Jogging Secrets

Ah, running in the wild...

I have discovered that the secret to running to is have your Husband (or a friend) drive you your designated distance from home and drop you off on the side of the road with an I-pod.

Get.

Go.

Skat.

Because what choice do you have? You have to get home somehow, right?

The problem with an out-and-back run is that it is too easy to turn around sooner than you really should. This problem is solved with the get-dumped-on-the-side-of-the-road method. And–your run is simply more interesting.

No repeat scenery.

Yesterday I finally made the leap from a three-mile route to a four-mile route…and the transition went very well. I had a good time. It was a gorgeous afternoon as I trotted along the Trinity River, which was spectacular. I even made it up a BIG honking hill, hot on the heals of some poor unsuspecting cyclist who was also struggling to make it to the top. I think I did a pretty good job keeping the pressure on.

Give it a go. Let me know what you think!

Image via Wikipedia

Running in the Rain

It's been a wet winter!

This is my 100th post.

Time has just been flying by since I started this blog in June. I am sure you can relate.

Do you ever wake up in the morning and think, “How did I get here?” Not “How did I get here?” But “How did I get here?”

Amazing.

I’ve lost a whole whopping two pounds over the course of one hundred blog posts. That has to be a world record for something.

Anyway, I plan on compiling a top-ten list of some of my favorite older posts from the past six months soon. In the meantime, you’re stuck with this.

On another note, I went to the doctor’s office this morning to get a flu shot. When they weighed me, I thought of this old post. I hate getting weighed at the doctor’s office. Their scale always reads a higher number than mine.

I did, however, finally get off my punk booty and go running yesterday–in the rain. It was quite nice, actually. If I can manage to bust out my 2,000 words for the day on The Novel, I might actually have time to sneak in another jog before I head to the coast later this afternoon for the last of the holiday shopping and friend A’s art opening.

Image by otomatuah via Flickr

Weight Watchers is Making Me Fat

I feel like this woman's hair looks

I actually tracked every single stupid little Weight Watchers point last week for their new Points Plus program…which in and of itself was a small miracle.

I went five points over…also a small miracle…especially considering I really didn’t exercise at all…very suspicious. I didn’t starve either.

But…I gained…1.5 pounds, which is my official weekly result for the Countdown to Christmas weigh-in.

Total nightmare.

I’m still depressed about it. On Monday, I was so blue that I ate an entire Green & Blacks chocolate toffee bar, and those babies aren’t low cal. I’m in a funk…feeling despair…had to fight off the urge to order a pizza last night.

Because I can’t even remember the last time I actually let myself eat real pizza.

It was a long time ago.

Meanwhile, I haven’t logged on to Weight Watchers since Sunday when I added up all my points…and I still haven’t exercised. The last couple of days were nuts at work and of course I slept poorly last night.

I have the next few days off to pull myself back together and give it another go.

Here’s to try, try, and try again. Or so I am telling myself.

Photo source Image by freeparking via Flickr

Pomegranate Lemondrops

Add vodka and lemon...then enjoy!

I am a seasonal drinker—meaning I like to use seasonal fruits and ingredients in my cocktails whenever possible. This time of year, the local pomegranates are glorious, and I’ve rarely met a lemon drop I didn’t like.

My own personal recipe:

(Warning: I am not much of a measurer, so feel free to adjust to taste…)

In your cocktail shaker:

• Muddle seeds of ½ fresh pomegranate.
• Add two shots of vodka.
• Add another shot of lemoncello.
• Squeeze in the juice of at least one lemon.
• Add a few tablespoons of simple syrup (one part sugar dissolved in four parts water).
• For fizzy bubbles, add a splash of club soda.
• Fill rest of shaker with ice and give a good shake, shake, shake (this is part of my calorie neutralization plan).
• Pour. The seed pulp will pretty much stay in the shaker.

Enjoy!

Photo source Image via Wikipedia

The Bet No One Won

Sniff sniff

December 1^st has come and gone. That was the date Husband and I had bet on earlier in the summer when December felt like an eternity away. My challenge was to lose fifteen pounds. His was to lose thirty. The first one to lose the weight and keep it off until December 1^st had to take the other on a weekend getaway.

I really wanted to win.

I really wanted to go to Vegas and bask by an oversized pool in the sun, reading and people watching…sipping overpriced cocktails.

We both lost.

We’re still wobbly and jiggly in all the same places.

No weekend getaways for us.

No Vegas.

I knew this was coming when I conceded a while back. The simple math told me in late October that there was no human way to lose fifteen pounds in a month. At least not a healthy way to do it.

Either way, the failure warrants mourning—if ever so briefly.

Photo source Image via Wikipedia

Busy Days

Somehow I feel like I can relate

It has been a crazy week. Work was just nutso, and I didn’t even get time for a lunch break. When I wasn’t working, I got completely sucked into life’s other obligations, leaving little time for me.

I’m starting to feel like a selfish person.

Or like I need to become a selfish person.

I’m not yet sure which.

By the time I got home late last night from a journey down the mountain to civilization, it was all I could do to light a fire and put away the groceries before collapsing on the couch to enjoy an entire disk of Friday Night Lights—the new series I’ve been hooked on.

I believe I was remiss in reporting my progress on the Countdown to Christmas Challenge. After five weeks, I am proud to report that I lost half a pound.

Thank god.

This was also the first full week of the new Weight Watchers point system. I wasn’t able to log on and track my points each day, but I did manage to keep track of what I ate in my Moleskin wellness journal. (I have been trying to get more use out of that thing given I have been hauling it around in my purse all these months…and, honey, it ain’t light as a feather either…).

I wasn’t a saint eater this week. My biggest hit came at a potluck Thursday night…where I just couldn’t resist the peanut dip and the chocolate cake. Whoops. When it was all said and done, I’ll be a mere three points in the hole at the end of the week. I find this to be a small miracle, given I have barely managed to even exercise this week. I haven’t even taken a walk since Monday, and my only other exercise this week was a yoga class.

I’m curious to see if I actually have lost weight when I weigh in tomorrow morning, even though I have (so far) stayed within my Weight Watchers point allotment for the week.

 

Photo source Image by Just B Cuz via Flickr

On the New Weight Watchers Point System

Oh yeah baby

For anyone who follows Weight Watchers, they launched a new point system today called Points Plus. I have been dabbling in Weight Watchers for several years and have dutifully been paying my monthly fee for Weight Watches Online (I live in the middle of nowhere and AM NOT driving an hour plus to go to a meeting…) since January or so this year despite the fact that I have only managed to lose a few pounds…All. Year. Long.

I think that makes me a loyal customer.

I also think it means I am crappy at losing weight.

Horribly miserably crappy.

I have philosophized on my Weight Watchers trauma before and was constantly torn on how to best allocate my measly 18 points per day—always trying to decide: do I eat food or do I skip food and have a margarita for dinner? There were never enough points for both.

The new Weight Watchers system seems similar enough to the old, but, for me, the big difference is that fruit is now zero points.

This is huge.

Huge.

I eat a lot of fruit and would easily burn at least three to four points per day on fruit alone, which was brutal.

The other big difference in the new Weight Watchers point system is that I now get 29 points each day instead of a meager 18. Plus there are more flex points allocated each week to be used whenever.

Also huge.

My old food seems to be worth a bit more, but I feel like I still come out head…or at least today anyway. I actually have enough points remaining for a glass of wine.

And that never happened before.

NEVER.

I’m almost a little dubious Points Plus will work…it almost seems too easy. Or, on the upside, maybe it means I will be successful for once.

 

P.S. As luck would have it, the bottle of wine I randomly decided to open of course sucks. Not even worth the four lousy points.

Photo source Image via Wikipedia

Just What Planet Am I On?

Just which planet am I on?

Life is whirling by like space trash in orbit. Although I did manage to clip back a few cosmos and dahlias earlier this afternoon, wilted by the recent cold snap. I tried to take full advantage of the blip of sun that graced my yard, planting the iris bulbs generously gifted to me by my mother-in-law and stacking seven wheelbarrows full of firewood.

Exercise

My Trinidad to Clam Beach training has gone largely by the wayside the past two weeks. I partly blame the crap weather and partly blame Thanksgiving chaos. I did manage to get a few miles in on Thanksgiving itself, but I have only been running once a week at best. The gold stars on my refrigerator are not amassing very quickly. It’s time to recommit and generally quit being a wimp. What’s a little rain and cold gonna hurt?

Diet

I haven’t tracked my points on Weight Watchers in weeks…and I didn’t even know Weight Watchers is switching to an entire new point system tomorrow until I read Scale Warfare’s blog a few days ago. What planet have I been on??? I guess tomorrow is as good a time as it’s gonna get to start fresh. At least I made it through Thanksgiving with only a half pound gain. I’d really like to finally actualize some success on the weight loss front. I feel like I’ve been dieting for the entire year but only have a 4.5 pound loss to show from my high in January.

Not very satisfying.

The Novel

The novel, on the other hand, is proceeding with much more success. I don’t yet know if it’s any good, but I am well past the half-way mark, narrowing down on the final twenty thousand words—just ten or so more days of writing until I have my first rough draft. I don’t know if I will swing the 50,000 word deadline on Wednesday for National Novel Writing Month, but if I miss, it’ll be just barely. I’ve made writing a priority the past few weeks—coming in well above exercise—and it’s paid off.

Having two or three days off a week for the past little bit has been absolutely amazing. I have two weeks of part-time work left before I have to return to my usual five-day stints.

I’m trying not to think about it yet.

Photo source Image via Wikipedia

Thanksgiving Recovery

Salmon Spawning

It’s just now hitting me that it’s winter time. Thanksgiving has, amazingly, come and gone. While I indulged, I don’t think I over-indulged.

At least I hope not.

I didn’t eat until I wanted to pop.

And, as promised, I stuck to just two pieces of pie total over the weekend. Although there is one last slice in the fridge. But I’m not going to eat it. There’s some stuffing and turkey left, too, but otherwise the leftovers are gone—packed out the door in the plastic storage containers of visiting family members.

I have to admit, given all the business of cooking and cleaning and washing dishes and more cooking, I’m not sure I really got a chance to give thanks. I mean, I said my thanks at the dinner table—albeit very briefly (my mother was anxious to get eating and less interested in all the touchy feely stuff)—but I never really got a moment to reflect and be simply be grateful.

I am grateful, though.

For my health.

And my family.

And all my wonderful friends.

And this beautiful little nook in the world that I am fortunate enough to get to live in.

And for getting to watch the salmon spawn in Cedar Creek yesterday. That’s always cool.

Better late than never.

Photo source

Preparing for Thanksgiving

Oh yeah baby!

I suppose it goes without saying that it is the day before Thanksgiving.

It is also the day to weigh in for the Countdown to Christmas Challenge. I was supposed to lose a pound. I stayed the same.

Again.

No gain. No loss. I am just praying to make it through Thanksgiving without gaining any weight. That will be a success in and of itself.

I am bit groggy this morning because I stayed up past midnight knitting a hat for my brother-in-law, but I have this sinking feeling it came out too big…which means I get to do it all over again tonight. Sigh. He’ll never know just how much love (and time) went into that darned plain ol’ ordinary grey hat, assuming I actually finish knitting it.

The cavalry arrives tonight. I’m making fish tacos to finally deal with our over-abundance of cabbage still remaining from the garden. And Husband has the chest freezer stocked full of fish from one of his ocean-going hunting and gathering adventures. This means I only have to buy tortillas, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, and limes for the pico de gallo.Definitely a cheap way to feed a bunch of people.

The turkey’s thawing in the fridge. I actually remembered to do that this year, so that’s a leg up. I’m also planning on making my pate brisse tonight…one less thing to do in the morning. Thanksgiving is one of a handful of days when I wish I had a double oven. It’s also such a juggling act to bake pies and other baked recipes when the turkey is hogging the entire oven. I think I’ll bake pies first thing in the morning, then the turkey, and finally some stuffing and the like.

Happy almost Thanksgiving!

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