Run, Eat, Date, Sleep

If you run, you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.” –John Bingham
Just thought that was an appropriate quote seeing as how I’m 5 days from my first half-marathon.

Today’s been such a weird, tough day that I almost didn’t want to blog tonight, but writing helps relieve stress, right? We finally had to let someone go at work, and she didn’t exactly take it well. So there was drama this morning. But the good thing is… I got to take her laptop

So this means I get to cross off half of #30 on my 100 in 1001 list! But now comes the time-consuming project of transferring all of my files on to this new computer.

I haven’t talked about my intuitive eating for a bit, so let’s discuss. By being more in tune to my hunger and what my body needs, I’ve consciously thought about everything I’ve eaten in the last week. When I was simply eating and tracking calories, I was eating just to eat but not really listening to what my body wanted. I think it’s gone really well. I have found I’m hungrier a lot more than I thought I was, and I’m hoping this means my metabolism is moving faster. I’m so hangry all.the.time, I’m starting to annoy myself.

Tomorrow is “measurement day”. Every 30 days, I take my measurements, and I will try to post them on here. I think it’s been a while since I’ve actually done that.

On another note, I’m going to start making a conscious effort to be less negative. I’ve become a complainer, and I tend to see the bad things in people. But I’m going to try my hardest from here on out to be a more positive, happy person

I’ve come to the conclusion, my taper time has made my blog rather boring, so here’s 25 random facts about me… enjoy!

1. I have natural curly, black hair. As you can tell from my picture, I don’t like my curly, black hair.
2. I was a Disney World cast member for 3 years, on and off. The magic is pretty much almost gone.
3. I’ve never had a cavity, and I’ve never had to wear braces.
4. I won first place in the Coast Day essay contest for my ideas regarding preventing beach erosion in the 5th grade. Glad to see they finally implemented my ideas 15 years later.
5. I’ve only had 2 pets in my life- 2 cats, Biscuit and Ezra
6. I’m anal retentive about one thing- reconciling my check book to the penny.
7. I’m on a mission to read 50 books this year. I’m on book #1… Haha.. But I read several books at one time, so I don’t finish them very quickly
8. I love lamp.
9. I ran my first 5K since high school in May 2008 and placed second in my age group.
10. I refuse to watch TV when the show is actually on. I only watch things on my DVR so I can fast forward through the commercials.
11. I hate the radio. I listen for music not the talking.
12. I’ve broken 2 bones- my wrist when I was 8 while rollerskating at church and my middle toe when I was a senior in high school while dancing in the kitchen.
13. I would give my left arm to go back to high school, and my right to go back to college for just one day. It’s a good thing I can’t, because then I wouldn’t have any arms.
14. I wish I would have joined a sorority in college.
15. Growing up I hated potatoes. Now, they’re my favorite food.
16. I’ve seen every episode of Sex and the City and Grey’s Anatomy.
17. I can’t stand pro football. I’ll only watch it with you if you’re hot and want to cuddle.
18. I don’t have any tattoos, but I’ll get one when I run my first marathon.
19. I’ve been in one major car accident.
20. My secret single behavior (like they talked about on Sex and the City)- I sometimes treat myself to a candlelit dinner all by myself.
21. I’m Agnostic.
22. I’ve lived in 4 states (Maryland, Delaware, Florida, and Pennsylvania), and I don’t think I’ve ever truly felt “at home” anywhere.
23. I could watch “The Day After Tomorrow” and “Shawshank Redemption” until the end of time.
24. I’d rather listen to live music in a brew pub and sip good beer than bar hop and get wasted.
25. I wish I would have gotten a degree in something else besides Hotel & Restaurant Management. Maybe medicine instead.

Now you know a little bit about me

Time to go to bed and de-stress. I was supposed to do dishes tonight, but I can’t bring myself to do anything!

3 days until I leave for Disney World!

With only 8 days left to go before I leave for Disney World for “Tiarathon”, I’m feeling rather stressed. I never like to leave work for too many days. The place can’t survive without me, ok? For a while, I was very stressed I couldn’t find my free Disney tickets. I almost lost it last night and literally cried because I couldn’t find them. There’s just no way I can fit park tickets in to the budget right now.

But I found them!!!

They were in a bedside drawer for some unknown reason.

I gave my mom her own copy of the race information, and she’s been making out a schedule for us so I can get to the expo and race on time, as well as attend the blogger meet-up and pasta dinner on Saturday. We’re also checking out office space in Celebration next Friday. Woohoo!

But a big thing that’s stressing me is that I need to make a big decision at work.. [the rest of this has been deleted]

Today’s a rest day for me, so I’m very excited knowing I can go home and just lounge on my huge, fluffy sectional and just read blogs and watch American Idol all night!

As far as intuitive eating goes today, I’ve been feeling full all day, so I haven’t really eaten much. I brought a veggie burger bagel sandwich for lunch, but I didn’t feel like having the veggie burger, so I toasted the bagel and put some margarine and jelly on it instead. Totally hit the spot. And I had a cup of chick peas for my 11am snack. Delicious! And for my 3:30 snack, I’m munching on chick peas again. This morning’s breakfast was a Green Monster made with:

2 handfuls fresh spinach

1 scoopy chocolate protein powder

1 tbsp. flax seed

1 cup soy milk

1 banana

2 tbsp. Amaretto coffee creamer

ice

The Amaretto coffee creamer, although not that healthy, gave it a nice kick and made it taste like a dessert. Delicious! And if you’re all wondering about the spinach in Green Monsters, you can’t taste it at all!

Tonight’s dinner will probably be Amy’s Kitchen Pesto Tortellii with a spinach salad. Mmmm.

Time to get back to work and try to destress.

So I’ve decided to join Me So Hongry’s “Cute as  Bunny” Easter Challenge. Here’s the details:

• The challenge starts Monday, February 15, 2010 and ends Monday, April 5, 2010 (7 weeks). (ok, so I’m 2 days late. I like to arrive fashionably late to everything, why stop now?)
• According to Weight Watchers (WW) healthy weight loss constitutes losing 1-2 pounds a week, so all participant should strive to lose 1 pound weekly…7 lbs. in 7weeks (7/7). If you lose your 7 before the end of the challenge…KEEP GOING!
• Every week, each participant must set a mini-goal. For example, my mini-goal next week…TRACK EVERYDAY! If you meet your mini-goal,  report your accomplishment on your blog.
• If you choose to participate, please write a brief blurb about the challenge and post on your blog. Link the post back to my blog.

Ok, so mini goal? Hmmmm…. I need to start drinking more water!!! So my goal this week is to drink 3 of these suckers every day.

Ok, back to my hectic work day. Breathe in, breathe out. I feel like screaming!

ETA- I should add that I’m starting off this challenge today at 177.2 pounds.

I really haven’t talked about my recent and past relationships on here, even though part of my blog title is “date”. But, here goes a little bit of it.

I dated Jeff for about 4 and a half years. We endured a 2-year long distance relationship and a 2-year somewhat long distance relationship before he moved to Colorado and I moved to Delaware. After spending a few months of him living in Colorado, we ended things. It was a long time coming, but I was severely heart broken. He was the man I was going to marry. I thought for sure he was “the one”. I spent every night for about a month in the fetal position in my shower as the water poured over me as I sobbed for hours no matter how cold the water had gotten. It’s been almost 2 years since our break-up, and we’ve actually developed quite the friendship. I just got off the phone with him, and it was one of the best calls I’ve had with him. We were hysterically laughing together over something really silly but would only be funny to us.

This made me realize that no matter how bad you ever think life is right now, it will get better. You’ll find something that will eventually make you smile. You won’t forget about what made life rough, but you’ll get through it. And it may take months or even years to realize it, but I’ve found that my rough spots are usually blessings. And in the case with Jeff, I often think about what would have been had we stayed together and I sometimes think that no one will ever measure up, but I know that our break-up was probably one of the best things to ever happen to me.

So with that said, I may need to come back to this post and re-read it often after I leave Delaware.

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On to other things, today was another really good day at work, despite the fact I put in a 10-hour day with no lunch break. Luckily, we’re really busy, which is reaaaalllly good for being a small town mortgage company right now. Don’t I look busy? Two computers and files everywhere!!!

Hard at work or hardly working?

I started the day off with a whole grain English muffin with PB Loco Dark Chocolate peanut butter… mmmm.

And I ended the day with chips, salsa, and guac! This Newman’s Own Peach Salsa is the most amazing salsa I’ve ever had. But the guac just wasn’t appealing to me. I usually get Wholly Guacamole, but the grocery store only had this stuff. It was missing something!

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My mom was looking at plane tickets for me today to go down to Florida for my mortgage broker classes, and she said “we” like she was going, and I snapped back “we?” I told her I thought it was just going to be me. This whole moving thing is for me, but I shouldn’t have said I didn’t want her to come along. I feel bad now   I’ll tell her tomorrow I want her to come along, but I still feel bad. Bad daughter! But I’m really looking forward to her coming along with me for the Disney Princess race. I’m hoping it made her feel good that I wanted her there to take care of me if I am injured, crying, and/or pooping/puking all over myself after the race. That’s what moms are for, right?

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My friend, Julie, had some questions for you all. First, how do you get in the habit of taking pictures and uploading them to your blog every day? She’d like to spice up her blog with pictures, so give her some ideas! Also, if you have a blog yourself, which do you prefer- WordPress or Blogger? What are the advantages and disadvantages of both?

It was soooo wonderful to be back to the daily grind today! I felt really productive and organized today at work. I didn’t allow myself to read too many blogs or gossip too much during the day

I started my day off with a Green Monster… well, mine was a little blue thanks to a full cup of fresh blueberries!

In my Green Monster:

1 cup blueberries

1 tbsp. flax seed

Chobani Honey Greek Yogurt

1 scoop Arbonne protein

ice

For about 350 calories, I was full until about 1pm. Love it!

I told my ex about the Green Monster phenomenon, and he said “I’m so proud of you for being so healthy.”

Around 5:30, I got a call from one of my clients who wanted to meet with me right then to go over paperwork. So I drove a half hour (in the opposite direction of my house) to meet them. At first, I was disappointed because I would have to miss out on my scheduled run at the gym. But the more I thought about it, I decided it was the best thing for me (financially) to meet them. I figured it out that I could drive there to meet them and still make it to the gym by 8 and still run 5 miles before they closed.

And I did it! You see that? I ran on the treadmill for 5 miles. I knew I had to break it up more in intervals if I was going to last, so I did 5 minute running intervals with 1 minute walk breaks. I completed it in 58:32, an 11:42 pace. Slower than I would like, but oh well. I feel amazing that I got some good mileage in!

And my sweaty proof picture, inspired by PriorFatGirl.

And before I go, I’d like to introduce you to some of my “real life” friends who are now blogging.

Jules Road to In Shape Julie and I ran cross country together in high school, and she’s now training for her first half-marathon too!

How Mama Got A New Body Kati and I were pretty close in middle school and high school. She just recently gave birth to a beautiful little boy and is now on the road to losing weight!

To Dance with a Kiwi Sarah was one of my very first friends when I moved to a new town.

All three of them are working hard towards losing weight, and I’m sure they’d love some motivation and inspiration from all of you So go check them out!

18 days until I leave for Disney World!

Speaking of Disney, I just ordered some things from Athleta for my race day outfit.

I actually haven’t run with a hat, but I run at night usually. So a hat will help with the sun and sunburn I’m very excited about my purchases! Now I just need to get my shoes and get them ready for the race!

Ok time for bed! It’s already after midnight! Shwoo!

So I set my alarm all kinds of early last night in the hopes I’d wake up and actually make it to work on time. I even wanted to stop at the grocery store to pick up Larabars and something to drink at work. Well, the alarm went off at 6:20. I turned it off. Went off again at 7. Off. Then it went off again every 10 minutes after that. I finally told myself at 7:40 “be lucky you have legs and CAN get out of bed”, so that’s what did me in.

I, of course, stumbled in to work around 10:15. Thank goodness I work for family, because otherwise, I would have been fired a long time ago. Well, before I look like a total lazy butt, I must say I do stay late on most days until 7 or so. So, it balances out. I think.

And when I get here, I find myself catching up with Google Reader. Then I start looking at homes to rent in Florida. Then I gossip with one of the girls I work with. I did work a little, but I’m now I’m looking at the clock, and I only have an hour to get everything done. I need to give up my procrastination skills and trade them in for some work ethics, apparently.

So with all of the yucky white stuff on the ground, I’m headed to the gym tonight to put some miles in on the dreadmill. Oh, how I loathe thee. But speaking of the gym, my good bloggy friend Caren has entered a really cool competition at her Y. Each person involved puts in $5 into the pot, and they all must complete a triathalon (26.2 miles running, 2.4 miles swimming, and 112 miles biking) in however long it takes them, and whoever completes that first wins the pot. How cool is that?! I’m totally bringing it up the next time I see the athletic director at my Y. That would definitely make me spend A LOT of time at the gym!

Ok, time to hit the load of work on my desk! I’ll be back later to post about my dreadmill run.