Week 42 ~ Jingle Bell Run

Well this week was another gain.  Only 0.6 pound but still another gain.  My new number 171.8.  Did I follow the plan?  Not all week.  Did I exercise?  Not as much as I should have.  So am I happy with this number?  Yes, it's what I earned this week.  I would guess that I'm happy it wasn't a larger gain.  This is exactly what I told my consultant.  I haven't been the best of clients the past few months.  There has been a lot going on in my little world, but that is all just an excuse.  I've let myself slip back into old habits that are comfortable.  Which is such a big pain, if the old adage that it takes 30 days to make a habit is true.  Then I am standing at the bottom of a 30 day hill and I need to start walking/running up that hill again.  Why do we let ourselves slip?  I firmly believe that it only takes three days at most to break a habit, maybe even less.  When I look back at the past year, I worked so hard to gain the ground that I had.  If I had been making  a quilt, embroidering a shirt, or cleaning at home, I would never dream of destroying all the work I had done.  Would it not be just as easy to cut up the crafts I had done or just sit done and watch TV or play on computer and not finish cleaning.  So I guess I need to start thinking of my weight loss in that aspect.  I really don't know what the answer is.  I wish I knew all the answers and could give those of you out there the "secret".  Sitting here I guess that the secret is that you have to want it.  Want it more than anything else you've ever wanted.  It is something that you have to work at every day.  The past three weeks have taught me a lesson.  You can do a lot of damage by just giving up and giving in.  So my pledge for next week?  Yes, Christmas in on Tuesday, but I still need to pledge on what I will do.  I will spend part of the day with a new friend here in El Paso, because Ahtesham will work that night before and that evening.  I will pledge to run at least one mile every day and do my three days of core workouts.    For the weight I have decided that if I just hold steady at the current weight, that's good enough for this week.  And yes I will be weighing in next Friday.               

My Race!  My Hills!!!!

Now for the exercise portion of my blog.  As you all well know by now, I ran a Jingle Bell 5K this morning.  Was I ready?  No, not really.  I have been really bad about logging "good" runs.  Looking back now I REALLY should have trained more with the hills and in the colder air.  But let me start at the beginning.  It was so cold this morning.  It felt much colder than the 37 degrees the weather app was telling me it was.  And I swear that while I was walking around waiting for the start, it felt like the temperature was dropping.  I've never run in a race that was quite this small, but it was still a lot of fun.  Ahthesham "forgot" that the run was this weekend, so I was by myself.  They started the 5K and the one mile walkers at the same time, so I had a hard time trying to figure out where to place myself in the line up.  I think I ended up a little to far up front, but it's okay.  I didn't end up getting in any one's way.  I forgot to start my Gymboss and by the time I realized that I hadn't started it I had run almost a complete mile.  My Garmin said something like 0.92 I think.  That's also when I realized that I hadn't done enough hill training.  The first mile of the course had a little of incline, but when I looked at the hill we were about to run up I thought to myself "UH OH!"  I also started seeing runners headed back about the time we were half way up the hill and thought okay the turn around has got to be close.  You'll be okay,  we'll get to the top and turn around and come back down.  Wrong!  Silly girl!  There were a few more hills before we looped around and then came back down.  My lungs were feeling the lack of hill training about the time we hit the down part of the that first hill.  And bout the time we hit the third hill, I kept thinking to myself, "No one will know if you just quit!"  No one is here that you know.  You can just walk off the course and go home!  But I would know, I would know that I quit.  This is what I told the inner demons that kept telling me to quit.  "You did this to yourself.  You did not take the training seriously.  You did not do your scheduled runs.  You did not run your hills.  You did not go outside and run when it was cold.  I'm glad I didn't quit.  By the time I hit the end of the second hill, I wasn't cold anymore!  I love the feeling of accomplishment you get when you cross a finish line.  I won't lie, I enjoy it better when there is someone waiting for me.  But this run, those hills, they were for me.  That large hill was MY hill!  I didn't quit!  I'm ready for another race!  Where do I sign up?  My cousin Christina Romero is so right when she tells me "That's what races do - keep us motivated."  Till next week, keep moving everyone!~ Darcy