A visit from Death...

I went on my first run yesterday in what seems like forever. And I about died. I had found out about this cool trail not to far from home and so Petree (my puppy) and I went on a walk a couple Sunday's ago to check it out, we didn't get all that far because it got muddy and I was wearing flip flops. So the next day we went back prepared (and with Michael). I noticed that there was a trail running along both sides of the river, which I thought was way cool. But it was even cooler to find out that at the 'end' of the trail on one side of the river there was a footbridge that you could cross and come back down the other side. Once we had done the loop we noticed a sign that said it was 1.5 miles to the footbridge, so the trail is pretty much an even 3 miles. Perfect for running! Even though I've done it quite a bit I still don't understand how people can run on a treadmill, especially when it's nice outside. Running on a treadmill is so boring to me, I would much rather be actually moving and getting somewhere so I love, love, love trail running. What I don't love? The burning pain in my lungs, burned so bad I just wanted to stop breathing, yet I couldn't stop sucking wind fast enough! It's the Catch-22 from hell. For the first quarter of the run I felt like poo, just felt REALLY out of shape and loser-ish. I knew I wasn't going to be able to run the entire way without stopping so my plan was to run for as long as I could stand it, then walk/recover and keep repeating that until I had finished. So like I said, the first quarter of it was pretty bad, but after I had crossed the bridge and started back down the other side my lungs weren't hurting nearly as bad and I was able to run more than I walked. It took me 40 minutes to do the loop. Not fantastic, but it could have been a lot worse. Afterwards I had this awesome asthmatic/smokers wheezing cough. I think it was my body letting me know how pissed off it was with me. It's going to be really mad when I do it again today, ha! I am not nearly as sore as I thought I was going to be. So now my plan is to keep running and to get back into it slowly, it has been a while so I don't want to go balls to the wall and end up too sore to work out, or injured. Eating better has been going pretty good, I think the daily run will help a lot, I'm way more conscious of what I eat when I'm working out harder.

Old Lady Beat Down

Good news on the cereal front, Cheerios! Still not the best flavor but alot easier to eat than those cardboard squares I was choking down. The dog wouldn't even eat them. We also got some Grape Nuts Flakes cereal which isn't too bad, either.
So things are starting to turn around, I've gone to the gym two days in a row and am sort of (key words sort of) starting to feel better. And my calendar is so much better looking when I'm able to put my stickers on it! :) Then Michael sent me this e-mail on "how to eat more and still lose weight". I told him it's painfully obvious I already eat too much as it is so I will start by eating less and working out more and see how that goes first.
At the gym I always hated the person who just walked on the treadmill the whole time, they're taking up valuable treadmill space just to walk?! Well, I am now THAT person. And what's even worse, is the old lady on the treadmill next to me last night totally kicked my ass. She was all jogging along with her old lady shoes, and here I am, just walking along while I watch Reba on Lifetime (love that show!). And what's even worse is that my leg muscles are slightly sore just from two days of walking for an hour each day.
My next weigh in will be at the end of the month, so I have a little over two weeks before I can see what progress (if any) I have made.
I am also thinking about working out in the mornings. I have done it in the past and once I get into a habit of working out in the mornings, it makes the day better because I don't have a workout hanging over my head. I would like to run a couple mornings a week. It would be alot easier if it would quit snowing (it's March!).

Diet starts Monday...

First off, do you know how hard it is to find healthy cereal? Even the "healthy" ones all list sugar in their top 3 ingredients and I'm beginning to see why. I finally found some cereal that is really low in sugar, it's just plain shredded wheat cereal, I don't think it has any sugar at all, actually. Sadly, it's disgusting. I had a bowl this morning and couldn't even finish it all, I was wishing we had some brown sugar to put on it. So, back to the drawing board, I can't keep eating that. This weekend was so-so for diet/exercise. The diet, not so good. I was sick last week, so Saturday was a really lazy day for me, all I did was lay on the couch and blow my nose. And then we went out for dinner, not good. Sunday was a bit better, I ate a little better and we hiked out to Tumalo Falls which is a waterfall just outside of Bend. It was about 5 miles round trip. Then we went to the movies and ate popcorn. I think my problem is that if I'm not working out, it's almost impossible for me to eat healthy. And since I've been sick, I've just wanted to sleep and relax, not go to the gym. SO, this week I hope to do a lot better. My calendar on the fridge needs some more stickers!! I am switching up some shifts at work this week, too, so I will be getting off at 3pm instead of 530-ish for the next few days. Hopefully this makes going to the gym after work a bit easier. I better get a move on, my next weigh-in is a week and a half away!