10.2 miles before 10am

134.6 after my run this morning.  Mind you, my run was 10.2ish miles so I sweat a lot.  I wore my new compression sleeves.

I definitely noticed that my legs felt less fatigued, but my ankles were still really painful by the end from pounding on the sidewalk.  According to my heart monitor, I burned around 1300 calories, which is awesome.  Due to my detox, I will certainly have a calorie deficit today.  During my run, I had coconut water (100cal), then had soy yogurt, six almonds, and a drizzle of honey for breakfast.  It is lunchtime now, and I had some snap peas and veggie/fruit juice, but I am not very hungry.

For the rest of the day, I need to drink a lot of water and rest - which is fine, since I do not have class and only have a meeting with the professor for whom i am doing my research assistantship.  I will walk to campus, but that should help with active recovery.

If I do really well today, I know I'll be about 135-136 tomorrow.  I want that so badly.  On my way home, I will stop at the grocery store for some lettuce and lemons so I can make another awesome salad like the past two nights.  Lemon juice is such good salad dressing, honestly.  It is so flavorful that I really do not miss the oil.  And, I find that if I stack my calories in the beginning of the day - small but nutritious breakfast, something hot and filling for lunch (like vegetable soup, or something with a whole grain - though not now, since I am trying to eat extra low calories), and a salad - even if it is quite large - for dinner makes me feel great, and most importantly, not guilty!

Anyway, the next few days I have to do a ton of schoolwork and research and clean my apartment (including laundry), and the first floor of our house from top-to-bottom. I'm going to leave some comments now and I hope you all have a great Wednesday!

Don't forget to drink green tea and eat your veggies

Detoxing

Sunday, I only had tea and a pear before heading into DC to meet my friend.  We had salads for dinner (greens, tofu, carrots, oranges, almonds, and carrot-ginger dressing) and then she offered me pretzels.  I had a handful and drank a ton of water, so I felt I got off to an ok start.

Yesterday, I went to the Dr. Paul Farmer talk about his new book Haiti After The Earthquake, and had a Clif Bar for breakfast.  (By the way, the talk was great, although too short - but he is my hero, and I waited for two hours to have my books signed and to meet him.  If you do not know who Paul Farmer is, please read Mountains Beyond Mountains, stat)  Lunch was baby carrots and tea.  Dinner was a huge salad of romaine, potatoes, mushrooms, cucumber, tomatoes and tahini/lemon for dressing.  I drank copious amounts of tea and water yesterday too.

This morning, I went for a 4.6 mile run, and was 136.2 afterward.  I am hoping to be that tomorrow before my run, but we'll see.  Today, I had coconut water when I returned from my run, soy yogurt, celery, and two big mugs of green tea. Tonight, I will have a piece of fruit and whatever vegetables I can round up from my refrigerator - maybe a broccoli-slaw salad?

I know that Adeline, Isobel, and Skeleton Skinny are all participating in some sort of detoxing/liquid fast this week.  Please do what you can to encourage them on their quests.  Mine isn't a liquid fast, but I am not eating a stitch of junk, and with the exception of the soy yogurt, I am eating completely unprocessed, raw foods and lots of green tea.

Either tomorrow or Friday I will get in my long run.  I would like to dedicate tomorrow to school work and cleaning, so maybe I'll only do 4-6 miles, but sometime this week I need to run 10+, which is my last really long run before the half marathon on the 25th.

Blue

I had a rough day yesterday.

Friday was fine - basically uneventful, it rained in the morning, the sun finally came out, my roommate and I went to Trader Joe's and bonded a bit, she bought me a balloon, I decided to treat myself to veggie sushi for lunch, I baked cupcakes to take to my class and share with my roommates (only one for each roommate and me, and then I left the rest with me class - no leftovers to tempt me), I came home and my roommates surprised me with a bottle of chardonnay and crème de cassis for making kir, we had a few drinks and went out to a bar, I talked with a bunch of my roommate's friends (strangers) and then we came home.

Yesterday morning, I woke around 9:30 and went for a six-mile run.  Then, the loneliness just hit me.  Juan and I Skyped for a while and I tried to do homework in the sunshine that afternoon.  I ate the most random things, feeling disgusting and fat with each bite.  I watched some episodes of Mad Men and debated meeting up with my friends in DC.  I decided I just did not feel well enough for that.  Around 7, I ventured out to browse some shops, just so I was not spending my entire day in silence in my apartment.  I didn't buy anything, came home, and cried a bit more.  I love having the radio on in my apartment, but this week, all I keep hearing about is rain, flooding, earthquakes, power outages, fires, and of course the anniversary of 9.11.01.  Juan texted me to tell me he is excited to see me and kiss me - I respond that I feel fat and ugly and I can't have kisses.  Just not a good day.

I slept in again until 9:30.  I really do not feel like running, so, I will walk a bit today and run tomorrow when I get home from the Paul Farmer talk in DC (Has anyone ever read Mountains Beyond Mountains?  It is my favorite book, and the doctor in it is who I am going to hear speak tomorrow).  I am also going to begin a mini-detox à la Adeline.  I plan to have herbal tea and a small glass of juice for breakfast, green tea for lunch, and fruit and a salad with lemon juice for dinner.  That is the plan for this week (six-and-a-half days).  Juan is coming on Saturday and I made him promise last time that we would eat healthily the next time he visits.  Every time we get together we are eating out so much that I gain weight.

Thank you everyone for the lovely birthday wishes.  I wish I could have celebrated with you in person - I always end up celebrating with strangers, in accordance with out school calendar.  Every year in elementary school you have a new "homeroom," then middle school is a new batch, high school changes, you move to college, then abroad, then graduate school #1, and now #2.  Last year was the first in forever that I was able to celebrate my birthday with my truly good friends.  On Wednesday I am going to do a bit of birthday shopping, and I may try and find a pair of shoes today.  I have coupons for Anthropologie, Sur La Table, and DSW.  Obviously, on my graduate student budget, I have to be frugal, but at Anthro I want this lovely candle so much.  I was given a candle like this last August, it took me a year to burn it, and last September I bought a replacement with my discount.  I just started burning that one, but I want this bigger version in the pretty jar.

Sur La Table has wonderful kitchen things, so I may buy a new dish towel.  At DSW I will only buy something deeply discounted if I love it.  I was there last night, but I forgot my coupon.

Anyway, I am rambling.  My weight was up to 138 this morning, the highest I have recorded on this blog.  Last year, this time, I was 130-132.  I know I gained the weight by eating like a pig, but it still shocks me and makes me feel so unworthy of anything.  I am going to try and just get dressed and get my day started, take a walk, have some tea, and feel better.  We'll see how that goes.

Hopefully I can lose two or three pounds detoxing this week.  I would feel much better that way.  When Juan arrives, I need to stick to the plan I outlined in my last post and then I might finally be able to get under 130.

I'll get around to some commenting today.  I have been a bit better about it, but I still need to reply to a bunch of your lovely posts.

Please think about where you were ten years ago, today.  I do not personally know anyone who died as a result of the attacks, but I do know someone who escaped the towers and my father's crew went to man a firehouse in Manhattan.  Just the thought of it gives me chills, and I sincerely hope that these innocent and brave people did not die in vain.  While I believe in justice, I also believe in love.  More love and less hate is what this world truly needs.