Checking In

Hi Y'all!

Well, it's been awhile since I checked in and I've been totally derelict in the Jingle Jiggle Challenge - and for that I'm sorry. I've been eating good, healthy food but I've also been hitting the holiday indulgences (well, most of them) but I don't feel bad about it.

I am not much of a drinker and I never really have been. I have a friend, however, who really needed to quit. He and I talked, and argued, and negotiated, and finally he agreed that he needed to quit. As a show of solidarity, I quit too. That took out all of maybe a glass of wine each month, but I will take my calorie losses wherever I can take them. So this year, my cup of holiday cheer is most likely Diet Dr Pepper. Now if I can just start getting more water.

On the exercise front, however, I'm still doing well, it's keeping me busy, and is part of the reason I haven't had much time to post lately. I ran in the Whiterock Marathon relays a couple of weeks ago and after that, the running class I was taking through our area running shop was over. The next set of classes don't start until a couple weeks into January and that meant that for over 6 weeks I would be on my own as far as running was concerned and that was just a set up for failure. I'm kind of proud of myself for this, but since there were no formal classes during this time I started my own by getting a bunch of my classmates excited about the winter half marathons, coming up with a training schedule, organizing everyone by email, coordinating the logistics on our long runs, and generally serving as the team touchstone. Long story short, I am now running a half marathon class for nearly 20 people just to make sure that I will keep running over the holidays - and it is completely working. I feel like I can't skip any runs since I'm coordinating things and I've been sticking with the training schedule since I have other people around me who are abiding by it too.

So last weekend (at 5:30 a.m.) we ran over 10 miles around the lake and through several neighborhoods. If you had told me in August that I could have ever done that - much less enjoyed it - I would have thought you crazy. But there you have it: 10 miles, 1 hour and 45 minutes, 1342 calories burned, and an icepack later and I'm the fittest I may have ever been. And it feels great.

I hope everything is going well for the rest of you. Elicia, I love the newest addition to your family menagerie and Jennifer - keep with your walking, you total weight-losing rock star!

Lisa