Dear Readers,

Angelo is right. I do owe you an update from Thanksgiving. It has been a busy few days. Phil came into town Wednesday evening, we hosted Thanksgiving and, well, Phil is still here. That means constant party and no sleep...and no time for internet.

Regardless, let me get to the point. I ROCKED the Turkey Trot! As I stated in an earlier post, I certainly did not win the race. The first runner was returning as I was still in the first mile, but that doesn't matter. I finished. It took me approximately 45 minutes. It's hard to say exactly how long it took because Tanya and I didn't get there until 7:30 (when the race was starting). We had to get our numbers and we probably started about 10-15 minutes late. The clock at the finish line read 53 minutes when I passed it.

I'm quite proud of myself because I haven't given up on running now that the TT is over. I ran 2.5 miles this morning and plan to keep at it. I've been informed there is another race the week of Christmas, so I may sign up for it.

Thank you all for encouraging me and walking with me as I change my personal habits and strive toward better living. I appreciate each of you and am especially glad to know that some of you have been encouraged to be healthier just by reading my blog. I hope that will continue! Thanks again!

Sincerely,

Leanne
#1295

Happy Thanksgiving!

These past couple of days have been pretty busy. I've been moving furniture around, getting rid of a desk to make room for tomorrow, cooking, cleaning (well, I'm about to do that), as well as training for the Turkey Trot tomorrow morning. It's been a really great week and I'm highly excited that this is the beginning of the Holiday Season. I love the Holidays. I love that this is the first time we've felt settled enough to really make the Holidays our own. I can't wait to have family and friends at our house tomorrow for dinner. I look forward to spending tomorrow evening with our friends.

I've been training for almost a month now to be able to run this race tomorrow, but now that I've completed a 3.7 mile jaunt on my own, the excitement of that 3.1 miles isn't as great as I'd expected it to be! Regardless, I'm looking forward to saying that I've officially run my first 5K.

Well, as I said, it's been a busy few days, and that's not changed in the last 10 minutes. I still have a lot to get done and not enough time to do it in. Oh, and my phone is ringing.

Gotta go! Happy Thanksgiving!

A different kind of training

A very short yet productive weekend is coming to a close.

Christopher and I had the challenge of taking care of two toddler girls this weekend. Bella's friend, Ellie spent the whole weekend with us so that her parents could enjoy a weekend away. They were like two peas in a pod.

This was Bella's first sleepover, and I think she enjoyed it. She got some practice sharing her Mommy with another little one, and she and Ellie enjoyed playing, giggling and watching movies (lots of movies) together. It was so fun that 45 minutes after I put them down for naps, I finally had to put them in separate rooms so they would actually go to sleep. Keith and Liana came to pick Ellie up around 7 and they were thoughtful enough to bring Christopher and I a bottle of wine complete with two wine glasses from one of the vineyards they visited. They also brought Bella back a purple tutu. Thank you, Dicksons!

Not only did I get some training in having multiple children this weekend, but I spent the majority of my free time researching and writing 3 articles for Wisegeek. This is (hopefully) the first step in a process of becoming one of their editors. Once they review the three articles I submitted today, they'll let me know if I fit their style or not. I've got my fingers crossed. Some of you know that deep down, I dream of becoming a writer. Honestly, I'm a little scared of that dream because, I don't know if you realize this, but it's a pretty easy dream to fail miserably at.


So we'll see what happens.

I didn't do any running today. You all know how Sunday mornings go. Christopher left before 6 this morning, and I wasn't getting up in the 5 o'clock hour two days in a row. I was hoping to get done with all my articles by 9 so I would still have some time to run around the block, but I didn't finish until almost 11. I'm okay with it. My sense of accomplishment from my writing totally rivals what I've been feeling after a run.

I hope you feel as satisfied with your weekend as I feel about mine. If not, well, there's always next week!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

This old adage from that Great Sage, the Tortoise is, in my estimation, categorically false. Let's look for a moment at what the experts have to say about the length of time a 5K should take.

Kilometer Chart

Kilometers	Miles	Fast	Moderate	Easy
1	0.62	7 min.	10 min.	12.5 min.
2	1.24	14 min.	20 min.	25 min.
3	1.86	21 min.	30 min.	37.5 min.
4	2.48	28 min.	40 min.	50 min.
5	3.11	35 min.	50 min.	62.5 min.
6	3.73	42 min.	60 min.	75 min.
7	4.35	49 min.	70 min.	87.5 min.
8	4.97	56 min.	80 min.	100 min.

The list goes on up to marathon lengths, but since I'm not there yet, I didn't see the point in pasting all of it in this post. Take the link if you're interested.

If you look at the 5K, you will see that it is a 3.11 mile jaunt that should take 50 minutes if you are walking at a moderate pace. After i got home this morning, I took the car's odometer out for a spin to see how far I went (I've extended my course to Downey, Florence, Woodruff and Firestone). That particular route is 3.7 miles. This 3.7 miles took me approximately 60 minutes to run this morning.

Now, understand that I'm not complaining that it took me the same amount of time to complete this at a run as it would take someone who was walking at a moderate pace. However, I am using this fact to illustrate my profound disagreance with the title of my post. I don't care who you are; you are not going to win a 3.11 mile 5K by running at a walker's pace. It's not going to happen. I'm happy to be able to complete it at my own pace of running. For me, it's an accomplishment and I'm proud of it. But I'm not going to win. No way. No how. Unless no one else shows up but a fat man with a short-legged poodle.


FYI, there was a different photo of the tortoise and the hare that I wanted to post, but thought it might be inappropriate. So if you are easily offended, don't take this link.

Thoughts on a cool morning

So here's the break down for this morning:

10 minute walk (I had to let myself start slow...I was not very motivated)
15 minute jog
5 minute walk
15 minute jog
5 minute walk
15 minute jog (minus 1 or 2 minutes lost to stop lights)
Cooled down with a 5 minute walk around the block
Stretches, crunches, push-ups

And now here I sit with my glass of cranberry juice and my blog, sharing a few minutes of my morning with you, my loyal reader.

I feel like I'm having to start over almost daily. I'm really struggling with the way I handle food. This, in turn, has serious impact on my running, as well as the way I feel about myself. On the one hand, I'm proud of myself for getting up early and training my body to do what I want it to do. But on the other hand, there's are feelings of shame and disappointment for the things that I put into my body while I'm alone. I've been trying to figure out why I am (still) a closet eater, and the best I can come up with is that it's a bad habit left over from when I was a kid. I was alone a lot (especially at night since that's when my mom worked), and I remember that most nights I would lay in my mom's bed watching TV with either a bag of chips, a plate of cookies or a bowl of ice cream (or all three) to keep me company. Food was my friend, my companion, the thing that was always there for me. So now, as an adult, I find myself looking to food as a release from a bad day or as a way to celebrate a good day or simply as a way to not feel alone. This is highly disappointing and I wish it were not a part of who I am. But it is.

So for now, all I can do is continually give myself grace. I know that God gives me grace upon grace to cover my bad behavior, so who am I to withhold that grace from myself? It is not my job to judge myself (just like I'm not to judge others), so I will live everyday to the best of my ability. I will keep training and running and I will try to learn how to fill my heart and life with joys and comforts that are not edible.

Speaking of joys and comforts, my sweet daughter has just been woken up by her Daddy and is waiting for some breakfast. She is standing next to me saying, "Nummy, nummy." I guess that means I should bring this entry to a close and go about my Mommy-duties.

I do hope that this encourages some of you. I know our struggles may not be the same, but I think we all have areas in which we are less than our best, and it is to those areas that I speak today.

"Learn to limit yourself; to content yourself with some definite work; dare to be what you are and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not; and to believe in your own individuality."
-Henri Frederic Amiel (Swiss writer)

Bedtime update

This is for those of you who've been eagerly awaiting my daily update.

I didn't run today. I woke up an hour late again, but I wasn't planning to run anyway. I was supposed to be doing my "spiritual training" this morning (more about that some other time), but not much of that happened either. I woke up with an awful sinus headache and that general grossness you feel when your body is fighting off the sickness your child is trying to give to you.

I'm feeling a little tired right now (after all, it is after 11pm), so I think I'm going to go to bed and pray that my body feels better in the morning and that I actually wake up on time tomorrow.

Sorry if this isn't as "inspirational" as some of my other posts. I'm not feeling all that inspiring right now. Here is a quote I ran across that you may or may not agree with...I won't say which category I fall under...but it might be food for thought. Feel free to let me know what you think about this sentiment.

Everything is created twice -- first mentally, then physically. --Greg Anderson

Something extra...

Just because I love them too.