Peace

Monday night I was watching some mindless TV* and had a revelation.  I realized that I felt good.  I almost forgot what feeling good felt like.

My eyes were no longer puffy and allergy affected.

My body didn't ache.

My mind was clear.

I was relaxed. 

I also went for a run earlier in the day, on Monday, and my run felt good.  My runs almost always feel good, even a crappy run is a good run, but this was different.  I felt more aware and more in control.  I think it's time to crank up the running and be a little bit more competitive again.  Cruising is fine, but I'm getting the energy back to push myself again.

Aside from not feeling sick and running better, I also noticed that my animals are happy that I'm home.  They will not leave my side.  On Tuesday we all sat on the back porch to watch the sunset.** 

Actually, I sat on the back porch and watched the sunset, the dog was at my feet, one cat was on my lap, and the other cat was sitting behind me.  I wished I had been able to photograph that moment.  It was peaceful.

I'm sure the people in my house appreciate that I'm not cranky and tired all the time.  They just don't glue themselves to me.  Heh.

Sunday's Song:
That's It, I Quit, I'm Movin' On - Sam Cook, Adele - Extra bonus points to Katiefeldmom for guessing Adele

PEACE

*The Bachelor... and it really was mindless...
** Actually, a sunset photo from another day, but I needed a sunset photo from my back yard.  I didn't want this blog post to be picture-less.

Sugar, Sugar

Activity: Run
Date: 04/17/07 09:38 AM
Distance: 2.21 miles
Time: 0:21:49
Speed: 6.08 mph
Pace: 9' 52 min/mile
Calories: 210
I ran a slightly different route today. I took on a hill but not "THE HILL."

Yesterday I had some pretty intense sugar and fat cravings. I was craving things I haven't had in a long time, such as mac n'cheese, white butter cream frosting, hot dogs, Hostess Twinkies, etc... I didn't have any of those things but I would have been in trouble if I were near a grocery store... I think part of the need to feed on junk was residual of my 18 mile run on Saturday. I need to continue carb-loading after such a big run, plus load up on lean proteins. I did pay attention to my nutrition the day of and after the run, but the cravings for junk was amazing. This might sound not very appetizing, but I took care of the cravings with tomato soup with a scoop of unflavored soy protein powder for lunch. dinner was better with chicken with rice and red beans. Hot herbal tea filled in the gaps of feeling like I wanted to eat junk. Today is much better. The cravings are gone.

I had a hard time putting into words what I was feeling about the tragedy at Virginia Tech yesterday, so I didn't post about it. My heart sank into my stomach when I heard the news. I just coudn't believe this was happening again. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of the friends and family closely tied to this horrible event.

Peaceful Easy Feeling

Today's run: 9.02 miles in 1:40:14, at an 11:06 minute mile pace. I was sluggish and my legs felt heavy, even though I had a decent carb load last night of Thai pad rice noodles and chicken, and this morning it was my usual pre long run breakfast of raisin bran with soy milk and coffee. I wasn't going for time, I was going for distance, so it's mission accomplished. Today the BiM site is down so I can't post the map, but I ran the bay path I usually run plus ran around Fiesta Island to fit in the extra 3 miles to complete at least 8 miles, which was my initial goal, but to get back to the restroom by the park, I had to run the extra mile.

The nice thing about running by the bay in the morning, especially the day after it rains, is that the air is crisp and clean. The air was cool, but perfect for running. It was quiet and I became lost in thought. If it wasn't for the mile marker beeps on my wireless run tracker bringing me back into reality, I probably would have ran even further. I had plenty to think about. I feel a great sense of calm and joy right now.

A friend of hubbie's wants us to run with him in the Carlsbad 5000 in less than a couple of weeks. The cool thing (if we do this race) is that I can actually run a chipped 5k, but I haven't been in 5K training mode. My 5k times are much slower than they used to be because I'm working on endurance and getting in those long miles. Perhaps that's something to think about for next year. I'd really like to PR at a 5K with close to an 8 minute mile pace. My best 5k pace was something like 8:15ish, and that was a few years ago. If I do the race, my 5k time pace would be somewhere between a 8:45 and 9:00 minute mile. We'll see.

Peace