Lost in Time

Well, as my cousin Becky has pointed out multiple times... I haven't updated in quite a long time. I lost my drive, interest and frankly, I've lost a lot of time. I've recently started training to take the next step in my career and while it's not a TON of new information, my responsibility and my visibility in the company have grown by leaps and bounds. I'll soon be held accountable in driving a small portion of ICC's daily business. Eek... scary! But I'm ready for the challenge as I was growing a bit stale. I have noticed my wine intake having jumped a bit, but I think that's just cause I love an excuse to drink that delishious feet smushed liquid.

I've been horrible in watching what I eat, how often and how much. I know I've gained some weight back and I feel more slow, tired and overall unhappy. I looked in the mirror and lectured myself on how far I've come, it's not fair to me to stop now. I lecture really well (just ask my little sister) and convinced myself that the bandwagon was still waiting out back for me to jump on. To start my renewed "skinnybitchskinny" plan I portioned out my veggie straws into seperate bags. Again, we all know you can eat whatever you want in life as long as you keep it on the small side and/or account for those calories in your daily allotment. I also packed myself a hardboiled eggwhite, low fat string cheese, Chobani greek yogurt, a baked sweet potato and a Morning Star California turkey burger.

In my defense, I've made half good choices and half bad choices during the past few weeks. I've ate some pretty yummy and bad for you things like mac and cheese (REAL mac and cheese), Chinese, Pizza, Beer/Wine, Chips and Dip... you get the idea. I've also become obsessed with sweet potatoes. Well, I've been obsessed for a while but only recently felt brave enough to prepare them myself. I've made fries and baked potatoes... please add this orange spuds of delight to my list of amazing low calorie/good for you foods! 1. Spaghetti Squash 2. Sweet Potatoes 3. Fat Free Ranch :)

Please observe my new found sweet potato culinary skills and a few other items I've consumed :)

I have my first 5k on Sunday and let me tell you... I haven't been "training" aka running for longer than 5 minutes like I should have been. Mother Nature is dead set against me participating in outdoor activities. She's sent her silent killers out to attack my eyes, nose and throat so badly that when I attempted to run at the metro parks, instead of running I was flinging snot left and right. I will NEVER run without a fanny pack full of tissues EVER AGAIN. Since I'll never run with a fanny pack, I guess I'm back to my slogan of not running unless someone is chasing me.

le sigh.

I told Becks that I would run at least one mile every day this week and randomly choose one day to shoot for the whole 3.1 miles. Does this outlook seem remotely good for being outside and making your lungs work overtime?

 No, I didn't think so! I will push through, but I'm not sure how happy I will be about it. This week is a test. I must not cheat, I must not over eat, I must not skip my workout. Here we go!

Day 1 - I can do it!

Today is my first day of learning to love running, or at least what it can do for me. I come from a family where most of my cousins are runners. Apparently it's contagious because my sister and a non running cousin were gobbled up and spit back out in those horrid short shorts and numbered racing shirts. While I admire their strength and speed, that is not what I am shooting for with this program. I am instead opting to live a more healthy lifestyle and of course, to lose some weight!

I have never enjoyed running, jogging or walking extremely fast... I am not a fast person. My parents used to joke about tying me to a car and hoping that would help with my base running speed... instead I still resemble the roadrunner with moving legs yet not going anywhere. I don't think I will be a sprinter by the end of this program either, just more fit and able to jog without dying after three miles.

I will be using the couch to 5k program everyone raves about and I already have my podcasts downloaded and ready to roll. It helps that it will be dark out by the time I get home from work, enabling me to hide my inept running from those watching in the nearby condos.

The hardest part is actually getting myself to start. I'm sure once I see how bad it really isn't I'll be fine, but until that time you're going to enjoy the rough ride right along side with me.

Wish me luck, cause here I go!