Interstate Running

This morning's run was a 3 miler, and I decided to try out a different route - I ran across the bridge into Virginia and then on the Mount Vernon trail for a while, then back over another bridge into DC. It was beautiful, and it was fun to think that I had run into a different state. But other than that, the run was not great. It was very hot and humid, and I let myself walk sometime after 2 miles. As usual, I feel like I didn't really need to walk, but I let my tiredness get to me mentally. I have a 4 mile long run on Saturday, and I'm really nervous about it. I know I did the 3.5, but it felt insanely difficult and I felt like it was a miracle that I made it. When I still have days where I struggle with 3, it's hard to imagine that I am going to manage 4. It's actually something that I'm actively dreading and getting anxious about. 3.5 didn't seem like such a big jump, but going up to 4, when I've only done 3.5 once, does seem big.

Anyway. We'll see.

Mile 1: 11:50
Mile 2: 12:07
Mile 3: 12:39
Average Pace: 12:16

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In terms of getting back on track with my eating, I did not do well. Like I said, I started out the day eating fudge, and I tracked it, so that was OK. But then we went out for Mexican food, and I had three margaritas, a bunch of chips and guacamole, and two tacos. I didn't even attempt to track it. I think I will weigh myself tomorrow, maybe it will be a wake-up call that I need to get back on the wagon.

Back to reality...

Obviously I have not been blogging for the past week, and I have not been tracking my food either. I decided to just enjoy myself while I was on vacation and not worry about my diet, and I'm glad that I did. I didn't go too crazy, I just ate what I wanted. But now I am having trouble getting back on the diet bandwagon. We were in Boston over the weekend for a friend's wedding, so I didn't track, and used that as an excuse to eat way more than I needed to. And then instead of going back to Philly, I came back to DC, and used the excuse that I had leftover candy from the beach to take an "i'll get back on track tomorrow" attitude. Yesterday I ate a bunch of Cadbury mini eggs, a Happy Meal from McDonald's, chicken kabobs with bread for dinner (along with several glasses of champagne) and some chocolate peanut butter fudge before bed. Not good. I was planning on getting back on track today, but I just ate the rest of my fudge for breakfast, for some reason. I wasn't even hungry. I'm hoping that going back to Philadelphia will help me get a handle on things. I haven't decided if I'm going to weigh myself on Thursday or not - it may just make me feel bad.

My running has gotten a little off schedule too, but I've been a lot better about it, so I'm not too worried. I did all my runs while I was on vacation (love running on the boardwalk, don't love running hungover in the heat!) but then over the weekend I was supposed to do 3 miles for that week's long run. I brought all my running clothes and planned to do the run on the treadmill at the hotel. Saturday, the day I was supposed to run, I ended up not having time before we had to get ready to leave for the wedding. So I promised myself I would get up on Sunday morning to do it, no matter how tired / hungover I was from the wedding. And I did, but I realized that I hadn't packed a sports bra! I ran anyway, but 2 miles in I was chafing in some rather sensitive areas, and decided to stop. It's the first time since I've started the marathon program that I haven't done a run the whole way through.

Today's run was a 2 miler - the short runs during the week are starting to increase! I headed out around 6:15 and it was already really hot and humid. Even so, I did the first mile really fast (for me) and the second mile was really hard as a result. I made it through without stopping, though, so there's that. Days like today make it hard for me to believe that I ran 3.5 a week ago, since I was dying at the end of the run!

Mile 1: 11:13
Mile 2: 11:40
Average Pace: 11:29

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3.5 Miles!

I'm at the beach with my family - we have very limited internet access here, and I have not been tracking my eating at all - I'm just enjoying myself. But I did do my long run of 3.5 miles yesterday! It's the longest I've ever run, and it was a good strong run for me. My knee was bothering me a little bit, but I think just the fun of running on the boardwalk by the beautiful ocean helped make it a very bearable run. I also had eaten a big dinner the night before, and it had rained so it was nice and cool outside at 6 in the morning. I was pleased when I looked at my split times! All in all a good run. This week I am supposed to run 1.5 miles on Tuesday and Thursday, 3 miles on Wednesday. But since I'm at the beach and eating a lot, I think I will skip the extra rest day tomorrow and add on a run, and bump the 1.5 mile runs up to 2 miles (the length of running to the end of the boardwalk and back.) Hopefully that will not feel like too much.

Mile 1: 12:08
Mile 2: 11:58
Mile 3: 11:50
Mile 3.5: 11:47
Average Pace: 12:02

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Weigh-In

Today was my weigh-in day, and I knew I wasn't going to like it. I had that huge drop on a different scale last week that didn't seem right to me, and then I ate badly all week - plus, I'm on my period. So I wasn't surprised by what I saw when I weighed in.

134.9. Only down .2 lbs from when I weighed in two weeks ago, but up 2.6 lbs from when I weighed in last week! Blah. At least in 2 weeks I haven't gained. I ended up deleting the weight that I entered last week on my Weight Watchers tracker. It seemed too good to be true, and I think it was. When I end up spending more time in Philly permanently, I will start using that Wii Fit I guess and I will just do my best to be consistent. Anyway, this is disappointing right before I go to the beach, but at least I haven't gained.

Yesterday I had a three-miler on the schedule. Even at 6 AM it was really hot, and I was worried about the hilly route. I tried to moderate my pace, but I went way too fast for the first mile and a half downhill, and the return trip (totally uphill) was rough. I ended up having to walk for a block to make it through the run. Of course when I finished, I really wished I hadn't walked the block - I'm sure I could have made it! I have to stop doing that.

Mile 1: 11:44
Mile 2: 11:26
Mile 3: 12:14
Average Pace: 11:50

After my run, I grabbed Paul and myself iced coffees and got ready to head out to the bus back down to DC. The bus ride was uneventful. We made a stop at a rest stop and I really wanted to get Popeyes, but I knew I'd had a really bad week so I just got myself some cantaloupe instead.

When I got home, I snacked on some jellybeans (3 PP). Later that night I had three glasses of champagne (10 PP), a bunch of pretzel thins (5 PP), and Pinkberry with strawberries and chocolate chips (5 PP). All in all, not a very healthy or eventful day.

I'm going to stick within by daily points today, but for this week I think I am going to switch to maintenance and try to stay within that. I know I might even go over that, though. I want to enjoy myself at the beach and not be worrying about my eating.

New York, New York

On Monday morning, I got on a bus at 6 AM to head back up to New York with Paul. He had a big event coming up on Tuesday and I wanted to be there to support him. It was nice being in New York, but not great for my eating!

Monday was a rest day, so I didn't run. I ate some cantaloupe on the bus, and grabbed myself a coffee when I got to Paul's neighborhood a few hours later. I was planning to meet my friend for dinner that night, and I knew it would cost me a lot of points. So I didn't plan on eating until dinner. I got too hungry though, and ate a Weight Watchers Cookies and Cream ice cream bar, for 4 PP. Dinner that night was at a Mexican restaurant in the West Village. We each got a margarita (8 PP) and split chips and guacamole (14 PP). For dinner we split an order of chicken mole tacos, an order of picadas, and brussel sprouts with pork belly (9 PP). It was a nice time, but too much food, and I think I probably underestimated the points.

On Tuesday I had a 1.5 mile run on the schedule, but Paul had to be at his event by 8:30 AM. I didn't want to go out running and not be at the apartment to help him get ready, so I waited until after he left to go for a run. As a result, it was a little bit hotter outside than I am comfortable with. The path near his house is also pretty hilly - downhill all the way away from his apartment, and then uphill on the way back. I'm not really accustomed to hills and I had a hard time moderating my pace on the way down. So my pace was faster than usual.

Mile 1: 11:30
Mile 1.6: 11:29
Average Pace: 11:32 (how does that make sense, given my split times up above?)

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After my run I showered and chilled for a little bit, and then headed out to meet Paul and his mom for lunch. We went to Landmarc, this great restaurant in the Time Warner Center. I had all my daily points and 18 weekly points left, so I thought it would be OK for me to splurge a bit. We had goat cheese profiteroles for an appetizer, one each, which I guessed was 4 PP. I also had a piece of bread, I estimated that at 3 PP. And then I had a delicious cheeseburger with gruyere cheese for my main course - I estimated that at 22 PP! That would have all been OK, but then we went to the movies and I couldn't resist getting popcorn. 9 PP for a small with no butter at AMC Theaters. So I actually ended up in the red by 1 point! I knew I was going to get activity points on Wednesday, so I didn't freak out about it, but it wasn't nice to see in the tracker! It's the first time that's happened to me since I joined Weight Watchers. 

Weekend Update

I had a great weekend, lots of activity, which is sadly unusual for me. I didn't eat much during the day. An English Muffin sprayed with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray was breakfast. 3 PP.

In an attempt to get used to making less expensive choices, I decided to buy a cantaloupe and cut it up myself, rather than buying the pre-cut containers at the grocery store. It's a difference of about $3, so that adds up quickly considering how fast I go through cantaloupe! That cantaloupe was my midday snack / lunch. It didn't take too long to cut up, maybe about 20 minutes? The only thing I didn't like about it was that I cut too close to the rind, which ended up taking out some of the sweetness. Hopefully with practice I'll be able to cut up a whole melon faster.

Paul came down to visit on Friday night, and I decided to cook dinner, now that we have a kitchen table! I made Emily Bites Bubble Up Enchiladas, and they were delicious! And only 7 PP a serving! I tried to modify the recipe a bit to make it more flavourful for Paul - I browned the ground turkey with chili power and cumin. But he still put a lot of hot sauce on his!

I of course had a couple of glasses of champagne with dinner (7 PP), and two packs of these dinosaur fruit snacks. They're the store brand and I'm addicted to them, and I often can eat a whole box in one sitting. I'm trying to be better about that.

That was pretty much the end of my taking pictures for the weekend, since I was eating with Paul most of the time and hate to interrupt our meal / conversation in order to do it. Saturday was a big eating day. We unpacked the rest of the bedroom, which took most of the morning, and then headed out for lunch and to run some errands. For lunch, we rewarded our hard work with some bar food - I had a beer and an order of chicken tenders. Delicious! I guessed that the tenders were 10 PP and the beer was 7 PP. We spent the rest of the day doing errands - we had to go to Target to get a fan and some stuff for the house - and cleaning up so that some friends could come over and see the new house. While they were over, I had 2 glasses of red wine, for 9 PP. Then we went out to a pizza restaurant in the neighborhood that is one of my favorite places. We had a huge amount of food - I had some small portions of spaghetti and lamb bolognese, and then two slices of truffle pizza, which is unbelievably good. I also had another beer. All of that added up to 27 more points!

The next morning, I had three miles on the schedule. I convince Paul to wake up early and do the run with me, and it was great to have company! The run felt really good - I really feel that when I run after having "big" eating days I do better. I'm having some issues with MapMyRun - when I plan out a run on the website, it says one distance. When I actually run it, the GPS tracker says a different distance. So it's hard to know what my pace is or what distance I am actually going. Yesterday I just ran the distance I had planned out, but this makes me worry that on the runs where I rely on the GPS I'm not going far enough.

Mile 1: 12:48
Mile 2: 11:46
Mile 3: 11:47
Average Pace: 12:06

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Almost negative splits, which is what I'm trying to learn to do! This week the "long run" goes up to 3.5. I'm nervous! My heart rate monitor said I burned 451 calories, which I converted into 4 activity points. I'm not sure why my HRM says I burn more than most people - it may be malfunctioning, or perhaps I'm in terrible shape.

I'm never hungry after running, so breakfast was an English Muffin with margarine spray, and some cantaloupe. We lounged around for a while, and even fell back asleep for an hour or so, and then went to the movies to see "Now You See Me." I thought it was a silly but fun movie. I also got the dreaded Regal Cinemas popcorn, even though now I know it is 16 PP. I just love getting popcorn at the movies, and I had been thinking about it all day.

After that popcorn, I wasn't very hungry for dinner that night, but I made myself eat a Lean Pocket, for 6 PP. I also finished off the bottle of champagne, since I knew I was going out of town today. That was two glasses for 7 PP. Right now, I still have 18 weekly points left, plus I plan on earning activity points Tuesday and Wednesday. We'll see how things go at weigh-in!

Wipe Out

My week of bad runs continued yesterday, in a big way. I had 1.5 miles on the schedule, and it started out great! I headed out after my weigh in and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was really nice and cool out. Since it was only 1.5 miles, I started off at a pretty brisk pace (for me.) I was enjoying myself and still felt strong when I turned around at the halfway point.

Thursday morning was a trash day, I guess, on the street I was running, and as a result there were trash bags piled EVERYWHERE, especially outside these three apartment buildings where a ton of students live. I swerved to avoid a dog and one of the trash bags that was spilling over caught my shoe. I went flying and face-planted onto the sidewalk.

At first, it seemed like that scrape and another one on my arm were my only injuries. I caught my breath for a minute, because I'd had the wind knocked out of me, and talked to a guy who had come to check on me. Out of a bunch of people who were out walking around on their way to work, only one person checked if I was OK! I couldn't believe it. Anyway, I thought I was OK and I was mostly pissed that my run had been interrupted, so I ran the rest of the way home. My knee hurt a little bit, but after a block or two it felt OK and I finished out the run. But when I stopped, it hurt a lot and felt really stiff. I got home and took off my running pants and immediately saw why.

It was super banged up and bruised, and already swelling. Ugh. I sent the picture to my dad, who is a doctor, and he told me to keep it elevated and ice it as much as possible. I've also been taking some ibuprofen to help reduce the swelling. Unfortunately things only got worse as the day went on, and this morning it is really stiff. I'm hoping this doesn't completely screw up my running. Today is a rest day, and then Saturday was supposed to be the "long" run, though this week it's only 3 miles. So maybe I'll switch that run to Sunday and see how I feel then.

My phone went flying and turned off when I fell, so this MapMyRun isn't very accurate. But it looks like I was running an 11:43 pace before the fall. You can see the run abruptly stop where the fall occurred, haha.

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For the rest of the day I ran some errands but really just focused on icing and resting my knee. I tried to spread my points out more evenly throughout the day, and I think I did a pretty good job. Breakfast was an english muffin with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray, which I forgot to take a picture of because I was scarfing it down before the workmen came and I was pretty flustered about my fall. (3 PP)

I went out to take a walk to try to move my knee and do some shopping (I needed Neosporin, more cantaloupe of course, and champagne!) While I was on my walk I grabbed a coffee. Lunch was a Lean Pocket while I iced my knee - spinach and three cheese in pretzel bread. This Lean Pocket was SO GOOD. And only 6 PP! I'll definitely be buying more of these.

I had already decided that I was going to use my Activity Points from today to have a glass of champagne with dinner. I also wanted to have another one of those Haagen-Dasz bars. So for the "main course" I had a Healthy Choice Top Chef steamer dinner. In terms of frozen dinners, I really like these. The microwave steams the pasta, meat, and vegetables in a separate bowl that's held above the sauce. Then when it's done you take out the little bowl and dump it into the sauce, then stir it all together. I had the chicken parmesan version, and it was good! I like the balsamic spaghetti more, though.

Champs was 3 PP, the steamer meal was 7 PP, and the ice cream was 9 PP. So one daily point and the 2 activity points I earned on the disaster run, calculated using the heart monitor, covered the champagne. I'm going to experiment with eating my activity points this week, so that I have an idea of how it will work trying to maintain next week when I'm at the beach.

Weigh-In

Thursday is my weigh-in day, and I wasn't sure what I would see on the scale, since I used all of my weekly points and I was pretty sure I had gone into the red, even with my activity point buffer. But I got a shocking surprise...

132.3??? That's a 2.8 lb loss from last week. Seems impossible, and probably is. I'm weighing on my own Wii Fit this week, since I'm at my house, instead of my parents'. So I'm guessing there's a bit of a difference between the two Wii Fits. Hopefully that won't mean that next week, when I weigh in on my parents' Wii Fit again, that I'll see a gain. It will be the day before I leave for the beach, so that would be discouraging.

I had a 3 mile run on the schedule yesterday, and was feeling kind of nervous about it after the bad run from Tuesday. And once again it was just not a good run. I made it about 1.5 miles before I decided I needed to walk for a bit. And then once I had let myself walk, I could stop making myself walk. I know that's mental but I need to figure out a way to get over it. I was frustrated since I knew I could make it the whole 3 miles, I had already done it twice!

Mile 1: 12:32
Mile 2: 12:08
Mile 3: 13:31
Average Pace: 12:51

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The MapMyRun thing says I went 3.27 miles, but I ran the exact route I had planned out the night before to be exactly 3 miles. So I'm not sure what the deal is. I'm guessing maybe the run felt so bad because my eating was not great the night before. A SmartOnes and an ice cream bar is not exactly a huge dinner.

On the run, I tried out my heart monitor for the first time! I was super excited to use it, but when I looked at the data for the end of the run I got worried about its accuracy. It says my resting heart rate is pretty high, so I am thinking maybe I have a naturally higher heart rate and that's causing the monitor to overestimate my calories burned. 525 calories burned seems like way too much for a 3 mile run, especially when I walked a big chunk of it. I'm frustrated, because I wanted to start eating my activity points and I was hoping the HRM would help me feel like I was actually earning them (I think the Activity Tracker overestimates.)

My eating yesterday was not a lot better. The workmen were here working on every floor of my house, so I ended up camping out at a coffee shop all day. After my run, I ate some cantaloupe for breakfast.

 At the coffee shop, I got myself an iced latte (2 PP). Around 12:30, I was really hungry, so I got one of their sandwiches. It was ham, cheddar cheese, and pickled onions with horseradish mustard. Delicious! I estimated it at 13 PP.

Dinner was popcorn (10 PP) and a fountain Diet Coke from WaWa. I love fountain soda so much that getting one feels like a special treat. When I went to the WaWa to get my soda, there was a big gang of teenage boys acting up inside. I get really uncomfortable around large, rowdy groups like that, so instead of getting my soda I kind of hung out in another aisle until they were gone. When I was leaving, the checkout lady, who looked like a grandma, said she had told them to watch their mouths in her store! So awesome.

Short run...yeah right.

Yesterday's run on the schedule was 1.5 miles, and I headed out prepared to crush it. I had visions of myself returning home and triumphantly writing about how I couldn't believe how easy 1.5 miles was for me now, etc, etc. I even planned a run for myself that was straight uphill for the first half, then downhill on the way back. I was ready to go. But of course, things did not go as planned. The first mile was OK, and I thought I was running really fast (I had decided to push my pace since this was a "short" run.) But when I turned around at .75 miles to head back, I started feeling terrible. First of all, there was a little hill that I had to run up before I started going on the downhill part. I tried to take it nice and slow, but I started dry-heaving! I attempted to run through it, but it just wouldn't stop. So I walked until it did. I consoled myself with the thought that obviously I had just tried to run the first mile way too fast, but when I looked at my pace I was not going fast at all! Maybe it was the hills that did it? It was also really humid yesterday. I don't know what the problem was, but it definitely knocked me down a few pegs.

Mile 1: 13:08
Mile 1.7: 11:24
Average Pace: 12:30

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After my run I took my sister in to work, then showered and got ready to go to the train station to head back to Philly. Union Station in DC has a McDonald's in it, and I have really been wanting to try one of those Egg White Delight McMuffins. So I got myself one, along with an iced latte, to have on the train.

It was really good! But I should have checked the PP before I got it - I thought it would be pretty low, but it turned out to be 7 PP! And the latte was 2 PP. Eek. That's way more than I would normally spend on breakfast. Thankfully I ate this guy pretty late in the morning (like 10:30) and it kept me full for most of the day. And I had been obsessing about it, so I am glad I got it.

At the train station, I wanted to buy myself a running magazine to read on the train. This made me really feel like a runner - I never would have had ANY interest in reading a running magazine before. I wanted to get Runner's World, but for some reason they didn't have it in the Hudson News, so I got Women Running. It was a little bit light on content, to be honest. But I still had fun reading it.

I got to Philly in the midst of a huge thunderstorm and headed home to my house to start unpacking boxes so that there would be room for the window guys who were coming today to get in and work. A lot of the windows in the house don't open, and none of them have screens. So my landlord hired a company who specializes in working with historic houses to replace the windows. Of course, I ended up just sitting on the couch, fooling around on the internet and watching Law and Order for hours. Whoops. Once the rain stopped, I headed out to the grocery store.

They were having a sale on SmartOnes (5 for $10) so I bought a bunch of them. I felt really embarrassed in the checkout line to be so obviously a dieting girl. But whatever. When I got home, I fooled around a little bit more and then made myself a SmartOnes. Originally I had been planning to have a more substantial dinner and a beer, but in the Women's Running magazine there had been an ad for these Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars that I had been thinking about all day. (Thanks, Women's Running!) So I adjusted my dinner plan so that I could have one.

That's a Bud Light (4 PP) and a SmartOnes Spaghetti (6 PP). I actually like frozen meals and don't think they're gross, and I like knowing exactly how many points a dish takes up. But this one ended up with a big congealed mass of stuff in it. I ate around it, but that kind of grossed me out. It was all worth it though, because then I had my ice cream!

Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Chocolate Peanut Butter. Yum yum yum. Totally worth 9 PP.


 

Missed Train

Yesterday was pretty boring. My schedule has Monday as a rest day, so I rested. But I was feeling off the entire day. Really hot, even though it wasn't hot outside. Sort of nauseous and worn down. So I didn't eat much at all. I stopped at Safeway after dropping my sister off at work and got myself some cantaloupe (my favorite!) and an iced latte for breakfast. (2 PP)

I ended up also eating a chocolate covered Oreo that was sitting up in my room. (3 PP) Believe it or not, after that, I felt totally full! Obviously something was off, but I didn't need to be very active so I just went with it. At 3 PM, my mom drove me downtown so that I could catch a 4 PM train back to Philly. But when we got to the train station, I realized I had forgotten my wallet at home! I couldn't go without my wallet, so we turned around and went back home. I felt really pissed off - I have a personality where if I get things planned out in my head, and then they don't go the way I expected, I get upset. So when I got home I wanted to binge. I know it's not good that I am still eating when I'm upset, but at least I am moderating it somewhat? I ate 10 jellybeans, which is only 1 PP, and that quelled my urge to binge.

My mom and sister picked up Chicken Out on the way home from her work. I ate a Chicken Caesar Salad (12 PP), a buttermilk biscuit (5 PP) and a glass of champagne, of course (3 PP).

I didn't sign up for the marathon yet - I keep getting nervous that I won't be able to train the way I need to when school starts, or that the weather in Florida will just be too hot for me. I guess I need to get over my fears and just go for it, but it's hard to think about potentially just throwing away $160.

Father's Day

Yesterday started with a run, and it was a great one! I did 3 miles again, and at the end actually felt like I could have kept going. I guess maybe I need to make an effort to speed up on my next 3 miler! I have been trying to run negative splits, and I managed it this time! It was also just a gorgeous run - I got started early enough that the temperature was OK, it was a little bit overcast so the sun wasn't beating down on me, and there weren't a lot of people out that early on a Sunday so I didn't have to feel self-concious.

Mile 1: 13:13
Mile 2: 12:39
Mile 3: 12:31
Average Pace: 12:51

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So, this week marks the start of my doing Hal Higdon's Novice Supreme Program. I wanted to be running 3 miles by the time I started the training program, since that's the distance of the first "long run," and now I am. I had told myself that if I hit 3 miles by the time training started, I would take that as a sign that I was going to be able to do this, and I would sign up for the marathon. So I am going to go ahead and do that either today or tomorrow, when I still get the early sign-up deal. I'm really excited! $160 is a lot of money, but I won't book the travel yet and if it looks like it's just not going to happen then it's not the end of the world for me to lose the money.

I wanted to be able to eat at our Father's Day dinner, so I only had a fruit cup and coffee for breakfast. I picked up the rest of the family French pastries - I really wanted a chocolate almond croissant! I'm definitely going to get that the next weekend I'm here and do a long Saturday run! As I had predicted, the Father's Day dinner used up a TON of points. I actually tried to track, but I'm pretty sure I'm over my weekly points now, as I had a couple of random bites of things that I didn't track. Who knows, though - I didn't eat every bite of my dessert, I was so full, so maybe that saved me some points. No pictures because I am sure taking pictures of my food would not have made my father very happy. I ate:

2 glasses of champagne before dinner - 7 PP
Dirty Martini - 6 PP
Red Wine - 4 PP
Ahi Tuna Tower - 6 PP
Tomato and Mozzarella Salad - 10 PP
6 oz Filet Mignon - 7 PP
Chocolate Mousse - 13 PP

That adds up to 53 PP! And doesn't include the bites of onion bread and creamed spinach I had. Oh well. I am going to use only my daily points, and we'll see what my weight is like on Thursday. I still have my Activity Points as a bit of a buffer zone too. This was a special occasion, we had a special deal at Morton's, and I'm a big believer in enjoying life. Restricting myself during dinner would have made me feel really resentful, and in the past that's what has led to me falling off the diet wagon.

Three Miles!

I've gotten a little bit behind on my blogging. I just didn't have time to do it on Friday during the day, and then I fell asleep early. I don't really have an excuse for not blogging on Saturday, though! Turns out Friday marked a milestone for me in my running - I ran 3 miles! It was a nice cool day and I was feeling good, and I just figured that if it was going to happen anytime, it was going to happen then. And it did!

Mile 1: 12:39
Mile 2: 13:03
Mile 3: 12:49
Average Pace: 12:53

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Obviously I slowed down a lot. I asked on a running board why the distance wasn't feeling any easier, and someone advised me that I needed to slow down. So I made an effort to keep it slow. Unfortunately I didn't manage to do negative splits, which people also advised me I need to do. So I'm going to have to work on that. But right now, I'm really excited that I made it this distance. I know 3 miles is nowhere near 26 miles, but I'm actually starting to feel like the marathon is going to be a reachable goal. This is the longest I've stuck with running in my adult life.

Part of the reason I think my run felt so good on Friday was because I ate a HUGE amount on Thursday night. The day started out OK - I had a grande latte from Starbucks after I dropped my sister off at work (2 PP), and then ate half a steak salad that my Mom brought home from lunch the previous day. I estimated that at 3 PP, which is actually probably too low since the salad had potatoes and cheese in it.

 Then I headed out to the doctor to hear about the results of my CT scan. They were frustrating - my sinuses are apparently clear. So something else has to be causing my headaches. This is really weird - I have been having these headaches since I was 20, and I've always been convinced that they are sinus headaches, just based on what the pain feels like and where in my face I feel them. I had been hoping for an obvious problem with an obvious solution, because the headaches are just horrible. So when I got home from the doctor's, I was really frustrated and wanted to eat. Instead of really binging, I grabbed some jellybeans (3 PP).

This picture is of 20 jellybeans, my original plan - I ended up eating 10 more after this.

My sister needed to be picked up from work, and she hadn't been able to eat lunch during the day because she was hungry. There is a Tex-Mex place on the way home from her office, Cactus Cantina, that has been a family favorite of ours for years, and she suggested we stop there for dinner. So I ended up spending a ton of weekly points on the first day that I got them! I usually never do that - my week resets on Thursdays, and I save those points for the weekend. But I had chips and queso, a soft flour beef taco, and 2 1/2 margaritas. Not a ton of food, but it added up to 40 points! Yeesh. But I'm pretty sure all those carbs are a big part of why my run felt so good the next day.

Just to catch up on my eating for Friday and Saturday - I forgot to take pictures at Cactus, and then forgot for the next 2 days! I'll try to get back in the habit. Friday I was out and about all day. We stopped at Panera for lunch and I had half an Asiago Roast Beef Sandwich, with an apple. I love those sandwiches, and half was more than enough. (9 PP) For dinner, we got Dominos. I love their thin crust pizza, and a quarter of a pizza, which is what I ate, is only 7 PP. I of course had champagne too, but I wasn't feeling great, so I ended up only drinking half a glass. (2 PP) When I went to bed I ate a handful of Cadbury Royal Dark Mini Eggs. Yum. (6 PP)

Yesterday I started out with a Venti Iced Skim Latte. (3 PP) In the afternoon, I ate 20 of those jellybeans, I love them. (2 PP) Dinner was Chipotle - I ordered two soft corn tacos with chicken, guacamole, tomatoes and lettuce. Normally I get my tacos with cheese and sour cream, but I figured the guacamole made it healthier. I used the nutrition calculator, and it should have been 9 PP. But when the tacos showed up, they were regular soft flour tacos instead and I didn't want to deal with recalculating. Hopefully it's OK. I also drank 2 glasses of champagne (7 PP) and ate the rest of the Cadbury Mini Eggs from the night before (3 PP). My sister had ordered chips and guacamole too, and I ate a few chips. I didn't track them, but I ended the night with 2 points left over, so hopefully that's enough of a buffer zone for them and the flour tortillas.

Tonight we're going out for a 4 course meal at Morton's for Father's Day. I've pre-tracked it, and if I've estimated OK, I'm going to have 17 weekly points left as a buffer zone. That's a good thing, since I didn't pre-track the alcohol I'm sure I'll drink. We'll see how it goes, but I'm just going to try to enjoy myself. Happy Father's Day!

Weigh-In

This morning was my weigh in day. I really thought my weight was going to be up - I hadn't done the best job of tracking, and I had eaten a lot of bad stuff over the weekend. But instead, it was down quite a bit! 1.3 lbs, to be exact!

That brings me to 135.1 lbs. Still a ways to go until I'm in the 120s, but I'm very pleased with the loss. Hopefully it's a real loss and not just a reflection of the fact that I only ate dinner for 2 days. This loss earned me another milestone on Weight Watchers - I've lost 10 lbs now! If I was a meetings member I would get a little charm I think, but online I just get a little badge thing.

Yesterday's eating was a little more balanced, but not by much. I had a grande skim latte from Starbucks, which is 2 PP, for breakfast. Lunch was an Italian Meatball and Marinara Lean Pocket, 7 PP. I also had a little can of Diet Pepsi - I buy those mini cans they sell in the grocery store, so that I don't drink too much. I love diet soda but there seems to be more and more research coming out that shows it's really bad for you. I know many people would tell me my Lean Pocket is also bad for me, but I find them really yummy and satisfying, and they're easy. I'm a big believer in just doing what you can without being crazy, and I don't have the time or energy usually to make myself healthy meals with only whole foods in them. I may have the time right now, but come medical school in August, I definitely won't, and I don't want to make changes I can't stick to.

For dinner, we got Chicken Out, a carryout rotisserie place in the DC area. I had a Caesar salad with grilled chicken. Of course, the salads came with these delicious buttermilk biscuits that were still warm from the oven, and I just had to have one. So I only ate half of the salad to make up for it. And of course, a glass of champagne! 5 PP for the biscuit, 7 PP for the salad, 3 PP for the champagne. We ate dinner and watched The Real Housewives of Orange County.

Champagne, salad (no biscuit because it was eaten immediately!)

I had a CT scan yesterday to look at my sinuses, and today I have a doctor's appointment to go over the results. I'm hoping she'll see something that is obviously causing all my headaches, and will have an easy solution for it. I had a bad headache all day yesterday, and I'm really getting sick of them. There's also a huge storm system rolling into DC at the moment - hopefully it doesn't get so bad that I can't even go to my appointment!

Hot Run

After my mistake with the popcorn on Sunday, I was planning on having a small, healthy dinner. But Paul suggested we order Pizza Hut, and I love Pizza Hut. So I did, and ate two slices and two breadsticks. Delicious, but it used up 19 points - when it was all over, I only had 5 weekly points left. That's led to some unhealthy habits the past two days - when I'm at home with my family, they all start drinking as soon as 5 PM hits (hooray for WASP culture) and I like to drink with them. So I've been hoarding my points for the end of the day, and basically only eating dinner. Not very healthy, but I haven't gone over my weekly points and tomorrow things reset. Hopefully I'll make it through today intact.

Monday my father drove up to Philly to drop off a kitchen table for me - my old table wouldn't fit down the stairs of my new place, which was a bummer because it was a present from my parents and I love it. I bought this little wood and metal table from West Elm to replace it, and it fits in to the space perfectly, so that's good. I'm finally getting all moved in to this little house, which is a relief - I hate feeling so unsettled.

My new little table.

Anyway, it was a busy day and I ended up not eating almost by mistake. Paul left Philly at 6:30 AM, so I walked out with him and got myself a coffee. My dad got to Philly around 12:15, I spent the morning cleaning up the house so we could get the table inside. By the time he got there it was pouring rain, which made trying to move a big piece of furniture in pretty unpleasant. We got everything done and left around 2:30, and got home to DC around 5, at which point my mom and sister wanted us to pick up dinner. So we did - pizza again! I ate two slices (11 PP), a glass of champagne (3 PP), and 6 pieces of Easter candy (6 PP). Probably not enough food and obviously not a very healthy day.

Yesterday I got up early to run, but after I got dressed and walked downstairs my sister asked me if I could drive her to work. She broke her collarbone and has been out of work for a while - so now she's going back, but not for full days. She's going in really early, so that she can leave relatively early. So I said of course I would drive her. Unfortunately, by the time I got back the temperature had skyrocketed and I didn't really want to run. I hoped another storm might roll in, so I decided to wait. But by 5 PM, the temperature still hadn't dropped - apparently it was 87 degrees! I really wanted to get my run in, so I just went for it. But as I've mentioned before, I don't sweat, so I do really badly in the heat. I tried my best to run really slowly, but after 2.1 miles I was feeling pretty sick and getting chills, which I know is a bad sign. So I walk/ran the last .6 miles. Not the best run, but I'm glad I at least did it.

Mile 1: 12:03
Mile 2: 13:06
Mile 2.7: 15:40
Average Pace: 13:26

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My eating yesterday was bad again, but that was partly because I just was not very hungry all day. I got Pinkberry with my mom for lunch - I love Pinkberry, and it's super low in points! Especially if you only top it with fruit. A small original, which is what I got, is only 4 PP! For dinner, we got Moby Dick, a Persian carryout place in the DC area. I split a chicken kabob with my mom because she didn't want a whole one - that ended up being only 3 pieces of chicken, so I actually wish I had gotten my own. I also had a big piece of their yummy bread - I put it in to the tracker as Naan, and I guesstimated that it was 2 pieces. That was 11 PP, and the chicken was only 1 PP. I had one glass of champagne, for 3 PP, and was left with 7 points. So I ate some malted eggs out of my Easter Basket - I actually forgot to count them, but I guessed I ate 11, for exactly 7 PP.

We'll see what the scale says tomorrow - it hasn't been a great week for me, in terms of tracking or exercising. 

Back In The Saddle

My knee has been really acting up, so I didn't run Friday or Saturday. I think three days of rest did me a world of good, because today I made it 2.66 miles and my knee feels pretty much OK. I think MapMyRun malfunctioned, though - the route looks strange, like I was weaving all over the place, and I didn't feel like I was going faster, but my splits are considerably faster than usual. Plus, when I map out this route on MapMyRun, it says it's 2.48 miles, not 2.66 miles. So I'm not sure what to think. I know you tend to go longer than you map out, because you have to weave around people and stuff, but the time seems too good to be true.

Mile 1: 11:38
Mile 2: 11:12
Mile 2.66: 11:50
Average Pace: 11:34

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Paul and I hadn't seen Iron Man yet, so we decided to do that today. We went out to grab breakfast beforehand, and split a cheese, cherry tomato, bacon and avocado omelette. It was really small - I estimated it at 7 PP. At the movies, I couldn't resist getting a popcorn. Popcorn is my favorite food, especially at the movies. But it turned out that at Regal Theaters, a small popcorn with no butter is 16 PP! The AMC small popcorn is only 9 PP. I was pretty shocked when I got home and entered it. Maybe their portion is a lot bigger or something? Anyway, as a result I only have 3 points left for dinner - I'm not going to worry about it. Right now I'm not hungry, and if I get hungry later I have weekly points left.

Bad Pancake

No post yesterday because nothing much happened and I had very little to say. I ate some melon for breakfast, another one of those English Muffin sandwiches for lunch, and then I had to wait in Philly for my boyfriend, Paul, to get in from New York. By the time he got here it was 9 PM and pouring rain and I was kind of too exhausted for dinner. So I ate some Homestyle Popcorn and a Micheloeb Ultra beer. I think I actually ended up under my points for the day.

I love cantaloupe, and on WW I don't have to count it!

Today I have been hanging out with Paul and mostly being lazy, with occasional bouts of unpacking the house, which is still full of boxes. I am stressed out because I have a moth infestation that I cannot get rid of no matter how hard I try. It has followed me from New York to Philly, and has now followed me to my new house in Philly. I hate them so much and have spent hundreds of dollars trying to get rid of them.

We watched one of the new episodes of Arrested Development, which neither of us thought was very funny, and headed out to brunch at a local place called Hawthorne's. They always have a special pancake, and you can order just one, which I like because I love super sweet pancakes but can never eat a whole order of them. Today's pancake was a Campfire Cake, which sounded pretty good. It was supposed to be graham crackers and marshmallows and then had chocolate ganache on top.Like a S'more pancake.

Campfire Cake - took a few bites before I remembered to take a picture.

Unfortunately it just wasn't that good. The graham crackers made it too dry. So I only ate about half of it. I also had a fruit cup which was delicious. I ended up estimating the half pancake I ate at 6 PP. Later I had a bag of pretzels for 7 PP. After that, my eating kind of went to shit. We went to Morgan's Pier, this huge bar on the water with tons of really good food.

Kale and cheese croquettes, Sheishedo Peppers, Alcoholic Strawberry Lemonade

Those were just our appetizers. I got a cheeseburger and split fries with Paul for dinner. And I drank half of that beer that's over in the corner, but abandoned it because I didn't like it. All and all I spent 41 PP at dinner. Yikes! I'll have to be careful for the rest of the week, but I'm a big believer in enjoying yourself and this was a really fun and unique experience.

Weigh-In

Down .7 lbs this week, which brings me to about 136.4. I'm not going to lie, I wish it was more. But, I ate a lot this week and enjoyed myself pretty thoroughly. This means that in 7 weeks I've lost 9.6 lbs. I had hoped to be in the 120s by my birthday on July 25th. That's 7 weeks away, and in the middle of that 7 weeks I'm going on a beach vacation. Since my weight loss is slowing down, I don't really know if that's going to happen. I would need to lose 6.5 lbs in 7 weeks, which is almost a pound a week. So I'm not going to beat myself up if it doesn't happen. School starts on August 5th, and as I long as I can start school looking good I'll be happy, even if I'm not down in the 120s. You can see on the little graph from the Weight Watchers site that I am literally plateauing.

I had been planning on running today, even though it's supposed to be a rest day, to make up for my bad run yesterday. But my knee was feeling pretty screwed up all day long, and I think I better go ahead and rest it. The plan is to head back to Philly today so I'll have to look for a new route to run there tomorrow. And then I get to see my boyfriend for the first time in 2 weeks, so hopefully that won't trigger too much eating and drinking!

The No Good Very Bad Terrible Run

Awful run today. I could tell from the moment I started out that it was going to be rough. My legs just felt heavy and I was breathing hard before I was even a minute in. I think a number of things contributed to it - I didn't exactly eat a diet full of nutrients yesterday, I woke up later than usual and was feeling bummed about all the people out on the running trail passing me (usually it's more quiet when I manage to get out earlier) and I think I may have started the first mile faster than I could really handle. Whatever it was, I felt awful, and at .92 miles I gave up and walked. I still did the whole 2.5 mile distance that I planned on doing today, but I ran / walked it after that first mile, and most of that was walking.

Mile 1: 12:08
Mile 2: 14:22
Mile 2.6: 14:38
Average Pace: 13:39 (ugh)

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I started this blog for myself really, to keep track of my eating and running. But I also started it because it's hard to find truly beginner running blogs. Everyone I find seems to be working themselves up from three miles, but I can't even do three miles yet. I hope that if someone finds this one day, I'll be at the point where I'm successfully running long distances, and they can look back and see that at one point, even running 2 miles at a pretty slow pace was difficult for me.

When I got back, I wasn't feeling well - sort of sick to my stomach and out of sorts. I thought maybe I was hungry, since I didn't really eat dinner last night, so I made myself an English muffin with some margarine and got a skim latte from Saxby's. (Their lattes are awful but it's so much closer to my parent's house than Starbucks!). (5 PointsPlus) I am not usually a breakfast person and runs usually kill my appetite, but today I guess I needed it.

I needed to go to Ikea to return a slipcover - Ikea slipcovers are shockingly expensive and I really wanted it off of my credit card. It's a pretty far drive, and when I got there, I realized I had forgotten my card! They won't do a normal return for you unless you actually have the physical card there. So I basically wasted several hours of my day. I ran a few more errands, and by the time I got done it was 3 PM and I was starving. So I ate half of a ham and cheese panini and some cantaloupe. (9 PointsPlus)

A little while after that I was still hungry and wanted to snack, so I had 20 jellybeans. (2 PointsPlus) Pretty soon after that, it was 5 PM, so my sister and I hit the champagne while we watched Real Housewives of the OC and The Client List. I had 2 glasses. (7 PointsPlus) We grilled again tonight - I had a blue cheese and peppercorn burger on a 7 grain bun with coleslaw. It was delicious. (15 PointsPlus)

And now, I'm having some after-dinner candy while watching Extreme Weightloss. (4 PointsPlus)

Obviously, this was not a great eating day, but I knew I had a lot of weekly points and activity points left, so I decided to just kind of eat how I wanted. I actually am ending the week with 15 points still unused. We'll see how things are at weigh-in tomorrow!

Miracle Whip

For lunch lately I've been having one of these sandwiches:

Yum!

That's a whole wheat English Muffin, toasted, a slice of Havarti cheese, as much spinach as I can make stay on the sandwich, and a little dab of Miracle Whip. It is so good it is ridiculous, and only 5 PointsPlus.

After lunch, I went to see the new Star Trek movie - it was really good, but not as good as the small bag of movie theater popcorn I chomped. Popcorn is my favorite food, and since I eat it without butter it's not terrible: 9 PointsPlus.

By the time we got home, it was almost 6 PM, which only means one thing: champagne time! Two glasses of champagne, a bunch of yummy Hungarian salami, and some bites of chicken and potato salad rounded out my night. 12 PointsPlus.

A nice, lazy day filled with delicious food. Can't ask for much more. Now I'm off to bed!

Grilling!

Yesterday was such a yummy eating day! We decided that since it was officially June, we'd break out the grill and my mom would make Chicken Surprise, which is basically just an apricot marinade for chicken breasts, and potato salad. We also had Pinkberry for lunch, which was delicious and really hit the spot on such a hot day. Plus we had several glasses of champagne, and I finished up the night with a bunch of Cadbury Dark Mini Eggs from my Easter basket. I LOVE Cadbury Mini Eggs, and the dark ones are amazing. All in all I used up 44 PointsPlus! Yikes, but totally worth it.

A big summer storm hit DC last night, and was still going this morning when I headed out for my run. I love running in the rain - it helps me stay cool, and makes me feel like I'm in some sort of super hardcore sports movie montage. Unfortunately, the rain stopped halfway through my run, and then it was just hot and humid. My goal for today was to run 2.5 miles - 1.25 out, and then turn around and run back. At 1.83 miles, I convinced myself that I needed to walk for a tenth of a mile. Immediately after I walked, I regretted it - I know I didn't really need to, since I've been doing over 2 miles for several days now. So I decided to make up that missing tenth of a mile at the end of the run. I accidentally actually added an extra .17 onto the run, for a total of 2.67 miles. Obviously I still had gas in the tank at the end of the run and did not need to walk in the middle, so I'm annoyed at myself. I just need to get over that mental hurdle that hits me in the middle of my runs.

Mile 1: 11:53
Mile 2: 12:47
Mile 2.7: 12:13

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Today I'm going to the sinus doctor, which I'm really excited about. I am plagued by terrible sinus headaches that are almost debilitating, and I have a terrible sense of smell. I really want to get this corrected before I start medical school, because it's one thing to have to go sit at a desk and stare at a computer screen when you have a sinus headache, but it's quite another to have to actively study, which I imagine is going to be taking up the vast majority of my time come August. My parents are worried about messing around with my sinuses, but I am getting to the point where I just can't take the headaches anymore. Hopefully she'll have some ideas.

Running, Crossaints, Philly!

My mom and I got home from Philly last night at 11 PM, and I was way too tired to manage a blog post. It was a long day!

First up was running - I headed out at 6:15 to beat the heat, and thankfully I did! It was a lot cooler outside. Unfortunately, though, the path I like to run on had a big group of men gathered underneath a bridge. It looked like a sketchy situation, and everyone else on the path was turning around to avoid them, so I did too. Which means I got to try out a new route, down by the Potomac River! I wish I could say I enjoyed how pretty it was, but I am still in my "hating every minute of running" mode. Every day I think I'm going to enjoy it and it will feel easier, but that hasn't clicked yet. Still have not run a full 2.25 miles - this time, I ran 1.1 out and back, and by the time I got to the end of the trail I just didn't feel like trying to run the extra .05. I wish I had - I am sure I had the energy for it, and it would have been nice to actually do the distance I set out to do for once!

Mile 1: 11:57
Mile 2: 12:38
Mile 2.2: 11:49
Average Pace: 12:23 (I'm getting "faster"!)

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My mom and I had plans to go up to Philly today - I have rented a tiny, adorable house there to live in during medical school, and I was in the process of moving in when my sister had her accident. I was eager to get home to DC and be with her, so I just had the movers get everything into the house but didn't unpack anything - so the house was full of boxes. I was also worried about the fact that I didn't have the A/C turned on and it was getting so hot up there. It's a really old house (built in 1764!) so it has a lot of humidity issues.

So I showered and got dressed, and we set off to Philly around 9 AM. I decided to have a weekend treat from an amazing french bakery in Georgetown: an almond croissant.

I put this in as 10 PointsPlus - it may have been more. Totally worth it.

We worked all through the day on unpacking my kitchen. I'm moving into this tiny house from an apartment that had a huge kitchen with a ton of storage space, so some consolidation needed to be done - mostly of my pint glasses from various bars! I know my boyfriend is going to be sad when he sees everything that had to be purged.

When we got there, the thermostat read 81 degrees, so we turned on the AC and got to work. When I went upstairs to check on its progress, the thermostat read 83 degrees. Not good. I called my landlord and it turned out she had just given birth to her baby, which made me feel like a huge jerk. She said that since the AC hadn't been on in a year, it would just take time. So my mom and I decided to leave it on while we went out and grabbed a bite to eat, and hopefully when we got back the AC would have kicked in. I had two beers and split a plate of nachos with her - yum. Alas, when we got back the temperature had gone up again, to 85. It was cooler outside than it was inside the house! So I think it is broken, or else I was just not using it correctly. My landlord's father is going to swing by to take a look at it today.

All in all, I used up 38 PointsPlus yesterday - but that's what those extra points are for!

 

Sore Legs

Totally uneventful day today, other than the fact that my legs were SO sore! Like, walking up and down the stairs was difficult. I'm not sure why since I didn't really increase my distance - would taking a walk break vs. not taking a walk break really make that big a difference? It could also be the extreme heat I ran in yesterday. Hoping to beat that by getting out early tomorrow!

I don't have much to say today, so thought I'd share the spoils of my shopping spree from two days ago.

First, an adorable new moisture-wicking reversible sports bra!

Denim shorts from Old Navy with stars - I wish they weren't so short and tight!

Pink flamingo khaki shorts, also from Old Navy - too preppy?

It's hard to see, but this is a sleeveless blouse covered in bunnies, from Target

Yes, those were taken on my childhood bed, which is why you can see the feet of stuffed animals in some of the shots!

Hoping for a good run tomorrow!

Weigh-In

I was excited to get up and weigh in today - I have a hard time keeping my eating under control when I'm at home with my family, since none of them are on diets and I eat most of my meals with one or all of them. It's a lot easier to prepare something healthier for myself, or something I know the PointsPlus for, when I'm alone. I didn't think I had gained weight, but I thought I might have stayed the same. I was pleased to see that I had actually lost:

It's hard to see, but that says 137, and a Normal BMI of 23.41

I am weighing myself on my family's Wii Fit rather than my own, so I don't have a profile. So I wasn't sure the exact amount of pounds down I was, and the Wii Fit doesn't tell you your actual weight, just shows it to you on a little scale thing. The ticker was just above 137 lbs, so I guessed it was 137.1 lbs. That means I lost 1.8 lbs over the two weeks that I've been here (my last weigh-in was 138.9 lbs). .9 lbs per week isn't bad, though my weight loss is definitely slowing down. That brings me to 8.9 lbs lost since I started on April 18th, at 146 lbs.Weight Watchers actually set my goal for me at 138.6, so I'm now "at goal" according to them. But like I mentioned yesterday, I'm definitely not happy with the way I look yet. I reset my new goal at 131.4 lbs, which will be 10% lost. Once I get there, I'll reevaluate and think about whether or not I want to get in to the 120s. I also got my 5% milestone today, which was exciting. I probably would have gotten it last week, but I didn't weigh-in.

I'm not going to deny that I wish the weight loss was a little faster. But I know that slow and steady wins the race, and I'm hoping to keep this weight off long term, rather than yo-yoing again. It's frustrating when you hear about other people losing 20 lbs in a month, or whatever, but I just have to remind myself that everyone is different and that I've lost these 8.9 lbs while eating gummi dinosaurs, Easter candy, popcorn, pizza, bagels, and lots and lots of champagne. I'd much rather lose that way than do something like Atkins, which I was on before, and not be able to have any of those things without totally ruining my diet.

I also ran today, at around 7:15 AM. My family was concerned about me going out so early by myself. But there were a lot more people out than when I've gone down there later in the day - people are obviously trying to beat the heat, and also get their longer runs in before work. So I think I am going to try for maybe 6:30 AM on Saturday, because this morning's run was terrible. The first mile was OK, though I could feel it heating up. The second mile I turned around and was running right back into the sun. Most of the running path was totally exposed, and I felt really hot and miserable. I basically was desperately running for the shady parts. I kept really wanting to walk, but I could feel that I didn't really need to. Cardio-wise I was OK, and my legs were tired but OK too. So I made it the whole two miles, and then I forced myself to keep running past the little bridge where I usually get off the canal, until the canal stops and turns into brick. That was apparently an extra .14 miles. So not quite 2.25 miles, but close, and I ran the whole thing!

Mile 1: 12:17
Mile 2: 12:58
Mile 2.1: 11:41 

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