Road to Ragnar '12: Week 2 Wrap Up

Mild delay in getting my weekly training summary up. Busy weekend and Monday. But I'm happy to report that I completed all of my "assignments"... so I'm really trying to stay on top of things.

Here's how it went:

Monday: ran 3 miles, av 9:03 pace at 5:45 in the morning. It was basically an awful run. I had gorged at a Mexican restaurant the night before and just felt totally AWFUL. Reminded me of why eating 10 pounds of food including alcohol is such a mistake. It seems like a good idea at the time, but the moment you're walking out to your car you KNOW you've been bad and will pay dearly. Sure enough, rolling out of bed at 5:30 in the morning to run after you've eaten the equivalent of an elephant's portion is TRAUMATIC. But... I forced myself to do it and that's what counts.

Tuesday: woke up to pouring rain and just rolled back over and shut my eyes. When the rugrats made it onto the bus I fired up the treadmill and ran a 4 mile tempo. Paces at the mile splits were 9:13/8:46/8:23/7:41. I didn't feel nauseous like I usually do on that ratwheel. Small victories.

Wednesday: woke up at 5:45 and pulled out a fast (for me) 3 miler, with a av pace of 7:58. I don't think I've ever run a sub 8:00 mile in training... ever. Don't know what happened there or why. But I like it. Later, I jogged a 1.5 miler with my neighbor at an av pace of 9:05, then we jumped on our bikes and headed out for a quick 8 miles.

Thursday: Another early morning 4 miler, av pace 8:29. I was super happy with the pace because it didn't feel that fast when it was happening. There are just days that your body doesn't feel comfy. Later I went on a solo 8 mile bike ride... was feeling a bit nervous about the cycling group trip and thought it would "warm up" the muscles for tomorrow.

Friday: woke up and felt waaaaaaay crazy tired. But I pulled out 3 miles with an average pace of 8:14. At 8:30 am I met the cycling group and  we did a little over 27 miles. I'm still struggling. It didn't help that it was ridiculously windy that day. There was one point at about mile 20 where I seriously could have quit. Had I not been with other people, I would have stopped. I got that desperate "I'm just so tired I need a break" panicky feeling. But it's amazing what your body can overcome if you tell your mind to stop it's moaning and groaning. I didn't stop, and while I'm still slower, I made it back to the car alive. After the ride I met some friends for lunch and had my first-ever Bloody Mary. Everyone was in shock that I'm forty two years old and never had one before. Tomato juice and Tabasco in a drink sounded so horrifically gross (not to mention the BLOOD reference in the drink's name) but peer pressure got the best of me so I just ordered it. Hmmmm. Wasn't bad. Kind of like the spicy, tangy taste. But I didn't finish it. Got the call that my Man was at home puking his guts out with food poisoning and felt too guilty hanging out throwing back Bloody Marys so I went home with Gatorade in tow. Good thing too. I only finished half that drink and felt a bit woozy. Maybe should have hydrated more after the bike ride.

Saturday: the Man had a rough night, but was better in the morning. I prayed and prayed and prayed it was NOT a stomach virus waiting to be spread to the rest of us. Drove up to Richmond and sat on my butt all day watching my rugrat play volleyball. No exercise except for loud cheering and walking to the concession booth. What do you know? The Convention Center supports vegetarianism... offered veggie wraps and veggie burgers all for a bargain (?) at $7 apiece. The girls won a gold medal. It was a long day but since I love watching volleyball it's hard to complain about it.

Sunday: our 17th wedding anniversary. Started it off with a 6 miler in the neighborhood, av. 8:23 pace. Again, my pace kind of pleasantly surprised me. Hoping that when I officially start speedwork on the track once school lets out it might even get better. The weather turned awful as the day went on. By the time we were ready to go out for dinner and a romp around Norfolk and Old Town Portsmouth, the rain was coming down like crazy. Such a disappointment... we were looking forward to walking around and taking the Elizabeth River ferry. Hmf. 

Still had to whip out my cell phone and snap some "arty" shots of our evening. I swear my Man thinks I am a loser when I document our lives with Instagram. Even better, I found an app called Snapseed that allows me to really be extra-nerdy and edit the fool out of photos and make them look even more "vintage":

Walking through Old Town Portsmouth in the rain.

Our first stop: the Bier Garden. 

Cute little lamp at our table.

A beer toast to 17 years. My beer was way too fruity and sweet... more like cider. Wouldn't order again.

This was the main destination of the evening: a quaint tapas restaurant, that used to be a speakeasy.

Very atmospheric table. Cool menus and candlelight.

As we walked back to the car, snapped a pic of a stained glass window aglow.

So... the theme of the week is that I need to get away from alcohol. Last Sunday, it was a big margarita and tons of food. On Friday it was a Bloody Mary. On Sunday it was fruity beer and a cocktail called a "Tangerine Burst" followed by yet ANOTHER beer. Eeek! Needless to say I felt near illness by the time we made it home, and felt miserable Monday morning and couldn't manage my morning run (my first skipped run since starting the training plan). My body is telling me something bold and clear: NO MORE... the stuff is toxic (especially the liquor stuff)! It makes you feel sleepy, then it makes you feel yucky! Hellooooooooo McFly! Time to get real.

In other news, my friend Shannon completed an Olympic distance triathlon in Hawaii for Team in Training this past weekend... while pregnant. Here I am scared about doing a sprint distance and I'm not incubating a little human. Heck, when I was pregnant the only running I did was to the toilet/trash can/curbside to puke. I was miserable and so fatigued I cannot fathom completing a triathlon in that state. Yet, people who are going through chemotherapy or are missing legs are completing marathons and Ironmans.

Seriously, what is my excuse?

Still Can't Ride a Bike...

Not so much in a writing mood these days. What can I say?

Just a few brief updates:

1. I'm still a vegetarian.

I don't know how exactly, but I am. I have not cheated and indulged in roasted flesh. I've lost count of how many weeks now. The best I can say is that I've been through two book club meetings now without eating meat, so I must be a little over eight weeks now. It's so funny that I have been successful on this front because I seriously could have never imagined that I would last this long. It's been so much easier than I ever expected, and that's saying a lot because I really do like the taste of meat. I had a dream the other night that I just had to give in and so I ate some beef... but when I picked it up it was basically raw and dripping with blood and I had the urge to hurl right there, in my dream. Needless to say I woke up and craved oatmeal and a banana, not roast beef or a nicely grilled steak.
The other odd thing is that I don't exactly have a long term plan with this. I mostly embarked on this territory to see if a) I felt healthier, and b) I ran faster (the No Meat Athlete blogger seemed to convince me I would qualify for the Boston Marathon if I became veggie, you see). So on a lot of days I kind of think I will go back to meat one day... that this is just an experiment. But then the change seemed so seamless and natural that I wonder whether it really is my destiny to forgo meat forever. I have noticed two big things that has me mostly convinced: 1) I am eating more veggies out of necessity and that could only be a good thing, and 2) somehow I am running faster on average... whether this is due to diet change or structured training, I am not sure. So my experiment continues...

2. I still suck at cycling.


Went on my third cycling trip with the group that has adopted me this morning. On the good side, I did NOT wipe out and am actually getting used to those freaky clip on shoes. On the bad side, it was crazy windy today and that certainly did NOT help my efforts to keep up. It drives me insane, because in my mind I am strong and capable... but you put me on a road bike and I am a fish out of water. One day I will seriously have to sit down and read about the whole "when and how to shift your gears" bit because I really have no clue. And I'm too embarrassed and proud to ask everyone stupid questions during our ride. I just pedal my a$$ off while whilly-nilly shifting gears, and hope to the Lord above I don't lose them. Sometimes I keep up, and can get up to 19-20 mph. But then I fall behind and get as low as 15 mph. When you average me out I am a "C' rider... the lowest of the low. Basically, I suck, but I will try to remain positive. I haven't been dumped by the group yet, and they keep saying I'll get better. I want to believe them, and so I keep showing up.

3. I'm still running at O'Dark Thirty!


Okay, okay. This week was a little different than last.. I had to treadmill it once because of rain, and ran a little late after my Man slept in on Wednesday (oooops). He's my alarm clock so it was HIS fault. The bottom line is I did NOT skip any runs. I got them ALL done, all at the prescribed distances, AND two cycling trips! AND I got my fastest training 3 miler accomplished at a sub 8 min pace! Okay *barely* a sub 8 min pace, but the Garmin had a 7 in front of it and that's all that counts! What the hey, I'm getting faster... a *bit*.

4. I haven't made it to the pool yet.

Boo me. Not much more to be said. Thought a lot about it, but didn't make it happen. Had to send my waterproof iPod back and the one I want to get is on backorder. No excuse... but there it is. Shut up and swim. Music or not. Just do it.

Road to Ragnar '12 : Week 1 Wrap Up

It's Mother's Day!!! I woke up to the Man trying to give me a waterproof iPod shuffle to use in the pool!!! It was exactly what I've been dreaming of. Just one problem. No waterproof headphones. So no tunes in the pool yet until we work that little detail out... but still... I am so excited to swim to music! Love my thoughtful family and love being a mother to such a great group of amazing kiddos.

So I thought I should start documenting my weekly training summaries. I've started this training plan determined and I just need to keep the momentum up. This was a huge "kick off" week for me. I put in almost 80 miles combined of running, speedwalking, and cycling. No swimming just yet. The weather has been so cooperative and I definitely have a fire lit under my derriere. A triathlon may truly be in the cards for me if I can keep this up.

First I would like to report that I did all of my prescribed training runs at 5:30 in the morning every day this week. It was revolutionary. I thought it would be miserable rolling out of bed with my eyes squeezed shut and my legs like lead, but it was okay. Once I got going I actually felt good. I even felt like I had more energy than I did when I delayed my runs. I got more done. I had more time to do other workouts like walking with my neighbors and meeting the cycling group for a ride on Friday.

So this is how it went:

Monday: 3.5 mile run, 8:33 av pace.

Tuesday: 4 mile run, 8:35 av pace. 5.7 mile walk

Wednesday: 3 mile run, 8:40 av pace. 6.6 mile walk. 2 hours indoor volleyball.

Thursday: 4 mile run, 8:46 av pace. 3.6 speedwalk.

Friday: 3 mile run, 8:21 av pace. 40 mile cycling ride av 15-16 mph.

Starting point for our ride. I've always loved this cool bike shop in Chesapeake, VA.

A random picture of my friend's bike and feet. I know he thinks I'm very strange for taking this picture but he didn't ask.

A beautiful place to stop and take a breather.

40 miles. Whoa. That's a record for me. And I was tired.

Saturday: rest day.

Sunday: 6 miles run, 8:36 av pace.

Off to a good start. Keep on keeping on.

Morning Glory

Saw this post from the blog No Meat Athlete a while back and while this should not be any huge revelation on my part, it fueled a big decision that just had to be made in order to get my goals met.

I need to get up very early and get my training runs done before the day truly begins.

My typical day used to go like this:

* 5:30 am:  the Man rolls out of bed to get ready for work. I throw a pillow over my head to drown out the shower noise and nestle deeper into blankets and pretend that it's still night. I sometimes register my kiss good-bye, sometimes... not.

*Sometime between 6:30 and 7 am I slink out of bed. I put my contact lenses on. I walk like a zombie in search of a brain to the coffee machine and press the ON button. I let the dog out the back door. I scan through emails. I scan through Facebook updates. I scan through news articles. I'm on my second cup of coffee now. The kids are up and wandering around the kitchen looking for morsels of food while their mother is too engrossed in the computer to register their needs. I'd like to think I'm just trying to encourage their independence and self-sufficiency. But I'm not fooling anyone. I'm a computer addict.

* By 8 am the rugrats are trickling out the door. I usually take a minute or two to come out of my computer black hole to see to it that they've eaten, have all their items in their backpacks, and that they've brushed their teeth.

* If I don't have a lot on my errand agenda (we actually need to eat and the Man needs his dry cleaning), I may either: a) blog about anything meaningful event pertaining to my running/fitness which takes an enormous amount of time because I am a slow typer and a slow writer. Blogging for me is a humungous time sucker but I enjoy it and it helps remind me of what my goals are, b) do a few household chores like throw the laundry in the machine and straighten up the house, or c) actually go for a run before I have to get ready for my afternoon-evening shift at work. That is, if I actually get to it... it depends on how much time I wasted doing unproductive crap like surfing on the internet.

Occasionally I get caught up gossiping with the neighbors. I try not to make it a daily thing, but if there's something interesting going on, I invest the time. Sad but true.

Well, this pattern truly became the norm and what I realized was that I was sabotaging myself by wasting all this time. I knew this upcoming week would be a turning point for me and training, because I had an official plan laid out for me that I wanted to follow. Just having a real training plan woke me up out of my self-induced lack of productivity. This has got to stop.

I made an executive decision. I would get my training runs in, EVERY MORNING, before... I repeat, BEFORE my typical wake up time. Now, I have tried this in the past and failed. But I told myself that I was just going to fight on through, and that was that. If I wanted results, this is how I am going to have to achieve them.

So... starting this past Sunday night I set out all of my running clothes, shoes, Garmin and iPod. When the Man got up to get ready for work Monday morning I FOUGHT the urge to hide under the pillow and crawled out of bed too. I threw on my stuff while the Man looked at me with his jaw dropped to the floor. I bypassed the coffee machine and took a few swigs of FRS instead. I admit I checked my emails, but made no responses. I walked out the door and went on my pre-dawn run.

Once I got out in the air I didn't feel so much like a zombie. The temps were perfect. And once I got going I was treated to a breathtaking sunrise over the little lake we have in our neighborhood. I saw bunnies hopping around everywhere. It was NICE.

By the time I made it back to the house I felt invigorated and completely woken up. The rugrats weren't even awake yet. I still fell into my computer coma (I'm going to work on that), but I got so much more done before heading to work. My training run was DONE, taken care of, completed, out-of-the-way. It was AWESOME.

I am on day three of my morning ritual. I realize that I am still very early in the process (excuse the pun) but so far I'm really likin' it. Hey... I made it this far with vegetarianism and I'm still hangin'. There's no reason to doubt myself now. I just need to stay positive and believe in myself and my determination to make it happen:

Ticked Off: The Loudoun Lyme 5K

So this past weekend I drove up to Northern Virginia to visit my dad, who needed some help and a bit o' company after suffering from a pretty severe back strain. It seemed odd not to be full steam ahead with tons of pee-wee volleyball and soccer games on the agenda, but my wonderful spousal unit took on all immediate familial responsibilities while I spent a couple of days with my fam up north. 

I've mentioned before on this blog that my sister was diagnosed with Lyme Disease and has had such a rough year coping with the complications of the infection. I know probably more than the average person about the condition because of my veterinary education but even so... the disease is complicated and variable at best. It so happens that over 50% of the cases reported in the state of Virginia originate in Loudoun County, where my parents live and where my sister had lived the past several years. This means that this county has a nasty reservoir of ticks carrying the bacteria that cause the disease.

Because the condition is somewhat of an epidemic in the county and can be quite difficult to diagnose/treat, there is a local support group who's aim is to raise money and awareness in the fight against this very frustrating disease. As luck would have it, the weekend I was up visiting there was a running event designed just for that purpose. It's like all the stars lined up for me to show some support for my sister's cause.

My sister, who used to run pretty regularly (and has a couple of half marathons under her belt) has attempted to get back into running during her treatment, but recovery has been slow. Her joints still cause her problems and running has been a challenge... so this time around she did not sign up for the race, but my brother and I got up at 5:45 am with bright faces and no coffee and showed up at the start line to show our support in the fight against the tick cooties.

Did I mention how much I HATE ticks???  I mean REALLY. HATE. THEM.

 So... you know you've gotten a little bit too competitive and freaky if you're worried about timing chips, course elevations, and age group distributions at a low-key fundraising run designed purely to increase awareness for an ailment, but that's just how I roll these days. Pathetic.

Yes, they had timing chips on the race bibs. But it was kind of unclear whether they were operational. In fact, the whole starting line was a bit whilly-nilly, but that's okay. My brother and I meandered up to the front and were we took off with the eager pre-teens. I'm not even sure about how many people were there for the 5K vs. the one mile fun run. 300? 400? I'm not good at guessing these things.

Helloooooooo..... the course was HILLY. Not a surprise given this is Loudoun County, NOT the flatlands of Virginia Beach. I lost my Cross-Fit-junkie-27-year-old baby brother after the first mile and struggled just to keep my pace down and battle the rolling hills. I had my Garmin on but refused to look at it. I had no idea if I was doing well or completely fizzling. I was gasping. There was a hill towards the end and I think I said the "f word" out loud but I'm not sure.

I crossed the finish line with a 24:26 time, according to the watch. I had to look it up to be sure, but I was elated to find out that this is actually a PR for me for this distance. Whaaaaaaa???? With hills??? I managed a 7:45/mile pace with hills??? Guess I have my brother to thank for that... I was desperately trying to keep up with him and even though I failed, I guess he helped me reach a PR. Thanks bro.

My sister and her husband were there after we finished to give us a high five and walk around the very informative "fair" afterward.

Many might ask why a big frog was at a Lyme Disease race... I figured a huge, adult sized eight legged tick would scare the kiddos off.

Got my sister the required apparel: shirt, awareness rubber band bracelet, and green ribbon awareness charm.

So, no age group awards or anything like that. I have to admit I was curious as to how I finished/fared. But over 24 hours later the results are not posted and I am kind of wondering whether they ever will be. I think this is one of those experiences where the REASON why you run is more important than the result. The very idea!!! And I really am totally fine with that! I mean it!!!

First Ever Cycling Adventure

So I mentioned last week that I got invited to go on a ride with experienced cyclists last Friday. I just have to admit that I felt like a total nutcase as I loaded everything up in the car. I don't do well with "unfamiliar territory" and I have a complex about being the worst one in a group. The one that holds the whole thing up. The scrapper. The tag-along. The lame-ass.

But I just decided that I'll never get anywhere if I keep this ridiculousness up and hey, I was invited, so I was gonna show up, no matter how nervous I felt. Everyone's a first-timer at some point, right?

Did I mention I don't really know how to ride a road bike? I didn't even know how to shift the gears. Or when to shift the gears. Or if I should shift the gears. Yep. It was that bad.

Well, it was my lucky day, bottom line. There were only two others riding that day and one of them was my spinning instructor friend who invited me. The other was an older guy with a lot of knowledge. He gave my bike a good look-over, inflated my tires, tweaked some things and told me I got a great deal and that the bike was a good one. I didn't waste my money on a piece of scrap garbage off of CraigsList after all! Yay me!

So we geared up and started our ride. I learned about lingo they use for safety. They were constantly yelling out warnings like "Car up!!!!" and "Gravel!!!!" and so on. Older guy watched me ride and gave me tips about where my gears should be and all I can say is WOW what a difference being in the right gear makes. No wonder cyclists were flying by me in the triathlon. They were in the right gear so their furious energy was actually getting them somewhere fast. Good to know.

Older guy was full of helpful advice such as "You can aways change your gears... it's free." Meaning: keep changing the gear until it feels right. You want to keep your cadence (rate of pedaling) about the same to achieve your goal speed. I am a naive grasshopper but I'll learn.

At one point when we reached open, flat road I reached 19-20 mph. I've never gone that fast on a bike before and it was amazing. And for the first half of the ride, I felt really, really good. And I didn't even feel like a slow-poke holding them back. (Well, at least at that point.)

After about 15 miles, we stopped to drink some water and eat older guy's homemade energy bars (oatmeal, peanut butter, dried fruit, nuts, and chocolate chips). I knew their typical route was about 42 miles. We chatted about this a bit and they decided that maybe we shouldn't go that far on my first ride. At that point, I felt eager to give it a try but they knew something that I didn't know... the wind on the way back.

Did I mention it was a windy day? Didn't notice it on the first half of the ride because it was behind us. Well, I found out pretty quickly that the wind can make all the difference in the world.

But first... just when I thought I was going to make it through this first ever cycling trip without looking like a complete and total idiot, I had to make it memorable.

As we were leaving the gas station where we took our break, I pushed off to start my bike as I was crossing the road and clipped my left shoe into the pedal... but I kicked off too hard and the bike tilted to the left. Normally not a problem... one would put their left foot on the ground to prevent the bike from falling over. But my foot was locked into the pedal and even though I felt like it was all in slow motion I didn't have enough time to twist out of the pedal and literally fell over onto the asphalt with the bike. My whole weight came down on my side. Thank goodness I have some "meat" on this part of my body because it was a decent fall. So. Embarrassing.

My first ever glorious wipeout and I wasn't even really moving. Awesome.

Now of course the others told me they have done this too. (I'm sure they haven't but they need to tell me the obligatory things to soothe my humiliation.)

So.... after having to stop a few more times while older guy had to readjust my seat and my water bottle cage after they got knocked around, we were off again and almost instantly that feeling of "I got this" kinda changed into "Oh boy... how much longer?"

The wind really messed me up. I kept trying to change my gears but it was somehow making it worse and I really fell behind. And it was at that point that I realized that the seat was really uncomfortable after all. But I kept on pedaling... tons slower than I was the first half of the ride, but I made it to the parking lot where we left our cars without further distress or incident.

About 27-ish miles in about 1 hour and 40 minutes, with an average speed of a little over 16 mph, which is good for me. Of course I want to do better and lucky for me they invited me back for next Friday's ride!!! I figured if I was a total nightmare they'd give me an excuse like "Well, we're all going on a peace mission to the wilds of Africa next Friday but we'll get back to you!!!" But no.... they want some comic relief so they decided to ask me back!!!

In other news, this week is the last week of the "fly by the seat of your pants" training plan I've been following. The Ragnar Relay intermediate plan starts next week, and I know it seems pretty silly but I am just so excited to have a structured plan that someone-who-knows-what-they-are-doing designed on my schedule. Not that I like for people to tell me what to do, but when it comes to running, I absolutely do. Give me a plan, and I will try my best to follow it. Training plans work.

Now I know how I get at the very start of a long training plan. I'm all ultra-motivated and always tell myself "you're gonna follow this plan to the LETTER." Then... life happens. I get busy, I skip runs, I try to make up for lost ground at the end, and I end up feeling disappointed about what could have been. It's all predictable.

What my ultimate goal for this round of training is to break that cycle. Yep, I'm a busy mom with kids that have a million activities. Yep, I have an errand list that goes on and on. Yep, I have a job that's physically and emotionally demanding. And yep, that leaves very little wiggle room when it comes to time for a lot of training.

But I know this for a fact: when there's a will, there's a way... and if you want to do something, you adjust your life to accommodate your need. I know it's good for me and rewarding, so I just have to get my priorities in line and be a good planner and organizer (not my forte', by the way).

Add to this that not only do I want to run regularly, but get my biking and swimming in too. Wow. Better get real organized real quick.

Still a veggie. Had a very tempting moment yesterday when ordering a sub and *almost* asked if they could put some tuna salad on there. But I didn't cave.

No Man's Land

Have been missing from the blogosphere for a while. I've been busy, but not so much in an interesting and blog-worthy way. Oh well. 

I'm kind of in what I like to call "No Man's Land." I have things to train for (Rock and Roll Half Marathon, Ragnar Relay) but they aren't until the fall so all of the official training plans for those events haven't started yet. So basically I'm just trying to keep a "base"... piddly runs here and there to just keep my body used to it. I make up my training as I go. I'm not sure that this is a really good idea or very effective, but that's just how I'm rolling right now.

I've been spending time trying to get to know my "new" road bike. My overall impression is that I like it and it's a good thing. I need to learn how to position my head/neck, however, because after a 14 miler with my neighbor yesterday I can barely turn my head this morning. Maybe my posture is wrong or maybe this is just normal, who knows? All I know is that I had Advil for breakfast.

And maybe this is "TMI" but that seat is just... awful. Is there a difference between men and women's seat shapes? Maybe it's another "adjustment" issue but Lordy, I hope the Advil is helpful with this issue, too. NOT. GOOD.

So I'm taking my bike in to the shop this morning to see if they think I should adjust it in any way. I need to do this ASAP because I've been invited to join a cycling group on their ride tomorrow! My former spinning instructor was kind enough to extend an invitation and I need to get some cycling experience. We're supposed to go for a... wait for it... 40 MILER. Ummm, whaaaaaaat?!?!? I don't know if I can do it but I'm stubborn. I told her I'd try and she said she thinks I can make it. The question is speed (can I keep up) and pain threshold (that seat is going to be the death of me). Maybe they'll suggest a new seat that doesn't cost a million dollars at the shop.

I haven't signed up for a triathlon yet, which is breaking one of my philosophical rules: just sign up, commit, and get going with the training. I still feel just a *little* too unprepared. You are either the type that signs up purely for the experience, and not the performance... or you are like me and don't want to suck, so you feel like you need to think about it for several months, prepare a very involved advanced training plan that you can't possibly adhere to, and then MAYBE sign up depending on how the training is going. So pathetic. I am still putting Sandman back on the table even though the ocean swim terrifies me. 

Face your fears or go home.

In other news, I'm still a vegetarian for better or worse. For those that think becoming vegetarian promotes weight loss I can tell you that after 6 weeks of this that is absolutely NOT the case. In fact, I weigh the same if not a couple pounds more... and I'm sure that's because I'm doing what everyone feels compelled to do when they make the change: replace meat with bread, pasta, or cereal. And yep I still love chocolate and cookies. The upside is that I'm eating more veggies than I ever have and I think my skin looks better. I'm not lacking in energy which a lot of people seem to complain about. I'm moving forward with this and if I can, I'll make more adjustments to reduce the carb-oholic syndrome. Still not on board with vegan-ism just yet. Still adore cheese.

And as a fun non-running/fitness side note I have a new shower in the master bath. Gone is the 14 year old disgusting pre-fabbed fiberglass stall and in it's place is a bigger, beautifully tiled space. I just stare at it with pure adoration. I know it may be weird but I may direct all of my visitors straight from the front door to the master bath just to show it off.

Sometimes it's pretty funny what things can make you happy. A shower stall... really? Better than a diamond ring!