Off and Running

This is a snap of Ella and Jack on the first day of preschool.  Ella often had teary drop-offs last year, but is raring to go this year.  Jack is new to preschool, but seems to take after his daddy whom I remember running off to join the line of new kindergartners with never a backward glance.  Here's hoping that they're this eager every day!     I am not quite this geared up to meet my goals, but I can happily report that I'm starting my fourth week of being on program, exercise, and tracking what I eat.   

I lost 3 pounds the first week and, as Debbie wisely predicted in the comments of my last post, gained one pound last week (the day after my surgery).  Thank goodness for her counsel, because I just chalked it up to water and stress and kept on going.  Of course I haven't been perfect every day in my eating choices, but, on the whole, I'm pretty content with my diet.  I've tried lots of new recipes and bought a few new food items  to keep things interesting.  The WW online recipes are great.  I made their Classic Chicken Soup with Noodles for dinner the other night now that we're getting a hint of fall in the air.  It was a definite winner and will make a repeat appearance soon, I think.  As a side to the soup, I made a half recipe of Apricot Scones (just 4 points +) and used some of my flex points to have two!  Such indulgence!

Thank you all for your good wishes about my surgery.  It went well and I was back to my normal routine the next day.  I got the great news yesterday that the biopsy came back "all clear."  I'm not a huge worrier, but, as you can imagine, this was really good to hear.

Today I earned a gold star (well, an imaginary gold star).  I had the morning "off" and had decided to get out and do some exercise.  I woke to the patter of rain on the window panes, but got dressed and went out and did it anyway.  I went to my favorite river path and did Week One, Day One of C25K!  It's the first time I've actually run in any organized sort of way since my spine surgery in March.  Yay me!  And I didn't even melt in the rain--I guess it was only the Wicked Witch who melted.

With September, it seems like everything's starting up again.  This year, instead of BSF, I've joined another Bible study group (Community Bible Study).  They are very similar in content and format, but CBS is a bit closer to my WW meeting so that I won't be late.  

WI tomorrow and I'm hoping to lose.  

Are you off an running?

Monday, Monday

I think that cutting back on my computer time is helping.  My wrists and arms are still acting up a bit, but things are better and I was able to sleep last night.  It also frees up time that I spent on some of my "ought to" list.  Today I read lots of stories to my grand babies, wrote a thank-you note, did some laundry and got all caught up with my Bible study lessons.  All this while watching the kids.  What I didn't do is play a dozen or so games of "scramble" on FB (a minor addiction which I'm trying to nip in the bud) and spend a couple hours reading things online (blogs, articles I subscribe to, and new, mostly).  Baby J (20 months) loved Eric Carle's 10 Little Rubber Ducks and was able to operate the little "quack" button at the back of the book as soon as he saw it.  I heard that duckie quack about 37 million times.  Maybe time for a quack-ectomy . . . .  I do love sharing some of my favorite books for little people with my very own little people.  Three yr old E, on the other hand, on hearing the giant's Fee Fi Fo Fum threat to grind Jack's bones to make his bread, commented that the giant should take the beanstalk instead and make bean soup.  Pretty smart, that girl! I like Paul Galdone's version of just about any folk tale you can name.  His art is simple and the words are just right.

For dinner tonight, I made an old standby.  WW Baked Rigatoni.  Very tasty.  (1 c shredded mozzerella, mixed with 1 lb browned ground beef (93%), 4 cups cooked whole wheat rigatoni,  and 1 jar of Classico mushroom  & ripe olive pasta sauce--bake at 350 for 20 minutes).  That and a green salad plus a WW strawberry smoothie bar for dessert.  It was a good day.  Right now my shoulders are achey and I think I need to step away from the computer.

I'm hoping to feel good enough to go out for a run tomorrow--week 3 of C25K.  The weather's gotten rather chilly, but I know how to bundle up and that's what I'm aiming for.

My deciduous magnolia is just about to offer it's first bloom of the spring.  It's usually one at the very top of the tree (25 feet up there) where it gets the most sun.  Just  where I can see it from our sitting room window.  Here's what it looks like:

See you later.
Tish

De-cluttering

My little nano!

In some ways, I had a super day yesterday.  My plan was to tackle one room and to de-clutter it as much as possible.  The room is a spare room where my youngest granddaughter naps on the days I watch her and where the three out of town grandkids stay when they're visiting.  It has FIVE bookcases and is home to our children's books (remember I was a children's librarian for 20+ years--I love children's books!).  It also has a walk-in-closet that has been so jam-packed that it's been hard to close the door for years.  I clipped on my new nano (which I LOVE) and got to work.  Four hours later I had a dozen bags of trash, 10 bags of things for giveaway and a much better looking room.  I still have a crate full of "stuff" that I have to find places for, but I can actually take a few steps into the closet and now I only have 3 bookcases full of kids books.  Success.  (and more work to do on another day)

I need to take that valuable de-cluttering concept and apply it to some insidious habits that have crept into my eating.  Take yesterday.  We had a dinner invitation for yesterday night to a "fondue fellowship."  We had to go (don't ask) and we were the only guests.  I've just about cut cheese from my diet altogether--I don't crave it, it is quite high in calories, cholesterol, and salt and it wasn't too hard for me to cut it.  Well, fondue?  I recall the last time we had a fondue dinner (about 10 years ago)--masses of creamy warm cheese, wonderful bread cubes--good with or without the cheese, lots of wine, and mouth-watering warm, melty chocolate for dessert with strawberries and angel food cake for swirling.

I considered eating a mini-meal before we went, but I was at the airport picking up Johnny's family and got home just minutes before we had to leave.  So I was hungry.  Failure was certain.  How discouraging.  Wait.  When we got there I saw several plates of cut up veggies (broccoli, green beans, red peppers, tiny white potatoes).  It wasn't a cheese fondue!!  It was a broth fondue and we cooked our chicken and veggies at the table.  I probably ate 4 bites of chicken 6 green beans, 2 marble-sized potatoes, and 2 pieces of red pepper over the course of 90 minutes.  'Nuf said.  I need to get rid of the worry about those situations.  While it's good to pre-plan as much as you can, it's just one meal.  As it turned out, it was well within my plan.  I spent lots of needless worry envisioning fondue pots full of bubbling cheese.  Next time, I'll ask.  Wouldn't that have been smart?  I could have even worked around the cheese.  Instead, I just worried about it.

I didn't get my run done yesterday.  I put it off until noon and was getting dressed when I heard the first rumble of thunder.  It rained all afternoon with impressive lightning and thunder, so no run on the trail.  I'm heading out as soon as I push "publish post."  It's a bit cooler, but nice and sunny.  Week two of C25K today.

How about you?  Do you have any habits you need to de-clutter from your routine?

Have a good one!

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'd forgotten how quiet it is around here on the weekend.  Good for me, though, to have a little more chance to play catch up with you guys.  :-)

A pretty lazy day today.  We went to church in the morning and I spent an hour or so outside trimming bushes.I got them just in time, most of the roses, azaleas, and many other spring bloomers are already producing buds.   Our daphne has blooms.  If you don't know daphne, it has the loveliest fragrance.  I go outside just to breathe in the smell a few time a day.  I'll pick a bloom and bring it inside tonight.

Daphne

DH tried to talk me into biking over to our son's house to take care of their pets while they're away.  It's only a few miles away but there are some Major hills so I declined.  We did go do our weekend routine at the gym, so I wasn't a total laggard today.  

Tomorrow I have the day "off" (the grandkids are visiting their other grandparents in sunny FL).  It's supposed to be in the high 60s, but rainy.  I plan to run with my C25K and knock out week two.  I also have the painter coming in the morning and plans to cull out lots of "stuff" (books, clothing, clutter) to add to my giveaway bag for a pickup on Tuesday morning.  I've gotten rid of over 500 books in the past few weeks.  This frees up two full size bookcases!  I think I'll transfer them out to the garage to try to make some order out there.  Later.  The house comes first.  I also had my first sale on Craig's List.  I sold a piano.  It took only a week and I got my asking price.  Not bad.  I'm on an anti-clutter campaign.  

See you later.

Tish

Friday Surprise!

Happy Friday! I continued my new-found habit of getting up early to run and was rewarded with a great run in perfect weather. Today I started week 9 of the C25K and I'm feeling like a real runner again. That's a good feeling. I'll never be speedy, but I'm enjoying watching my average pace per run decline steadily. You can always check out my progress with my little Nike+ Mini just to the right of this post. If I don't run for several days in a row, she'll start dissin' me.

I was surprised and delighted this morning to see that Karen, at Waisting Time gave me a blog award! My first blog award ever. I was so excited that I ran up stairs to show my husband. Thank you Karen!

The award requires me to list seven things about myself that you probably don't know. I'm fairly new at blogging here, so my job is a little easier.

Here goes: Seven Things you Probably Don't Know about Me.

1. Although I don't think of myself as a picky eater, my daughter pointed out to me that I don't like any fruits starting with the letter B. That's right--bananas, blueberries, boysenberries, bilberries--not my cup of tea. The only other fruit that I don't care for starts with an R (raspberry).

2. I have a long middle toe on my left foot that, combined with my running, caused me to have a purple toenail most of the time. I did buy a size larger (and longer) running shoe on the advice of my running store friend, so the toenail now only turns purple when I run longish runs with hills. I usually paint my toenails in summer for this reason.

3. My mom was my #1 cheerleader. She died 17 years ago, but I always wear her ring (a West Point miniature that was her engagement ring) if I want to feel her there when I'm doing something important. Like my first day of teaching, or my 10 mile race last year, or when our children got married.

4. I'm a bit of a statistics nerd. When I saw the Site Meter gadget on blogs I read I signed right up. Of course I love comments (thank you, thank you), but I also love checking out who's checking my blog out. I set it so it didn't count my own visits to my site. When we were on our vacation, I got rather worried because I noticed one person kept checking out my blog all day long, with lots of page views and hour long visits. Was someone stalking my blog?? Only after I read the description carefully did I realize that it was me-- using the hotel's wifi IP address!

5. My third grade teacher, Miss Shelly, told my parents that I was "not college material." Fortunately, I was the fourth child and they didn't take her opinion as Gospel. I was a National Merit Scholar, did well at Stanford, was top of my class in Law School, and have two Master's degrees (Library Science and Education). I'd like to meet her some day.

6. When I get a greeting card, I tend to read it and take everything it says literally. You know, 'you are a beautiful, thoughtful, intelligent, fun . . . . person.' 'Yes,' I think,' they chose this card so carefully and it describes me perfectly.' This 'Beautiful Blogger' award had me looking in the mirror!

7. Probably one of the reasons that teacher said that to my parents is that I got D's in Penmanship and Reading until I reached 4th grade. Well, I still got pretty miserable grades in penmanship (love, love typing). I became a reader practically overnight when my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Heckman, read to us for an hour every day. I discovered the public library and checked out the book (Misty of Chincoteague) so I could read ahead. And so began my lifelong love of reading. I read voraciously. I re-read favorites once a year. I love a well written book. And I love being a children's librarian and seeing children discover a love a books and reading. Thank you, Mrs. Heckman.

The second requirement of the award is to pass it along, and so I'd like to pass this along to a lovely list of Beautiful Bloggers. Please check out their blogs and enjoy!

1. kimert @ Just Another Mom on the Run

2. Mary @ A Simple Twist of Faith

3. Sarah @ Round

4. Barefoot Jax @ Fattie 2 Fittie

5. Diet Buddy Daily

6. Tonyne @ The Unlikely Success Story

7. Lori Lynn @ Sunflowers and Daisies

If I don't wrap this up soon my computer's gonna turn into a pumpkin and it'll be tomorrow. But I wanted to mention the wonderful Spinach Strawberry Salad I made to go with dinner tonight. I bought a Costco container of strawberries and wanted to made an start on using them while they were at their peak. I made over an old, non-WW friendly recipe to fit my plan and it was de-lish. The salad disappeared before I thought about taking a picture, but the recipe may get an encore appearance in the next couple of days.

Lots of thank you's in this post. I want to thank all of my readers for coming by. You have to know I still get excited when I get comments and even when I just see you've been browsing without commenting.

Slow Loser Status

I ran early this morning and am happy to report that I ran 30 minutes without stopping! C25K called for 28 minutes, but when I reached the 28 minute mark I felt good, so I ran on for a couple more minutes. I'm so lucky that my knees don't bother me at my age (knocking on wood!). All my bumps and bruises from my accident two weeks ago are mostly gone and the bruised rib feeling is much less bothersome now. I have to say that on my bike ride Monday night (the first since the accident) I was a little apprehensive about falling or another accident, but things went well.

Today is Wednesday and Wednesday is my WI day. I was feeling good about staying OP with eating and exercise and my morning visits to the scale indicated I might lose two pounds. I've told you before that I'm a slow loser. Always have been and I've got that hateful slow metabolism that comes with the fifth decade. When I stepped on the scale, I was amazed and delighted when the scale showed 3.2 pounds lost. 3.2 plus 3.6 from last week plus 2.8 from the week before =9.6 in the past three weeks. That doesn't sound slow at all. I'm definitely NOT complaining. I'll happily exchange my slow loser status for something more like DH's seeming ability to think about losing 5 pounds one day and achieving it the next.

It seems almost too obvious, but maybe my good losses have something to do with my newly revised exercise and eating habits. One major food change over the last several weeks is that I've really scaled back how much I eat at lunch time. I used to regularly have a leftover portion of my previous night's dinner. The dinners were pretty thoughtfully planned, but usually included some sort of whole grain pasta, brown rice or potato. When I re-read the CORE (WW) guidelines, they allowed you to eat all those things, but suggested you limit it to once per day. I did lose before while not limiting whole grains, but I lost more slowly. I've also tried to be more intentional about not "super-sizing" my portions, even of nutritious, low point foods.

Are you a slow loser?

194.8

Home Again

We got back from our fabulous Colorado trip last night. There is nothing like sleeping in my own, comfortable bed. Oh, and my scale and I had a good reunion. It agreed with the WW scale at a Colorado meeting that I'd lost last week. Somehow, I started fearing that maybe it was the high altitude that made the scale number lower at my WI. LOL I set my alarm to get up early and run, but instead turned it off to sleep later. Finally, when I got out the door, it was 10 am and heading toward a very humid 80 degrees. I appreciate the extra oxygen available here, but the muggyness is awful. Note to self--next time, get up out of bed and run, early.

I decided to repeat C25K week 8 as I mostly hiked rather than ran last week. I had to walk for a couple minutes in the middle of the run section, but I'm happy with having gone out to do it. I'll just have to be smarter about getting out earlier.

I love my garden. I went outside, barefoot, in the dark last night to check on how my babies were doing. Fortunately we had rain while we were away and it all looked good. I'd planted a new garden bed just a couple days before we left and it's thriving. Mostly herbs and perennial flowers, but I did put in a couple tomato plants. The orange day lillies have started blooming and look great near the blue catmint and the purple phlox. I'll post pictures later.

The fridge is pretty bare. I need to get to the store to replenish my staples. I'm actually almost craving my go-to cottage cheese and fruit lunches after a week's hiatus.

I wasn't quite ready to do this yet, but I joined a body fat% challenge on Greta's blog that required me to post my current weight. As of my last WI, I'm officially in "onederland." My weight this morning was 196.4.

Going the Distance

This morning's run (C25K Week 8 Day 1) did not go as well as I had hoped it would. The plan called for the usual 5 minute walk warm-up and cool-down periods with a 28 minute run in between. I was pretty confident I could do this as I had some "extra" left after my last couple of 25 minute runs. But somehow, today was hard. The bruises from my bike accident earlier this week are beginning to go a lovely yellow-ish color, but the (muscle?) ache still bothers me when I move (e.g. swing my arms). This, combined with a high degree of mugginess, made me "wimp out" and walk several times during the 28 run part. I was jogging along, feeling disappointed in myself and discouraged, when I started noticing the lyrics to the song on my podcast.

I had downloaded a C25K podcast from itunes that has Christian music. Not things you've heard before, but songs by small, independent writer/composers. Anyway, this song was talking to me. The lyric I particularly noticed said something to the effect that "the race is not to the swift or the proud, but to those who make it to the end." [The song is Do Not be Weary, by Buried Talents Band] I was finishing my workout. I went the distance I was scheduled to go, I just didn't run the whole thing. Maybe it wasn't so bad. Yes, I walked some bits when I was supposed to run, but I DID go the distance. I also noticed from my records, that I have run farther this month (53+ miles) than I have in any other month during the past year.

I'm feeling much better about my run now. And my scale again this morning showed me my lowest weight since November (when my weight was on its way up). Dinner last night went well (we had a college age intern from my husband's office to dinner). I did buy some tortilla chips for the guys to munch on while I finished making dinner. I stayed far away from them and sent the remainder of the package home with our guest. I grilled steaks, but only did three as they were large. I shared one with our son. The baby red roasted potatoes (olive oil, rosemary, garlic powder, salt & pepper) were awesome as was the salad. I love red leaf curly lettuce. For dessert I had beautiful strawberries. I had bought a pint of vanilla ice cream which I stopped with berries for the boys, but DH and I just had a bigger dish of strawberries.

Today is Laundry Day. I think it must breed in that basket. It's a never ending chore. Am I the only one who throws white sox in one bag and black sox in the other to sort later? DH is well trained to go to the sox bag if there's not a pair in his drawer.

We're leaving tomorrow morning for 5 days in Colorado. DH has a conference at the end of the week and we're going to spend a few days exploring Rocky Mountain National

Park before it starts. I found a good deal on a beautiful hotel in Estes Park and I'm excited about the trip. It's so great that DH is a weight watcher, too. We've just finished sketching out a game plan for how we'll stay OP during our trip. Our hotel has a fully stocked kitchenette, so our meals out will be ones we choose, not food grabbed on the go. You'll laugh, but we take our scale with us when we travel. Seriously. Did I mention that the hotel also has a double jetted tub in each room?

Off to find my hiking shoes and bathing suit to put in the "to go" pile. Have a great holiday weekend! I'll check in here tomorrow night.

I'm now feeling much better about my run this morning. Thanks for listening!

[no that is not my weight on that scale, I wish . . . !]

Fly By

Friday's here and my day is full. I'm going to try to get in my C25K run this morning. I'm still sore and a bit achey from my bike fall on Wednesday, and I skipped my weight lifting last night, but I'm hoping this works. Also on tap for today is laundry, more laundry, getting my hair cut and colored, a visit to my dad, and getting the house spruced up. DH invited one of the college-age summer interns to dinner tonight. Steaks on the barbie, roasted baby potatoes, and a green salad are on the menu. Maybe strawberries (with ice cream for the guest) for dessert. My morning hop on the scale made me smile. I might even start posting my weight in a bit!

Be good today! I'll catch up with everybody after dinner.

Spring Focus Update

The Spring Focus is going well. I'm in the groove, which is great news.

First of all, since May 4th, the official beginning of SF, I've lost 3.6 pounds as recorded at my Weight Watcher's weigh in. I'm a slow loser, so this is fabulous. My goal is to lose 12 pounds by July 4. This is kind of a random number, I'll be content to keep up with OP eating and exercise and to keep losing. It doesn't have to be 12 (but that would be nice!).

One of my short term goals is to really solidify the habit of drinking 8+ cups of water a day. Except for one intentional lapse (when we had pricey theatre tickets and I didn't want to have to get up and go) I've really done well with this. Having my own pitcher full of water staring me in the face if I go to 'check on' how things in the fridge are doing really helps. I even find myself getting thirsty if I go for an hour or so without drinking.

A new short term goal, that I'm just beginning is to really pay attention to portions. Today I discovered that I was mis-estimating my standby ff cottage cheese--I thought I was serving myself about 3/4 of a cup, but it was actually less than 1/2 cup! I used a measuring cup to serve myself whole wheat pasta for my spaghetti tonight.

My exercise is an ongoing focus for me. I've just finished week 6 of my C25K and am feeling great about it. DH and I go for a 13 mile bike ride about two times/week. We also go to the gym to lift weights, weight machines, twice a week. Throw in a little Wii tennis for fun and occasional 2 mile walks in the evening.

25 Minutes--News Flash

This morning I ran the C25K Week 6 Day 3 run and I did it ! I ran for 25 minutes without stopping. 25. minutes. without. stopping!!!! Week 7, starts on Wednesday and calls for a repeat of today's session all three days. And I can do this!

Weekend Wrap-up

This was a good week. I stayed on plan for the most part and any extras fell easily in my 35 weekly (extra) points. I kept to my goal of water drinking except for Friday when I cut it short because we went to a performance. My C25K is going well. I did the 20 minute run with no problem. Yesterday I walked a bit during a 10 minute stretch, but think that doing my run much earlier in the day (when it's cooler) will take care of that.

I am going to add a new goal this week. I want to work on my portions, especially those at dinner time. Late afternoon is my most vulnerable time when it comes to snacking, and if I manage to get through that unscathed, I'm really ready, hungry for dinner,

I plan great meals, but when I serve them, I'm always tempted to put just a little more XXXX (pasta, rice, chicken, you name it) on the plate. I want to get control of this. My plan is to plan a late afternoon snack--tomorrow it's a baby watermelon. I will also use a measuring cup to serve rice and pasta. I will use the WW visual guidelines to serve the veggies and meat (one serving = : a potato is the size of a computer mouse, meat is the size of a deck of cards, etc.) I'm motivated by my having lost well in the last few weeks. I CAN do this.

Do you have any tricks for reining in your portion size??

Please share!

So sorry

I'm sorry if it was your car's tires that found the chocolate I threw out of my window when I was driving yesterday. Here's what happened.

My day started well. I did my C25K, folded a couple loads of laundry, and visited my father at his nursing home. Then I turned my attention to my dinner preparations. I needed to make a special dinner, a picnic dinner, because we had tickets to The Mikado at Wolf Trap. I decided to go to Whole Foods, a splurge, price-wise, but worth it for the freshness of the vegetables and the variety of great, unprocessed foods. I had decided to make a wonderful green salad. I found everything on my list (spring greens, a perfectly ripe avocado, tomatoes, radishes, corn on the cob, a bit of flank steak, two summer fresh rolls, snow peas, and some dates) except they didn't have any pine nuts. I love toasted pine nuts. I went to another high end grocery store, just to find pine nuts. I picked up a beautiful potted lavender on my way in the store, but they too were out of pine nuts. I was feeling frustrated and gave in to check out aisle temptatio

n and bought a small bar of dark chocolate (good for you, right?). I headed for yet another grocery store (I really do like pine nuts) and reached into the bag with the chocolate bar. It was a beautiful little package. I opened it and saw it was divided

into five sections. I'll have just one section, I thought. Three sections later I came to my senses. STOP this . I didn't trust myself to just leave it alone on the seat. I couldn't throw it in the trash because I was driving. Instead, I opened my window and threw the last two sections out the window. It was a warmish-hot day, I wonder if there was a lovely little puddle of expensive dark chocolate on the street as the day wore on.

Anyway, the rest of the day went really well. I got the salad all prepped (everything chopped and ready in separate little baggies) I got the picnic packed (tablecloth, plates, forks, the food, a big bowl). We got to Wolf Trap (a National Park center for the Performing Arts just outside Washington DC), had our picnic, and enjoyed the show. The tickets were a Christmas present from our son and his wife. The seats were front and center in the orchestra. The night was perfect--the performance was in a large hall with the sides open to the air.

Today's run was not perfect. I ran just after noon and it had gotten hot and muggy. I knew right away I was going to have a hard time. I had to walk during one of the 10 minute running sections. I'm going to repeat this day on my next run. And I'm going to remember to get out there early to avoid the heat. I have upped my weekly runs from 3 to 4 during this C25K. I'm wondering if the added day is a good idea. I've read that older runners shouldn't run more than a few days a week. I mix up my exercise with biking, weights, a little Wii tennis, and the running. I'm going to try to listen to my body and see if I still feel good about 4 days.

On my short term goal of drinking 8 cups of water, I have to admit I haven't done perfectly this week end. Yesterday I intentionally stopped drinking so much so I wouldn't have to get up during the show. I only had 5 cups. Today, I came downstairs to discover that my son had preempted my (big) pitcher with orange juice, so I tried to just remember to go to the water in the door of the fridge. I'm a few cups short now, but I'm drinking and will get them all in before I sleep. I've laid down the law that the big pitcher is MINE.

The morning scale is telling me good things these days. I weigh myself every morning, first thing, and write down the weight in a journal. I like it because it shows me trends. I've run across weight loss blogs where the bloggers record their avg weight for the past seven days (or something like that). I confess that I've got a nerdy love of numbers and graphs.

Wordless Wednesday

Now I realize that this title usually means you'd see one or more clever pictures, but I don't have any great pix to share with you today. I used it because I like the alliteration and because it's almost like saying "Speechless Wednesday", but it sounds a whole lot better.

Why speechless? Because I am at a loss for words to express my elation about my run this morning. It was C25K, Week 5, Day 3 and I DID it! I ran 20 minutes without stopping. I had perfect conditions, low 50s, no wind or rain, and fairly early in the morning. TWENTY minutes. Without stopping. Did I mention that I'm 50-something? A late 50-something? Bring on Week 6!

I went to my WW meeting at noon. I go to a meeting 15 miles from my house because the leader at that meeting is super. I'm a connoisseur of WW leaders. Some of them make me want to run out and go to the nearest fast food place and eat all the wrong things. Barbara, though, is great. Another reason I go to that meeting is because my BFF attends the same meeting. (Hi Marilyn!). We always go out to lunch together afterwards, have a great, OP lunch, and talk about our goals for the week. Then we usually go shopping. I love Wednesdays.

DH just got home and we're going to go out for our bike ride before dinner.

Dinner tonight: Stir fry (with left over pork tenderloin, red peppers, shitaki mushrooms, onion, tiny French green beans, and eggplant), brown rice (it's cooking now. I love the smell of brown rice cooking), and a WW latte bar for dessert.

What have you accomplished that you weren't sure you could?

The Day Before Tomorrow

Tomorrow is a big day for me. First of all, I run my C25K Week 5 Day 3 run which entails 20 minutes of non-stop running. I'm trying to adopt the Little Engine that Could philosophy and think positively about this. I think I CAN do it. The weather is supposed to be perfect for running, cool and dry. I'm going to run early so I'll have everything laid out ready to get out the door after my cereal. At noon I have my WW meeting. I'm expecting good things.

I watched my grandbabies today. J is 10 months old and E is 2 1/2. E is starting intensive potty training (panties instead of a diaper, but not at all reliable at telling that she has to go!) and J seems just on the verge of starting to walk. You know they keep me busy. I love being with them. They both love being read to and they love "playing" the piano. We have two pianos in our living room (don't ask) and each wants to play his own! It was fairly chilly and rather rainy most of the day so we played indoors. I made them a "playhouse" by putting my largest tablecloth over our kitchen table. I anchored it down with lots of cookbooks because J kept tugging at the cloth. They loved it. The picture isn't great, because J kept going in and out under the cloth, but E had her little chair and some books and the toy baket in there. And yes, the electrical outlet has clear plastic plugs in place.

They arrive at 7:45 am and I give them breakfast and lunch as well as an afternoon snack. I've had a hard time staying away from their snacks. (E gets a few m&m's as a reward for performing on the potty so I have to keep some on hand). Jack is just starting finger foods and I have little packages of yogurt melts and pretzel rods and yum yums, and banana puffs. All new to me except the pretzels. The m&m's tempt me, but I asked her mom to bring a very small tupperware container of them (it holds maybe 1/2 cup) so there aren't enough for me to have any because I need to have them for E. I try to keep the other stuff out of sight and to keep myself feeling full with my ice water. I've been positively angelic this past week in regard to those temptations.

I'm still reading along in my book 100 Days of Weight Loss. One of the suggestions really struck a chord with me this week. It is the idea that I should eat dessert only when it's special. And no, not every dessert is special. My sister's pecan pie definitely ranks in that category, but I've fallen for countless lesser versions offered in countless restaurants. They never stack up to my sister's. I am beguiled by the desserts on the menu, but really, so often there is nothing there worth the calories. Other desserts that are "worthy" include my daughter's apple crisp. It used to be "my" apple crisp, but somehow hers is now the gold standard. And my own brownies. I have to stay far, far away from those brownies. Anyway, the author made me realize that I would be foolish to eat a dessert that isn't worthy. If I'm going to splurge, I may as well splurge on the best. So most restaurant desserts are out. And my sister and my daughter live hundreds of miles away.

Dinner tonight was baked tilapia with lemon, whole wheat couscous with a sprinkle of pine nuts, and fresh asparagus. Yum. I love those individually frozen fish servings. I get them at Costco and we're eating a lot more fish because it's so easy. I like the Alaskan salmon too, but it's a bit more pricy.

I did it!

Today's C25K run (week 5 day 2) called for a five minute warmup, an eight minute run, a five minute walk, another eight minute run, and then a cool down five minute walk. And I survived! I did the whole thing, plus added several extra minutes and did a five minute run at the end. Yay me. The next run (Wednesday) calls for a twenty minute run--without stopping! Yikes.

Weekend Wrap-up

I'm feeling good about the weekend. My meals were all OP and yummy, I exercised each day, and I even made serious inroads on the laundry.

DH and I went on a long bike ride this evening. When he bikes by himself he rides 40-60 miles. He's nice enough to slow down and accompany me on our hour-long rides. We have a great bike trail nearby, but usually prefer to bike on a route through some beautiful neighborhoods and a 150 acre National Park to avoid the crowds. We enjoy looking at the gardens, seeing the houses and there is very little traffic. Our usual route is just over 13 miles and takes us an hour or so. It has one big hill going out and another coming back. The hills aren't actually horrible, but I usually end up in the lowest gear spinning fast and hoping to make it to the top. I'm hoping to get fitter and breeze up that hill by the end of this summer. In nice weather (spring, summer & fall) we go out about three times a week.

My Couch to Five Kilometers C25K running program is going along well. I'm half way through week five (of the nine week program). It always seems like the next step will be harder (impossible), but I've managed so far and anticipate doing tomorrow's run as well. I downloaded a free podcast from itunes that has Christian music with the C25K directions. It's great not to have to consult my watch to time my runs and I love the music. The link, above, to C25K has a link to several podcasts with various languages and music. This is a picture of my running trail. It's in a National Park and absolutely gorgeous. Just five minutes from our house. I use the Nike+ with my Ipod and my little Nike+ Mini to the right of this post will always

tell you how I'm doing. I think, as I write this, that I've logged my 201st run and some 745 miles since I got the Nike+.

I did the C25k two years ago and was running well; I even ran a 10 miler a year ago April, but I slacked off and gained weight. I've never stopped "going running," but my running slowed and got interspersed with lots of walking over the past year. Now I'm getting back in the groove.

Tonight I made one of our go-to favorites, Marinated soy-lemon chicken. We had brown rice and a green salad with red leaf lettuce, avocado, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Last night it was grilled scallops (marinated in orange juice) and a salad (black beans, corn, chopped red pepper, cilantro, green onion, and avocado). Friday night we had a stir fry (sliced red peppers, green onions, shitake mushrooms, and flank steak) and whole wheat orzo mixed with tomatoes, fresh baby spinach, lemon juice, and toasted pinenuts. Lunches were all the same--fat free cottage cheese with fruit (sliced strawberries or canned mandarin oranges). This sounds boring, but I'm trying to stay far away from bread, pasta, or rice for lunch and this is what appeals to me now. And it's super easy. And, for now, it's working. Breakfasts all the same, too. Shredded (non-frosted) mini-wheats and sliced strawberries. Snacks: fruit (clementines, strawberries, natural applesauce), air-popped popcorn last night, meringues (100 calories worth each day), and my favorite, WW bars.

My Spring Focus challenge (see icon/link to the right) is to drink 8+ cups of water every day. So far, so good. It's definitely easier in the summer. Most days, I drink over 8 cups and I always have a glass of water by the bed. It's funny, but I'm even thirsty sometimes. I got a late start drinking my water today (I only had one cup before church and we weren't home until 1 pm) but I'm on my final glass now. I know that Weight Watcher's has changed to suggesting any liquid, but, for me water is better. I still drink fat free milk with dinner and have a very occasional cup of tea, but water is my go-to drink. I'm hoping my water chugging, my exercise, and my OP eating will bring good news at the scale this week.

Any suggestions for a quick non-bread, pasta, rice lunch?