Joy cometh in the morning

My best workouts are in the morning. On Saturday morning, I was running on the treadmill for the first time since I got back from Utah. I started running and I was filled with joy and love for life. I feel that way with most of my workouts - especially running, weight training, and yoga. Oh wait...that's all my workouts. If I didn't like my workouts so much, I probably would have quit my workouts at the gym a long time ago.

I spent this evening in my kitchen making spaghetti with kale, zucchini, and mushrooms, and listening to classical music. Tomorrow morning, the spaghetti will be going in my lunch bag. More joy in the morning from being able to take healthy food with me to work.

Here is the one of the songs I listened to this evening:



Wishing you a wonderful morning.

1111

This morning I was rowing for 5 minutes for my warm-up. 1111 is the number of meters that I rowed. Just thought that was interesting.

Spinach Salad and Pizza

If there's one food I won't give up, it's pizza. Pizza with mushrooms, to be more specific. I've been eating pizza throughout my weight loss journey and don't see any point in giving up pizza for the last 16 pounds to go to my goal. Of course, now I make my own pizza and make it as healthy as possible. Tonight it was mushrooms, pineapple, grape tomatoes, and spinach. The pineapple and tomatoes together were too sweet. Now I know for next time.



All day today I was craving salad. That means I must be doing something wrong nutritionally, so I went with my instincts and bought a few things for a salad to go with the pomegranate seeds I had in the fridge. The only thing I know to do with pomegranate seeds is put them in a salad. This salad was pretty good. Spinach, pomegranate seeds, avocado, and raspberry vinaigrette.

Any ideas for pomegranate seeds?

Back from Utah

I was in Utah last week on a whirlwind of a trip. Now I'm back home and getting back to the gym and getting back to yoga and getting back to some healthier food. I went to yoga this evening, and the workout kicked my butt. I think I'll remember to drink more water during the day any time I go to hot yoga in the evening.

Evening Workouts

It's January 10, so the gym is still full of people at 8 PM. That number will drop as it gets closer to the end of the month.

I decided to do some running on a treadmill that I usually just use for walking. So I ran for a few minutes and then went back to walking.

There are treadmills I use for walking and there are treadmills I use for running. I'll keep that in mind for all future workouts.

Heated Vinyasa Flow Yoga

I went to a heated vinyasa flow yoga class today. I really liked the class and I think I'll go again. The poses and movements in this yoga class are similar to the poses and movements that I learned at the class at the gym, but I like the setting better.

I wasn't sure I would like the 90 degree heat, but I did. It actually felt good since it's January (even though today is really warm outside). Dripping buckets of sweat by the end.

1/5 Weigh In

I lost 2.8 pounds this week. Back on the downward trend for weight loss.

It's Cold Outside

Remember Saturday when it was warm outside? Yeah...me, too.

Here's some pictures from the 5K on Saturday.



Before the 5K...



...and at the start of the 5K.

Happy New Year! If you are like me, your goals are probably still in the formulation process. Good luck with whatever you set out to do this year!

Ringing in Hope

My brother, Mark, and I ran the Ringing in Hope 5K on New Year's Eve morning. It was a great way to end the year. We started out running at the Brambleton Town Center, then the route went through a nearby neighborhood. The course was a certified flat and scenic race course. I don't know about scenic, but there were some trees along one side of the first road.

There were a whole ton of people in line to start the run - kinda slow goin' for the first little road. Then it picked up as we got to the first main road that gave some space to spread out. We ran nearly the whole first mile, then we ran some and walked some. Kept on passing the same girl in the green t-shirt with the Happy New Year green star headband. We commented on the size of the houses, how old the winner of the race would be, our running shoes, workouts in general, what our next race should be, whether or not I am more coordinated now than I used to be (definitely more coordinated).

About 3/4 of the way through I got a side stitch that went away after walking for a minute. Other than that, felt fine through the race. Side stitches = breathing wrong. I think that's one thing I'll need to pay more attention to when I run outside. I've definitely got my breathing pattern right for treadmill running, but not so much for outdoor running.

So when we got back to the Brambleton Town Center, we decided to do a slow run to the end, then run fast for the final stretch. Right as we started the final stretch, I saw the girl in green and decided I wanted to pass her one last time. We passed her a safe distance before the finish line.

I checked our published times for the race online and Mark and I had the exact same times. Started and finished the race exactly together with a Gun Time of 40:02, and a Net time of 38:31. Our pace was 12:24. I'm glad I've set a baseline now for my running. Who ever would have thought that the first thing that would be officially published with my name on it would be my race time in a 5K?

Running this 5K was a great way to end the year. For me it was a way to celebrate being able to run a 5K and being healthy.


That's my race number. I figured it deserved a place on my refrigerator. There aren't many better reminders for good health and fitness.


One more thing...Remember this dress? It's officially too big.