Positives

The further I get into this running thing, the more I realize the need for celebrating the smaller events as a part of the bigger journey.  Of course at the culmination of all my training I want to celebrate the completion of a half marathon and a full marathon but where's the fun in waiting until then?

So some of the smaller positives...

• I'm running faster.  I'm still slow but I've cut almost 3 minutes off my pace from my beginning point.
• My food choices are getting better everyday.  I want to eat healthy so I can run better.
• I like how my body is changing... more on that in a minute. ;)
• I look forward to my workouts and I'm motivated by these little things to get my workouts in no matter what.

A few of the bigger positives...

Steve has been traveling a lot this month.  That's typically not the norm but it looks like it will be for the forseeable future.  When he's gone I'm a little more stressed... the dogs don't behave, Chaney is more challenging, and of course there are the inevitable disasters that seem to wait for when he's not home.  That's just the way it works.

So when he travels, I'm typically a little more stressed than usual and when I'm stressed, it's easy to slip into old disordered eating habits.  Add in the fact that I'm alone and I face my biggest moments of temptation to binge.  These are certainly shameful moments and I always regret it because it doesn't even make me feel less stressed for very long at all.  I got a little anxious when he told me what his travel schedule was but I'm proud to report that I haven't binged once.  I don't know for sure what's changed but the desire just isn't there.  My theory is that the little things I've listed above have changed my perspective; or at least that's what I'm going to go with. :)

I've kept up with my workouts even when he's been traveling and I'm proud of that.  It's not easy after a long day of work, coming home to chores, dinner, and helping with homework, violin practice, etc.  I completed one of my treadmill runs after 10 PM and in case you're wondering, that's really not setting yourself up for a good night's sleep.  I was WIRED.

And lastly, the changes in my body.  Probably TMI but I was shaving my legs in the shower the other morning and I found a strange and hard lump on the side of my leg close to the side of my calf, above my ankle... there was even an indention below the lump because it was protruding so much.  I got all panicked so I did what a "normal" person does and I compared it to my other leg.  Guess what?  There was an identical lump!  But after more poking and prodding, I realized what these lumps were...

New muscle definition.  I'm not a hypochondriac at all. ;)

Hot & Hotter

So now that it's September, I start looking forward to "cooler" temperatures.  I'll even consider 80 or 85 as a high temperature as cooler at this point...

But instead we are having some of our hottest days and consecutively as well.  Yay.  Steve was traveling last week so it was the treadmill for me.  Chaney wouldn't even entertain riding her bike with me in the evening while I ran... that means it's really hot if a kid won't ride their bike!  BTW, I started watching Homeland to pass the time on the treadmill and I am now officially addicted to that show.

I had great workouts running on the treadmill during the week/Saturday which made Sunday's long run outside an even ruder awakening.  I woke up early and started my 8 miles as soon as it was light out.  It was one of my more miserable runs since I started running again.  The humidity was awful, the sun was hot once it came up and I just felt sluggish.  But in letting go of my perfectionism little by little, I wasn't going to freak about a bad run; instead I decided to focus on the other runs during the week that were good.  This is progress for me. :)

When I got home I hopped in an almost cold shower so we could go see a 10am movie.  I sat in the theater still sweating and told Steve that it was hot in there.  Turns out that it wasn't hot, it was just me. ;)  This continued the rest of the day.  Everywhere we went I was hot.  It was the weirdest thing... or maybe not since it was 109 on Sunday. 

I got a massage on Monday and she worked on my legs {my calves in particular} and I felt tons better afterwards.  It's amazing how tight my calves are and that I don't even notice anymore until someone else works the tension out of them.  As I continue to increase my mileage I'm going to get massages more often.  She specializes in medical and sports massage and wow, she really knows her stuff.  She even understood why I don't want to get rid of my callouses despite Steve's complaints. ;) 

Hey, at least I keep my toenails polished!