People I just checked the weather and they said it's 22 out there right now, but it feels like, FEEELS like 7 degrees. So, let's see once I get going my body should warm up and depending on which calculation you believe I'll feel like it's 17 or 27, neither sound very good to me! And I have to be out there for about 2 hours! Joy, days like this are when being fast are important. Those fasties will knock out their 10 miler, their slow 10 miler in a little over and hour, I'm looking at 100-120 mins. Plus at one point, we are looping to pick up some friends, so that means after I've ran 4 there will be stopping and chatting. Sigh. Must concentrate on the brunch at the end of the run. By 11 I will toasty inside of Yours Truly (place to eat for you non-clevelanders) enjoying an egg white omlette and some raisin toast with a big mug of their flavored coffee of the day. Oommmmmm.

Last night Gary and I went tv shopping. G and I shopping is a very...special....thing. My hubby and I are total opposites. I'll fully admit that his way is right on 80% of things. I know his way is right on tv shopping. He went and got the consumers report on tvs, he researched the pros and cons between LCD and plasma. Me I look at all the tvs sitting next to each other, decide I don't want one with a glossy surface border b/c you can see all the fingerprints on it, point to a 42 inch that I think might, maybe fit on our tv stand, that's the one I want. But since we're doing it G's way, we actually didn't just buy something. Which was UNHEARD of in my life previous to G. I'm all about instant gratification, not saying that's right, but at least I am in tune with the way I am! We went to Costco and Best Buy. I still don't understand why we can't just get an old school tv, we're not, I repeat NOT, getting high def cable. I am convinved it's all a rip off, why do I NEED to see all the little imperfections on Lucy Lui's face? Is it so I can feel better about myself? They have a demo up at best buy where you can see the difference between regular cable and high def cable on a Plasma screen and I tell you what - who cares, the regular cable is a tad darker. Do I really need to know the exact coloring of the lovely and talented Tiffany New York Pollard? Oooh I just imagined seeing her mom Sister Pollard on high def, that would be enough to make me cancel my subscription. I am all about running out and buying something that will costs us a whole weeks paycheck, but I kind of think I'd rather get a leather couch instead....at least picking up cat shit off of it would be easier.

If you don’t have sitemeter (www.sitemeter.com) on your blog, you should really add it, it’s pretty funny to see how people end up at your blog. For instance, some of the google searches that have brought people to my blog in the last week are – “Jocking on your bitch ass”, “The 12 week triathlete”, “Flying Pig” and “Great white sharks, Big Sur”. Also some people as far away as New Zealand and South Africa have checked out my blog, awesome. Now if I could just write some meaningful content!

I have had a really bad week at work, so I am so glad it's Friday. Just several angry client situations and then I lost my frigging receipts for an expense report, one of which was for a $200+ client dinner. I am hoping, praying that the restaurant's will reprint me receipts. I have a call out to the 3 places, but none have told me for sure they can or will do it yet. I'm sure I can still get the expenses paid b/c they are on my corp card, but I don't want to look so irresponsible. Then I sent an email to a higher up that I wish I hadn't. Although it's turned out okay. Sigh, just a lot of stupid mistakes this week and I need a nice long weekend. Then I woke up to find out that one of the cats had shit on the couch! We had a real issue last year where I honestly thought I might have to rehome my cats b/c they kept going to the bathroom on the couch, but after several rounds of antibiotics and all new litter boxes they came around and we haven't had any incidents in months. Then this morning - SHIT! And it makes it worse when G finds it b/c he hates the cats anyway. Sigh. Why on the couch? Although to look on the bright side, shit is a lot easier to clean up than pee. EVIL CATS.

Last night I did my first ever tempo/speedwork run. It was cold as a witches tit out, but I decided to pound the pavement instead of drudging it out on the treadmill. 3 miles is about all I can stand on the treadmill. My plan called for 5 miles, 1 mile warmup, 3 @ 8:52, 1 mile cool down. I found that I had a hard time staying in the 8:50 range, I tended to go back and forth between 8:30 and 9:07. For whatever reason, those were the paces I kept seeing. But it felt good to push myself. I never push myself that hard unless I am in a 5K race. I started doing races in March of 2006. So, I have 2 years of road races under my belt. In that time I have gone from a solid 10 min miler to under 9 min miles in the 5K. I wonder if this year I might see myself get under 8 mins? That would be so awesome. I was able to maintain the 8:30 pace pretty well. My legs were pretty tired from the cycling class, I will definitely space things out better next week. I want to make sure my legs have a day off before speedwork so that I can really perform at my best. Doing an excel class the day before gave me dead legs. Next weeks speedwork in done at 8:22 for 2 miles with 800 jogs in between. OOH and I just realized that next week is the trail half! Oh I wonder what the weather will be like. I hope it’s either frozen solid or dry out, it’s going to be so muddy if it’s not.

I am excited for the weekend. I have a 10 mile group run tomorrow morning and will hit the pool for at least 800 yds. Sat night we’re going to the Improv with some friends. Sunday I have a 5 mile recovery run and will hit the pool for another 1000 yds to make up for my lack of swimming this week. We are also going to go see Cloverfield on Sun. I am looking forward to that. Maybe brunch at Lucky’s in Tremont on Monday. I love long weekends!

Last night I headed down to Akron for the Excel in Cycling class. I must admit I feel pretty foolish driving almost 1.5 hours round trip to ride my bike in a room full of people when I have a perfectly good gym right by my house with a plethora of spinning classes. Plus it costs me $10 a time, so an extra $40 a month, not to mention the gas expenditure. But I cannot even express to any of you dear bloggy friends (except maybe Janet and Brandon b/c they do the classes too!) what a tough class this is. There is no way in hell any gym spinning class or me on my trainer at home or even me out on the road for 2 hours would push myself like I do in this class. Last night in 2 hours I covered 38 miles (which isn’t all that high, but we do a lot of big ring work, one legged drills and hills) with an average cadence of 80rpms, avg 16mph,and avg hr of 138bpm and according to my Garmin I burned 1816 calories! Now I am sure that’s a little high, but regardless I still burned like a days worth of food! All in 2hours and 20 mins. Here is what a class looks like:

It’s extrememly gross b/c everyone sweats all over the place. I for one am not much of a sweater, so there is no pool under my bike, but I would say 80% of the class is male and sweaty and leaves a big nasty deep pool of sweat around their bike. I refuse to wheel my bike through sweat and then load into my car, so I carry it across the floor! When I got to class my calves were already extremely sore, I am not sure why, it probably had something to do with all the stupid step class moves in bootcamp on Monday. But my calves were already hurting but during the lactid threshold ladders my legs literally started burning, I suppose that means I was building up too much lactid acid. But all of that stuff is a bit over my head and I don’t really get it. Regardless I experienced some serious pain, but pushed through it so I was quite pleased with myself. When I got home I went into the yard and sat in the snow. Not for very long, I’m a wuss, I don’t know if I will ever be able to take a ice bath.

I TRIED to get out of bed this morning, but Mushi was being just too kissy and snuggly and I lay with him for awhile after my alarm and it was curtains. Next thing I knew it was 7:30. boo. So now I have to run after work. Which is fine, it’s only 5 miles. But it’s supposed to be speedwork, I hope my legs can handle it. If now, I’ll do the speedwork tomorrow and the easy run tonight.

My god I love reality tv people. I mean LOVE it. Really. Words.cannot.express. Last night was a little slice of reality heaven pie a la mode with American Idol and The Biggest Loser both on, both for 2 hours. I went with Biggest Loser and then quickly changed over to AI as soon as it was almost commercial time. Last night the incredibly annoying Neal with the wife that is way too nice to his whiny ass got booted and I was happy. On AI they have a girl that they showed a background story on. She was a young, single mom whose daughter had some rare disease that is a lot like cerebral palsy and lord if I didn’t cry when she talked about how being on AI wasn’t about fame for her, she was winning b/c they told her that her daughter would never be able to walk or talk and she was going to get her daughter the best care and get her those things in this life and I was so so nervous as she got up there

Please let her be able to sing...
Please let her be able to sing...

And you know what, she could sing! I hope she wins!

Ahhh it was all too much for my little brain to handle. Fat people losing weight, downtrodden people getting the golden ticket to Hollywood. If only Rock of Love had been on last night too!

That aside, I lifted some weights while I watched. I totally overslept and didn’t go swimming this morning. ARGH. Tonight is an Excel in Cycling class. I also decided that I wanted to run more miles and got a different smart coach marathon plan that has me running 4 days a week. I am all about that today, don’t know why I changed my mind, but I just decided that I really want to be running 30some miles a week and that’s all there is to it.

So tri peeps, I need some tips/advice. How in the world can I get myself excited about swimming? I just can’t seem to get myself to the pool b/c
A) I am a sucky swimming and I am like a child and hate doing things I am bad at
B) I just can’t seem to work it into my schedule b/c I hate working out every evening and I think it’s too much trouble to do before work
C) Wearing a bathing suit kind of makes me want to cry

Although Tracie and I did sign up for 3 lessons with some lady in Macedonia, so maybe that will help me get more excited about it?

Happy Tuesday Bloggy Friends. It’s a snowy day here in Cleveland. The forecast calls for 5 inches, I hope we get it! I love snow, at least the first few days of it, but once it starts melting and gets dirty, it’s the worst.

I met Brock this morning for a 6 mile recovery run, we kept pace at about 9:30-10:00 min pace. My legs were sore from my bootcamp class last night. We took a new route and I always enjoy running in the early morning snow. So quiet and all you hear are your feet crunching the snow. I am so happy to have a morning running partner! If it wasn’t knowing that he was waiting for me, there is no way I would have gotten out of bed. But I am so glad I did, I always feel sooo much better after getting my workout out of the way. Tonight I need to go swim. It’s been awhile and I have promised myself I will go at least twice a week this whole marathon training.

Work started off with an angry client, I hate those days, but I will not let it get me down. Why must I work! Sigh.

Feeling strong today. I have a few good eating days under my belt (well 2…) and a yummy lunch packed for today. If I plan ahead I do fine. If I take the time to pack a bag for work with food that I actually want to eat, then I do well. It’s when I half assed throw things in a bag in the morning that I end up going out to eat or hit the vending machine.

I have decided for my own sanity that my week is now Mon-Sun. Not Sun-Sat. I like seeing the weekend totals in one week. So, today is Day #1 of my marathon training. Bootcamp tonight with my neighbor Kelly is on the plate. I am still sore from doing this 30 min arm DVD from Beach Body, it had me doing push up after push up. I was so defeated b/c I used to be able to do like 20 man pushups, but not anymore!

We are getting a little smattering of snow, I hope that is snows all week and I can go snow shoeing this weekend, that would be awesome.

Oh I had my bike maintenance class at Road Mountain Bikes in Chagrin Falls this weekend. It was really good. He took us through changing a tire. I honestly never realized how involved it was, I thought it was easier! So, now I am really scared to get a flat. I also bought some cleaner and lube for my bike. I basically didn’t take care of it for a year, so I need to take it in to get really cleaned and try and stay on top of it from there on out. My poor dry chains, I have been a BAD bike mom.

I have not been able to give myself a gift card yet as a weight loss reward, hopefully this week!

Wow I am having a bad day people. Bad day. It started off normal enough – you know I over slept and skipped my work out, nothing new there. But then I got to work and the first call out of the gate was a doozy with a really annoying, unhappy client. Then I needed to go find out a bunch of things for that unhappy client and no one was here yet to deal with the issues and so on. Just a bad way to start the day, now I am all flustered, need to shake and bake it out.

I was watching my fav show – Biggest Loser – last night and they kept on interrupting it with election 08 news. Argh. If I want updates on what is going on, I’ll check the internet or Howard Stern will tell me on my way to work. I want to sit here and relax and watch fat people lose weights and miraculously change their lives, not watch old wrinkled men sit in chairs and talk about what may or may not happen in New Hampshire. Give me a break. I know I should care, it’s the president, but you know what, I just don’t. Don’t worry, I vote and I will read up on the issues and make an informed choice, but it’s not something I want to think about right now and I don’t need interrupting play by plays of every little thing that happens during the cockus or whatever they call us. I know I spelled that wrong, but my spelling makes more sense and it’s worth more points in scrabble.

On the triathlon front! I didn’t swim this morning and that is bad b/c I really don’t have another time until this weekend that I can. Tonight I have a client dinner, tomorrow morning is a 6 mile run, Thurs night is happy hour with some friends, Friday morning is spinning and Fri the gym closes at 5. Boo. I have got to make swimming more of a priority. I just HATE it right now. Maybe after I have a few lessons it will be better.

This weekend Tracie and I are taking a class on bike maintenance, which will be good, b/c as bad as I feel saying it – I have no idea how to patch a tire or even blow my tires up! Seriously, they require something special to blow up and I know not what it is!! Yes, I did one 150 mile bike ride and one other century ride, not to mentions 100s of miles in training, all the time never knowing how to blow my tires up! Shocking I know.

Gooooodddd morning Bloggy Friends. It is a blustery warm day here in C-land. My this weather is bizarre, but I’m not complaining. Although I will be when I end up sick b/c it drops 30 degrees by the weekend.

I am feeling like a superwoman this morning. I had a kickass Excel in Cycling class last night. This was my first class being clipped in and with my new cadence monitor. It was awesome to do the class and actually be able to watch my rpms, not just guess. I was able to hang with the A group most of the class. The teacher tells you which RPMs you should be hitting based on groups A-E. Aside from when we were doing big ring work and one legged drills, we stayed between 100-130 RPMs the rest of the class. I think that I am going to start doing 20 mins of one legged drills at home once a week. My taint started rebelling after about 1.5 hours in the seat. Boy that pointy leetle eevvviill seat is not so good on the girls parts. Of course I can’t imagine balancing nuts on that seat (well they probably go hide I suppose), so I guess I’ll quit complaining. When I got home I watched a little of the OSU game, but fell asleep feeling like pulp.

Woke up at 5:20 this am and met Brock at 6:00 to run. We did a nice 5 miles, the first half we were running under 9 mins miles. So much for a recovery run, but then on the way back it was a steady incline and we slowed wayyyy down to more like 9:45 a mile. It was so nice to run in a tshirt and shorts. Don’t think I’ll be able to do that on Thurs.

After the run, I got back into bed for 10 mins of Mushi/Tai/Mommy time, lots of snuggling. My guys are the best snugglers, they get right up in your arm pit and cozy in like your at the drive in or something. LOVE IT! It starts my day off right. Then I stepped on the scale and was down a lb from yesterday, which might not be real, but is still nice to see. Then I actually put on something besides jeans b/c I have a client in the office through Thursday. Cute gray slacks, black sweater and big chunky green necklace. Stopped by Starbucks for a breakfast soy latte. Life is good! I hope all of you are having a good Tuesday as well!

Tonight is yoga with the hubby and then snuggling down to watch Biggest Loser couples!

The sun is here to visit cleveland and here I sit in my cube. Argh. Such is life.

Not much to tell you today bloggy friends. Yesterday I hit the pool and swam for a bit and did an hour of weights. I ran some errands in the afternoon and then laid on the couch for hours! Hours! I never do that and I tell you it felt great. Nothing like 3 hours of I Love New York to make you appreciate your life. I hope Tiffany and George live happily ever after. Seriously, tell me is New York attractive? I cannot for the life of me decide. Sometimes I think she looks beautiful, but more of the time she looks so much like a drag queen. Her boobs are just awful. I think she looked a lot better before she got those pumpkins inserted under her skin.

Tonight is an Excel in Cycling class. I think it's been 3 weeks since I went, which stinks, but there was so much going on with the holidays and it's so far away for me. No more excuses, today I go back and hope to go once a week.

My ankles are really killing me from my trail run, I think it's time for some new shoes. Those of you who run trails, what shoes do you prefer? I've been wearing the Brooks Cascadias and liked them, but my knees and ankles have been so sore the last few runs, the cushioning must be breaking down in them.

Today I met Abbie at 7 at Starbucks and we headed down to Boston Store off the towpath to go on a orientation run for the trail HM we have later this month. It's a 2 loop course, one 5, one 8 mile. We'll obviously do each loop once and their are people doing a full marathon and a 30K. Not me! Today was tough. I was totally taking up the rear which embarrasses me to no end. I hate being slow! But really I'm fast enough except on hills. The hills kill me, they are steep and I can't get to the top without walking and I hate that. So, hill repeats are a must for me. Luckily I have a few in my neighborhood I can use. THis HM is going to kill me! Today we only did 9. But it was enough. However between today and Thursday's snow run, my ankles are killing me and up the side of my leg, not my shin. So, I took a bunch of ibuprofren and am now lounging watching a crappy movie I think - In the Land of Women - but I totally have a crush on Seth from the OC, so I wil stick it out.

It's movie day I guess. Sara and I went and saw Atonement. She loved it, me not so much. Tomorrow is swimming. I wanted to do yoga, but if my ankles are still bothering me, I probably won't b/c balancing on a bum ankle, no so good. Here are some pics from Xmas! I finally uploaded them to my shutterfly.




Gary, his mom, and sister Laura

Someone gave out fake mustaches at G's uncles house as part of the white elephant giveaway, and then the same pic we take everyday of us fondling santa's sack.

I was nicer to myself today and wore some nice, loose, A line pants, that are a little more flattering, and don’t make me want to hide in my cube all day!

I got scared by the weather and opted not to drive to Akron for Excel in Cycling and I can’t go Sat b/c I have a long trail run planned. Booo. So, next week FOR SURE I will get back to that class and do it once a week! But I did get on the trainer at home and ran myself through a hard hour and did my own set of drills. I now have my clip shoes and my Garmin cadence monitor installed so it was nice to see how many rpms I could do easily. I covered a little less than 17 miles in an hour and did 8 mins of one legged drills per leg, so that wasn’t getting me very far, so I think I was going pretty fast. Maybe I do have it in me to be a 20mph cycler. However I’m not sure how many hours I could maintain that! I think even if tri’s don’t work out too well for me, I’ll be doing duathlons and century rides. Biking isn’t as hard for me as running, except for the sore tushieness.

I slept in this morning, so now I have to run tonight. I think I might treadmill it unless the roads melt a lot today. It’s still pretty slick on neighborhood streets.

Our office is still like a ghost town. I have stuff to do, but it’s so hard to get motivated when everyone else is gone! So glad it's a short working week.

Argghhh, I am wearing fat pants today and they are tight. So, not good. I have 10-16 lbs to lose. But let’s start with 5. I hope to have 5 off by the end of the month. I can do that. Candy and sugar are out. I have 2 good eating days under my belt and am ready to rock and roll. 2008 is going to be the year of Monica (maybe not for you!), I just know it. 2007 was one of my best years yet. I laid a great foundation for being the person I strive to be. I will continue to do so in 2008 and have a lot of firsts to look forward to!

Boy did we get some snow in Cleveland. We shoveled last night and there was so much over night in the Heights, I was barely able to get out of my driveway! You have to love the lake effect.

Movie review time! “Juno” was just an amazing film, close to perfect. The acting and dialogue were superb. I loved, loved this film. Ellen Paige is going to be a huge star and I am always happy to see my Arrested Development people getting work. Arrested Development was the best tv show ever, so of course it was cancelled after 3 measly seasons. Jason Bateman and Michael Cera were perfectly cast. Gary and I saw “No Country for Old Men” last night, that one wasn’t so great. Well, actually it is really good, until the end. The ending is a jip and makes your feel like you wasted 2 hours of your life. No resolution, it just quits. What the F is that?


Well, I guess I better do some work today. It is always so hard to be back at work after a long break.

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.