October 27, 2015

Home again

This month has been SO busy. Normally, we don't have so much stuff going on, but October just happened to be packed full. We drove to my sister's house on Friday (in Illinois) and stayed there until yesterday morning.

I won't recap the entire weekend, but basically we went bowling a couple of times, and went into Madison, Wisconsin for an evening. Jeanie was running a half-marathon on Sunday in Madison, so we drove there on Saturday for packet pick-up and to have dinner. I went with her to pick up her packet, and I was so jealous when I saw the race shirts! I wished I had signed up, just because of those shirts ;)

Jeanie said she never wears her race shirts, and gave hers to me. I wore it today for a run:


It has a spiderweb on the front shoulder, and a big spider on the bottom. And it glows in the dark! When you put it in the dark, the name of the race (Haunted Hustle) is the only thing you can see. Normally, I don't like to wear race shirts of events I haven't participated in, but I really liked this shirt. (Jeanie said this was a very well-put-together race, if you're looking for a fun Halloween race next year. They have a 5K the night before, then a half-marathon, and full marathon.)

I did really well with my eating while I was at Jeanie's. We ate out a few times, but I only really "splurged" on one meal, which was at a Mexican restaurant called Mexico Clásico. They make fresh guacamole right at the table, and it's amazing. I also had a margarita.


My calorie count ended up being over 3,000 that day, so I just counted it as my high-calorie day and moved on. Other than that, I managed to stay under about 1700 per day, which isn't bad while being out of my usual routine. Not sure what my weigh-in will have in store tomorrow, but again, I wouldn't change anything and I feel good about my choices.

This morning, I had a meeting with Eli's speech teacher at school, so I only had time to squeeze in two miles. For some reason, I felt a little guilty for not doing three, but I only promised myself that I would do 2-3 miles for each run, so I have no reason to feel bad for doing two.

Running felt hard today. My last run (not counting the run I did with Jeanie at her house), I felt great and did a sub-9:00 average pace. Today, I thought it would be a piece of cake to run two sub-9:00's. Halfway down the street, I saw I was doing a 9:15 pace, and it felt hard! But I still pushed myself to try and hit that pace.

I ended up doing the first mile in 8:55, and then the second I pushed a little harder toward the end and managed an 8:44 mile.


That's a screen shot from the new Garmin Connect app. They updated it, and I love it!

I met Andrea for lunch at Panera, and I was thrilled to see that they had black bean soup today. That's my favorite (after broccoli cheddar, which is higher in calories) but they never have it anymore. I assumed they just stopped serving the black bean soup there, but when I saw it on the menu today I got a little too excited ;)


Not the prettiest soup in the world, but it's very filling and tastes delicious. I had a bowl of that with a baguette portion, which was 410 calories total. Not bad!

Tonight, I decided to go through all my running clothes and get rid of a lot of them. I have way too many, and I don't wear even half of them. Since I've cut back on running, also, there is no reason to have so many options. The first things to go were the clothes that were too big on me. I bought some shirts when I gained weight last year, and they were baggy in the stomach area (which I was happy about then, because it hid my belly that had gotten bigger). Looking at those shirt now, though, gives me a bad feeling. I realized that I don't ever want to wear them again. Here is one, for example:

June 2014
I hate that shirt with a passion! I liked it when I bought it, but looking at it now just makes me feel bad about myself. Do any of you have clothes that you just associate with bad feelings? It's kind of like music, or a particular scent--they can make you feel good or feel bad. Anyway, I am glad to be rid of this shirt, as well as several others. I was also happy to try on a bunch of shirts that I stopped wearing because they were too small, and see that they now fit me. And I got rid of a bunch of race shirts that I know I'll never wear. I love my race shirt quilt, but I don't know what to do with the race shirts that I continue to acquire. Anyway, it felt good to clean out that stuff!

15 comments:

  1. Ha ha, I can tell you're younger than me...when I saw the new Garmin interface, my first comment was, "What the f'ng teeny, tiny print?!" Guess it's time to admit that my eyesight is catching up with my age. ;)

    I'm curious about your calorie goal...when you say "1700 a day," is that inclusive of the calories you burn exercising? I'm doing 1300 per day right now, but I will adjust that upward for however many calories I earn during a run (which the MFP app automatically includes). So if I ran 3 miles and earned 279 calories, I'll use most if not all of the 1579 points for that day. But if I don't run, I try to stick to 1300 (not always successfully). How do you account for exercise calories?

    Great job staying on plan this past weekend!!

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    1. LOL, I just noticed I said 1579 POINTS...ha ha ha, old habits die hard. Imagine if I actually ate that many points in a day... ;)

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    2. Haha, Jerry is ALWAYS saying "Points" instead of calories. It's hard to get used to!

      Since I'm not doing a ton of exercise, I just completely ignore my exercise calories. I don't really aim for a particular calorie goal each day--I just try to keep it reasonable. Until a couple of weeks ago, I was eating roughly 1500 a day, but the past couple of weeks have been atypical, and I've had more. I've found that by keeping it very simple, and without a lot of "rules", I've stuck to it much better this time around.

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  2. Have you tried the broth bowls at Panera? I'm currently hooked on them...especially the one with lentils and a hard boiled egg. So yummy, and I don't feel gross after eating it! Lol!

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    Replies
    1. I haven't tried them, but maybe I will next time! The boiled egg kind of puts me off, but I'll try anything once ;)

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  3. OMG!! THAT SHIRT!! I love it!!

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  4. Haunted Hustle was a great race and my first half marathon! The shirts and medals were killer! Both spider webby and glow in the dark!

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  5. A sub-9 pace is something I dream about. Actually, I'd like to get a sub-14 minute pace right now. Ugh. Everyone has bad days and good days. Sometimes, it seems really easy to run, other days it feels like I can hardly move my legs to push myself forward.
    The last time I lost a ton of weight (before I gained it all back), I got rid of all of my big clothes. It felt like I was wearing my mom's or big sister's clothes. Now I wish I had some of them back. :( But I'm working to get into the smaller ones again.
    I'm new to your blog- why are you running less? I had some injuries and couldn't do as much a while back, and then when my mom died I stopped all together. I'm trying to get back into it now, but the confidence I once had is gone. It's really hard. I've found myself taking refuge in the theater room at my gym, so I can run in the dark. There I can pretend I'm graceful as a gazelle because no one can see me. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm running less now because I got injured in December 2014 (stress fracture) and it took forever to fully heal. I was so upset and frustrated by it, I decided I never want to go through that again. So, for the foreseeable future, I'd like to stick with short distances (10K or less) and work on staying injury-free!
      When I gained weight back, I wished I hadn't gotten rid of my bigger clothes. But, I really want to do my best to stay at a stable weight. If I outgrow my current clothes, I'll know there's a problem ;)

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  6. I love bowling! It’s one of my favorite pastimes and everyone always seems to have a good time. I love your Halloween race shirt! Perfect for this time of year. :) I love your mindset about the calorie counting and not beating yourself up over one day! It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the numbers and becoming obsessive about it.

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  7. That is one cool race shirt! :-)

    I love getting rid of clothes that I out-shrink and that make me feel bad!

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  8. I have one outift that I bought a couple of months' post partum. I reminds me of feeling puffy and bloated and too big for anything. Sometimes getting rid of perfectly good clothes is a great idea.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about! It reminds you of feeling bad about your body for whatever reason.

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  9. That Halloween shirt is awesome! And guacamole made at the table is my Achilles heel - so good!

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  10. Save for another race shirt quilt!! At this point my race shirt quilt will have shirts from 1992-2015. I think that's pretty awesome. Though, I guess, by the time I get to the quilt, it will run through 2016.

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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