A Weekend of Eating

This was a weekend of complete gluttony.  I actually feel sick to my stomach just thinking about all the food that we ate.

Friday:
I got in a hot and humid run after work.  For the past week since my 5k, all my runs have felt horrible.  I feel out of shape and slow, and my watch reflects my slowness.  Not sure what is going on, maybe it's just the heat?  I followed the run with some light weights, I think adding back strength routines will help my minor nagging injuries.  For dinner we went to a very suburban Not Your Average Joe's where I saw my future unfolding before my very eyes.  Eating dinner were families with really young kids and middle aged couples at a carpeted restaurant (this freaks me out) eating average American fare for cheap.  I dived face first into the bread basket, had buffalo tenders for an appetizer, a Thai chicken salad, a sangria and a beer.  That's like 1,500 calories just in that meal alone, and later on I didn't stop drinking... I had a pear cider...

Saturday:
I was really good for breakfast and lunch, but for dinner we went out for Korean/Japanese where I chose based on the fact that I had a Groupon burning a hole in my wallet - and then I totally forgot to use the stupid Groupon!  I'm so annoyed by that still days later.  I had a huge meal of pork, tofu, kim chi and white rice and 2 beers followed by about 4-6 miniature cupcakes that I baked earlier that day.  I needed to know if they were baked through at first and then it just turned out that I just enjoyed eating them.

Sunday:
I got in a brief run out in the heat - honest to goodness it was like 85 degrees and I wanted nothing more than to pack it in but I made it through 3 miles and then did some weights (weighted lunges, side lunges, triceps, abs) We went to visit our friend Natasha on her house by a lake.  We all have a deep love for food, and it gets kind of ridiculous whenever we have a meal together but this might have taken the cake.  Lunch was 6 marinated chicken wings, 3/4 of a burger, 1/4 can of Pringles, 1/2 a bowl of chips, baked beans, and a half a bottle of wine... I ate all that.  That was lunch around 2pm, and we let that settle for a few hours and then it got really ugly with dinner: a whole lobster with butter, 2 strips of Korean beef, 3 strips of Korean pork, a bowl of white rice, a mini package of kim chi, a mystery mixed drink, and a mini cupcake chased with some Tums.

Monday:
This might be the worst day.  I didn't really expect much for breakfast because I'm usually a small breakfast eater, just coffee and a hard boiled egg or something.  Today, Natasha took us to Carl's Diner in Oxford, MA which was a Serious diner for Serious breakfast eaters.  It looked like nothing special at all, but the food was really good and it was jam packed full of people taking advantage of their massive portions.  I ate 2 scrambled eggs, many sausages, a piece of toast, home fries and coffee.

Yes, there are 8 sausages in that photo and I'm pretty sure that I ate 5 of them... I know, it's like mortifying.  What's even worse... my husband ordered a steak and cheese omelet for 2 and he ate the entire thing!  It was literally a mountain of food that somehow disappeared into his belly.  Natasha got blueberry pancakes that were so overflowing from her plate that when she tried to add syrup it overflowed onto the counter.  This was one of the craziest breakfast that I've ever eaten in my life, and this was at 11 am and we had lunch like 3 hours later regrettably.  We had to go over to my parents house where they were grilling a massive pork loin.  So for late lunch I had a piece of pork, a green salad, a scoop of rice, a mini cupcake and 2 oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies.

Shoot me please, just put me out to pasture!  I see a lot of salads in my future this week.

Tory Row 5K and the best flex ever

 I realize how ridiculous this photo is... and also how scary it is.  This is one of the only times that my husband has taken me to a local 5K and he wanted to take a "before photo" and all of a sudden he's like: FLEX!  You can see the result of that request... I wasn't even all that embarrassed.  This morning's 5K was in Harvard Square and it was sponsored by Tory Row and the Cambridge Running Club.  The best part about this race was how small it was, it capped out at 300 people and there were no cash prizes...which meant that the competitiveness went completely out the door and I was like "OMG I could get in the top half or the top 1/4!!"  Guys, when it comes to running, placing is never something that I even consider because there's no point - I'm just not good enough.  My primary goal of today was to break 25 minutes, I've been hovering on the 25 minute area for a while now and I felt confident that I could go under that today.

Since it was such a small race, I didn't exactly expect there to be much traffic control but there was enough to keep people safe (mostly) and there was a lead police car and an end police car which is way more than some races have.  I was milling around the starting line debating doing a little warm up, when a friend of a friend showed up.  She was a non-runner, and just totally hilarious about this whole thing.  She just kept saying, "wow, it looks like these people are in Really good shape...wow, I think that I could possibly finish last... they're in Such good shape!"  It was very funny to me because the people she was talking about weren't even all that great, she ended up doing very well for someone who doesn't run regularly. 

The race was great, mostly flat with a few really annoying turns in there but the course was good.  The unfortunate part of the race was running by all the mansions in Cambridge that I could never in a million years afford.

This race was so tiny that I practically finished all by myself... look at that form falling right apart with my arms all over the place.  This was a Really painful race for me.  My goal going into it: mile 1 in 8:00, mile 2 in 8:00 and then power through that last mile.  What actually happened?  Not that.  Per usual, I went out too fast and couldn't hold it together in mile 2, and then mile 3 I was able to sort of make a comeback after catching my breath.

Um, 7:30 is way too fast for my first mile and I felt it.  I mean it's not like that was painless and I felt light as air - OH no, that really hurt.  In fact, this whole race hurt a whole lot.  I felt like I was moving in slow motion but every time I looked at my Garmin, my pace was very surprising.  But guys, I placed 75/271 people but more importantly I placed 11th out of 55th women in my age division (25-29).  I totally know that this time wouldn't land me in the top 30 of my age division in any other race, but man it felt really good to see that for once.  Also, PRing helped!  My official time was 24:31 my previous best was 25:09 from back in March.

I've been icing my ankle all afternoon, I have no idea what the deal is, but I think it's some kind of tendinitis.  It's been creeping up on me for the past 2 weeks and today with a hard run seemed to have aggravated it even further.  Another PR another injury.  Whatever, RICE it is for now and mini fist pumps.

Make The Rain Stop!

It's been raining here in Boston for the fifth day in a row and you know what?  Boston is Really Really hideous when it's gray and rainy.  If I was one of the tourists walking around today, I'd probably hop on the next flight home.  Also, the weather here is mainly why people are such Aholes... that's my excuse.

Even when it's raining, I still need to hit the sidewalks for some running because lately the treadmill has been really unappealing.  This is the first year that I've really given running in the rain a chance, but I'm getting over the whole idea of it and getting used to it.  Yesterday's run was pretty awful.  I really let my tiredness get the best of me and before heading out I thought to myself, "hey self, just getting out there in the rain should be enough... and something is better than nothing."  Well, not really because last night's something was practically nothing. 

Slow pace, and small mileage... I mean yeah whatever, I never really run far these days but 3.0 miles is my minimum and I try to stick to that.  I felt so burnt out yesterday and being burnt out and just feeling burnt out aren't the same.

Tonight, I tried a different approach.  I ate a snack, sat on the couch, ate dinner, hemmed and hawed... and then suddenly realized that the rain had stopped for a minute so I grabbed my sneakers.  Eating right before running was not a good idea but it was pretty light: corn on the cob, 5 campari tomatoes, and a slice of cheddar cheese.  I know that was the most random dinner ever, but it worked.  When I walked out of the house, I knew that I needed a better strategy.  Leaving the house meant that I wasn't going to shelp along, no no, I had to run decent splits and I had to finish the stupid 3.0 miles that I set out to do.  Goals: mile 1 under 9 minutes, mile 2 as close to 8 minutes as possible, and mile 3 just try not to die and finish strong.  How did it go?  Well I'm glad I set some goals.

Those splits are very good for me, one of my best 3 miles ever and more than that it gave me a little boost of confidence that I need for Sunday's 5k.  I totally wanted to vomit the whole last mile, but I held it in like a champ... damn those tomatoes.  I'm suddenly a little bit nervous about the race because it's a tiny race without any real traffic control, and in the email I just got about it they mentioned that people should study the map closely... um, is there a chance that I'll get lost?  I don't like that at all!

Ah well, tomorrow is an off day and we're heading to the Red Sox game!  I'm hoping that it doesn't rain on us, but it likely will.  Good thing beer is already wet. 

I Know a Lot of Idiots

Whoever gave me a stomach bug for the entire day on Monday was Hilarious.  I had to be at work... I had to be at work while sick.  That was a very very unpleasant day, and I would not like to do that again any time soon. 

In other news, my hair has again turned blond.  I'm never messing with my hair color again.  This is what I get for trying to make a low maintenance beauty routine into something more exciting, I get massive backfiring.  The kind where I love how it all looks for about 1 week and then it all becomes much much worse than I imagined.  How does this happen?  I don't know, it's chemistry or something, maybe a little bit of biology mixed in.  Either way, I do not appreciate all the comments that I've been getting lately from really stupid men that I know. 

Idiot 1: "Wow, you are looking a lot blonder today!"
Same Idiot 2 days later, "wow you look Really blond today."
Idiot 2: "You look different today...[staring at my head]"
Idiot 3: "Did you do something to your hair recently?...[with a smirk on his ugly face]

Listen idiots... women sometimes like to color their hair, and sometimes it doesn't quite work out as planned and they are not blind to this.  The best way to proceed with this change is to just not say anything at all, just do not speak any words from your mouth or you will sound like a jackass.

I've been tucking my hair into a hat to run now, that's what this has come to.  Any sunlight at all may make it even worse, even if it's cloudy and raining outside, I'm just that crazytown about this now.  I made a deal with myself that since I didn't run Sunday or Monday that I had to today no matter what it was like outside.  It went a lot better than I thought it would since I've had such a long few days and the rain let up nicely.  I have a 5k this weekend that I feel totally unprepared for, but luckily it seems like a low key and very very small race... I wonder if I could get into the top 1/4 of finishers... I wonder if I could finish in the top 50... Ok, that's probably not going to happen but I'm going to try and put it all out there and run fast.  I really need to pick up some new insoles this week, my right arch has been bothering me.  I'm telling you, every week my body feels like it's falling apart a little bit more...

A Sunday Shower

I made these - I am proud... and I never want to do that again so I'll savor these flower puffs.  They're awesome (Martha Stewart obviously) her idea, my manual labor.

It was a long day.  9:30am - 6:30pm... but the future bride to be was very happy.

Friday - Saturday Catchup

OMG.  Of course Blogger was down when I had like a million things to blog about, none of which were at all important or interesting to anyone but myself!  Unfortunately, I've sort of forgotten almost all that I wanted to talk about so I'll leave you with this junk:


1.  Friday's running goal: run faster in mile 2 than in mile 1 preferably under 8 minutes, and then try not to die after.  I got part 1, but I totally wanted to die after.  On Saturday I have a longer run planned, again, if I don't die that is.  I really need to get past this 3 mile rut.

2.  Don't know what to wear on your run when the weather is sort of in between cool and warm, say around 50 degrees?  Do you think that long sleeves is just too much but short sleeves is too little since the sun is going down?  I have an answer for you, and it's not exactly genius but I love it enough to share with you.  I like to call it layering a perfectly awesome tank top (tucked in to prevent it from riding up) under a short sleeved shirt.  It keeps you warm enough to not hate the wind, but cool enough that you don't feel over dressed.  It's thrilling, I'm sure you're all impressed with my creativity.

3.  We hate house hunting.  It's sucking the very tiny souls out of our bodies.  Every time we find a house that we like, there is always a very good reason not to buy it.  It's like when you get a bonus and you're like: I have money to spend and I want to spend it, and then you can think of anything that you want to buy... like doesn't anyone want our money?  My father in law thinks that the housing market in MA still has further to drop so we shouldn't rush into anything, my parents think that we need to buy something like yesterday and really... I just want a dog dammit.

4.  Whatever you do, do not see Jackass 3-D.  Just don't do that to yourselves, it was the worst thing that I've ever seen in my life.  They took it way too far, I have no idea how any of them are still alive.  There is way too much poop, puke, crotch, and cattle prodding.

5.  Saturday's "long run" actually happened.  My goal was to run 5 miles, and this was a more challenging route with 2 long hills during mile 1 and mile 2, and then mile 4 was around a track (god that was boring at shit) and mile 5 I sort of had a moment where I was really happy that I was out running this morning even if it was only with 4 ounces of coffee in me.  Check it:

Later,  we continued to house hunt.  There was 1 house that I loved even though I can't exactly explain why other than to say that I can see us living there and being really happy.  My husband is less convinced of this gut feeling.  It really is not what anyone would expect that I would like... it's a farm house... but peeps it has a pool and like a 3,400 sq. feet of living awesomeness.  Later I got really drunk on wine at a bar, and experienced my first Bahn Mi sandwich - it was awesome!  I haven't been this drunk in ages.  I blame Zyrtec but @theangryrunner disagrees... yet she has not seen the quiet low key me in one minute and then the loud-laughing-obnoxious me an hour later at a loud bar being all smiley and shit.

Weekends are confusing, I can't believe it's not even Sunday yet... 

Group Run Successes

This was my second week in a row of my Monday night group run this year.  Last week was sort of a disaster - we were a couple minutes late so we had to race to catch up with everyone.  This week, we made it there on time and there was a huge turnout.  My goal this week was to pick someone and then keep up with them, and not die.  I chose carefully... there was one girl last year who ran at an easy pace at the beginning and then picked it up for the second half and I remember being able to mostly keep up with her before.  She led me to these splits:

I'm not sure that my Garmin has ever seen a full mile split under 8:00 before.  Sure it was just under by a hair, but it makes me feel pretty good considering all the time off that I had last week and the week before.  Yeah, I just checked, that was pretty speedy compared to my usual pace.  That same girl that I was chasing turned out to be super friendly and we chatted after, she didn't remember me from last year (who would?) and she also didn't get into this year's New York Marathon.  Anyways, I'm glad that she said Hi because I'm ridiculously shy sometimes.

Besides my group run today, I also found the time to buy 3 pairs of shoes and blow my nose 50 times. 

Does Zyrtec give anyone else crazy dreams and totally space shot behavior?  Today was really strange, but I ran pretty well so whatever!

What A Week - Takeout and Weight Loss

This week did not go well.  I had to work late most days, only had one day that I could run, and yeah yeah blah blah.  Shit happened.  I did have time to get my hair done - obviously because a girl can't go walking around with bad roots and Lilo length hair.  I love my hair stylist, I love my current salon, I love those flowers sitting on her shelf... I did not like the price of this day of beauty.  You'd think that I was transformed into a super model, but I can assure you that I look only slightly different today.  Luckily, I'm pretty lazy so I won't be back till my hair is way too long and my roots are way too awful.

This little week of hell also included 3 nights of takeout dinners that were not particularly low carb:
1.  A sub shop down the street.  I inhaled a steak tip salad, the insides of half an Italian sub, and a few bites of a Buffalo tender that was way too spicy.
2.  An Italian quick takeaway chain.  Those idiots forgot my entree.  Luckily, we ordered enough food so that even without my entree I still ate mozzarella sticks, meatballs, sausage, tiny bruchetta, and some of Abe's sausage and chicken "mess" with pasta. 
3.  Took a chance on Indian.  I am not even exaggerating when I say it was the best Indian that I've ever had and it was from some nothing special looking place that I've passed by a thousand times and thought it looked sort of bad.  I was totally wrong.  I ate vegetable samosas, kabuli chana, and chicken tikka masala all served with basmati rice.

These meals sound huge, but I barely ate more than a couple bites of lunch on these days...

Why do I share all these gloriously gluttonous meals?  Because it so happens that this week I've hit my goal weight.  I've officially lost 10 pounds since February.  It was really slow going, the pounds really just inched away but the moral of this story is that it can happen if you have the patience.  Just don't give up, I didn't crash diet, I made a decision to cut bad carbs out of my life 90% of the time.  The results are that almost all my pants are loose now, I can wear a fitted shirt and not feel like my belly is protruding, and my face is much less full.  I'm not perfect and I'm sure that I'll be up and down a few pounds as I usually am, but I'm not going to pile back on those 10 pounds because they did not belong on my frame.

Besides the scale, I also feel much better.  I picked up a few good habits along the way:

• My coffee no longer has vanilla soymilk/creamer and sugar in it, I drink it black.   
• I don't buy processed foods like Wheat Thins or Cheez-Its
• We make our own sparkling water with our Soda Streamer

My working out hasn't really been that great these past two weeks since I pulled something in my leg last week and then had to work late this week, so I made the decision to skip my 5K tomorrow.  I don't want to drive all the way over there just to be disappointed with my run, I can do that here just as easily!  In two weeks, I have another race so it's no biggie.  I might try to run in the mornings next week...ahhh!  That is the only way that I could possibly run and work late - I am so not a morning person, this experiment should be interesting.