As it turns out, stepping away from the scale is just what this gal needed. I've been right on track this week. I'm eating clean and within my calories. I'm killing it on my workouts. Most importantly I feel great. Probably the best I've felt since the first month of this journey.
Things are starting to cool down here in Wyoming already. So, yesterday, (for the first time in months) I put jeans on. They were falling off of me! I couldn't keep those puppies up with a belt if I wanted to. I'm going to have to go hunting through the storage room this weekend for my smaller clothes (thank goodness I saved them). I know somewhere there is a pair of size 6 pants that I was only able to wear a couple of times. I plan to drag those out for my goal pants. I know I have a long ways to go before I fit them again, but I'm looking forward to checking my progress.
This past Saturday I headed out for my long (for me) run. I got a late start and it was in the upper 70s before I hit the pavement. That is hot for me. I struggled mentally through the entire thing and I stopped for water several times, but I didn't give up. I'm too hard on myself sometimes. When I first picked up running again, if I checked my time mid-run and saw that I was going much slower than expected, I'd give up and feel defeated. "Op, you're not doing better than last time, so might as well stop now." Ridiculous, right? I did feel that way during this run. I knew I was not going to PR. I was upset with how often I was having to stop for water. Sometimes, okay - a lot of the time, I want things now. I want to be fast, now. I want those size 6 jeans, now. I want to be able to run a marathon, now. That's not realistic, of course. I'm slowly learning and accepting that these things take time. Every day is not going to be magical. I'm not going to PR every run. What's important is that I don't give up. It's taking time, but I'm learning to find joy in the journey.
One thing that I've really been working on throughout this process is to push myself outside of my comfort zone. I have a long term goal to run a marathon some day. The thought of running a marathon, or any race for that matter, terrifies me. But, it's been a dream for a very long time. So, I'm taking a baby step towards it. I'm registering for my first ever, official, 5K race! All proceeds from this race are going to a little boy in town that's fighting cancer. It's a cause dear to my heart, so I'll be there August 31st. I'm nervous, but also very excited for this step!
My next cardio day is Saturday, and I had so much fun with the burpee comment challenge, I figured it was time for another one! I'm leaving it open longer this time. For every comment made on this post before 5:00 PM MST on Friday, I will do 5 rockstar jumps on Saturday as part of my cardio.
Help me push myself past my comfort zone! Comment and "like" away!
