Busy week ahead

My first full week of being back on Weight Watchers went really well! I haven't felt this kind of determination in about two years. It all started when I was looking through my old pictures and blog posts from early 2013 (when I was running my fastest, and was at my goal weight) which gave me motivation to get started. But I've written several times that motivation is only temporary--it's determination that will get me to my goal. I haven't felt true determination in a long time. It feels good!

Having done intuitive eating for the past couple of months really helped me out this week in getting back to counting points. I ate what I really wanted, and I wasn't afraid to spend extra points here and there for things I used to avoid on Weight Watchers (real butter, for example--I've been loving sourdough toast with real butter for breakfast, and before intuitive eating, I would never have wanted to spend 3 PointsPlus on butter!).

I also didn't hoard my points for a big dessert after my long run because I realized, through intuitive eating, that I really don't enjoy them as much as I thought I did. If I'm really craving a big dessert, I'll have one, but I'm not going to plan for it each week like I used to. I've been having a Weight Watchers peanut butter brownie for dessert every day (2 PointsPlus). I'm not crazy about most of the WW foods, but those peanut butter brownies are AMAZING. I dare say I like them even better than the Mrs. Fields Dream Bars, which are 18 PP each.

I'm still paying attention to whether I'm hungry or not, and I stop eating when I'm satisfied, even if it means leaving some food on the plate. Intuitive eating taught me that it really doesn't take a big meal to satisfy me, so I make sure to pay attention to that while counting points. Just because I count the points for something doesn't mean I have to eat the whole thing.

I'm not planning to weigh myself until November 1st. I can tell I've lost weight, but I'm afraid if the number isn't what I'm imagining, then it'll feel discouraging. In 2012, when I started WW, I didn't weigh myself for a few weeks, and I liked it that way. Anyway, the jeans I just bought last month are too big, and I was able to tighten my belt a notch, so I know it's working.

Next week is going to be tough, but I'm determined enough to I know that I'll get through it. The week is all about my two favorite topics: cats and running. Purina invited me to their Better With Pets summit in NYC on Tuesday! I'm going there on Monday, the event is all day on Tuesday, and I'll come home Tuesday night. I absolutely loved visiting Purina's headquarters last year in St. Louis--spending time with other cat lovers, learning TONS of info about cats, and talking about cats for two days was right up my alley ;)

And then on Thursday, I leave for Pennsylvania for the Runner's World Half & Festival. I've been looking forward to this for months! Thursday and Friday will be spent doing blogger stuff (I'm not sure exactly what that will be yet), and then I'll run the 5K & 10K on Saturday morning. After a couple of seminars on Saturday, I'll head back to the airport and get home Saturday night.

Sunday is the Detroit Free Press Marathon, which my brother is running and I'll be spectating. I've been getting prepared for that for weeks now (I take cheerleading very seriously at races!) and I'm really excited to go do that. After the race, we are going out for pizza and then for drinks, at Nathan's request.

Tomorrow, my friend Sarah and her husband Ne are coming over to visit. And on Friday, my brother's girlfriend, Kendall, is coming over for lunch and to make some signs for the race. So with all of these things coming up, I'm going to have to do some careful planning as far as spreading out my points. I think I may try and do my long run tomorrow (10 miles), because that will give me a lot of extra points to work with.

Today was a rest day, so I mostly spent it just getting things done for when I'm gone next week. I was going to try and do a "What I Ate Wednesday" post, but my food was not at all pretty today. Maybe next Wednesday I'll choose some photogenic foods ;)

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Zero Energy (Maybe time to bump up the Weight Watchers Points)

It was raining on and off all day today, so I had a lazy morning with Estelle on my shins. I used to knit all the time, and haven't done it in a while, so I started a new project (a hat with sock yarn). As I was sitting there knitting, sipping tea, with Estelle on my lap, I realized that I had turned into one big stereotype ;)

Yesterday, Jerry and I had a fun day together while the kids were at school. I had a three-mile run on the schedule (with a five-miler today), but I asked Jerry if he'd want to run with me, and he said yes. So I switched my runs around in order to do the five-miler with Jerry, and just three solo today.

The run with Jerry didn't go very well, unfortunately. After the kids went to school, we chatted over breakfast for a few minutes, and then got ready to head out. When we started running, I felt like I was running about a 9:30 pace, but when I looked at my Garmin, it said 10:45-ish.

I had no energy at all, and it felt so hard to run. I'm pretty sure the lack of energy is from starting Weight Watchers again (eating less calories). I've been eating all of my allotted points per day (plus weekly and activity points), so I think if I still feel like I'm lacking energy next week, I might bump up my daily points target to 30 or 32 instead of 26. It could just be that my body is getting adjusted to it right now, though, so I'll see how the next few runs go.

Aside from not feeling well, the weather was nice and it was good to run with Jerry. I've noticed before that he's a heel-striker when he runs, and I've tried helping him to adjust that so he would land mid-foot, but he just couldn't get his feet to do it. He's had some knee troubles here and there, which I guessed was from the heel strike.

Anyway, as we were running, and I was getting slower and slower, I had a thought--I wondered if he had the same problem I did when I was doing the low heart rate training (MAF training). When I was running so slowly, I started to have pain in my knee, and it went away when I ran a comfortable (faster) pace again. 

I suggested that Jerry try running faster, and I'd watch his feet. It was so simple! As soon as he picked up the pace to about 9:00/mi, he stopped the heel striking, and his stride improved a lot. We were three miles in, so I told him to go ahead of me and run that pace the rest of the way, and I'd meet up with him at home. He felt guilty, but I pushed him to go, so he finally did. I picked up the pace to try and keep him in sight, but there was no way I'd have been able to keep up with him with the way I was feeling.

When I got back to the house, he was waiting on the porch with ice water for me--haha, that's how far ahead he got. He ended up with an 8:40-ish pace for the last two miles, and his knee felt just fine. I'm glad we got that figured out! Now I just have to get faster to keep up with him ;)

After the run, I decided to try and eat at least 40 PointsPlus yesterday, to see if I felt better during my three-miler today. We showered and had just enough time to make it to the first showing of Gone Girl at the movies. Jerry didn't read the book, but I told him about it, and he wanted to see the movie too.

I was surprised at how well the movie followed the book--that was a tough book to make a movie out of! I absolutely hate the ending (and if you've seen in or read it, then you know what I'm talking about). I almost wish I had just left the theater before the movie ended, so I could imagine it ended the way everyone was hoping it would! ;)

I ended up eating 43 PointsPlus yesterday, and when I got up this morning, I did my run first thing. I couldn't sleep, and was up by 5:00, so I figured I'd just get up and run on the treadmill. I set the treadmill at 6.5 mph, and left it there for the whole run. My energy level was much better than it was during yesterday's run, so I think eating a little more yesterday may have helped. 

Tomorrow will start week two of Weight Watchers. I can't believe I've been counting points for a week already!

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Motivational Monday #81

Happy Motivational Monday! I'm so glad that it's October--all week long it has really felt like fall. The leaves are so pretty here in Michigan at this time of year! And the running weather has been ideal (minus some rain).

On Wednesday, I made the decision to go back to doing Weight Watchers instead of the intuitive eating. I've had a really great week, and I definitely feel it was the best decision for now. My trip to Portland in March has made me really want to focus on getting back to goal and in my best running shape!

I think my proudest moment this week was on Friday, when I had to do my long run in two separate segments due to thunderstorms. It would have been really easy to just quit after the first (4-mile) segment, but later that afternoon, I went back out and ran another 5 miles for a total of 9 miles. I enjoy running in the rain, but not when it's pouring so hard that my feet are completely soaked.

There were a couple of big marathons this weekend--the Twin Cities Marathon (my brother was there as a spectator and had a lot of fun cheering on the runners), the Wineglass Marathon, and the Portland Marathon are a few that I know of. October and November are big marathon/half-marathon months. It's always fun to see the PR's :)

Anyway, here are some Motivational Monday stories to kick off the week:

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I "met" Pam several years ago on SparkPeople.com, and she's always been an inspiration to me. She lost 178 pounds, and has kept most of it off for the past 3 years (going up and down a little just as I have). Last year, she was hit with the devastating news that her husband has Stage IV prostate cancer. She slipped a little with her eating habits, and gained 32 pounds back. Since June, however, she's lost 28 of those pounds and is now happily below her goal weight again. But the real reason for her Motivational Monday is that her whole family just completed the Zero Prostate Cancer 5K Run/Walk. Her two sons ran the race, while she and her husband walked. They were the very last participants to finish the course, but Pam said that five years ago, at over 300 pounds, there was no way she could have walked from the parking lot. And there she was, in her 60's, walking a 5K with her husband (who is battling Stage IV prostate cancer that has spread to his hip bones)--that's a pretty proud moment!!

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Kelly just ran her first 5K at the Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi! She was using the Couch to 5K app to train, but her training was derailed when she got sick--so despite being on Week 6 of the 8-week program, she crushed her goals. Her first goal was to run the entire race, and the second was to finish under 45 minutes. Her finish time was just over 36 minutes! Her husband, an Air Force reservist, stayed with her the entire time, cheering her on when she needed it most.

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Lacey is very proud to announce that she is now a half-marathoner! She completed the Wineglass Half Marathon in New York. She started the Couch to 5K program in March, and wasn't even able to run a quarter mile without walking and gasping for air. She learned to slow her pace and keep adding distance little by little, and by May, she ran an 8K. She has now checked the half-marathon off her list, and has even lost 15 pounds in the process! (By the way, she said that she used to read the Motivational Monday posts and think, "I could never do that!"... so don't ever doubt your abilities!)

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Jen (far right) accompanied her friends, Christina, Lindsey, and Rachel, as they ran their first half marathon! They did the Go Girl Run in Kansas City, and had a goal to finish under 3 hours. They finished in 2:53, and are already fired up for their next half, which is in three weeks!

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Stephanie just ran her first 10K! After years of yo-yo dieting, she decided to start Weight Watchers and start to run consistently. She and a friend signed up for the Twin Cities 10K (as well as a half-marathon, which is later this month). It was a little chilly at the start, but she had a great race and really enjoyed it!

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Nathan's first half-marathon

This morning was a whirlwind of activity. We had to get up at 6:00, because Noah had a cross country meet today, and we were supposed to meet there at 7:15. The temperature dropped a LOT overnight, and it was in the 30's early this morning. By the time we left, it was 42 degrees with a windchill of 32. So I had to dig out the coats, hats, and gloves.

Noah was nervous about his race, but I kept reminding him that it doesn't matter what place he comes in, as long as he does his best. His official mile time from the last meet was 10:34, so I told him just to aim to finish under that time, and not worry about how the other kids did. My parents went to the meet as well, so we went to the starting line to watch. Noah looked very ready, and when they sounded the horn to go, he looked like he was pushing it harder than at the last invitational. I was actually a little worried he started out too fast.

We headed over to the finish line to wait, and the kids started coming in at the 6:00 mark. I was guessing Noah would be around 10:00-11:00. We saw him make his way around the last quarter mile or so, and he looked like he was doing really good. I was just hoping he'd come in under 10:34, so he could see that he'd improved over his last mile time. He really picked up the pace when he was in sight of the finish line, and he crossed in 9:34! A full minute faster than his time on Tuesday.

I was super proud of him for giving it his all, and he was very proud of himself as well.

As soon as he was done, we booked it to the car. My younger brother, Nathan, was running his first half-marathon today, and his race was about 45 minutes away from where Noah's invitational was. Today was Nathan's scheduled 20-miler for his marathon training, so he ran 7 miles before the race, and timed it so that he'd have just enough time to hit the porta-potty and then run the half-marathon. He didn't know we were going to go to the finish line, and we thought it would be a nice surprise.

We got within 15 minutes of the race when the traffic on the expressway stopped moving. All three lanes were merging into one due to construction, and traffic was barely creeping along. We'd had a little cushion as far as how much time we had to get to the finish line, but as the minutes ticked by, I was worried we wouldn't make it at all. Finally, my dad took an exit that was way too soon, but we didn't really have a choice. One of the main roads was barricaded due to the race, so we tried to get as close as we could. There was pretty much no hope of getting there on time.

As we pulled over to turn around, I noticed that there were some runners going by at the bottom of the hill we were on. I asked the guy who was directing traffic if he knew what mile that was, and he said he didn't have a clue. My dad pulled over onto a side street, and I decided to run down to ask the volunteers what mile it was before having the whole family go. I ran down the hill as fast as I could, and the volunteer told me it was mile 12.75-ish. I was tracking Nathan with my phone via his Garmin, and he was at about mile 12, running an 8:55-ish pace.

So I ran UP the hill to tell my parents to come down there, and then ran back down to wait. I realized I forgot the cowbells in the car, so I ran as fast as I could UP the hill again, grabbed my bag from the car, and then ran back down the hill. I was chatting with the volunteer, who was a runner herself, when Noah said, "Mama" pretty calmly, and pointed ahead. I looked, and at first didn't notice, but Nathan was right there. He usually wears really bright shirts, so that's what I'd been looking for. We started cheering for him and ringing the cowbells. He was surprised to see us, and I told him we'd see him at the finish line.

I wish I could've seen him finish, but it was just ahead of where we were standing, so we all walked to the finish area and found him. He did AWESOME on his run--he ran the whole 20 miles at an 8:53/mile pace! His time for his first half-marathon was 1:55, and it was part of a training run. It took me 3 years to get a sub-2:00! ;)

Even though we only saw him for a few minutes, I was so glad that we made the drive up there. Running 20 miles, including your first half-marathon, is a big deal. Now he starts tapering, and two weeks from tomorrow, he'll run his first marathon!

Today was a rest day, but I got in almost 8,000 steps by 10:30 this morning, just from all the running around for the races. It's kind of strange though, I feel like I worked out this morning from running up and down that hill so many times. I've had that "runner's lungs" feeling all day today, and my face feels flushed like it does when I have a hard workout. So weird! I guess I just need more hill training, haha.

I keep thinking that today is Sunday (it really feels like a Sunday!), but I get so happy every time I realize that it's actually Saturday. This weather has me wanting to put on some warm pajamas, curl up on the couch with some tea, and watch a movie or read a good book (with Estelle hogging my lap, of course). As I type this, she's sitting in her very favorite spot:

I don't know why she likes my shins rather than my thighs, but I can't sit down for more than 30 seconds before she makes herself at home on my legs.

Now, I'm going to go make some hot soup for dinner!

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Friday's runs (yes, plural) and eats

Wow, I had no idea I had so many readers in Portland! I will definitely have to arrange a little meet-up. I'm ridiculously excited to go. The time is going to pass so slowly between now and March!

The weather was so crappy outside today. We were expecting heavy thunderstorms all day, starting at around 10:00 am, so I wanted to get my long run done right after getting the kids on the bus. I had nine miles on the schedule today. Because of the impending storms, I decided to stick close to home and do three 3-mile routes just in case I had to get home quickly.

I made an old favorite for breakfast: oatmeal with caramel, chocolate chips, and coconut (6 PointsPlus). It's a good breakfast before a long run!

It was pretty warm and humid out, so I wore capris and a tank, and I put my phone in a ziploc baggie inside my Flipbelt. I headed out for the run, and I could tell right away that it was going to be a tough one. The wind was crazy--14 mph with gusts of 25 mph. I had planned to run sub-10's, but when I had a strong headwind, I just decided not to worry about my pace at all, because I was using up too much energy in the wind.

At around mile 2, it started to rain--hard. I really wanted to finish the run, so I decided to keep going, and just prayed that my shoes and socks didn't get soaked. I was on the second three-mile loop when my feet started feeling wet. The rain came down harder, to where I really couldn't even keep my eyes open (I couldn't find my visor before leaving the house, and it would have been really helpful today!). At mile 3.25, I just turned around and headed back. There was no way I wanted to run with soaked feet, and it had just started lightening. So, I just decided that I would consider this a step-back week (reduced mileage), and call it a day.

I took a shower, and then was pretty lazy for the rest of the morning. It's hard to get motivated to do anything in this kind of weather. Last night, Jerry and I made Caesar salad with rotisserie chicken for dinner (mainly because I didn't feel like cooking, and the Caesar dressing was on Manager's Special). We had leftover stuff in the fridge, so I made it for lunch, too. Normally, I'm not a salad person, but once in a while I really like them! I had another old favorite on the side--an Asian pear. Those things are heavenly.

After lunch, the weather was pretty clear. We were supposed to have thunderstorms all day, but the sky didn't look like it was going to rain again. I thought, "I should just go finish my long run..." and I decided to go ahead and do it. I would have felt guilty all weekend for not doing a long run, so even though I was showered and dressed, I put on another set of running clothes and headed out for another five miles.

I stopped at my parents' house at around 2/3 of a mile in. My brother and his wife had just gotten in from Minnesota, so I wanted to say hello to them. I was there just long enough to watch the Tigers get two home runs in a row! Then I headed out again. I was feeling a little better this time, but as soon as I turned into the wind, I was nearly blown off my feet. Running next to the lake was really windy!

At around mile three (or seven, if you count the first run), it was like the sky just opened up all of a sudden and dropped a huge bucket of water on me. The rain was a downpour, and the wind was so strong that the rain was going sideways (it reminded me of that scene from Forrest Gump). I've never been scared of weather while out on a run before, but for about half a mile today, I was actually worried that there would be a tornado. The wind was SO strong. I wanted to stop and take a picture or video to show it, but I didn't want my phone to get ruined by taking it out of the bag. There was a really loud noise and I thought it was a low-flying plane at first, but I realized it was just the wind.

I started to think about what I would do if there actually was a tornado, and then just as quickly as it started, the rain fell to a light drizzle. It had only lasted about five minutes, but it was really bad. I decided that I was going to finish this run, no matter what, so I pushed on. My legs were really tired, but I was really determined to get through it. Finally got back home! I couldn't wait to shower (again) and put on some dry clothes (again).

See how pretty the trees in the far background are getting with the color change?

I was really hungry after the run, so I made a green smoothie for just 2 PointsPlus: 1 cup almond milk, 1 frozen banana, a handful of spinach, 1 Tbsp. of flaxseed, and 6 ice cubes. I hadn't made one of these in a long time! I put too much spinach in it, because I could really taste it, but I still liked it.

For dinner, I made turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and roasted cauliflower--comfort food! It was such a crappy day outside that it seemed perfect to make a comfort food meal. (Forgot to take a picture, naturally.) Tonight, I'm going to have a glass of wine and a Weight Watchers peanut butter brownie. Those brownies are so good! They're only about two bites big, and they're 2 PointsPlus, but they're certainly worth it.

Today was only Day 3 back on Weight Watchers, but I already feel better. I've been focusing on the fact that I want to be in really good shape when I go to Portland, and that's keeping me motivated right now. When I was originally losing the weight a few years ago, my big focus was on the Indy 500 Festival Mini Marathon. I was SO determined not to be "the fat friend" for the third year in a row, and I thought of that every time I felt like I was struggling. It helped me to get through all the times where I felt like quitting. It's been a good few days, so hopefully I can keep it going :)

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Old faithful

I've had something on my mind for a couple of weeks, and yesterday, I decided to do it. After two months of intuitive eating, I'm going back to doing Weight Watchers and counting points.

Intuitive eating was going really well for about six weeks, and then I'm not sure what happened. I wasn't binge eating, but I was definitely eating when I wasn't hungry, and I was eating too much. I was very aware of it, but I had such a hard time stopping it! My weight didn't change by more than a couple of pounds, so I'm no worse off than I was two months ago. And I'm actually really glad that I did the intuitive eating experiment, because I learned quite a bit about my body, which I think will help regardless of what I do to lose/maintain my weight.

One of the hardest things about intuitive eating was drinking--and I don't mean just alcohol. Fluids don't fill me up, so drinking juice, soda, milk, coffee drinks, or alcohol was really just leading to a lot of extra calories without satisfying my hunger. I'm sure there is an answer for this, but drinks weren't really addressed in the book I read, so I never really figured it out.

The main purpose for switching back to Weight Watchers really stems from my desire to get back to being in my best running shape. As I wrote in my "new size" post, and my "bikini" post, I am okay with how I look now--I don't think I look bad at this size, even though it's not ideal, and I could be happy staying this size.

September 2014: 152 pounds

But... I really want to set some challenging running goals, and I run my best when I'm 130-135 pounds.

5K in 24:03; 130 pounds

This was all brought on when I was reading a post I wrote, and then clicked on the "You might also like:" posts. Seeing some of the posts from early to mid-2013 made me feel a little nostalgic for Weight Watchers and reaching for PR's. It was fun to see myself getting faster every week, and I was over the moon when I reached my sub-2:00 half-marathon goal. The day I ran a sub-50:00 10K? I can't even describe how that felt.

(far left) 10K in 49:23; 131.5 pounds

Lately, I've been much more accepting of where I am today, at this moment, and I'm glad for that. I didn't want to spend my time being miserable until I was back at my goal weight. But when I looked and felt my best, I was following Weight Watchers and running five days a week. I had some running goals that I was always working on.

The day I finally raced a
sub-2:00 HM! 1:52:07;
133 pounds

This year has been different in so many ways. All goals were tossed aside when Mark was sick, and that was understandable. But once he passed away, I wish I'd gotten back to counting points and working on running goals. I had this attitude that life was short, so I might as well not "waste" my time or energy counting points. Mark's illness and death was the most difficult emotional thing I've gone through since losing the weight a few years ago, and I had no idea how to handle it (considering I'm an emotional eater). I wanted to have fun, and not worry about weight or calories or any of that.

Just after Mark died. Paced Audrey to 2:14 half-marathon.
I'm not sure what my weight was here, but I think 145-ish.

Anyway, I am taking away a few things from intuitive eating that will be helpful as I do Weight Watchers: I realized that it doesn't take a very large portion to satisfy me--even just half a sandwich is a satisfying lunch. I realized that I don't crave sweets as much as I thought I did, so I'm not going to purposefully save up points to eat a high-point dessert. Instead, I'm going to spend a few extra points on "real" foods like butter, regular fat cheese, hearty bread, etc., because they taste so much better. I'm going to eat what sounds best to me, and not force the foods that don't sound good.

I have a couple of spring races that I'm really looking forward to next year, and I would love to be in good great shape for them. I already wrote about the reunion in May of my Ragnar SoCal team at the 500 Festival Mini Marathon in Indianapolis, which will be super exciting.

Can't wait to see these people again!

Yesterday, I registered for another race that looks like a blast--the Shamrock Run in PORTLAND!

I've been saving up my Delta SkyMiles, and I had enough saved up to get a ticket to pretty much anywhere in the U.S. I've never been to the Northwest area of the United States, and Thomas (from my Ragnar SoCal team) lives in Portland. He suggested the Shamrock Run 15K, because it's a ginormous race and lots of fun. So I got my plane ticket yesterday, and after redeeming 40,000 miles, it was only $11.20! I love getting a good travel deal, so I don't feel so guilty about traveling for a race. Thomas is ridiculously fast, so my goal is to not give him enough time to go home and shower before waiting for me to cross the finish line ;)  (I've actually never run a 15K race, so it's an automatic PR--but I'm really hoping to just feel great through the race)

My goal for the Indy race is to get back below sub-2:00, and if all goes well during training, possibly a PR of sub-1:52:07. I'm going to use Hal Higdon's intermediate half-marathon training plan, which is what I loosely followed to become my fastest last year. I'm actually going to start that plan the week after the Runner's World Half & Festival in a couple of weeks.

Coming up with my running goals and training plans has really made me excited to work hard on those again--including doing Weight Watchers. I was surprised to admit that I kind of missed counting points over the past couple of months, in some strange way. Intuitive eating was really freeing until it wasn't--I found myself always worried about getting back into old habits and gaining weight. When I started intuitive eating, I had told myself that if it got to the point of being stressful, then I would go back to the old faithful--Weight Watchers. The past couple of weeks have definitely felt a little stressful in that regard. Jerry and I both went back to counting points yesterday, and I had a great day. It felt really nice to feel in control and to know that I'm doing my best to get back to my best running weight.

I'm hoping to start updating more about my weight and how Weight Watchers is going. It's been so hard to talk/write about all this year, because it (obviously) wasn't going well for me. I know that I've always written about the good and the bad of weight loss/maintenance, but this year was the worst struggle I've dealt with so far, and I'm still trying to get back to the point of feeling confident that I can keep the weight off. Nothing motivates me more than looking at my running photos and posts from last year!

So, to start off October...my goal this month (on top of doing Weight Watchers) is going to be to not have any Halloween candy until Halloween day. I did that a couple of years ago, and it worked out really well. I was able to stay on track all month, and then was rewarded when Eli gave me all his mini Butterfingers, haha (can you believe he didn't like Butterfingers?! Crazy kid).

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That cookie runner

I woke up at around 4:00 this morning to thunder and lightening, so I decided that I would do my run tonight instead of in the morning. Once I took the kids to their bus stops, though, the weather was absolutely PERFECT for a run. It was 54 degrees, overcast, and an occasional very light drizzle of rain. If there was ever perfect running weather, this was it.

I put on capris and a short sleeved shirt, which was the right choice for the weather. I decided not to look at my Garmin at all (not even a little peek) through the run. I didn't want to see a slow pace and feel discouraged for any reason, so I just wanted to run without giving a thought to my pace at all. As soon as stepped from my driveway onto the street, a man on a bike went by in the opposite direction. We exchanged "good morning"'s , and then I kept going.

About a mile in, I saw the same man on the bike. This time we said, "hello", as we passed. Seeing someone once is no big deal; twice is slightly awkward, because you've already exchanged greetings. But then I saw him AGAIN at around mile three. This time, he stopped and said, "Hey, you're that cookie runner, right?" I laughed and said I was. We chatted for a minute, and I learned his name was Greg. He had seen Stephanie's blog because they are both self-proclaimed "weather geeks", and found my blog through hers, which is how he recognized me. That was fun! Usually, one or two people will recognize me at a race, but never while I'm just out for a run.

I had an absolutely fantastic run today! I didn't look at my pace, but I imagined it was probably around 10:00/mile, which was fine. But what made it so great was the weather and that I just had a good day. Some runs are good, some are okay, and some are terrible, but today's felt really, really good. When I heard my Garmin beep after mile five, I pressed the button to stop it, and then I just sat on my porch for a few minutes while I cooled down.

My average pace ended up being 9:35/mile, which really surprised me (in a good way). I was even more surprised to see my splits, and how close they were without even trying.

I'm hoping for identical weather on Friday for my long run! (Oh, I am not doing that half-marathon on Saturday with Nathan after all... I forgot that Noah has a cross country invitational that day.)

I had plans to meet Jessica for lunch at a new local restaurant called Public House. They use all fresh, local ingredients, which is very refreshing for this area. I hadn't tried it yet, but Jessica said it was great. It was good to see her, because it's been a long time since we've gotten together. I've had such a busy few months that I haven't really seen any of my friends for a while, so it was nice to catch up. The food was good, too! We split an order of fried pickles (my favorite appetizer) and they were awesome.

Shortly before we left, a couple of young soldiers walked in wearing their uniforms. After seeing everything my younger brother went through, I have a special place in my heart for young guys in the military, so I paid their tab before I left. (A "pay it forward" from the stranger who gave us those tickets to the Renaissance Festival on Friday!)

Noah had his second cross country invitational today. The weather was definitely better for running today, so I was curious to see how he'd do. I picked him up from school, and then picked up Eli, and we drove to the meet. The ground there was much softer than at the last meet, and the grass was longer, so I was a little worried for Noah having to run on that. He said he was really nervous.

His race today was only 1 mile (it was 1.3 last time). Eli and I went to the starting line to see him off, and then we rushed to the finish line. The kids started coming it at the six-minute mark. I was expecting Noah between the 9:00-11:00 timeframe, based on his last race. He came in at around 10:45-ish (I don't have the official results yet). He wasn't very happy, and said he was "almost dead last". It didn't help that his friend on the team came up and told him that he (Noah) finished in 118th place (while the friend finished in the top 20 or so). This kid is super competitive, and always makes Noah feel bad about his running pace.

I told Noah that he did awesome--he finished in 10:45-ish, which is much faster than he was just a couple of weeks ago. And due to the course being more difficult (soft ground, longer grass), he should be very proud. It's hard to get him to see the value of improving his pace over keeping up with his friend.

I laughed when I saw the photos I took of him. He apparently takes after his mom in race photos--his eyes were closed in all of them!

His next invitational is on Saturday, so I hope that he has a great race. My older brother is supposed to come out and watch :)

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Motivational Monday #80

Happy Motivational Monday! Hopefully everyone has had a fantastic week. It's been challenging for me--I was hoping that the longer I did intuitive eating, the easier it would get, but the opposite has been true so far. I haven't binged, which is the most important thing to me, but there are times where I eat too much for reasons other than hunger (usually on the weekends). My weight hasn't gone up, so I'm glad about that, but I would definitely like to see it go down ;)

I always love reading your Motivational Monday stories, because they are so inspiring! Here are this week's submissions:

Marcie made a goal for 2014 to run walk/run one mile per day, every day. She also wanted to do a 5K race every month. She started with my Virtual 5K in January, and her time was nearly 60 minutes. She recently ran her first 10K, and her time was 1:18, despite the pouring rain! She's also dropped 30 pounds since she started training. Her husband, who ran with her, just completed his first half-marathon, too!

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Carly has been working on weight loss and running, and has had some very successful milestones. But now, thanks to her new healthy lifestyle, she is in a position to teach kids about health and fitness! She recently took over the Physical Education position at her elementary school, so she gets to teach fitness all day long. A couple of years ago, she never would have imagined that she'd be a PE teacher, but she passed her certification and LOVES her new job!

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Jen finished the Bellingham Bay half-marathon in Washington over the weekend, beating her goal time by 14 minutes! It was her second half-marathon, but the first one that she did by herself. She set a goal time of 3:00, and finished in 2:46!

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Rachel just celebrated her six-month anniversary of when she started working on getting healthy and fit! One of her dreams has always been to be a runner, and when she started her journey six months ago, she signed up for a 5K each month--walking at first, then adding a little running, and working to be able to run the whole race by the sixth month. She chose The Color Run as her goal race, and somehow wound up with three 5Ks and a 10K on the books in September--and is proud to report that she was able to run ALL of them! Yesterday was her goal race, and she said it was an awesome way to end the month. She's also down 62 pounds!

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Christy recently completed her third half-marathon: the US Air Force Half Marathon in celebration of the US Air Force's birthday! She finished in 2:41:48. Training was going great, and she had a fantastic 10-mile run in June, but her family got orders to move, her kids got sick, her husband had to travel for work, and fitting in the training runs was difficult. But she stuck with it, and proudly crossed the finish line!

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Thomas ran the Corvallis Fall Festival 5K just a week before the Portland Marathon (which he is also doing) and got a shiny new PR! He ran the course in 20:38 (a 6:35/mile pace... I know!!). He's been training hard all summer for the Portland Marathon, so I'm sure I'll be updating with his sub-3:30 PR next Monday ;) (Thomas's blog)

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Jessica ran/walked a 5K over the weekend! This is very significant for her, because if you may remember, I wrote about Jessica last month for Motivational Monday. She was diagnosed with Stage IV brain cancer, and underwent surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation to fight the cancer, and was just getting back to running in August. She had actually been registered for the Montreal half-marathon since before her diagnosis, but her doctor recommended that she change over to the 5K because of everything her body had been through. She had a seizure three days before the race, and then the day before the race, she started chemo, but her doctor said if she took it very easy, she had the okay to do the 5K. She, along with her two future brothers-in-law, completed the race is 47:28!

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Ashley has been running off and on for about two years, as a way to keep off the 30 pounds that she'd lost. Over the past year, she's been backpacking through Central America, so she hasn't done much running. Once back in the states, she decided to get back into shape, and she registered for a 5K--her first race ever. She was discouraged during training, because she used to run sub-9 miles, and was now struggling to run sub-10 miles, but she kept at it. The race was called the Red Hare Chase 5K, and her only goal was to run it under 30 minutes. She was thrilled and surprised when she crossed the finish line in 28:15! She even earned third place in her age group :)

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Don't forget to check out the Motivational Monday Facebook post for more stories!

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Faster than a speeding bullet

We had another fun day with the family today. Last night, the kids ended up staying at my parents' house, so this morning, Jerry and I decided to go for a run together. I didn't have a run on the schedule, but ironically, was in the mood for a nice, relaxing "jog"-like run. Jerry said he wanted to pick our route, and we ended up going on a trail through the woods. 

The weather was really nice, but it was pretty tough running on the trail. So much for a nice Sunday morning jog! Then I heard a bunch of gunshots. From a shotgun. And I remembered that it's hunting season, right as we were running through the woods. There was shot after shot, and I kept expecting to feel a bullet hit me--it was so scary, because the guns sounded so close! I sprinted the last little part of the woods to get the heck out of there. I thought it was funny when I saw the graph of my pace. Can you tell where the gunshots started? ;)

Just before that part, I was telling Jerry how I may walk the rest of the way, because running on the rocks and grass was hard. Then we heard the shotguns, and they totally lit a fire under me. I need to use that strategy for my next race! haha

My brother, Brian, got in from Minnesota at around noon. Jerry and I cleaned up the house and invited my whole family over here to watch the Tigers and Lions games. I made a big pot of chili with toppings, and we had a pretty low-key afternoon. I don't watch sports, so I showed my mom that card game app to download on her iPod, and taught her how to play a few games.

I was just checking out the schedule for the Runner's World Half & Festival, and I'm so bummed that I have to leave that Saturday afternoon. There are some great seminars going on that weekend! I got the latest flight available, which was 5:30 pm (and the airport is an hour's drive), so I'll have to leave at around 2:00 to make it home on Saturday night. I know I made the right decision to be here on Sunday for Nathan's marathon, and I'm really looking forward to that, but I just wish there was some way to be in two places at once ;)

Looking through the list of seminars today for the RW Half weekend, there is one that really jumped out at me. I'm so glad that it's at noon on Saturday, so I'll be able to go. Here is the description:

Seminar · Inspiration: How Running Helped Save a Soldier from Depression, Substance Abuse, and PTSDJoin us to hear Sean MacMillen, chapter captain of Team RWB (Red, White, and Blue) Lock Haven-Williamsport, tell his story. After 12 years in the U.S. Army – including three deployments to Afghanistan – this respected battalion executive officer left the service – and not by choice. "My life was in shambles," he says, "and I was in a very dark place." Learn how running, and his involvement with Team RWB – an organization that enriches the lives of America's veterans by connecting them with their communities through social and physical activity – helped Sean take back control from alcohol abuse, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

This really hits close to home for me, because my brother, Nathan, has PTSD after two deployments to Iraq--and since he started running early this year, I've seen a big change in him (healthier and happier). I asked him if he'd write a guest post for my blog about it, and he may, but I really think that running has the ability to change people's lives (more than just physically). I can't wait to hear what Sean MacMillen has to say at his seminar. 

Anyway, here is a list of the weekend's schedule. If you're near Bethlehem, or are able to go that weekend, I really think it's worth it. I loved Bart Yasso's seminar, as well as Mark Remy's. There are all kinds of seminars to check out, and they are FREE--whether you run the races or not. 

Don't forget, if you do want to run the races, I have discount codes for 10% off:

5K: blogrunsforcookies5K
10K: blogrunsforcookies10K
Half-Marathon: blogrunsforcookiesHalf
5 & Dime: blogrunsforcookies5&10
Hat Trick: blogrunsforcookiesHat

It's only three weeks away, and I'm getting really excited! I think the last race I did was a 5K in July. The weather won't be nearly as hot for the RW Half weekend!

Speaking of races, Nathan asked me today if I would want to run a half-marathon with him next weekend, called Heroes on Hines. He has a 20-mile training run on the schedule, and he's going to run the half as part of his training run. I think I'm going to do it! It will likely be my slowest-ever half-marathon time, but running a race with a bunch of other people is much more fun than doing a long run by myself. And it feels weird not to have a half-marathon planned until at least November. So if it works out, I'd like to do it!

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Don't forget, tomorrow is Motivational Monday! If you have a photo of an accomplishment you'd like to share, you can email it to me at Katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com, subject "Motivational Monday", with a brief description, and I may post it on tomorrow's blog :)

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Scavenger hunt at the park

I got some much needed sleep last night. My anxiety has been really bad lately, so I took a Xanax before bed, which helped me to sleep and stop worrying about everything. I woke up at 7:30, which is late for me, and felt great!

I wanted to get in some steps today, even though it's a rest day, because I'm participating in that iFit challenge with the Runner's World Half bloggers. The boys had a friend spend the night last night, so I decided to take the three of them to the State Park for a walk around the 5K loop.

When we started walking, I was trying to think of some way to keep things interesting for the boys on the long walk. I said that whoever spotted a squirrel first could choose the next thing that we'd have to look for, and so on. Then Eli had a better idea--he said that we should assign points to certain things we might see, and whoever gets the most points wins. For example, a squirrel would be worth 20 points, a spider worth 30 points, and a deer worth 100 points.

Here was the whole list we came up with. I used my phone to keep track.

The boys had a BLAST on this scavenger hunt. They really didn't even realize that they were walking/exercising. Normally, the kids complain non-stop when we go for a walk, but they didn't complain even once. They kept running ahead of each other to try to spot things first. We saw a ton of cranes, ducks, and geese, but not much else. When I go running there, I usually see a little of everything--squirrels, rabbits, deer, etc. I think the boys were so loud they scared everything off ;)

As we walked, there were some leaves falling from the trees occasionally, and they made up a rule that if you caught one in the air, it was 20 points. All three of them caught one once. It was funny to watch them try! In the end, it was really close, but Eli won by a measly caterpillar. The boys all thanked me for taking them there, because they said it was so much fun. I wish I'd have thought of that game a long time ago! Eli is very proud that it was his idea.

This evening, we went to my parents' house to see my uncle and his son (on my dad's side). My uncle drove up from Florida, and has been staying at my parents' house all week. I've only seen him a handful of times in my life, so we went over there for dinner. His son (my cousin) came over with his family, too. I think the only time I ever met him was at his brother's funeral (my cousin Christopher died in Iraq from an IED explosion). Finally, my dad's sister came over with her grandson. So it was basically a mini-family reunion on my dad's side.

After dinner, my dad made a little campfire in the driveway, so we sat around and chatted for a while. The weather was SO nice today! My dad put copper wires in the fire, so it made the flames really colorful. It's hard to see in this picture, but it looks awesome with a rainbow of colors.

Sitting around the fire like that made me think of Mark. On Halloween, we always used to bring Mark to my parents' house to celebrate his birthday, and then sit around the colorful campfire while kids came trick-or-treating. I'm not sure what the plan is this year, but it'll be sad that Mark won't be there with us. I can't believe it's been almost a year since the last time Mark was at my parents' house. He was diagnosed with cancer shortly after his birthday last year, and he wasn't able to come over afterward. (If you're a newer reader, you can read the beginning of Mark's story here, and the final post here--there was a lot in-between, from December through March).

Anyway, I'm tired, and I want to watch a show and then go to bed. My brother is coming in from Minnesota tomorrow!

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