*Breaking Exercise News*

I did some -- ha!

It had been quite some time since I had been to the gym, so it was definitely time.  And I had a great workout!  Back in the day, when I was a good gym girl (remember that 5 minutes?) I used to get to these points where I would not necessarily crave exercise (never that, unfortunately) but I would like feel like the next time THAT was going to be the time that I was going to be able to run.  (I'm not even going to link to all of my old "I wish I could run" laments.  You know the drill.)  I would have these moments of feeling like I was running in my head.  I can't explain it.  If you've ever been a caterpillar, dreaming of being a butterfly maybe you can understand.

And look at that number above.  It's slow, but check it out.  I got there because I ran for the first MILE.

Me.

The non-runner.  Ran the first mile.  (I'm sure most of you know that I use the word "run" very loosely, but I feel like I need to reiterate from time to time that I know it's relative.  My running is more like a runner's walk, but whatever...)  I started out at a brisk walk but then pumped up to my jog pace and started going.  I figured I would just go until I felt like dying, which back when I was going regular was usually maybe a minute or two.  But thanks to Crossfit, and that fun 1/4 mile run to warm up, I could go a bit longer than that.  It wasn't as hard for me anymore.  It still wasn't easy, don't get me wrong -- but it wasn't that hard.  I got past a five minute mark and still felt okay.  I started the bargaining with myself and decided I would go til I hit 10 minutes and that was impressive.  After all, during Crossfit that's past the point of what I ran the half mile at in the fitness tests and usually I was about dead by then.  I figured I would be dead and would just work it out for the next 20 minutes.

But when I got to the 10 minute mark I was relatively close to a mile.  And I thought, "what the hell?  Why not go for it?"  In fact, I imagined how excited I would be to tell YOU about it.  And this face below is what I imagined I would feel like....

Quick check-in

I head back to work tomorrow after a week of staycation. Being home from work definitely made it easier to stick to a meal plan of a sorts and helped me stay on track with working out. I'm hoping this momentum will carry into next week.

I'm feeling pretty good about my progress and my mindset right now. The Lees have declared the weekend nights to be a bit of a blow your diet time, but even then I tried to stay somewhat in line. (Other than the 97 drinks I had last night, I mean! :) ) I'm looking forward to the cardio, kind of. I'm looking forward to being able to tolerate it, really. Well, by tolerate what I mean is able to do it and not feel like I'm going to die. Or puke. Or something. And I think I'm slowly getting in that direction, which is so great. The workout yesterday was tough, but I don't feel awful today and really just generally feeling proud of myself for making it through.

This weeks challenges will be getting up in time to workout before work and staying on track with eating. We made this really funny breakfast casserole that didn't turn out quite like the picture in the recipe. I can't wait to try it -- I'll have to post a photo.

Short and sweet -- hugs,
me