May 1: Thank god THAT's over

Greetings hero worshipers,

OY. This morning was the dreaded Sporting Life 10k run. Big shout out to the Ladies of the Cancer who all ran awesome times. Particularly proud of my girl L-Mac2, who really encouraged me to do the run, despite my lack of conditioning. She did amazing. Well, they all did. Me, on the other hand, not so much. I ran a saggy-assed 1:18:30, which is 11.5 minutes slower than last year. Sigh. Hard not to feel like a total schlep in the wake of it. I think I walked almost as much as I ran. It was a really tough slog. Trying my best to feel proud of the fact I went out and did it, despite my relative lack of training. I am a bit bummed though.

But the result has me determined to improve, which is a fantastic takeaway. I realize that I really need to have a race to work towards as a goal, to keep me running and trying to improve. So this summer I am going to see about running a few 5k races. There are tons to choose from. Try to get a faster time for a shorter distance. It's less painful and I think more achievable. All the while I will hope to continue losing weight, which should also improve my performance.

Speaking of continued weight loss, Wednesday's weigh in was awesome - another 1.8 pounds lost, which is pretty amazing, the week after a 2 pound loss. I was awarded the coveted 10% key chain for having lost 10% of my starting weight. What a glorious coppery glow it has! Apparently there are charms you get to add to it when you hit milestone numbers like 25 pounds or whatever, I guess to ensure you don't lose your motivation after having achieved this ultimate prize. SWEET!

Apr 23: Fresh numbrrrs!

It's the weekend! The long weekend! Ba-da-buh-buh-baaaah I'm lovin' it.

So as you know, I like to count. I know I'm always joking about how the numbers aren't important and it's all about healthy lifestyle blah blah tofucakes. But for me, the binge eating/ food obsessing thing is a compulsive behaviour. People use compulsive behaviours to cope with the big bad world when a more grounded, in-the-moment sort of approach may be beyond their reach. When I make efforts to rein myself in and cut out that compulsive behaviour, it makes sense that I would offset the loss by turning to another obsession, right? I'm not saying I'm obsessed per se. Just sayin: thus, the origins of the counting love.

With that said, I have many fresh numbers to report:

Pounds lost this week: TWO
Total pounds lost: 17.2

Measurements!
Chest - down 2, total loss: 3
Waist - down 0, total loss: 3
Hips - down 2, total loss: 4
Thigh - down 1, total loss: 1

Training!
Ran 5 miles in just under an hour yesterday on the wonky home treadmill. I don't know what the dillio is with this treadmill. It's an old donated thing that does this weird stoppy-starty thing that can throw your whole rhythm off. I always seem to run faster on it, but maybe I'm running slower and the speed settings are also wonky. Regardless, I ran for an hour. Next weekend is the 10k, so I'm feeling prepared. It's gonna hurt but it's gonna happen.

Rock on, I loves me some numbers. Happy long weekend everybody!

PS regarding the image: I did an image search for "fresh numbers" and this was my favourite image returned. Don't care non sequitur.

Apr 14: #spinning

Greetings rock stars from Mars avec Adonis DNA!

Great news! I gained .8 this week. Gah, jeez, right? Well I am okay with it. I mean, I don’t get it, but I’m okay with it. I stuck with the plan and I worked out 3 times. Okay, yes, there was that incident Friday night with the three quarters of a litre of TOLL HOUSE Cookie Dough with Brownie Chunks LOADED Frozen Dessert. Yikes they can’t even call it ice cream. Anyway, yes, I ate a lot of it. But I calculated my points and it was within the plan.

So, you know… eh. Sometimes you do everything you’re supposed to do and your body just doesn’t respond the way you expect or hope it will. I was saying to a friend yesterday that it’s like long term investments. You can’t let a bad week freak you out. If you stick with the plan, you’ll eventually see gains in your portfolio. Holy crap that metaphor just triggered a huge dividend in the irony stock. (FYI, I had to spend about ten minutes on Wikipedia figuring out how to phrase that joke. I’m putting everything into irony derivatives. Maybe?)

Anyway, when you have a week like this, you have to find your win somewhere other than the scale. Spin doctoring is an important skill in life and is transferable across pretty much every plane of existence. So the great news from this week was my ever-improving fitness. The night before the weigh-in, (the same day I posted the workout music blog), I went to the gym and ran for a full hour, the longest I’ve run in probably a year. Distance was 4.5 miles or around 7k. This is awesome work on my part and I am very encouraged by my progress. And that’s how you spin a .8 gain into a major victory!

Oh sure there will people who earnestly say “this is not spin doctoring, you really did win! It’s not about the scale, it’s about changing your life and being healthier and loving yourself and putting Post Its on every mirror in your house telling you how fantastic you are”. Bless them! These sweet, well-meaning people are champion spinners and I tip my hat to them as they are #winning the life game, unquestionably! I think I would need to offload a huge chunk of my blue chip irony and dispense with my cynicism treasuries altogether to make that investment worthwhile.

Apr 12: Music to train for a 10k to

Hello bottom (of the fridge) feeders (i.e. the crisper)!

How’s everybody’s mood? Myself, I’m feeling pretty okay. The weather is starting to warm up, verrrrry gradually. More sunshine, more daylight = more energy and more optimism.

So I have been back in the gym for the last three weeks. Generally 3 times a week, sometimes only twice. I am trying to get in shape enough to run the 10 k on May 1, but I am running out of time. Okay, I am jogging, walking and wheezing out of time. We’ll see.

Yesterday I was on the treadmill for just 10 minutes and I knew it wasn’t my day. Horrible shin-splints. I finished the mile I was running and opted for 20 minutes on the elliptical and then 25 more on the bike, then walked the half hour home. Today I will try for much better results. Last week I was up to running 5 and 1s (five minutes running, one minute walking break). Longest distance thus far has only been 3.75 miles (10 k is 6.2 miles). I was hoping to increase the run-cycle duration by one minute each week, but I’m not feeling ready to go to 6 yet. Also need to increase the duration of the run, obviously. I've been trying to do 80 mins of cardio - supplement whatever I do in running with time on the bike. Not the same, but it's a process.

So I don’t know what kind of pace I’m going to stumble through in two weeks’ time. Last year I finished at 1:07 (1:09 the first year). I think I’d consider it GREAT work if I could do’er in 1:15 this year, but will settle for under 1:20. Hell, I will “settle” for finishing the damn thing. I will be about 15 pounds heavier this year than I was last year when I ran it, plus way more out of shape. So, no big expectations.

At the gym, I have forsaken the television in favour of music as my motivational accompaniment of choice. The television is great when you are in shape and just need a distraction from the mindless minutes you are looking to rack up. When it’s a struggle to make it through your allotted 3, 4, 5 minute run-cycle before you get to a walk break, music can be a saving grace.

I’ve got a playlist on my iPod nano called “Working out”. Some of the songs are just ones I really like; not necessarily all crazy high energy dance beat stuff. Definitely no fucking Rihanna (sorry mom) (because of the cursing, not because my mom's a fan of Rihanna. Er, are you?) Eh… eh… eh… Oh… oh… oh… Ella… ella… ella… PUNCH… PUNCH… PUNCH…

Anyway, I copied down the list of songs. It’s kind of a random list of crap that was on my iPod. Far from comprehensive. They are sorted alphabetically by artist. I marked the ones that really get me moving, mouthing the words and nodding my head stupidly.

Please submit your fave songs to give you the extra jolt you need when working out!

"Poison Arrow" - ABC
"The Look of Love" - ABC
"Freedom of Speech" - Above the Law
"Thunderstruck" - ACDC
"Back in the Saddle" - Aerosmith
"Grass" - Animal Collective
"Sk8er Boi" - Avril Lavigne
"Kick Out the Jams" - Bad Brains & Henry Rollins
"Where's Your Head At?" - Basement Jaxx
"She's Crafty" - Beastie Boys
"No Sleep Til Brooklyn" - Beastie Boys
"Annie Waits" - Ben Folds
"Gone" - Ben Folds
"Army" - Ben Folds Five
"Let's Get It Started" - Black Eyed Peas
"One Way or Another" - Blondie
"Aberdeen" - Cage the Elephant
"Lovefool" - The Cardigans
"Iron Man" - The Cardigans
"Fuck You" - Cee-Lo Green
"Should I Stay or Should I Go" - The Clash
"Rock the Casbah" - The Clash
"Low" - Cracker
"Boys Don't Cry" - The Cure
"The Love Cats" - The Cure
"Livin' Thing" - Electric Light Orchestra
"Turn To Stone" - Electric Light Orchestra
"Sweet Talkin' Woman" - Electric Light Orchestra
"Bennie and the Jets" - Elton John
"Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" - Elton John
"Best Of My Love" - The Emotions
"Fast As You Can" - Fiona Apple
"Dog Days Are Over" - Florence & The Machine
"This is a Call" - Foo Fighters
"Best of You" - Foo Fighters
"Hard to Beat" - Hard-Fi
"Stars of CCTV" - Hard-Fi
"Striptease" - Hawksley Workman
"Clever Not Beautiful" - Hawksley Workman
"Positive Jam" - The Hold Steady
"The Swish" - The Hold Steady
"Chips Ahoy!" - The Hold Steady
"You Can Make Him Like You" - The Hold Steady
"Stuck Between Stations" - The Hold Steady
"Stay Positive" - The Hold Steady
"Start Making Sense" - Hot Panda
"Closer to Fine" - Indigo Girls
"I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory" - Kathleen Edwards
"I Kissed a Girl" - Katy Perry
"Today I Hate Everyone" - The Killjoys
"Supernova" - Liz Phair
"Salesmen, Cheats & Liars" - The Lowest of the  Low
"Eternal Fatalist" - The Lowest of the  Low
"Bleed A Little While Tonight" - The Lowest of the  Low
"Henry Needs a New Pair of Shoes" - The Lowest of the  Low
"Nervous Breakthrough" - Luscious Jackson
"Bucky Done Gun" - M.I.A.
"Galang" - M.I.A.
"Montreal -40C" - Malajube
"Sick Of Myself" - Matthew Sweet
"Combat Baby" - Metric
"Succexy" - Metric
"Bourgeouis Shangri-La" - Miss Li
"Float On" - Modest Mouse
"Paper Thin Walls" - Modest Mouse
"Use It" - The New Pornographers
"All For Swinging You Around" - The New Pornographers
"The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism" - The New Pornographers
"Letter From An Occupant" - The New Pornographers
"Supersonic" - Oasis
"Rome" - Phoenix
"Debaser" - Pixies
"Under Pressure" - Queen
"Don't Walk Away Eileen" - Sam Roberts
"Love Song" - Sara Bareilles
"Tell 'Em" - Sleigh Bells
"Six Months in a Leaky Boat" - Split Enz
"Pulling Mussels (From The Shell)" - Squeeze
"Tempted" - Squeeze
"Lola Stars and Stripes" - The Stills
"You Only Live Once" - The Strokes
"Your Favorite Thing" - Sugar
"Slack Motherfucker" - Superchunk
"Army Bound" - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
"Some Beginner's Mind" - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
"Shake The Sheets" - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
"Big Sur" - The Thrills
"Highly Evolved" - The Vines
"Outtathaway" - The Vines
"Hash Pipe" - Weezer
"The Hardest Button to Button" - The White Stripes
"A Shot in the Arm" - Wilco
"Ship of Fools" - World Party

Mar 31: Weight loss tips from The Miaouw

Hello, empty theatre!

Quick update: I have started yogging again! I was holding off on reporting this, since the struggle to find motivation to exercise has been iffy at best. I didn’t sign up for the Sporting Life 10K, because I thought there’s no way I’d be ready for it. I had this romantic if sweaty notion that every year I would improve my time, and this year, what with the excess weight and the whole sloth appreciation society business, I know that won’t be possible. So I was letting that defeat me before I even got started.

Well screw that mentality. A week and a half ago, my office moved into a new building, closer to the Good Life. I decided to make good associations and new habits with this new environment, and have been going to the gym after work regularly. The first time, I got on the treadmill and told myself, whatever you have to do, just do it. So I started with 2 and 1’s (run 2 minutes, walk 1). By the end of each two minutes, I was a mess, but I was determined. I just set the speed lower. Yesterday I was up to 4 and 1’s, which is great improvement over just 10 days, I think. Even so, it took me 40 minutes to run 3 miles. Back in the day I was going 4-6 minutes faster, but whatever, I’m out there, doing it, which is a MAJOR WIN. Or, winning. Whatever the kids and the crazies are saying these days.

So with all that extra activity, I still only lost .8 last week. My total weight loss over the past month and a half is something like 2.4 pounds. Jeez. Even so, I feel great about returning to the exercise thing. I knew I would get back to it eventually. I’ve decided I’m still going to sign up for the Sporting Life 10K on May 1. I don’t give a shit what my time is; for me, the triumph will be showing up and gettin’ ‘er done.

Okay, on to the titillating subject line at hand: The Miaouw has a couple of unorthodox diet tricks that I thought might be useful if you are out of your mind and if you first sign a waiver that you won’t sue me or anything.

1. Do not wear winter jackets in winter.
   Being from southern California, winter is an anomaly to the Miaouw. I got him a winter coat for Christmas two years ago. He brought it back to California and then forgot it there. But he is undaunted. He goes out in the frigid sub-zero temperatures in a cardigan with a windbreaker, and when I look at him like he’s nuts, he insists that this is a weight loss scheme. I suppose there are a lot of extra calories to be burned through violent shivering. I think he also thinks the little metabolism elves are taking chunks of fat storage and throwing them on the fire, trying to warm up his body. I gotta admit, this theory sounds kinda sciency.



2. Blood donation on a regular basis.
   So the idea is, not only do you lose the initial mass from the liquid (great for pre-weigh-ins!), but that your body burns calories in generating more blood to restore your reserves. At one point, he was suggesting we do a blood clinic crawl – donate blood every day for a week. Alas, it never came to pass, so I can’t offer up any evidence to support this wild theory. The other drawback, of course, is you wouldn’t be allowed to eat the cookie afterwards. That would totally defeat the purpose, obvs.

Well anyway, these are just some ideas that I in no way endorse and will not be held criminally responsible for. Enjoy, little lab rats!

Jan 24: Hello Monday

Greetings, pork belly futures, or should I say soon-to-be-pasts,

How was the weekend? I am pleased to report that I ran (okay, yogged) 3 miles on Saturday and 2 miles on Sunday. I did 3 and 1's (run 3 mins; walk 1), which helped considerably. The last time I got on the treadmill was a couple weeks ago, when I first started back on the straight but not narrow lifestyle, and after 10 minutes (no walkies), my asthma was such that I could not continue. Instead I increased the incline and walked for 20 more minutes. It was hard not to feel dejected, but I soldiered on.

Over the past two weeks, I've gone to the gym on average twice a week, and done an hour of cardio each time. Mindful of my wheezing, tubnacious stature, I didn't push myself to go too, too hard. Relied on my trusty heart rate monitor to assuage any guilty concerns I wasn't pushing myself hard enough. When your watch is beeping like a neglected car alarm for your entire workout, you take it as a sign that it's okay to do the elliptical at level 3 instead of your customary level 6. Anyway, all this to say, my cardio endurance or capacity or whatever is definitely improving, which is a very good feeling indeed. I have big plans to increase my gym attendance this week to 3 times a week, plus runs on the shitty warped treadmill in my building that gives me massive static shocks from the dry weather.

Eating has also been awesome. I even went out on Friday night with the Miaouw and managed to get mildly sloshed, have dinner, and only use 2 of my flex points. I drank white wine and ate a salad with salmon and dressing primly on the side. Excellent work. Also braved the insanely cold weather yesterday (although I did not go so far as to run an 8k race like my rockin friend The Torq - photos on Facebook looked like she was doing a deep sea dive in all the head-to-toe gear she was wearing) to go to the grocery store and stock up on low-point treats to stave off any pending feelings of deprivation. My freezer runneth over.

So overall I am feeling PDG (pretty damn good). Just wanted you all to know that. Anybody out there need me to tell them how damn good they are? I am more than happy to do so.

x's and o's for all y'all!

May 3: Weekend of wins

Hi-yooooo!

Fresh off my triumphant finish at the Sporting Life 10k run in Toronto! Okay, I gotta admit, I didn't triumph as triumphantly as I was hoping to. I finished in 1:07:07, which is exactly 2 minutes faster than last year. This is not insignificant, but less than I was shooting for. I feel like I did not have the mental strength to soldier through, take fewer walking breaks, etc. With about 2-3 km (1.5-2 miles) left in the race, I knew that if I could focus enough to slow down my pace but keep it steady, without anymore breaks, that I could meet my goal. And I made the choice not to suffer for it. I did a good job and I'm proud of my improvement. I'm just not one of those athletes who knows how to suffer.

And really, the race felt like suffering to me. About halfway through I was thinking to myself about how much I just wanted to walk the rest of the way. I don't know if this is just something runners go through when they are out there on race day, or it's because it doesn't come naturally to me or what. Maybe I just have to keep working at it, to improve my fitness, so it isn't so difficult to finish. The first 20-30 minutes of the run went great. Although, okay. That's where there are a couple of really great downhill grades. (The advantages of which, by the way, are purchased on credit with payment in full to be delivered to my thobbing quads the next day.)

I am still determined to improve, and try again in July for the 10 miler. I think I need to train outdoors more. I figured out why the treadmill is so much easier: it creates momentum that you have to make on your own when you run outside. Anyway, I know I have been improving my times and my endurance, and I'm motivated to keep working at it, but I just want to say: don't love running. Love the challenge, though. And the benefits I've seen. It's good to set goals and work to achieve them.

Congrats to all the Ladies of the Cancer, by the way. They totally smoked. I think five (?) of them broke an hour, and the others were not far behind. Hat tip to the Torq and Kat ("wrath of" in the comments) for all their ever-lovin support and encouragement.


Okay, the other triumph this week: lost 2.4 pounds! WORD. My metabolism is like a tourist meandering along Yonge St., taking in the sites, in no great hurry, and I'm trying to get around them so I can pick up my pace. Er, I think that metaphor got away on me. Point being: slow. So if I lose more than a single pound in a week, it's great news. Thus, I was very happy with the number. I am through trying to believe that the numbers on the scale don't mean anything! I love the numbers!

Apr 20: Marathons for commoners

Hello little cherubs,

First, let us count: this week's numbers
Saturday weigh-in says I lost 1.4 pounds last week. Yesss! Total grows to 14.4. Monthly measurements are next week.

Also, on Sunday I ran 5 miles continuously i.e. no walkie breaks! Holy shiza, that was new for me. I did all of it at a pace of over 5.5 mph. Actually most was at 5.7. My time was 52:49. And yesterday, I finally managed to run a mile at 6 mph pace (i.e. a 10 minute mile), without a break. I am trying to get used to running a faster pace, for shorter distances at least, so I am not continually shamed by the Ladies of the Cancer. This is contingent on none of them improving, of course.

Segue to the point
So clearly the running thing occupies a steady presence in my mental top 5 these days. I was talking to impressive actual marathoner Claire at work today. She referenced the upcoming Mississauga Marathon, which she is participating in. She mentioned wanting to beat Oprah's marathon time of 4½ hours. Dang, Oprah! That seems pretty good to me. This got me to Googling, and I came across an article from that bastion of Fancy Feast chumming for the pop philosopher fishies, salon.com, entitled How Oprah ruined the marathon by Edward McClelland.

The article was first published in November 2007 so it's not new. The author's incendiary complaint is that marathons have ceased to be competitive now that Oprah has brought her self help book club legions to the party, convincing everyone that anyone can run a marathon, and that the point of running one is not to win, but just to finish the damn thing. Hence the average race time in American marathons has expanded by around 45 minutes in the past 15 years. Schleps everywhere are bringing down the average in their selfish aspiration to get fit and challenge themselves to do something once unthinkable.

When Oprah expanded the sport, she also lowered the bar for excellence. For the previous generation of marathoners, the goal had been qualifying for Boston. Now, it was beating Oprah. Her time of four hours and 29 minutes -- the Oprah Line -- became the new benchmark for a respectable race. (That was P. Diddy's goal when he ran New York.)

Once the supreme test for hardened runners, the marathon became a gateway into the sport. Soon, gravel paths were crowded with 5-mile-an-hour joggers out to check "26.2 miles" off their life lists.

The guy comes off like an elitist twat, even if I kinda understand his point. I thought this was sort of funny if elitist and twatty:

I met a lawyer who started running because, "They say if you can run a marathon, you can do anything!" The marathon was no longer a competition. It was a self-improvement exercise.

Well anyway, who cares if some people use it as a self-improvement exercise? A test of their mettle, their ability to set a goal, stay focused on it, commit to seeing it through to completion. And all the while they improve their health and fitness. As long as the workhorse softies stay at the back, there's room on the road for both the inspirational athletes and the commoner schleps.

That does it. I've just decided: after the 10k in May, I will focus on my next goal: the Acura 10 miler (16k) in July. I'm doin' it! If that goes okay, who knows. A half-marathon schlep may be in my future. And if I can run half a marathon, I can half-do anything!

Apr 14: The case for personal training

Good lunchtime, good people!

I had an awesome run last night. Per the training schedule the Ladies of the Cancer are using for the Sporting Life 10k on May 2nd, I ran 4.5 miles last night. I have been trying to gently increase my speed and endurance. On shorter run nights I set a higher speed on the treadmill and try to run my fastest mile (best so far is 10:24 - I am aiming for 10:00, or 6 mph, for now). So I ran 3 miles without resting, in around 32:50. Which is great, averaging an 11 minute/5.5 mph mile. Very happy with that at this point. My time for the whole run was 50:56, so not quite the 11 minute mile on average, but still, I was pretty happy. It is good to see progress, and to feel it.

Alright, so, subject line. Hang on: background to subject line. My contract at the cancer place is ending on July 31. I've been here for almost a decade. Almost my entire 30s! So, I look forward to a change. It's been a good home and allowed me to buy a modest condo in downtown TO, but, yeah. Need a break, and a change.

So I'm saving a nest egg for the "break" part of that, which means changing my budget. I'm giving up my personal training after this last batch of sessions I've paid for are used, which... I'm not sure (can't bear to find out), but I think is soon. In a month or so. I'll have to check with Derek.

The cost over a year for my personal training was around $8000. Holy geez I could probably buy some decent plastic surgery with that! I used to worry about it being an indulgence, but the Miaouw reassured me - hey, it's my money to spend! I have to say that, for me, it was money well spent. It kept me going to the gym faithfully twice a week, no matter how I was feeling, what I was eating, how depressed I was, or injured. I know I would not have been going to the gym in the fall if I hadn't been financially committed to going.

But I was glad when I went. And I worked out harder than I ever would have done on my own, using muscle groups I'd never worked before and learning about better technique, etc. I told Derek I wanted Michelle Obama arms and by god I will have them one day! In the fall and winter, he checked in with me every week about my depression, and was totally supportive and non-judgmental when I confessed falling into old eating patterns, how shitty it made me feel about myself, but that I was committed to working hard for that one hour with him.

I'm going to miss seeing him twice a week. He is a great guy and we have fun together; we have become friends. He calls me "Lindsay-son" (shouts it, actually, while I cringe) and I call him "Miyagi". It's dorky and awesome.

So I'm trying to plan for a more cost-efficient motivation to keep me in check once the sessions with Derek are used up. I think I will sign up for Booty Bootcamp again. I did a 4 week session in Fall 2008 and it was tough and awesome. It's women-only, outdoor, twice a week, rain or shine, an all-over workout with cardio and muscle resistance training. I couldn't walk for two days after the first session I went to. Anyway, much cheaper, outdoors (I hate the crowds in the group exercise classes at the gym), supporting small business and businesswomen, and social too. I will keep you posted.

Additional motivation: there is serious talk amongst the Ladies of the Cancer that we may sign up for the Acura Toronto 10-Miler on July 11. That's 6 more kilometres/4 more miles than we'll be running on May 2, with 2 months to train up to it. I think it's totally do-able and great motivation to stick with the fitness plan. Also, proceeds go the cancer fighters, so rah, rah, live the brand and all that!

Lunch time is over! Time for you to log in to Facebook and see what new postings are there!

xo
LQ

Mar 31: Plateaunic

Sisters and brothers,

What's the word, now word up? Rhetorical question. Okay, so, how's everybody doing in the Battle of the Bulbousness? Are you sweating and grunting your way through thrice weekly workouts? Training for a marathon of aerobic smugness? Contemplating the idea of one day maybe taking the stairs? Forsaking second breakfast and feeling that's good enough for now? Some where in between? Let me know. Let us aaaaaallll know. Here at D-Weighted, we do not judge. Well, we judge, but not openly. Kidding, kidding! I keed because I love. You know that.

So, you want to know about me? How kind. Since you clicked, I will tell you. My last weigh in, on Caturday, was a little disappointing. I gained .2 of a pound. (How do you say that? "Point two of a pound"? If I was quick on the uptake I would say "a fifth of a pound" but calculation doesn't come as fast as the chatter. I mean, it's fine when you're blogging, but... 'k I'm bored with this aside.) So yeah. Up a fifth. Whatever, it's pretty insignificant and I'm not crying myself to sleep on my huge pillow or anything. But it always sucks to gain, especially when you ran four times that week and observed the Rules of Jenny.

Well, except for the previous Saturday night, when I polished off most of a bottle of wine, some cheese, a couple of one-bite brownies, and 2 pieces of Popeye's chicken w/ fries on the way home. Okay, when you put it that way, dang. It didn't seem so bad at the time. Maybe the double digit blood alcohol level affected my perspective (and my willpower) a smidge.

Even without the Saturday slip, I feel like my body is starting to dig in its heels (um, I am digging in my heels... but like, metaphorically... whatever). Plateaus [plateaux?] are inevitable and all one can do is suffer through them. When I've done all I can do (okay, not ALL, but a Saturday night slip once in awhile is called "living") in terms of eating right and exercising, I just have to feel okay about the fact that I'm healthy and this sort of fluctuation is out of my control.

This weekend I'm headed home for Easter with the fambly. My mom is also doing Jenny so that might help me stay straight. We shall see. Hope to get out for a hike with the Miaouw on Good Friday - the forecast is a glorious 25°C / 77°F and sunny. Bonus: my shorts fit again. And I will pack my running gear, try to get in a run on Saturday or Sunday morning. I asked/cajoled my brother about an Easter Egg hunt on Sunday morning. Being the younger sibling, it of course pissed me off the year my mom decided she'd had enough of hiding eggs. He got three more years of hunts! I threw a tantrum which resulted in my 16 year old brother buying two cartons of real-egg-size chocolate eggs and hiding them in the most elaborate, impossible spots imaginable. I think we were still finding eggs 3 years later. Anyway, he has two late-teens to frustrate and delight with his torturing skills this year. If there is a Hunt, I will present them with any of my kills, as a cat presents her mistress with the still-twitching small bird of the backyard.

Happy Easter or Passover or non-religious enjoyment of a Stat Holiday, everyone!

Mar 16: Yogging

Hello smatterings!

-- Shout out to non-clickers. Where were you yesterday?! You totally missed the Freudian self-diagnosis and admission of latent pomoherotic lovemaking with my digitus primus! Well, I left it up for you just in case.

So, yogging! Tonight after work I am running with the Ladies of the Cancer. I believe I may have mentioned that a group of us are going to train twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) after work, in preparation for the Sporting Life 10k on May 2. Last Thursday I went out with them for the first time - we ran 2 miles, and it was humiliating, yo's.

Normally when I run on the treadmill, I go for around 10-12 minutes before taking a walking break. I start fairly slowly, then gradually increase my speed - every minute, I ratchet the speed up by a tenth of a mile (goes to counting obsession, Your Honour). I usually do this until I'm running at around 5 to 5.5 mph. So in point of fact, all this time I've been talking about "running", when really, as Ron Burgundy would say, "I believe it's jogging or yogging. It might be a soft j."

But these ladies, these... Sasha Fiercies... well, they actually do run. After we'd been out there five minutes and forty seconds, I glanced at my watch (so as to properly call the time of death). Oy. I was ready for a walking break but we'd only run half the time I normally run before taking a break. I pushed through to 9 minutes and then walked for a minute. We had planned to do 10 and 1s, i.e. run 10 minutes, walk 1. I normally run 12, walk 2. Maybe that's bad form. Well, I finished the run - did it in 25 minutes. Actually, that's about average for me, when I have been running 3 miles in 37-38 minutes. The next day I ran 4 and 1s at 5.5 mph at the gym, and did 2 miles in 24 minutes, so that seemed like progress

Tonight's run is slated to be 2.5 miles. One of the ladies suggested we do 5 and 1s. I am nervous that I will underperform again. But the ladies are all very encouraging and the main thing is, we are all out there gettin 'er done.

But, yeah. I feel fraudulent calling myself a runner. From now on, I am a yogger, and proud of it.

Mar 5: I'm still here

Fwiends! The frozen core of my listless heart is at last beginning to thaw. Every day there are drips of sunshine and optimism gathering in a slushy aura that continues to grow. The tide is rising! Soon I'll be overflowing with... happiness? Okay, this metaphor is getting out of hand. I don't want to overstate it, but it's nice to feel something other than... nothing.

I've been faithful to the Microwave Diet for a month now, have lost 8.6 pounds (love the digital accuracy - even if you have a shitty week, you can say you lost .2 pounds), and last week when they took my measurements I was ASTOUNDED to hear I'd dropped almost 12 inches. This from chest (2 inches), waist (4 inches - cha!), pooch aka abdomen (3 inches) and hips (3 inches). Of course my first and lingering reaction is to assume she made errors in every measurement, but even if she was off by an inch at every spot, that's still pretty effin good. So this is encouraging.

Also, sunshine. Warmth. The Olympics. And, I think possibly upping the medication by 50% may be playing a role. But it's so hard to know for sure. There are environmental factors at play, as well as physiological ones, so who knows. It's just good to feel... better, if not great. It's supposed to be 10°C (50° American) and sunny this weekend. Sa-weeeeeet.

Some ladies from work are starting a running group after work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, to train for the Sporting Life 10k, which I'm going to do again this year. Sunday May 2nd - mark your calendars.

And, though I continue to have mixed feelings about my reliance on portioned meals, I do very well on the Jenny Craig program. It's easy to stick to, and there are tasty foods and snacks. I confess I spend much of the time between meals thinking about my next meal, but that's standard procedure. At least I know I'm enjoying the meal, not bitter about what I don't get to eat while I'm stuck eating boiled chicken and mmmmm, broccoli! Tonight I eat my petite Fish and Chips (ketchup food, yessss!) avec salad, plus my eensy chocolate cake with dollop of sugary chocolate icing on top for dessert. I can live with it.

About the only thing that's still pretty meh-inducing is my job, which fails to inspire, frequently enrages, but mostly just bores. My contract comes to an end on July 31, and then I'm taking a bit of a vacation from the working world and office culture. So that's the chocolate bar in front of the horse at the moment. Screw carrots.

How's everybody else doing?

Jan 12: Deferred damage report

Good Soldiers of the Fat Wars!

Sorry for the lengthy hiatus. I reckon yer used to it by now.

So, where were we? Ah, yes – my holiday pledge to you:

I will stick within my points, and if I go over, I will earn them back in Activity Points. (Normally I try not to swap my Activity Points for food if I can help it.) Mostly I just want to not gain weight.

Pffffffffffftttttttt! Okay, obviously I had to say that. I think I am to be admired for telling myself it was a possibility. Or... something.

Well anyway, it was Christmas Eve and the Miaouw and I were driving to Kingston to fellowship with my family on this most cherished of consumer occasions. We fought, he called me a See You Next Thursday, I bawled like a baby and would have insisted he pull over except we were driving on a 4 lane highway at the time, so instead I just cry-shuddered til we got to town and then got him to stop at a gas station where I attempted to clean myself up. He was contrite, but the damage was done. I said, "Let the stress eating BEGIN!" and I never looked back.

And so it was, that the week between Christmas and New Years, plus the weekend following New Years, I was once again OhTeeDub: off the wagon. By the end of the 10 day stretch, my jeans were feeling depressingly snug at the waist again. FOOOOOCCCKK!!! You GUYS! GAH! Well anyway, I didn't weigh myself last week, but I got back to the business at hand, and this morning when I did my Tuesday weigh-in, I find that I am up just 1 pound from my pre-Christmas weight, so all in all, I'm feeling okay.

I am re-committing myself to my night-time running. I ran three miles on Saturday - it took me 37:40 to do it, which is well off my best time, but at least I did it. The other thing I am experimenting with, for as long as I can take it, is not eating my 35 weekly WW flex points (review of the WW Points system) or my Activity Points. So far so good, but if the austerity measures get to feeling too tough and I'm in danger of chucking the whole thing, I will have something to fall back on.

I note with amusement that a year has passed since I started this blog, and my weight is 2 pounds less than it was then. How v. Bridget Jones.

Love to you all and let's love ourselves a little bit more than we did before this year!

Sep 8: Exercise: what is it good for?

(Absolutely nothing?!)

I've been meaning to write this blog for about a month. Sorry I'm late. Last month, two friends forwarded the same article to me in one day: an opinion piece that ran in Time magazine entitled Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin. One friend (beloved Rusty_grrl) had spotted the article on Bob Harper's Facebook page (he's the crying personal trainer on Biggest Loser). Bob was not pleased:



The article is an interesting read. I can understand why Bob got a little fist-shakey at it; it isn't that the author is saying exercise is useless, but the headline would suggest otherwise. Casual readers who might not read all four pages and/or just skim for details might come away feeling justified for hanging up the sneakers and becoming reacquainted with the custom-made ass groove on their couch.

Compensation without representation (on the scale)
What the article does say is that exercise can give people who are counting their calories and trying to lose weight a false sense of security in terms of ingesting a few extra calories on days they work out. The author refers to it as "the compensation factor". He cites results from a study that showed women who exercised intensely over a six month period did not lose significantly more than a control group who did not exercise (some even gained!):

Whether because exercise made them hungry or because they wanted to reward themselves (or both), most of the women who exercised ate more than they did before they started the experiment. Or they compensated in another way, by moving around a lot less than usual after they got home.

So, any of you relate to this phenomenon? I know I do! For sure there are plenty of times when I allow myself a little something extra, perhaps as a reward for my good behaviour, or maybe because I'm just plain hungry after a workout.

Honey, can you pick up some more self control on your way home?
The other notion that the author puts forward is that self control or will power is finite in people. You only have so much of it to use:

In 2000 the journal Psychological Bulletin published a paper by psychologists Mark Muraven and Roy Baumeister in which they observed that self-control is like a muscle: it weakens each day after you use it. If you force yourself to jog for an hour, your self-regulatory capacity is proportionately enfeebled. Rather than lunching on a salad, you'll be more likely to opt for pizza.

Seriously? Holy geez, all this time I've been hating myself when I should have been hating science! Fucking science! You screwed me over! Well your secret is out now. Nice to have something else to blame for those times when it's gotta be cake.

Let cooler foreheads prevail
The article does go on to say that, of course, there are many benefits to exercise. ("In addition to enhancing heart health and helping prevent disease, exercise improves your mental health and cognitive ability." - I guess Bob didn't make it to page 3.) But the argument for "sweaty, exhausting, hunger-producing bursts of activity" is not as strong as Bob and Jillian would have you believe (if you choose instead to believe this very comforting article, that is). The author believes low-intensity movement, such as a walk - not even a brisk walk, from the sound of it - is just as effective as doing cardio at the gym.

Hmmmm. I don't know guys. First I have to give up aspartame, now I'm expected to give up my sweaty hairshirt of gym torture? It just don't seem right to me.

What do you all think?


PS Personal exercise update: I took the last 3 or 4 weeks pretty easy, since every time I got more intense, my gimpy left calf muscle yelled at me. Also, I read this article and realized I didn't have to. No, no, I kid! I keed! Anyway, recently I have started running again. It's hard to believe how quickly I got out of shape. I've been running at a super-slow pace, and right now am only doing about 2 miles (2.5 including walking warm-down). My heart rate zooms with the intensity of the effort so I don't consider it safe yet to push myself beyond what I'm doing. I'm just glad to be training again.

I don't think I'm gonna be ready in time for the Toronto Island 10k run - it's less than two weeks away. Frowny faces. Instead, I think I will participate in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup that weekend. Picking up garbage can actually be a decent workout, especially if you don't eat donuts afterward.

Jul 20: It didn't take.

Sigh.

Alright, alright, it's not so bad. Mostly I am just supremely frustrated by this recurring sports injury thingy, something I have never really dealt with. I am not an athlete by any stretch, but I guess this is like a micro-dose of how it must feel to be mentally raring to go and having to accept the fact that your body is not in synch with your mind. So you know, naturally, my mind looks to rejoin my body by sidelining the renewed attitude thing. Or something. I don't know.

Last week when I weighed myself, I was coy and did not give up the number because, ugh, it was 156. I just knew that wasn't a real number. So I was diligent all week, just like I said I would be, and by Saturday morning I was 150. Nice. On Sunday I was out at the Acura 10-Miler & 5K with some work colleagues - it was to benefit the Canadian Cancer Society, where I work, so I volunteered to run the 5k as part of a team. So about 20 metres into the run, BOING, my left calf muscle or tendon or whatever the eff is back there causing shit popped out and I had to run the whole thing with this aching calf muscle. Which, dig me, running through the pain. Cut me! Cut me!

Anyway, about that list of vows from last week:

VOW	RESULT
do the 10 minute abs video every day	did it on Monday, did the Awesome Abs class at gym on Tuesday, then... nada
exercise 6 days a week	Mon, Tues, Wed, Sat, Sun - not bad
stop taking weekends off	ummmm
be more label conscious at the supermarket	meh
make a video once a week	nope
sign up for Toronto Island 10k	not done yet; but this will happen, no question
lose 10 pounds before Sep 20	pfffffttt not at this rate
make out with self every day	not even once (sniffle)

This is why I don't set myself goals. How depressing. But I knew I had to get out here and confess or else... shame spiral. In fact, this morning after my cottage cheese and fruit breakfast I ate a whole bag of Kettle Corn. 910 calories. Gulp. I was just feeling rebellious and frustrated, and you know what happens when I get resentful. So, it's back to confessional for me. All I can do is tell you all about it and pray to Holy Oprah, full of grace, to wash away my sins and give me a blank slate to start fresh once again.

I do have a bunch of raw video footage from the 5k which will hopefully be mildly entertaining once I cobble it together. Hopefully get that done some time this week.

Alright, Trigger, get over here so I can get back up on ya. Or... something less stupid and more inspriational. Gah.

PS I am making an appointment this week with a physiotherapist to get my leg looked at. Meantime I've been icing it and stretching it and all that blah, blah, yadda, yadda, so ne worry pas.

Jun 26: Finally, life begins!

Happy Birthday to me! Some thoughts on turning 40:

People have been asking me if I plan to do anything special. My response has just been to shrug and say, whatever. I haven't felt much of anything about it, one way or the other: dread or excitement. But this morning I was lying in bed and I had a bit of panic when I realized that when people ask me how old I am, I will have to say "40". It seemed to trigger that low-level anxiety that's always humming in the background about how I haven't done anything with my life of any import. I think this anxiety is borne of our culture's pre-occupation with individualism, the need to see ourselves as special, unique, different. Some people do it by naming their children Pilot Inspektor, others by broadcasting their thoughts on Twitter every 10 minutes... or, ahem, blogging them. I once had a therapist tell me that my desire to be special was what was making me unhappy. Still puzzling out how to rid myself of that desire. But actually, I am closer to understanding what makes me special. I think what I need to focus on for awhile is what makes everyone else special.

[burrrrp] Okay, moving on from the deeply profound crap.

When I started this weight loss journey back in January, I was looking to my 40th birthday five months away as a short-term goal, hoping to be a lot thinner, to finally fit back into these great capri pants I got a couple years ago, to be able to bask in this accomplishment of getting my weight under control. Well, I am thinner, but not a lot thinner. I weighed in at 149 this morning. The capri pants do up, but just barely. And yet, I bask. I ran 5 miles last night. I can say, as I did when I turned 30, that I am fitter now than I have ever been in my life. I've stopped fighting those demons that have led to my food issues and just sort of accepted them as part of me. That's not the same thing as giving up. It's more like a détente, which is allowing me to find some peace.

Through this amazing thing called the Internet, I've made so many friends across Canada, the United States, and amazingly, the rest of the world. Many have long since moved past this arbitrary marker that we endow with so much meaning, and I see them thriving, relaxed and at peace with themselves, even as they continue with the daily struggles of life. I'm inspired by all of you, reassured that aging is not something to be feared, but something to be embraced. Thank you everyone.

I came thisclose to wearing my tiara to work today, but decided against it. (I do very fondly remember the night I received it, from my home girl Lanie, on the very drunken occasion of my 36th birthday, singing karaoke and doing smash-up derby cheers with far too many screwdrivers.) I settled for my World Wildlife Fund "Hotter Than I Should Be" t-shirt. Avec flair.

Jun 22: Bathroom reading

Warning: This blog contains a non-graphic and fairly benign reminder that sometimes people have a few extra minutes to kill when they are in the bathroom. Reader discretion is advised.

A few months back I very spontaneously bought a book at Shoppers Drug Mart called Eat This, Not That! Supermarket Survival Guide by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. If you haven't seen it, it's a very cool paperback that compares brand name products of similar types of prepared foods, advising which products are the healthier choices, or in some cases, the lesser evils.

The book is divided into sections ("Pantry Staples", "Snacks & Sweets", "The Freezer Section", etc.) and also includes a chapter on produce [aside: do you say proh-duce or prah-duce? The Miaouw makes fun of me for saying prah-juce], a recipe/meal plan section, and a food glossary. Here's a sample page comparing "Wholesome Cereals":


The little colour-coded blocks circling the product photos give nutritional information about the product, and the corresponding colours of the blocks inform you which two products are being compared (e.g. the "featured" comparison on this page is between Kashi "Vive" Toasted Graham & Vanilla, which I've never heard of but it sounds awesome, and Kellogg's "Smart Start", which apparently has 10 ingredients that are either sugar or some sort of sweetener).

So anyway, this sucker is ideal for bathroom reading. You can pick it up randomly, flip it open to any page, and get some good supermarket advice and ideas. The Miaouw in particular has been very intrigued to learn about the total lack of food value in some products that are shamelessly promoting themselves with the tell-tale "low fat" (i.e. high sugar) and "lite" labels.

Another recent addition to the royal library is a Canadian fitness magazine that I unwittingly find myself a subscriber to called I Run. I guess I got on their list last October when my mom and I participated in the Toronto Marathon. (We have been walking the half-marathon for 3 or 4 years now. My mom is totally hardcore and walks full marathons, which is awesome.) Anyway, this year there was a promotion and participants were automatically signed up with a one-year subscription. I never would have thought I would have any interest in a magazine about running, but I didn't expect to run a 10k race either.

The magazine features articles about elite level athletes and "regular joes" (the current issue features a profile of [[[shudder]]] Stockwell Day, former leader of the reactionary conservative Reform Party of Canada; I haven't read it yet but I'm sure there will be an opportunity during a particularly satisfying dump). It also has training tips, nutrition advice, travelogues and of course lots of ads for upcoming runs across the country. It's kinda cool, reading this magazine and getting inspired to become better acquainted with a whole different lifestyle and world of possibilities. Who knows, I may re-up my subscription when it expires in the fall.

Jun 9: Spite pays off!

So last night I was due for a run. I almost didn't go, but that's pretty typical. Sometimes I think that getting myself downstairs for a run is all about waiting for an opening in mood traffic. There are certain breaks in the steady stream of laziness that periodically present themselves in an evening, and if you don't step on the gas right then and there, you're gonna be stuck on the couch for the rest of the night.

Anyway, I made my way downstairs and figured I'd run for half an hour or so, and do some light weights, and just feel good about the fact I went at all, rather than push myself to do a lengthy run.

Well I got to the fitness room, and there was a guy in there already. He was adjusting the TV so that it faced the treadmill. Nuts. I asked him if he was using the treadmill and he said "No". I'm like, really? Okay. I took him at his word, and went about my business. I started up the treadmill, which is pretty loud, and suggested he might want to turn up the volume. He was watching Ultimate Fighting Champions or something. And he was standing RIGHTNEXT to me. He said no, no, and then he gestured toward a woman in the hallway who was on the phone, which to me seemed to indicate that he was waiting for her, and wouldn't be there long? I don't know. I shrugged and got on with my run.

Minutes passed. And yet more minutes. I was having a decent run - averaging 5.5 mph (I've been trying to gradually get my average running speed up, as much as my heart and lungs can take, anyway). I kept looking out at the woman on the phone and willing her to shut the eff up and get off the phone so this guy standing RIGHTNEXT to me watching UFC while I huffed and puffed and produced a downpour of sweat (should have shook myself out like a dog) would LEAVE ALREADY. I delayed my walking break for as long as I felt okay about it - after 2 miles, most of it run at 5.5 mph, I slowed down for a break. Actually, I pushed myself a lot longer than I have in the past when running that speed, mostly out of some sort of resentment of this guy's presence. I don't know.

Anyway, after around half an hour, the woman hung up and wandered down the hall - didn't look into the fitness room to summon the guy next to me or anything, and he didn't budge. He's standing there, just watching TV, RIGHTEFFINGNEXT to me. FUCK! I started to wonder if maybe he DID want to use the treadmill and was just too polite to say so? Which bugged me! I don't know, maybe I should have felt bad, but instead I was irritated. So I just kept running, to spite the guy. I'm such an asshole. But hey man, that's how I roll.

It turned into an epic battle of wills. I'm sorry to say that eventually, I caved. But I ran for 53 minutes instead of 30, powered by spite. And then I took my time doing my warm down and stretches, and all the while, this guy continued standing next to the treadmill, watching UFC. I'd considered sticking around to do some weights, just to see if he would eventually climb on the treadmill, or would be too embarrassed to do so after pretending he didn't want to use it, but I decided I was crazy and at some point, there had to be a victor. So I let him win. Sort of. I mean, what the hell?

Meh. Whatever works, baby!

May 6: video highlights from Sporting Life 10k run

Hi guys!

Okay, I finally finished the damn video. I mean, the blessed video. One thing I didn't really explain in the video is the lack of footage of me finishing. (I kind of explained it already in my last blog when I mentioned the Miaouw's epic battle with the TTC...)

Anyway, yeah, my cameraman was unable to get to the finish line in time, what with my lightening fast speed combined with the epic fail of Toronto's public transit system on Sunday mornings. I felt so bad about that; after he'd made certain he could be here for the race and everything. Well, his presence here all week was wonderful and we had a blast and I was so grateful to have him here. He is making noises about joining me for the Toronto Island 10k run in September. Cool!

Anyway, blah, blah, blah, here's the viddie!

May 4: I am the champion!

Hey guys, sorry I didn't post an update yesterday. I was hoping to have the video done, but there's a lot of editing needed because I'm adding subtitles to half the footage because it was so loud and the sound on the Miaouw's camera is not the greatest.

Anyway, I will post a blog with the video later. Possibly tonight.

So, the big event! I made it! I finished in a time that was faster than my best-hoped-for time. Unbelievable. Awhile back during training, I ran 5 miles in 59:48, which I thought was really great, because I was able to average 5 miles an hour, even with walking breaks. So with that time in mind (and the run being 1.2 miles short of a 10k), I calculated that if I could maintain that speed on race day, I could finish in 75 minutes.

Then I went to California and tried running outside in the gently rolling hills of Orinda. I'd been training all winter on a treadmill, and I hadn't even done any hill training on the machines at the gym because I was focussing on achieving distance. I have some kind of weird block about running outside, so I kept putting off doing any training outdoors. The California runs were a disaster; I gave up after 2k on the first day, and 1.5 k on the next. It was very disheartening. So I revised my estimated race day time. I thought, 75 minutes would be OUTSTANDING, 80 minutes would be really good, but most likely I would wind up somewhere between 80-85 minutes if my running in Orinda was any indication of how I ran outdoors.

So, guess what my time was. GUESS! Okay I'll tell you. I finished in 1:09:07. Yes, that's 69 minutes – faster than I ever imagined I would or could go at this point in my running ability. I know it's still pretty slow for a lot of people, but I was absolutely thrilled with the time. I felt pretty strong out there; I even ran up the few hills the course presented with relative ease. It was just freakin awesome.

A huge, massive shout out to my girl Christy, for getting up on a Sunday morning and dragging herself down to Yonge & Elm and giving me the best high five of my life and screaming and cheering for me as I passed. I wish I could have stopped to hug her. Next time we see each other, I'm gonna hug the stuffin outta you!!!

And of course, huge shout out as well to my Miaouw, for waking me up (almost missed the whole damn thing because I forgot to turn the volume up on my clock radio), going up to the starting line with me, and then struggling valiantly for the next hour and a half to make it to the finish line, though the TTC fought him at every turn. (The Yonge subway does not start operating on Sundays until 9 a.m., and of course the Yonge bus was being diverted -- all the way over to freakin Avenue Rd -- because Yonge St was closed for the race.) So, he didn't get to see me cross the finish line, but then again, all my fretting while I waited and waited and waited to be herded out with all the other runners to the exit was for naught, since he wasn't even there yet anyway. Seriously, it's totally ridiculous how they have the end of the race set up. You cross the finish line, totally psyched, and then there's this massive line up ahead of you of thousands of runners, walking at a snail's pace, if that, waiting to get our medals and then pass through the eye of the needle to the "post race party" (as if). It was totally insane. There wasn't even a water stand until I'd been waiting in line for 15 minutes. And by the time I was finally out of there, my legs were cramping from lack of stretching.

Well, whatever, who cares. We found each other, wandered around Harbourfront for the next hour and a bit, and had a victor's brunch at the Richtree Market in the BCE place. Then we went home and I napped for 3 hours.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of you who've encouraged me to do this. And most especially to those who pledged my fundraising efforts for Camp Oochigeas. I didn't promote it at all, just through this blog, and even so managed to raise $300 for kids with cancer to go to camp and have a great summer. Everybody wins (but I am the champion, my friends)!

More later...