Still Rockin' & Rollin'

I haven't updated lately but things have been going great since the race. I'm still out there running and training. Since my summer race plan fell apart there's a few in December, January and February that I've got on my radar. It's been a little harder to get out to run because the weather has been cooling down but the last couple of weeks I've gotten out for my "long" run with some motivational realizations.

Last Saturday I slept horrible - funny how that happens with a 4 year moves into your bed and uses your back and face as a drawing board for the night. Also it was pretty cool out. But I got to thinking about a friend of mine Amy who is relatively new in my world, but she's blown me away with her amazing strength. I met her when she was newly pregnant last winter and over the summer I got to meet her again on a bike ride or two (think much further along than "newly pregnant") where she just kept going. We've also been friends on Facebook for some time and every time she posts she's gone for a run, a swim, a ride, spin class - I'll remember from my pregnancy I was being a lazy mess sitting on the couch. Amy makes me want to workout more - there are no excuses when this 7 month pregnant woman is going to do it. Then tragedy stuck and Amy, at 36 weeks pregnant, was diagnosed with breast cancer. From there things seemed to move in a whirlwind - she was induced a couple of weeks later to a beautiful baby boy to compliment the 3 year old she already had, then 11 days after that she had a double mastectomy then started chemo treatments. So my thought last Saturday was I should go run because I can. Run for the people who can't and wish they could, like Amy, run should, God forbid, I find out that I can't tomorrow. And with that thought I got out the door. And I was wrong, it wasn't too cold and I wasn't too tired. I ran because I can. But wait - Amy then proceeds to kick some more ass - I come back to a response to my Facebook post that read that I was going to run because I can, from Amy that says that I inspired her. She decided to go out for a run herself that day. This woman is made of stuff I've never seen before because she is wicked strong - mentally and physically. I truly hope that I continue to get to know her better and hope some of what she's got rubs off on me.

Today it was super cold - okay not as cold as yesterday when Jay went for a run (18 degrees F) but it was still 26, and I knew I had to go out there and do it. Today's thought was, "I'm not going to get any better sitting here at home" and out the door I went again. And again, it wasn't too cold. I just need to keep pushing the confining limits of my comfort zone - not move out of my comfort zone, but make that comfort zone so big that it's all encompassing and there's nothing I won't do.

Wonder what will get me out the door next weekend?

Food has been fine - I've determined a plan for maintenance, I think, for my issues with sugar. I realize that abstinence may work for the short-term, but it's not really the life I want to lead. I want to be able to indulge in the occasional treat - I just can't do it daily or multiple times daily. I realize that I may come back to the point that I'm not better than an alcoholic and I need to abstain, but I'm trying to find something that works for me. And that plan for maintenance looks like this for now. I get one treat a week, I can earn a second one after my long run/brick workout on the weekend and I can have one on holidays/birthdays. I came up with this plan a couple of weeks ago and somewhere decided that I could go ahead with that - even though I'd said I was going until my birthday with no treats (for a total of 55 days with no junk in my trunk - with the exception of after my duathlon race). But the interesting thing is that I still didn't for the first two weeks have any treats. This week I shared a few bites of 2 desserts with 5 friends at girls night out, and I shared a carmel apple (a seasonal must in my world) with Jay and Megan.

Habits change into character. -
Ovid