My day

I started my day out thinking this will be the last day that I drink a diet soda until after the marathon.  So in honor of this day I decided to have one on my morning school run.  It was good.  

After the school run my wonderful babysitter came over so that I could work out.  Went to Kinetic Edge.  It was super hard like always.  Love it there.

Since my knee is still bugging a little, my big sis told me it might be my shoes.  So headed down to Run and Fun and of course got some new shoes.  I told them about my pain as well and they think that I have runners knee from overuse and sold me some kind of knee wrap thing.   Anyone else use one?? Does it really help?

Since the weather is so hot right now... which I love... I picked up my boys and headed to the pool.  My wonderful niece Sabrina is here for a while and I couldn't be more thrilled.  Love this girl and it was a great afternoon hanging with her doing nothing but enjoying the weather.  Since the race is so soon I am really trying to enjoy not running so much.  I am not sure why some people think it is so hard to just rest!   I love it.

My evening was filled with dance and then I went to a Stretch Intervention.  I took pictures too but my battery died as I was uploading the pictures so you will all have to wait until Friday to see what that was all about.  I am sure you will all be dying to know how it went.  

I am really hoping that my knee gets better before the big day.  When I ran Saturday I went 9 miles and it was a little painful.  Not bad where I could not run on it but enough pain that I would not want to run 26 miles like that.  Anyone else have runners knee??  Any good tips or tricks I should know about?

-Heather

And I decided that I am not giving up diet soda.  Will limit it as I usually do, just now I am going to try to drink even more water than normal during the day.

Am I gonna give it up?!

There is one thing I love almost as much as running. Any guesses? DIET POP. Thats what. I just LOVE it. I typically drink diet Pepsi but I don't discriminate. I love Diet Dew, Diet Root Beer, Diet Sprite, etc. the list goes on and on. I go back and forth about what I like so much.  Whether it is the bubbles, the caffeine, the fact that it is sweet and has no sugar or calories? Really it is all those reasons.

But here is my beef.  The artificial sweetener isn't good for you.  It just isn't. It makes my stomach hurt and it gives me headaches.  So why do I always drink it? Because I need something to drink, something to do with myself when there is a lull in the day and lets just be grateful it isn't alcohol or tobacco!  But alas, after one too many stomach aches and headaches I have decided I am going to attempt to just give it up.  No more pop, soda, diet, or whatever you prefer to call it. I can not believe I am doing it. Whose with me?

Now the trick is to find something else to substitute that will give me the same pleasure but be better for you and still has some caffeine in it. You are probably all wondering, why is she not giving up caffeine as well, it isn't good for you either? Right? Well here is why. Running long distances requires you to refuel with i.e. gel packs, GU, power shots... you get the picture.  And a lot of these little boosts of energy include caffeine.  So it is important to me that my body stay somewhat acclimated to the caffeine so that when taking these GU's I don't run into any other major issues.

So first thing I am going to try is sparkling water mixed with some Spark...=)  I have tried just plain sparkling water before to no good end.... but I will never give up and always try again =) so here is to a sparkling Sparked Perrier! Happy diet free day all.





p.s. I had given pop up for almost 3 days prior to this post and yesterday, in a moment of weakness at the mall food court I had a DIET PEPSI and I even refilled it. Now how weak was that..... Someone show me some love and do this with me so I know I am not the only other suffering soul out there depriving herself of the one true no calorie sweet beverage made......


Jen

Taco Bell is my weakness

Today I really struggled to make a healthy choice.  I love Taco Bell.  I know it is horrible for you and most of the food isn't even actually food but I do not care.  I just love it.  So for lunch I was just not in the mood to stay home.  My kitchen was still messy from yesterday, I had only few choices for lunch, my son was whining and not thinking any of my options tasted good and I was burned out.  I had some spare cash in my purse and thought, lets just go to Taco Bell.  It is quick, cheap and easy.  I have been doing so well at not eating out that I just figured, "oh what the hell."

But then I remembered an article I recently read that talked about how food is fuel and that once you start to eat healthy you will realize the benefits.  Your body will work better, you will feel better and you will have more energy.  I thought to myself, "This is true! I have noticed that I am able to work harder and recover quicker. So literally, although this was NOT easy for me, I forced myself to make an even bigger mess in the kitchen.  I made my son some Organic Macaroni and was I thinking of what my sister Heather had done with the eggs on a previous post. So I scrambled mine right up but instead of on top of Arugula I put them into corn tortillas with green salsa and parmesan cheese.  Lunch was a success!

I think sometimes it might appear that people who exercise and typically eat well or at least try to live a healthy lifestyle don't struggle with making these choices.  But I am here to tell you they do.  I struggle and it is hard.  Today when making my lunch I felt like I was a zombie and almost grouchy because I was actually doing what I should.  I dunno, maybe that sounds stupid but it is true. It was that hard for me, you'd think I was giving up a cigarette or something!

I also have another major weakness.... Diet Pepsi.  I have limited myself to one 12oz can a day unless it is a weekend.  So far it is going OK but once again, it has been difficult.  Does anyone have any ideas on how to make these choices easier????