Monday, October 24

I'm watching a movie called Spirit of the Marathon - it's about the Chicago Marathon.  They just said that several runners have PRs of under 2:07...wow!  I'm nowhere near even THINKING about a marathon, but this is pretty inspiring.  They panned the runners - there must have been thousands and thousands of them!  35-37,000 people, they just said - I can't even imagine the energy that must have been in that crowd...

Anyway, craft show season is in full swing; and it's getting really busy!  I am part of a small family business that makes various handmade items (click here to see our website!), and I also make paper crafts and altered items (click here to visit my Etsy shop!).  From the end of October to the end of November, every weekend is spoken for by craft shows.  Of course I don't make it easy on myself by making my items ahead so every night is spoken for by crafting!

The good news is that it keeps me busy.  The bad news is that I'm not a very good planner, and I don't like to take much time out to do necessary things like making dinner, doing dishes, etc.  So I tend to eat poorly.  Last year I didn't even try to eat healthy.  This year I see myself slipping back into old (bad) habits so I need to figure out how to get out of the rut I've been in.  I get 29 Weight Watchers Plus points/day.  Some days that seems like a lot...most days it seems like hardly any.  Especially when I get the munchies.  I ordered a microwave chip cooker from a Pampered Chef show yesterday - I'm excited to get it.  Hopefully that will allow me to have crunchy, low point snacks.

Today's Menu:

Breakfast (5):
(3) Special K
(1) Milk
(1) Coffee w/SF Peppermint Creamer

Morning Snack (5):
(2) WW yogurt (apple pie ala mode - yum!)
(3) animal crackers

Lunch (10):
(7) Enchilada, tamale, Spanish rice (frozen meal)
(0) grapes (they were weird tasting)
(3) Sensible Portions veggie straws

Midday Snack (0):
(0) apple

Dinner (11):
(7) Meatloaf sandwich
(4) Italian bread (the bread part of the sandwich)

Total: 31
But I still have the munchies!

So I made some crafts, packaged up an Etsy order, checked Facebook while watching my marathon movie and decided to blog.

Perspective

I was thinking tonight as I was running how I wish I had recorded the little things last year.  I ran 4 miles tonight...I couldn't even run a mile at this time last year, and even walking 3 miles was a stretch.  I didn't start running until Feb/March 2011 so I'm happy with my progress, but it would be nice to have a benchmark.

So boring as it may be, I'm thinking about blogging the little things.  Like how this time last year I was wearing size 18/20 and happy because I was down from a 20/22 but yesterday I wore a pair of size 14 pants!  I'm in a 16/18 now, but those 14s fit so I wore them!

I had gotten a little off track and lost my mojo, but I've been slowly getting more focused.  Maybe this will help with that.  That and reminding myself of the goals I have met:

Lost 45 pounds
Can run 3 miles without too much difficulty
Lost 2-3 sizes

We have to remember where we've been in order to see how far we've come.  I'm beginning to see the truth of that.

25 Pound Benchmark

I've lost 25 pounds!  I've never lost 25 pounds before, and I still find myself thinking about "when I'm under 200" (which I hit 13 pounds ago).  It's slowly starting to sink in.

As a 25 pound present, I bought myself one of these:

It's a  belt for runners, and it has 2 pockets so I can bring my phone and my iPod with room for my house key and some money (you know, in case I need to stop for some ice cream non-fat frozen soft serve on the way home). 

It also has 2 reusable loops for hooking on a race tag and loops for holding energy gel packs or pepper spray (which I probably should also get).

My cousin has one similar, and I was surprised at how much it stretches.  This one looks tiny, too; but I love that I can bring everything I need with me when I'm running in the summer.  And this belt has gotten good reviews.  I was a little nervous because one of the negatives was that it was a little smaller around than suggested so there were several people who commented that it didn't quite fit them.  So I was really happy that the belt part stretches, too; and it fits just fine!  And it's not supposed to ride up or be uncomfortable at all.  So we'll see.  No excuses now that I can't go out in the evening because I can't bring my phone and there's no one waiting for me at home in case something happens.  AND my arm band is really frustrating me because it keeps slipping down so this will solve that problem as well :)

I also bought some PB2 which I'd tried a small sample of before; but it wasn't much to do anything with, and I didn't want to pay the outrageous shipping fees.  Now Amazon stocks it, and I was getting free shipping.  I've heard mixed reviews on this so we'll see...