October 25, 2013

From "fat" to "fast"

This cold weather won't let up! Unfortunately, my electric blanket chose this week to stop working. It was hard to make myself get out of bed this morning.

I've been doing my long runs on Sundays for the past several months, because I was following the Hansons Marathon Method, so it felt weird to do a long run today. I've always preferred to do my long runs on Fridays or Mondays, when the kids are in school, because it's easier for me to get away. Today, I knew I was going to do 8-12 miles, but that was as specific as I got before heading out. I wore my Cold Gear tights, a Cold Gear shirt with a jacket over it, an ear warmer headband, and gloves.

When I walked the boys to the bus stop, I could tell Noah was proud that I was a runner, which I thought was cute. He told me that his friends on the bus saw me yesterday, and they were "really impressed"; they said, "Wow, your mom is a FAST runner!" ;)

That made me think of a time when Noah was in preschool, and he told me that he wished that I wasn't fat. Being a preschooler, he didn't know that was an insensitive thing to say; preschoolers just call it like they see it! I hadn't realized that even at that age, he knew it was undesirable to be fat. He was embarrassed of me. And today, he gave me a hug before getting on the bus. It made me feel good!

I was freezing at the bus stop, so as soon as the kids got on the bus, I started running. I couldn't get warm. Usually, by a mile or two in, I'm warmed up. But it was kind of windy today, and I wasn't getting any warmer. The first few miles were tough, and I decided I would turn around at mile four, and just do eight miles (my minimum for a long run). I wasn't paying any attention to my pace, because I held a good pace yesterday and didn't want to get discouraged if I was running much slower today.

Mile four sneaked up on me, because my Garmin beeped and I wasn't prepared to cross the street and turn around. In that moment, I was feeling good, and I thought, "Maybe I"ll just go another mile before turning, and run 10 today..." so I kept running. When I turned around at mile five, the run felt a little easier, because I had a tailwind.

I felt great until I reached mile seven. Then I really wished I'd turned around at mile four, so I could be done after eight. My legs felt tired, but then once I only had a mile left, I picked up the pace quite a bit so that I could just get it done. I managed a sub-9:00 mile for the last mile.


I was dying to get warm. I took a hot shower, and then decided to spend my Activity PointsPlus on a bagel from Tim Hortons for breakfast. I got a cinnamon raisin bagel and a decaf coffee. When I got home, I put PB & Co. Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter on the bagel. It was a great way to spend 11 PP!



My cats have been cracking me up lately. Ever since I let Paolo drink water from the faucet in the bathtub, he's gotten spoiled. Whenever he hears me go into the bathroom, he runs in there, jumps in the tub, and starts meowing until I turn on the faucet. When I come in from a run, he knows I'm going to shower, so he runs in there to wait.

The other cats were curious about what the heck was going on in there, and they've been sitting on the side of the tub, watching Paolo like he has two heads or something. For a while, it was just Paolo drinking the water, and the other cats sitting on the edge of the tub watching. Then when Paolo would jump out, the other cats would eventually work up the courage to venture into the tub to see what the big deal was.


Phoebe and Estelle just sat there, completely fascinated, watching the water. Eventually, Chandler wanted to see what all the fuss was about, too. Estelle is always too scared to actually touch the water, but yesterday, Phoebe finally did. She started batting at it, like she would with a string. Her face was priceless! I wish I'd gotten a picture. She was so surprised that it was water, and not something that she could bat around. I wish I could hear the cats' thoughts.

When I was at the Purina ONE headquarters in St. Louis, we were told that cats love to drink from running water because it's more natural that way than sitting stagnant in a bowl. There are water fountains you can buy for pets, so that they have running water available without having to leave a faucet on, but I think they're pretty expensive. However, I've kind of spoiled Paolo by turning on the faucet whenever he wants water, so I may end up getting suckered into buying one!

14 comments:

  1. my cat loves to drink from my bathroom sink. I bet that made you feel great about your little boy today, he sounds very proud of his mama.

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  2. When our cat was young, we got a cat drinking fountain at Meijer. I think it was only about $20, but that was several years ago. She did love it! Just make sure you change the filters or the water gets funky!

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  3. There's always Santa Claus! Is it sad that I got excited that I saw your were in St. Louis???? ( That's where I live) Yeah, I'm a dork! It was really cold here today. I had a hard time running this morning. This cold weather has hit fast and hard. The fall weather went away way too fast. It was 31 degrees this morning on my run. Anyway, good job on your run!

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  4. I love that your kids are proud of you and your accomplishments!

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  5. I have this fountain. Only one of my kitties drinks from it, but he's also the only one who plays with and drinks with water coming from the sink: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1783&rel=1

    Not too expensive.. I'm sure there are better ones out there, but that particular website has lots of pretty cool stuff for cats.

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  6. Hi Katie, I have 3 cats of my own and have done the bathroom faucet routine, too. I did my research and bought a CATMATE water fountain and THEY LOVE IT!!! I bought it on Amazon. It was $40 well spent! I clean it once a week and periodically throughout the week, I'll top it off for them. Easy-Peasy! Here's the link if you're interested. http://www.amazon.com/Cat-Mate-335-Pet-Fountain/dp/B001TY5D6C/ref=sr_1_4?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1382786503&sr=1-4&keywords=cat+mate

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  7. Your cats seriously kill me haha I love hearing about their funky antics!

    PS that's so awesome to be THAT runner mom, you go girlfriend. We all love ya!

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  8. We may need to get one of those water things for the cats too! Both of our cats love when we turn the tub or sinks on so they can drink. They're soooo spoiled!

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  9. Two of my cats love the running water in the sink. I bought them a fountain, and while they really like it, those two still follow me in the bathroom every time (even though I never turn the faucet on for them anymore) and will fight over who gets the sink.

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  10. My sister bought me one of those water dispensers- $20 regular price! Not bad!

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  11. If you like pumpkin get a pumpkin flavor shot in your coffee next time. We have it in Canada, and it is pretty amazing!!

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  12. Awww, I wish I had a school bus full of admirers as I run. Typically it's just people making sure I stay off their lawn. ;)

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  13. Part of losing weight for me was knowing my kids were getting older and so were their friends I never wanted them to be embarrassed to have me for a mother. Turns out I think they're more mortified by the fact that I speak to complete strangers!

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  14. I got this water fountain for my cat: http://www.petco.com/product/111304/Petmate-Deluxe-Fresh-Flow-50-oz-Purifying-Pet-Fountain.aspx

    And he LOVES it! He drinks at least 3 times more water than he used to, and at his last checkup, the vet said he is very healthy. It was pretty reasonably priced, I thought!

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