salads could feed a family of 3. Maybe we'll just get some appetizers. $25 will go quick I'm sure.

So, I got up this morning, saw that it was raining and went back to sleep. Bad monica. I am not going to melt, I have run in the rain. So, I have been beating myself up all day. I hate missing longish runs, that 6 miles I didn't get done and 6 miles I don't feel like doing tonight b/c I really want to go to yoga. I know that I get really mad just b/c I am trying to lose weight, but I really believe that you can excercise all you want, but losing weight is 80% about the food you eat. I have read that many times before and believe it b/c I excercise a lot, yet I'm still 10 lbs overweight. Why - b/c I put crap in my mouth. I sooooo want to be that person who eats healthy whole foods, shuns preservatives and candy and I am about 70% of the time, but it's just not good enough. I said awhile back I was swearing off sugar and that only lasted 4 days! I am going to give it another go starting the day after thanksgiving. A long time ago, I lost a good amount of weight and got to 120 by pretty much cutting out all refined crap, so I know it works. But I just have never been able to get it right again. I don't have a lot of willpower and it stinks. I'm just crabby today and pissed off. It's been way too long since I was happy with where my weight was, yet I can't seem to get motivated to really do anything about it. I'm having a self loathing day bloggy friends. Back on the horse, today's eating has been pretty good and I will keep trying. I am going to splurge on T-day, but T-day only, no eating half a pumpkin pie the next day!

Tara - wondertwins reunite. Let's do this.

So - here's what I need to do. Here's my plan. 120 here I come. Dear old pants in the closet, we will be reunited :)

#1 - prepare. If I take the time to pack food for work the night before I always do so much better! Only eat what is in my bag, no VENDING MACHINE, no eating the office goodies
#2 - put down the cereal. You don't need it or those chips. Get back to the days where you never ate anything carby food aside from brown rice and whole grain bread.
#3 - Get the miles back up there, there is no excuse (aside from injury) for not running at least 20 miles in a week
#4 - Quit eating after dinner. If you must eat, have a 100 calorie bag of popcorn or some frozen berries.
#5 - Eat the majority of my carbs at the beginning of the day and don't have any (aside from veggie or fruit carbs) with dinner
#6 - Sugar = devil - I know I don't react well to sugar, so how about I quit eating all those fucking sweet tarts on Amy's desk

I love the Biggest Loser. I really do, I love seeing those people transform their lives. Last night they did an indoor tri as their challenge, which I thought was really cool. I’m rooting for Julie – go Julie! I'm also rooting for me - go me, lose those 13 lbs!

So, I supposedly had a swim lesson last night, but it really wasn’t. Some teenager stood outside the pool in sweats and gave me a few pointers, but she also looked to be doing homework and at one point was braiding her friends hair. I don’t know if she considered that an official lesson b/c she said something about being in the water with me next time. I don’t think I’ll bother. I am just going to concentrate on swimming 500 meters until it is do-able without resting so long in between and go up from there. My goal is to be able to swim one mile straight (32 laps, I’m doing 10 right now) by March 1. It’s so hard right now, I can’t even swim a lap without stopping at the end of each length to rest for a second.

Tonight I have a haircut, then I am meeting Tracie for coffee. Then I want to try and fit in a short run, but it will probably be too late.

Started off the morning with a 3.4 mile run with the Shaker Snails. Tonight I have a swimming lesson! I am nervous about that, I hope she can give me some good tips, but I'm sure I just need to practice, practice, practice. I have been reading all these blogs by triathletes and ultra runners and I get so geeked. I really want to be there.... I think one thing I need to do is make sure to do one speed workout a week. So many things I want to do, but really I can't work out more than 12 hours a week or so, there just isn't enough time. Of course if I do decide to do an Ironman I'd have to work out 20+ hours a week I'm sure!

Yesterday was a nice boring day off of work. We played a lot of scrabble again! We're such dorks.

I really do, I am like a kid with new school supplies when a new year is rolling around. I am the type of person who tears the page off of my desk calendar like 3 days before it's even a new month b/c I am so eager to start marking up the pages of the next month! I want to plan out my races for next year. I get race happy -I do too many races, I don't want to think of all the money I have spent on races. I mean hell, I am doing 2 races this upcoming weekend, is that really necessary?

Jan - Perhaps the Buckeye Winter half marathon?
Feb - Chili Bowl 5k & CTC indoor Tri if my swim is good enough by then
March - Mill Creek Half
April - Hinckly Duathlon
May - Cincinnati Flying Pig marathon
June - OH city Pub crawl 5K & Summi Ti & Sunday in June bike (probably 50 or 62)
July - Winking Lizard 4 miler & Sweet Corn 100 mile bike & Lake Eerie 2 mile swim if I able to
August - Great Lakes Escape Olympic Tri
Sept - River Run Half marathon & Portage Lakes OlyTri
Nov - Fall Classic half

For the Beast (Hinkley Du, Mill Creek HM, Summi Tri, Sweet Corn, Lake Eerie swim, Great Lakes Tri, Portage Tri, Fall classic HM) Also - if things are going really wel I would like to do Akron marathon as well

Sooooo today I got 2 good workouts in. I met some folks (Sara, Ilana, Abbie, Sherri & Chris( at 9am at Shadow Lane picnic area and we ran 8 miles towards Bedford Reservation. It was a very nice crisp day and the run was very challenging. It was basically all rolling hills. By the time we got back to the cars I was ready to be done. We ran 4 miles out and turned around and were pretty much running into the wind the whole way back and it got really cold! Averaged a 9:49 pace. Must get faster!

Afterwards Sara and I had coffee and had a nice chat as alwasy. I count my lucky stars that I met Sara, she's the best. We are only friend b/c she happened to see my walking Mushi and she pulled over in her car to talk to me b/c she had just had to put her black shar pei to sleep and was surprised to see someone else to be walking one. We exchanged numbers, then I found a shar pei running in the middle of a snow storm, brought her home, dubbed her Deliah, showed her to Sara and her hubby John, they adopted her and the rest is history.

After coffee talk, I went to the pool and did some laps. I consider this my first real swimming workout. It is humbling how hard swimming is for me, it kills me, but then again I just need to remember how hard running was for me when I started it 2 years ago. I did 2 laps with a kickboard, then 10 laps freestyle, then 2 laps to cool down on my back. It took me 30 mins, I pretty much stopped at the end of each lenght of the pool. If anyone has any good tips on how to get the breathing down let me know.

I made a pot roast with root vegetables for dinner and it simmered all day. I freaking love CROCK POTS. Gary and I just played 3 rounds of scrabble. It is amazing how stupid scrabble can make you feel. I think out of 3 rounds we only got like 4 words with more than 4 letters that wasn't a plural! Gary won 2 rounds, boooo. Oh well. I'll get him next time.

Tomorrow I am taking the day off of work! I am super pumped, but I actually have 2 conference calls that I can't miss, so I have to deal with those and a few other things I need to do, so I think I will only log a half day off of work

1. Really bad reality TV, especially if it’s on VH1
2. Celebrity gossip and shows about celebrity gossip and blogs about celebrity gossip and so on (seeing a pattern?)
3. Makeover shows
4. Howard Stern – I love my drive to work for the 30 mins I get to listen to my man
5. Stand up comedy shows – do not get to Pickwick & Frolic nearly enough
6. That feeling of being utterly exhausted, but smiling after a grueling workout
7. Bosu – I love doing squats on this sucker
8. Yoga – I always feel sexy after a yoga class
9. Coming home from work and letting the dogs out in the yard, they are so happy to see me, it’s impossible to be in a bad mood
10. Running on a perfectly clear, cool, sunny day
11. Really cute workout clothes ( oh title nine catalog, how I adore you)
12. Finding a good deal on Ebay
13. Coffee
14. Finding a good home for a great dog (check out http://www.sharpeisavers.com/!)
15. My Book club (reading Crake and Oryx this month)
16. Making lists and filling in calendars
17. This guy: