Running Isn’t Getting Any Easier…
Thursday, May 8, 2008
17 Days Until Bolder Boulder

Today was scheduled to be a major work day but I ended up doing things such as making plans for Mother’s Day weekend, arranging to take my daughter and nephew to see “Ironman” on Saturday (it’s about a Marvel comic hero about whom I once read regularly when I was a young comic collector – and, yes, I wanted to see the movie more than the kids), catching up on correspondence, fixing a computer problem, being despondent about the disorganization of my office (and, sadly, I had no one I could blame for the mess except myself), making an ultrasound appoint for one of the dogs, vacuuming, washing dishes, and doing everything one does when taking care of a household, a child, and four dogs. I needed some fun.

An early morning start allowed me to get some work done before going on a run. Angela met me at my place and we took off at about 5:45 am. The area was wet from a brief but solid downpour only a few hours ago but the temperature was nice – easily 50°F.

We talked the entire way and that helped pass the time. I was tired from challenges with my daughter the night before. She no longer wanted to do her homework and I couldn’t blame her but she needed to get it done. We spent more time debating courses of action than getting anything done. Angela had been awakened at 2:30 am by her little son, who is three years old, so she hadn’t had the perfect night either. We kept going, however, with both of us knowing the workout was a good way to start the day.

Plus, I loved the concept of working out early in the morning so I felt I had my exercise and could be a slug the rest of the day. We ran about 4 miles or so and did it at a slow pace. That was fine with both of us. We decided we would not take off tomorrow and would run again – before our “big” run on Saturday. When we parted, I mistakenly mentioned we only had three weeks left to train. Later in the day, I realized the Race was only two weeks from this coming Monday. Yikes!

My weight was at 203 so I still needed to lose at least 18 pounds. I now had only 16 days to do this. I was beginning to question the likelihood of achieving my Race weight goal of 185. Two weeks ago, I had been 100% certain I could do it. Last week I still was at a certainty level of 80% or so. Today my confidence level was at 50% and I knew even that was optimistic. If I were going to be realistic, at best the probability was only 20% at this point.

I was fairly good food-wise – well, for me, anyway. For breakfast I had three pieces of fried chicken with honey and a few cups of milk. I drank seltzer water all day and had two organic carrots for lunch. For dinner I had a little leftover spaghetti. I skipped ice cream completely today and was curious how I would do at my weigh-in tomorrow.

My evening was spent at Xtreme Altitude Cheerleading & Gymnastics, a fantastic organization at which Holly did competitive cheerleading. She loved it. That staff was great and the girls all had a good time. There was a parents’ meeting so I attended that. By the time we got home and I had made Holly dinner, I was ready to fall asleep standing up.