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| My run from this morning. I'm not gonna lie, it was painful. |
- Look at me blogging two days in a row! I will be blogging more often because I need to return this blog to what it was intended for when I first started writing here almost 3 years ago. This blog needs to keep me accountable once again. It's no secret that I have been struggling with my running over the past couple of months. And although I've gotten lots of supportive advice around this, I know in my heart what I need to do. I need to be as strict and regimented with my running as I am with my eating. By week's end (which is tomorrow), I'd have only run 3 days. And 3 days of low mileage runs. Yup. I dropped 2 runs. Why? No reason. Just because. And that's not okay. Somewhere in the past 2 months, I started giving myself permission to skip runs here and there. It was hard at first, but then it got easier and easier. Now it's a struggle for me to get out the door.
- I am not running the mileage I used to. Therefore I should not be eating the unlimited amounts of food I have been allowing myself to eat. My clothes still fit me fine, but I don't feel as fit as I was. And I feel soft. I don't like that feeling at all. So starting right now, I am making some lifestyle rules that I must adhere to for the next few months while I am training for the Stockholm Halv.
- I will return to blogging 3x per week. I will post my daily runs and food to Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
- I will not eat any nuts, nut butters, seeds, bananas or sweet potatoes and limit my red wine intake to 2 glasses per week.
- I will only eat 2 servings of fruit per day.
- I will drink a minimum of 80oz of water per day.
- I will follow the proper 1/2 marathon training schedule (which is prominently displayed on my fridge). This means running 5x per week. No excuses!
- As soon as I get up in the morning I will change into my gear and run. Regardless of the time. City streets are safe enough.
- I will join the gym in July and begin working on strength training with a personal trainer.
- I have seriously lost my way with running. And this hurts me. I never thought I would dread running. Although I'm still eating well, I'm eating too much of all the good things. I know when this happened. When I started waking up even earlier than my 5am internal clock. I started getting up at 4am. It seemed too early to run, so I made a pot of coffee and started reading blogs, Twitter, Facebook. By the time run time came along, I'd be too immersed in social media, that I'd not feel like going, so I'd give myself a pass.
- I have been very regimented with my lifestyle over the past 2.5 years. And that is what works best for me. When I start to get sloppy, I will slip. I have slipped with my exercise regime. If I keep that up, it's only a matter of time before I start slipping with my eating as well. I cannot let that happen because I worked too hard to get to where I am today. I love the freedom of eating Paleo and not having to limit my portion sizes. But that only works for me if I'm running well. If not, it would just be a matter of time before I started to gain weight. Not an option for me. And I want to get leaner. I've been saying it for months, it's time I finally did it.
- So if you're interested in following my daily diet/exercise regime, you can like my Facebook page, follow me on Instagram, or follow me on Twitter. No more excuses!
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| June 3, 1970 June 3, 2014 |
- Now for a quick weekly update. I celebrated my 44th birthday on June 3rd. Have I changed much? The photo on the left was given to me in 2010 by my birth mother. She carried that photo around in her wallet until she gave it to me. It was my birthday photo and the only image she had of me until we met when I was 39. It is also the only newborn baby picture I have ever seen of myself. Although my parents took me home from the hospital, it wasn't until I was a couple weeks old. And my young infant pictures were lost. So that photo means a lot to me.
- The house demands by my buyers are underway. I have an exposed sewer pipe in my basement. It's actually in really good shape for being the original clay pipe. There are some openings in the pipe though and my neighbor (who dug it out for me), put strong wire mesh over the holes. He told me he needs to secure them because rats could come in from the sewers. That made me lose my mind for a hot minute. I still have visions of rats taking over my house. Uncle John's not back till mid week to replace the plumbing stack and the pipe. So I'm a bit on edge. And I heard that rats are super cleaver. I'm sure they have tools.
- I had counselling again this week. I spoke to my counselor about how I was anxious whenever I went to see my Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction therapist and she agreed that it was probably best for me to end that relationship. It's not that I didn't like him, it's just that I can't work with a male therapist. He made me more anxious than anything. He gave me the cd's which I've been doing and find helpful. I think that's enough. And I'm seeing my regular therapist to talk through stuff. So I think I'm good.
- This morning I drove my gal Dawn to Ontario Place in Toronto. It's the start line for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. What an awesome event. Two hundred and twenty-six kilometers over two days. That's Toronto to Niagara Falls. Made me think that I should do this ride with her next year. We've all been touched by cancer in someway. Cancer is what took my mother. And a close family member is battling cancer right now. So I will raise the $2500 that it takes to ride and join Dawn next June. It will be an amazing experience that I can repeat every year with Dawn.
- Well, I'm off to enjoy this beautiful weather. Another reason why there is no excuse to skip runs. I ran all winter in sub-zero temperatures and barely batted an eye. But here I have beautiful weather to run in and I'm struggling. Makes no sense. Thanks to all for your continued support and kind words. You are all so awesome and I'm lucky to be part of this blogging community. Enjoy your weekend:-)
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| Supported my gal Dawn this morning as she got ready to head off from Ontario Place. |
