Crappy eating and running in the rain

It's been a whirlwind of a week!

On Wednesday I hopped a flight to Michigan to make my way to meet Katie from Runs For Cookies - one of the racers of our Ragnar Relay team. Well. To call her just "one of the racers" is a great understatement. For one, she's the one who helped to make this thing possible. She really was integral in putting the whole thing together and she was the one to reach out to me and invite me onto the team.  An invitation that I will be forever and ever grateful for. In many ways I think of Katie as the team "mama" and Rik (the captain and the man who had the idea from the get-go) the team "papa." I've also been such a fan of Katie's blog that going to meet her was super exciting.

I got into Detroit around 9 AM and we headed out to Katie's mom and dad's home. They were gracious enough to invite my partner Angela and I to stay with them during our trip. At first I felt like we might be imposing but the minute I met Katie and her mom face-to-face, I knew we were going to be in for a great time.

UH. And the view from Katie's Mom's house didn't hurt either!

Needless to say, Katie is as cool as I thought she would be and her parents were beyond warm and welcoming. Have you ever met a group of people that you immediately felt connected to? I know it sounds corny but that's how they all were. They are the type of folks you kinda wish you were related to. It was really great to get to know them all.

We had three solid days of interviews, getting to know the family and learning more about each other. We talked about running, kids, the future and life in general. I didn't want to leave!

Interviewing Katie and her hubby Jerry

While there, I definitely ran less then I would've liked to and ate more than I should've. We went to LaPita  for lunch with Katie's friend Jessica - (LOVED Jessica - she was so funny and cool to get to know). If you read Katie's blog, you know this is Katie's and Jessica's favorite post-long run place for lunch. And now I know why. It was absolutely incredible. While the mediterranean food of grilled chicken kabobs, hummus, salad and rice was probably pretty healthy - I definitely ate too much. It was too good. Bummer, I followed it up with an indulgent dinner later that evening. I'm too embarrassed to even write what I ate but lets just say it was hearty and ended with some kind of apple pie ala mode. Shit.

And then we ended our trip with a visit to Cracker Barrel. The good - it was a salad. Uh the bad? It was chicken salad. - hello mayo. I forgot how tasty you are. Still, It was over greens (oh good. A vegetable) I held the wedge of colby cheese and I *think* it was still better than the eggs, sausage and biscuits dripping in butter I would've really have liked to order….

OH crap. And I ordered Chinese food last night when I got home. And it wasn't steamed vegetables and brown rice.

Hangs head in shame… What kind of fraudulent health blogger am I?  I'm a food disaster. All this talk about eating clean and organics… All these docs I watch… And I'm one trip away from home from falling into old habits. Ugh. What is wrong with me?

ARGH. I will think about all this and try to figure out what I could do different next time. The one good thing I've learned in this journey is that there is no bad few days of eating that can't be undone. Just have to get back to my cleaner act and add a few miles, a few more (organic?) veggies and extra glasses of water. Can't change what I did yesterday. Can only control what I do today.

Had to go all the way to Michigan but finally found it.

So I picked my crappy eating self out of the gutter this morning and met up with my Moms In Motion group - We got to run. In the rain.

I've always have had this thing about not wanting to run in the rain. But I needed to get myself back into the groove and while in MI Katie actually told me she liked running in the rain. I did it. And I did like it! :) There was something very peaceful about it... And I've knocked 3 miles out already.

Do you let a few bad days of eating get you down?
Do you like running in the rain?

XO
Jen

Weight Watchers and Porkys - perfect together

Well, I'm still suffering with one helluva cold. But souped up on dayquil and armed with tissues, I'm muddling thru.  I will probably not run again today but I shall try not to let that get me down. I think it's for the best -- I'm on that edge of getting really sick or rallying back so I am going to try to take it easy and hope to be running again in the next day or so.

Even though I'm feeling off, I pulled my crap together enough to get to my Weight Watcher meeting. Next month in January I expect to reach my one year anniversary at (or below) my goal.  YEE HA. I'm very proud of the accomplishment in maintaining.

Still, the road to WW success will always hit bumps here and there. This week I was up and it was annoying.  Even though I'm a little sick - I still managed a 20+ mile week of running and tracked all my food. This is the second week I'm up at the scale despite being very mindful of food and exercise. Boo.  I'm still under goal so I have a little play room but no matter where you are at weight, its still frustrating when the scale doesn't do what you want it to do.

In any case - how is this for totally ridiculous?  Our new Weight Watcher center moved next to this BBQ restaurant:

But wait. That's not the ridiculous part.  During my weigh-in this morning was this ON THE WEIGHT WATCHER reception counter:

what's next? free wine tasting at the AA meeting?

Oh sweet irony. I mean. Come on Weight Watchers!  I appreciate that this program is designed where if I was forced to go to a place like Porkys I could figure out the points and make it happen.  Cool. I get that. But to literally have their menu at the scale?  I find something not quite right about that.  Most of us got into that room because we made poor choices and struggle with food. A 10% discount to Porkys is not what any of us need.

And listen - I hate to bag on Weight Watchers.  No one is a bigger supporter than I.  I LOVE Weight Watchers. I LIVE Weight Watchers.  I think it's an awesome program that works.  The program itself stresses 'whole foods' and exercise.  I am a fan and will probably go a meeting for the rest of my life… 

However, I have to call ya out on this one.

Gotta love it.

XO

Jen

Operation don't overeat on Thanksgiving FAIL

Well I ate too much at Thanksgiving which is really annoying.

I started the day off strong with a bowl of oatmeal, a cup of coffee and a 4.3 mile run around the neighborhood. GO ME!

Then, it was a scramble to shower, pack up the kid and head over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house.

Nana and Poppa (as my son calls them) live about an hour and a half away. I ate the oatmeal around 8am and that was all I ate. By the time we got to my mother's house, I was STARVING and promptly fell face first into a platter of cheese, olives, crackers and (I'm not proud) potato chips and onion dip.  

Oh and what the hell… It's a holiday. Sure. I'll have a bottle glass of vino please.

I was pretty full by the time the bird flew out of the oven but Thanksgiving is my very fav holiday and there was a no retreat, no surrender thing going on internally and like a good soldier (or a very foolish, slightly sloshed and full of junky food girl), I piled on the mashed, the stuffing, the turkey and I don't even know what else… (well I do know what else but I won't bore you with the delicious ridiculous details.)

I rolled from the table (thankfully, I didn't clean my plate) but I was mad at myself for eating waaaay past the point of satisfaction which is something I've worked hard to grasp… 

Of-course I wasn't angry at myself enough not to roll back to the table 45 minutes later for a little dessert and coffee…

Well. Ya know. What can I say? I'm not proud of myself. But I learned something.  Nana and Papa are evil people who tempt me with their goods! Bastards… 

Seriously, I learned that I need to never arrive at a festive affair hungry or I'm a goner.  I should've had some fruit and yogurt post-run or a half a whole grain muffin with a little peanut butter - something to keep starvation at bay and a little control in pocket.

So the bad news: This was a food fail.

The good news: Truthfully, years past I ate all this and more without a second thought. I would of then followed this debacle with a leftover plate around 9PM at night (we eat around 2 PM in the afternoon) and would've had it for breakfast the next day.

Instead, I came home, drank a ton of water and went to bed.

I also would've never exercised (heaven forbid) on a holiday.

Got up this morning and went to a Weight Watcher meeting like it was confession, cleared my soul and started my healthy life over and followed that with a two mile run.  I stopped the bleeding and am carrying on.

For the record - I was up only .2 this week at WW and with long runs coming back and a little focus, I'll take that off by next weigh in.

So I guess it's not so bad after all.

How was your Thanksgiving?

XO

Jen