Saturday, March 06, 2010

Can't Say It's All Been Time Lost

The frustration of being so close to a goal and continually experiencing set backs is absolutely, well frustrating. There are four pounds between me and the door to Goal-atopia. Actually, there WERE four pounds. Before I even officially weighed in at Weight Watchers, I knew. I almost skipped out of going to the meeting, and even when I got there I almost skipped weighing myself. Regardless, I stepped on the little platform and tried to muster up an excuse to the receptionist but the only thing that came out was: "I don't...I don't even know..." Honestly, I don't know what happened. If I take anything away from this though, I think it just goes to show that you can do everything right and still gain three pounds. Yup, three pound gain.



Good news is, that pretty lady on the right lost five pounds. Whatta jerk. That's my mom, and my biggest cheerleader.

Tears did breach on my drive home, and I may or may not have punched the steering wheel. I couldn't wait to get home to make pancakes, drenched in butter and syrup. Oh whatever, it's a cliche for a reason right? Feed your feelings and all that. You may be relieved to know, I came home and stood in my kitchen and resolved to eat oatmeal and strawberries. Not because it was the healthier option, but because I simply was too lazy to scratch up pancakes. Yup too lazy to throw a few ingredients in a bowl. This is an instance where lazatude works in my favor in the end.

After my low cholesterol meal, I got the spouse out of bed and by some grace of God convinced him to go running with us. Seriously...guys, is the world ending? Am I dying? Don't get me wrong, the guy is in shape-but naturally. He weighs a buck fifty, at five foot nine and is leaner than Jennie-O turkey. The last time he went out for a run was over a year ago when I first started. We went for a mile, and walked another-it was cold, at night and neither of us really enjoyed it. More than twelve months later, one of us has had an affair with running and the other turned a blind eye.



So maybe I was so excited that he was coming out with Goliath and I, that I may have set a rather lofty distance goal. Four miles. Over zealousness aside, I DID ask him how fast he thought he could run: 8 minute mile? 9? 10? 11? He just told me "Not very fast at all," so allow me to translate: 8 minute/mile. After our first half mile, it was clear that four miles was absurd. I wouldn't have expected that out myself a year ago-so why would I do that to him? Who's the jerk now? We ran 2.23 miles and stopped.


We retraced out treads home, just at twice the pace. Walking was a nice change of, well pace for me. The trail looked different, Goliath had more time to explore and I was able to note all the different people out training. It's fun for me to watch other runners, sometimes I write little stories about them in my head. Oh that guy is a three-time Boston Marathoner, he started running in high school and never gave it up. I like to watch their form, what gear they have and how fast they go. I get excited about it, and there's never any judgement passed I just love the sport.

Our little family was super hungry, and with a mile left to go it was decided that Logan deserved a hamburger for coming out with me. Even though it will probably be another year before I can drag him out, I was so thankful that when we got home I made him a giant burger. Giant burgers are not strangers in our home, in fact Big Burger Sunday is kind of notorious with us.


This was his burger, and this was mine:


Notice any difference? Shh...don't tell anyone but mine is half black beans. I don't discriminate foods, but I am a self-proclaimed hamburger connoisseur. When I first started Weight Watchers, it was the one food I was not willing to substitute or find a low calorie/low fat version. That is, until now. Until I gained three pounds. To make your own Big Black Bean Burger just combine 1/3 cup ground beef(or turkey), 1 tbsp egg white, 1/2 cup black bean and season with Worcestershire and black pepper.


Today's Mileage: 4.53
Time: 1:16:40

2 comments:

Megan said...

Honey! Keep your head up!

You know it's from all of our exercise!

Next week you will hit it!!

-Megan

Becky said...

We all have those setbacks sometimes. You'll get there! You're strong willed and I have faith in you. Also, congrats to your mom for the great loss! I used to attend meetings with my mom. I miss that.

I too make up stories about other runners I see. I check out their shoes, tights, headphones, armbands... anything I can see. I wave at all runners and love the unspoken connection we all share with each other.

Thanks for the black bean burger idea! Andrew loves burgers and this would make it so much more enjoyable for me. I think this might be a recipe I try this coming weekend.

As always, you're awesome and your blog gives me inspiration to keep on running.