10 Days

That’s how long it’s been since I’ve posted here!

I’ve been focusing a lot on my other blog, which I’m actually moving here in the next few weeks. I’m also trying to streamline my life by decluttering my blog reader, which now contains about 2/3rd’s of the number of blogs it used to, but probably only about 1/3rd of the number of posts to read. Some of my favorite bloggers post 1-4 times a day, but I decided unless they are a friend, I just don’t have the time to read them.

I’m also trying to streamline other areas of my life. I reorganized my kitchen yesterday and put some things in yard sale boxes. I gave 2 huge boxes of stuff to Teen Challenge Boston (I’ll post about that in my other blog later). I’ve been trying to get rid of stuff on Freecycle, as well as packing stuff away for the yard sale we will have in the spring.

It’s been warmer these past few days, so we’ve been getting out for walks, though people still have not cleared their sidewalks! But it’s nice to be able to get a little exercise, even if I have to walk in the middle of the street half the time.

Blogs, Weather & Produce

Do you ever click on the “Next Blog” feature at the top of Blogspot blogs? I did for the 1st time today, and the first 3 or 4 blogs that came up were not in English I wonder if that’s an accurate sampling of what is out there on Blogspot.

The weather here has been awful – rainy, thunderstorms, etc., which is not conducive to exercise. In fact, it’s supposed to rain Thursday & Friday. I did go for a run yesterday, probably about 3 miles, and a long walk today with Noodles & Bear, which was probably about 4.5-5 miles. Usually Noodles puckers out after 2-3 miles, but he kept going strong the whole time. I probably helped that he kept finding wet places to rub in, and I brought along some water for him.

I’m also getting back into the green smoothie habit after only having 3 or 4 last week. I even subjected my mother to some She actually seemed to like it! After we picked up my mom at the train on Saturday, we headed over to Haymarket, where they have a huge fruit & veggie open-air market on Fridays & Saturdays. None of it is organic, unfortunately, but is it ever cheap! Most of it is quite ripe, so you need to either freeze it or use it quickly. I stocked up on bananas (4 pounds for $1!) for making smoothies & ice cream, as well as sweet potatoes for Bear, lettuce (green leaf & romaine), apples, peaches, raspberries, blueberries & strawberries. We even splurged & got some of those yellow cherries at $1.50 a pound. Altogether, I only spent $17.50! I wish it were closer to home, as I’d go more often.

I’ve been quite cold lately. The temperature has been hovering in the low 70’s, and my body doesn’t know what to do with that. Right now, it’s 75, and I’m wearing a hooded sweatshirt. My fingers are freezing & I’d make a cup of tea if Bear & I weren’t upstairs.

Brrrrrr……isn’t it supposed to be summer?

Bear-less Running

I ran 3 Bear-less miles this morning! It’s only the 2nd time since I began running again that I ran without Bear in the jogging stroller. It was quite fun, and the hills were definitely easier! I also ran about 10 minute miles, which is faster than I usually run when I have him with me, but quite a bit slower than I used to run on the indoor track.

I also found out the local community center has an indoor track. I’m going to go check it out and see if it can accommodate a jogging stroller

Running, Hydration & "New" Pants

I’ve found that lately, on the days I run, I’m totally exhausted for the remainder of the day. I’ve been trying to figure out why this is. I eat healthily, have at least a quart of green smoothie, and drink water. But I think maybe I wasn’t drinking enough water. I don’t like drinking a lot while I’m running, so I tried to drink a lot of water this morning before my run. Then during the run (67 minutes), I only drank about 8 ounces of water, but during my subsequent walk (Bear was still asleep, so I grabbed the dog and walked about 1.6 miles), I drank another 12 ounces. And then I drank about a cup & a half of water when I got home.

I think I don’t drink enough in general. I’ve been trying to only drink small amounts with meals, since drinking with meals waters down your stomach acids and makes digestion more difficult. But I’ve found it’s a bit unrealistic for me because I just don’t remember to drink enough. Or Bear will fall asleep on my lap for an hour and a half and I won’t have anything to drink nearby. So my goal is to increase the amount I drink between meals and slowly decrease the amount I drink with meals. I figure overall hydration is the most important thing.

It’s almost 6:30 PM, and I didn’t get the tireds today! So I think my cunning plan is working.

When I was doing my post-run sit-ups, Noodles decided he needed to sit as close to me as possible and pollute my air space with his stinky breath. He finally moved, at which Bear decided my sit-ups must be a game, and he wanted to join by lying across my stomach. Oh, boy! Another time I was doing sit-ups, Noodles decided to lick my elbow every time I lifted up in a sit-up. Never a dull moment around here!

Don’t you love it when you find old clothing that you forgot about, packed away in a box somewhere? About a month & a half ago, I was cleaning out the basement and found a box marked “Medium & Bigger Clothes”. Not a particularly helpful label, so I decided to pull them out & see what I could wear. It was like Christmas! I found several pairs of pants, including summer pants and a skirt, that fit, as well as 3 pairs of jeans that could fit after a few more pounds lost. Well, as of today, the 3 pairs of jeans fit, albeit snugly! I don’t really wear jeans in the summer anyway; it’s too muggy here, but by the fall, I’ll have 3 “new” pairs of jeans to wear! I love it