The Week Before Ghost Town: Tuesday Twelve.

Dear Diary,

This little piggy ate Nutella dipped in animal
crackers and went *urp* all the way home.

12.  Things I looked up in WW After I ate them this week: Nutella, chee-tohs.  Tres Leches cake.
Nutella.  Oh, my. Well, it's my sister-in-laws fault.  She asks me to babysit, and has jars of this stuff just sitting there, in the cabinet. Found it by accident, I did. No really.
But after I looked it up, oh, my, god.  I might as well be eating solid oreo filling.  How on earth do they tell people that it's part of a healthy breakfast?  Puh-lease.

11. After a whole year, would it surprise anyone that I'm settling in at work?  It's like they've accepted that I'm sticking around, and now they joke with me good natured-ly.  I feel comfortable there.

10.  Lurking.  De-lurking day is either last week or this one.  I haven't figured out which.  Either way, say Hi.

9. Coach Baboo said that he figures that if I get 50 miles a week that would be good.  That breaks down to working my way up to weekend doubles, at least 20 miles each on Sunday/Saturday, leaving 10 miles during the week. 
BUT. Since I'm not doing the doubles yet, then I have to run more during the week.

I need to figure out a way to run for an hour at work then clean up fast . Any ideas?  I've mapped out a route near where I work that is mainly a residential street, and I can change in my office.  I did a dry run this week.  I need some way to clean up and be able to see people.  Without making them pass out I"MNOTSAYINGTHATISMELL.  Remember, I am a delicate flower.  I'm just saying that fresh is good, but fresher is better.

8.  Sweet baboo told me this week that my ass looked great.  Can you believe that?  You see why I married him?  He just said that, spontaneously.  I didn't even ask.  He didn't even have to say it; he was already going to get lucky.

7. This past week, I pissed off a lawyer, a social worker, a probation officer, in one day, all over one kid.  I've got enough friends. Don't need any more.

6.  Saturday I headed out on a 20-mile run, but around mile 10 the ache in my Achilles, which I've tentatively diagnosed with Achilles tendonosis, began talking to me.  Sharply.  It said, "you will walk up those hills, missy."  I cut the run short at 12 miles.  Crap.  I put my Achilles on a bag of frozen corn, and then consoled myself with some well-earned cake.  New this week: it has a creaky feeling, like rope that has been stretched to far.  So for the rest of the week: no running, lots of protein, gentle stretching, and heel cups in my flats.

yep.  Sharp pain when running uphill.  So, yeah.  I walk uphill, and can jog flats as long as I keep my stride short and my feet under me.  So the Ghost Town this weekend: I won't be breaking any speed records.

kawai, neh?

5.  I was so proud of myself on Friday.  On payday I treat myself to lunch.  I was just about to go to a local super buffet called Golden Corral when, without thinking, I walked away from car and walked over to a local (and very good) sushi place instead.  I had "Snow White Roll" which is about as fattening as sushi gets, but still pretty healthy.
I spent twice as much, ate about 1/3 as much as I would have at the Super Feed, but it was pretty, and quiet, and better for me.  I also had green tea and miso soup.  *Pats self on the back*.

4.  The RD for Ghost Town starts sending out weekly emails a couple months in advance of the race.  A month before, it becomes daily.  Then it becomes 4 to 6 a day.  These are not short emails.  Often they are a page-longer or more.  Kinda looking forward to putting those behind me.  Why?  Because if you don't read each and every single one, and miss a detail, and mess up, then it's all, well didn't you read the email?


The email?  Well, which of the forty was I supposed to have read to get this piece of information?  I have a job, after all.

3.  I was asked earlier this week what my plan for losing weight is over the winter, given that my training has slowed down dramatically.  Well, I don't have a plan for losing weight over the winter.  My plan is to maintain my weight over the winter.  This time last year, I was 178 lbs, and that's when I joined Weight-Watchers.  Today I am holding steady at 150, which is where I've been for 6 months.  I'm doing pretty good, I think.

2.  And I feel good.  I get that I'm different.  My clothes are smaller, and still need to be taken in.  I feel that I am smaller when I go up stairs.

I just can't see it; does that make sense?  When I look in the mirror I see the same me that I was a year ago.  I'm caught off guard when people who haven't seen me express surprise.  And I know it's just me, because when I see my reflection unexpectedly I see how smaller I am.  But when I'm expecting it, I still see just plain, big ole' me.  There's gotta be a pill for that.

1.  I'll get lots of that next week - I'll be in class with fellow SocialWork students I haven't seen since last spring.

There will be much surprise, and ego-stroking.  Ohhhh, yeah.  I live for that *gasp* OMG, Misty, did you lose weight?  
me: *blushing* huh?  Oh, I guess.  A little.
Yep, I'm manipulative, alright.  Gotta use all that therapy school for something, right?

I shall enjoy it. >:-)

2011: THE YEAR OF UNBRIDLED OPTIMISM, and the dawn of the Tuesday Twelve

Dear Diary,

12: Saturday, 1/1/11, I got up to do a 20-mile run, and it was eleven degrees out. I thought that a particularly cruel joke.

But...I had put on a pound or two during the tween Xmas and Newyears fest known as "Eat all you can", so I headed out in 3 wicking shirts, a cycling jacket, fleece hat, neoprene face mask, gloves, thermal tights--everything a different color, looking not unlike a big sloppy and very gay ninja.

11.  For the record, eleven degrees is some pretty miserable shit.  You get that little layer of moist sweat going while you run, and you don't get to stop, because if you do, even indoors, you immediately become chil-l-l-l-l-l-led.

10: Fueling your race: FAIL. My first 6.5 miles Saturday was to run to DP's house, where I had jokingly asked ahead of time if there would be bacon.  When I got there, her beloved put down a plate in front of me

"What is this?"

"It's English Bacon," said DP's beloved, who is from Scotland.  English bacon is like little tiny pork chops.  I ate pieces repeatedly until it occurred to me that perhaps the reason the plate was in the middle of the table was because it was for the whole family.  >Whoops<.  I stopped eating it and looked away when the Mr. questioned the children on how much they had eaten.  La-la-laaaaaah.....

It didn't make me faster.  In fact, along with the accompanying sausage, and toast with butter, it may have weighed me down.  A bit.

9. THIS is my heritage, btw.  I joined ancestry.com during 2009 and played with it for a while, and hoped for something more exotic, but no: English.  Period.  Which means my heiritage is unhealthy, fatty meaty food, syntax and grammar rules routinely broken, bad teeth, and very dry humor.

8: So.  I was so distracted by the fantastic bacon that I forgot to drink my gatorade and refill my bottle.  I draink one bottle over 13 miles, got carb depleted, and DP had to wait for me quite a number of times.

DP, as Ninja Warrior of the West.

I landed at the 4-mile Egg Nog Jog tired, a bit dizzy, dehydrated, with the pain in my leg becoming very annoying.  And it was still ass-biting cold. 

<-- DP looked all sleek, like a real ninja.

7: I skipped the egg nog and took a short nap in a car instead. After the run, we all went over to another friend's house for beans, pasole, and baked goods.  After THAT, I went home, to a warm doggie, hot bath, and nap, not necessarily in that order.

6. After THAT, himself wanted pizza.  I got myself a family-sized salad with greens, blue cheese, chicken, and walnuts with lowfat ranch. Mmmm. They provided paper plates, serving forks, and 4 forks for me...ADORABLE!  I guess some people share their family-sized salad or something.  Well, I shared the family plate of bacon--I wasn't sharing this. I ate half of it for dinner and then finished the rest the next day by heating it up and having it with some egg beaters.

5.  Himself got many Lowes' gift cards for presents, and will also get a big fat signing-bonus from the guard this year.  Aside from paying off bills, a project is to make the house more energy efficient and water efficient and secure.  I promise to bore you as much as possible with details on this.  For instance, redoing the front yard.  I'm looking for clean ways to get rid of well-established grass, if anyone has any ideas.

4. I know that 2011 is going to be better.  (It has to be.)  I predict a kick-ass year full of wonder and joy.  I do. I refuse to be convinced otherwise.  This time last year I was 25 pounds heavier, depressed, anxious, and had lost a lot of fitness.  I'm already starting the year ahead.

3.  For one thing, I will be eligible for the independently licensed therapist license this year, which means a raise and greater job prospects.

2.  Rather than "resolutions" I've made a to-do list, which includes some of the things I put in my earlier post about plans for 2011, as well as stuff like, clean out the spare room.  Nothing about being a better, kinder, more patient person, blah blah blah.  Just a cleaner one, fitter one, and maybe a saner one.

1.  Two weeks to the final Ghost Town 38.5 - I signed up for this because it's the last year she's having it, so why not.  I'm worried about the achy spot above my achilles, but when I take diclofenac, it feels way better, and I really wanted to try to do this run faster.  So, we'll see.