Sick of being Sick!

Last night was the worst night since I got sick. I could not sleep. Up coughing, sneezing, head pounding.. oh the joy of being sick. My head felt like it could explode. I gave up around 2am on trying to sleep. It just wasn't working and I couldn't take it. Back down stairs to the couch.. reading would take my mind off my head for awhile until I was tired enough to sleep with the lights on.. 

I've been taking so many cold meds. I found its best to take a bite of my breakfast while downing pills. Even being sick doesn't take away my appetite. I was actually hungry at 2am.. and ate half my breakfast.  

At 5am, I gave up on sleep. I would really love to feel better or at least well enough to go run. I do know that I need to rest and not over do it.. there will be no running again today for the 3rd day in a row. I don't like this! I'm still stretching because my legs are twitching and want to run even with my head saying are you kidding.. I'll explode! 

Here's to changing the subject.. because no one likes to hear constantly about someone being sick. I was wondering around Walgreen's and came upon these new flavors of Peeps. I was never a peep fan. I do think the yellow bunnies are fun when roasted over a fire on a stick.  I thought my kids would like the taste test. Logan actually liked both. I have yet to hear if Celina tried them. With my cold.. I am sure my taste buds are not working correctly so I'll pass for now. 

There is also my love of cookie dough. I saw this chocolate egg with cookie dough and bought two for my kids to try. They were gone and I was told.. delicious! humm... I might have to buy myself one to try it out. 

This is not candy. I did give up my caffeine addiction.. No more taking a daily pill to wake me up. I just don't need it. Plus, it makes me extra, extra thirsty. I'm 100% free. 

I'm not getting better...

Nope, not well.. I'm still sick. I keep hoping I'll wake up feeling great, not worse. My plan is to spend the morning on the couch and finish off my day... on the couch. Good thing I have books to read, thanks to Celina's birthday gifts. I will read pretty much anything new, just to have something to read at night. It's the best way to relax so I will fall asleep fast. Otherwise, I'd be staying up late watching TV. 

Since I wasn't feeling well last night and Steve was out. I asked Logan to make dinner. He really wants to take cooking classes. I put out everything for him to make chicken tacos and he went to work with the help of Celina. Celina made the guacamole, while Logan cut up the peppers and onions then cooked the chicken. It turned out delicious. I'm not a cook and this was a great plan for me to get out of making dinner. Plus, no one wants the sick person in the house making dinner. 

We are suppose to warm up to the 20's this weekend. I'm really hoping I'll feel better by Saturday morning so I can get out and do a little skiing. I'm getting tired of being suck inside for my workout. I need the fresh air with out the freeze. 

2nd time being sick this winter.

Who likes being sick.. said no one. This is the 2nd times I've been sick with a cold and it hasn't been that long. I did my morning core exercises and now I'm deciding if I should skip the gym. I feel somewhat okay.. I should probably do the smart thing and take a rest day. I've only taken 5 rest days since January 1st. Most was for vacation where I skied instead of going running. I'm sure I took one sick day exactly 2 weeks ago. No wonder it didn't seem that long ago!

I'll just see how I feel after working today. I need to save up my energy to work and if I feel good after, I'll go run or maybe just walk. Doing something is sometime better then nothing. I'll save passing on my illness if I still feel the need to cough until I almost vomit. The fun of being sick.. NOT! 

I've got to start getting back on track with my 1500 diet... cut out a few 500+ calories per day. I've been sneaking in far too many treats. My calories have been around 2000 - 2500 for the day and that's just an approximate. Still struggling in those afternoon- dinner hours where I just want to eat what ever.. Grazing without a purpose... other then to eat. 

It doesn't help much that I make cookies every morning for my customers. I know which cookies I will want to eat and I try to avoid making those. Good thing I give the cookies away or I'd be eating them all day long. 

I'm attached to the hip.

Who would have thought I'd be attached to the hip with my Fitbit? 

I've had my Fitbit attached to my side since the beginning of the year. I don't see an end to me using it as I've really liked all the new information it provides. Even if it doesn't record my steps taken on the cross ramp exactly. I just wish it was a bit simpler to record what I eat. 

Surprise, surprise.. I'm a bit sore from Monday's circuit class. I mostly just feel a little sore in my thighs since I did wall squats and box jumps. Usually, I don't feel sore at all from my workouts. This was definitely a plus to having tried a new workout. 

It's going to be a soup day since I'm feeling sick. It's all in my throat. I'm good enough to go run, but I'll be drinking more water and eating soup for lunch. I hope this is quick and I get over this ASAP. I don't like being sick. 

After I get over this slight throat sick feeling, I'm going to start doing more home weights. I'm just not getting back to the gym enough to lift weights and it's time to start toning up for summer. Adding in a few triceps and bicep workouts with dumbbells won't take a lot of extra time. I'm also going to add in those box jumps. Being able to still jump at 46 is a good thing and I want to keep being able to do it. I can tell you when I was 50 pounds heavier, I would not be jumping up on anything. 

A big oops! And A Happy Birthday!

I had a blogger OOPS! Not sure what happened, but suddenly without any warning, my account was gone.. something about spam? It's semi fixed for now. I do have a big decision since I started a new blog after I was locked out. Do I keep this one going or switch to the new one? It would be easier to just keep this one going. 

The other blog is at www.runbuns15.blogspot.com just in case I'm locked out again!

Happy 15th Birthday Celina! I did the nice parent thing and took her out to lunch. She really didn't want to go to school the whole day on her birthday. 

A much better run at the gym.

Since yesterday at the gym made me sad (see post from yesterday).. I took some time to think about a good solution to my "exclusion". For the most part, I do get over things fast and try to forget asap, a much needed learned behavior. I made up my mind to go seek out new or old-new people to talk to during my workout. Not every day I like to chit chat, so its okay if I just do cardo and don't talk with anyone. Those same women who excluded me are right on schedule showing up at the same time, but I didn't change my workout time just to avoid them. Instead, I avoided looking at them.. (they were too busy talking anyway). I just went directly to the treadmill to run. Lucky for me...After 20 minutes the women who had excluded me yesterday left the gym and I could go run on the cross ramp. After 20 minutes or 2 miles on the treadmill it was enough. I knew it would make me angry to be next to those women on the cross ramp and I was not going to make any small talk. It was best to avoid and ignore. As luck would have it, I ended up talking the entire time to other people I know at the gym. There is always some one to talk to if you want... and I needed a good distraction for the hour I ran. 8 miles today.. and I feel great! 

It really is best to not let others get under your skin. There are bigger world problems out there then anything that happens in the gym when socializing. 

Yes, its hard not to take it personal when your excluded. I take it a little too hard just because I've dealt with family excluding and ignoring me.. which hurts more then anyone ever can repair. 

The gym is where I go to run off my problems, not create them. I don't want it to be a place where I feel hurt and sad. I need it to be my feel good, happy place. I'm trying not to over think the whole situation yesterday and even realize that I am overly sensitive which they have no idea. It's my problem and how can anyone else know. I can decide how I'll react or not.. a good lesson I learned when my family turned their backs on me. While it hurt and still hurts, I figured out a way to cope.. and never look back. I don't give any of my time or effort into something or anyone that is not a positive force in my life. I don't have time or the desire to let more hurt into my life. Time to move on.. and let go once again. 

Happy Run Sunday!

I'm use to it... but it still hurts my feelings.

I was smiling until..... 

I am so use to this happening, but it still will hurt my feelings.  I thought I had some gym friends. Guess that was in my own mind. The women I got to know at the gym have kids the same ages, they have similar goals to workout each day.. and we have common interests.. not to mention I see all three women on a regular basis throughout the winter months at the gym. There are only 5 cross ramp machines. Its a workout where you can run and still carry on a conversation easily. I've gotten to know all these women the last 4 years. I've always kept a distance from getting to close or putting in too much into any friendships, because I am the one that's going to be excluded. Sometimes it just takes me a while to catch on. You could say I'm being excluded because I don't put myself out there. In my mind I do. I share my life stories with these women and listen to their stories and ask what's going on in their life. I'm truly interested. It's not like I'm going out of my way to form a friendship outside of the gym, but while I'm there I'd like to have some friends. I'm just not one of their friends apparently as I figured out FAST today. To deal with my hurt I cranked up the speed on the treadmill to run fast at 9 mph.. and then held the speed at 8 mph.. running my heart out. Saying F.. U.. over and over in my mind. Who needs them any way. I'm there to workout and work on ME! What got me hurt? I got there before the 3rd women.. taking her spot on the cross ramp. When that 3rd woman showed up, they were either going to move or have me move. Clearly, I was not wanted.. so I just got off the cross ramp and said I'd move to the treadmill. It would have been nice for them to include me too, but Nope... I figured that would make it less hurtful for me to move then to have them all move away from me. I don't think I was right.. it still hurt. And you wonder why I don't go out of my way to say Hi or goodbye.. you wonder why I keep my distance or don't say anything when I see you. You wonder why I don't smile. This is the why.. It's me..like me or don't this is who I am.. Maybe it's time for a new gym or maybe its time to strike up a conversation with someone new.. I don't believe you need a lot of friends.. you just need a few good ones that will put up with you. If I'm being distant.. its probably because I'm a little afraid of being hurt.. that's all..  

Snow shoe candle light trail

Friday night Steve and I took a snow shoe candle light walk through the woods. I'd never tried snow shoeing before. We picked a good night since the temps were up in the 20's and not minus zero.. A real warm up before the cold plunge once again. 

I was a bit disappointed to find out the trail was only a mile long.. We could go around as many times as we wanted until 10pp Once you go around one time.. that was good enough. It all started looking the same in the woods.

We just had to follow the candle light path through the woods. Even with out the moon out, it was fairly light in the woods. Steve made me scream right at the start of the trail. All of a sudden he said"Watch out for that animal". All I saw was this thing coming right at me, it was just so fast and not being able to see much I let out one of those blood curling screams. I think it woke up the whole woods. I'm sure people that were at the bonfire got a good laugh at that one. 

A couple out on the trail were quietly sitting on a fallen over tree. Me not paying attention to my surrounds, freaked out when I finally noticed something-them moving. It's not super dark out there at night but kind of creepy deep into the woods. 

We were warmed up after our hike through the woods so we didn't stop at the bonfire.. We just kept going.. 

The snow shoes and us talking makes too much noise to see any animals out in the woods. On our drive out to the trail, we did have a deer run out in front of the car and a skunk also crossed in front of us. I can't say I've ever seen a skunk that close. 

That was our Friday night entertainment.. Back home by 9pm.. 

Just waiting for the gym to open.. Doing my morning yoga, planks and other exercises. Lately, I've been only spending 30 to 45 minutes on the cross ramp and I'll do 30 to 15 minutes on the treadmill. I keep telling myself to do some speed but I like going at a nice 6mph pace.. with the last 2 minutes of my workout at a 7mph pace.. to finish faster. 

Cheating is not going to show results.

Cheaters never win. I have to admit, I've been cheating on my 1500 diet. This is why I won't see any results. While I might eat good healthy foods 3 for all 3 meals, its not helping that I am way off on my snack choices. Lets just say Oreo Cookies and Raspberry Coffee Cake are to blame. 

I have 10 tips that I'm working on to re-train myself to make good food choices not just at meals, but snacks too. 

1. Drink water before I eat. This should fill me up more. 

2. Slow down.. way down my eating. I want to rush through dinner and eat at race pace. 

3. Ask myself at snack time.. am I hungry enough to eat a carrot? If not, then I need to skip the snack. 

4. Look up the calories on the food I'm about to eat. To try and steer myself away from high calorie crap and eat something more healthy. It might not be worth it to down some coffee cake if it adds up to 400 empty calories.

5. Don't buy it.. Leave the Oreo's, ice cream and raspberry coffee cake at the store. Sometimes its hard to resist.. but not buying it, means I won't eat it later on. Re-direct to buying healthy fruit for a treat. Even out of season and expensive. Junk is more expensive then healthy in the long run. 

6. Breathe.. do some yoga stretching to calm myself and redirect my mind to not wanting to eat the crap. Or at least tell myself that I don't want it. 

7. Look at fitness tips on Pinterest.. looking at fit bodies doesn't make me want to reach for a candy bar. It make me want to look healthy and fit. 

8. Just go to bed.. away from the kitchen, even if its 7pm.. just go read until you stop thinking about eating that junk late at night. 

9. Write out my goals for fitness and weight loss.. It's hard to go grab crap when I just re-set new goals. 

10. Have healthy foods ready to eat. 

Have any more ideas? 

I've also decided to cut back on the Caffeine. This little pill contains 200mg of caffeine. I don't workout until 2 hours after I take this so I'm thinking why do it? I just am slowly reducing the amount to avoid the withdrawals and the nasty headache that comes with giving it up. 

Survivor starts next Wednesday. I am all in for the Survivor game. Tyler was my picked name. He's on the White Collar team. Seems like an okay pick, but I have a feeling he won't be the winner. I'm all excited to start watching the new season as its one of my favorites to watch. 

It's all about how we spend our time!

Times goes by no matter what. What we do with the time we have is our choice. I just so happen to use my morning time to do something good for me. 

It's all about using morning time to start the day off fit. Fitness does not come easy and some days I don't feel fit at all. Especially when I'm not following my healthy eating plan or going off track and eating far too many calories for the day. That's when I have too much time.. Too much time to eat. 

I have a lot on my mind this morning and I sort it all out during my morning yoga stretching. I have good things to come, my to do things and working things.. All those things take up our time. How do you balance your time to fit in everything you want and need to do? I don't always make time for everything I should be doing. I'd rather do what I want and enjoy my time. That's not always possible as we all have certain responsibilities. I just set up my schedule to fit in what's important to me then everything just works around that time. 

I love these little pretzels covered in almond bark. One of my favorites to make. 

Logan requested chicken lettuce wraps for dinner. It's one of my 5 dinner items I actually make. Good thing there were just enough leftovers for lunch yesterday minus the lettuce. I like to over load it with carrots for the crunch. I should probably make this more often. I have a goal of trying to prepare more dinners during the week. I'll just go to Pinterest for some dinner inspiration. I have so many yummy looking recipes in my pined box to tryout. It's time to add on #6 of diners I make. 

Finished my not so easy miles this morning after my 3 miles of speed running in last nights soccer game. I wasn't really feeling like running so I jumped on the cross ramp for 45 minutes and finished the last 15 minutes on the treadmill for a total of 6 miles. Done.. now off to work.. Thursday is my Friday! Tomorrow is my time to catch up on all I've not made time for all week. Like cleaning my own house! 

I'm going to more sports events at my kids H.S. then I ever did at mine.

I actually played Basket  Ball in Middle School. I was tall so of course I was center and not very good! I wasn't interested in sports events in H.S  and as a result, I never went to one game. Now that Celina is in H.S, I've gone to a few football games and now a BB game. Of course it helps that she is playing in the Pep band and I have a reason to go. 

Steve and I were actually getting into watching the game, but we had to leave right before half time to go pick up Logan from soccer. 

I didn't bring my good camera and this is the best shot I could get with my phone of the band. Celina's down in the 3rd row to the front with the other Flute players. 

We didn't know any of the kids on the BB team. It's more fun if we actually know kids from the neighborhood playing. It was still fun to watch. 

There was a very smelly woman at the gym running directly under the fan. The odor from her body was blowing directly into our face. Not pleasant! This woman has beyond bad body odor.. It's down right offensive. What else can we do, but move ourselves away from that area and do some other type of cardio besides the cross ramp. It forced me to run on the treadmill. 

 It felt good to run and test out the new shoes. My feet hurt no matter what shoe I wear. I had to stop with 4 minutes to go because my feet were really sore. Maybe it's the socks.. it feels like the moisture wicking socks are a bit rough on my feet. Time to try a variety of socks while I run. 

 5.5 miles at a slow 5.6mph pace with incline to 1.5%.. rolling hills. 

It's another freezing cold day. Time to bundle up and head to the gym for a mini workout. I have my speed running during soccer tonight and a busy work day. I'm taking it easy and cutting my workout in half this morning. 

Back at it.. trying to undo the food damage

Now that our ski mini vacation is over and the buffet is behind me.. its time to get back to healthy eating this week. I really got off track last week, BIG TIME. Not to worry.. Today is a fresh start! I've got a plan to eat 1500 calories today. I just have to visualize all the big people at the buffet line.. oh yeah.. I don't want to be that person with the tummy that runs over! 

Back to stretching and my daily exercises then off to the gym to run. 

Believe it or not.. I'm looking forward to my cross ramp run. A day of rest makes me want to run ASAP to sweat. I hate feeling lazy from my rest day and I want to burn off those calories from the buffet. 

I've been thinking a lot about my running goals. It's usually all about the outcome, placing. I just read that goals should be more about the training to enjoy the process to get to the race. My training is pretty simple.. cross ramp Monday-Sunday, Soccer indoor 3 miles of speed Wednesday, weight training 3 days a week.. and mix in some Stationary biking or treadmill miles a few days a week. I also vary the incline to replicate hills as much as I can indoors. It's never the same as outdoor running and I do lose my fitness being indoors all winter long. Plus, I don't like to run fast but I do push the pace the last 2 minutes of my daily run. 

When I think of new goals for this year.. My plan is to race in a dualthalon. Maybe get the family to join me! We would do it to stick together and not race each other because then it would not be about family. I want to make this all about having fun this year with no other goals then to do this as a fun family activity. 

Don't tell Celina, but I'm going to convince her to do a lot more races with me. A fun mother daughter bonding time. She's already signed up for the Get Lucky Race. 4 miles. Our goal is to just stick together and walk if she needs a break or go really slow. I'm sure she can run the whole 4 miles we just need to start working on adding more running miles..from 2 up to 4 at a 10 minute mile pace. Slow and steady.. just to run for fun together!

Family Ski-- vacation..

We always manage to pick the coldest weekend to go to Duluth and downhill ski at Spirit mountain. No one had a speck of skin showing.. it was that cold. Plus, I broke down and bought hand warmers.. since my fingers were frozen.

I should have dressed in a few more layers under my jacket and two pairs of pants would have been smarter. At least with the cold, it kept the crowds of people away. 

I didn't even take any family photos. I didn't want to take my glove off. We still had a great time skiing. 

A good view of Frozen Lake Superior from on top of the mountain. 

Since we were on vacation and staying at a casino... we did what everyone else does.. gamble a little. Steve won.. I donated my $35 in entertainment value. 

No one should eat two meals in a row at a buffet. You make some good choices and some really poor food choices. What you don't see are the gooey caramel rolls.. But they had healthy pecan nuts on top. 

And then we drove home.. vacation over and a good rest day for me. I can always tell when I need a rest day. I just need to sleep and not move for an entire day. I planted my butt on the couch and just laid there all afternoon.. Vacation over.. and Tuesday I'm starting over on a week of good healthy eating because the buffet killed me!