January 20, 2012

Blueberry muffins the size of my face

I decided to check the weather this morning to see just how cold I was going to be on my run today...
Yep, sure glad I looked. ;)  Before my run, however, I had to go to the boys' school for a "breakfast with mom" event. I drove the kids there and we all went inside to get our muffins and milk. They had those muffins from Sam's Club--you know the ones that are the size of your face? The banana one is my favorite, but they only had chocolate and blueberry, so I got the blueberry.

I thought to myself that I should probably only eat half of it (because they are 600ish calories each!!) but it was so good that I just ate the whole thing. Since I was planning on running 6 miles afterward, it was like the muffin had 0 calories :)

I went home and tried to psych myself up to go run in the freezing cold (the temp was actually reading 3 degrees, which actually made me kind of excited to run, just to see how bad it would be). I sent Renee a text to see if she'd want to go with me at the State Park, and she said that despite being totally hardcore when it comes to running outside in the winter, maybe we could wait until the afternoon when it was supposed to reach 19 degrees, and Alicia would come too.  Sounded good to me!

So instead of running, I spent the morning cleaning the bathrooms. My least favorite chore. Usually Jerry does them because he knows how much I hate to do them, but he's been working like a mule lately (12-hr shifts, 5-7 days a week). I also cleaned our bedroom really good so that we don't have any clutter on our dresser (where we tend to accumulate random crap).  Tonight, I just want to cuddle under the electric blanket and maybe watch a movie or something.

I went to the State Park and met Renee and Alicia (who are both way faster runners than me!) and we headed out for a 6-mile run. I was worried about pushing myself TOO hard because of my knee (and the farthest I've run since before surgery was 5 miles) so we went at a pace that probably felt like a crawl to them, but was only slightly uncomfortable for me.  I could talk, but only a few words at a time.

We finished the path that we were running and it only totaled 5.8 miles... and because I'm such a perfectionist, I drove home and then ran the 0.2 to round it off at 6 ;)
The past couple of runs I've had were almost a minute per mile faster than we ran today, but only half the distance. I love seeing that 643 calorie burn, but it sucks that I already spent it on a muffin this morning! 

I've learned recently that I absolutely LOVE running outside in the winter.  Last year, I did most runs on the dreadmill. This year, I've totally embraced the cold and it's fantastic. It's SO much better than running in the heat of summer. And wearing the right clothing makes me totally comfortable and not too cold. The hard part is just the wind. When it's windy, it's kind of miserable to run.

I'm feeling kind of bummed that I won't be able to celebrate my 30th next weekend (my actual birthday is on Wednesday, but I was hoping to go out on Friday). I've NEVER liked to celebrate a birthday, but this one is a huge milestone, so I was really hoping to do something fun like a comedy club with some other couples.

That's the only weekend Jerry is off work, but it also happens to be a weekend that my parents are busy on Friday and Saturday and won't be able to keep the boys. We've never hired a sitter for our kids (not just because of the money, but also because I have a hard time trusting people with my kids).

I am going out to lunch, however, with Jessica and Renee on Thursday to my favorite restaurant, followed by a trip to Victoria's Secret at the mall ;)  I have two gift cards that I really want to use on something cute now that my incision is all healed and my belly is pretty flat. When I was fat, I always dreamed of wearing cute lingerie--and technically I could have, but I certainly wouldn't have felt "cute" or "sexy" in it. Then after I lost the weight, I still wasn't feeling it because of the saggy skin. I'm definitely feeling it now, and I can't wait to go buy something!

Saturday is our Winers meeting, so although it's not a birthday celebration, I can at least pretend everyone is celebrating my 30th with wine! ;)  Hopefully Jerry and I will be able to go out soon.

16 comments:

  1. Love hearing about your running in the cold. I am discovering that I love it too (although my cold this morning was "just" in the 20's. Ha!). It really doesn't take long for the body to heat up.

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  2. Major props to you for going out for a long run in the afternoon...I find that if I don't exercise in the morning, it doesn't happen. Life gets in the way, excuses get made. Kids, cleaning, dog, etc. Your determination to meet your goals is impressive. :)

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  3. Muffins are another weakness! There's some great ones at the little grocery store near me. I bought red velvet chocolate chip last week and my daughter said they were "the size of a small planet." (That's a quote from a favorite movie of mine- 'Dan In Real Life.' My poor kids know quotes from MY favorite movies!) And don't we burn more calories because of the cold weather? And that's why our appetite increases and we crave heavier foods, to keep us warm. So, there's another benefit of running outside. Wait, what was the other one? I can't think of any!!!

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  4. Girlfriend, you are so hardcore to be running in that cold weather. I just moved to the East coast from Southern California and this is my first experience with running in the winter. It is horrible. Thank Goodness I am 5 months pregnant and have an excuse to cut way down on my mileage this season. I hope I get accustomed to it by next winter cause I do not like running in the cold. It makes my lungs burn.

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  5. I hate cleaning bathrooms too..want to come clean mine, after all yours are done ;)

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  6. I found that I really like running in the cold too, as long as I'm dressed for it - it's the wind and ice I can leave behind but yes - I'll take a cold day over a hot and humid one any time!! Nice run!

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  7. You can never tell, your mom & dad's plans to where they can't keep the boys on the weekend of your b-day celebration, may be something for your benefit. Wink, wink

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  8. I love running outside in the winter too. It was 0 this morning when I went out, but I felt fine!

    And another nice thing about the winter is waiting for the afternoon, like you mentioned :) WTG on running 6!!!

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  9. The first two winters I was a runner, I stuck pretty much to the treadmill, but once I braved the outdoors I realized how much I love it out there in the cold! 35* is my "perfect" running temperature. Although I admit that once it gets below about 20* I run back into the gym ;) Great job on your six miles!!

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  10. Winter running was always my favorite, so much easier to stay warm, then it is to stay cool!! Now that I live in the swampy south, all I care about is if its under 90% humidity and there is a breeze!! haha

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  11. Aww man I won a $50 gift certificate to Victoria's Secret last summer from another blogger who has a lot of fans and I was 2nd place in her contest for who lost the most weight between January and May. (1st got $200 gift certificate I think) anyways... She kept telling me it was coming in the mail and it never did and that Victoria Secret said they mailed it but it never arrived.. Then she said since they lost it she would go ahead and do it out of her own pocket for me but she kept forgetting to do it everytime I reminded her and now for the last 2 months of me asking she has completely stopped responding to me. :( Now that I'm finally small enough to buy something from there. Grr.

    Sorry I went off on a rant.. lol.

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  12. Brrrr...you are hardcore! lol

    Just started a blog ("just" meaning ONE post so far...lol), you said you'd like those who comment to give you our blog addresses so here it is. : )

    http://willbeskinnyernie.blogspot.com/

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  13. I never liked winter running either. I wouldn't run outside unless it was over 30 degrees. I'm in Green Bay, Wisconsin - and I went to a half marathon training run this morning... and completed 4.5 miles in -1 degree weather @ 8am :) And overall - it felt great, a little funny to see people's hair, hats, jackets & facial hair on guys turning to frost but I give every single person out there - credit - for being out there running! Keep up the great work Katie!

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  14. Those muffins are too good! I wonder what it would be like to run outside, but I am afraid of ice, soggy shoes, and a cold booty! Do you run on a dirt road?

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  15. Maybe you've talked about this before, but I'd love to know what you wear on your cold morning runs. I'm an Indiana girl and it's pretty cold, but my basement treadmill is starting to get on my nerves! I'm thinking of braving the cold. Just not so sure how to layer up with out too many layers!

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