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I recently participated in a cookie swap at work.  I baked 4 dozen 6 dozen cookies and got 4 dozen in return.

‘Tis the season for cookies after all.

But it turns out that I was not the best at rationing the cookies.  So after a couple of days of having too many, and then a day of eating other desserts at school that I didn’t need or particularly want beyond that moment… I put the rest of my cookies in the freezer.

I am annoyed with myself that I let myself eat so many.  But I did and it is in the past now.  And now I need to move forward…

BTW, I made this Ginger Spiced Molasses Sugar Cookie recipe.  It was very good!  I subbed 1 cup of white whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the all purpose flour.

Yesterday I posted a little about motivation and how I’ve been coping with a lack of it this week. Today was no different and it took just about everything I had to get out the door for a run. I wouldn’t normally post again so soon about motivation, because I think at some point it can start to sound whiny. But I want to be real here, and this is me, feeling like this journey might just be impossible and struggling to find he motivation to get in another workout. But I’m going to keep going because I know it is impossible only if I give up.

So, enough about that. Look what came in the mail today!

My new shoes! Very excited and even wore them on the run I finally did tonight.

To skip a workout or run, to order a pizza, to give up.  I feel like that has been my mantra all week.  And then, cursing, I try to make the right decision.  To go on that run even though I’m feeling stuffed to the gills or tired.  To make dinner even though I also have to make cookies for work and it is already 7:30.  To get a workout in even when the thought of the torture that is BodyRock has me wanting to hide out on the couch.

It’s been three weeks since Thanksgiving, when I ran the Stuffing Strut 5K and recommitted myself to getting fit..  Because I have tried this whole “lets get fit!” thing in the past, I know my typical pattern is to go strong for about three or four weeks.  And then life seems to get the best of me.  I get busy, or lazy, or sick.  And I give up.  I don’t want that to be the case this time.  So I’m battling the sudden lack of motivation and telling myself “it’s too easy” to quit.

I know I’m not always going to make the right decisions.  There will be times when life gets in the way.  There will be times when I want to go out to dinner instead of make it.  There will be times I choose sleep or homework or even a book over a run.  And that’s okay, as long as its not every day.  But for this week, it’s too easy to give up.

The other day I was thinking about races and that got me thinking about the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, so on a whim, I entered the lottery.

Guess I have another spring race to train for! But it will fall perfectly in my training plans for KY.

I kicked things off on Friday trying to fit a run in before meeting some girlfriends for dinner and “Wicked”.  I was hoping for a run and some Body Rock, but it turns out I only had time for a run.  Glad I managed to get some kind of workout in.  (Even though it made me a little late, sorry!)  Especially since my food choices were less than stellar on Friday.  1.05 miles - 11:41

Saturday was a full day of shopping.  And then Christmas present wrapping.  I was going to go for a run after shopping, but I was really tired, so I skipped it.  Much better food choices on Saturday - at home meals!

Which brings me to today.  Ron and I have some gift cards that we hadn’t used, so after another taking a test in the AM, wrapping more presents, and pretty full day of shopping (bonus - Christmas shopping almost DONE!), we went to Maggianos Little Italy for dinner.  Even though I tried to avoid eating too much, I was pretty full by the time dinner was over and we got home.  Ron said he didn’t want to go running, and I thought about skipping again.  And then I thought about how easy it is to skip a workout and how once I start doing that its suddenly 3 weeks later and I haven’t exercised at all.

So I threw on my new Lululemon jacket (<3), laced up my sneakers, leashed the pups and went out (Ron did too).  And after a 5 minute warmup, I ran for 21 minutes straight!  That is huge for me.  I really thought the run would be something I needed to just tough out.  But my legs didn’t hurt (more than would be normal) and I wasn’t too full to run!  So glad I took that first step out the door.  2.39 miles - 30:15 (includes a warm-up and cool down walk).

Side note - we still don’t have a Christmas Tree.  Wondering if it is even worth getting one at this point?

I’ve been working to get at least some activity in every day.  And today I’m SORE (in a good way).  So here’s what I’ve been up to over the past week +:

Monday:

1.7 miles of running/walking in 33 min.  This was the point I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do Running World’s Holiday Running Streak.  Not really sure why I thought I could do this given I have low to no fitness base.  I think mostly I thought it would be good to have some discipline and it was only a small mileage amount.  But by the fourth day I was miserable.

Tuesday:

Yoga x2.  First up in the morning was some Exercise TV Yoga for 15 min.  Then, Yoga For Runners in the afternoon because the one in the morning wasn’t really what I was looking for.

Wednesday:

Same Yoga For Runners and then a 2.39 mile run where my legs felt SO MUCH better than on Monday (34 min)

Thursday:

Same route as Wednesday, in about the same time.  2.39 miles

Friday:

Super long day (Work and then class until 9).  Yoga For Runners again.

Saturday:

Rest day/class day.  Had vague plans to do yoga again, but I was just dead tired by the time I got home.  Plus, there was the very sad MSU/Wisconsin game to watch.

Sunday:

Very nice day for November in Michigan!  2.94 miles, 41 minutes.

Monday:

Complete reversal of Sunday’s temps!  All day drizzle that turned into snow.  Took the running indoors for a nasty treadmill run that my legs did not particularly like.  2.3 miles, 35 min.  Before that was a HEAVILY Bodyrock workout (which is what has me so sore today.

Tuesday (aka Today):

Didn’t want to do too much, but I did want to stretch out my muscles, so I did More Yoga ("Gentle Hatha Flow").  Had a bit of a hard time convincing myself to do this this though.  Really just wanted to be lazy.

So that’s it!  My week (+!) of workouts.

See this cupcake?

I was offered this cupcake on my way to class this evening.  It is missing half an Oreo because I ate it before I snapped the picture.  It looked delicious.  But within one bite I could tell that it was way too sugary and likely to make me sick.  I took another bite.  Still too sugary.  I gave the rest to Ron.  Two bites of a cupcake, three bites of a brownie… that was enough to have me feeling a little sick to my stomach.  Its not that I think that treats are “bad”, but this treat was not going to satisfy me.  So instead of mindlessly finishing it because it was there, I got rid of it.  I need more recognition of the foods that I eat and whether I am eating them because I really want to or just because they are conveniently there.

I have class tonight.  Three hours.  Dinner first, probably “networking” at the bar after.  A full day tomorrow.  Eight hours plus breakfast and lunch.  I did some yoga this morning – trying to get a bit more flexibility in my legs in an attempt to diminish my calf problems.

I had planned to post this a lot closer to the Part I post, but school and work, and getting ready for the holiday’s meant I got super busy.  I hope you understand.  Although initially this was going to be a three part series, I’m being lazy and am going to squeeze it into two posts.

The Details

I wanted to give just a few details about the details of our trip.  I may have mentioned it was sort of a last minute trip and three days before I was scouring the interwebs for a hotel room.  We ended up booking a room at the Holiday Inn Express near the magnificent mile.  I kind of wanted to book a room at a slightly swankier hotel and was kind of bummed when a little bit of fiscal prudence won out.  Turns out, I need not have worried because this hotel was pretty much perfect!  A reasonably priced, clean, and modern place to lay to my head at night (with free breakfast in the morning!) that was close to the things I wanted to do.  The room was tiny tiny tiny, but that didn’t really matter in the end.

For lunch our first day, we wanted Chicago-style pizza.  So we ventured forth and found Gino’s East.  A line out the door pretty much ensured that it would be good.  Plus, it turns out that if you are a guest at the Holiday Inn, you can get VIP passes from the concierge to skip the line.  We didn’t know this, but since we had room keys showing that we were guests, got to skip the line anyway.  And while my favorite pizza is still NY-style thin crust, this was very good (and a whole lot better than the deep dish pizza of a local chain here!).

Random Graffiti, but perfect!

Dinner that night was at Grand Lux Café.  They have a huge menu, definitely something for everyone! 

The next day we hit up Wow Bao for lunch because it was something different.  It was good, and I wish there was one closer to me!

Finally, for dinner we ended up at Texas de Brazil.  We tried a few other restaurants, but the all had really long wait times, so we eventually just went back to the hotel and called in a reservation.  Plus, it was a little like being back in Brazil reminded us of Brazil.

We also went to Argo Tea a few times and it was very good!  Another that I wish were closer to me.

The Activities

So, what did we do while in Chicago?  Well, we went shopping a lot, although didn’t buy much of anything.  We went to the John Hancock observatory.

Lakeshore Drive

Navy Pier

We also went to the Field Museum which h was a lot of fun.  We only had a few hours, but that was enough since we were both dead tired by the time the museum closed.  Ron said he couldn’t stand still because his feet were hurting.  Mine were as well.  So the logical thing was to walk back to our hotel, probably 3 miles away, right?  No?  Well, that’s what we did, and it was a really nice night for a walk!

Sue

So that’s what we did on our short weekend trip to Chicago.  I had a blast and can’t wait to go back again!