Leaving on a Jet Plane...

But I do know when I'll be back again!

Tomorrow morning at this time I'll be in the sky somewhere between DC and Minneapolis. I'm so excited for vacation and to not be at work or have to think about work for several weeks. The only plan I have for when I'm gone is to run at least 3 days a week to keep up my stamina and endurance so when I start my official training for the half-marathon in mid-August I'm not completely dying. As I've mentioned before, there's going to be lots of people there so going for a run will be a nice way to get away from everyone and have some alone time. The cabin does have internet so I'll still be reading your blogs (as much as possible...if it comes down to water skiing or reading blogs, I'm sorry but I'll be picking the water skiing) but I'm not going to put any pressure on myself to try and comment while I'm gone.

I just finished reading "Wideacre" by Phillippa Gregory and it is such a good book!! It's the first book in a trilogy so I, of course, bought the other two to read in Canada. I'm trying to decide if I think that will be enough books or if I should pack more. I think I'll just go with those two and if I finish them, I can always buy another book or two in town to make it through the rest of vacation.

I'll "see" you lovely ladies in about 3 1/2 weeks!!! Here's a picture from last year's Canada vacation...it's me, Stephen, and his dad's dog Grace out on the dock.

Only 3 days until vacation!!

Hey everyone!! Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. Tyler was here and then I couldn't get the internet to work at the apartment (when we switch which laptop we have plugged into the modem there's a whole ritual that has to be done and Stephen didn't turn off the modem before he unplugged my laptop so now it won't register his laptop as being plugged in). We had such a great time with Tyler. Tyler is now interested in eating healthy so we talked to him a lot about eating veggies and fruits and not drinking soda, etc. Then Stephen and Tyler left Thursday and I got to be a hermit for the weekend and holed up with my books and movies. It was pure heaven!! I haven't got to do that since last year at this time and I forget how much I need that "alone" time every now and then. I thought about going for a bike ride several times but it has been unbearably hot and I just couldn't make myself go outside if it wasn't necessary. Eating also hasn't been that great but I'm trying to eat up what we have in the apartment and get by without doing a grocery shop.

I have so much more to say but I've got a whole list of things to get done in the next couple of days.

Well, it's almost Friday! Woo-hoo! This is the first 5 day week I've worked in months and it will be the last 5 day week that I work until the end of August. I know, life's rough. Haha. I know I'm lucky to have a job where I get every other Friday off. Tomorrow Stephen's 14 year old brother Tyler is coming to see us!! Stephen and I are both so excited to see him and hang out with him! He's such a cool kid. I love him. Honestly, he's one of my favorite people just because he's laid back and friendly and just an all-around awesome kid to hang out with. We're headed to the beach tomorrow evening once Tyler gets here and we'll be there until Monday. Then Tuesday and Wednesday we've got tours of the US Capitol, Washington Monument, Mount Vernon (George Washington's house), and the White House planned. I'm really excited about the White House tour!! The tickets are very hard to get but Stephen used his connections with a US Senator to score us a tour. Stephen and I neither one have gone a White House tour so it'll be something new to us as well. And then Thursday Stephen and Tyler will go to Canada and I'll have 6 days to myself (well, I'll have to work some of those days)!!

I have to give myself a huge pat on the back...this morning I stopped in at Starbucks to get a skinny vanilla latte (Stephen won a Starbucks gift card at work and since he doesn't drink coffee, he gave it to me!!). There were all these pastries and donuts sitting in the case and they looked so yummy...I really wanted to get one. But I kept reminding myself about the oatmeal I had packed to eat and it wasn't easy but I resisted the temptation of the Starbucks pastries!! Yeah!! Go me!!

Today's Plan:
Activity: Run at lunch
Breakfast: Oatmeal with banana, cinnamon, flax seed, brown sugar, and peanut butter
Snack: Mango with strawberries and blueberries, maybe a Clif Z bar?
Lunch: Leftover ham risotto with snap peas
Dinner: 1/2 pork chop, 1/2 steak, green beans (we're trying to use up all the meat in the freezer before we're gone on vacation and we've got only one pork chop left so we'll BBQ the remaining pork chop and 1 of our steaks and then split both between us)

Win Some Books!!

Would you like to win some free books?? I would. That's why I entered this contest. If you enter, then you could win 14 books!

Only 2 days until the beach!

I ran yesterday for 5.5 miles (well, I walked portions of it but ran the majority) and since I run on the National Mall there's all these trees and grass. I always see people stretching under the trees and just enjoying nature. I've always wanted to stop and stretch under the trees at the end of my run but usually I'm hungry or hot and just want to be back inside. I've been horrible lately about not stretching after running. Bad, I know. I don't like stretching in front of my office building because there's no shade and it's all concrete plus I don't like people I work with to see me in my sweaty running clothes. And the locker room is too small to stretch in. Well, yesterday I stopped and stretched in the grassy shade on the Mall and then walked the rest of the way back to my office (about a tenth of a mile) as a cool down. My muscles felt so much looser from stretching. Why haven't I been doing this??

It's very dark and stormy looking outside (what I can see by looking across the hall and through that person's window). I'm not sure I'll get a run or walk in today. I'll have to see what the weather's doing but if it's not raining too much I plan on doing just a walk today to let my muscles rest a little bit. I also want to do some yoga tonight and should be able to do at least 15 minutes. I'm trying to be better about taking more days off from running and only aiming for 4 days of running a week with a couple of other cross-train or walking days thrown in.

Just another hot and humid day

I was so excited to get back to running yesterday. I did 3.5 miles and it felt amazing!! It was pretty hot and humid out there and today it's supposed to be even worse...I'll definitely be wearing my hydration belt.

On a completely non-weight loss related note, my sister found out yesterday that she has Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). She's been trying to get pregnant for about a year now and when she went off her birth control, she wasn't getting her periods anymore. Anyways, long story but she wasn't ovulating and they are now doing a bunch of tests to figure out why she isn't ovulating. Yesterday during her ultrasound they found a "pearl necklace"--cysts on her ovaries in a big circle. She seemed upbeat yesterday when I talked to her...I think she's glad to finally know what exactly is wrong. They're still running more tests before they come up with a plan of how to get her pregnant. I was doing some reading yesterday about PCOS and since my sister has PCOS, I'm 50% more likely to have PCOS as well. Not that I'm trying to get pregnant at all right now and I'm not sure I even want kids but I want to at least have the option available to me if I do decide to have kids. Anyways, that's putting the cart miles ahead of the horse. PCOS is caused by hormone imbalances and women with PCOS tend to have a hard time losing weight. This makes me wonder about how hard it's been for me to lose weight over the last few months. I haven't been perfect eating and exercise wise but even when I'm near perfect, the weight seems to stick around. Another symptom of PCOS is depression and I had a flare up of my depression a few months ago. Definitely some concerns I'm going to bring up with my gyno in mid-August when I go in for my annual appointment.

Back to Running!

Sorry I was MIA there for several days. Choosing not to count calories and not running leaves me with very little to talk about. Today I get to go running though!! Yea!! I'm excited. I've missed getting in that exercise every day. I agree with Sara that I need to be doing more cross-training but running is easy for me to plan on doing. When I get back from vacation and start training for my half-marathon, I'll have to incorporate cross-training and strength workouts.

My 4th of July was good. We had planned on coming into DC to watch the fireworks but it was raining/storming so we decided we'd rather stay home where it was nice and dry. We could see part of the fireworks from our balcony anyways. I'm a little ADD when it comes to fireworks...I like the first 5 minutes but then I get bored.

We did find out that Stephen's aunt and her family will be leaving the cabin a week before we leave so we'll have some time on vacation where there aren't 10 people there. Stephen and I will have the cabin to ourselves for 3 days and then his dad will be there with us for the remaining 4 days. That makes me feel so much better about our vacation.

And have I mentioned lately how excited I am to get some alone time starting next Thursday?? I'm so ready for Stephen to leave! That sounds like I don't like him at all. I was just thinking this weekend how much fun the two of us have hanging out and doing our things. But I'm ready for some Marissa time. Stephen's 14 year old brother comes in on Friday and we'll head to the beach for a few days and do some DC sightseeing and then they'll head to Canada and I'll be by myself. I'm sure I'll enjoy the first couple of days and then I'll start missing Stephen like crazy.

Listening to My Body

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and I realized that I don't listen to my body very well. Sometimes my body is screaming at me to do or not do something and I just don't listen. The only goal I'm giving myself for July is to listen to my body. It will tell me what I need or don't need if I just listen.

I've decided to not count calories for a while. I realized the other day that I was eating just because I had calories left over and not eating because I was hungry. In order to have a healthy relationship with food, I need to step away from the numbers for a bit and learn how to listen to what my body is telling me it needs. I suspect that I'll go back to counting calories eventually but for right now, I need to focus on listening to my body. The only "rule" I'm giving myself is that I can eat when I'm hungry but I must eat slowly and enjoy my food and stop when I'm full.

The last few times I've been running, my knees and joints hurt like crazy. It's not a soreness in my muscles, it's an ache in my joints. As much as I love to run, my body is telling me it needs a break from running. For the rest of this week...no running for me. I can go for a walk at lunch instead of a run, but no running!! I will have to be strict with myself about this. Next Monday I can start running again. Once I started thinking about it, I've been putting in 25 or more miles a week running and I haven't taken longer than 3 days off from running in months. My joints just need a bit of a break.

Today's Plan:
Activity: Walk (don't run) at lunch
Breakfast: English muffin with cinnamon raisin PB, pineapple, banana, 12 oz skim milk with 1 Tbsp low sugar chocolate syrup
Snack: 1/2 mango, 1/2 peach, berries
Lunch: Kashi crackers, Greek yogurt, Salad with honey mustard dressing, beans, hard boiled egg, spinach, red peppers, carrots, tomatoes, and cukes
Dinner: Chicken pesto pizza, Salad