Mid-week update

So far the week is going well. My reward jar has proved thus far to be successful. Last night was my first night since Saturday where I didn’t get any stones.

I went one point over for the day (over my earned APs that is) and in addition snacked at night. I am trying to think of what spurred it. I think part of it was I was very emotional last night about Dakota right before I went to bed and the other part was that I didn’t eat a filling enough dinner (not enough protein). Such is life, must move on!

Today I am determined to get my two stones! I am heading home after work to get to the leasing office because my knee sleeves arrive today. I hope they fit. I had a bit of a measurement error so it might be close.

Yesterday after I work I went to a kickboxing class! My company offers some free group fitness classes. In the past they’ve offered step which I pass on because I hate step (a sprained ankle waiting to happen if you ask me!) but they just recently offered a three class series for kickboxing so I signed up for all three right away.

I was worried it wasn’t going to be a good workout but it was tough and I was sweating! I could tell right away I was working areas I haven’t in a while with all the running. It’s good to mix things up!

A new product shout out! John and I splurged and bought a $9 jar of Barney Butter! It’s a very smooth almond butter. Most almond butter is grittier but this brand is the same smooth consistency of creamy peanut butter. It’s also made in a peanut-free facility so great for people with peanut allergies. I always hear people rave about it on the food blogs I read so I had to try it. I’ve behaved so well with it too! I have 1tbsp on toast for breakfast with some sliced banana. Yum!

Tonight I’m doing level 2 of 30 Day Shred and making Greek Turkey Burgers and soup for dinner. Yum!

I also hope to read more Harry Potter. I’m on Order of the Phoenix. No spoilers! So far my favorite character is Sirius Black by far!

Speaking of Harry Potter, I think we might go to Universal Saturday for the day. I told John I have to go to my WW meeting so I may be hitting up the 6:30 a.m. meeting. UGH!

Overall I’m still upset about Dakota but trying to remain positive. Talked with his vet yesterday. He has moderate heart disease but some key parts of his heart look good which is great news. He will start taking a beta-blocker medication 2x a day to slow his heart rate so his heart doesn’t work so hard. She said he should continue to act normal and in 6 months we will repeat the echocardiogram and hope that we find his heart disease has not progressed. Sigh.

Here is me pretending to sleep when Dakota was snuggling with me the other night while I was reading. :)

Inaugural Lockheed Martin 5k Run/Walk

So on Saturday I went to the Lockheed Martin Inaugural 5k run/walk. Considering it was their first one it was pretty well organized. It started and 8 a.m. and after standing outside for only a half hour I was already sweating. Ugh, Florida...

I'd say only 100-150 people were there so it was nice to run in a race that wasn't that crowded.

Boom! We went off and I tried to start off with a faster pace, nothing crazy but I tried what I thought would be close to a 10 minute mile pace but slowed a little. It's really hard for me to tell me how fast I'm going. I could really use a gps watch! Anyway, I got to the mile one water station around 10:32 from what I remember and was shocked but kept going. The course was a little boring on a road that went around the facility but the part I hated was the road was a tad slanted and I was worried that was going to hurt my knees but it seemed okay.

When I got to the mile two water station but I can't remember what my watch said. It was hot and I wanted to keep going. I walked through the water stations which I actually think helped my pace.

When I was getting close to the finish line I looked at my watch and went WOAH and tried to pick it up. The race was very casual and there wasn't a clock (just a woman yelling out times as people crossed) so I was glad I timed it on my watch.

I crossed at 32:27 and was so excited but also skeptical. I felt like it was too good to be true. I thought the course seemed short and maybe it wasn't really 3.1 miles?

It was a personal record 5k time! I beat my last 5k time by 5 minutes! It's been two months since my last race.

I got home and immediately went on this gps map and took the race map with me. It came out to 3.1! Well, a little over but it's probably impossible to be 100 percent exact. 

I think it comes down to the fact I'm used to running longer distances now that the 3.1 seemed shorter.

Part of me still finds it hard to believe but I need to stop that nonsense and own my success! I saw the verified fact so it's time to celebrate!

Other things to note:

My knees felt okay after the race. I made sure to stretch good. Today was a rest day and tomorrow I have a long run (5.5 miles) and I think I'll be okay for it.

My race bib with date and time:

All my race bibs since I had started Couch to 5k:

Time to clean up from dinner and get ready for True Blood and my favorite, Mad Men!