Yesterday, around 3 p.m., it started thunderstorming horribly, so a run after work was unfortunately out of the question. It was raining just hard enough to be yucky by the time I got home, though it wasn’t thundering or lightening anymore. So I decided to go this morning instead. It was nice! I hit the snooze button a few times, almost decided not to go, but then I figured it’d probably storm again this afternoon, and then I’d be screwed. So I got up, and went to the park at around 7.

Half of the park was closed off for resurfacing, so I just ran up to St. Charles and back down. But I really ran it! Both ways! When I got up to the St. Charles side, I walked a little, up to the sidewalk, and stretched, but then I ran back to the parking lot! I ran for at least 7-8 minutes each time, with maybe a 2 minute recovery, and I didn’t even feel all that bad. Had the park not been half closed, I probably would have gone around twice, but I really didn’t feel like going back and forth again.

Last night I had a really nice dream and I want to record it here, so I don’t forget it. It really has nothing to do with running. But anyway…I dreamed I was back at our old house (on Port Hudson, the house I grew up in and we moved out of when I was 17) in my parents’ bathroom, getting ready to take a bath (but I was still clothed.) I was the only one in the house, but then I heard a noise. I went out to investigate, and at the last minute, went into my parents’ closet to get something to defend myself with. Turns out, I grabbed one of my golf clubs that I got when I was little (the wood, as if it matters.) I don’t even know if I had my own wood when I was little, but I think I did. I went out into the kitchen, and there was Dad, bent over, putting papers in his briefcase or something like that. He was dressed like he was going to work, and there was someone else in the kitchen (some guy, don’t know who it was.) He stood up and I looked at him, and it wasn’t creepy or scary or anything, it was just normal. I looked him right in the eyes and he smiled and gave me a big hug. He was just as squashy as always, and it just felt so normal and nice. I can’t remember if he said anything to me. I feel like he felt proud of me for something. Maybe for quitting smoking, since that’s what probably killed him. Ironic then, that it was most likely a nicotine patch-induced dream. Ha ha!

Anyway, I woke up feeling good, like it was his way of visiting me and checking up on me, since I know I wouldn’t handle anything vaguely “supernatural” well at all.

Enough about dreams – might go running again this evening with Kristina. I won’t be able to go tomorrow since I’m going to Baton Rouge, so I should get it in now.

PS Whoever said running in the morning energizes you for the rest of the day was not talking about me. Hmmm.

Today is Jenny’s birthday. She is 29. Ack! I can’t believe she’s almost 30!

Last night, in lieu of going running (it was rainy all afternoon, but it stopped by the evening) we walked to Sav-a-Center. I wore my new Adidas Cairo ’01 shoes that I got in the mail yesterday from Road Runner Sports. Yay! Exciting! They’re motion control, but my other shoes are stability, so we’ll see if these are more appropriate. I would think so, but who knows. I’m no expert. They are pretty, and they were extremely cheap (something like 66% off!)

We only ran a little bit on the way to the store (wanted to test out the new shoes – so far so good) but we were so hungry there was no more running going on. Today is going to be a real running day, though. Maybe we can go further than 1.5 miles…who knows?

Ahhh, Monday. Fun weekend. Friday afternoon we went to the park, walked around twice. Ran about 1/4 of the way around at the end, though. At least it was something. But then we were too tired to go out so we just stayed home and watched Trainspotting.

Saturday, we went to the main library downtown, and I checked out some books. I had dreamt about going to the library the night before, so it seemed fitting. Then we went and ate lunch at TGI Friday’s in the Quarter. That seems like it should be very wrong, but whatever. I wasn’t feeling so hot, but after lunch, we went down to the French Market and Kristina bought some stuff – candles, a watch, and she had bought a t-shirt at Virgin earlier. I didn’t buy anything (because I’m currently broke) but after that we went and had coffee at CC’s. Then, we wandered back towards the Aquarium and went to the IMAX theatre and watched the Cyberworld 3-D movie. It was cool. I suppose the point of all this, is that we walked pretty far that day, so it wasn’t so important that we didn’t go running.

That night, Kristina, Jason, and I went to the pub in Algiers. That was fun. After that, we went to dba, then finally to the Avenue. It was a fun night, nothing terribly exciting, but fun. I really wanted to smoke, but of course, I didn’t. I think no matter how strong my cravings are, when it gets down to it, I really just don’t want to smoke. And if I can resist when I’ve been drinking, well…that’s some kind of willpower! It’s comforting, since Wednesday is my last day on the patch.

Sunday, we woke up late, and Kristina was very hungover. It’s amazing how not smoking can make you not hungover, because I drank almost as much as Kristina, but she smoked a pack and a half of cigarettes. So after lazing around the house, and giggling a lot (surely that must be good for something? abs?) we went to Rite-Aid and to LPK for dinner (thank god Kristina was too hungover to Somersize, or to care.)

That was pretty much it for the weekend. UKtoYou got two sales this weekend, seems like things are finally picking up. Yeah! I’m going to Baton Rouge after work on Thursday, and staying until Sunday or possibly Monday. Jenny’s coming into town on Saturday. Yippee.

Oh yeah, and the scale this morning read -7 lbs since I started running. Hmmmmm…

I can’t believe it! Yesterday, at around 7, Kristina and I went to the park. We planned on running, because we hadn’t on Tuesday. We walked for about a minute or so, and then when we hit the first turn, we started running. And we didn’t stop for 1.5 miles! Or 18 minutes!

We started off going very slowly. Kristina is faster than I am, and I usually just try to go as fast as she does, but yesterday I made sure we went slowly. And after we had made it up the first long side, I turned to her and said “this is easy!” And she said, “I know, but I didn’t want to say anything and jinx it.” And we just kept running! We ran all the way up the second long side, which put us at 19 minutes total, and I guess we walked for a minute before we started running, so we ran 12 minute miles.

Yesterday we ran further and longer than we ever have, in our entire lives! It was amazing.

My shins hurt a bit afterwards, but I iced them and stretched, so I think they’ll be ok.

Yesterday, Kristina and I went to the park again. We had to go relatively early (around 6) because she had to go study after dinner. Since it was so hot, we walked most of the way. We ran maybe a tenth of a mile at the beginning, but not at all after that. We went around twice, though. I guess I don’t mind walking when I go with Kristina, especially right now when it’s hot. The most important thing right now is just burning calories, since a) I need to lose weight and b) because it’s so hot. I don’t think my endurance is going to improve greatly when it’s the heat that stops me from going further. According to some website, going around the park burns 513 calories. Woah! That means every 7 days of doing that, I should lose 1 pound. Hmmm. Interesting.

I think I might start going around 3 times. Or running to the park, running around, the coming back. That would be different, at least. We shall see. For now, though, I want twice around not to be so tiring. No matter how I do it, walking or running.

Bad, bad us. We haven’t run since Tuesday, and I don’t know when we’ll have time to go before Sunday. Yikes! Hopefully we’ll have time tomorrow afternoon. Maura’s coming in at 5 this afternoon, then we’re going out tonight, then tomorrow night is the Saints game (my first! and it’s free! Kristina got free tickets at work). Fun weekend, definitely.

Yesterday was better. We went around the park twice. Well, it took us 52 minutes, but that means we were averaging 14:30 miles. Yikes. Actually, considering we only ran about 5 minutes of that, I suppose it’s not all that bad. I’m sure if we just walked the whole way, we could do the whole 5K in 45 minutes, which is our goal. So maybe I should rethink our goal. No, better not. Then we’ll be pleasantly surprised if we do it in under 45 minutes. Hmmm.

It’s pretty overcast outside right now, I don’t know if we’re going to go running today or take a break. I wouldn’t mind running. Just once around.

Last night Kristina made a really yummy chicken dish. Creamy cheesy sauce. Mmmmm. But this morning, I weighed myself and the scale said I’ve lost 7 lbs since the last time I weighed myself (about 3 weeks ago). I wonder if it’s true…that scale is a piece of crap, so who knows. We’ll see…

Nevertheless, I’m getting really sick of this Somersizing crap. I just want to eat a sandwich! Even a healthy sandwich! Blech. Only two more weeks of this. Thank god.

5 days…ack! I’m a little nervous. Not too nervous, though, because at least I’ll be with lots of friends. Anne’s running it with us, and Chris, and maybe Ren and Gary. So it’ll be fun. And Maura’s coming in town this weekend, and we’re going out because it’s Anne’s last weekend in town, so it should be a nice weekend.

Yesterday, Kristina and I both felt really crappy when we went to the park – I had cheated earlier in the day with a little chocolate (I felt so much better after I had some sugar that I don’t regret it) and with our lack of carbs all day long, neither of us had much energy, but it felt good just to get outside. It wasn’t even too hot. Today we’re going to go twice around (well, it’s my goal to convince Kristina to), hopefully in under 45 minutes. I think we can do that. I had carbs for breakfast and didn’t feel nearly as yucky as yesterday (but I still got a bit itchy around lunchtime). I just don’t know how well I can deal with no sugar. I love sugar. I don’t care how bad it is, I love it. Sigh.

Last night Anne and Jason came over to watch a movie and brought Twizzlers and Sour Patch Kids. Even a bag just for us! (Thoughtful, yeah.) Anne hid one of the bags in Kristina’s room (strangely, they didn’t trust me enough to hide it in my room – hmmph) but it was rather torturous to listen to them eating the lovely, sugary candy, while we had Diet Coke for dessert. Ick.

Only 6 days until the 5K! And I have been really slacking off for the past couple of weeks. Friday, I had Kristina drop me off at the St. Charles side of the park, and I walked up it, and around a bit until I reached Perrier, and then I walked home from there. I estimate it was about 3 miles total, and it took me exactly 45 minutes. I only ran a few blocks of it, I just didn’t feel up to running. I don’t know why.

Yesterday, Kristina and I decided to try the Somersize program. I can’t believe I’m letting Suzanne Somers dictate what I eat, but the recipes in the book are really yummy. And Kristina’s mom sent her the book after she used it and she said it works, so why not? I’m really just interested in losing a lot of weight right now, I don’t really care how I go about it (healthy, I know) because once I get enough weight off to be able to run further, I can use the running to maintain. I certainly don’t want to use this eating plan forever, because you can’t eat much sugar and carbs are discouraged, which doesn’t exactly fall in line with running nutrition.

It’s raining today, but I’m going running no matter what.

I haven’t been running much, so I haven’t been writing much. Monday evening, Kristina and I went running, but that’s all we’ve done since last Tuesday. It was really hot and humid as well, so we only made it once around, although we ran at a faster pace than usual. I felt good about what we did, even though we didn’t do much.

I spent most of last week icing my shin and wearing a compression thingy. I think it worked, though I still have minor aches and pains in my shin. What can I do? I think it’s ok. It certainly doesn’t hurt while I run, so I’m not going to stress about it. I think maybe I’m being slightly hypochondriatic. If that’s a word. Anyway, with my non-smoking (oops. slip on Saturday) I’m feeling generally crappy altogether, with nausea and post-nasal drip and sleeplessness, so what’s a little leg pain?

We’re going to Texas this weekend, Kristina to visit Allen and me to visit Mike and Debbie, so that will be a nice change of pace. I need a vacation bad. There’s a 5K every other Saturday in Mike and Debbie’s neighborhood, I’m thinking of running it, just for practice. The only problem is, it’s really small and I’ll probably be the last person to finish. Maybe I should just run 5K, but not in the 5K. If I run 10 times around their cul-de-sac, it’s a 5K. Anyway, I want my first 5K to be with Kristina. It’ll be more memorable that way.

It’s raining today a bit, so hopefully that will cool things off some for tonight. Even better, maybe it’ll still be raining. I can dream…