Life, Nutrition

Eat to Run, or Run to Eat?

This past week really sucked for me for nutrition.  I was horrible and used every excuse in the book!  Food should primarily be looked at as fuel for your body and what you want your body to do for you.  At least that is how I have been trying to look at it.  Don’t get me wrong, I doubt most people would consider my regular menu as “clean” or “pure” eating.  I cut out a lot things that were bad for me, but also made sure to enjoy the food I eat.  The fact is, I really do enjoy eating what I consider clean, for me.  Others may not consider it clean, and I know it could be better but it is working.  Well, it was until last week!

It all started Monday, Halloween.  At work they provided lunch from a Pita joint.  Could I have eaten just the chicken and fixins?  Sure!  Did I? Nope.  I had a half a pita.  I know that doesn’t sound horrible but I have been so good about avoiding breads.  Not horrible, but not a great start to the week.  My excuse?  It’s Halloween and I won’t eat any candy!

It was Darin’s birthday on Thursday so we went out to dinner.  I wish I could report that I had a nice steak with baked sweet potato.  Wishes can come true but not today….  We went to Flannigan’s and I had…. RIBS!….and FRIES! – UGH.  We were so near our new favorite ice cream shop, so we went to Phenomenom and I had….. Nutella Ice Cream! – Double UGH.  Felt like crap immediately after that.  Lesson learned? Perhaps.

Perhaps not.  Saturday we had the 5k with the old Home Depot gang and I was famished after so I hit Dunkin on the way home.  Had a sausage egg and cheese on a croissant.  We worked on our construction project, renovating the bathroom, and treated ourselves to our favorite wing joint for lunch, curly fries and all.  That night, we celebrated our accomplishment with BurgerFi, and while I went green style (no bun), I still ate some fries!  Oh, and you cannot be within 1 mile of Phenomenom and not have it, so…. ice cream!!!

Sunday was a little better, until dinner.  We went to Bonefish and I had the lamb, which was fine, until the evil waitress set the dessert menu down and we opted for the pumpkin crème brûlée, because pumpkin crème brûlée.  What the hell!?  Where did my killer nutrition go?  I will tell you where it went… to Sugar Town!  It was really hard to quit the carbs and sugar, but once I did I was doing really well.  I never would have expected to go downhill so fast because of sugar.  I immediately became re-addicted to it and that is so scary!

This needs to be my wakeup call.  What I eat should fuel what I do!  I had my party week, I at ice cream and crème brûlée, I devoured my french fries!!!  (Lordy, my mouth is watering just typing this – what have I done!?)  It’s time to get back to reality.  This week is going to be different.  I’ll allow myself the french fries once this week, but nothing more.  I am not falling into this sugar trap again.  It’s going to be a tough week this week, but I need to do this.  I can’t go into the following week this weak sapling for sugar!  We go on vacation, and I struggled last time.  I can’t let that happen again.  This is going to be the first vacation where I am successful.  I will allow certain indulgences because it is vacation, but nothing like last time, or last week for that matter.  I have my second triathlon in a few weeks!  I’ll report back about vacation nutrition, let’s hope I don’t embarrass myself!

Life, Run

Sorry Charming, it will always be Dopey!

It was time for the annual Spooktacular 5k!  Last year, the boys and I dressed as pirates.  This year, D2 didn’t want to go to the run, so he hung out with his cousin.  Darin and I took some time to figure out what we were gonna be about a month ago.  We were trying to think of a couples costume where the guy was bald, because running in a wig just didn’t seem appealing to either of us.  We had narrowed it down to Gru from Despicable Me and the lipstick tazer lady (can’t remember her name) and Snow White and Dopey.  Why not prince Charming?  Well, he’s kinda lame and nothing beats that moment when Snow kisses Dopey on his bald head.  In the end, we decided on Snow White and Dopey.

I’m not the girliest of girls and was a little unsure I could pull off a run in a dress, let alone a tutu, but hey, it’s a Halloween run.  Don’t get me wrong, I see lots of ladies running in tutus and I think they are adorable, it has just never been me.  I decided that for Snow White, it was going to be a tutu.  I’ve done a few costume runs and for me, the costume has to start with a running outfit as a base.  I can’t stand that “costume” fabric used in most commercial costumes against my skin in general and definitely not in a run.  For my costume, I ordered an under armour tank that was moisture wicking and wore running shorts as my base.  I made all the elements like the shoulders and cape easily detachable should they feel like they were chafing or annoying me in any way.  Much to my surprise, I didn’t have to remove anything on the run.  For Darin’s costume, I ordered a brooks long sleeve tech shirt in a larger size than he needed to give that Dopey look.  He work a base layer of shorts and some large fisherman pants on top, which were also easily removable if they got in the way.  We added some accessories (also removable) and I sewed together a quick dwarf style hat.  Other than taking the hat off for a bit, he didn’t have to remove any parts of the costume either thankfully.

It was a rainy morning, but we took it all in stride.  It was a huge relief for me not to be worried about making a specific time or pace.  I just wanted to have a great time and enjoy all the costumes and a great run.  I told Darin we could just take it easy or run at whatever pace he wanted to run.  He said he wanted to try to run the entire thing, with no walk breaks.  He’s done great times with the walk/run method, but hadn’t really done one in which he never took a walk break, not even at the water station.  So, that became the goal of the run, to go at a comfortable enough pace that he could run the entire time without stopping. We set off among all the great costumes and people that always make this event a blast.

The run was great, we took it easy when needed and pushed a little here and there but with no goal in mind other than running and enjoying ourselves.  I pushed out of my comfort zone by shouting “great costume!” whenever I passed someone who really put thought and effort into theirs.  I also commented on the kids costumes, and loved seeing them smile when acknowledged.  It was a great run.  Darin accomplished his goal of running the whole thing in its entirety.  I accomplished my goal of not trying to worry about time and training and just have a good time.  I stopped to reflect on how thankful I am for those moments where the training is not priority, but feeling good, feeling loved and have a great time is.  And while life is no fairy tale, you can work hard to make your dreams come true!  Happy Halloween!!!